There are some moments in life that keep coming back to you.

Years ago I boarded a flight from Bangalore, India to Bombay, now Mumbai.

The man sat next to me started chatting and then he said: "Thank goodness for colonialism."

I was stunned by his statement and I moved into combat mode to take him on.

But then I had second thoughts and sat back and listened.

"You see if it was not for colonialism and the British in this case, you, an African, and I, an Indian, would not have been able to communicate and have a good conversation."

What could I say?

More than 50 years since sub-Saharan Africa started down the road to independence and self governance, we have continued to conduct our affairs in the languages of the colonialists.

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As a Commonwealth official I well remember the frisson that went round the room when it was first mentioned that President Paul Kagame wanted his country to join”

For a long time there appeared to be parity between French and English, with Portuguese of course spoken in territories that were ruled by Portugal.

Despite the gathering of many African leaders over the weekend in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, for the Francophonie summit of French-speaking countries, there is no getting away from the reality that English has finally won the day and is now the international language.

It is a reality that the more nimble Francophone leaders have come to see as the way to boost the prospects of their countries in an increasingly global world, a world dominated by the mighty United States.

As I travel around Africa from Mozambique to Senegal, I have noticed the increasing use of English.

Rwanda's move to adopt English as an official language was initially seen as a result of many of the country's post-genocide leaders having returned home from Uganda where they had been educated in English, the main medium of education.

However, the country did not stop there.

As a Commonwealth official, I well remember the frisson that went round the room when it was first mentioned that President Paul Kagame wanted his country to join the Commonwealth, as well as being a member of Francophonie.

What would the French say, some asked?


Revelations about the Mau Mau crackdown show the dark side of colonialism
Yet Rwanda persisted and was not only seen as a bit of a darling for countries such as the United Kingdom, which has supported the government with financial assistance but the country has also formed strong relationships, particularly in business, through the Commonwealth.

In three of the five members of the East African community of which Rwanda is a member, business is mostly conducted in English.

Seeing the success of Rwanda has triggered interest in its neighbour Burundi, a French-speaking country which too has signalled its wish to join the Commonwealth.

I expect English will soon become a must language for all students.

Such is the power of the US and its economy that anyone who wants a piece of the action has to speak the language of the mighty dollar.

Africans wanting to become global players appear to be bowing to this dictum.

There is little that I admire about the colonial era, and the recent revelations in a British court about the tortures and horror colonial officers visited on some Kenyans in their fight against the Mau Mau, tell you a lot about the so-called civilised world.

Yet for all that, there is no getting away from the fact that we will continue using the languages of the colonialists but increasingly that language will be English.

I have come to agree with my travelling companion on that flight in India all those years ago.

After all in most cases, it is still one of the foreign languages that I have to use to speak to my sister or brother from another part of Africa.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19961671

pro01: Could Africa have achieved civilisation (or at least the semblance of it) and (under)development without the intervention of the European invaders - and eventual colonial masters? I seriously doubt it. We would probably still have a very tribal existence (of the sort we see on Discovery Channel) were it not for the 'exposure' the Europeans brought along with them.

If Africa has not been able to get it right in spite of globalisation and notwithstanding several modern paradigms of development to copy from in this day and age, then I am NOT convinced that we might have fared better without colonialism. We would simply have continued to grope in the dark.

pro01: Could Africa have achieved civilisation (or at least the semblance of it) and (under)development without the intervention of the European invaders - and eventual colonial masters? I seriously doubt it. We would probably still have a very tribal existence (of the sort we see on Discovery Channel) were it not for the 'exposure' the Europeans brought along with them.

ROSSIKE:

[size=14pt]Young man, You do realise that Africa - north, west, east and south - had NUMEROUS HIGHLY POPULATED CITIES and COMMERCIAL/ACADEMIC CENTERS, including universities which attracted students from as far away as Syria, and governments which maintained ambassadors as far away as Europe prior to the western invasion?

You need to get your head out of National Geographic, visit Amazon.com, and buy some real African history books, and educate yourself.[/size]

nnenna.1:
How about African countries taking their destines into their own hands

building large economies

and influential, global media houses to disseminate their greatness?

Much better than having a history so obscure

that we have to seek it out via little-known books at Amazon, don't you think?

ROSSIKE:

Last time I checked that's exactly what they were doing.



Do you realise that 7 of the world's 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa?




Are you not an African? What have you personally done to actualize those ideals??



Obscure only in your own head.



If African history books are little known, who are you waiting for to 'know' them? You should educate yourself before thinking of others.

ROSSIKE:

[size=14pt]Young man, You do realise that Africa - north, west, east and south - had NUMEROUS HIGHLY POPULATED CITIES and COMMERCIAL/ACADEMIC CENTERS, including universities which attracted students from as far away as Syria, and governments which maintained ambassadors as far away as Europe prior to the western invasion?

You need to get your head out of National Geographic, visit Amazon.com, and buy some real African history books, and educate yourself.[/size]

shymexx: The guy raised some interesting points, however, colonialism should never be celebrated...

What do you guys think?

Bennyboy11: To praise colonialism is like highlighting the positive side of rape. Most of the perceived "benefits" could have been achieved without colonialism

ochukoccna: How can you celebrate a phenomenon which plundered our resources, destroyed our humanity, entrenched tribalism [Nigerian civil war and the Rwandan genocide have their roots in this] and shattered our community structures?

ayobase:

It did of course, but it has made us stronger!

ayobase:

U just celebrated it shymexx.....its all about a coin.....never one sided!
.
Colonialism has/had its merits and demerits....and I can say that the merits have over-shadowed the demerits!
.
Its not to be celebrated, but still being celebrated....it brought about the global village!
Imagine the internet with languages/dialects!
.
Even CCTV does broadcast in English!

ayobase:

U just celebrated it shymexx.....its all about a coin.....never one sided!
.
Colonialism has/had its merits and demerits....and I can say that the merits have over-shadowed the demerits!
.
Its not to be celebrated, but still being celebrated....it brought about the global village!
Imagine the internet with languages/dialects!
.
Even CCTV does broadcast in English!

Fishoy:
actually disadvantages over shadowed d advantages......go nd read walter rodney on how europe under-develop africa.....den u'l no ur heritage

one_man: A king will die in Africa and buried with life human. A woman who have twins is an abomination, the sickness they don't understand is evil and the person suffers in evil forest. When they're doing any festival mothers are afraid of loosing their love Children.
I believe with colonialism we were able to break loose slightly from these barbaric act passed from our ancestors.

gidiMonsta:

Do you know about the dark ages in Europe? Where people were burnt alive for having measles, where very beautiful women were labelled witches and were burnt at the stake? Where the Church forbade anything science and beheaded scientists?

Europe outgrew this phase not by colonialism but by the influx of knowledge from Egypt, the Arab world and China! Fibonacci learnt mathematics in Tunisia!! Colonialism did not help us, it destroyed us. We would have overcome the negatives in due course, colonialism truncated our development and entrenched an alien concept that is unsustainable for us.