1 00:00:00,620 --> 00:00:04,890 Big dream, big hope; it was a very 2 00:00:04,890 --> 00:00:09,809 romantic period. This year 17 African 3 00:00:09,809 --> 00:00:12,719 nations mark 50 years of independence 4 00:00:12,719 --> 00:00:16,560 from decades of European colonialism; one 5 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:19,490 continent hungry for another's riches. 6 00:00:19,490 --> 00:00:23,760 European imperialism in Africa set up 7 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,449 the continent to be raped, its resources 8 00:00:27,449 --> 00:00:30,570 just sucked out. The dreams of the 9 00:00:30,570 --> 00:00:33,540 independence era were to be short-lived. 10 00:00:33,540 --> 00:00:36,000 The initial euphoria disappeared very 11 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,239 very quickly within a year, two years. 12 00:00:38,239 --> 00:00:41,969 This is a story of mass exploitation of 13 00:00:41,969 --> 00:00:44,700 the ecstasy of independence and of how 14 00:00:44,700 --> 00:00:47,219 with liberation, a new scrabble for 15 00:00:47,219 --> 00:00:50,660 resources was born. 16 00:01:05,410 --> 00:01:08,180 Whether in bustling cities or remote 17 00:01:08,180 --> 00:01:12,080 villages, the 1880s and 90's were years 18 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,740 of terrifying upheaval in Africa. People 19 00:01:15,740 --> 00:01:19,600 were killed. Villages were destroyed. 20 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,040 Critical systems were completely 21 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:25,940 destroyed. Leaders were arrested put in 22 00:01:25,940 --> 00:01:28,910 jail. Fleet upon fleet of foreign 23 00:01:28,910 --> 00:01:31,520 soldiers armed with new weaponry and a 24 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,520 sense of entitlement descended as if 25 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,670 overnight. That was traumatizing. This 26 00:01:37,670 --> 00:01:40,160 was a face of their European trading 27 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,790 partners people had rarely seen. United 28 00:01:43,790 --> 00:01:46,250 in their cause but divided in their 29 00:01:46,250 --> 00:01:49,460 efforts, armed resistance failed. In the 30 00:01:49,460 --> 00:01:53,240 space of just 20 years, 90% of Africa was 31 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,450 brought under European occupation. Europe 32 00:01:56,450 --> 00:01:59,450 had captured a continent. Gunboat 33 00:01:59,450 --> 00:02:02,810 diplomacy: in many instances the British 34 00:02:02,810 --> 00:02:05,600 did not actually have to go to war. Just 35 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:07,280 the threats of war, the fact that they're 36 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:15,049 all this big powerful guns was enough to 37 00:02:15,049 --> 00:02:17,540 force the local chiefs to design a 38 00:02:17,540 --> 00:02:20,420 treaty. All this because of massive sea 39 00:02:20,420 --> 00:02:23,840 changes, not in Africa itself but in 40 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,320 Europe 41 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:28,370 which was in the throes of the 42 00:02:28,370 --> 00:02:31,700 Industrial Revolution. The advent of the 43 00:02:31,700 --> 00:02:34,040 machine was transforming the continent 44 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,430 into the workshop of the world; a 45 00:02:36,430 --> 00:02:40,550 workshop in need of raw materials. Ham 46 00:02:40,550 --> 00:02:43,070 and peanut oil would literally grease 47 00:02:43,070 --> 00:02:46,630 the engines of the revolution. Modern 48 00:02:46,630 --> 00:02:48,800 transportation would need rubber for 49 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,320 tires. And Europe's prosperous middle 50 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,080 classes now demanded luxuries from 51 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,980 overseas. This was the dawn of industrial 52 00:02:57,980 --> 00:03:00,290 scale production, modern capitalist 53 00:03:00,290 --> 00:03:03,940 economies, and mass international trade. 54 00:03:03,940 --> 00:03:06,950 Thanks to a generation of explorers and 55 00:03:06,950 --> 00:03:09,500 traders, the great powers knew what 56 00:03:09,500 --> 00:03:12,830 riches lay in Africa. Britain and France 57 00:03:12,830 --> 00:03:14,989 already controlled most of the 58 00:03:14,989 --> 00:03:17,080 continents ports. 59 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:22,180 They had diamonds and coal, had 60 00:03:22,180 --> 00:03:25,900 lots of things. They had cocoa they had 61 00:03:25,900 --> 00:03:30,590 lots of things that that Europe needed. 62 00:03:30,590 --> 00:03:33,620 But in the new industrial era the value 63 00:03:33,620 --> 00:03:36,080 of Africa rocketed not only for 64 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,510 materials and strategic trade route but 65 00:03:38,510 --> 00:03:41,030 also as a market for the goods it now 66 00:03:41,030 --> 00:03:44,390 produced in bulk. Africa was an 67 00:03:44,390 --> 00:03:45,290 opportunity. 68 00:03:45,290 --> 00:03:48,410 The Africans wanted to trade right from 69 00:03:48,410 --> 00:03:49,069 the word go. 70 00:03:49,069 --> 00:03:52,640 They wanted to sell their labor. 71 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,310 From from Malawi and Northern Rhodesia, 72 00:03:55,310 --> 00:03:56,900 they used to go down into South Africa. 73 00:03:56,900 --> 00:03:59,510 You had a movement of people people 74 00:03:59,510 --> 00:04:01,160 wanted to learn. They wanted to meet each 75 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:05,299 other and and and and so it was a 76 00:04:05,299 --> 00:04:07,579 natural thing that the outside world 77 00:04:07,579 --> 00:04:10,880 should get involved with Africa. But the 78 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,220 Scramble for Africa wasn't just about 79 00:04:13,220 --> 00:04:16,608 economics. Colonialism had become the 80 00:04:16,608 --> 00:04:19,399 fast track to political supremacy in 81 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:22,639 Europe. Britannia may have ruled the 82 00:04:22,639 --> 00:04:25,100 waves but Germany was rising after 83 00:04:25,100 --> 00:04:28,490 victory in the Franco-Prussian war. 84 00:04:28,490 --> 00:04:30,979 Meanwhile the defeated French Empire 85 00:04:30,979 --> 00:04:34,130 sought to regain its glory and a new 86 00:04:34,130 --> 00:04:36,889 unified Italy was also growing in 87 00:04:36,889 --> 00:04:38,719 strength. 88 00:04:38,719 --> 00:04:41,299 Europe was a continent in the ascendancy 89 00:04:41,299 --> 00:04:43,899 whose nations were vying for supremacy. 90 00:04:43,899 --> 00:04:47,209 And back in Africa, the competing 91 00:04:47,209 --> 00:04:50,179 imperial armies were pushing inland. And 92 00:04:50,179 --> 00:04:53,149 this looked set to bring them into major 93 00:04:53,149 --> 00:04:55,629 confrontation. 94 00:04:55,790 --> 00:04:58,710 the rival powers convened around a 95 00:04:58,710 --> 00:05:00,720 conference table in the German capital 96 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:05,220 and in February 1885 signed the act of 97 00:05:05,220 --> 00:05:07,590 Berlin an agreement to abolish slavery 98 00:05:07,590 --> 00:05:11,880 and allow free trade but the act also 99 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,210 drew new borders on the map of Africa 100 00:05:14,210 --> 00:05:17,250 awarding territory to each European 101 00:05:17,250 --> 00:05:19,980 power and turning trading partners into 102 00:05:19,980 --> 00:05:23,430 subjects of Empire it legalized the 103 00:05:23,430 --> 00:05:26,910 Scramble for Africa what it did was it 104 00:05:26,910 --> 00:05:29,580 carved up what were between what a 105 00:05:29,580 --> 00:05:31,290 thought to have been about between six 106 00:05:31,290 --> 00:05:34,500 and ten thousand political units in 107 00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:36,540 Africa and they were then carved up 108 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:41,160 often cutting peoples in half water 109 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:43,290 tables just sort of cut off from their 110 00:05:43,290 --> 00:05:46,170 resources it was just it was complete 111 00:05:46,170 --> 00:05:49,140 geographical madness simply drew lines 112 00:05:49,140 --> 00:05:51,330 on the map places where they had not 113 00:05:51,330 --> 00:05:54,030 even been yet they had no idea what was 114 00:05:54,030 --> 00:05:56,850 there Africans were not aware that there 115 00:05:56,850 --> 00:05:59,610 were conferences be organized in Berlin 116 00:05:59,610 --> 00:06:02,700 to determine about them now they did not 117 00:06:02,700 --> 00:06:05,490 know about it they only saw the 118 00:06:05,490 --> 00:06:08,430 consequences but the governments of 119 00:06:08,430 --> 00:06:10,860 Europe were at pains to stress that 120 00:06:10,860 --> 00:06:13,110 therefore raised in to Africa were just 121 00:06:13,110 --> 00:06:16,320 the product of vested interest the 122 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:18,360 beneath train tracks and shipping lanes 123 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,150 lay a moral justification which caught 124 00:06:21,150 --> 00:06:24,060 the public imagination and they 125 00:06:24,060 --> 00:06:26,760 justified it by saying that they were 126 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,390 bringing civilization and Christianity 127 00:06:29,390 --> 00:06:32,880 to these belated primitive 128 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:37,230 people a white man's burden beautiful 129 00:06:37,230 --> 00:06:40,710 language so the European politician and 130 00:06:40,710 --> 00:06:44,790 the petition of colonialism to explain 131 00:06:44,790 --> 00:06:48,390 to their people why should we send our 132 00:06:48,390 --> 00:06:51,060 children to tom cam the gulf of tonkin 133 00:06:51,060 --> 00:06:54,930 to Vietnam why should we send them to 134 00:06:54,930 --> 00:06:57,960 die in the malaria infested part of 135 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,590 Algeria or black Africa and so on white 136 00:07:01,590 --> 00:07:04,279 man's burden we have to bring 137 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,509 the light a partnership with the church 138 00:07:08,509 --> 00:07:11,179 in Africa offered the colonialists an 139 00:07:11,179 --> 00:07:13,939 insight into living conditions and the 140 00:07:13,939 --> 00:07:16,369 social services that would be expected 141 00:07:16,369 --> 00:07:20,959 of a supposedly benevolent Empire but it 142 00:07:20,959 --> 00:07:23,749 also delivered a moral pretext Europe 143 00:07:23,749 --> 00:07:26,119 had long harbored an image of the Dark 144 00:07:26,119 --> 00:07:29,529 Continent wild exotic and in need of 145 00:07:29,529 --> 00:07:32,149 enlightenment the Christian missionaries 146 00:07:32,149 --> 00:07:34,759 and for many colonialists their project 147 00:07:34,759 --> 00:07:38,089 was a humanitarian one I didn't see the 148 00:07:38,089 --> 00:07:42,409 colonial service as racist after all I'd 149 00:07:42,409 --> 00:07:44,299 come across real racism in Southern 150 00:07:44,299 --> 00:07:46,579 Rhodesia and South Africa well when I 151 00:07:46,579 --> 00:07:49,189 was at school in South Africa I had no 152 00:07:49,189 --> 00:07:51,860 African friends there was no contact 153 00:07:51,860 --> 00:07:55,039 between white people living in South 154 00:07:55,039 --> 00:07:58,639 Africa at that time and African people 155 00:07:58,639 --> 00:08:02,599 on a basis of equality it was all master 156 00:08:02,599 --> 00:08:06,289 and servant and this was that these were 157 00:08:06,289 --> 00:08:09,169 the days of apartheid I just could not 158 00:08:09,169 --> 00:08:11,989 accept the idea that every white man was 159 00:08:11,989 --> 00:08:14,449 superior to every black man I knew that 160 00:08:14,449 --> 00:08:16,759 this was just nonsense it cannot 161 00:08:16,759 --> 00:08:20,299 dominate the people without giving him a 162 00:08:20,299 --> 00:08:23,569 sense of inferiority racism is part of 163 00:08:23,569 --> 00:08:26,239 the colonial system white supremacy was 164 00:08:26,239 --> 00:08:28,489 an exercise wasn't practiced in all the 165 00:08:28,489 --> 00:08:33,979 colonies as far as I was concerned being 166 00:08:33,979 --> 00:08:35,419 able to get into the colonial service 167 00:08:35,419 --> 00:08:37,969 was exactly what I wanted because I I 168 00:08:37,969 --> 00:08:40,639 thought and I knew that the British 169 00:08:40,639 --> 00:08:43,480 government had the right idea towards 170 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:46,490 Africa and Africans and I wanted to have 171 00:08:46,490 --> 00:08:48,259 a normal relationship because I loved 172 00:08:48,259 --> 00:08:51,980 Africa black men and white men were not 173 00:08:51,980 --> 00:08:55,779 equal even if there were all citizens 174 00:08:55,779 --> 00:09:00,199 there was a limit as Africa was brought 175 00:09:00,199 --> 00:09:02,779 under colonial rule the Lions itched on 176 00:09:02,779 --> 00:09:05,240 the map Matt Berlin were now drawn on 177 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:05,760 the 178 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,580 around between them Britain and France 179 00:09:08,580 --> 00:09:11,970 had the lion's share of territory among 180 00:09:11,970 --> 00:09:14,490 Britain's colonies were key ports in 181 00:09:14,490 --> 00:09:17,180 Egypt the Gold Coast now Ghana and 182 00:09:17,180 --> 00:09:20,850 Nigeria and settler colonies in Zimbabwe 183 00:09:20,850 --> 00:09:24,080 and South Africa 184 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,140 excluding Libya France controlled the 185 00:09:27,140 --> 00:09:29,980 rest of para big speaking North Africa 186 00:09:29,980 --> 00:09:33,080 as well as large Federation's in West 187 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,800 and Central Africa 188 00:09:37,300 --> 00:09:40,970 Belgium had taken the vast Congo 189 00:09:40,970 --> 00:09:43,939 colonies taken by Spain Italy Portugal 190 00:09:43,939 --> 00:09:47,600 and Germany were relatively few and only 191 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,889 Ethiopia and Liberia remained autonomous 192 00:09:50,889 --> 00:09:55,339 was difficult to explain how people made 193 00:09:55,339 --> 00:09:58,970 so much money in the slave trade the 194 00:09:58,970 --> 00:10:02,180 bourgeois parts of bill of England or 195 00:10:02,180 --> 00:10:04,970 France and so on for hundreds of years 196 00:10:04,970 --> 00:10:07,519 they invested in it suddenly found that 197 00:10:07,519 --> 00:10:10,600 it's what we are doing is despicable 198 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:12,170 something happened 199 00:10:12,170 --> 00:10:15,220 you only can explain that because 200 00:10:15,220 --> 00:10:19,459 imperatives have changed they wanted now 201 00:10:19,459 --> 00:10:23,000 to have access to the resources the 19th 202 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,279 century abolition of slavery in Africa 203 00:10:25,279 --> 00:10:28,939 failed to bring freedom instead once 204 00:10:28,939 --> 00:10:31,279 colonial armies had expelled the slave 205 00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:33,829 traders people began to realize they 206 00:10:33,829 --> 00:10:46,009 simply had new masters to serve gold and 207 00:10:46,009 --> 00:10:49,990 diamonds cocoa ivory rubber and cotton 208 00:10:49,990 --> 00:10:53,180 intensive exploitation swept through the 209 00:10:53,180 --> 00:10:55,519 continent as Africa delivered on its 210 00:10:55,519 --> 00:10:58,550 promises of untold riches bound for the 211 00:10:58,550 --> 00:11:02,089 dockyards of Europe by the end of the 212 00:11:02,089 --> 00:11:05,240 19th century it had helped crown Britain 213 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:08,000 the powerhouse of manufacturing with a 214 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,180 massive share of world exports half of 215 00:11:11,180 --> 00:11:14,809 all cotton goods and 80% of all clothing 216 00:11:14,809 --> 00:11:17,540 the French built their business plan on 217 00:11:17,540 --> 00:11:20,509 to materials crucial to industrial 218 00:11:20,509 --> 00:11:23,809 Europe groundnut and cotton but in 219 00:11:23,809 --> 00:11:26,540 colonizing the Sahara and Staffing an 220 00:11:26,540 --> 00:11:29,300 elaborate administration they struggled 221 00:11:29,300 --> 00:11:31,389 to see profits 222 00:11:31,389 --> 00:11:34,040 France didn't simply want to rule an 223 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:36,410 area they wanted to assimilate a 224 00:11:36,410 --> 00:11:40,399 population African towns were remodeled 225 00:11:40,399 --> 00:11:44,089 to replicate dijon or Marseille and the 226 00:11:44,089 --> 00:11:46,370 more French a person became the better 227 00:11:46,370 --> 00:11:49,129 their chances in life it was an attitude 228 00:11:49,129 --> 00:11:52,250 to Africans that they were proud of but 229 00:11:52,250 --> 00:11:54,589 even the gift of citizenship wasn't 230 00:11:54,589 --> 00:11:58,490 quite what it seemed I remember I come 231 00:11:58,490 --> 00:12:01,009 from a family in which we don't speak 232 00:12:01,009 --> 00:12:03,800 French but when I went to the elementary 233 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,399 school we had to learn French so during 234 00:12:07,399 --> 00:12:10,189 the first year to be honest with you we 235 00:12:10,189 --> 00:12:11,750 just remain quiet 236 00:12:11,750 --> 00:12:15,769 we learn how to recite the alphabet and 237 00:12:15,769 --> 00:12:18,079 bit by bit we'll learn some French word 238 00:12:18,079 --> 00:12:20,600 because it was forbidden to speak a 239 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:21,589 modern language 240 00:12:21,589 --> 00:12:23,959 the French ideal of cultural 241 00:12:23,959 --> 00:12:26,920 assimilation proved grossly misjudged 242 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:29,600 the colonies were founded by French 243 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,790 military men to the exclusion of 244 00:12:31,790 --> 00:12:34,970 existing leaders their heavy-handed rule 245 00:12:34,970 --> 00:12:38,329 often created grievances among African 246 00:12:38,329 --> 00:12:41,329 subjects but remote communities in 247 00:12:41,329 --> 00:12:44,779 places like Chad were able to evade the 248 00:12:44,779 --> 00:12:46,720 daily influence of French rule 249 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,329 altogether only in Senegal the seat of 250 00:12:50,329 --> 00:12:53,029 French West Africa did a privileged few 251 00:12:53,029 --> 00:12:56,360 find a political voice if the goal of 252 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:58,339 building France in Africa succeeded in 253 00:12:58,339 --> 00:13:00,889 bricks and mortar it largely failed in 254 00:13:00,889 --> 00:13:05,089 hearts and minds the contact was a 255 00:13:05,089 --> 00:13:10,250 contact of inequality in other words we 256 00:13:10,250 --> 00:13:13,939 were made to believe as if we had no 257 00:13:13,939 --> 00:13:18,259 civilization no culture that was very 258 00:13:18,259 --> 00:13:20,740 traumatizing indeed 259 00:13:20,740 --> 00:13:23,680 while the British rejected the French 260 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:26,589 policy of cultural colonisation it still 261 00:13:26,589 --> 00:13:29,800 often happened in practice for my 262 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,779 father's generation the the relationship 263 00:13:33,779 --> 00:13:37,480 with England was completely uncritical 264 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:38,790 uncomplicated 265 00:13:38,790 --> 00:13:42,610 they they went to church they had the 266 00:13:42,610 --> 00:13:44,370 British education they loved Shakespeare 267 00:13:44,370 --> 00:13:47,410 they listened to the BBC World Service 268 00:13:47,410 --> 00:13:51,070 and they were just they spoke English 269 00:13:51,070 --> 00:13:55,839 with Eclipse actually English accent and 270 00:13:55,839 --> 00:13:57,580 they referred to England as a mother 271 00:13:57,580 --> 00:14:00,430 country even though very few of them 272 00:14:00,430 --> 00:14:02,860 actually had the opportunity to travel 273 00:14:02,860 --> 00:14:05,560 to England aside from the settlers 274 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:08,680 States most British colonies saw only a 275 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:11,110 small clique of British officials 276 00:14:11,110 --> 00:14:13,779 installed main part of the job was to go 277 00:14:13,779 --> 00:14:15,640 out on village to village touring and 278 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:18,970 you'd you'd go with the chief 279 00:14:18,970 --> 00:14:22,089 you'd have meetings at villages with the 280 00:14:22,089 --> 00:14:24,430 village headman you'd ask them if there 281 00:14:24,430 --> 00:14:26,440 were problems you just look at their 282 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,200 crops you'd you talk about road 283 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:31,870 development or a dam or whatever you 284 00:14:31,870 --> 00:14:34,230 kept in close touch with the people and 285 00:14:34,230 --> 00:14:36,430 incidentally you would speak to them in 286 00:14:36,430 --> 00:14:38,140 their own language it was terribly 287 00:14:38,140 --> 00:14:40,990 important to learn the local language as 288 00:14:40,990 --> 00:14:42,910 quickly as possible 289 00:14:42,910 --> 00:14:45,010 the British mainly took in direct 290 00:14:45,010 --> 00:14:47,560 control by appointing local leaders to 291 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,589 manage the colonial mission but ruling 292 00:14:50,589 --> 00:14:53,649 by proxy created huge variations in 293 00:14:53,649 --> 00:14:56,890 practice and fostered emiti between 294 00:14:56,890 --> 00:14:59,500 tribes and ultimately African leaders 295 00:14:59,500 --> 00:15:01,390 working for the British lacked 296 00:15:01,390 --> 00:15:03,760 credibility in the eyes of the people 297 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,790 when the white administrator in his 298 00:15:06,790 --> 00:15:09,670 Bentley or anniversary boys with the 299 00:15:09,670 --> 00:15:13,779 Union Jack appears there is no question 300 00:15:13,779 --> 00:15:16,180 there are no two so there are no two 301 00:15:16,180 --> 00:15:19,149 sources of authority there is only one 302 00:15:19,149 --> 00:15:22,329 authority it is authority of the king or 303 00:15:22,329 --> 00:15:25,630 the queen one man at the conference of 304 00:15:25,630 --> 00:15:28,540 Berlin walked away with his own private 305 00:15:28,540 --> 00:15:31,360 colony and showed what colonialism 306 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:33,760 looked like at it's very worst 307 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,519 king leopold ii of belgium had 308 00:15:36,519 --> 00:15:38,920 originally founded a committee to 309 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,800 civilize africa convincing the berlin 310 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:43,389 delegates that he merited 311 00:15:43,389 --> 00:15:46,990 a territory 2.3 million square meters in 312 00:15:46,990 --> 00:15:51,670 size the congo free state but instead of 313 00:15:51,670 --> 00:15:54,699 improving the congo his 23 year reign 314 00:15:54,699 --> 00:15:57,820 was so brutal that the population halved 315 00:15:57,820 --> 00:16:01,570 while Leopold and his men amassed huge 316 00:16:01,570 --> 00:16:05,320 personal fortunes men women and children 317 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:07,899 were forced to collect huge quotas of 318 00:16:07,899 --> 00:16:10,720 rubber for export those considered 319 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,810 work-shy could face a punishment of hand 320 00:16:13,810 --> 00:16:17,769 amputation or worse Dunlop's invention 321 00:16:17,769 --> 00:16:21,910 of the pneumatic tyre in 1888 increased 322 00:16:21,910 --> 00:16:24,430 the price of rubber the profits of 323 00:16:24,430 --> 00:16:27,310 Leopold and the misery inflicted by his 324 00:16:27,310 --> 00:16:29,500 men when you look at Congo under King 325 00:16:29,500 --> 00:16:31,600 Leopold you realized the whole imperial 326 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:32,709 venture in Africa 327 00:16:32,709 --> 00:16:34,000 could have been a great deal worse I 328 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,959 mean that was just pure looting and 329 00:16:36,959 --> 00:16:40,480 Africans who didn't allow themselves to 330 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,290 be enslaved were just killed by 1903 331 00:16:43,290 --> 00:16:45,880 reports of atrocities compiled by 332 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:47,980 Christian missionaries and British 333 00:16:47,980 --> 00:16:51,490 envoy's reached the world press Leopold 334 00:16:51,490 --> 00:16:54,550 was exposed but it took another five 335 00:16:54,550 --> 00:16:56,769 years for the Belgian government to 336 00:16:56,769 --> 00:17:00,040 finally repossess the Congo from Leopold 337 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,949 amid a state cover-up the British the 338 00:17:02,949 --> 00:17:06,429 French the Germans the before 1918 of 339 00:17:06,429 --> 00:17:10,630 course the Belgian used taxation the use 340 00:17:10,630 --> 00:17:16,000 false labor for their enterprises for it 341 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,490 was the same practice of almost ever 342 00:17:18,490 --> 00:17:20,319 from the point of view of the African 343 00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:22,470 there was a unity in the colonial system 344 00:17:22,470 --> 00:17:25,750 the imposition of European rule was at 345 00:17:25,750 --> 00:17:28,199 best a bittersweet encounter 346 00:17:28,199 --> 00:17:31,350 in many places rapid development came at 347 00:17:31,350 --> 00:17:33,710 the expense of personal freedoms 348 00:17:33,710 --> 00:17:35,879 development designed to help the 349 00:17:35,879 --> 00:17:38,039 European project as much as to help 350 00:17:38,039 --> 00:17:42,559 African society wards were built 351 00:17:42,559 --> 00:17:44,970 planned by the European the French were 352 00:17:44,970 --> 00:17:46,559 the British are the Belgians does not 353 00:17:46,559 --> 00:17:49,289 matter words were built schools were 354 00:17:49,289 --> 00:17:52,470 built with the taxation imposed upon the 355 00:17:52,470 --> 00:17:56,460 people colonisation is always a system 356 00:17:56,460 --> 00:18:00,239 of high planning but the planning is not 357 00:18:00,239 --> 00:18:03,450 done democratically the planning is 358 00:18:03,450 --> 00:18:07,259 imposed by the Masters all the 359 00:18:07,259 --> 00:18:09,480 infrastructure that they built the 360 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:11,850 railways and the roads were travelling 361 00:18:11,850 --> 00:18:15,269 from mines or plantations to the port it 362 00:18:15,269 --> 00:18:18,869 was about sucking Africa's wealth out of 363 00:18:18,869 --> 00:18:21,119 it and you can contrast that with India 364 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,080 say where actually it the the railways 365 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:27,570 and roads linked up towns if India was 366 00:18:27,570 --> 00:18:30,389 linked up internally but in Africa it 367 00:18:30,389 --> 00:18:35,580 was about getting the resources out may 368 00:18:35,580 --> 00:18:37,830 have delayed conflict in Europe but it 369 00:18:37,830 --> 00:18:40,379 couldn't prevent it the outbreak of 370 00:18:40,379 --> 00:18:43,559 World War one in 1914 pull the hammer 371 00:18:43,559 --> 00:18:45,840 things to make the ultimate sacrifice 372 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,929 for their mother country even if they 373 00:18:48,929 --> 00:18:53,029 had never set foot on its soil at least 374 00:18:53,029 --> 00:18:56,009 165 thousand Africans are thought to 375 00:18:56,009 --> 00:18:58,350 have died in the fighting and in the 376 00:18:58,350 --> 00:19:00,539 Second World War France and Britain's 377 00:19:00,539 --> 00:19:03,989 dependency on African troops peaked at 378 00:19:03,989 --> 00:19:06,390 around half a million men 379 00:19:06,390 --> 00:19:09,510 the plunder Africa's Human Resources had 380 00:19:09,510 --> 00:19:12,330 caught up with the plunder of the earth 381 00:19:12,330 --> 00:19:14,910 younger people from my generation were 382 00:19:14,910 --> 00:19:18,600 drafted to go to Vietnam the 14th France 383 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,020 began de nasi again the Germans the 384 00:19:22,020 --> 00:19:26,390 fortunate junior in Tunisia against the 385 00:19:26,390 --> 00:19:30,200 liberation movement there 386 00:19:30,550 --> 00:19:34,480 there was no choice but to do it tens of 387 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,390 thousands indeed of Africans of all 388 00:19:37,390 --> 00:19:40,770 confession Christians non-christians 389 00:19:40,770 --> 00:19:45,940 Muslims Arabs and blacks for the goal 390 00:19:45,940 --> 00:19:49,090 the leader of free France their show of 391 00:19:49,090 --> 00:19:52,420 loyalty would not go unrecognized after 392 00:19:52,420 --> 00:19:56,950 World War two the way reforms in the 393 00:19:56,950 --> 00:20:00,490 colonial system the French began to 394 00:20:00,490 --> 00:20:03,310 introducing the constitution of 1945 and 395 00:20:03,310 --> 00:20:06,970 1946 the idea of extension of 396 00:20:06,970 --> 00:20:10,000 citizenship to all people regardless of 397 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,030 his or level of education the British 398 00:20:13,030 --> 00:20:16,500 began to appoint Africans to the 399 00:20:16,500 --> 00:20:19,420 Assemblies in the respective colonies 400 00:20:19,420 --> 00:20:22,480 and so on but it was too late to buy 401 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:25,960 loyalty to the Empire war had released a 402 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,870 powerful genie from a bottle African 403 00:20:28,870 --> 00:20:32,140 nationalism World War two was a turning 404 00:20:32,140 --> 00:20:34,030 point in terms of the relationship 405 00:20:34,030 --> 00:20:36,490 between all the colonized people of 406 00:20:36,490 --> 00:20:41,730 Africa Asia the Middle East and Europe 407 00:20:41,730 --> 00:20:48,630 because World War two destroyed 408 00:20:48,630 --> 00:20:53,170 systematically the invincibility of the 409 00:20:53,170 --> 00:20:58,600 Europeans they suddenly found that this 410 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,480 white people who back home in Nigeria 411 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,410 they had sometimes they fight you know 412 00:21:05,410 --> 00:21:07,950 they basically lived completely 413 00:21:07,950 --> 00:21:11,260 unequaled unequal existences and 414 00:21:11,260 --> 00:21:13,180 suddenly they found him in places like 415 00:21:13,180 --> 00:21:15,970 Burma but they were just human as anyone 416 00:21:15,970 --> 00:21:18,960 else they were brave there were cowards 417 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,880 they did everything any human being did 418 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:25,990 and when they went back to Africa my 419 00:21:25,990 --> 00:21:27,910 father's generation quite a few of them 420 00:21:27,910 --> 00:21:30,590 became really politicized and 421 00:21:30,590 --> 00:21:34,429 two part in the struggle that ultimately 422 00:21:34,429 --> 00:21:37,820 culminated in independence Africans were 423 00:21:37,820 --> 00:21:40,279 about to get a global platform for their 424 00:21:40,279 --> 00:21:44,390 struggle with the war's end in 1945 the 425 00:21:44,390 --> 00:21:47,480 world powers pledged never again in the 426 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,390 form of the United Nations the new UN 427 00:21:50,390 --> 00:21:53,000 Charter explicitly promised self 428 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,520 sovereignty with a committee dedicated 429 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,220 to hear the grievances of colonized 430 00:21:58,220 --> 00:22:02,210 peoples throughout the 1930s an economic 431 00:22:02,210 --> 00:22:04,700 depression had loomed over Europe and 432 00:22:04,700 --> 00:22:06,860 the running costs of colonial 433 00:22:06,860 --> 00:22:09,320 administrations had soared since the 434 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,020 start of the war at the same time 435 00:22:12,020 --> 00:22:15,020 Europe's economic crisis devalued the 436 00:22:15,020 --> 00:22:18,500 prices of Africa's War Goods war-torn 437 00:22:18,500 --> 00:22:21,409 economies now buckled under the burden 438 00:22:21,409 --> 00:22:24,890 of running colonies overseas the driver 439 00:22:24,890 --> 00:22:27,770 of colonialism once again became a 440 00:22:27,770 --> 00:22:31,610 catalyst for change money Britain was 441 00:22:31,610 --> 00:22:34,190 bankrupt after the Second World War and 442 00:22:34,190 --> 00:22:35,870 it simply couldn't afford to go on 443 00:22:35,870 --> 00:22:38,149 running them my grandfather was then 444 00:22:38,149 --> 00:22:40,250 working in the Gold Coast and he was 445 00:22:40,250 --> 00:22:43,880 sending rice and ground nuts back to his 446 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,929 four sons in Britain and they write 447 00:22:46,929 --> 00:22:49,159 pathetically grateful letters thank you 448 00:22:49,159 --> 00:22:51,799 for sending us this food and I think the 449 00:22:51,799 --> 00:22:53,059 irony of that is amazing 450 00:22:53,059 --> 00:22:56,630 Africa feeding very hungry Britain but 451 00:22:56,630 --> 00:22:59,720 even as late as the 1950s many in Europe 452 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,000 allowed themselves to believe the Empire 453 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,260 could endure 454 00:23:07,730 --> 00:23:10,410 instead the colonial powers were about 455 00:23:10,410 --> 00:23:13,080 to discover that exposing their subjects 456 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,630 to world events had planted the seeds of 457 00:23:15,630 --> 00:23:29,490 their own rapid downfall the European 458 00:23:29,490 --> 00:23:32,250 being in the position of power had one 459 00:23:32,250 --> 00:23:33,210 yardstick 460 00:23:33,210 --> 00:23:36,030 he didn't use anybody else's yardstick 461 00:23:36,030 --> 00:23:38,790 his yard stick was the yardstick but 462 00:23:38,790 --> 00:23:40,530 what has happened and most Europeans 463 00:23:40,530 --> 00:23:44,610 don't realize it time has changed with 464 00:23:44,610 --> 00:23:47,040 this new sense of dignity and this new 465 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,890 sense of self-respect a new Negro came 466 00:23:49,890 --> 00:23:52,170 into being with a new determination to 467 00:23:52,170 --> 00:23:55,710 suffer to struggle to sacrifice and even 468 00:23:55,710 --> 00:23:58,970 to die if necessary in order to be free 469 00:23:58,970 --> 00:24:02,460 and as the people in Africa and Asia get 470 00:24:02,460 --> 00:24:04,770 some power of their own they get a mind 471 00:24:04,770 --> 00:24:07,890 of their own the European yardstick now 472 00:24:07,890 --> 00:24:10,800 isn't necessarily the yard today the 473 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,420 Negro came to feel that he was somebody 474 00:24:14,420 --> 00:24:17,490 grace had emerged as the touchstone of 475 00:24:17,490 --> 00:24:21,930 the post-war world by the 1950s colonial 476 00:24:21,930 --> 00:24:24,360 raw had produced an elite of African 477 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:26,820 nationalist intellectuals and behind 478 00:24:26,820 --> 00:24:29,430 them large urbanized and literate 479 00:24:29,430 --> 00:24:32,390 working classes 480 00:24:33,100 --> 00:24:35,679 together they witnessed the power of 481 00:24:35,679 --> 00:24:38,890 nationalism in Egypt where Gamal Abdel 482 00:24:38,890 --> 00:24:41,799 Nasser expelled the British and in 483 00:24:41,799 --> 00:24:44,530 Algeria where the resistance stood firm 484 00:24:44,530 --> 00:24:48,690 in its war of liberation from France 485 00:24:49,100 --> 00:24:51,710 at the same time the presence of the 486 00:24:51,710 --> 00:24:54,019 United Nations the rise of the civil 487 00:24:54,019 --> 00:24:57,759 rights movement in the United States and 488 00:24:57,759 --> 00:25:00,950 the nascent anti-apartheid movement 489 00:25:00,950 --> 00:25:03,830 focused the lens of world scrutiny on 490 00:25:03,830 --> 00:25:07,940 black rights and spurred on colonized 491 00:25:07,940 --> 00:25:10,460 Africans in their core for self 492 00:25:10,460 --> 00:25:12,429 sovereignty 493 00:25:12,429 --> 00:25:15,070 I'm happy to say that in accordance with 494 00:25:15,070 --> 00:25:18,820 your wishes arrangements are now in 495 00:25:18,820 --> 00:25:21,119 progress 496 00:25:22,250 --> 00:25:26,660 Ghana is free in 1957 Ghana became the 497 00:25:26,660 --> 00:25:29,540 first sub-saharan state to be granted 498 00:25:29,540 --> 00:25:32,000 independence by transfer of power to 499 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,910 Kwame Nkrumah widely considered the 500 00:25:34,910 --> 00:25:37,160 father of African nationalism 501 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,580 it was impressed by the United States he 502 00:25:40,580 --> 00:25:43,750 was a student here the more candid sums 503 00:25:43,750 --> 00:25:46,340 extraordinary said the church in 504 00:25:46,340 --> 00:25:49,250 colonies instead of each one becoming 505 00:25:49,250 --> 00:25:53,150 independent they came together created 506 00:25:53,150 --> 00:25:57,740 Union power is in the Union that is 507 00:25:57,740 --> 00:25:58,520 lucuma 508 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,800 explained American Dream and American 509 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,850 realization and so on so he dreamed for 510 00:26:03,850 --> 00:26:07,540 something like that in Africa 511 00:26:07,540 --> 00:26:10,300 and kuma had inspired others with his 512 00:26:10,300 --> 00:26:13,560 vision of a united states of Africa 513 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,960 men like Leopold Singh you're in Senegal 514 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,300 Felix Hobart Wang Yi in Cote d'Ivoire 515 00:26:19,300 --> 00:26:23,200 and Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya men who had 516 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,380 received colonial education with the 517 00:26:26,380 --> 00:26:28,840 idea of Empire increasingly unpalatable 518 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,630 to the vote in public European 519 00:26:31,630 --> 00:26:34,150 government had little choice but to work 520 00:26:34,150 --> 00:26:37,480 with the Nationalists there was an 521 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,850 indifference at this stage towards the 522 00:26:39,850 --> 00:26:42,550 Empire towards the colonies and I found 523 00:26:42,550 --> 00:26:45,580 that really rather depressing you know 524 00:26:45,580 --> 00:26:47,200 you'd start trying to talk about it in 525 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:48,820 the pub and people say oh I should have 526 00:26:48,820 --> 00:26:50,080 another drink or something 527 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,750 there was just this this idea that that 528 00:26:52,750 --> 00:26:55,900 colonialism is is wrong and and needs to 529 00:26:55,900 --> 00:26:59,040 be got rid of the pressure for wholesale 530 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,690 decolonization had been building ever 531 00:27:01,690 --> 00:27:04,060 since the end of the Second World War 532 00:27:04,060 --> 00:27:07,060 the tipping point came on Wednesday the 533 00:27:07,060 --> 00:27:14,740 3rd of February 1960 whether we like it 534 00:27:14,740 --> 00:27:22,240 or not this growth British Prime 535 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,850 Minister Harold Macmillan delivered a 536 00:27:24,850 --> 00:27:27,430 warning shot to the whites of apartheid 537 00:27:27,430 --> 00:27:30,040 South Africa and a deathblow to the 538 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,410 colonial venture across the continent 539 00:27:32,410 --> 00:27:38,580 that signaled to my mind the idea that 540 00:27:38,580 --> 00:27:40,750 Britain disapproved and the world 541 00:27:40,750 --> 00:27:44,230 disapproved of apartheid and the racism 542 00:27:44,230 --> 00:27:45,940 of apartheid but it didn't necessarily 543 00:27:45,940 --> 00:27:48,970 mean that we were giving up on our role 544 00:27:48,970 --> 00:27:50,530 in Africa I didn't think so 545 00:27:50,530 --> 00:27:53,320 in fact within 10 months of the wind of 546 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,990 change speech Britain had surrendered to 547 00:27:55,990 --> 00:27:57,120 keep African 548 00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,900 trees France 14 the rate of the 549 00:28:00,900 --> 00:28:03,240 colonization when it arrived was 550 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:04,460 breathtaking 551 00:28:04,460 --> 00:28:08,760 many were freed without bloodshed 1960 552 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,360 was held the year of Africa and hurried 553 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:14,280 withdrawals of the colonial powers 554 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,950 continued into the next three decades 555 00:28:16,950 --> 00:28:21,420 the transference power did not indicate 556 00:28:21,420 --> 00:28:24,480 that the Europeans suddenly realized 557 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,910 that well it's time to give independence 558 00:28:26,910 --> 00:28:30,570 to the natives of Africa Asia no it is 559 00:28:30,570 --> 00:28:33,270 in view of the possibility of 560 00:28:33,270 --> 00:28:38,070 large-scale war to sub-saharan Africa 561 00:28:38,070 --> 00:28:40,800 that the first understood that was 562 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,890 better to prepare to negotiate with 563 00:28:43,890 --> 00:28:44,940 nationalists 564 00:28:44,940 --> 00:28:47,190 and hence you have the liberation 565 00:28:47,190 --> 00:28:49,730 movement 566 00:28:49,730 --> 00:28:52,550 will you go back to the Congo one day no 567 00:28:52,550 --> 00:28:55,160 never do you think that it's finished 568 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,980 for the Europeans in the Congo yes I 569 00:28:57,980 --> 00:29:00,920 think so but no sooner had African 570 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,020 nations escaped the shackles of 571 00:29:03,020 --> 00:29:05,900 colonialism then a new battle for the 572 00:29:05,900 --> 00:29:09,610 continent was underway the cold war 573 00:29:09,610 --> 00:29:12,650 back when the colonial idea had Europe's 574 00:29:12,650 --> 00:29:15,320 politicians spellbound the Communists 575 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,480 had opposed it and throughout their 576 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:19,790 years of struggle African nationalists 577 00:29:19,790 --> 00:29:22,430 had found a powerful friend in the 578 00:29:22,430 --> 00:29:25,670 Soviet Union these two great powers 579 00:29:25,670 --> 00:29:28,790 America and Russia begin to carve up the 580 00:29:28,790 --> 00:29:30,470 world between them independence 581 00:29:30,470 --> 00:29:33,560 coincided with the Cold War where it 582 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,140 mattered whose side the president was in 583 00:29:36,140 --> 00:29:38,450 terms of this global struggle between 584 00:29:38,450 --> 00:29:41,900 Russia and America and they both tried 585 00:29:41,900 --> 00:29:44,210 to organize coos to get there their 586 00:29:44,210 --> 00:29:46,400 people in and this was very 587 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,700 destabilizing the congos Patrice Lumumba 588 00:29:49,700 --> 00:29:52,970 was a hard-line nationalist labeled a 589 00:29:52,970 --> 00:29:56,210 communist by America his game of Russian 590 00:29:56,210 --> 00:29:58,730 Roulette appear to have paid off when in 591 00:29:58,730 --> 00:30:01,880 1960 he oversaw the handover of 592 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,390 sovereignty from Belgium he was to 593 00:30:05,390 --> 00:30:08,480 become victim or their position between 594 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,090 the west and east between the bloc 595 00:30:11,090 --> 00:30:13,880 Soviet bloc and Americans because 596 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,400 militia leaders with control of the 597 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,190 mineral-rich Katanga province refused to 598 00:30:19,190 --> 00:30:21,890 be swallowed up in a wider Republic led 599 00:30:21,890 --> 00:30:25,130 by a Soviet backed Lumumba fearing their 600 00:30:25,130 --> 00:30:28,280 own material losses the US and Belgium 601 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:31,190 supported them rebels and just three 602 00:30:31,190 --> 00:30:32,840 weeks after bringing the country into 603 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,450 independence Lumumba was captured by the 604 00:30:35,450 --> 00:30:36,370 Katanga 605 00:30:36,370 --> 00:30:40,200 tortured and killed Terry Buchanan 606 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,390 imaginary figures not for what it did 607 00:30:43,390 --> 00:30:46,480 but for what he could represent remember 608 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,340 suffered more indignities including 609 00:30:48,340 --> 00:30:50,440 being forced to eat a speech which he 610 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,180 restated his claim to be the Congo is 611 00:30:52,180 --> 00:30:55,480 rightful premier cobblers riches 612 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,210 combined with global geopolitics had 613 00:30:58,210 --> 00:31:02,080 again proven a disastrous mix and with 614 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,350 freedom from overt colonial exploitation 615 00:31:04,350 --> 00:31:07,270 the scramble for resources was driven 616 00:31:07,270 --> 00:31:10,960 underground for a fleeting moment the 617 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:12,940 Lumumba affair raised the questions of 618 00:31:12,940 --> 00:31:16,240 what in Africa would replace the strong 619 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,850 arm of colonial rule and where the 620 00:31:18,850 --> 00:31:21,490 national unity was achievable with 621 00:31:21,490 --> 00:31:23,550 hostilities bubbling beneath the surface 622 00:31:23,550 --> 00:31:26,350 but in the excitement of independence 623 00:31:26,350 --> 00:31:28,450 this was quickly forgotten 624 00:31:28,450 --> 00:31:30,700 I suppose one of the ironies is that the 625 00:31:30,700 --> 00:31:34,559 European countries that were democratic 626 00:31:34,559 --> 00:31:37,150 didn't really introduce much democracy 627 00:31:37,150 --> 00:31:39,460 to Africa so when independence comes and 628 00:31:39,460 --> 00:31:41,920 people can vote many of these countries 629 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,520 then politically exploded all sorts of 630 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:46,720 political problems that have been 631 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,390 suppressed by colonial imperial rule 632 00:31:49,390 --> 00:31:52,809 then burst out and many of them like in 633 00:31:52,809 --> 00:31:55,660 Congo practically tore the countries to 634 00:31:55,660 --> 00:31:58,270 pieces I think it was a very unplanned 635 00:31:58,270 --> 00:32:02,800 thing frankly and it was only in the 636 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,260 last year and a half or so before 637 00:32:05,260 --> 00:32:08,920 independence that all of a sudden with 638 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,970 independence looming we started to have 639 00:32:12,970 --> 00:32:16,870 accelerated programs to divert to to 640 00:32:16,870 --> 00:32:20,290 train locals that that wasn't enough so 641 00:32:20,290 --> 00:32:23,140 in the end we handed over to a country 642 00:32:23,140 --> 00:32:25,420 which was not properly prepared for 643 00:32:25,420 --> 00:32:27,460 independence I think that we would have 644 00:32:27,460 --> 00:32:30,100 done Africa a lot of good by staying and 645 00:32:30,100 --> 00:32:32,650 preparing flat out 646 00:32:32,650 --> 00:32:34,960 another five or six years but the 647 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,690 Africans everywhere decolonization 648 00:32:37,690 --> 00:32:40,480 couldn't happen fast enough for that 649 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,150 generation of Nigerians it was just a 650 00:32:43,150 --> 00:32:47,460 feeling of complete euphoria of triumph 651 00:32:47,460 --> 00:32:52,530 of total confidence in the future of 652 00:32:52,530 --> 00:32:55,960 Nigeria they really believed that 653 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,410 Nigeria was and all of Africa I mean 654 00:32:59,410 --> 00:33:02,080 there were pan Africans they believed 655 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,570 very much in the idea that the whole of 656 00:33:04,570 --> 00:33:10,420 Africa was going to rise from from the 657 00:33:10,420 --> 00:33:13,810 shackles of the past dream big dream big 658 00:33:13,810 --> 00:33:16,690 hope people thought that independence 659 00:33:16,690 --> 00:33:19,690 will bring about the solution to many 660 00:33:19,690 --> 00:33:25,590 problems so it was very romantic 661 00:33:25,590 --> 00:33:29,760 the real celebration of independence 662 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:34,240 dances big projects that euphoria 663 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,260 wouldn't last 664 00:33:51,540 --> 00:33:53,250 I think the sixties were very violent 665 00:33:53,250 --> 00:33:56,360 decade and so the definition euphoria 666 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,890 disappeared very very quickly within a 667 00:33:58,890 --> 00:34:02,810 year maybe two years and then from 62 to 668 00:34:02,810 --> 00:34:07,110 1970 it was just one incident of 669 00:34:07,110 --> 00:34:11,250 violence of carnage after another it 670 00:34:11,250 --> 00:34:13,350 faded when the military began to seize 671 00:34:13,350 --> 00:34:17,400 power and military are not leaders there 672 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,190 are not political figures the only our 673 00:34:20,190 --> 00:34:22,860 specialize in what in the use of the 674 00:34:22,860 --> 00:34:25,730 weapon and so on they have no political 675 00:34:25,730 --> 00:34:29,190 mission except mental the security or 676 00:34:29,190 --> 00:34:32,070 the country and so on so you have the 677 00:34:32,070 --> 00:34:35,010 becoming of new leadership for whom 678 00:34:35,010 --> 00:34:39,440 nobody voted that was a terrible fact 679 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,270 many newly sovereign states of Africa 680 00:34:42,270 --> 00:34:44,909 left with the legacies of occupation and 681 00:34:44,909 --> 00:34:47,190 the challenges of State Building was 682 00:34:47,190 --> 00:34:50,389 soon consumed by bitter power struggles 683 00:34:50,389 --> 00:34:54,780 in many places militiamen over ran the 684 00:34:54,780 --> 00:34:57,120 nationalists of thinkers within the 685 00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:59,370 first 20 years of Independence there 686 00:34:59,370 --> 00:35:02,340 were 40 successful to's a many more 687 00:35:02,340 --> 00:35:04,040 failed one 688 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,630 former British territories were torn 689 00:35:06,630 --> 00:35:09,869 apart by ethnic conflict as the dark 690 00:35:09,869 --> 00:35:12,900 side of ruling by proxy gradually came 691 00:35:12,900 --> 00:35:15,270 to light one of the problems with 692 00:35:15,270 --> 00:35:17,790 independence when it came was that the 693 00:35:17,790 --> 00:35:20,990 colonial powers hadn't ruled Nigeria 694 00:35:20,990 --> 00:35:23,700 Nigerians as Nigerians they ruled the 695 00:35:23,700 --> 00:35:25,589 most hauser people or your other people 696 00:35:25,589 --> 00:35:28,380 or ebo people have been Kenyans as 697 00:35:28,380 --> 00:35:30,750 Kenyans but as Kikuyu or newer people 698 00:35:30,750 --> 00:35:33,770 and suddenly they all had to be Kenyans 699 00:35:33,770 --> 00:35:37,440 Nigerians and very quickly the 700 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:39,599 politicians naturally looked to their 701 00:35:39,599 --> 00:35:41,520 own people for their political power 702 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,970 base and they and politics became very 703 00:35:44,970 --> 00:35:48,510 Ethne sized in the 30 years which 704 00:35:48,510 --> 00:35:50,880 followed the year of africa two billion 705 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:52,920 people are thought to have died in 706 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,619 ethnic violence in X British colonies 707 00:35:55,619 --> 00:35:58,950 alone in the case Nigeria basically when 708 00:35:58,950 --> 00:36:05,070 the British left in 1960 they they they 709 00:36:05,070 --> 00:36:09,119 left a political class that was already 710 00:36:09,119 --> 00:36:10,920 even at that point divided against 711 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:14,280 itself they had a system where the 712 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:19,950 Chiefs and the Kings run things and just 713 00:36:19,950 --> 00:36:23,130 reported to the district officers in 714 00:36:23,130 --> 00:36:25,349 western Nigeria as a result of the in 715 00:36:25,349 --> 00:36:27,450 this encounter schools were built 716 00:36:27,450 --> 00:36:31,170 churches were built and very quickly and 717 00:36:31,170 --> 00:36:36,089 elites and educated elites emerged in 718 00:36:36,089 --> 00:36:39,810 the north again with the same system the 719 00:36:39,810 --> 00:36:42,839 the Chiefs and the King said okay we 720 00:36:42,839 --> 00:36:45,780 accepts you as a colonial power but can 721 00:36:45,780 --> 00:36:48,480 you just step you know to stay out of 722 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:51,450 our business of things and and so they I 723 00:36:51,450 --> 00:36:54,359 mean most parts of the north they would 724 00:36:54,359 --> 00:36:55,640 not allow 725 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,190 churches and schools to be built the 726 00:36:59,190 --> 00:37:00,990 consequence of that about hundred years 727 00:37:00,990 --> 00:37:03,540 later was that there was an imbalance 728 00:37:03,540 --> 00:37:07,010 between the north and south and then 729 00:37:07,010 --> 00:37:13,260 ended up in a civil war but elsewhere 730 00:37:13,260 --> 00:37:15,410 the problem wasn't the rate of 731 00:37:15,410 --> 00:37:17,819 decolonization but the lack of it 732 00:37:17,819 --> 00:37:21,150 France redefined its relationship with 733 00:37:21,150 --> 00:37:23,490 its African colonies to become the 734 00:37:23,490 --> 00:37:27,510 unseen hand in national affairs quietly 735 00:37:27,510 --> 00:37:30,900 French control was going underground the 736 00:37:30,900 --> 00:37:32,730 French never really left when at 737 00:37:32,730 --> 00:37:35,369 independence behind for many years 738 00:37:35,369 --> 00:37:37,950 afterwards you go to a ministry in 739 00:37:37,950 --> 00:37:40,050 francophone Africa there would you would 740 00:37:40,050 --> 00:37:41,640 talk to the minister would be African 741 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,680 behind the door there would be a 742 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,290 Frenchman signing the checks doing the 743 00:37:46,290 --> 00:37:49,470 accounts reporting to Paris in 2006 744 00:37:49,470 --> 00:37:52,680 President Sarkozy promised a cleanup of 745 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:56,130 the French foothold in Africa no more 746 00:37:56,130 --> 00:38:00,829 secrets real independence 747 00:38:06,910 --> 00:38:09,890 but Bastille Day celebrations in Paris 748 00:38:09,890 --> 00:38:12,980 this year sent a clear message that they 749 00:38:12,980 --> 00:38:15,530 remain as closely interested in the 750 00:38:15,530 --> 00:38:19,150 continents affairs as they ever were 751 00:38:19,150 --> 00:38:22,880 ever since independence domination of 752 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,550 resources has continued to fuel violence 753 00:38:25,550 --> 00:38:28,610 in many states with former Belgian Congo 754 00:38:28,610 --> 00:38:31,460 still seemingly locked in a vicious 755 00:38:31,460 --> 00:38:34,670 cycle of conflict over its mine 756 00:38:34,670 --> 00:38:37,520 African rulers foreign multinationals 757 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,340 and governments have continued to strike 758 00:38:40,340 --> 00:38:43,730 deals to plunder commodities and help 759 00:38:43,730 --> 00:38:46,460 national economies already set 760 00:38:46,460 --> 00:38:49,730 back by the colonial experience as well 761 00:38:49,730 --> 00:38:51,710 in the 19th century the Europeans just 762 00:38:51,710 --> 00:38:54,410 went in enslaved people forced them to 763 00:38:54,410 --> 00:38:57,830 dig and and took it all for themselves I 764 00:38:57,830 --> 00:38:59,960 think these days there's a complicity 765 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:03,460 between the the rulers of Africa and 766 00:39:03,460 --> 00:39:06,920 Western companies or middlemen mines in 767 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:11,050 whichever country you're talking about 768 00:39:11,050 --> 00:39:15,410 needed somebody to bring in the the 769 00:39:15,410 --> 00:39:18,530 personnel and the equipment to dig out 770 00:39:18,530 --> 00:39:21,440 the minerals to employ people to 771 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:23,810 continue to dig out the minerals to 772 00:39:23,810 --> 00:39:26,570 maintain the place outside investment 773 00:39:26,570 --> 00:39:30,870 then as now is terribly important 774 00:39:30,870 --> 00:39:33,450 the continuing diversion of minerals 775 00:39:33,450 --> 00:39:36,360 isn't the only exploitative practice 776 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:39,870 today Africa is the largest recipient of 777 00:39:39,870 --> 00:39:42,780 external aid in the world a continent 778 00:39:42,780 --> 00:39:45,150 where half the population survive on 779 00:39:45,150 --> 00:39:47,970 less than a dollar a day but for every 780 00:39:47,970 --> 00:39:50,850 $1 coming in ten dollars are lost 781 00:39:50,850 --> 00:39:56,160 through illegal capital heading out 437 782 00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:00,000 billion dollars has left Africa between 783 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,760 two thousand and two thousand and two 784 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:04,920 thousand and eight lefted illicitly 785 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:09,540 secretly illegally and much of that has 786 00:40:09,540 --> 00:40:13,470 flowed into tax havens owned by European 787 00:40:13,470 --> 00:40:18,030 countries Britain particularly and so 788 00:40:18,030 --> 00:40:20,370 the ordinary people of Africa haven't 789 00:40:20,370 --> 00:40:22,560 benefited from these this last decade 790 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:25,710 which has been a very good decade for 791 00:40:25,710 --> 00:40:29,100 Africa economically but you when you go 792 00:40:29,100 --> 00:40:31,260 there you still see people as poor as 793 00:40:31,260 --> 00:40:34,470 ever under a shadow financial system 794 00:40:34,470 --> 00:40:36,780 built on the ruins of colonialism 795 00:40:36,780 --> 00:40:39,840 foreign banks and multinationals working 796 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:43,170 in Africa avoid paying tax anonymous 797 00:40:43,170 --> 00:40:46,530 trust accounts fake foundations money 798 00:40:46,530 --> 00:40:49,230 laundering tax havens and trade 799 00:40:49,230 --> 00:40:54,270 mispricing all go unchecked since 1970 800 00:40:54,270 --> 00:40:57,390 an estimated eight hundred and fifty 801 00:40:57,390 --> 00:41:00,320 four billion dollars has been lost 802 00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:03,540 enough to have wiped out external debt 803 00:41:03,540 --> 00:41:07,110 and have left six hundred billion more 804 00:41:07,110 --> 00:41:10,140 for development the financial rewards 805 00:41:10,140 --> 00:41:11,870 can be traced back to those countries 806 00:41:11,870 --> 00:41:15,060 proudly bailing out a dependent Africa 807 00:41:15,060 --> 00:41:18,210 with aid a striking parallel to the 808 00:41:18,210 --> 00:41:22,260 colonial story also echoing the past 809 00:41:22,260 --> 00:41:25,230 China is entering the scene once 810 00:41:25,230 --> 00:41:28,200 monopolized by Europe opening up options 811 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,310 for African commerce 812 00:41:30,310 --> 00:41:32,710 the process of decolonisation is still 813 00:41:32,710 --> 00:41:35,140 unfolding it's quite interesting that 814 00:41:35,140 --> 00:41:37,600 China has now come into the scenario 815 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:43,830 vine for contracts and for rights to 816 00:41:43,830 --> 00:41:47,230 exploit natural resources with European 817 00:41:47,230 --> 00:41:49,210 countries it's China's demand for 818 00:41:49,210 --> 00:41:50,980 African resources which has pushed their 819 00:41:50,980 --> 00:41:53,200 prices globally that's actually been 820 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,190 very good for Africa but whether African 821 00:41:56,190 --> 00:41:58,630 governments are really taking the best 822 00:41:58,630 --> 00:42:01,810 advantage of this one-off opportunity to 823 00:42:01,810 --> 00:42:06,310 sell their what's under their soil is 824 00:42:06,310 --> 00:42:09,190 I'm not sure I do the jury's out this is 825 00:42:09,190 --> 00:42:10,900 the moment to build the infrastructure 826 00:42:10,900 --> 00:42:14,770 to educate people bring health to their 827 00:42:14,770 --> 00:42:18,160 people and I'm not sure that that is 828 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,990 being done as effectively as it might be 829 00:42:22,860 --> 00:42:25,990 United States of Africa may never have 830 00:42:25,990 --> 00:42:29,110 materialized Africa today does have 831 00:42:29,110 --> 00:42:31,870 success stories like Botswana where 832 00:42:31,870 --> 00:42:34,120 diamond revenues of finance development 833 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,750 under a multi-party government and 834 00:42:36,750 --> 00:42:40,090 Senegal were democracy stability and 835 00:42:40,090 --> 00:42:42,790 civil liberties have characterized the 836 00:42:42,790 --> 00:42:45,880 past 50 years of self-rule I think we 837 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:48,460 can be very confident about the future 838 00:42:48,460 --> 00:42:53,140 of Africa Africa espouses education it 839 00:42:53,140 --> 00:42:58,420 just supposes modernity it is also 840 00:42:58,420 --> 00:43:01,540 becoming more and more democratic we 841 00:43:01,540 --> 00:43:04,660 have not just the natural resources but 842 00:43:04,660 --> 00:43:08,020 the intellectual resources strength of 843 00:43:08,020 --> 00:43:11,020 character I believe a lot in the the the 844 00:43:11,020 --> 00:43:13,120 new professional classes these are not 845 00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:16,240 the elites who have robbed Africa these 846 00:43:16,240 --> 00:43:19,510 are world-class professionals they've 847 00:43:19,510 --> 00:43:21,220 got an uphill struggle but I think 848 00:43:21,220 --> 00:43:24,780 Africa may have turned the corner 849 00:43:24,780 --> 00:43:27,780 where the days of empire or nationhood 850 00:43:27,780 --> 00:43:30,840 for over a century now the world's 851 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:33,150 relationship with Africa has been built 852 00:43:33,150 --> 00:43:36,690 on disparity Africa's wealth has helped 853 00:43:36,690 --> 00:43:40,220 bankroll the giant strides in technology 854 00:43:40,220 --> 00:43:42,750 communications and business made 855 00:43:42,750 --> 00:43:45,780 elsewhere but by safeguarding natural 856 00:43:45,780 --> 00:43:48,840 riches prioritizing national interests 857 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:50,910 and we trade and development done on 858 00:43:50,910 --> 00:43:53,700 equal terms there's a chance the coming 859 00:43:53,700 --> 00:43:56,460 50 years could break the cycles of the 860 00:43:56,460 --> 00:43:59,870 past and finally bring real independence 861 00:43:59,870 --> 00:44:02,610 we shall not make colonialism 862 00:44:02,610 --> 00:44:05,400 responsible of everything bad in Africa 863 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:09,060 after all for 50 years some of this 864 00:44:09,060 --> 00:44:11,400 country have been independent now I will 865 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:13,320 agree with you the story on that 50 866 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:15,780 years are not long enough but 15 years 867 00:44:15,780 --> 00:44:19,920 not began to see clear where to go we 868 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:24,210 have to insist on the responsibility of 869 00:44:24,210 --> 00:44:28,980 the African leadership also the natural 870 00:44:28,980 --> 00:44:32,450 bounty is given by natural and God 871 00:44:32,450 --> 00:44:37,980 instead of being acres may well become a 872 00:44:37,980 --> 00:44:42,560 new opportunity for better tomorrow 873 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:46,590 democracy transparency great respect in 874 00:44:46,590 --> 00:44:48,950 the law