Comments by "" (@orboakin8074) on "How Somalia was Ruined" video.
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@second2none914 I see the points you are trying to make but rather than coming to the same conclusion I arrived at i.e. that Africa's issues are due to multifaceted reasons, beyond colonialism or racism, you seem to rather fall back on simply attributing them mainly to colonialism and racism.
First off, on the point of Congo, absolutely. Leopold and Belgium did horrible things to the people and the country during colonialism but you forget to mention the real reasons why the country is so unfortunate. Prior to colonialism, other factors hindered them. Their geography (thicketed jungles) prevented proper agriculture and human settlements and coalescing of people into more unified groups and this led to division and exploitation from their own tribal rulers via slavery and ethnic wars. Post-colonialism, that factor still hinders them, not the Belgium's. Rwanda also had tribal issues prior to Belgium colonialism, then had the tragic genocide, and now are a burgeoning economic power in East Africa simply because of good leadership. Even Botswana with less resources, a history of different tribes that united and that were colonised, is now a beacon of political and economic stability and progress in Africa. What is Congo's excuse?
As for Nigeria, our civil war happened not due to religious reasons but tribal reasons. The Igbo people felt very under-represented in the post-colonial government. Various attempts to resolve their grievances failed and thus the war happened. Should we just keep blaming the British or the inept corrupt Nigerian government that caused it? Or do you suppose we, In Nigeria, should just balkanize or actually work together for some semblance of unity? I am from a minority tribe, myself. Do you think we should break away and create our own country or just blame all our woes on the British?
Cameroon and the Francophone-Anglophone war. That is tragic but I need to ask you this, what do you think about the Ethiopian-Tigray war? Ethiopia was never colonized and yet still has inter-ethnic clashes. Are you saying both of these wars are simply due to the difference in languages? What about the fact that Cameroon has economic problems, insecurity problems and corrupt leadership? Don't you think those are more responsible for the current disunity that you are trying to simplify down to language? If tat were the case, India would have a civil war every few months given how most of the country has different ethnic languages besides Hindu.
Sorry but you may be trying to straddle the middle but it's clear that you still hold the narrow-minded view that all of Africa's problems are simply due to colonialism.
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@second2none914 Okay, here's my response:
1. I never said the Congo lacked agriculture. I said they lacked "proper agriculture" due to geographic reasons (thicketted jungles in most of the landmass ) and the main form of agriculture was subsistence farming which is terrible for society building or economic growth.
2. My country's civil war did, indeed have a tribal issue that I didn't deny while you simply assumed it was down to religion. I stated why the Igbos felt disenfranchised due to economic reasons and lack of proper political representation by the military government and how the inept military leadership collapsed any chances of reconciliation and caused the war. ALso, unlike what you may think, Nigeria is not homogenous in all regions. The north is a mix as well. We have mainly muslims but majorly Hausa who actually get on well with us southerners and even Igbos. We also have Tiv, Kanuri and northern Christians there. It's teh Fulani minority who rule much of the north that is at fault for the schisms and you clearly disregard this reality. Even we in teh south are diverse. We have our ethnic schisms but we still manage to work together here. It's a leadership issue, not a tribe or religion issues as you blindly think.
3. On the point of Cameroon, you tried to simplify their civil war as a French-English issue, the same way you tried to simply my country's civil war as atribe and religion issue. If taht's the case, why not use that to explain Ethiopia's ongoing civil war? They were never colonized but they do have leadership and economic issues liek most of us in Afirca. SO is their civil war also due to language and tribal differences?
4. Finally, if you feel I am carrying water for the colonizers, that's your interpretation. The reason I don't use the excuse of colonialism to explain all of Africa's problems is because it doesn't make any sense. There are several African countres who were colonized and had less resources but had good leadership, social unity (even with multiple ethnic tribes) and were able to manage their countries well. For example, Botswana and now Zambia. WHat is their excuse? WHat Africa needs is good political leadership and economic policies; not more victimhood and blame passing or obsession over the past of colonialism. Most countries on earth were colonized by others. Teh ones who did well afterwords are the ones that focused on improving their countries politically, economically, and socially.
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@Rodario10TUNISIAN thanks for sharing and I do agree that some countries were negatively impacted by colonialism but this was mainly due to the colonial powers and the systems they used. You mention your country, Somalia, and the history of colonialism from the Arabs and Italians certainly did not leave your country in a great state but what about Somaliland that was colonized by the British and is the most stable and economically sufficient part of the region? Also, here in Nigeria, our federal government owns the majority of our oil and gas, not any foreign companies as you think. We simply let foreign companies do business here because we need more trade and development and isolating our economy will not help. The countries in Africa that tended to be colonized by the British usually ended up with better socioeconomic and political structures compared to others because the British had a habit of instilling those principles and foundations on them. That is why places like Kenya, Botswana, Ghana, and others are more stable and doing well. Finally, regarding Libya, NATO was not the only reason that country fell. Gaddafi regime was already oppressing some of his population and this caused the civil war. NATO definitely messed up by helping the rebels but they didn't create the rebels.
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