May 10, 2015
Kampala, Uganda
Europe in 1750, Africa in 2015
Last Saturday, May 2, I watched a BBC TV documentary on the unfinished masterpieces in Western art. An unfinished novel by the English novelist Charles Dickens, an unfinished painting of the first US president George Washington by Gilbert Stuart and an unfinished poem by the British World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon.
The level of detail. The dedication to unearthing everything in the world of knowledge, old and new, important and unimportant, major and minor.
When I was younger, as a child, I used to marvel at these people called Europeans. They seemed imbued with a magic that we completely lack in Africa.
Later in late secondary school, I and many others started to believe that this admiration was nothing short of brainwashing, the result of having come under the influence of subtle neo-colonial mind control.
Politics and economics of class
At university, studying political science, we came to believe that all this impression of Europe was simply the result of the politics and economics of class and our relationship to and position in the chain and means of production. The pan-Africanists hold the same view.
All this seems quite logical and reasonable.
And yet, I still continue to wonder, even after taking into consideration all these things, about the difference between Europeans and us, us in this case being Africans.
I have tried to read up about Europe in around 1750 A.D. where they were at roughly the same level of economic and social development as we are today.
The last time 80 per cent of the European population lived on the land and engaged in subsistence agriculture was in 1750.
With 80 per cent of Ugandans living on the land and engaged in this subsistence agriculture, factoring in a few differences, this would be a good place to compare where we are in time.
In many ways, the Europe of 1750 seemed much like Africa today.
As the Associated Press news agency history of the period notes, Europe was a continent of Constant conflict; Proto-industrial, capitalist nation-states with expanding economies; Absolute monarchies (except England); Limited religious freedom Martin Luther advocated the priesthood of all believers. Jean Calvin developed the theory of predestination.
And yet when one reads about Europe in 1750, even with the economic activity being mainly what we see in Uganda today, Europe was still significantly ahead of us today.
There are major differences between the Europe of 1750 and the Africa or Uganda of 2015.
The literature they produced in 1750, the classical and sacred music, the philosophy, the paintings, the religious and scientific inquiry, the technological inventions, the architecture, the systems of government and the organisation of society Europe was already the global power and history-changing continent it is today.
We seem to be a wholly different place that goes against this kind of historical definition. Most of our populations live in villages and on the land, as Europe did in the 1700s.
But among, say, the top five per cent of the population that is usually termed the African elite, I dont see anywhere near the intense intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness, dedication to knowledge and inquiry that Europe had in 1750, amid all its political turmoil.
This I believe is one of the reason so many well though-out policy papers and development plans for Africa time and again always disappoint both the West that conceives them and the African countries that attempt to implement them.
The mistake is always made in believing that we are all the same, all societies develop at roughly the same pace given sufficient mass education, democracy and infrastructure development.
No sooner has Western optimism about Africa as the next emerging market started to take root and seem accurate than African country after African country starts to fall apart or refugees from countries supposedly recording rapid economic growth pour into the Mediterranean Sea in search of menial jobs in Europe.
Everything is the other way around.
Sweden, Denmark, Britain and Norway are run as kingdoms and countries like Uganda, Kenya, Angola and Malawi are republics.
And yet in reality, these African countries are run like kingdoms while the European kingdoms are run like republics, if the idea of republics is supposed to mean efficiency, modernity and based on institutions and not personality cults.
Watching that BBC TV programme last week and seeing the detail and dedication they put into its production, I could not see anything like that happening any time soon in an African TV station.
I have watched enough Kenyan, Nigerian, Uganda, Tanzanian, Ethiopian and South African TV stations to know what I am talking about.
We had better wake up and start re-thinking everything about who we are (that is if we can, in the first place, really devote ourselves to thinking).
The West, under the weight of guilt over apartheid, colonialism and slavery, can no longer dare be objective about Africa for fear of being labelled racist.
Far-right fringe parties
The only Europeans who can still speak and think freely about Africans are the far-right fringe parties and the official West disregards their input in decision-making.
I wrote here in 2013 and will say again: Africans are the only people who can redeem themselves because, as just mentioned, the Europeans who know exactly what it takes to develop Africa are either too guilt-ridden to do so or sometimes are too dishonest and calculating to bother.
It will have to be up to Africans to call a spade a spade, and if there are any who really think and research and aggregate knowledge at all, create the blueprints needed to salvage this unfortunate continent.
But at present and for the next at least 50 years, I dont see anything like that happening. We are helpless children, we Africans, in ways that are difficult to put into words.
www.twitter.com/timkalyegira
www.flickr.com/photos/timothykalyegira
Source:Europe in 1750, Africa in 2015 - Commentary
Kampala, Uganda
Europe in 1750, Africa in 2015
Last Saturday, May 2, I watched a BBC TV documentary on the unfinished masterpieces in Western art. An unfinished novel by the English novelist Charles Dickens, an unfinished painting of the first US president George Washington by Gilbert Stuart and an unfinished poem by the British World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon.
The level of detail. The dedication to unearthing everything in the world of knowledge, old and new, important and unimportant, major and minor.
When I was younger, as a child, I used to marvel at these people called Europeans. They seemed imbued with a magic that we completely lack in Africa.
Later in late secondary school, I and many others started to believe that this admiration was nothing short of brainwashing, the result of having come under the influence of subtle neo-colonial mind control.
Politics and economics of class
At university, studying political science, we came to believe that all this impression of Europe was simply the result of the politics and economics of class and our relationship to and position in the chain and means of production. The pan-Africanists hold the same view.
All this seems quite logical and reasonable.
And yet, I still continue to wonder, even after taking into consideration all these things, about the difference between Europeans and us, us in this case being Africans.
I have tried to read up about Europe in around 1750 A.D. where they were at roughly the same level of economic and social development as we are today.
The last time 80 per cent of the European population lived on the land and engaged in subsistence agriculture was in 1750.
With 80 per cent of Ugandans living on the land and engaged in this subsistence agriculture, factoring in a few differences, this would be a good place to compare where we are in time.
In many ways, the Europe of 1750 seemed much like Africa today.
As the Associated Press news agency history of the period notes, Europe was a continent of Constant conflict; Proto-industrial, capitalist nation-states with expanding economies; Absolute monarchies (except England); Limited religious freedom Martin Luther advocated the priesthood of all believers. Jean Calvin developed the theory of predestination.
And yet when one reads about Europe in 1750, even with the economic activity being mainly what we see in Uganda today, Europe was still significantly ahead of us today.
There are major differences between the Europe of 1750 and the Africa or Uganda of 2015.
The literature they produced in 1750, the classical and sacred music, the philosophy, the paintings, the religious and scientific inquiry, the technological inventions, the architecture, the systems of government and the organisation of society Europe was already the global power and history-changing continent it is today.
We seem to be a wholly different place that goes against this kind of historical definition. Most of our populations live in villages and on the land, as Europe did in the 1700s.
But among, say, the top five per cent of the population that is usually termed the African elite, I dont see anywhere near the intense intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness, dedication to knowledge and inquiry that Europe had in 1750, amid all its political turmoil.
This I believe is one of the reason so many well though-out policy papers and development plans for Africa time and again always disappoint both the West that conceives them and the African countries that attempt to implement them.
The mistake is always made in believing that we are all the same, all societies develop at roughly the same pace given sufficient mass education, democracy and infrastructure development.
No sooner has Western optimism about Africa as the next emerging market started to take root and seem accurate than African country after African country starts to fall apart or refugees from countries supposedly recording rapid economic growth pour into the Mediterranean Sea in search of menial jobs in Europe.
Everything is the other way around.
Sweden, Denmark, Britain and Norway are run as kingdoms and countries like Uganda, Kenya, Angola and Malawi are republics.
And yet in reality, these African countries are run like kingdoms while the European kingdoms are run like republics, if the idea of republics is supposed to mean efficiency, modernity and based on institutions and not personality cults.
Watching that BBC TV programme last week and seeing the detail and dedication they put into its production, I could not see anything like that happening any time soon in an African TV station.
I have watched enough Kenyan, Nigerian, Uganda, Tanzanian, Ethiopian and South African TV stations to know what I am talking about.
We had better wake up and start re-thinking everything about who we are (that is if we can, in the first place, really devote ourselves to thinking).
The West, under the weight of guilt over apartheid, colonialism and slavery, can no longer dare be objective about Africa for fear of being labelled racist.
Far-right fringe parties
The only Europeans who can still speak and think freely about Africans are the far-right fringe parties and the official West disregards their input in decision-making.
I wrote here in 2013 and will say again: Africans are the only people who can redeem themselves because, as just mentioned, the Europeans who know exactly what it takes to develop Africa are either too guilt-ridden to do so or sometimes are too dishonest and calculating to bother.
It will have to be up to Africans to call a spade a spade, and if there are any who really think and research and aggregate knowledge at all, create the blueprints needed to salvage this unfortunate continent.
But at present and for the next at least 50 years, I dont see anything like that happening. We are helpless children, we Africans, in ways that are difficult to put into words.
www.twitter.com/timkalyegira
www.flickr.com/photos/timothykalyegira
Source:Europe in 1750, Africa in 2015 - Commentary