Britain’s Empire in Africa

Western colonialism extending from about 1500 was a political-economic phenomenon whereby various European nations explored, conquered, settled, and exploited large areas of the world.…

In 1661 the British began permanent settlements on the African continent though slave trading had begun earlier in Sierra Leone (West Africa). In 1787 the West African region became a British possession. In 1806 Britain acquired the Cape of Good Hope (now in South Africa) and Boer and British pioneers under British control opened up South Africa’s interior.

The 19th-century saw the greatest extension of British power (incursion, invasion, oppression) in Africa. From 1882 Britain was “the acknowledged ruling force” in Egypt and from 1899 the Sudan. Britain possessed Nigeria, the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and Gambia in the middle 19th century. Economically through the Imperial British East Africa Company Britain owned what is now Kenya and Uganda; through the British South Africa Company Britain owned what are now Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia), Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) and Malawi.

In the second half of the century, the Royal Niger Company began to extend British influence in Nigeria, and the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and The Gambia also became British possessions. The Imperial British East Africa Company operated in what are now Kenya and Uganda, and the British South Africa Company operated in what are now Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia),Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia), and Malaŵi.

Britain’s takeover of Africa coalescing in the 1910 Union of South Africa resulted in a chain of British territories stretching from South Africa northward to Egypt, an African empire extending ‘from the Cape to Cairo’ and by century's end the British Empire had a stranglehold on “nearly one-quarter of the world's land surface and more than one-quarter of its total population.”

United States’ Empire in Africa

The 20th and 21st centuries “the United States has … developed into the principal military partner of most African countries, displacing ex-colonial powers.” U. S. Military has relocated (from Cold War-era Asia and Europe) into Africa and the Middle East to ‘fight terrorism’ and ‘protect oil’ resources. “Flexible bases” have arrived in Uganda, Djibouti, Senegal and São Tomé and Príncipe; and more permanent bases have arrived or are planned for “oil producers such as Gabon and Mauritania [and] less significant resource owners such as Guinea Conakry and Rwanda.”

United States’ Empire in Middle East

Palestine under the foot of Western nations’-created Israel is barred from rising to self sufficiency. Millions of people in Iraq have been killed and forced into homelessness, statelessness, interminable migration then subjected to hostilities when and if they land on shores of Western countries. Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and other states are constantly under threat by super nuclear-powered Washington whim.

Britain/United States’ feigned shock but approved Tyrants:

Myanmar, Pakistan, China and others

The military government for years has been oppressing, starving the people of Burma/Myanmar and imprisoning a Nobel Peace laureate because her side won the election. Under U.S-ally Pakistan and its military officer /president Pervez Musharraf who seized power in a 1999 coup d’état the opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, was murdered campaigning on the street. In China the government murders and otherwise puts down all protesters and dissent, violates Universal Human rights with impunity. Western countries keep arming them, recycling their currency, buying their products and services. Where is the credibility, the believability?

And the Western powers are hypocritically and with convenient amnesia all over mass marketed news programs. The U.S. State Department says recent elections in Zimbabwe (Southern Africa) are “a sham.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and UN Security Council members and G8 members call the election “illegitimate.” A man who should know better, South Africa’s Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu, together with politicians in Britain calls for deploying the big guns: strangling sanctions, direct military (euphemistically called peacekeeping) force on Zimbabwe.

Where’s the sham here? Who are the illegitimates?

When a nation—any nation—whether Africa or the United States of America or an institution, such as the United Nations, is stripped of (or barred from developing) its lawful and peaceful mechanisms and institutions, its character, it can’t help but self-destruct—lose all legitimacy. No matter what lies it tells to itself.

In the United States of America, held up by liars and deniers as the model of “good” democracy, government officials in all branches of government directly or indirectly are on the payrolls of private corporations. Together government and corporations cycle and recycle money and power and influence among themselves and for their own narrow interests. In maintaining this Exclusive Club they flout the rule of law, violate human rights, destroy the social (world and domestic) contract and breakdown all legitimacy of government and institutions of, for and by The People.

The United States government and its corporate allies are destroying the United States of America, its heart, its character, its believability. This same Tyrant in Washington is ruining, jeopardizing the legitimacy of, the United Nations.

United States’ Empire at the UN

At the start of Washington’s invasion and occupation of Iraq, former UK Cabinet Minister Clare Short spoke about the United States and its treatment of the United Nations.

“The current administration,” she said “has shown its disrespect for the UN throughout the Iraq crisis. … But the same attitudes were present during the Clinton administration which refused to pay its dues to the UN, to sign the Kyoto Agreement, accept the authority of the International Criminal Court or even to support the Convention on the Rights of the Child. …

“It isn't that the U.S. does not operate in the UN system. It finds [the UN] usefulwhen it is ready to do America’s bidding [but] is soon very exasperated if countries have differing views. The U.S. wants to use the UN to tell everyone else what they must do and is increasingly willing to use its power to bully and punish those who get in its way.

The sadness of all this is that it is in the interest of the U.S. and the American people, as well as all the rest of us, to build a commitment to international justice and the rule of law.

Sources:

British Empire. (2008). Encyclopædia Britannica. Standard Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.

“U.S. expands military presence in Africa” Afrol News September 23, 2007: http://www.afrol.com/index.php. afrol News’ editorial operations are in Lesotho (Southern Africa) with additional offices in Senegal, Spain and Norway.

Clare Short took part in a unique BBC-led global television debate about the United States' place in the world What The World Thinks of America was broadcast in the UK on BBC Two on Tuesday, 17 June, 2003 at 2100 BST. Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/wtwta/2969184.stm.

“World criticizes Zimbabwe vote” June 27, 2008; UN move against Zimbabwe blocked June 28, 2008: http://english.aljazeera.n et/news/Africa

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August 3, 2008 http://journals.aol.com/cwriter85/todaysmissingnews. Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett, Writer, Independent journalist, Educator. Author of Women's Work and Words Altering World Order published 2008 by iUniverse. Hardback ISBN 978-0-595-70449-1; paperback ISBN 978-0-595-46712-9. To order call 1-800-authors or go to http://www.iuniverse.com.