Scramble For Africa In Asian Age

Slowly and surely, both global power and international focus are shifting from the West to the East — something the traditional powers are yet to publicly acknowledge. These days, the emerging scenario is distinctly visible to people across the world. Not those commentators in bigger platforms in the larger world are unaware of the inevitable. Barring a stupendously surprising stupidity, their deliberate oversight is an exercise in absolute futility. It might only delay the dawning of the ground reality on their home crowds. 

The global power shift from the West to the East was bound to happen. History tells us that. The long spell of Western technology in disproportionately empowering the US-led powers in the landscape could not remain one-sided for eternity. Amidst the changing conditions in power equations, Africa, as a continent expected to account for nearly 30 per cent of world population within the next few decades, is already witnessing a rush of diplomatic activity in their foreground at the initiatives of all major foreign powers. There is virtually a big scramble for attracting its attention with the hope of acquiring 

The fact is that Communist China has since two decades been pouring in investments in industry and building huge infrastructures. The US all along did not bother to assess why the Chinese were engaged overtime in investment activity. Its hibernation proved Washington’s loss and Beijing’s gain. Washington was under the illusion that mere presence at the White House of the first American black president in Barack Obama would appease the African continent no end, and hence did not conceive the idea of making financial investments of larger orders for African people.

Racism in the West offers on a golden platter a cutting edge to the new powers that have little or nothing to do with the atrocities committed through colonisation, enslavement and exploitation in the past centuries. Empire builders ventured far and wide for cheap natural resources tapped with the cheap local human resources, and engaged in self-satisfaction of having liberated the local savages who were barely human.  

It was not exclusively the East but also Africa, among others, that suffered a bitter, brutal past on account of Europeans sea-farers, adventurers and regimes with exploitative missions determined to colonise and civilise the barbarians, heathens and pagans.

Double-edged 

The two World Wars in the first half of the 20th century sowed seeds of new awareness in the vast exploited lands, ruled as they were by minuscule populations from far smaller swathes of territories. WW I infused a sense of being ruthlessly treated by exploiters from afar, whose sole purpose was to profit from the colonised and convert the indigenous people to the rulers’ language, culture and religion.  Its sequel that unfolded two decades later led to vigorous movements for freedom and independence.  

Who brutalised, colonised, exploited and enslaved Africa, the East or the West? It’s a question brought up at various platforms with increasing frequency and intensity of late. The Washington-initiated US-Africa Summit in December gave a succinct response to this question. You reap what you sow, is a saying that underscores its value in the shifting sands of the global political landscape of geo-strategic variety being witnessed worldwide today. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s oft-quoted line finds reiteration here, too: “To be an enemy of America can be dangerous but to be a friend is fatal.”

Coming from someone considered to be a think-giant in his country, such assessment can be seen as an arrogant statement of fact or, at least, how the No 1 superpower views the world for its desired role. And then some of the latest survey findings indicate that 43 per cent of Britons take great pride in their colonial and imperial past as a good thing. Which might explain why European powers, with their imperial past, do not come out clean on the question of issuing unqualified apologies for the wrongs they committed when they colonised others and started and the cultural harm done there.

There is, however, a growing consciousness among the younger generations in particular and the heretofore minority sections in the intellectual class that their colonial past was horrendous. Simon Blake, an LGBT campaigner honoured in Britain in 2011, admits in anguish: “Our colonial past is a shameful one. We have to face into that with honesty and integrity.” Various reports continue indicating that racism in many Western democracies is deep and naturally resented by its victims. 

Not all’s well

Human rights campaigners point out at the many racist incidents and practices in countries listed as advanced democracies. Discriminatory laws and violence have drawn vehement protests, for instance, in the US, a country with a long history of prejudices against racial or ethnic groups. Native Americans suffered genocide and forced removals. Asians are also among victims of discrimination. 

Racial discrimination in Europe, too, remains a matter of serious concern. On this subject, Isil Gachet, the Executive Secretary to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, notes: “Racism and racial discrimination occur in day-to-day life, such as employment, education, housing and access to social services; hostile attitudes to and stigmatisation of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers; increasingly widespread anti-Semitic incidents; and intensification of expressions of Islamophobia.

Against this background are to be seen Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meetings with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir in September and, two months later, with its Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. Beijing’s renewed diplomatic activity constitutes a long term strategy to reap benefits accrued from its many years of investments made in Africa. China and Russia have been investing in the African countries since long and good measure.

US President Joe Biden last fortnight hosted US-Africa Summit in Washington, attended by 49 African leaders, in what was seen as a signal from the US that its active interests on the continent would increase. Given the long lead that Beijing has taken over the past two decades in Africa, Washington has a very steep climb ahead to catch up with the communist power. The initial feedback from the participating countries at the popular level echoed that Africans have long memories. Given the race for African attention, the big powers will be more visible in their scramble for influence and investment in the continent.  

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)