After the Scramble for Africa during the period of New Imperialism between 1881 and 1914 that led to decades of colonial rule by Western empires, there is a school of thought that believes there is a new and ongoing scramble for Africa that’s happening right now.
It’s a scramble between the Western powers of the USA, France, Britain and Co., and the Eastern emerging powers, most notably China.
I found this thought-provoking documentary very interesting because Africa stands at a very unique time in its history. Africa’s emerging economic might has caught the world’s attention, and this is really changing the dynamics on the ground — politically, socially, economically and militarily.
According to this eye-opening documentary, there are 3 ways to look at the rise of Africa as an economic power:
1) The numbers. The numbers speak for themselves — more than 50 percent of the fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa.
2) Another way to look at it is that Africa’s growth is actually fake; it’s being fuelled by debt and the massive sale of the continent’s natural and mineral resources to foreign interests.
3) Or, it could be that Africa is really rising and prospering but it’s only the continent’s minority of oligarchs connected to global finance and power who are really enjoying the growth. Meanwhile, all this growth and prosperity isn’t trickling down to the majority of Africans who remain poor.
Our generation of Africans have a unique opportunity to transform the continent, and we really need to work with the right partners who are keen to achieve a win-win scenario for the continent.
“Those who ignore history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Watch this amazing documentary and let me know what you think in the Comments section below:
Video credit: Al Jazeera English
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