Dear Dinesh D'Souza
Imperialism throughout Africa was inhuman and uncivilized in the colonization of the many countries across Africa. There is no doubt that there was a more civilized and humane way to extract and utilize resources for Europeans. If Europeans saw a benefit in utilization of African resources, they could have easily realized that if they caused the region to be unstable, their investment would not last that long. And that can definitely be seen today. Africa has been left in the dust in terms of infrastructural development, poverty, technology, Africa has severely suffered. Had the level of terrorism and instability across Africa not occurred due to European colonialism, Africa and the world’s economy could be doing much better than it is today. In an attempt to defend anti colonialism, Dinesh D’Souza is extremely critical of theories as to why colonialism took place and how it is defended saying, “Those notions are pervasive and emotionally appealing.” In this quote he refers to the “opulence [that] has been founded on slavery. In his [Frantz Fanon] work...European opulence has been founded on slavery. The well-being and progress of Europe have been built up with the sweat and the dead bodies of Negroes, Arabs, Indians, and the yellow races.” Despite D’Souza’s ‘economic understanding’ and criticism of emotional retorts, he fails to provide any real key analysis.
When mentioning the Byzantines his argument goes somewhat like “Well the west stole from the Middle East and Asia, but hey, so did the Byzantines.” His foundation of arguments is in an elite class of people who believe that colonialism and its spread was purely founded on the means of economics. And to his point about ‘emotionally appealing’ arguments, it is frankly naive to say that the west acted solely out of economic interest, that the Byzantines were looking to colonize for the best. There is an element of racism that is apparent throughout colonialism, and quite frankly, as an Indian immigrant who was greeted into this country with open arms, his attack on America is disgusting and rooted in some kind of hate, that is hard to understand, because he fails to provide concrete analysis.
In one instance he says, “I am not suggesting that it was the intention of the colonists to give all those wonderful gifts to the Indians…,” but it seems that being a harsh critic of America, and still and immigrant, he has to tailor his writing so he doesn’t sound like a fascist maniac. In Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism in Africa Horace Campbell’s first line is “When the international media were broadcasting live video footage of Tunisians gathering in hundreds of thousands in front of central office in Tunis of the long-terrifying ministry of home security…,” you don’t even have to know what they are chanting to make the connection. Imperialism birthed the Arab Spring. In a political cartoon seen with many world leaders cutting up the “pie of Africa,” they drew borders wherever they wanted land. This connects to the same way instability was created in the Middle East - angry people who have a hatred for the west because they live in a region of instability and terrorism - where leaders and government were put into place not to institute government and a strong country for the future, but to grab wealth and resources to make money back home. It’s no surprise as to why the instability across Africa and even the Middle East is a problem.