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 Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 10:49pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]dealers, but the personification of all that is meant by corruption and immorality . All of Affonso's efforts to get at least one good school established in Kongo were blocked . For one thing, widespread education of the Blacks was not really intended ; that would have meant sending welltrained teachers instead of the unwanted dregs of Portuguese society . But even if Portugal had had the best intentions, she herself did not have many educated men in the sixteenth century and her own illiterate masses were just as ignorant as those in the rest of Europe . The situation had become worse on all fronts when Diogo became king of Kongo in 1545, supported by the Lisbon court factions that could still make or break kings and influence their policies . On the other hand, the powerful trader population had their principal strongholds at strategic Luanda and Sao Thome, from which points they continued to expand slave operations in, below, around and beyond Kongo, all in defiance of Kongolese kings and the king of Portugal himself. They were greatly aided by the king (ngola) of Ndongo, the strongest state in the Angola region .4 But Ndongo was nominally under the Kongo as a tributary state . In 1556 war between the major conflicting groups, hitherto undercovered, broke out, open and full scale : Royal Portuguese forces allied with those of Kongo against Portuguese trader force allied with Ndongo-Portuguese against Portuguese and Africans against Africans . So it appears on paper in the records . The simple truth is that it was a war of Africans against Africans, with the Portuguese forces safely in the rear . That black troops were to be used in all dangerous situations and white lives safeguarded wherever possible was no silent "Gentleman's Agreement" or an aspect of the Grand Caucasian Consensus ; it was, rather, an explicit royal decree from Lisbon . But it was so very unneces- . sary, this royal order to put Blacks in the front lines of battle . This would have been done anyway as a matter of course . The Kongolese were defeated and Ndongo and the slave traders now controlled the whole trade . And although the war waged against them was instigated by Lisbon and directed by Manuel's own representatives in Kongo, the victorious traders used Ndongo for negotiations leading to a new alliance with Lisbon and the foundation for taking over all of Angola as ---------------------------------------------------- Notes 4. The name "Angola," later taken from the title for the king, was not yet applied to the region that is now the Portuguese colony of Angola . [/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 10:48pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]cannons . And while we now surround ourselves with armed guards on these long marches, we never know how many of our black soldiers are the Queen's own men! . . . " This would have been a true account up to 1663 when the forty years of unremitting warfare that Queen Nzinga waged against the Portuguese to free Angola ended with her passing . Africa had lost her greatest daughter, the slaves their greatest emancipator . Where is this explicitly written? Nowhere . It has been pointed out that Affonso was himself a statesman, and far from being a mere puppet in the hands of the Portuguese . Even though the process got under way with his conversion to Christianity and the replacement of his own African name with a Portuguese one, he was awakened by the Code, and began to resist and reject those provisions which were designed to make Africans Black Portuguese in the name of Christ, while destroying their sovereignty at the same time . The fact that the enemy prevailed in the end does not detract from his stature as a great African . The pressures had increased as Portuguese riches from the slave trade, far from satisfying their greed, led them into excited searches for gold, silver, copper and lead they believed to be in abundance in the region, but concealed by the Blacks . Pressures from the African population increased with the widespread slave hunts and raids . Historians have highlighted the role of African chiefs and kings in the slave trade ; little is said about the general African opposition to the trade or about the kings and chiefs who led the fight against' it . Yet, by the very nature of the situation, these had to be . as well known as the Blacks who enriched themselves from the traffic . Queen Nzinga was not the only African abolitionist . It just happened that in her case she was not only involved in treaty negotiations of record, but operated over so many Angolan areas that she could not easily be excluded from history . The Kongolese opposing their kings were fighting both slavery and the Christian Church that promoted it . Even the broader education they all so passionately desired turned out to be a farce, another Western bait . The "schools," rigidly restricted in number and attendance, were little more than Catholic catechistic classes, under semi-literate priests who were themselves not only slave[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 10:47pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]the slave pens on the coast . The greatest number died from poison which hundreds of women would conceal on their bodies for the purpose, passing it to friends and kinsmen in the darkness of night before giving it to their children and finally taking it themselves . All this slowed us down during the night when we should have moved faster because it was cooler . Yet the dead and the dying had to have their chains chopped off from the living . Many babies were deliberately smothered to death by their dying mothers . . . We do not believe that the other deaths were caused by the long march as some allege . For while it is true that we ourselves are carried in hammocks, the bearers changed every ten or fifteen miles . The biggest and strongest boys are selected to carry us . They are usually between twenty and thirty years old. They also collapse sometimes, but only five have died during this year . It must be remembered that these Blacks are quite used to walking very long distances with heavy burdens . . . There are many problems in this business. The captains, taking it easy on the coast, are always complaining about our slow movement and the many weeks it takes on the march. They never take into account how much we are slowed down by tramping and stumbling over the skeletons and rottening dead bodies of slaves that went along these trails before us, sometimes years before us. The stench of those who died recently is unbearable, yet we bear it . We also lose much time trying to find routes free of the dead and dying . Then there are scores and scores of perfectly healthy Blacks who drop dead without any apparent cause . Some say they die out of sheer spite-another way of defeating us . . . We work in fear, for our guns are often useless in the increasing number of ambush attacks along these death-ridden trails . And while the Kongolese kings now harass us in their attempts to check the spread of the trade, the real danger is in the Angola region, the region of the Black Terror in the form of a deathdefying black queen, Ann Nzinga. Who ever heard of a woman general, leading her armies in person? The truth is that she is the greatest military strategist that ever confronted the armed forces of Portugal . Her tactics keep our commanders sweating in confusion and dismay . Her aim is nothing less than the total destruction of the slave trade . To this end, and what alarms us most, she has developed a system of infiltrating our black troops with her own men, causing whole companies to rebel, desert, and join her armies in what she calls a'War of Liberation .' Portuguese, casualties are always heavier than reported, for she stages surprise attacks with lightning speed, always aiming first to capture guns and [/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 10:46pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]this very quickly and found that it fitted in well with the general plan to keep the blacks divided, forever suspicious of each other, and to have these mutual hatreds and suspicions historically derived not from anything the Europeans had done but from the Blacks' own record of tribal" warfare . As the slave raids spread throughout Angola and Kongo, the Blacks continue to flee overland and up the rivers toward the central and southern areas of the great savanna regions and the lakes . Some, as we have seen in the case of Kuba, found security long . enough to rebuild remarkable states again, others found security only in the hidden recesses of decay and decline . Meanwhile, the fierce Jaga warriors were still on rampage, fighting with or against any group, including the white slave traders . But since the Jaga generally waged war only against their own kind, Africans, the Portuguese were less hesitant in supplying them with guns . The wars to capture slaves had become so widespread among and within the various states, and the slave trails to the coasts were so heavy with barefooted traffic that it is difficult to see why any alliance with the Jaga were needed, unless it was thought to be necessary to make up for the unbelievable death toll among the captives . For every two million Blacks enslaved over a million died . The record indicate rather clearly that many millions preferred death to slavery. I just said the record indicates," but you will never find a single Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, English or American document that explicitly says arsuch things . The archives in Lisbon are rich to overflowing with African documents going back 500 years . By wading through a great mass of much written records the historian often gets a picture that was not intended for painting and messages from the same documents which were not sent-which is merely another way of saying again that written documents often reveal far more than their authors intended . You will therefore search in vain for an account written as the following : " . . .It is not true that all women, and even children, were likewise marched in chains ; this would have been unnecessary anyway because we hadearned that these black women are so loyal to their men that they would follow them even into hell . Capture their men and you did not have to capture them . Yet many of these same women would seek death directly by attacking us and our armed guards . These, of course were beaten and chained the same as male slaves . . . Another problen was the large number of suicides during the two-hundred mile trek to [/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 10:07pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]Dogs of the Lord" (Jesuits), wore most helpful as spearheads into the interior chiefdoms to form slave hunting alliances in exchange for discarded guns. For those who require the specific details and examples of just how advancing black states were destroyed throughout the African continent and want the facts repeated over and over again, here then is still another example in both Angola and the Kingdom of Kongo . The strategy for destruction seldom varied, giving added weight to my concept of a Grand Caucasian Consensus on matters concerning nonwhite peoples . The aspect now under discussion was the practice of having white groups spread out over the country into the various provinces, heavily ladened with gifts of goodwill, and getting themselves attached to the courts of local chiefs as friendly advisors who were going to guarantee the security of the chiefs and their people, and even extend their power over other peoples, all of which would make great riches for the chiefs . A few old Juns replacing spears seemed to be sufficient evidence that these whites were indeed saviours as well as friends . (The French name for them was agents provocateurs . The American name would have been C .I.A or A.I .D .) No matter how strong and effective the administrative machinery of the central government at San Salvador had been, it was being undermined and destroyed by the well planned European activities in the provinces-the identical activities that had been carried on in the Egyptian provinces three thousands before, in Kuba, and would be repeated all over Africa . The aim was to provoke war between the Black, pitting the gun-armed groups against those who only had shields and spears, and thus skyrocketing the number of captives for slavery from a few thousands into millions . Not only were whole villages destroyed, but entire provinces were depopulated and their formerly proud and free citizens were marched off in chains, collared and joined together by heavy poles-as though the chains that bruised and bound hands and ankles were not enough . Many royal lineages were among the captives, including chiefs, which is exactly how it should have been if any of the people were to be enslaved. According to African tradition leader and people were one and the same, sharing a common lot . This sense of oneness, however, applied only to the members of one's tribe, and not to Africans outside of it, another tragic fact of black iistory . This is why the chiefs and kings would secure prisoners of war by attacking other states . Only a savage chieftain would sell his own people into slavery . The Europeans learned[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 10:00pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]The Portuguese Christianization of the Kongo created something more than chaos . It was a revolting mess, no matter from what angle it is viewed . To begin with, priests were not only among the leading slave traders, but they also owned slave ships to carry the "black cargoes" to distant lands . Priests also had their harems of black girls, some having as many as twenty each. They were called "house servants" by these "holy fathers." the great majority of the whites were the scum of the land from whit] they came . Even the half-educated priests were generally of the very incest character, morally and otherwise . The slave situation became more and more desperate and out of hand as every white man down to to lowly worker became a trader . The builders sent over to erect fortifications and other permanent installations for the Portuguese (stone an, brick masons, carpenters, engineers, painters, metal and other craftmen) were all slave traders . Sailors and unskilled Portuguese laborers had their own quotas of slaves, especially slave girls . For let this truth emerge from the many facts which are buried, and let it stand out clearly : One of the main attractions that drew thousands of white men was their unlimited sexual freedom with all the black girls and women who were enslaved and helpless in the power of their masters . These "wholesale raids" on black womanhood continued to swell the mulatto population the majority of which, as in the case of Egypt and the Sudan, became the faithful servants and loyal representatives of- the conquering races to which their fathers belonged . The Kongolese king, Affonso, found himself in the middle of fires from several directions, and hamstrung by the Portuguese advisor who had acquired veto power even over the King's actions . Yet Affonso was far from being a weakling . He tried, too late, to gain control of the slave trade, a control now most urgent because every Black that competing raiders could get their hands on was enslaved, including some members of the royal household and numerous titleholders throughout the country.On the other hand, the king of Portugal declared a royal monopoly over the trade . This not only frustrated Affonso's efforts, but clashed head-on with the interests of the powerful and independent slave merchants, the real controlling settlers on the seacoasts and islands . These were the representatives of the great chartered companies that controlled the commerce of the world . Since they operated under royal charters and the Court was a principal shareholder in all such enterpries, they could not openly defy the king ; but the distance from Lisbon enabled them to bypass de Silva and any other representative of the king and carry on as they wished . The mission fathers, the "War[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:51pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]mainly on the coast and off-shore lands, desired the quicker riches that would flow from the increasing d land for black slaves . The settlers, therefore, pursued a more aggresive course of action, ignoring the Lisbon court's attempt to cover up the real operations with the friendly language of diplomacy . Up to the sixteenth century the °people we are calling slaves were not slaves in the modern sense, but labourers either captured as prisoners of war or persons imprisoned for various offenses. During the first stages of the slave trade many African chiefs and kings actually thought they were supplying workers needed aload, and at a great profit to themselves . They had not had experiece with the white man's slave system or its equation with "race ." Not at first, we have said . But as the decades passed, and the Kongo state is a good example, many Africans became enmeshed in the horrors of the trade, knew what they were doing and, in the pursuit of guns and riches, became as brutal as the whites in dealing with their own kind . Guns. Black leaders saw these new weapons of death as the source of the white man's power and the immediate threat to their own existence ; the earth-shaking cannons that were being brought into Africa seemed to herald the death of a whole race or its total enslavement . The Africans became insistent in their demands for guns as articles of trade . There was then, as now, a silent embargo on arms to Black Africa, a sort of white "Gentlemen's Agreement. The demand for guns by the chiefs was pitted against the demand for slaves by the Europeans and Arabs (the Arab slavers had no trouble procuring firearms) . The chiefs could seriously hamper the trade if their demands for guns were not met . Besides, many slave traders were nick to see that the supply of slaves would double and triple if firearms were given to certain strategically located kingdoms and chiefdoms ; from these would then seek to become big, wealthy powers, expanding their territories over weaker black states, and capturing millions of prisoners to be enslaved in the process . The more aggressive traders were willing to arm such African states as one of the risks capitalists must takin the pursuit of wealth . The more imperialist-minded saw an outcorr even more important : That this would be a built-in motivation for perpetual warfare among the Blacks themselves, creating an everlasting hatred between groups, destroying every basis for unity and, above all,firearms would keep them so busily hatitig and fighting each other that iey would forget their real enemies, the "white devils" from the sea .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:41pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]Portuguese as a kingdom ruled by a "King Prester John ." The idea was to unite the Christian forces of Europe with those of Africa in an all-out war against the Arabs . But what was not generally known was that the kingdom of Axum, expanding to become the Empire of Abyssinia, was ruled alternatively by Christian Arabs and Coloured Christian Hebrews . All Arabs were not Muslims; all Hebrews were not Jews in religion . It appears that African Hebrew and Christian Arab communities were in Southern Arabia and Yemen, just across from the East African country they later conquered . The Portuguese, however, did not reach the African Christian kingdom at the time they sought it for the promotion of their campaign against Islam . They had therefore begun the work of creating a Black Christian kingdom in their own image . This was Kongo . By 1512 no one needed to guess or speculate about the Portuguese plans . Their king, Manuel, made them clear in documentary form : The Regimento . This is one of the interesting and significant documents in the history of black people because it was the first detailed blue print for the conquest of the black man's mind (acculturation via Christianity), his body (slavery), and his country . This historic document, however, was couched in all the endearing words and phraseology of equality and brotherly love -from which fact historians have declared the Portuguese African policy to be one of equality replete with humanitarianism . But the Kongolese King, Affonso (his Portuguese name notwithstanding), saw through the elaborate plan to reorganize his country and began to throw up roadblocks, albeit too late . Manuel levied on the King a heavy tribute in slaves, ivory and copper to pay the cost of his Christian civilization program in the country, his various expeditions there, and for the "huge expenses" in connection with the education of a few Kongolese children in Portugal, including the King's son . Manuel's next most important move was to make certain that his Code de Kongo was carried out . He, therefore, sent Simao de Silva both as his ambassador, and, in effect, governor-general or viceroy of Kongo . While Simao de Silva's real functions were clearly outlined, these were covered by the usual title of courtesy : Advisor to the King or the King's Counselor . In this capacity he was the coadministrator of the nation, a supreme judge, and had control over army and finance . He was to have a comprehensive geographical survey of the country to determine the extent of its natural wealth for direct exploitation . Things quickly got out of hand . The Portuguese settler population, based[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:40pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]simple matter of course and require no comment . Yet they are the subtle weapons which have been more devastating in Conquering the Blacks and reducing them to an inferior status than armed might . Caucasian victory- was complete and seemingly permanent when the Blacks throughout the world joined the whites in glorifying all things white and condemning all things black, or even tinged with black, including themselves. Here we are at the very heart of the "race problem," this selfabnegation, self-effacement, the loss of self-identity by cutting their roots with the past and thereby losing the very links with their history from which a people draw strength and inspiration to move forward to even higher ground and, in fact, the reason for being . In short, in the incongruous attempts to replace his own values with those of the white man, the black man lost his own personality and, therefore, his manhood-almost absolutely . Nearly five hundred years have passed since the first Europeans landed on the coasts of West Africa and their phase of transforming Blacks from men to half-men began . Yet even with this long background there are countless millions of frustrated Blacks, frustrated by the perpetual annoyance of the blurred vision and the blank wall as they struggle to see life through the blue eyes of Caucasians . The status of African people throughout the world remains too precarious to deal with their history by merely chronicling important events . The situation demands that greater efforts be made to determine the meaning of those events, their effect on the people, the overall change in the direction of history, and what new directions -the race must take . The major and immediate Portuguese aim in Africa was not the conquest of Blacks; rather, their first aim was to destroy Arab power in Africa and the Islamic control of just about all of the overland trade routes to the East . For this cause Columbus had sailed, and other European nations took to the high seas . The Portuguese sought to use religion as the usual spearhead . That Christian states were in Africa from the earliest times had not been completely forgotten .' One that had escaped Muslim destruction was located in what had been a southeastern border state of the ancient Ethiopian empire, identified by the -------------------------------------------- Notes 3. There was no reason why the ancient African Church should have been "forgotten" at all . The Vatican records and those at Constantinople were available .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:38pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]political system was made to appear as a Portuguese creation . It was already highly and efficiently organized before any Europeans came -organized with each village and town under a chief (called mani), each district under a mani, and each of the six major provinces that made up the kingdom was under the administration of a governor, also bearing the title of mani . Now, in addition to the widespread use of Portuguese names, important Portuguese titles appeared, such as dukes and infantes (a new class of princes) hitherto never used in Africa because the Western conception of royalty was absent . Here, then, is another case where the "external influence" school can have a field day, since nothing is better known (and nowhere denied) than the fact that the Africans who adopted European or Asian institutions, such as Islam and Christianity, for example, were not only "influenced" by them, but often transformed into "Black Arabs," "Black Portuguese," "Black Frenchmen," "Black Englishmen" and so on. In fact, it was this very transforming external influence that played a decisive role in first destroying the best in African civilization while at the same time giving worldwide publicity to all remaining elements of barbarism that could be found . The new masters of the continent were in the position of all-power and could, therefore, make their viewpoints the viewpoints of the world . The system of reducing Blacks to nonpersons was so thoroughgoing that not only did the various people of the world regard them as such, but-tragedy of tragedies-the Blacks themselves came to feel inferior and to hate themselves and all of their kind . Magic? Here, indeed, a magical thing had happened since these whites who called themselves Portuguese had arrived . As the 15th century moved on toward the 19th, the Europeans became less and less "white devils" and more and more white masters, backed up by awesome firepower . "White" was no longer the face of evil in the Black world . 'It had changed places with "black ." Now "black" was the badge of evil, all that was bad-even bad luck . To make a white man look evil you had to dress him in black ; life's final tragedy, death, called for mourning in black ; happy events, such as baptisms and. weddings, required the wearing of white . God Himself, being white, had cursed the Blacks and made them the "servants of man"-man being white man, for was not he made in the "image of God?" To worship God, in effect, was to worship the white man . A volume could be written on the scores of these little psychological gimmicks that are now so deeply embedded in cultural thought that they are taken as a[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:36pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]man's image-a process, previously mentioned, which caused Blacks to reject and become ashamed of both their culture and themselves, the only people on earth to do so . This is why it is important to have a close-up look at the process of Westernization in the Kingdom of Kongo where it began . The missionaries began their work on kings and notables . There was nothing new in this approach. Indeed, the Kongolese were so anxious for the new education and its vehicle, Christianity, that the priests found their tasks easy . First of all, to become a Christian one had to be baptized and given a "Christian" name . Christian names were Western names, and they all took the form used in the conquering country . The first Kongolese King to become a Christian was Nzinga Kuwu in 1492, taking the Portuguese name of Joao I . Hundreds of other Blacks immediately followed his example-princes, chiefs, ministers and some of the masses . The most notable Kongolese kings who became "Black Portuguese" were Affonsos, Alvares, Dom Pedros, Diogos, etc . Overbearing Jesuit Fathers were installed as councilors to the king, one functioning as a prime minister . This move at once destroyed the troublesome traditional council that controlled chiefs and kings-with such councils no European power could operate . The age of absolutism with the rise of the nation-state in Europe was directly reflected in the Kongo kingdom . With this Portuguese wedge between the king and the people, the Kongo rulers now found themselves free to make important decisions without reference to black councilors .' They therefore tended to become absolute monarchs insofar as their own people were concerned, but generally puppets in the hands of Europeans . The exceptions were Affonso I and Diogo 1 . The idea of divine kingship was promoted through the anointment and crowning of kings by Portuguese bishops . Kings now ruled as "sons of the Church," chosen by divine decree to serve it . This meant serving the Portuguese by meeting their demands-always made as friendly suggestions from brothers who were "equal in Christ ." Even the traditional ---------------------------------------------------- Notes 2. Since the Kongolese rulers were migrants into the territory and extended their kingdom over indigenous people, the king's appointment of key officials was one of the same routes to autocracy I have discussed in connection with the rise of new African states following migrations[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:34pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]The Kingdom of Kongo, therefore, is a case-study of the processes of Westernizing the very first group of Blacks on the African continent .' This, however, was only one of the means to a much greater end . Nothing could have been farther from Portugal's real objective than bringing Christianity and a higher civilization to Africa . "Christian civilization" served as the charm words in the white man's magic with the incantations which hypnotized both his victims and himself : They believed they were being introduced to a better life, while the latter convinced himself that even the enslaved people were better off under the white standard for civilization-besides which there was no other . He was, therefore, serving God himself in Africa ; for did not the churches throughout the Western world so proclaim? And were not the Christian missionaries the most effective servants of empire? The court at Lisbon had planned well . . For such a mini-state as Portugal an ambition for an empire bigger than the continent of Europe, and then daring enough to operate the plan-this must compel a degree of admiration for the kind of Caucasian genius and uninhibited aggressiveness that enabled very small groups of men to go forth and dominate almost all the people on this planet . Portugal's presence in West and Central Africa aimed at nothing less than building an empire across Africa from west to east (from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean) a vast swath across the continent that would also serve directly as the imperial highway connection with the projected Indian empire . The African-Indian empire was Portugal's grand design. The Kongo interlude was merely a needed stepping-stone and base of operations . But they were smart enough to realize that the foundation for a permanent empire in the land of another people, built with their own sweat and blood, would be more successful if the minds of the people could be captured first . One did not go in with guns blazing . Only fools did this, except in cases where the "natives" were too damn smart and saw through every scheme, no matter how shining the Cross or how white the extended hand . In such cases it was their own fault, yet for their own salvation, that Christian cannons had to blast away . First of all, however, the really big thing was to change the Blacks into the white ---------------------------------------------------------- Notes 1. The ancient Ethiopian Church (in Makuria and Alwa) had no conscious Westernization program beyond the changes in names, and these, like those of Jews, were Bible names .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:32pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]the same constitutional pattern as that of the other African states already described . The Kongo's economic system of agriculture and handicraft industries, organized into guilds, was the same ; apprenticeship training for all skilled occupations was the same ; and the general pattern of social organization was also the same as other African societies. The Kongo Kingdom was prosperous, carrying on external trade by both land and rivers with states farther north, east and west . The states to the south, later to become Angola, were in an uneasy commotion due to the increasing presence of foreigners on the coast, on nearby islands, and now sailing up the rivers toward the interior . Migrations from the Angola states increased, even though the Portuguese were then bypassing the region in favor of the more highly advanced Kingdom of Kongo. Was it the flight of so many potential slaves from the coastal areas that caused the Portuguese to move up the river closer to population centers? It was more likely a strategic move . By establishing a stronghold in the Kongo kingdom the Angola region would then be caught between Portuguese armed forces on the Angolan northern border and those on the seacoast and off-shore islands . In short, Portugal waass getting in a position to take over this whole region of black states . Many historians and apologists for Portuguese imperialism in Africa use the Kongo kingdom as the classic example of the Portuguese policy of racial equality . For did they not themselves declare this to be their policy? And did not the King of Portugal himself address the King of Kongo as "brother?" What happened was that the Portuguese captains had met . Kongo leaders, not just the King, who were in fact not only their equal, but men so anxious to advance their nation further that they were willing for anything new and better than the white world had to offer . They took the Westerners at their word . They had painted their monarch as the greatest king in a world that had advanced to a pinnacle of civilization under the guidance of a universal religion that was headed by a Supreme Pontiff who was appointed by the Son of God himself. Moreover, this same Successor to the First Head of the Church, the Apostle Peter, would not only welcome the King of Kongo and his people in the great Christian fold, but would send missionaries and teachers to help make his kingdom the greatest in Africa . Portuguese records indicate that far more than religion and Western education was offered-material benefits, such as great wealth from trade, were persuasive.[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:30pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]Now things were changing rapidly and the people were becoming sharply aware that they were being hemmed in from all directions . To begin with, the Arabs were spreading out and penetrating formerly forbidden borders of black states . They could therefore enter black territory from which Whites were barred . These Black Arabs (many were unmixed) confused African leaders everywhere, increased the tensions and tribal wars among them, and helped mightily in destroying the independence of African states . Having discussed this in connection with the fall of the Mossi States and elsewhere, my return to the same subject again is to keep a focus on the race's self-imposed chains as well as on those imposed by the whites . A further reason is that Blacks themselves do not like to discuss these internal handicaps at all, not even among themselves . We prefer to pretend that certain things do not exist . This fact in itself is a weakness that strengthens the white power position over the Blacks . The Portuguese were the first white European people to arrive in West and Central Africa . They were not long in adopting the Arab strategy in dividing the Blacks against themselves-a strategy since adopted by all white people . THE KONGO-ANGOLA STORY The Portuguese arrived at the mouth of the great Congo river in West Africa in 1488. Their aim was to make their tiny European state into a vast African-Indian empire . They had two men of vision to inspire the all-out efforts to realize the dream : Joao I and his son, Henry . Africa had been secure from invasions from this quarter because the Western world had believed that the earth was flat . Now the myth had been exploded when in 1434 Gil Eanes dared to sail beyond the area where the Atlantic Ocean was supposed to end and ships plunge into the void : He sailed around Cape Bojador . Thenceforth the Blacks of West Africa had to confront the "white devils" from Europe and the Americas . The Portuguese, as ignorant of the African people as they had been about the shape of the earth, were not prepared to find highly advanced states there . The Kingdom of the Kongo was their first great surprise, because its political structure and expertly organized administrative machinery equaled that of Portugal or any other European state known to them . That system requires no discussion here because it followed[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:27pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]White Devils from the West BEFORE THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY MOST AFRICANS ON THE continent had never seen a real white face . Since in many societies all devils and other evil spirits were white, the ritual to ward these off was always led by chanting dancers whose faces and bodies were hideously painted with white chalk . That there were in fact white humans-living "white devils"-was unbelievable (probably few reports are better known than those of first contact where the boldest of the unbelievers would venture to rub the skin of whites to see if the "paint" would come off). Over a thousand years had passed since Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks had taken over Egypt, and Arabs now also ruled the Eastern Sudan . Arab-Hebrew rule was steadfast in isolated Abyssinia, while the Arabs along the East Coast, operating from their Zanzibar stronghold, had not themselves ventured far into the interior . Their Afro-Arab agents generally spearheaded slave-hunting operations. Ghana and Mali had disappeared, and now Songhay was making its last stand against Arab, Coloured, and Berber armies from across the desert . Even there where black armies clashed with invading white armies, the masses never saw white people . This refers not only to the countless thousands who fled upon the approach of enemy troops, but also to those who remained scattered over the country in their villages[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:25pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]The role of great leaders as benefactors in human affairs was repeated and made clear again in the life and work of Shyaam the Great and in that of at least two of his successors . Shyaam's economic revolution that promoted remarkable progress and prosperity made his new title of "Lieutenant of God on Earth" readily acceptable ; for were not those leaders who looked after the welfare of the people the instruments of the divine will? As we have seen, a political phenomenon develops from this circumstance in which the people's confidence in the leader is so great that he may be allowed to exercise powers unlimited to further advance the public welfare . It is the genesis of absolutism . Therefore, the study of this state was also a study of how an African democracy evolved into an autocracy without any external influence whatsoever . Kuba revealed something else . We also saw that there was a black imperialism in Africa, all African, and without outside influence . Indeed, we saw the microcosm of all the conquests of Blacks by Blacks, the oppression and enslavement of Blacks by Blacks, all of which left us the heritage of suspicion, distrust and hatred that accounts for "tribalism," disunity, fear and unrest today . In spite of it all, the Kuban state was relatively secure as a black power entity until they allowed the whites to come in . At that point the history of the Blacks in Egypt and everywhere else was being repeated, and in exactly the same way . The Blacks -had learned nothing from their previous experiences with whites . The Blacks were therefore doomed to repeat the same big mistakes over and over, meanwhile losing both their civilization and their freedom . As the last days of the kingdom show, the separatist chiefdoms struggling for power actually sought alliances with the whites to overcome this or that black faction . They did this in Egypt and lost ; there they continued to form alliances with the whites against Blacks even after black rule had been pushed southward below the First Cataract . The whites were only too anxious to oblige in thus helping the Blacks to speed up the work in which they were so busily engaged : social disorganization and the internecine strife that led to white control of their lives . One may wonder if Kot a Pe, the last of the figurehead "Kings" under Belgium role, ever reflected on how and why the Blacks so often seal their own doom.[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:24pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]hands it thought had come to bestow Christian blessings . But it was too late. The temporary restoration of the king was too late . The Congo Free State's gesture of assistance was too late . Death arrived according to a schedule-and that was determined by the whites . In 1916, the European-controlled Kot a Pe, the last to hold the fictitious title of "King" to disguise white rule, passed from the scene ; and the kingdom of Kuba, having long since died, now had its death certified by the equally small state of Belgium that now ruled a Black African region ten times its size . Kuba was the African experience in so many important respects that it was taken as a case-study typical of that experience. We have therefore seen how many of the migrations ended after the people had been uprooted from one place after another. Those who went to the farthest regions found what they believed to be a place of refuge, and began to build again as a separate, isolated society, slowly developing new forms of speech and variations from the original culture . Others found refuge in swamps, caves and forests or deserts where the natural environment alone was an effective barrier to progress and an unspoken command to retrogress to barbarism . Still others, such as the Bushoongs, united with other tribes to form a new nation . Out of this new nation there emerged not only a new people composed of many diverse groups but also a new language similary made up of different languages and dialects . It was also significant that the new state was formed under the guidelines of the traditional African constitution : Kings were to be elected and the power center was in the Council of State . There appeared to be a studied program of nation-building by glorifying the unique cultural offerings of each society and making its contributions as part of the whole nation's heritage . Significant, too, was the fact that religion, like other basic institutions, was essentially the same as it was in the "Heartland of the Race ." The Sky God-was still the Sun God, and the sun was simply the obvious way to symbolize the reality of the One God concept, the Creator of the Universe .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:19pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]to have regarded them as a godsend that would solve two critical problems: The Portuguese offer to buy all of the captured rebels and other troublemakers and the replenishing of a drained treasury by the sale of these war prisoners. The first would tend to end civil strife and restore domestic peace, and the second was a new source of great wealth. To be relieved of the cost and trouble of maintaining prisonerof- war camps was still another incentive for selling them . For such reasons the unforgivable sale of Blacks into slavery by Blacks began . The fact that African chiefs and kings had a quite different conception of slavery than that of the Caucasians does not excuse them ; for in the course of time they had to know that in the West the captured Blacks became slaves in fact, and not, as in Africa, persons who became members of the community, were integrated into families, became members of any of the crafts, had rights to farm land, held offices and, in fact, had all the rights and privileges enjoyed by their original captors . So, I am saying that while at first the African slave sellers may not have known the fate to which they were consigning their brothers, in time they did learn . And for this reason these Blacks will stand condemned forever before the bar of history, King ma Mbul along with the others . The sale of malcontents into slavery did not end the civil strife because, for one thing, all the rebels were neither captured nor defeated . Besides, the permanent center of conflict was in the royal lineage itself . The general upheaval after 1885, the year the European conquest of all Africa began, made it easy for the whites to enter and spread all over the country . The traders and missionaries were the first to take over the country by first allying themselves with opposing chiefdoms and opposing royal factions, urging on each to keep up the fight against the others . Indeed, the missionaries in Kuba were missionaries of damnation, not salvation . They wore the deceptive garb of religion but their activities were not only almost wholly political but were concerned with furthering the disintegration and collapse of this little black nation . They obviously did not come to help, spiritually or otherwise . They came to hinder, at least until the country was completely under white rule . Their next step, therefore, was to actually set up chiefdoms themselves, install puppet chiefs, and rule the country through the chiefdoms over which they and the traders had control! When the 20th century dawned, a dying Kuba was gasping for breath, making its last desperate attempts to free itself from the choking[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:18pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]attention of the now world-conquering Europeans . They now had business to "explore" up and down the Kasai and Sankuru rivers, checking on the operations of the Bakuba . Once again the most crucial points in the history of the Blacks were being epitomized by a single small nation. It was to escape the Europeans that, centuries before, the people who formed the Kuban state had continued their migrations from the Atlantic seaboard and journeyed far into the interior . They had come on and along the same rivers the advance scouts of the enemy were now exploring . The Blacks, as usual, were too busy fighting among themselves to mark the heralds of their doom or see the significance of their coming . Up to this time they had been wise enough to adhere to the rule followed by most African states by rigidly barring all non-Africans from crossing their borders . The record of over four thousand years showed that in each and every case where the rule of exclusion was relaxed and Asians or Europeans were admitted under whatever pretext, the ultimate fate of the Blacks was sealed . First a lone Portuguese came, "seeking trade ." Who would be silly enough to fear a lone white man? And were not the Kubans the great traders, always looking for new markets? Nor were the few Germans who came later any occasion for concern other than new opportunities for trade . The exploring expeditions up and down the rivers did not cause alarm . Trading relations with the Europeans were indeed established and were becoming more and more profitable . The Europeans were not yet permitted to settle within the county . But no matter . They were, as we have said, long-range schemers . The pattern of worldwide imperialism had been determined long ago, and the techniques of penetration and dominance were fixed and universally applied . So, instead of invading the country by force, something they were never prepared to do initially anyway, they ringed the country with trading posts along its borders . To these outposts missionaries assembled to form missions (for God and the empire) and were later followed by armed detachments, ostensibly to protect the trading routes and new markets from imaginary raiders . To make matters worse, the European crisis began to develop near the end of the longest and most strife-ridden reign in Kuban history . King Mbop a Mabunc ma Mbul was in the fifth decade of his rule, tired and worn out both by age and endless fighting . Far from seeing the gathering Europeans as a threat, he and his immediate successors seem[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:17pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]All these observations can be drawn from the most eventful fifty years in the history of Kuba, 1630-1680 . Notwithstanding the unprecedented changes in the constitution, ironically enough, the periods of Kuba's glory and greatest achievements were under the leadership of her three great autocratic kings-Shyaam the Great, Mboong a Leeng and Mbo Mboosh, 1650-1680 . With the death of Mbo Mboosh an era of relative peace, stability and progress came to an end . But that era left us with a perplexing question . Considering the history of the nation before Shyaam and after Mboosh, that question is whether democracy actually served the welfare of the people as well as autocracy . It is an awful question, but here is a specific case where the question rises under its own power . In view of the record, no one has to raise it. It therefore has to be faced . It may be that the tradition-bound councils which we glorify so much because they represented the people and served as a check on chiefs and kings, may also have served tb check progress under the leadership of dedicated chiefs and kings of farseeing vision . This in turn introduced the question of the role of leadership in the affairs of men, and particularly in the history of every people that had great leaders who lit the blaze which banished the darkness from their marching paths . Since leadership is indispensable in any group situation, large or small, the ultimate solution in a democracy may be centered around-the question not of how much power a leader has, but rather in whose interest and for whose welfare that power is to be used . This presupposes an alert people who know when and where to draw the line between their welfare and the actions of a powerful leader . When Mboong went to the extreme by appointing and deposing chiefs at his pleasure, the people could have checked him . Therefore, the great kings who did so much to build a strong nation also planted the seeds for its destruction from within long before the Europeans completed its destruction from without. From 1680 until the coming of the Europeans in the 1800's intermittent internal strife darkened the whole period . The struggles centered around the various constitutional violations and changes . These were the main issues whether the rebellions were led by whole tribes or were civil strife led by royal sons on the one hand and royal nephews on the other . Through it all, however, foreign and domestic trade somehow continued to flourish . In fact, the Kuban markets were so widespread outside of the country that these enterprising Blacks attracted the[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:15pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]The King-general dealt with these with an iron hand, was successful, and proceeded with another important assault on the constitution . He outlawed migrations from the country . This had been one of the Black man's greatest freedoms, the right of every dissatisfied individual or group to withdraw from the community, migrate elsewhere, and either join some other group or set up a new chiefdom . The universal use of this freedom, let it be remembered at every point, is one of the reasons for so many different little societies and language groups throughout the continent, while at the same time indicating a common origin and background. This relatively small and generally unknown kingdom in the Congo region was a microcosm of Black Africa in other respects and, as in other African states, it presents the concrete evidence and specific validation of much of the history of the black people. There was still another development of the highest importance for ethnologists, but one which they generally bypass or treat very lightly . This had to do with still another way new tribes, new chiefdoms and new language groups were formed, ultimately leaving not a trace of what the respective members of such groups had been in former times . A new tribe and chiefdom of this kind was formed by "strays" and stragglers, individuals and very small groups that had become detached from their main society during the migrations . Speaking different languages and dialects, they were unaffiliated persons who were lost in the corporate society of Kuba . Even to become second class citizens as newcomers, strangers had to be members of a single group large enough to have the traditional tribal sociopolitical structure headed by a chief . Because of these conditions and circumstances many stray individuals and small groups from different tribes united and began the formation of a new tribe, a new language from the merger of many, and a new tradition or oral. history . Here too is how and why oral tradition may become confused and misleading during the first two or three generations . For the first chief and his family, chosen as founders of the new chiefdom, may attempt to overplay their role in the founding and progress of the new society . The central point that is stressed here again, however, is that the historical process in Africa of segmentation, remerging, segmentation and remerging ad infinitum defies all attempts by Western anthropologists to divide and classify the race by opposing ethnic societies . It cannot be done either by linguistics or by conclusions arrived at on the basis of widely different physical features and/or characteristcs .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:14pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]to many important posts . This move was significant because it bypassed the nephews in favor of the sons, thus satisfying the natural but never spoken desire of most fathers in a matrilineal society . THE KING-GENERAL Shyaam left a record of achievements that none of his successors could match . He was a legend even in his own lifetime . The people had never known or heard about such a leader, and had never experienced in their own lives the direct benefits of such leadership . It had to be magic and, therefore, Shyaam had been the "Great Magician ." Since magic in Africa was simply another religious means of invoking the aid of a deity, to call their chief intercessor with God a magician meant that he was actually securing benefits for the people, and that he was indeed the "Lieutenant of God on Earth ." In short, "magic" was another form of prayer, song or dance in the appeals to supernatural powers for help . Mboong a Leeng, Shyaam's successor, was not a "great magician ." He was a warrior-king, a great general . He did not have to carry on the economic revolution . It carried on itself from the momentum Shyaam had given it . Mboong a Leeng devoted himself to further wars of conquest and the expansion of the royal power which these wars made easy . The age-grade military system started by Shyaam was expanded from a militia to a strong standing army ("strong" for the period) . Prisoners of war, now slaves, formed the king's personal army . They were stationed in separate villages of their own . Now the king was powerful enough to attempt to make the modest changes in the matrilineal system under Shyaam more thoroughgoing and permament in the royal family itself. The royal nephews were all placed under permanent house arrest and sons of kings became heirs to the throne . Meanwhile they were appointed to important governing posts in different parts of the kingdom . And while it has been suggested that this radical breach of constitutional law was intended to reduce the factional power struggles in the royal family, what it did was to sharpen such struggles along more clearly defined lines . Mboong had divided not only the royal, but all the chiefs and people into the defenders of the traditional constitution on the one hand, and the "progressive" reformers on the other . This meant more unrest and more rebellions .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:12pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]These internal conflicts were of great historical importance because of the far-reaching consequences . The most important overall outcome was radical changes in the traditional constitution . To begin with, religion was drawn upon as an indirect means of social control by enhancing the divine role of the king . The traditional role of the king as the Chief Elder and, therefore, the Chief Representative of the people before God was very easily changed now to the conception of the king as the "Lieutenant of God on Earth ." As God's Lieutenant on Earth, the king could assume powers not recognized by the constitution and go unchallenged . But above and beyond this, the internal turmoil was regarded as such a threat to the nation's existence by the loyal chiefs and the people that even more powers than the king had dared to assume were bestowed upon him to enable him to crush rebellions by direct action and restore internal peace . Here, then, is how a democracy may become an absolute monarchy, not by a coup de tat, but by the consent of the people themselves . They seemed to be thinking only about the "others" (strangers causing trouble) when they allowed the Council to give the king the power over life and death . Another fatal blow to the African democractic system was allowing the king to raise and maintain his own national army. The national army, as we know, had always been made up of contingents under the supreme command of the Council operating through the respective paramount chiefs and provincial kings . This single change can be said to have completed the triumph of the King of Kuba as an absolute monarch . He had already acquired extraordinary powers quite naturally as the kingdom expanded over new territory . New administrative offices had to be made . Some of these were so important that the king encountered no open opposition when he also appointed them as members of the hitherto exclusive State Council . This marked the end of the traditional council as it had functioned under the African constitution . The core council of the eighteen elector states was now outnumbered by the appointees of the king . It appears that Shyaam made no display and very little use of his new powers vis-a-vis the elector chiefs . His chief interest continued to be in the field of internal improvement, building a capital city, and upgrading the social amenities that reflect a highly advanced society . These included new forms of court etiquette and procedures, resplendent regalia, etc . One of Shyaam's strategems for securing the loyalty and support of important chiefs and other notables was the appointment of their sons[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:10pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]The skilled crafts were expanded and methods of production improved and speeded up by new techniques . New weaving and embroidery methods were notable . The break with tradition was most clearly seen in the experiments in new art patterns and new styles in wood-carving . All this economic activity meant a marked transition from a subsistence to a surplus economy, and this of course led to general prosperity through the expansion of markets and foreign trade . Since Kuba was not within the orbit of the caravan routes of international commerce, her "foreign" trade was with other African areas . Kuban trade missions were sent near and far to promote trade through the establishment of markets at important trading centers in nearby and distant states . This was the most important aspect of Shyaam's Economic Revolution . In the decline of the civilization of the Blacks as they splintered off and scattered here and there over Africa and over the world, they lost this pioneering spirit of business enterprise, the most common urgent need, in recapturing their lost status in the modern world of aggressive competition . The traders were also organized into societies . Every occupation except agriculture had its society or guild . Farmers were not so organized because just about everybody was a farmer in addition to his trade . Any townsman who did not have a farm somewhere would have been considered "strange ." One's trade or profession, then, was seen as possible only because of the basic economy and, for that reason everyone was responsible for a share in agricultural production . The general prosperity engendered by the Economic Revolution did not bring general internal peace . The inevitable increase in population was further expanded by the annexation of new territories and the influx of the endless streams of migrating people who were attracted to this new land of opportunity . But they were "strangers," and this fact, as noted above, was a cause of unrest among them and even greater unrest among the conquered groups . It appears that the national prosperity served to heighten the tensions rather than reduce them . More trouble came from Bieeng elements in the country, members of a major tribe that had challenged the Bushoong leadership even before the move from Iyool . Rebellions also broke out just before Shyaam assumed the leadership . The Pyaang and Kete succeeded in capturing and destroying the capital city, while the unsubdued Bieeng continued their attacks from the area still under their control .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 9:09pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]SHYAAM THE GREAT Shyaam I was one of the greatest leaders that the black race ever produced and, considering the conditions and circumstances of his time, I think he was the greatest . He became king of Kuba in 1630, and during the relatively short period of ten years he set in motion an economic development that transformed the nation and gave it a new forword direction . He was not only far ahead of his own time in perceiving that economic development was the only way to restore the ancient greatness of the Blacks, but he is still ahead of the whole black world today in the revival of economic activities on all possible fronts . The economy had remained on the subsistence level. It could hardly be otherwise because the nation was still in its formative stage, still very young . The main activities were still in the fields of agriculture, fishing, weaving, mat-making, basketry, wood-carving, carpentry, furnituremakng, pottery, iron and coppersmithing, sculpture and painting . There was a remarkable advance in all the arts, especially the pictorial arts.Since it was from the latter that the Blacks developed their writing system in earlier times (and lost it through migrations) one may wonder whether there was any rediscovery and revival of writing in Kuba . Oral history does not tell us . Or does it? We do not know . What we do know is that the kind of stable society and institutions were developing in this nation from which writing develops as a compelling and almost indipensable need . Shyaam's economic revolution stimulated many facets of the national renassance about which we now know very little . For the Revolution of 1630 was a revolution in thinking and a search for new and better ways of doing things . The new King was interested in new styles and a break frot the traditional arts forms . His drive was for national consolidation and internal development rather than the wars of conquests that so much occupied the time and energies of his predecessors . The slowly developing economy now experienced a sense of urgency and national direction. New crops were introduced : sorghum, corn, millet (not entirely new in the area), tobacco, yams, and beans . The "external influence" here was black "external influence" and now hardly external to Kuba, because some of the tribes now constituting the nation came from areas where these crops were grown . Would yams and tobacco grow in Kuba? "Let's find out," Shyaam seemed to have been saying on all fronts all down the line .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 8:59pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY Each Kuban tribe was responsible for its own history, and the state was responsible for the history of the nation . It was oral history . The oral historian, again as in the case of all other crafts, was a trained historian . His basic training was in a Mnemotechnical system . This training in memorization began as an apprentice to a recognized historian other than the principal oral historian . There were special occasions for members of the clan to assemble to listen to the story of the clan and another occasion for the general community to assemble for the overall history of the nation . The absence of written history made the task of the oral historian very exacting . He was generally held so strictly accountable for any errors made in his account that at times the reaction to mistakes made seems to have been unreasonable . For while he was allowed the widest latitude in commentaries of his own and even in fantastic embellishments designed to shock his listeners or entertain them, he dared not err in reciting the factual data of history . It seems quite clear that not only the elders (who were also well versed in oral tradition) knew the difference between the mythical and the truly historical account, but the people also understood what was intended as amusement and what was their real history . Aside from "tall tales," the historian often used proverbs reflecting the philosophy of great leaders and that of the race, praise songs of great men and great events, songs which we would call "the Blues" which told of past failures and heartaches, and dances of victories won and of thanksgiving . But the assembled elders were always keeping a sharp watch out for any serious errors on the part of the oral historian . He might be removed or even banished . In either case his career would be ended in disgrace and his disgrace might wreck his life among his people . On the other hand, if successful, the rewards were great because the oral historian was the community's storehouse of wisdom and one of its most honored personalities . He was the core of the educational system . The lineage was the key to the history of the extended family, the tribe and the nation . Within the lineage were the social, religious, economic and political ties that held together the family, tribe and nation .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 8:58pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]The Bakuba (people of Kuba) believed that two contending spirits affected man : the spirit of good and the spirit of evil . Evil was thought to be expressed most clearly in witchcraft, which in turn characterized persons engaged in the practice of trying to do harm to others . In Kuba, as throughout Africa, the penalty for witchcraft was either death or punishment. The much misrepresented "witch doctor," far from engaging in the practice himself, had the task of combating the practice by trying to help its victims . Hence the title "witch doctor," which came to be applied to all African doctors indiscriminately because of the widespread belief that almost all human ills resulted from the work of evil spirits through evil operators-witches . A long chapter could be devoted to the training of the native doctors and their practice of medicine . This is not our purpose at this point. But it should be noted in passing that writers have generally focused their attention on the entirely superficial externals that disguised the African doctor's real practice of the healing arts . They spent years in the forests studying the medicinal properties of various plants and herbs . They went through the same long periods of apprenticeship that the members of all the other skilled crafts had to go through under a master. The people were not fools . The prescribed medicine had to be beneficial. If not, the doctor was held to account far more rigidly than doctors are in our times . The African doctor's entire future in his community depended upon his successful ministrations, and these must overshadow inevitable failures now and then . And while the psychological ritual of hideous masks was used to frighten off evil spirits, the wild dance and mystical speech were all intended to impress the people with the mysteries of healing (carried over to modern medicine in Latin prescriptions) . After all of this, the native physician still had to produce satisfactory results or be disgraced . Religion was involved in the practice of medicine, as religion was involved in every aspect of African life . Disease was believed to be the result of some misdeed on the part of the individual himself or the working of an evil spirit . If widespread, the community as a whole may have sinned, either by commission or omission of something that offended either the deities or the ever watchful ancestors . Songs, dances and sacrifices were communal activities designed to reestablish the proper relationship between'the people and the unseen powers .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 8:56pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]neither did other Africans, if Western writers are using the term in the sense that one worships God-and of course they are using worship in this sense . Just as they pretend not to understand the roll of the numerous African deities but understood the role of these same deities in Western civilization if we call them patron saints, in that same way as just about every other aspect of African life and history has been misrepresented and distorted . Yet one can understand why a people for whom the idea of immortality is merely a creed would find it hard to understand the all-encompassing religious philosophy of a people who actually believed in life beyond death . From this central belief numerous other beliefs developed naturally. An important one was that relatives who had passed on maintained a continuing interest in the welfare of those left behind . To justify and preserve this continuing oversight of their ancestors, the living did those things that might merit ancestral approbation . There was ancestor reverence, not ancestor worship . This reverence for elders began in early life with the living and increased with the dead . When food was periodically placed at the graves, nobody expected the ancestral spirits to eat it (only fools outside of Africa allege that they did) . What they were doing was a demonstration that the communal spirit of sharing was being maintained . Furthermore, if the ancestors approved their behavior, they were in a position to intercede on their behalf with the deities in times of crisis . The Blacks' conception of God was on a scale too grand to be acceptable to Western minds . They had to reduce it by using a term that is equated with paganism, "primitive" backwardness and barbarism . The word is "animism ." But the historian and anthropologist are witnesses against themselves, still proving the very opposite of what they intend . In documenting animism as the chief characteristic of the religion of the Blacks from remotest times they are also documenting the fact that the Blacks' belief in the existence as well as the nature of one Universal God also goes back to times immemorial . And what is animism? As applied to Africans it is the belief that the spirit of the Creator or the Universal God permeates all of His creations, living and dead . Therefore, any object, animate or inanimate, may be sacred . This concept of God and His creations would be regarded as highly "civilized" if expressed by a Westerner in some such terms as a "reverence for life." Indeed, precisely the same African religious belief becomes the doctrine of "Immanence" in Christian civilization .[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 8:54pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]their identity through intermarriages with almost all the other groups . Their mingling with other groups was more widespread because, unlike them, they did not occupy a particular province but were scattered in all of them . The descendants of a Cwa-Maluk marriage in King Mishe ma Tuun's day (1620) could not be described as having "Pygmoid" features today, or Maluk either . The reason is simple : There have been too many other "crossings and recrossings" during the three to four hundred years that have passed . THE RELIGION OF KUBA There was no problem of religious unity in Kuba because there was no problem of religious conflicts in traditional Africa . The Blacks, having a common origin and a common center of civilization, had the same fundamental religious beliefs throughout the continent, just as all of their other basic institutions were similar . The inevitable variations were insignificant when compared with the universal similarities. The Kubans believed, as all Africans believed, in one almighty God, the Creator of the Universe . There were numerous ways of expressing the one-god concept . He might be identified with the sun and called the Sun God, or, as a variation of this, he might be called the Sky God . The numerous other gods, far from being in conflict with the Great God, were a necessary part of His divine plan-His own deputies and emissaries who had direct charge of the various departments of life that concerned human needs-the earth (soil), water, illness, health, fertility, planting, harvest, the forests, war, hunting, fishing, rain, etc . There were lesser gods under these . Their rank or importance was determined by their role and the extent of their role . Different tribes might have different tribal gods or a group of kindred tribes might have the same sub-gods . Each family or clan might or might not have its own clan god, and each member of the family might or might not have his own personal god. In short, the traditional African religion respecting an Almighty God and a hierarchy of lesser deities was later taken over by Christianity in the forms of patron saints and higher deities who rank next to God Himself. It is said that religion in Kuba did not include "Ancestor Worship ." This ancestor worship thing is another one of those overdone myths about Africans . The Bakuba did not "worship" their ancestors . But[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 8:53pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]neighboring societies, the reasons for future conflicts were also being expanded . These reasons, noted here in Kuba, were Africa-wide and account for the internal conflicts in the new African states today, even though all discontent has not come to the surface. And, as in the case of Kuba, the trouble stems from the failure to include every segment of the population in a national program of absolute equality, and the opportunity to participate so fully in every phase of the national life that a sense of patriotism and belonging to the nation will gradually outweigh that of belonging to a tribe . In short, what we do deprecatingly call "tribalism" is, in fact, the necessary cohesive and social mechanism for survival and defense against threats to survival . The tribe is the unit through which the race itself has survived during all of its migrating and scattered circumstances . The enemies that beset it were black as well as white . This the tribes of today know as well as their black brothers outside of the "Circle of 18" knew four hundred years ago in Kuba . Tribalism will disappear only when the reasons for its existence in the first place disappear . The most noteworthy thing about Kuba in this connection, however, was that despite the great disorganizing factor just mentioned, its original program of uniting many language groups into one nation was so successful that it has not been equaled by any nation in modern Africa . For look what actually happened : Many tribes, including the Bushoong group, merged so completely that they lost their individual tribal identity and language and became one people, speaking one language derived from all the others, the Bakuba or "People of Kuba ." This E Pluribus Unum process that went on continuously all over Africa is what makes the work of ethnologists and linguists so baffling and their dogmatic conclusions often misleading, imprecise, and sometimes simply false . Splitting off from a major into a dozen smaller groups, each developing a different language or dialect, then the remerger of any twelve splinted groups into another major group, forming once again one people and one language out of many, and so on until the next segmentation of many and the later re-formation of the many into a society and language group again. It is, therefore, unlikely, to put it modestly, that any anthropologist or linguist on Africa could take a group of Bakuba today and determine which had ancestors who were Bushoong under Queen Ngokady, or Pyanpyanng when Lashyaang Mbal was King, or Ngeende when Mbo Mboosh reigned, 1680-1695, etc. Even members of a group as distinctive as the Pygmies (Cwa) lost[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 8:49pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]THE GOVERNMENT OF KUBA The Council of State (a) The King presiding (b) The Linguist (interpreter and special aide to King) (c) "The Chief of Chiefs (Prime Minister . The title "Chief of Chiefs" actuallY is that of the King . Here it means to say to all the chiefs of Kuba : "Whenyou see and speak to my Chief Minister, you see and speak to the King ."  (d) The Governors of provinces (Paramount chiefs) . Each paramount chief of one of his elected generals was in supreme command of all military forces in his province . The King, who was also a governor of his particular tribal province, had only the soldiers of his province under his command. 2. Administrators not members of the State Council (a) First Chief of the Treasury (b) Chief of Border Defenses (c) Supervisor-General of Tax Collection, Goods and Services (d) Chief of the King's Household and Protector of Ancestral Tombs aid Regalia (e) Chief of Roads and Markets (f) Collector-General for Tributary States (This office was created in tle wake of Mboong a Leeng's imperialist expansion in 1650.) Then were twenty-six kings during the three hundred and forty-two years of Kuban history, or from about 1568 to 1910 . As in the cases of Ethiopa, Egypt, Makuria and the other states studied, here only a few of the outsanding leaders will be mentioned . In thus rigidly limiting the scope, we necessarily passed over many great leaders and important events,just as we shall be doing in the case of Kuba . Here also, we are not as interested in chronological details as we are in such things as the development of national policies to unite diverse tribes in a patriotic devotion to one nation and other policies that would clearly defeat that objective. The founder or founders of a nation constitute the specially honoured group through out Africa and it was the source of royalty itself . So Kula was still following the African constitution when it made the central or nuclear group of 18 founders the permanent ruling council to the exclusion of "strangers" (in Africa, all those who came after the communityor nation is established .) Yet it is equally clear that as newcomers increased the population and as the nation, expanded by conquering[/b] |
| Politics › Re: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams by Tochi3(op): 8:36pm On Mar 08, 2012 |
[b]economic activity along broad national lines . The Bushoongs were still the leading boatmakers, fisherman, and hunters . Because they were the most numerous, this tended to )versupply Kuba markets with fish and game. On the other hand, farm production was not only far below demand but it was also too limited in variety . This meant a very limited diet of millet, bananas, peanuts, fish and fowl . The cloth-making industries expanded as the ironsmith and other crafts developed . The building trades were the busiest in the new nation-building . These included architects, carpenters, Drick-makers and masons . THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION The political structure actually began with the family council or clan council, which is the basic socia unit of kinsmen . During the formative period of the state each clan had its own village . As new immigrants swelled villages into towns and cities, these became divided into clan sections or wards . Each ward sent its elder as a representative to the village, town, or city council, ov°r which presided the village headman, town subchief, or city chief. These chiefs, in turn, served as representatives of their areas on the provincial. council over which the Paramount Chief of the whole tribe presided . The Paramount Chiefs of the central provinces or states, the original eighteen founders, represented their provinces in the Central State Council over which the elected King of Kuba presided . Conquered states and tribes which came after the federal union was formed were not eligible for re aresentation on the State Council and their chiefs, therefore, could not participate in the election of kings . There were other special benefit; and privileges enjoyed by the eighteen elector-chiefs which other chief; did not have or, more pointedly, the newcomers had burdens and responsibilities from which the elector chiefs were free . The heaviest of these were the tributary taxes levied on all chiefs except the "original eighteen ." This, too, was to cause trouble later[/b] |
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