Thursday, December 20, 2012

Realities and the Muslim Revival Installment 4

In 1884 at the request of Portugal, German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck held a world meeting. He called together the major western powers of the world to negotiate questions and confusion over the control of Africa.

 Bismarck appreciated the opportunity to expand Germany’s sphere of influence over Africa. This was because he desired to force Germany’s rivals to struggle with one another for territory.


What happened was the same thing that had been happening to all colonized Muslim lands. It resulted in a hodgepodge of geometric boundaries that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries.

 This new map was superimposed over the one thousand indigenous cultures and regions of Africa. The new countries as had been the case in the past, lacked any rhyme or reason whatsoever. 

Thus giving no consideration at all to how all these people would deal with the new situation that was forced on them. It divided coherent groups of people. Worse was the fact that it merged together disparate groups who did not have anything in common and did not get along.

14 countries were represented, Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, Turkey, and the United States. Of these fourteen Nations, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal were the major players in the conference.

 They were controlling most of colonial Africa at the time. At the time of the conference only the coastal areas were colonized by the Europeans.

Following the conference the give and take continued never once taking the inhabitants into consideration. By 1914 the conference participants had divided Africa among themselves into 50 countries. 

Great Britain took Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana; they also controlled Nigeria, and Ghana. France took much of western Africa, from Mauritania to Chad plus the Republic of Congo.

 Belgium took the Democratic Republic of Congo; Portugal got Mozambique in the east and Angola in the west. Italy took Somalia and a portion of Ethiopia. Germany took Namibia and Tanzania, while Spain got the smallest territory, Equatorial Guinea.

Then in 1920 Britain and France carved up the Middle East between them. They divided it into protectorates and mandates. What a mess we have created.

 It really is unbelievable the way this all came about. Our level of ignorance as to what we did and our responsibility for it can not be denied. 

These colonization projects only made a more silent process of westernization official. This had been happening since Europeans had been establishing a cultural and political dominance. 

This was of course, during the nineteenth century in the name of modernization.

Technicalized Europe had become the leading power and was taking over the world. Religious differences and spiritual ideals must not be allowed to impede the progress of society.

 Scientists, Monarchs, and government officials insisted that they be free of ecclesiastical control. Thus the ideals of Democracy, toleration, human rights and secularism were not simply beautiful ideals dreamed up by political scientists.

 They were, at least in part dictated by the needs of the modern state.

 It was found that in order to be efficient and productive, a modern Nation had to be organized on a secular, democratic basis. 

It was also found that if a society organized all their institutions according to the new rational and scientific norms, they became indomitable. Thus the conventional agrarian states were no match for them.
Life Today The Real Story "2005"

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma 

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