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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
 Posted - 21 Feb 2010 : 15:50:23
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FREEDOM NEWspaper
Independence? What Independence?
By Baba Galleh Jallow
In a classic work of historical and political theory, the German philosopher of history Reinhart Koselleck discourses a “space of experience” and “horizon of expectation”that may be used to chart the trajectory of historical evolution. Koselleck suggests that the past, the present, and the future are all part of a single movement of historical time within which society is embedded. Today’s “space of experience” was yesterday’s “horizon of expectation.” In other words, all human actions in the present are informed by past experience and motivated by future expectation. It is within this framework of historical temporality that I propose to examine the idea of African independence, which, I will argue, represents a myth for the great majority of Africans on the continent....
... The evidence for an argument against the reality of true independence for African peoples is overwhelming. The very structures of the colonial state remain in place. Even the buildings and residences of the colonial governments continue to be occupied, unchanged, by most African governments. The boundaries, divisions and districts demarcated by the colonial rulers remain largely unchanged. And the coercive methods and approaches deployed to oppress the African people have simply been rendered more efficient at what it does, and redeployed against the African people. Poorly trained and armed colonial security forces have been replaced by brutal professional militaries, secret police and insidious surveillance mechanisms - all of these placed at the beck and calling of the a state whose arch enemies have become its very own people. Indeed, one can talk of a “war against society” that has been consistently waged by African governments against their peoples since the departure of the European colonizers. Rather than becoming the agent of peace and freedom for its people, the African state has become a brutal agent of conflict and bondage for its people. ...
In short, independence requires strict adherence to all those lofty ideals for which the African people demanded freedom from colonial bondage, which are ensconced in all our national constitutions and which, sadly, are conveniently by-passed and neglected by those who claim to be governing in the name of the oppressed African people. Short of this, independence remains a very ugly myth – a socially useful lie – for the overwhelming majority of African peoples across the continent.
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 21 Feb 2010 : 16:24:13
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Janko,I started reading your posting,and I thought ,here we go again,I continued and then it suddenly struck me that what had been written explains everything, the colonial powers had so got inside the heads of the colonised people that they are unable to determine any other avenue to progress.
As the Author puts it:
Indeed, one can talk of a “war against society” that has been consistently waged by African governments against their peoples since the departure of the European colonizers. Rather than becoming the agent of peace and freedom for its people, the African state has become a brutal agent of conflict and bondage for its people. ...
I found this as well whilst digging around:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a769774795~db=all~jumptype=rss
Ideology forms social and political actors. This claim is disconcerting for those who believe it rules out the contribution of 'agency' in social, political and ideological change. In this article, I consider the work of Reinhart Koselleck and Michel Foucault in tandem to demonstrate that such concerns are misplaced. Together, Koselleck and Foucault can aid us in understanding how ideology interpellates individuals as combatants, or in other words how it equips social and political actors in modernity with the capacity to contest. From this perspective, we can conceive of ideology forming social and political actors while maintaining that the contests and struggles in which they participate are key for understanding social, political and ideological change in the modern world.
All very interesting stuff. Politicos are welcome to discuss do you agree? or is it all clap - trap (Explaination:http://www.yourdictionary.com/claptrap)
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 21 Feb 2010 16:36:21 |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 21 Feb 2010 : 18:34:28
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Interesting article, not only in its attempt to set light on the lost dream of self-government but also the ambivalent position of the African intellectual and the making of history, hence it is he who writes history that has one. The collective experience of colonialism has effected the life of the educated and the uneducated differently.
The history of historiography is a history of the language of historians, which makes it more an archaeology of discourse rather than a literal truth. There are key historical points of departure and references in the European historicity which are not shared by Africa, for example the French Revolution and the birth of the concept of freedom, brotherhood and equality, the enlightenment and the end of the dominant Christian dualistic philosophy.
How do I as an African reader relate to this historical perspective, do I understand this particular history as a literal truth or as an extension of a colonial discourse, hence the language and the historical perspective have no reference in the history of Africa.
In my opinion history is language; the history of my language is my way of being in the world, in other words the sense of continuity is what constitutes the reference to both the pass and the feature. Therefore the history of independence does not represent a continuity of my history but rather a discontinuity.
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 21 Feb 2010 : 19:00:37
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Janko:
"The collective experience of colonialism has effected the life of the educated and the uneducated differently."
To a certain extent I would agree in the fact that the educated african interlectual has had the experiences of travel and exposure to different cultures to broaden his outlook on the world to see many different aspects , whereas the uneducated African is unlikly to travel, and even if he does he will make his way in the world by activities other than study and interlectual persuits,because he has no grounding in such subjects therefore they do not interest him.(him is taken to include her of course)
The fact still remains that if Reinhart Koselleck has hit the nail on the head it is still the fault of the colonial powers that so many African leaders adopt the style of government that they adopt, I think that this is the hub of his piece.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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