I had once before opened a thread to discuss Africa's mental holocaust, but some readers reminded me that my use of the word "holocaust " was too strong and too harsh. I retreated and abandoned the thread.

In light of current events from across the world, I would like to revisit this issue for a thoroughly honest discussion.
I have chosen to use the phrase " Cultural Genocide ".

This discussion is not about believer versus non believer or about this religion versus that religion. Lets have an honest discussion ,as children of Africa, about historical events and how they may or may not be affecting our reality today.

Now, while I gather and collate material to make my case for this discussion, lets have the floor open to opinions, to guage what comes to mind with the term Cultural genocide.

While pondering it , you might like to ask yourself whether there is such a real thing as Cultural Genocide , or is it just a phrase cooked up by an irredeemable NL atheist conspiracy nut (which I have been called many times). ?

So, Cultural Genocide, real or conspiracy theory ?

If it is real, then, have we , as Africans, been Culturally Genocided ?

If yes, then, are we now Culturally Dead or Culturally Zombified ?

And lastly, kindly ponder whether there exists any relationship, any analogues, between these terms:

Culture-Mind-Worldview-Values-Attitudes-Progress.

Islam has completely replaced the culture of the northerners. The Hausa/Fulani Muslim has no culture of his own, Islam has replaced everything. Christianity has penetrated the south but it hasn't completely destroyed the culture of the people, in fact many have fused their culture into the christian religion, stuffs like spirit husband, marine/ husband and wife, Ogbanje and the rest have all been fused into Christianity. White garment church is a good example.

We are already a very superstitious people that don't depend so much on reason or the scientific process, the foreign religions didn't make us any worse, they just came and diverted us from over dependence on our own mythology and superstitions to that of the foreigners.

Watching from the sidelines

Oga pleatton, we no understand your story.

urheme:
Oga pleatton, we no understand your story.

We know meaning of genocide.
Genocides are hardly accidental.

Is there such a thing as cultural genocide?


Have we been culturally genocided?

If so, are we now cultural zombies (walking dead)?
If so, how does cultural zombification affect our current worldviews, attitudes and realities?

How do we come to terms with this, address and redress it?

Not only africa, most European countries are culturally replaced or nearly totally influenced to the extent of extinction by overwhelming powers. Think of the magnitude and gigantic totalitarian power wielded by series of past empires. For example, Great Britain was highly influenced culturally and religiously by Greece and Roman Empires but not actually to compare the magnitude Africa was. The level of low church attendance in mostly western Europe is as a result of been aware that there was foreign invasion of their culture and believes (religion) by Greece and Roman incursions. Remember the saying "All roads lead to Rome"

My concern here is that we Africans still even have enormous task of doing away with our indigenous culture and religious believes after emancipation of ourselves from foreign robotic cultural control because it ain't the way either. It still have its dark side of derailing development and rational reasoning which was rooted in barbaric and horrific practices. Africa was pretty much hit by what you termed "culture genocide" which greatly affected our independent thought and development. Fact.

^^^
Thank you for your contribution.
Gradual Cultural assimilation is common in history. So we can say that certain weaker European cultures were gradually assimilated by the bigger powers.

But Genocide is something different altogether.
We all know the meaning of genocide.
It involves mass murder, mass extermination and mass extinction.

Genocides don't occur accidentally or gradually.
The are usually deliberate, planned and orchestrated within a short time frame, and with a grand purpose.

With that in mind, have we Africans been Culturally Genocided?

This is a serious question I am putting to my fellow Africans.

Would we better eliminating tribes in Africa like Europe did?

It has a lot to do about Our forgotten past. Africans don't know or remember their history past a few years before slavery. Antything beyond that is percieve as myths.
Example- why should we allow ourselves to be called Africans after a man who isn't part of us?

Every child aspire to follow in the path of greatness (it does not mean wealth), the child follows it where he finds it. If we tell our Children that their Ancestors were The Creators, and we provide the prove in clear mathematical reasoning, That is what they would ever aspire to be.

Obatala was sent down to earth, using a rope, with Him sand and few other things to make the land.
The Dogon said the whole planet was just Nommo which just means water. Obatala came on to water to fell the planet with land, (I have always objected this claim and called it a myth). Until...

Dubai sandfill the shores of their sea and made land out of it, China did the same in a wider range in the middle of an ocean, what about all those oil enomous platforms built in the middle of nowhere.

Perhaps, Obatala was a great scientists, that didn't just come alone, but with other People (mathematicians/scientists like Himself in all area and specializations of earth making). And simply not by a rope but by a vessel etc....

plaetton:


We know meaning of genocide.
Genocides are hardly accidental.

Is there such a thing as cultural genocide?


Have we been culturally genocided?

If so, are we now cultural zombies (walking dead)?
If so, how does cultural zombification affect our current worldviews, attitudes and realities?

How do we come to terms with this, address and redress it?

I would'nt use the word genocide for a culture that have outlived its usefulness and almost non existence.
Culture as we know is been given new meaning as they can nolonger be exalted above statute, culture actually play less role in our land these days because people no longer submit to it, people are more civilise now and have done away with certain traditions which they term barbaric. Eg, the position of the traditional ruler as an arbiter in a matter has died a natural death with the emergence of the customary and area courts, customary disolution of marriages and custody are now done there, this is to ensure equity, justice and good conscience and i believe this is inline with best international practices, that a custom must pass a repungnancy test. Or die a natural death.

So my dear, i believe our culture and tradition is being quickly faced out.

My two kobo contribution

urheme:


I would'nt use the word genocide for a culture that have outlived its usefulness and almost non existence.
Culture as we know is been given new meaning as they can nolonger be exalted above statute, culture actually play less role in our land these days because people no longer submit to it, people are more civilise now and have done away with certain traditions which they term barbaric. Eg, the position of the traditional ruler as an arbiter in a matter has died a natural death with the emergence of the customary and area courts, customary disolution of marriages and custody are now done there, this is to ensure equity, justice and good conscience and i believe this is inline with best international practices, that a custom must pass a repungnancy test. Or die a natural death.

So my dear, i believe our culture and tradition is being quickly faced out.

My two kobo contribution

Thanks again.
But let repeat that cultural assimilation is common, and even quite natural.
Cultural genocide is quite different.
It would involve a plan, a conspiracy.

urheme:


I would'nt use the word genocide for a culture that have outlived its usefulness and almost non existence.
Culture as we know is been given new meaning as they can nolonger be exalted above statute, culture actually play less role in our land these days because people no longer submit to it, people are more civilise now and have done away with certain traditions which they term barbaric. Eg, the position of the traditional ruler as an arbiter in a matter has died a natural death with the emergence of the customary and area courts, customary disolution of marriages and custody are now done there, this is to ensure equity, justice and good conscience and i believe this is inline with best international practices, that a custom must pass a repungnancy test. Or die a natural death.

So my dear, i believe our culture and tradition is being quickly faced out.

My two kobo contribution

I believe the op is asking if there was a planned and deliberate attempt at ensuring that our culture be "given a new meaning" so that it can "play a less role in our society".

My answer is yes. When the europeans decided to journey into Africa, they developed a well planned strategy to ensure that their rule be guaranteed on this new "discovery" of theirs. First, they started by claiming they "discovered" Africa. How on earth do you discover a place where people already live in, have families, built societies and had their own culture and history really beats me.

In the beginning, our ancestors ate these people but in some parts welcomed them maybe out of sheer curiosity at the clothings, the way they spoke, their huge ships and gifts.

These series of events gave room to the idea of the need to teach the black man their ways. I don't mean to digress but ask yourself, when you travel to another country, do you teach those people Yoruba or hausa or igbo or do you learn their own language? I believe its far easier to learn the other person's language afterall there is a larger population of igbos in Lagos who speak Yoruba as opposed to the number of Yorubas in Lagos who speak igbo.

However, the white man did the exact opposite. Instead, they gave our ancestors gifts in the form of their kind of clothing. They set up schools and started teaching us English. They set up churches and taught us about Jesus Christ all the while saying, "you don't dress properly. Our language is better than yours. All your gods are false, serve the one and only true god". They even went as far as setting up their own "government" and the irony is that they said our kings and queens were below their government and laws even though ironically, they did all these "in the name of the queen".

Then they decided to carter our ancestors away as "slaves" after recognising their obvious physical strenght by conniving with the kings of old and bribing them with gifts and titles. After using these slaves for centuries they went ahead and taught them only about white leaders before the blacks were able to educate themselves and demand the inclusion os "black history" as in the case of America. However, they were able to steal over 1000years of Africa's development.

And their plan worked.

Today we have a generation that believe it is "razz" to speak your own language or even pidgin English. Listen to Nigerian radio stations and most of the presenters can't even pronounce their own names. Our youths believe serving our own gods will lead us to hell without realising that by believing in such a statement you have condemed every single one of your ancestors to eternal damnation. People believe you are Behind when you eat salad, burgers, meat pie, pizzas, sharwarma and will quickly say "yuck" to our own eba, amala etc despite the fact that our foods are more economical and healthy etc

So, once again I say YES to the ops assertion. Africa is a victim of cultural genocide

@plaetton

plaetton:

Thanks again.
But let repeat that cultural assimilation is common, and even quite natural.
Cultural genocide is quite different.
It would involve a plan, a conspiracy.

And who is conspiring with who?
Am not getting u well

atheism is also foreign

mujahid1339:
atheism is also foreign

Actually, atheism is natural. Everyone is born without the belief of a god until someone starts lying to them

hahn:


I believe the op is asking if there was a planned and deliberate attempt at ensuring that our culture be "given a new meaning" so that it can "play a less role in our society".

My answer is yes. When the europeans decided to journey into Africa, they developed a well planned strategy to ensure that their rule be guaranteed on this new "discovery" of theirs. First, they started by claiming they "discovered" Africa. How on earth do you discover a place where people already live in, have families, built societies and had their own culture and history really beats me.

In the beginning, our ancestors ate these people but in some parts welcomed them maybe out of sheer curiosity at the clothings, the way they spoke, their huge ships and gifts.

These series of events gave room to the idea of the need to teach the black man their ways. I don't mean to digress but ask yourself, when you travel to another country, do you teach those people Yoruba or hausa or igbo or do you learn their own language? I believe its far easier to learn the other person's language afterall there is a larger population of igbos in Lagos who speak Yoruba as opposed to the number of Yorubas in Lagos who speak igbo.

However, the white man did the exact opposite. Instead, they gave our ancestors gifts in the form of their kind of clothing. They set up schools and started teaching us English. They set up churches and taught us about Jesus Christ all the while saying, "you don't dress properly. Our language is better than yours. All your gods are false, serve the one and only true god". They even went as far as setting up their own "government" and the irony is that they said our kings and queens were below their government and laws even though ironically, they did all these "in the name of the queen".

Then they decided to carter our ancestors away as "slaves" after recognising their obvious physical strenght by conniving with the kings of old and bribing them with gifts and titles. After using these slaves for centuries they went ahead and taught them only about white leaders before the blacks were able to educate themselves and demand the inclusion os "black history" as in the case of America. However, they were able to steal over 1000years of Africa's development.

And their plan worked.

Today we have a generation that believe it is "razz" to speak your own language or even pidgin English. Listen to Nigerian radio stations and most of the presenters can't even pronounce their own names. Our youths believe serving our own gods will lead us to hell without realising that by believing in such a statement you have condemed every single one of your ancestors to eternal damnation. People believe you are Behind when you eat salad, burgers, meat pie, pizzas, sharwarma and will quickly say "yuck" to our own eba, amala etc despite the fact that our foods are more economical and healthy etc

So, once again I say YES to the ops assertion. Africa is a victim of cultural genocide

@plaetton

Beautiful.
This is exactly where I wish to go with this discussion.
I am have material that I will be presenting.

The reason the question is sooo relevant is because there cannot be a crime if there is no victims.
If we don't see ourselves as victims, then no crime has been comitted worthy of investigating and seeking justice, redress and rehabilitation.

@plaetton
keep in mind that 98% of Nigerians don't know their true history, you will get nothing out of this discussion.

A very insightful test is … ask this question to any Nigerian around you "How was Nigerians colonized ?" you'd be marvelled at the answers you'd get.
the more correct form should be,how was your tribe/nation colonized ? … but for an answer that clearly depicts what i am flaw the first form is just perfect. Try this test, it's important.

thoth:
@plaetton
keep in mind that 98% of Nigerians don't know their true history, you will get nothing out of this discussion.

A very insightful test is … ask this question to any Nigerian around you "How was Nigerians colonized ?" you'd be marvelled at the answers you'd get.
the more correct form should be,how was your tribe/nation colonized ? … but for an answer that clearly depicts what i am flaw the first form is just perfect. Try this test, it's important.

I love the way you think how do we get more people to think like you?

cosmos 2014 ep 2:


This is a story about you and me and your dog.
There was a time not long ago before dogs.
They didn't exist.
Now there are big ones, small ones, snugglers, guardians, hunters.
Every kind of dog you could possibly want.
How did that happen? It's not just dogs.
Where did all the different kinds of living creatures come from? The answer is a transforming power that sounds like something straight out of a fairy tale or myth, but it's no such thing.
Let's go back across 30,000 years to a time before dogs, when our ancestors lived in the endless winter of the last ice age.
Our ancestors were wanderers living in small bands.
They slept beneath the stars.
The sky was their storybook, calendar, an instruction manual for living.
It told them when the bitter colds would come, when the wild grains would ripen, when the herds of caribou and bison would be on the move.
Their idea of home was Earth itself.
But they lived in fear of other hungry creatures the mountain lions and the bears that competed with them for the same prey and the wolves that threatened to carry off and devour the most vulnerable among them.
All the wolves want to get at the bone, but most of them are too frightened to come close enough.
Their fear is due to high levels of stress hormones in their blood.
It's a matter of survival.
Because coming too close to humans can be fatal.
But a few wolves-- due to natural variations-- have lower levels of those hormones.
This makes them less afraid of humans.
This wolf has discovered what a branch of his ancestors figured out some 15,000 years ago an excellent survival strategy; the domestication of humans.
Let the humans do the hunting, don't threaten them, and they'll let you scavenge their garbage.
You'll eat more regularly, you'll leave more offspring, and those offspring will inherit your disposition.
This selection for tameness would be reinforced with each generation until that line of wild wolves evolves into dogs.
You might call this "survival of the friendliest.
" Then as now, this was a good deal for the humans, too.
The scavenging dogs weren't just a sanitation squad.
They worked security.
As this interspecies partnership continued over time, the dogs' appearance changed also.
Cuteness became a selective advantage.
The more adorable you were, the better chance you had to live and pass on your genes to another generation.
What began as an alliance of convenience became a friendship that deepened over time.
To see what happens next, let's leave our distant ancestors of some 20,000 years ago to visit the more recent past during an intermission in the Ice Age.
This break in the climate starts a revolution.
Instead of wandering, people are settling down.
There's something new in the world villages.
People still hunt and gather, but now they also produce food and clothing agriculture.
The wolves have traded their freedom in exchange for a steady meal.
They've given up their right to choose a mate.
Now the humans choose for them.
They consistently kill off the dogs that can't be trained; the ones that bite the feeding hand.
And they breed the dogs that please them.
They nurture those dogs that do their bidding hunting, herding, guarding, hauling, and keeping them company.
From every litter, the humans select the puppies they like best.
Over the generations, the dogs evolve.
This kind of evolution is called "artificial selection" or "breeding."
Turning wolves into dogs was the first time we humans took evolution into our own hands.
And we've been doing it ever since to shape all the plants and animals that we depend on.
In a blink of cosmic time, just 15,000 or 20,000 years, we turned gray wolves into all the kinds of dogs we love today.
Think of it.
Every breed of dog you've ever seen was sculpted by human hands.
Many of our best friends-- the most popular breeds-- were created in only the last few centuries.

We don suffer

Sadness and a feeling of facing a problem bigger than you alone makes one like me, I want to say that people should read more and try to discuss logically among peers on topics of important , but then someone would ask how do we make them read or discuss logically after that……

igbo2011:


I love the way you think how do we get more people to think like you?

dalaman:
Islam has completely replaced the culture of the northerners. The Hausa/Fulani Muslim has no culture of his own, Islam has replaced everything. Christianity has penetrated the south but it hasn't completely destroyed the culture of the people, in fact many have fused their culture into the christian religion

I currently serve in a rural area in Zamfara state, you just cannot say where the line between culture and religion lies. I'm still trying to understand how it got to that point.

Trafficjam11:


I currently serve in a rural area in Zamfara state, you just cannot say where the line between culture and religion lies. I'm still trying to understand how it got to that point.

Before Usman dan Fodio's invasion of northern Nigeria in the early 1800s, Hausas practised Islam pretty much the same way Yoruba muslims do - as a mere appendage to their already dominant traditional religion and heritage. Hausas used to be great traders, scholars, and artisans, just like the Igbos, and religion came a firm second to their worldly pursuits. Dan Fodio saw this mixture of Hausa culture and Islam as idolatry. His Jihad succeeded in obliterating northern traditional cultures and imposing a fully Arabized, Islamic way of life on the people. That's why you go to the north today and virtually everyone bears the name Muhammed, Abubakar, Ibrahim etc. This intense Arabization also explains why northerners are psychologically the most detached from concepts of national/continental unity, as evinced by their comparatively quick recourse to ethnic violence and purges at the slightest provocation.

plaetton:


Beautiful.
This is exactly where I wish to go with this discussion.
I am have material that I will be presenting.

The reason the question is sooo relevant is because there cannot be a crime if there is no victims.
If we don't see ourselves as victims, then no crime has been comitted worthy of investigating and seeking justice, redress and rehabilitation.

But this is where the problem lies. We have been caught in this trap for so long it now seems like its the best place to be.

You have to give it to white men though, when they steal they just don't steal money. Nooooo. They also steal your future

My initial comment should have been longer but I use a blackberry. This happens to be an issue that I have pondered myself over the years and the truth is that blacks have been systemically taken advantage of. Everything we represent today are exactly what was planned by the whites.

However, I do believe there is a solution and it has to be as systematic as the cause.

thoth:
Sadness and a feeling of facing a problem bigger than you alone makes one like me, I want to say that people should read more and try to discuss logically among peers on topics of important , but then someone would ask how do we make them read or discuss logically after that……

Such a feat can only be achieved by visionary leaders and not the crop of corruptible, visionless, self centered leaders we have in Africa. We will have to hit the problems at the very core such as our laws/legislation, educational sector, total/systematic eradication of all religious beliefs.

It would also be paramount to note that we have to differentiate our laws from our beliefs(tribal or religious). Laws should only be made specifically to benefit the black race.

Akanigbo should have something to add to this discussion. Propably with his vast knowledge of history he can help figure out where the missing link is and give us a clue on how we can plan a solution.

hahn:


Actually, atheism is natural. Everyone is born without the belief of a god until someone starts lying to them

Atheism is cultural actually. You had a belief in God until you were lied to.

We're all taught different things, but we come in contact with the truth at some points in our lives.

Joshthefirst:
Atheism is cultural actually.

My POV: Atheism is the non belief of a god or supremem being. Babies come to this world without a knowledge of god or anything else for that matter and as they grow their parents, society etc tell them lies about a god blah blah blah

Kindly explain your pov

Joshthefirst:
Atheism is cultural actually. You had a belief in God until you were lied to.

We're all taught different things, but we come in contact with the truth at some points in our lives.

You are a christian only because you were born into the religion and indoctrinated into its theology. If you were born to a Hindu family in India and went through the same systematic indoctrination you would have been talking about the truth of Hinduism. You know no truth, you know know what you have been indoctrinated with.

wiegraf:


We don suffer

You don suffer. You think you're on the higher tier of knowledge looking down at the mindless drones below. But you're not. You're in an ignorant pit. Deceived terribly and steep in the darkness of your selected ignorance.

hahn:


My POV: Atheism is the non belief of a god or supremem being. Babies come to this world without a knowledge of god or anything else for that matter and as they grow their parents, society etc tell them lies about a god blah blah blah

Kindly explain your pov

Your point of view is wrong, because it is illogical. Especially your definition of atheism. If you adhere to that definition then you have no grounds to say that God does not exist. If you simply lack belief in God then you shouldn't have any opinion or point of view about him, especially about his existence.

Let me define atheism for you: It is the adamant stance that God does not exist.

And babies, as they grow, must be taught, we must come in contact with some form of knowledge or another. What matters is if that knowledge is truth or a lie.
I was taught the inherent and powerful supported truth of the existence of a God, and the way to strike a relationship with him. And you currently believe in a lie.

dalaman:


You are a christian only because you were born into the religion and indoctrinated into its theology. If you were born to a Hindu family in India and went through the same systematic indoctrination you would have been talking about the truth of Hinduism. You know no truth, you know know what you have been indoctrinated with.

Wrong.

You remain an atheist either because you've rejected the truth or you have never come across the truth before(which is quite doubtful). Everyone, irrespective of the borders of religion or culture have been or will be exposed to truth, and it matters what they do with it. We have all been indoctrinated, we have all chosen to base our thinking and mindset on some particular form of knowledge. You'll be foolish to think indoctrination is completely involuntary. So indoctrination doesn't really count. Its what one has been indoctrinated with that matters.

Joshthefirst:
Your point of view is wrong, because it is illogical. Especially your definition of atheism. If you adhere to that definition then you have no grounds to say that God does not exist. If you simply lack belief in God then you shouldn't have any opinion or point of view about him, especially about his existence.

Let me define atheism for you: It is the adamant stance that God does not exist.

And babies, as they grow, must be taught, we must come in contact with some form of knowledge or another. What matters is if that knowledge is truth or a lie.
I was taught the inherent and powerful supported truth of the existence of a God, and the way to strike a relationship with him. And you currently believe in a lie.

Let's not derail the thread

hahn:


Let's not derail the thread

Thank you.

My dear Joshthefirst, kindly allow us to focus on the important issues here.
If you feel that you, Africans, have not been culturally genocided, then kindly share your points,..and please, without the religious mumbo jumbo.