Thursday, January 31, 2013
The Scramble for Africa
Here is a cartoon and some text excerpted from the document signed at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1885. Imagine you were the lone African representative at the conference, and assume that you couldn't have single-handedly stopped the carving up of the African continent. What would have fought for? What would your priorities have been?
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18 comments:
If I was an African representative at the Berlin West Africa conference, I would know that there isn't much I could actually do next to these super powers of Europe. I couldn't stop them from taking over my country or any of the rest of Africa, but I would try to at least make it more fair to us. We have been always shown as a step below regular people, and I would want the African citizens to be recognized as people too, with lifestyles and regular jobs that shouldn't be demolished by this excessive imperialism. They may still be able to take our countries, but they can at least try not to take our dignity and way of life.
-Will
Firstly, I would try as best as I could to articulate why carving up Africa should not be done and cannot be justified. When that failed I would suggest that their first priority for the Europeans must legitimately be the well-being of the Africans. "Freedom of conscience and religious toleration" should not be guaranteed but promised. I would suggest that if this priority was not given attention to that their should be serious and intense consequences for the Europeans including the land being taken away.
-Lena
If I was a lone African representative at the Berlin West African Conference, I would fight for the land of whatever ethnic group I came from. I would not worry about any other groups of people, and would quickly throw other African groups under the bus if it would further my cause. This is not an unreasonable attitude, since, for example if there was a Cairo West Europe Conference and I was a lone Englishman representing all of Europe while various African officials tried to divide up all of Europe, I doubt I would be worried about the wellbeing of France.
~Ben
If I was a lone African representative at the Berlin West Africa Conference I would fight for a say in how the land was carved up. I would also try and fight for having my own native leader along with a leader from Europe, so that it would be a joint effort. And my priorities would be holding the Europeans to what they said about "[watching] over the preservation of the native tribes" and making sure that they really did respect us. I would also try to get them to realize that Africans are just as smart and capable as Europeans are.
-Maddy
I am outnumbered here. I try to think what great liberators in other countries would have done if they had been caught in a situation like this one. They invite me to the table, yet I am not meant to have a voice. They carve up my country and it's resources among them. Our personhood is being ignored. They will rape the Congo. The only thing that they seem willing to grant us so called natives are the freedoms of religion and conscience. We need equal rights. Without it, we will be nothing but slaves. I need to redraft the freedom of conscience in such a way that it will be nothing less than the first amendment in the American Bill of Rights which begins by guaranteeing the freedom of religion.
If I was an African representative at the Berlin Conference, I would obviously not be able to stop the carving up of my country. I would start with making sure that Africans as a whole are being treated as citizens, the total opposite of slaves. This should be important to the Europeans because the Africans are the ones who are harvesting the crops and producing other things, with low wages.There isn't any justification for not treating humans as humans even though that means changing how they used to treat them. One idea that may not work would be that all powers would have to pay a little tax to either go to the country or to the African workers.
-Richie
As a representative of my African nation, I would try to express the importance of article 6 by attempting to create consequences for not following it. An example of a consequence for not abiding by article 6 could be something like not being allowed to conquer any more land in Africa. I would also try to make each country give Africans the same rights as europeans. If the Portugese take a colony, they must give the Africans in that colony the same rights as the people in portugal. I would argue that In order to reach Europe's goal of civilizing, or westernizing Africa, it is important to establish prerogatives.
-Sabrina
If I was the lone African representative at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1885, I would know that I couldn't have said or done anything that would stop them from carving up Africa. But I would try to convince them to make everyone equal. I would fight for and make my priority, equality. Like it says in the document: "freedom of conscience and religious toleration" and "protect existing rights". Not only do I want them to write equality but to follow through on it. I would also tell them that Africans are not inferior and all people are equal.
--Tristan
If I was an African representative at the Berlin West Africa Conference I would prioritize the importance of Africans retaining their rights as human beings. One of the things that the Berlin West Africa Conference tried to enforce is the idea that Africans are humans and therefore should be treated as such. The idea of what is morally right for Africans was skewed by a finagling of words and law. Although the Slave Trade was banned, Legitimate Commerce allowed for the harsh conditions of back breaking labor for nearly no pay. As an African representative I would remind these European leaders of how it feels to be human and to think about how they would feel if the roles were reversed. I would remind them the difference between real freedom and fraudulent freedom; there is no such thing as "watch[ing] over the preservation of the native tribes" when African people are constantly being used as pack mules.
- Kennedy
If I was a lone African representative at the Berlin West Africa Conference I would fight for a say as to how my nation would be divided. We as Africans have always been thought of as the underhand nation.In article 13 (not sure about the roman numerals, but the second to last one)I would want to make sure that the Congo was shared equally between all the nations that use it for exporting and importing.I would try to make sure that my people would be treated with the same equality that the Europeans give each other.
-DeAndra
If I was a representative at the conference I would want to make it clear that I decide how much of our goods gets taken away from us so that there is a generous amount left for the natives including myself. I would also fight for having Natives supervise the moving of the crops,goods and whether or not they are exploiting the Natives and putting them through harsh labor. I would want my people to be treated equally as any other European would be treated. As mentioned in article 13 the Congo is open to all different nations hence, everyone is welcomed to the Congo equally. The countries being taken over and had merchant ships coming should all be like this so that there is no chaos.- Nicole Meza
If I was a African representative at the Berlin Wall Conference, I would be pissed off. I would be mad because there is nothing that I can do to stop these superior continents. I would also find it ridiculous that decisions are being made about what how to split a continent up but the people of that continent have no say whatsoever.
Chris
If I was an African representative in the Berlin West Africa Conference, my first priority would be the people of my country. It would be extremely hard to stop the european countries from carving up Africa, so instead, I would try to make it so that the pople in my country would still be able to keep their houses and jobs and religions. I would try to make sure that the people in my country would get a decent pay and would still be able to live their lives like they otherwise would. I would try my best to get my people equal rights.
Wait, the comment above is by briyana
If I was a lone African representative at the Berlin West Africa Conference, I would have fought for how the continent would be divided. I would also add that Africans are just as important as the other continents, although most of the other continents are more superior. I would fight and feel very strongly about this even though there is not much of a chance that I will be listened too and my ideas won't be taken seriously.
-Emma
If I was the lone African representative at the West Africa Conference I would have fought for actual legitimate commerce. I would say to the Europeans "You can colonize our land,however you must pay us wages that our people can actually benefit from. With the wages you pay us we must be able to function comfortably in society. So the "legitimate" commerce must be "legitimate" in our eyes for us to let you have our resources. Which leads me to my next point you Europeans can use as much raw materials and resources as you want, however 25% of the capital made has to be given to the people of where the natural resources were gathered. If you pay us actual "legitimate" wages we will hand over our natural resources with the 25% tax on the capital made."
With the money gained from this Africa could start up their economy and learn from the European technology at the time, and begin to adapt to Western ways to improve Africa as a whole.
-Izzy
If I was the only African representative at the Berlin West African Conference, my first and foremost goal would be to make sure that the natives’ rights and freedoms were being protected. Ideally, I would be able to keep the colonization to a minimum, trying to limit the amount of land that each European country could claim. However, that probably would not be possible, since, generally, Europe was much stronger than Africa. Because it would be impossible for me to prevent Europe from dividing up the continent, I would fight to keep the natives as safe as possible, by trying to make rules defining the required treatment of the Africans.
-Olivia
If i was a representative and I knew that there wasn't anything i could do against these strong nations. So i would have done all i could in order to make the conquering of my land fair to the natives who live there. I would request that my people get to make their own decisions, so they are not forced to do anything by anyone. That way trade would be easier and the people couldn't get cheated out of anything, and if they worked they wouldn't get paid such low wages.
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