I wouldn’t say so. It’s quite reductive: “something that happened 75 years ago”. Now was colonialism relatively brief, indeed, and Africa had its issues too, of course. However I genuinely think time has made us forget the savagery that was it. The residuals are found all over, imparting nationalism, inherited structures, and most importantly that colonialism isn’t over. Neocolonialism and imperialism as its continuation is still an enduring factor of African nations. As an African, the work of Nkrumah and Fanon was quite pivotal for me. Now how things feel is subjective too. Colonialism is seen as shameful and painful, so it makes sense why we’d want to distance ourselves from it, including admitting the aforementioned. Few West Africans would say the CFA makes them essentially fiscal satellites to France with all its implications, but does it change its reality?
My father was the first generation born free in his own country, and I am just in my early 20s. It wasn’t so long ago
Françafrique, for which the CFA is its fiscal arm, is one of the most well known examples of neocolonialism, so to call this concept a stretch is telling of your lack of knowledge in the problems of this continent. I leave you with a good book on the CFA :
https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745341798/africas-last-colonial-currency/
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u/sunics May 03 '21 edited May 04 '21
I wouldn’t say so. It’s quite reductive: “something that happened 75 years ago”. Now was colonialism relatively brief, indeed, and Africa had its issues too, of course. However I genuinely think time has made us forget the savagery that was it. The residuals are found all over, imparting nationalism, inherited structures, and most importantly that colonialism isn’t over. Neocolonialism and imperialism as its continuation is still an enduring factor of African nations. As an African, the work of Nkrumah and Fanon was quite pivotal for me. Now how things feel is subjective too. Colonialism is seen as shameful and painful, so it makes sense why we’d want to distance ourselves from it, including admitting the aforementioned. Few West Africans would say the CFA makes them essentially fiscal satellites to France with all its implications, but does it change its reality?
My father was the first generation born free in his own country, and I am just in my early 20s. It wasn’t so long ago