Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? - Politics (3) - Nairaland
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| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Nobody: 11:48pm On Mar 23, 2006 |
@ Layi Couldn't have put it better myself |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Laya(m): 12:20am On Mar 24, 2006 |
naijababe: Thanks sis, truth is much better than falsehood  |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by pearl2(m): 1:14am On Mar 24, 2006 |
Old Glory:Thanks Old Glory for stating this for the umpteenth time. I'll like to make my own final submissions on this topic;'Did anything good come out of colonialism in Africa?' 1.Colonialism on its own was not a desirable thing,but it was a phase in our political evolution that we cannot wish away. 2.Colonialism was not just politics,there were a lot of Europeans who were motivated not by the glory of the Empire but by sharing the Gospel with the 'natives',and this also almost invariably involved education and social development.You cannot fault the achievement of the missionaries in the educational developement of Nigeria even if you are uneducated atheist.(Remember a statement credited to Awolowo,'they gave us education with which we used to fight them')This was in contrast to the days of slavery in America,when to teach a slave to read was actively discouraged. 3.Just like it happens in other things in life even on a personal note,some 'good' does come out of unpleasant experiences and it behooves us to make use of this and let it propel us positively.The Holocaust for instance,was an 'evil' historical fact,but the Jews would very probably not have founded the state of their own were it not for that horrible experience. 4.It's an acknowledged fact even by politicians that fought for independence that the quality of life today in Nigeria,the working of the system generally, is worse than the colonial times(I can still remember vividly Balarabe Musa comparing the various indices in an interview 1 or 2 years ago) 5.By so doing,they and us (Pearl2,T4 Cash,Old Glory) are not advocating for the Brits to come back,but asking ourselves if the 'racists' can make the system fair to the 'natives',why can't we make it fairer to ourselves now? 6.The Europeans left us years ago,why do we now struggle tooth and nail to get their visa to come and meet them in their own countries(instead of being governed by own leaders) and put ourselves under their rule again in their own land, despite the fact that they were so wicked that they left only evil behind in Nigeria. 7.It's high time we go beyond blaming the Brits for what we can hold IBB,Abacha,Alami,Balogun, ( and others too numerous to mention) accountable for.(At a time in the 70's and 80's, the classic book,'How Europe Underdeveloped Africa' by Walter Rodney, was the bible of the progressives,while acknowledging this fact,it's time we point out, 'How Africans are underdeveloping Africa' or to put a positive spin on it,'How Africans can develop Africa') 8.The Brits were also in Asia and other parts of Africa but some of these countries have now gone ahead of Nigeria despite similar political experiences,we can take a cue from them.(Remember the palm seed anecdote from Malaysia?) 9.Finally, I hope a day would come that Nigeria would be able to take its rightful place in the comity of nations,when we will be able to carry our passports round the world as patriotic ambassadors of our fatherland, not economic vagabonds,refugees of state failure;putting up with humiliations at airports,but a people infused with pride and self assuredness borne of genuine achievements recognizable all over the world as the acknowledged leader of the Black race. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by demmy(m): 3:20am On Mar 24, 2006 |
pearl2: You're confusing missionaries with colonial administrators. These were not the same. Infact the educational advantage we enjoyed in the South over the northerners was because colonial administrators disallowed the missionaries from proselytizing in the North. My argument is not against these types of contact with white people and their culture. We needed the contact. It is the modern administrative structures as laid down by the colonial administration I'm railing against. These structures were generally laid for their colonial administrative convenience without taking into consideration the nuances of the locals or making them general enough to be uniform. pearl2: But none of these countries (outside of Hongkong for some other reasons) can directly link its ongoing development to colonialism. They all went into political and economic turmoils immediately after independence and not until they made the necessary structural changes needed could they get on developmental path. As for Malaysia it remained democratic through all these turmoils mark you even a communist onslaught couldn't sway it whereas in Nigeria some like t4cash are already having second thought about democracy and thinking "maybe Abacha was better" or maybe we should be recolonized. My point is this type of unfocused thinking distract the process of nation building. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by t4cash(m): 6:18am On Mar 24, 2006 |
demmy: @demmy You do not need to show me "that the problem plaguing us today has deeper root that run back all the way to the colonial period which you think was better." I know that. You are arguing by yourself not with me. I am saying something and you are disagreeing with me over something else I never said. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by sage(m): 7:22am On Mar 24, 2006 |
was Singapore not colonized. Malaysia.too. Did all these countries not get their independence from Britain at the same time with african countries. Why are they on the same level with the western countries now? Our problem includes the fact that we choose not to accept reality and love to lay blame on something else. The world don tire 4 Africa. NA ONLY US GET ETHNIC GROUPS SEF? NA ONLY US GET PROBLEM? NA COLONIALISM CARRY 300 BILLION POUNDS OF NAIJA MONEY GO KEEP AM 4 SWISS BANKS. AS long as we spend all our time trying to blame the white man (the funniest is trying to show we are more righteous than them) we will forever be backwords. I 4 one dont care if they recolonize. Wetin be all this sef. MEANWHILE, LET THE 'PATRIOTS' START WHINING. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by t4cash(m): 7:48am On Mar 24, 2006 |
Demmy, are you counting? Hope you can appreciate now what I was trying to say. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by demmy(m): 11:02am On Mar 24, 2006 |
t4cash: You do not need to show me "that the problem plaguing us today has deeper root that run back all the way to the colonial period which you think was better." I know that. Good but then you could have made a more realistic contribution instead of switching the thread starter's original question. The question was "Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way?" this you changed to "Isn't Recolonisation a Good idea?" Remember? It is on this that I've being arguing with you. YOUR SUGGESTION FOR RECOLONISATION. But I guess I've being talking to myself because you're not coherent enough to remember your previous posts. t4cash: Demmy, are you counting? what is it exactly are you trying to say because I'm missing it? That things were better during colonialism and that lots of people agree with you is that it? If that is true how is it of significant to today's problems? If all Nigerians agree that colonial period was better how does that help their case today? Tell me. And do you think that democracy has failed in Nigeria since we are not ripping its dividends yet? |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by t4cash(m): 1:41pm On Mar 24, 2006 |
Demmy I have since apologized for extending the original topic. ideally I ought to have started my own thread. Explaining my point further here, will be continuing what I apologized for doing. Lets just leave it mata at that. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by pearl2(m): 2:03pm On Mar 24, 2006 |
demmy link=topic=8667.msg252136#msg252136 date=1143166848 |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by demmy(m): 3:36pm On Mar 24, 2006 |
There is no confusion at all.The 2 went hand in hand.If the Brit administrators and conquerors had not clear the way,it would have been almost impossible for missionaries to go to Africa .The same ships that carried the soldiers and admnis also carried the missionaries.Most times,the wife of the district officer was the nurse or the teacher in the mission school.Haven't you heard of this snide remark?'rifle in one hand,bible in the other' or 'they came gave us the bible and took our wealth' Wrong. The missionaries had been coming to Africa and making impact long before Africa was officially colonised. And I'am refering to the administrative colonisation here. The Berlin Conference that partitioned Africa was from 1884-85. Before this time there were various European governments' military and economic control in Africa but mostly for prospective and expeditional purposes, or after slave trade was abolished to intercept slave ships, but this controls were not direct and never in any administrative sense. They were not collecting taxes nor making laws. The missionaries on the other hand had been making useful impacts long before then. It is instructive for you to know that Samuel Ajayi Crowther had translated the Bible into Yoruba since 1843 and codified the yoruba alphabet. he was also ordained bishop in 1864. That is almost 40 and 20 years before administrative colonialism began. Also and importantly Robert Townsend, a missionary had established Iwe Iroyin Yoruba since 1859 and founded the C.M.S Grammer School, Lagos also the same year. These were some of the modernisation processes already going on from contact with Europeans (missionaries, traders etc). There was no need for the administrative colonisation that the Berlin conference imposed (at least for us) except of course for better exploitations (for the colonisers). |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by pearl2(m): 5:27pm On Mar 24, 2006 |
You do have a point,but I would still insist that,one activity,namely colonization had effect on the other(missionary activities).The fact of the matter is that some of the explorers,colonialists,and missionary carried out all the functions at once.For instance,was David Livingstone a missionary or an explorer?He was both. People tend to think that before the Europeans came,Africans lived like a big happy family,that is not true. There were conflicts, intertribal wars;for instance the Yorubas had long running civil wars among themselves during this period. There's no doubt about the fact that colonialism was largely economic interest of the Empire,my point is that all over the world,conquered people had times of foreign domination,but they acknowledge this and go ahead to build a truly viable nation from there,instead of spending eternity bemoaning their fate.Even a country like Germany after the war had foreign governors but they still forged ahead after that experience. The biggest problem of Nigeria is corruption,during the colonial period and even immediately after independence,there was corruption,but it's not on the scale we have it today.Now, the European colonialists are hardly responsible for this. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Mariory(m): 8:50pm On Mar 24, 2006 |
mamaput: Actually, they found oil in 1956.  http://www.nnpcgroup.com/history.htm |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by mamaput(f): 3:20pm On Mar 25, 2006 |
 really and they left ? were is the hook. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by t4cash(m): 4:33pm On Mar 25, 2006 |
The exit of colonialists from Africa is a very complex story. Maybe they exited because they realised that they could still exploit us from outside through our "neo-colonialists". Methinks they left because it became more trouble than it was worth. After fighting two World Wars in succession, the Europeans governments owed so much money that they could nt afford any more luxuries. Britain owed Americans over 2 billion pounds (this is pre -IMF, when a pound meant an actual weight of pure gold). I mean the Americans leant them money by actually shipping gold to them. They could not pay this back. Furthermore, their subjects who now had lived with them in the tranches realised did not see them as "gods" unlike before. This is not to belittle the nationalists like Nkrumah and Zik. However, they were aided by the internal dynamics of the colonialist governments as well. Any way the oil that was found in 1956 was not that much. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Mariory(m): 6:33pm On Mar 25, 2006 |
Fair point. The British could no longer afford to keep Nigeria and other colonial territories after the second world war. Although they tried in vain to hold onto India. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by jahwool(m): 1:52am On Nov 03, 2007 |
I in my honest opinion we should be focused on how to deal with our present reality. Are we counting our blessings from reigns of colonialism or losses? Yesterday's remedy lies in our ability to adapt to today's sweeping tides of globalisation. Though we all in a way or the other have our varying misgivings on Colonialism but if you critically analyse what our forebears faced you will agree with other discussants that this same evil metted upon our fathers has succeeded in bringing us as a people or country to the doorsteps of the world map and whether we like it or not we have to hang in there by drastically reducing the problems we face as a people from poor leadership to false followership causing us to receed instead of succeeding developmentally. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Kobojunkie: 2:59am On Nov 03, 2007 |
if only more and more of us could focus more on what is on the ground in Nigeria today, we could actually INTELLIGENTLY come up with lasting solutions . |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Nobody: 3:08am On Nov 03, 2007 |
Kobojunkie: that is assuming we are even intelligent at all. From the look of things, that is a highly debatable assumption. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by almondjoy(f): 6:03pm On Nov 03, 2007 |
davidylan: Paging Dr. Watson-----------------I think he needs more subjects for his experiment. Think he needs more Nigerian subjects to clear all doubt. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Ndipe(m): 5:43am On Mar 15, 2009 |
Colonialism has its merits and demerits in Africa. Merits: It ushered in Christianity. Demerits: Materialism |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by Ayowumie(m): 11:47am On Aug 25, 2010 |
Colonialism wasn't that bad but it wasn't that good either. Lets reflect back to the amalgamation of 1914, if this had not happened, definitely there would not have been a Nigeria comprising Hausa/Fulani, Igbos and the rest. That is not to say a 'Nigeria' would not have existed. A Nigeria might still exist but it would be devoid of tribal and religious intolerance as we have it today. Secondly, when colonialism ended, it had succeeded in creating a failed entity called a "nation" whose problems we are still battling with 50 years after. Regarding the issue of technology, you don't have to be colonized before you imbibe technology and or civilization. One of the earliest record of civilisation started in Egypt albeit it was not colonised. Technological advancement is a consequent result of improvement in the standard of living of the people. It was what I could call (in the word of WW. ROSTOW) "age of luxury" and which can only be attained after the people might have satisfied their basic needs and which can never be associated with the advent of colonialism. |
| Re: Wasn't Colonialism A Good Thing In A Way? by T9ksy(m): 4:02pm On Aug 25, 2010 |
That an african man can ask such a question is quite instructive, to say the least. However, this same person forgot to acknowledge that colonialism was a bi-product of slavery. He might as well ask, whether slavery is a good thing, in a way? Despite the millions of black souls lost along the way to newfoundlands in the Americas. They destroyed everything that make us who we are and in its stead gave us what we are not. And people are here hyperventilating on the subject. I pity my black brothers O. If you don't know where you came from, how the hell are you gonna know where you ought to be going? Forget about colonialism, slavery is the best thing that could have happened to the black mind. shooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Continue to wallow in your ignorance. |
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