WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:04.890 Big dream, big hope; it was a very 00:00:04.890 --> 00:00:09.809 romantic period. This year 17 African 00:00:09.809 --> 00:00:12.719 nations mark 50 years of independence 00:00:12.719 --> 00:00:16.560 from decades of European colonialism; one 00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:19.490 continent hungry for another's riches. 00:00:19.490 --> 00:00:23.760 European imperialism in Africa set up 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:27.449 the continent to be raped, its resources 00:00:27.449 --> 00:00:30.570 just sucked out. The dreams of the 00:00:30.570 --> 00:00:33.540 independence era were to be short-lived. 00:00:33.540 --> 00:00:36.000 The initial euphoria disappeared very 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.239 very quickly within a year, two years. 00:00:38.239 --> 00:00:41.969 This is a story of mass exploitation of 00:00:41.969 --> 00:00:44.700 the ecstasy of independence and of how 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:47.219 with liberation, a new scrabble for 00:00:47.219 --> 00:00:50.660 resources was born. 00:01:05.410 --> 00:01:08.180 Whether in bustling cities or remote 00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:12.080 villages, the 1880s and 90's were years 00:01:12.080 --> 00:01:15.740 of terrifying upheaval in Africa. People 00:01:15.740 --> 00:01:19.600 were killed. Villages were destroyed. 00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:22.040 Critical systems were completely 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:25.940 destroyed. Leaders were arrested put in 00:01:25.940 --> 00:01:28.910 jail. Fleet upon fleet of foreign 00:01:28.910 --> 00:01:31.520 soldiers armed with new weaponry and a 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:34.520 sense of entitlement descended as if 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:37.670 overnight. That was traumatizing. This 00:01:37.670 --> 00:01:40.160 was a face of their European trading 00:01:40.160 --> 00:01:43.790 partners people had rarely seen. United 00:01:43.790 --> 00:01:46.250 in their cause but divided in their 00:01:46.250 --> 00:01:49.460 efforts, armed resistance failed. In the 00:01:49.460 --> 00:01:53.240 space of just 20 years, 90% of Africa was 00:01:53.240 --> 00:01:56.450 brought under European occupation. Europe 00:01:56.450 --> 00:01:59.450 had captured a continent. Gunboat 00:01:59.450 --> 00:02:02.810 diplomacy: in many instances the British 00:02:02.810 --> 00:02:05.600 did not actually have to go to war. Just 00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:07.280 the threats of war, the fact that they're 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:15.049 all this big powerful guns was enough to 00:02:15.049 --> 00:02:17.540 force the local chiefs to design a 00:02:17.540 --> 00:02:20.420 treaty. All this because of massive sea 00:02:20.420 --> 00:02:23.840 changes, not in Africa itself but in 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.320 Europe 00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:28.370 which was in the throes of the 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:31.700 Industrial Revolution. The advent of the 00:02:31.700 --> 00:02:34.040 machine was transforming the continent 00:02:34.040 --> 00:02:36.430 into the workshop of the world; a 00:02:36.430 --> 00:02:40.550 workshop in need of raw materials. Ham 00:02:40.550 --> 00:02:43.070 and peanut oil would literally grease 00:02:43.070 --> 00:02:46.630 the engines of the revolution. Modern 00:02:46.630 --> 00:02:48.800 transportation would need rubber for 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:51.320 tires. And Europe's prosperous middle 00:02:51.320 --> 00:02:54.080 classes now demanded luxuries from 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:57.980 overseas. This was the dawn of industrial 00:02:57.980 --> 00:03:00.290 scale production, modern capitalist 00:03:00.290 --> 00:03:03.940 economies, and mass international trade. 00:03:03.940 --> 00:03:06.950 Thanks to a generation of explorers and 00:03:06.950 --> 00:03:09.500 traders, the great powers knew what 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:12.830 riches lay in Africa. Britain and France 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:14.989 already controlled most of the 00:03:14.989 --> 00:03:17.080 continents ports. 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:22.180 They had diamonds and coal, had 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:25.900 lots of things. They had cocoa they had 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:30.590 lots of things that that Europe needed. 00:03:30.590 --> 00:03:33.620 But in the new industrial era the value 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:36.080 of Africa rocketed not only for 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.510 materials and strategic trade route but 00:03:38.510 --> 00:03:41.030 also as a market for the goods it now 00:03:41.030 --> 00:03:44.390 produced in bulk. Africa was an 00:03:44.390 --> 00:03:45.290 opportunity. 00:03:45.290 --> 00:03:48.410 The Africans wanted to trade right from 00:03:48.410 --> 00:03:49.069 the word go. 00:03:49.069 --> 00:03:52.640 They wanted to sell their labor. 00:03:52.640 --> 00:03:55.310 From from Malawi and Northern Rhodesia, 00:03:55.310 --> 00:03:56.900 they used to go down into South Africa. 00:03:56.900 --> 00:03:59.510 You had a movement of people people 00:03:59.510 --> 00:04:01.160 wanted to learn. They wanted to meet each 00:04:01.160 --> 00:04:05.299 other and and and and so it was a 00:04:05.299 --> 00:04:07.579 natural thing that the outside world 00:04:07.579 --> 00:04:10.880 should get involved with Africa. But the 00:04:10.880 --> 00:04:13.220 Scramble for Africa wasn't just about 00:04:13.220 --> 00:04:16.608 economics. Colonialism had become the 00:04:16.608 --> 00:04:19.399 fast track to political supremacy in 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:22.639 Europe. Britannia may have ruled the 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.100 waves but Germany was rising after 00:04:25.100 --> 00:04:28.490 victory in the Franco-Prussian war. 00:04:28.490 --> 00:04:30.979 Meanwhile the defeated French Empire 00:04:30.979 --> 00:04:34.130 sought to regain its glory and a new 00:04:34.130 --> 00:04:36.889 unified Italy was also growing in 00:04:36.889 --> 00:04:38.719 strength. 00:04:38.719 --> 00:04:41.299 Europe was a continent in the ascendancy 00:04:41.299 --> 00:04:43.899 whose nations were vying for supremacy. 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:47.209 And back in Africa, the competing 00:04:47.209 --> 00:04:50.179 imperial armies were pushing inland. And 00:04:50.179 --> 00:04:53.149 this looked set to bring them into major 00:04:53.149 --> 00:04:55.629 confrontation. 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:58.710 the rival powers convened around a 00:04:58.710 --> 00:05:00.720 conference table in the German capital 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.220 and in February 1885 signed the act of 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:07.590 Berlin an agreement to abolish slavery 00:05:07.590 --> 00:05:11.880 and allow free trade but the act also 00:05:11.880 --> 00:05:14.210 drew new borders on the map of Africa 00:05:14.210 --> 00:05:17.250 awarding territory to each European 00:05:17.250 --> 00:05:19.980 power and turning trading partners into 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:23.430 subjects of Empire it legalized the 00:05:23.430 --> 00:05:26.910 Scramble for Africa what it did was it 00:05:26.910 --> 00:05:29.580 carved up what were between what a 00:05:29.580 --> 00:05:31.290 thought to have been about between six 00:05:31.290 --> 00:05:34.500 and ten thousand political units in 00:05:34.500 --> 00:05:36.540 Africa and they were then carved up 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:41.160 often cutting peoples in half water 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.290 tables just sort of cut off from their 00:05:43.290 --> 00:05:46.170 resources it was just it was complete 00:05:46.170 --> 00:05:49.140 geographical madness simply drew lines 00:05:49.140 --> 00:05:51.330 on the map places where they had not 00:05:51.330 --> 00:05:54.030 even been yet they had no idea what was 00:05:54.030 --> 00:05:56.850 there Africans were not aware that there 00:05:56.850 --> 00:05:59.610 were conferences be organized in Berlin 00:05:59.610 --> 00:06:02.700 to determine about them now they did not 00:06:02.700 --> 00:06:05.490 know about it they only saw the 00:06:05.490 --> 00:06:08.430 consequences but the governments of 00:06:08.430 --> 00:06:10.860 Europe were at pains to stress that 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:13.110 therefore raised in to Africa were just 00:06:13.110 --> 00:06:16.320 the product of vested interest the 00:06:16.320 --> 00:06:18.360 beneath train tracks and shipping lanes 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:21.150 lay a moral justification which caught 00:06:21.150 --> 00:06:24.060 the public imagination and they 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:26.760 justified it by saying that they were 00:06:26.760 --> 00:06:29.390 bringing civilization and Christianity 00:06:29.390 --> 00:06:32.880 to these belated primitive 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:37.230 people a white man's burden beautiful 00:06:37.230 --> 00:06:40.710 language so the European politician and 00:06:40.710 --> 00:06:44.790 the petition of colonialism to explain 00:06:44.790 --> 00:06:48.390 to their people why should we send our 00:06:48.390 --> 00:06:51.060 children to tom cam the gulf of tonkin 00:06:51.060 --> 00:06:54.930 to Vietnam why should we send them to 00:06:54.930 --> 00:06:57.960 die in the malaria infested part of 00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:01.590 Algeria or black Africa and so on white 00:07:01.590 --> 00:07:04.279 man's burden we have to bring 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:08.509 the light a partnership with the church 00:07:08.509 --> 00:07:11.179 in Africa offered the colonialists an 00:07:11.179 --> 00:07:13.939 insight into living conditions and the 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:16.369 social services that would be expected 00:07:16.369 --> 00:07:20.959 of a supposedly benevolent Empire but it 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:23.749 also delivered a moral pretext Europe 00:07:23.749 --> 00:07:26.119 had long harbored an image of the Dark 00:07:26.119 --> 00:07:29.529 Continent wild exotic and in need of 00:07:29.529 --> 00:07:32.149 enlightenment the Christian missionaries 00:07:32.149 --> 00:07:34.759 and for many colonialists their project 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:38.089 was a humanitarian one I didn't see the 00:07:38.089 --> 00:07:42.409 colonial service as racist after all I'd 00:07:42.409 --> 00:07:44.299 come across real racism in Southern 00:07:44.299 --> 00:07:46.579 Rhodesia and South Africa well when I 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:49.189 was at school in South Africa I had no 00:07:49.189 --> 00:07:51.860 African friends there was no contact 00:07:51.860 --> 00:07:55.039 between white people living in South 00:07:55.039 --> 00:07:58.639 Africa at that time and African people 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.599 on a basis of equality it was all master 00:08:02.599 --> 00:08:06.289 and servant and this was that these were 00:08:06.289 --> 00:08:09.169 the days of apartheid I just could not 00:08:09.169 --> 00:08:11.989 accept the idea that every white man was 00:08:11.989 --> 00:08:14.449 superior to every black man I knew that 00:08:14.449 --> 00:08:16.759 this was just nonsense it cannot 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:20.299 dominate the people without giving him a 00:08:20.299 --> 00:08:23.569 sense of inferiority racism is part of 00:08:23.569 --> 00:08:26.239 the colonial system white supremacy was 00:08:26.239 --> 00:08:28.489 an exercise wasn't practiced in all the 00:08:28.489 --> 00:08:33.979 colonies as far as I was concerned being 00:08:33.979 --> 00:08:35.419 able to get into the colonial service 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:37.969 was exactly what I wanted because I I 00:08:37.969 --> 00:08:40.639 thought and I knew that the British 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.480 government had the right idea towards 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:46.490 Africa and Africans and I wanted to have 00:08:46.490 --> 00:08:48.259 a normal relationship because I loved 00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:51.980 Africa black men and white men were not 00:08:51.980 --> 00:08:55.779 equal even if there were all citizens 00:08:55.779 --> 00:09:00.199 there was a limit as Africa was brought 00:09:00.199 --> 00:09:02.779 under colonial rule the Lions itched on 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:05.240 the map Matt Berlin were now drawn on 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:05.760 the 00:09:05.760 --> 00:09:08.580 around between them Britain and France 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:11.970 had the lion's share of territory among 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:14.490 Britain's colonies were key ports in 00:09:14.490 --> 00:09:17.180 Egypt the Gold Coast now Ghana and 00:09:17.180 --> 00:09:20.850 Nigeria and settler colonies in Zimbabwe 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:24.080 and South Africa 00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:27.140 excluding Libya France controlled the 00:09:27.140 --> 00:09:29.980 rest of para big speaking North Africa 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:33.080 as well as large Federation's in West 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:35.800 and Central Africa 00:09:37.300 --> 00:09:40.970 Belgium had taken the vast Congo 00:09:40.970 --> 00:09:43.939 colonies taken by Spain Italy Portugal 00:09:43.939 --> 00:09:47.600 and Germany were relatively few and only 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:50.889 Ethiopia and Liberia remained autonomous 00:09:50.889 --> 00:09:55.339 was difficult to explain how people made 00:09:55.339 --> 00:09:58.970 so much money in the slave trade the 00:09:58.970 --> 00:10:02.180 bourgeois parts of bill of England or 00:10:02.180 --> 00:10:04.970 France and so on for hundreds of years 00:10:04.970 --> 00:10:07.519 they invested in it suddenly found that 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.600 it's what we are doing is despicable 00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:12.170 something happened 00:10:12.170 --> 00:10:15.220 you only can explain that because 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:19.459 imperatives have changed they wanted now 00:10:19.459 --> 00:10:23.000 to have access to the resources the 19th 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:25.279 century abolition of slavery in Africa 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:28.939 failed to bring freedom instead once 00:10:28.939 --> 00:10:31.279 colonial armies had expelled the slave 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.829 traders people began to realize they 00:10:33.829 --> 00:10:46.009 simply had new masters to serve gold and 00:10:46.009 --> 00:10:49.990 diamonds cocoa ivory rubber and cotton 00:10:49.990 --> 00:10:53.180 intensive exploitation swept through the 00:10:53.180 --> 00:10:55.519 continent as Africa delivered on its 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:58.550 promises of untold riches bound for the 00:10:58.550 --> 00:11:02.089 dockyards of Europe by the end of the 00:11:02.089 --> 00:11:05.240 19th century it had helped crown Britain 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:08.000 the powerhouse of manufacturing with a 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.180 massive share of world exports half of 00:11:11.180 --> 00:11:14.809 all cotton goods and 80% of all clothing 00:11:14.809 --> 00:11:17.540 the French built their business plan on 00:11:17.540 --> 00:11:20.509 to materials crucial to industrial 00:11:20.509 --> 00:11:23.809 Europe groundnut and cotton but in 00:11:23.809 --> 00:11:26.540 colonizing the Sahara and Staffing an 00:11:26.540 --> 00:11:29.300 elaborate administration they struggled 00:11:29.300 --> 00:11:31.389 to see profits 00:11:31.389 --> 00:11:34.040 France didn't simply want to rule an 00:11:34.040 --> 00:11:36.410 area they wanted to assimilate a 00:11:36.410 --> 00:11:40.399 population African towns were remodeled 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:44.089 to replicate dijon or Marseille and the 00:11:44.089 --> 00:11:46.370 more French a person became the better 00:11:46.370 --> 00:11:49.129 their chances in life it was an attitude 00:11:49.129 --> 00:11:52.250 to Africans that they were proud of but 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:54.589 even the gift of citizenship wasn't 00:11:54.589 --> 00:11:58.490 quite what it seemed I remember I come 00:11:58.490 --> 00:12:01.009 from a family in which we don't speak 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:03.800 French but when I went to the elementary 00:12:03.800 --> 00:12:07.399 school we had to learn French so during 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:10.189 the first year to be honest with you we 00:12:10.189 --> 00:12:11.750 just remain quiet 00:12:11.750 --> 00:12:15.769 we learn how to recite the alphabet and 00:12:15.769 --> 00:12:18.079 bit by bit we'll learn some French word 00:12:18.079 --> 00:12:20.600 because it was forbidden to speak a 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:21.589 modern language 00:12:21.589 --> 00:12:23.959 the French ideal of cultural 00:12:23.959 --> 00:12:26.920 assimilation proved grossly misjudged 00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:29.600 the colonies were founded by French 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:31.790 military men to the exclusion of 00:12:31.790 --> 00:12:34.970 existing leaders their heavy-handed rule 00:12:34.970 --> 00:12:38.329 often created grievances among African 00:12:38.329 --> 00:12:41.329 subjects but remote communities in 00:12:41.329 --> 00:12:44.779 places like Chad were able to evade the 00:12:44.779 --> 00:12:46.720 daily influence of French rule 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.329 altogether only in Senegal the seat of 00:12:50.329 --> 00:12:53.029 French West Africa did a privileged few 00:12:53.029 --> 00:12:56.360 find a political voice if the goal of 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.339 building France in Africa succeeded in 00:12:58.339 --> 00:13:00.889 bricks and mortar it largely failed in 00:13:00.889 --> 00:13:05.089 hearts and minds the contact was a 00:13:05.089 --> 00:13:10.250 contact of inequality in other words we 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:13.939 were made to believe as if we had no 00:13:13.939 --> 00:13:18.259 civilization no culture that was very 00:13:18.259 --> 00:13:20.740 traumatizing indeed 00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:23.680 while the British rejected the French 00:13:23.680 --> 00:13:26.589 policy of cultural colonisation it still 00:13:26.589 --> 00:13:29.800 often happened in practice for my 00:13:29.800 --> 00:13:33.779 father's generation the the relationship 00:13:33.779 --> 00:13:37.480 with England was completely uncritical 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:38.790 uncomplicated 00:13:38.790 --> 00:13:42.610 they they went to church they had the 00:13:42.610 --> 00:13:44.370 British education they loved Shakespeare 00:13:44.370 --> 00:13:47.410 they listened to the BBC World Service 00:13:47.410 --> 00:13:51.070 and they were just they spoke English 00:13:51.070 --> 00:13:55.839 with Eclipse actually English accent and 00:13:55.839 --> 00:13:57.580 they referred to England as a mother 00:13:57.580 --> 00:14:00.430 country even though very few of them 00:14:00.430 --> 00:14:02.860 actually had the opportunity to travel 00:14:02.860 --> 00:14:05.560 to England aside from the settlers 00:14:05.560 --> 00:14:08.680 States most British colonies saw only a 00:14:08.680 --> 00:14:11.110 small clique of British officials 00:14:11.110 --> 00:14:13.779 installed main part of the job was to go 00:14:13.779 --> 00:14:15.640 out on village to village touring and 00:14:15.640 --> 00:14:18.970 you'd you'd go with the chief 00:14:18.970 --> 00:14:22.089 you'd have meetings at villages with the 00:14:22.089 --> 00:14:24.430 village headman you'd ask them if there 00:14:24.430 --> 00:14:26.440 were problems you just look at their 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:29.200 crops you'd you talk about road 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:31.870 development or a dam or whatever you 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:34.230 kept in close touch with the people and 00:14:34.230 --> 00:14:36.430 incidentally you would speak to them in 00:14:36.430 --> 00:14:38.140 their own language it was terribly 00:14:38.140 --> 00:14:40.990 important to learn the local language as 00:14:40.990 --> 00:14:42.910 quickly as possible 00:14:42.910 --> 00:14:45.010 the British mainly took in direct 00:14:45.010 --> 00:14:47.560 control by appointing local leaders to 00:14:47.560 --> 00:14:50.589 manage the colonial mission but ruling 00:14:50.589 --> 00:14:53.649 by proxy created huge variations in 00:14:53.649 --> 00:14:56.890 practice and fostered emiti between 00:14:56.890 --> 00:14:59.500 tribes and ultimately African leaders 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:01.390 working for the British lacked 00:15:01.390 --> 00:15:03.760 credibility in the eyes of the people 00:15:03.760 --> 00:15:06.790 when the white administrator in his 00:15:06.790 --> 00:15:09.670 Bentley or anniversary boys with the 00:15:09.670 --> 00:15:13.779 Union Jack appears there is no question 00:15:13.779 --> 00:15:16.180 there are no two so there are no two 00:15:16.180 --> 00:15:19.149 sources of authority there is only one 00:15:19.149 --> 00:15:22.329 authority it is authority of the king or 00:15:22.329 --> 00:15:25.630 the queen one man at the conference of 00:15:25.630 --> 00:15:28.540 Berlin walked away with his own private 00:15:28.540 --> 00:15:31.360 colony and showed what colonialism 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:33.760 looked like at it's very worst 00:15:33.760 --> 00:15:36.519 king leopold ii of belgium had 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:38.920 originally founded a committee to 00:15:38.920 --> 00:15:41.800 civilize africa convincing the berlin 00:15:41.800 --> 00:15:43.389 delegates that he merited 00:15:43.389 --> 00:15:46.990 a territory 2.3 million square meters in 00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:51.670 size the congo free state but instead of 00:15:51.670 --> 00:15:54.699 improving the congo his 23 year reign 00:15:54.699 --> 00:15:57.820 was so brutal that the population halved 00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:01.570 while Leopold and his men amassed huge 00:16:01.570 --> 00:16:05.320 personal fortunes men women and children 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:07.899 were forced to collect huge quotas of 00:16:07.899 --> 00:16:10.720 rubber for export those considered 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.810 work-shy could face a punishment of hand 00:16:13.810 --> 00:16:17.769 amputation or worse Dunlop's invention 00:16:17.769 --> 00:16:21.910 of the pneumatic tyre in 1888 increased 00:16:21.910 --> 00:16:24.430 the price of rubber the profits of 00:16:24.430 --> 00:16:27.310 Leopold and the misery inflicted by his 00:16:27.310 --> 00:16:29.500 men when you look at Congo under King 00:16:29.500 --> 00:16:31.600 Leopold you realized the whole imperial 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:32.709 venture in Africa 00:16:32.709 --> 00:16:34.000 could have been a great deal worse I 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.959 mean that was just pure looting and 00:16:36.959 --> 00:16:40.480 Africans who didn't allow themselves to 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:43.290 be enslaved were just killed by 1903 00:16:43.290 --> 00:16:45.880 reports of atrocities compiled by 00:16:45.880 --> 00:16:47.980 Christian missionaries and British 00:16:47.980 --> 00:16:51.490 envoy's reached the world press Leopold 00:16:51.490 --> 00:16:54.550 was exposed but it took another five 00:16:54.550 --> 00:16:56.769 years for the Belgian government to 00:16:56.769 --> 00:17:00.040 finally repossess the Congo from Leopold 00:17:00.040 --> 00:17:02.949 amid a state cover-up the British the 00:17:02.949 --> 00:17:06.429 French the Germans the before 1918 of 00:17:06.429 --> 00:17:10.630 course the Belgian used taxation the use 00:17:10.630 --> 00:17:16.000 false labor for their enterprises for it 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.490 was the same practice of almost ever 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:20.319 from the point of view of the African 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:22.470 there was a unity in the colonial system 00:17:22.470 --> 00:17:25.750 the imposition of European rule was at 00:17:25.750 --> 00:17:28.199 best a bittersweet encounter 00:17:28.199 --> 00:17:31.350 in many places rapid development came at 00:17:31.350 --> 00:17:33.710 the expense of personal freedoms 00:17:33.710 --> 00:17:35.879 development designed to help the 00:17:35.879 --> 00:17:38.039 European project as much as to help 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:42.559 African society wards were built 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.970 planned by the European the French were 00:17:44.970 --> 00:17:46.559 the British are the Belgians does not 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:49.289 matter words were built schools were 00:17:49.289 --> 00:17:52.470 built with the taxation imposed upon the 00:17:52.470 --> 00:17:56.460 people colonisation is always a system 00:17:56.460 --> 00:18:00.239 of high planning but the planning is not 00:18:00.239 --> 00:18:03.450 done democratically the planning is 00:18:03.450 --> 00:18:07.259 imposed by the Masters all the 00:18:07.259 --> 00:18:09.480 infrastructure that they built the 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:11.850 railways and the roads were travelling 00:18:11.850 --> 00:18:15.269 from mines or plantations to the port it 00:18:15.269 --> 00:18:18.869 was about sucking Africa's wealth out of 00:18:18.869 --> 00:18:21.119 it and you can contrast that with India 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:25.080 say where actually it the the railways 00:18:25.080 --> 00:18:27.570 and roads linked up towns if India was 00:18:27.570 --> 00:18:30.389 linked up internally but in Africa it 00:18:30.389 --> 00:18:35.580 was about getting the resources out may 00:18:35.580 --> 00:18:37.830 have delayed conflict in Europe but it 00:18:37.830 --> 00:18:40.379 couldn't prevent it the outbreak of 00:18:40.379 --> 00:18:43.559 World War one in 1914 pull the hammer 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:45.840 things to make the ultimate sacrifice 00:18:45.840 --> 00:18:48.929 for their mother country even if they 00:18:48.929 --> 00:18:53.029 had never set foot on its soil at least 00:18:53.029 --> 00:18:56.009 165 thousand Africans are thought to 00:18:56.009 --> 00:18:58.350 have died in the fighting and in the 00:18:58.350 --> 00:19:00.539 Second World War France and Britain's 00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:03.989 dependency on African troops peaked at 00:19:03.989 --> 00:19:06.390 around half a million men 00:19:06.390 --> 00:19:09.510 the plunder Africa's Human Resources had 00:19:09.510 --> 00:19:12.330 caught up with the plunder of the earth 00:19:12.330 --> 00:19:14.910 younger people from my generation were 00:19:14.910 --> 00:19:18.600 drafted to go to Vietnam the 14th France 00:19:18.600 --> 00:19:22.020 began de nasi again the Germans the 00:19:22.020 --> 00:19:26.390 fortunate junior in Tunisia against the 00:19:26.390 --> 00:19:30.200 liberation movement there 00:19:30.550 --> 00:19:34.480 there was no choice but to do it tens of 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:37.390 thousands indeed of Africans of all 00:19:37.390 --> 00:19:40.770 confession Christians non-christians 00:19:40.770 --> 00:19:45.940 Muslims Arabs and blacks for the goal 00:19:45.940 --> 00:19:49.090 the leader of free France their show of 00:19:49.090 --> 00:19:52.420 loyalty would not go unrecognized after 00:19:52.420 --> 00:19:56.950 World War two the way reforms in the 00:19:56.950 --> 00:20:00.490 colonial system the French began to 00:20:00.490 --> 00:20:03.310 introducing the constitution of 1945 and 00:20:03.310 --> 00:20:06.970 1946 the idea of extension of 00:20:06.970 --> 00:20:10.000 citizenship to all people regardless of 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.030 his or level of education the British 00:20:13.030 --> 00:20:16.500 began to appoint Africans to the 00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:19.420 Assemblies in the respective colonies 00:20:19.420 --> 00:20:22.480 and so on but it was too late to buy 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.960 loyalty to the Empire war had released a 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:28.870 powerful genie from a bottle African 00:20:28.870 --> 00:20:32.140 nationalism World War two was a turning 00:20:32.140 --> 00:20:34.030 point in terms of the relationship 00:20:34.030 --> 00:20:36.490 between all the colonized people of 00:20:36.490 --> 00:20:41.730 Africa Asia the Middle East and Europe 00:20:41.730 --> 00:20:48.630 because World War two destroyed 00:20:48.630 --> 00:20:53.170 systematically the invincibility of the 00:20:53.170 --> 00:20:58.600 Europeans they suddenly found that this 00:20:58.600 --> 00:21:01.480 white people who back home in Nigeria 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:05.410 they had sometimes they fight you know 00:21:05.410 --> 00:21:07.950 they basically lived completely 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:11.260 unequaled unequal existences and 00:21:11.260 --> 00:21:13.180 suddenly they found him in places like 00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:15.970 Burma but they were just human as anyone 00:21:15.970 --> 00:21:18.960 else they were brave there were cowards 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:21.880 they did everything any human being did 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:25.990 and when they went back to Africa my 00:21:25.990 --> 00:21:27.910 father's generation quite a few of them 00:21:27.910 --> 00:21:30.590 became really politicized and 00:21:30.590 --> 00:21:34.429 two part in the struggle that ultimately 00:21:34.429 --> 00:21:37.820 culminated in independence Africans were 00:21:37.820 --> 00:21:40.279 about to get a global platform for their 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:44.390 struggle with the war's end in 1945 the 00:21:44.390 --> 00:21:47.480 world powers pledged never again in the 00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:50.390 form of the United Nations the new UN 00:21:50.390 --> 00:21:53.000 Charter explicitly promised self 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:55.520 sovereignty with a committee dedicated 00:21:55.520 --> 00:21:58.220 to hear the grievances of colonized 00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:02.210 peoples throughout the 1930s an economic 00:22:02.210 --> 00:22:04.700 depression had loomed over Europe and 00:22:04.700 --> 00:22:06.860 the running costs of colonial 00:22:06.860 --> 00:22:09.320 administrations had soared since the 00:22:09.320 --> 00:22:12.020 start of the war at the same time 00:22:12.020 --> 00:22:15.020 Europe's economic crisis devalued the 00:22:15.020 --> 00:22:18.500 prices of Africa's War Goods war-torn 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:21.409 economies now buckled under the burden 00:22:21.409 --> 00:22:24.890 of running colonies overseas the driver 00:22:24.890 --> 00:22:27.770 of colonialism once again became a 00:22:27.770 --> 00:22:31.610 catalyst for change money Britain was 00:22:31.610 --> 00:22:34.190 bankrupt after the Second World War and 00:22:34.190 --> 00:22:35.870 it simply couldn't afford to go on 00:22:35.870 --> 00:22:38.149 running them my grandfather was then 00:22:38.149 --> 00:22:40.250 working in the Gold Coast and he was 00:22:40.250 --> 00:22:43.880 sending rice and ground nuts back to his 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.929 four sons in Britain and they write 00:22:46.929 --> 00:22:49.159 pathetically grateful letters thank you 00:22:49.159 --> 00:22:51.799 for sending us this food and I think the 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:53.059 irony of that is amazing 00:22:53.059 --> 00:22:56.630 Africa feeding very hungry Britain but 00:22:56.630 --> 00:22:59.720 even as late as the 1950s many in Europe 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:02.000 allowed themselves to believe the Empire 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:05.260 could endure 00:23:07.730 --> 00:23:10.410 instead the colonial powers were about 00:23:10.410 --> 00:23:13.080 to discover that exposing their subjects 00:23:13.080 --> 00:23:15.630 to world events had planted the seeds of 00:23:15.630 --> 00:23:29.490 their own rapid downfall the European 00:23:29.490 --> 00:23:32.250 being in the position of power had one 00:23:32.250 --> 00:23:33.210 yardstick 00:23:33.210 --> 00:23:36.030 he didn't use anybody else's yardstick 00:23:36.030 --> 00:23:38.790 his yard stick was the yardstick but 00:23:38.790 --> 00:23:40.530 what has happened and most Europeans 00:23:40.530 --> 00:23:44.610 don't realize it time has changed with 00:23:44.610 --> 00:23:47.040 this new sense of dignity and this new 00:23:47.040 --> 00:23:49.890 sense of self-respect a new Negro came 00:23:49.890 --> 00:23:52.170 into being with a new determination to 00:23:52.170 --> 00:23:55.710 suffer to struggle to sacrifice and even 00:23:55.710 --> 00:23:58.970 to die if necessary in order to be free 00:23:58.970 --> 00:24:02.460 and as the people in Africa and Asia get 00:24:02.460 --> 00:24:04.770 some power of their own they get a mind 00:24:04.770 --> 00:24:07.890 of their own the European yardstick now 00:24:07.890 --> 00:24:10.800 isn't necessarily the yard today the 00:24:10.800 --> 00:24:14.420 Negro came to feel that he was somebody 00:24:14.420 --> 00:24:17.490 grace had emerged as the touchstone of 00:24:17.490 --> 00:24:21.930 the post-war world by the 1950s colonial 00:24:21.930 --> 00:24:24.360 raw had produced an elite of African 00:24:24.360 --> 00:24:26.820 nationalist intellectuals and behind 00:24:26.820 --> 00:24:29.430 them large urbanized and literate 00:24:29.430 --> 00:24:32.390 working classes 00:24:33.100 --> 00:24:35.679 together they witnessed the power of 00:24:35.679 --> 00:24:38.890 nationalism in Egypt where Gamal Abdel 00:24:38.890 --> 00:24:41.799 Nasser expelled the British and in 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:44.530 Algeria where the resistance stood firm 00:24:44.530 --> 00:24:48.690 in its war of liberation from France 00:24:49.100 --> 00:24:51.710 at the same time the presence of the 00:24:51.710 --> 00:24:54.019 United Nations the rise of the civil 00:24:54.019 --> 00:24:57.759 rights movement in the United States and 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:00.950 the nascent anti-apartheid movement 00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:03.830 focused the lens of world scrutiny on 00:25:03.830 --> 00:25:07.940 black rights and spurred on colonized 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:10.460 Africans in their core for self 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:12.429 sovereignty 00:25:12.429 --> 00:25:15.070 I'm happy to say that in accordance with 00:25:15.070 --> 00:25:18.820 your wishes arrangements are now in 00:25:18.820 --> 00:25:21.119 progress 00:25:22.250 --> 00:25:26.660 Ghana is free in 1957 Ghana became the 00:25:26.660 --> 00:25:29.540 first sub-saharan state to be granted 00:25:29.540 --> 00:25:32.000 independence by transfer of power to 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.910 Kwame Nkrumah widely considered the 00:25:34.910 --> 00:25:37.160 father of African nationalism 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:40.580 it was impressed by the United States he 00:25:40.580 --> 00:25:43.750 was a student here the more candid sums 00:25:43.750 --> 00:25:46.340 extraordinary said the church in 00:25:46.340 --> 00:25:49.250 colonies instead of each one becoming 00:25:49.250 --> 00:25:53.150 independent they came together created 00:25:53.150 --> 00:25:57.740 Union power is in the Union that is 00:25:57.740 --> 00:25:58.520 lucuma 00:25:58.520 --> 00:26:00.800 explained American Dream and American 00:26:00.800 --> 00:26:03.850 realization and so on so he dreamed for 00:26:03.850 --> 00:26:07.540 something like that in Africa 00:26:07.540 --> 00:26:10.300 and kuma had inspired others with his 00:26:10.300 --> 00:26:13.560 vision of a united states of Africa 00:26:13.560 --> 00:26:16.960 men like Leopold Singh you're in Senegal 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:19.300 Felix Hobart Wang Yi in Cote d'Ivoire 00:26:19.300 --> 00:26:23.200 and Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya men who had 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.380 received colonial education with the 00:26:26.380 --> 00:26:28.840 idea of Empire increasingly unpalatable 00:26:28.840 --> 00:26:31.630 to the vote in public European 00:26:31.630 --> 00:26:34.150 government had little choice but to work 00:26:34.150 --> 00:26:37.480 with the Nationalists there was an 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:39.850 indifference at this stage towards the 00:26:39.850 --> 00:26:42.550 Empire towards the colonies and I found 00:26:42.550 --> 00:26:45.580 that really rather depressing you know 00:26:45.580 --> 00:26:47.200 you'd start trying to talk about it in 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:48.820 the pub and people say oh I should have 00:26:48.820 --> 00:26:50.080 another drink or something 00:26:50.080 --> 00:26:52.750 there was just this this idea that that 00:26:52.750 --> 00:26:55.900 colonialism is is wrong and and needs to 00:26:55.900 --> 00:26:59.040 be got rid of the pressure for wholesale 00:26:59.040 --> 00:27:01.690 decolonization had been building ever 00:27:01.690 --> 00:27:04.060 since the end of the Second World War 00:27:04.060 --> 00:27:07.060 the tipping point came on Wednesday the 00:27:07.060 --> 00:27:14.740 3rd of February 1960 whether we like it 00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:22.240 or not this growth British Prime 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:24.850 Minister Harold Macmillan delivered a 00:27:24.850 --> 00:27:27.430 warning shot to the whites of apartheid 00:27:27.430 --> 00:27:30.040 South Africa and a deathblow to the 00:27:30.040 --> 00:27:32.410 colonial venture across the continent 00:27:32.410 --> 00:27:38.580 that signaled to my mind the idea that 00:27:38.580 --> 00:27:40.750 Britain disapproved and the world 00:27:40.750 --> 00:27:44.230 disapproved of apartheid and the racism 00:27:44.230 --> 00:27:45.940 of apartheid but it didn't necessarily 00:27:45.940 --> 00:27:48.970 mean that we were giving up on our role 00:27:48.970 --> 00:27:50.530 in Africa I didn't think so 00:27:50.530 --> 00:27:53.320 in fact within 10 months of the wind of 00:27:53.320 --> 00:27:55.990 change speech Britain had surrendered to 00:27:55.990 --> 00:27:57.120 keep African 00:27:57.120 --> 00:28:00.900 trees France 14 the rate of the 00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:03.240 colonization when it arrived was 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:04.460 breathtaking 00:28:04.460 --> 00:28:08.760 many were freed without bloodshed 1960 00:28:08.760 --> 00:28:12.360 was held the year of Africa and hurried 00:28:12.360 --> 00:28:14.280 withdrawals of the colonial powers 00:28:14.280 --> 00:28:16.950 continued into the next three decades 00:28:16.950 --> 00:28:21.420 the transference power did not indicate 00:28:21.420 --> 00:28:24.480 that the Europeans suddenly realized 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:26.910 that well it's time to give independence 00:28:26.910 --> 00:28:30.570 to the natives of Africa Asia no it is 00:28:30.570 --> 00:28:33.270 in view of the possibility of 00:28:33.270 --> 00:28:38.070 large-scale war to sub-saharan Africa 00:28:38.070 --> 00:28:40.800 that the first understood that was 00:28:40.800 --> 00:28:43.890 better to prepare to negotiate with 00:28:43.890 --> 00:28:44.940 nationalists 00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:47.190 and hence you have the liberation 00:28:47.190 --> 00:28:49.730 movement 00:28:49.730 --> 00:28:52.550 will you go back to the Congo one day no 00:28:52.550 --> 00:28:55.160 never do you think that it's finished 00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:57.980 for the Europeans in the Congo yes I 00:28:57.980 --> 00:29:00.920 think so but no sooner had African 00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:03.020 nations escaped the shackles of 00:29:03.020 --> 00:29:05.900 colonialism then a new battle for the 00:29:05.900 --> 00:29:09.610 continent was underway the cold war 00:29:09.610 --> 00:29:12.650 back when the colonial idea had Europe's 00:29:12.650 --> 00:29:15.320 politicians spellbound the Communists 00:29:15.320 --> 00:29:17.480 had opposed it and throughout their 00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:19.790 years of struggle African nationalists 00:29:19.790 --> 00:29:22.430 had found a powerful friend in the 00:29:22.430 --> 00:29:25.670 Soviet Union these two great powers 00:29:25.670 --> 00:29:28.790 America and Russia begin to carve up the 00:29:28.790 --> 00:29:30.470 world between them independence 00:29:30.470 --> 00:29:33.560 coincided with the Cold War where it 00:29:33.560 --> 00:29:36.140 mattered whose side the president was in 00:29:36.140 --> 00:29:38.450 terms of this global struggle between 00:29:38.450 --> 00:29:41.900 Russia and America and they both tried 00:29:41.900 --> 00:29:44.210 to organize coos to get there their 00:29:44.210 --> 00:29:46.400 people in and this was very 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.700 destabilizing the congos Patrice Lumumba 00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:52.970 was a hard-line nationalist labeled a 00:29:52.970 --> 00:29:56.210 communist by America his game of Russian 00:29:56.210 --> 00:29:58.730 Roulette appear to have paid off when in 00:29:58.730 --> 00:30:01.880 1960 he oversaw the handover of 00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:05.390 sovereignty from Belgium he was to 00:30:05.390 --> 00:30:08.480 become victim or their position between 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:11.090 the west and east between the bloc 00:30:11.090 --> 00:30:13.880 Soviet bloc and Americans because 00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:16.400 militia leaders with control of the 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:19.190 mineral-rich Katanga province refused to 00:30:19.190 --> 00:30:21.890 be swallowed up in a wider Republic led 00:30:21.890 --> 00:30:25.130 by a Soviet backed Lumumba fearing their 00:30:25.130 --> 00:30:28.280 own material losses the US and Belgium 00:30:28.280 --> 00:30:31.190 supported them rebels and just three 00:30:31.190 --> 00:30:32.840 weeks after bringing the country into 00:30:32.840 --> 00:30:35.450 independence Lumumba was captured by the 00:30:35.450 --> 00:30:36.370 Katanga 00:30:36.370 --> 00:30:40.200 tortured and killed Terry Buchanan 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:43.390 imaginary figures not for what it did 00:30:43.390 --> 00:30:46.480 but for what he could represent remember 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:48.340 suffered more indignities including 00:30:48.340 --> 00:30:50.440 being forced to eat a speech which he 00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:52.180 restated his claim to be the Congo is 00:30:52.180 --> 00:30:55.480 rightful premier cobblers riches 00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:58.210 combined with global geopolitics had 00:30:58.210 --> 00:31:02.080 again proven a disastrous mix and with 00:31:02.080 --> 00:31:04.350 freedom from overt colonial exploitation 00:31:04.350 --> 00:31:07.270 the scramble for resources was driven 00:31:07.270 --> 00:31:10.960 underground for a fleeting moment the 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:12.940 Lumumba affair raised the questions of 00:31:12.940 --> 00:31:16.240 what in Africa would replace the strong 00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:18.850 arm of colonial rule and where the 00:31:18.850 --> 00:31:21.490 national unity was achievable with 00:31:21.490 --> 00:31:23.550 hostilities bubbling beneath the surface 00:31:23.550 --> 00:31:26.350 but in the excitement of independence 00:31:26.350 --> 00:31:28.450 this was quickly forgotten 00:31:28.450 --> 00:31:30.700 I suppose one of the ironies is that the 00:31:30.700 --> 00:31:34.559 European countries that were democratic 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.150 didn't really introduce much democracy 00:31:37.150 --> 00:31:39.460 to Africa so when independence comes and 00:31:39.460 --> 00:31:41.920 people can vote many of these countries 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:45.520 then politically exploded all sorts of 00:31:45.520 --> 00:31:46.720 political problems that have been 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:49.390 suppressed by colonial imperial rule 00:31:49.390 --> 00:31:52.809 then burst out and many of them like in 00:31:52.809 --> 00:31:55.660 Congo practically tore the countries to 00:31:55.660 --> 00:31:58.270 pieces I think it was a very unplanned 00:31:58.270 --> 00:32:02.800 thing frankly and it was only in the 00:32:02.800 --> 00:32:05.260 last year and a half or so before 00:32:05.260 --> 00:32:08.920 independence that all of a sudden with 00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:12.970 independence looming we started to have 00:32:12.970 --> 00:32:16.870 accelerated programs to divert to to 00:32:16.870 --> 00:32:20.290 train locals that that wasn't enough so 00:32:20.290 --> 00:32:23.140 in the end we handed over to a country 00:32:23.140 --> 00:32:25.420 which was not properly prepared for 00:32:25.420 --> 00:32:27.460 independence I think that we would have 00:32:27.460 --> 00:32:30.100 done Africa a lot of good by staying and 00:32:30.100 --> 00:32:32.650 preparing flat out 00:32:32.650 --> 00:32:34.960 another five or six years but the 00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:37.690 Africans everywhere decolonization 00:32:37.690 --> 00:32:40.480 couldn't happen fast enough for that 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:43.150 generation of Nigerians it was just a 00:32:43.150 --> 00:32:47.460 feeling of complete euphoria of triumph 00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:52.530 of total confidence in the future of 00:32:52.530 --> 00:32:55.960 Nigeria they really believed that 00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:59.410 Nigeria was and all of Africa I mean 00:32:59.410 --> 00:33:02.080 there were pan Africans they believed 00:33:02.080 --> 00:33:04.570 very much in the idea that the whole of 00:33:04.570 --> 00:33:10.420 Africa was going to rise from from the 00:33:10.420 --> 00:33:13.810 shackles of the past dream big dream big 00:33:13.810 --> 00:33:16.690 hope people thought that independence 00:33:16.690 --> 00:33:19.690 will bring about the solution to many 00:33:19.690 --> 00:33:25.590 problems so it was very romantic 00:33:25.590 --> 00:33:29.760 the real celebration of independence 00:33:29.760 --> 00:33:34.240 dances big projects that euphoria 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:37.260 wouldn't last 00:33:51.540 --> 00:33:53.250 I think the sixties were very violent 00:33:53.250 --> 00:33:56.360 decade and so the definition euphoria 00:33:56.360 --> 00:33:58.890 disappeared very very quickly within a 00:33:58.890 --> 00:34:02.810 year maybe two years and then from 62 to 00:34:02.810 --> 00:34:07.110 1970 it was just one incident of 00:34:07.110 --> 00:34:11.250 violence of carnage after another it 00:34:11.250 --> 00:34:13.350 faded when the military began to seize 00:34:13.350 --> 00:34:17.400 power and military are not leaders there 00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:20.190 are not political figures the only our 00:34:20.190 --> 00:34:22.860 specialize in what in the use of the 00:34:22.860 --> 00:34:25.730 weapon and so on they have no political 00:34:25.730 --> 00:34:29.190 mission except mental the security or 00:34:29.190 --> 00:34:32.070 the country and so on so you have the 00:34:32.070 --> 00:34:35.010 becoming of new leadership for whom 00:34:35.010 --> 00:34:39.440 nobody voted that was a terrible fact 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:42.270 many newly sovereign states of Africa 00:34:42.270 --> 00:34:44.909 left with the legacies of occupation and 00:34:44.909 --> 00:34:47.190 the challenges of State Building was 00:34:47.190 --> 00:34:50.389 soon consumed by bitter power struggles 00:34:50.389 --> 00:34:54.780 in many places militiamen over ran the 00:34:54.780 --> 00:34:57.120 nationalists of thinkers within the 00:34:57.120 --> 00:34:59.370 first 20 years of Independence there 00:34:59.370 --> 00:35:02.340 were 40 successful to's a many more 00:35:02.340 --> 00:35:04.040 failed one 00:35:04.040 --> 00:35:06.630 former British territories were torn 00:35:06.630 --> 00:35:09.869 apart by ethnic conflict as the dark 00:35:09.869 --> 00:35:12.900 side of ruling by proxy gradually came 00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:15.270 to light one of the problems with 00:35:15.270 --> 00:35:17.790 independence when it came was that the 00:35:17.790 --> 00:35:20.990 colonial powers hadn't ruled Nigeria 00:35:20.990 --> 00:35:23.700 Nigerians as Nigerians they ruled the 00:35:23.700 --> 00:35:25.589 most hauser people or your other people 00:35:25.589 --> 00:35:28.380 or ebo people have been Kenyans as 00:35:28.380 --> 00:35:30.750 Kenyans but as Kikuyu or newer people 00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:33.770 and suddenly they all had to be Kenyans 00:35:33.770 --> 00:35:37.440 Nigerians and very quickly the 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:39.599 politicians naturally looked to their 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:41.520 own people for their political power 00:35:41.520 --> 00:35:44.970 base and they and politics became very 00:35:44.970 --> 00:35:48.510 Ethne sized in the 30 years which 00:35:48.510 --> 00:35:50.880 followed the year of africa two billion 00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:52.920 people are thought to have died in 00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:55.619 ethnic violence in X British colonies 00:35:55.619 --> 00:35:58.950 alone in the case Nigeria basically when 00:35:58.950 --> 00:36:05.070 the British left in 1960 they they they 00:36:05.070 --> 00:36:09.119 left a political class that was already 00:36:09.119 --> 00:36:10.920 even at that point divided against 00:36:10.920 --> 00:36:14.280 itself they had a system where the 00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:19.950 Chiefs and the Kings run things and just 00:36:19.950 --> 00:36:23.130 reported to the district officers in 00:36:23.130 --> 00:36:25.349 western Nigeria as a result of the in 00:36:25.349 --> 00:36:27.450 this encounter schools were built 00:36:27.450 --> 00:36:31.170 churches were built and very quickly and 00:36:31.170 --> 00:36:36.089 elites and educated elites emerged in 00:36:36.089 --> 00:36:39.810 the north again with the same system the 00:36:39.810 --> 00:36:42.839 the Chiefs and the King said okay we 00:36:42.839 --> 00:36:45.780 accepts you as a colonial power but can 00:36:45.780 --> 00:36:48.480 you just step you know to stay out of 00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:51.450 our business of things and and so they I 00:36:51.450 --> 00:36:54.359 mean most parts of the north they would 00:36:54.359 --> 00:36:55.640 not allow 00:36:55.640 --> 00:36:59.190 churches and schools to be built the 00:36:59.190 --> 00:37:00.990 consequence of that about hundred years 00:37:00.990 --> 00:37:03.540 later was that there was an imbalance 00:37:03.540 --> 00:37:07.010 between the north and south and then 00:37:07.010 --> 00:37:13.260 ended up in a civil war but elsewhere 00:37:13.260 --> 00:37:15.410 the problem wasn't the rate of 00:37:15.410 --> 00:37:17.819 decolonization but the lack of it 00:37:17.819 --> 00:37:21.150 France redefined its relationship with 00:37:21.150 --> 00:37:23.490 its African colonies to become the 00:37:23.490 --> 00:37:27.510 unseen hand in national affairs quietly 00:37:27.510 --> 00:37:30.900 French control was going underground the 00:37:30.900 --> 00:37:32.730 French never really left when at 00:37:32.730 --> 00:37:35.369 independence behind for many years 00:37:35.369 --> 00:37:37.950 afterwards you go to a ministry in 00:37:37.950 --> 00:37:40.050 francophone Africa there would you would 00:37:40.050 --> 00:37:41.640 talk to the minister would be African 00:37:41.640 --> 00:37:43.680 behind the door there would be a 00:37:43.680 --> 00:37:46.290 Frenchman signing the checks doing the 00:37:46.290 --> 00:37:49.470 accounts reporting to Paris in 2006 00:37:49.470 --> 00:37:52.680 President Sarkozy promised a cleanup of 00:37:52.680 --> 00:37:56.130 the French foothold in Africa no more 00:37:56.130 --> 00:38:00.829 secrets real independence 00:38:06.910 --> 00:38:09.890 but Bastille Day celebrations in Paris 00:38:09.890 --> 00:38:12.980 this year sent a clear message that they 00:38:12.980 --> 00:38:15.530 remain as closely interested in the 00:38:15.530 --> 00:38:19.150 continents affairs as they ever were 00:38:19.150 --> 00:38:22.880 ever since independence domination of 00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:25.550 resources has continued to fuel violence 00:38:25.550 --> 00:38:28.610 in many states with former Belgian Congo 00:38:28.610 --> 00:38:31.460 still seemingly locked in a vicious 00:38:31.460 --> 00:38:34.670 cycle of conflict over its mine 00:38:34.670 --> 00:38:37.520 African rulers foreign multinationals 00:38:37.520 --> 00:38:40.340 and governments have continued to strike 00:38:40.340 --> 00:38:43.730 deals to plunder commodities and help 00:38:43.730 --> 00:38:46.460 national economies already set 00:38:46.460 --> 00:38:49.730 back by the colonial experience as well 00:38:49.730 --> 00:38:51.710 in the 19th century the Europeans just 00:38:51.710 --> 00:38:54.410 went in enslaved people forced them to 00:38:54.410 --> 00:38:57.830 dig and and took it all for themselves I 00:38:57.830 --> 00:38:59.960 think these days there's a complicity 00:38:59.960 --> 00:39:03.460 between the the rulers of Africa and 00:39:03.460 --> 00:39:06.920 Western companies or middlemen mines in 00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:11.050 whichever country you're talking about 00:39:11.050 --> 00:39:15.410 needed somebody to bring in the the 00:39:15.410 --> 00:39:18.530 personnel and the equipment to dig out 00:39:18.530 --> 00:39:21.440 the minerals to employ people to 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:23.810 continue to dig out the minerals to 00:39:23.810 --> 00:39:26.570 maintain the place outside investment 00:39:26.570 --> 00:39:30.870 then as now is terribly important 00:39:30.870 --> 00:39:33.450 the continuing diversion of minerals 00:39:33.450 --> 00:39:36.360 isn't the only exploitative practice 00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:39.870 today Africa is the largest recipient of 00:39:39.870 --> 00:39:42.780 external aid in the world a continent 00:39:42.780 --> 00:39:45.150 where half the population survive on 00:39:45.150 --> 00:39:47.970 less than a dollar a day but for every 00:39:47.970 --> 00:39:50.850 $1 coming in ten dollars are lost 00:39:50.850 --> 00:39:56.160 through illegal capital heading out 437 00:39:56.160 --> 00:40:00.000 billion dollars has left Africa between 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:02.760 two thousand and two thousand and two 00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:04.920 thousand and eight lefted illicitly 00:40:04.920 --> 00:40:09.540 secretly illegally and much of that has 00:40:09.540 --> 00:40:13.470 flowed into tax havens owned by European 00:40:13.470 --> 00:40:18.030 countries Britain particularly and so 00:40:18.030 --> 00:40:20.370 the ordinary people of Africa haven't 00:40:20.370 --> 00:40:22.560 benefited from these this last decade 00:40:22.560 --> 00:40:25.710 which has been a very good decade for 00:40:25.710 --> 00:40:29.100 Africa economically but you when you go 00:40:29.100 --> 00:40:31.260 there you still see people as poor as 00:40:31.260 --> 00:40:34.470 ever under a shadow financial system 00:40:34.470 --> 00:40:36.780 built on the ruins of colonialism 00:40:36.780 --> 00:40:39.840 foreign banks and multinationals working 00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:43.170 in Africa avoid paying tax anonymous 00:40:43.170 --> 00:40:46.530 trust accounts fake foundations money 00:40:46.530 --> 00:40:49.230 laundering tax havens and trade 00:40:49.230 --> 00:40:54.270 mispricing all go unchecked since 1970 00:40:54.270 --> 00:40:57.390 an estimated eight hundred and fifty 00:40:57.390 --> 00:41:00.320 four billion dollars has been lost 00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:03.540 enough to have wiped out external debt 00:41:03.540 --> 00:41:07.110 and have left six hundred billion more 00:41:07.110 --> 00:41:10.140 for development the financial rewards 00:41:10.140 --> 00:41:11.870 can be traced back to those countries 00:41:11.870 --> 00:41:15.060 proudly bailing out a dependent Africa 00:41:15.060 --> 00:41:18.210 with aid a striking parallel to the 00:41:18.210 --> 00:41:22.260 colonial story also echoing the past 00:41:22.260 --> 00:41:25.230 China is entering the scene once 00:41:25.230 --> 00:41:28.200 monopolized by Europe opening up options 00:41:28.200 --> 00:41:30.310 for African commerce 00:41:30.310 --> 00:41:32.710 the process of decolonisation is still 00:41:32.710 --> 00:41:35.140 unfolding it's quite interesting that 00:41:35.140 --> 00:41:37.600 China has now come into the scenario 00:41:37.600 --> 00:41:43.830 vine for contracts and for rights to 00:41:43.830 --> 00:41:47.230 exploit natural resources with European 00:41:47.230 --> 00:41:49.210 countries it's China's demand for 00:41:49.210 --> 00:41:50.980 African resources which has pushed their 00:41:50.980 --> 00:41:53.200 prices globally that's actually been 00:41:53.200 --> 00:41:56.190 very good for Africa but whether African 00:41:56.190 --> 00:41:58.630 governments are really taking the best 00:41:58.630 --> 00:42:01.810 advantage of this one-off opportunity to 00:42:01.810 --> 00:42:06.310 sell their what's under their soil is 00:42:06.310 --> 00:42:09.190 I'm not sure I do the jury's out this is 00:42:09.190 --> 00:42:10.900 the moment to build the infrastructure 00:42:10.900 --> 00:42:14.770 to educate people bring health to their 00:42:14.770 --> 00:42:18.160 people and I'm not sure that that is 00:42:18.160 --> 00:42:21.990 being done as effectively as it might be 00:42:22.860 --> 00:42:25.990 United States of Africa may never have 00:42:25.990 --> 00:42:29.110 materialized Africa today does have 00:42:29.110 --> 00:42:31.870 success stories like Botswana where 00:42:31.870 --> 00:42:34.120 diamond revenues of finance development 00:42:34.120 --> 00:42:36.750 under a multi-party government and 00:42:36.750 --> 00:42:40.090 Senegal were democracy stability and 00:42:40.090 --> 00:42:42.790 civil liberties have characterized the 00:42:42.790 --> 00:42:45.880 past 50 years of self-rule I think we 00:42:45.880 --> 00:42:48.460 can be very confident about the future 00:42:48.460 --> 00:42:53.140 of Africa Africa espouses education it 00:42:53.140 --> 00:42:58.420 just supposes modernity it is also 00:42:58.420 --> 00:43:01.540 becoming more and more democratic we 00:43:01.540 --> 00:43:04.660 have not just the natural resources but 00:43:04.660 --> 00:43:08.020 the intellectual resources strength of 00:43:08.020 --> 00:43:11.020 character I believe a lot in the the the 00:43:11.020 --> 00:43:13.120 new professional classes these are not 00:43:13.120 --> 00:43:16.240 the elites who have robbed Africa these 00:43:16.240 --> 00:43:19.510 are world-class professionals they've 00:43:19.510 --> 00:43:21.220 got an uphill struggle but I think 00:43:21.220 --> 00:43:24.780 Africa may have turned the corner 00:43:24.780 --> 00:43:27.780 where the days of empire or nationhood 00:43:27.780 --> 00:43:30.840 for over a century now the world's 00:43:30.840 --> 00:43:33.150 relationship with Africa has been built 00:43:33.150 --> 00:43:36.690 on disparity Africa's wealth has helped 00:43:36.690 --> 00:43:40.220 bankroll the giant strides in technology 00:43:40.220 --> 00:43:42.750 communications and business made 00:43:42.750 --> 00:43:45.780 elsewhere but by safeguarding natural 00:43:45.780 --> 00:43:48.840 riches prioritizing national interests 00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:50.910 and we trade and development done on 00:43:50.910 --> 00:43:53.700 equal terms there's a chance the coming 00:43:53.700 --> 00:43:56.460 50 years could break the cycles of the 00:43:56.460 --> 00:43:59.870 past and finally bring real independence 00:43:59.870 --> 00:44:02.610 we shall not make colonialism 00:44:02.610 --> 00:44:05.400 responsible of everything bad in Africa 00:44:05.400 --> 00:44:09.060 after all for 50 years some of this 00:44:09.060 --> 00:44:11.400 country have been independent now I will 00:44:11.400 --> 00:44:13.320 agree with you the story on that 50 00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:15.780 years are not long enough but 15 years 00:44:15.780 --> 00:44:19.920 not began to see clear where to go we 00:44:19.920 --> 00:44:24.210 have to insist on the responsibility of 00:44:24.210 --> 00:44:28.980 the African leadership also the natural 00:44:28.980 --> 00:44:32.450 bounty is given by natural and God 00:44:32.450 --> 00:44:37.980 instead of being acres may well become a 00:44:37.980 --> 00:44:42.560 new opportunity for better tomorrow 00:44:42.560 --> 00:44:46.590 democracy transparency great respect in 00:44:46.590 --> 00:44:48.950 the law