We Need To Talk About Africa!

Africa: European Crimes

In 1444, the Portuguese landed on African soil and began one of the greatest crimes in human history. Over the next 400 years, 12 million Africans were stolen from their homes, stripped of their humanity, and shipped to European lands. They weren’t venturing into an "uncivilized" land—they knew exactly what Africa held: wealth in gold, knowledge, and culture. Just a century earlier, Mansa Musa, emperor of Mali, had journeyed to Mecca, showcasing Africa’s immense riches. His kingdom was a center of education, trade, and innovation, with cities like Timbuktu boasting libraries and universities that attracted scholars from around the world. This wasn’t just about enslaving individuals—it destroyed kingdoms, shattered economies, and left entire nations depopulated and unable to rebuild. Key Figure: Olaudah Equiano, a formerly enslaved African and abolitionist, wrote: "Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends?"

Africa: European Scramble

Then came the Scramble for Africa. In 1884, European powers (with no African leaders present) sat around a table at the Berlin Conference and carved up the continent like a cake.

Highlight Figures:

• King Leopold II of Belgium turned the Congo into his personal slave plantation, causing the deaths of 10 million people for rubber and ivory.

• Cecil Rhodes looted Southern Africa for gold and diamonds, while dreaming of a British empire that spanned the continent.

Africa: European Spies

When African leaders fought for sovereignty, the West fought back.

• Patrice Lumumba: Congo’s first prime minister, assassinated in 1961 with CIA complicity for trying to reclaim the country’s resources.

• Thomas Sankara: Revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso, killed in a coup backed by the CIA for standing up to Western exploitation.

• Kwame Nkrumah: Ghana’s visionary leader, ousted for dreaming of a united and independent Africa.

Africa: European Greed

The exploitation continues. Cobalt for your smartphones. Diamonds for your jewelry. Oil for the global economy. All extracted through child labor, corporate greed, and systemic poverty.

The Congo alone produces 70% of the world’s cobalt—used in rechargeable batteries. Meanwhile, millions in the region live on less than $2 a day. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, over 40,000 children work in cobalt mines under life-threatening conditions. Many risk fatal injuries, exposure to toxic substances, and even suffocation while digging by hand for materials that power the world's technology.

Africa: European Lies

For decades, American and Western propaganda has painted Africa as “underdeveloped” and dependent—using images of starving children and “poverty porn” to fuel stereotypes.

But the reality? These narratives distract from the root cause: centuries of exploitation by Western nations.

• Africa isn't poor—its resources make it one of the wealthiest continents on Earth.

• Who controls those resources? Foreign corporations, not African nations.

  
  

By framing Africa as “needing help,” the West justifies charity instead of reparations and hides its continued exploitation.

Africa: European Justice

Africa is not underdeveloped—it is overexploited.

• Reparations.

• Fair trade.

• An end to exploitation.

Reclaim the narrative. Read:

1. "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney

2. "King Leopold's Ghost" by Adam Hochschild

3. "Africa Unchained" by George Ayittey

4. "The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent" by Thomas Pakenham

5. "The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smuggling, and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth" by Tom Burgis

6. "The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence" by Martin Meredith

7. "The Myth of Development" by Oswaldo de Rivero "Empire of Cotton: A Global History" by Sven Beckert

8. "The Wretched of the Earth" by Frantz Fanon

9. "Discourse on Colonialism" by Aimé Césaire

10. "Open Veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galeano (for parallels with Africa’s exploitation)

11. "Wealth, Poverty, and Politics" by Thomas Sowell

Africa: UNLEARN & Learn

Watch:

1. "Lumumba" (2000) - Biopic of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first prime minister.

2. "The Last King of Scotland" (2006) - Examines Uganda under Idi Amin, though with Western framing.

3. "Sometimes in April" (2005) - A powerful depiction of the Rwandan genocide’s roots in colonial divisions.

4. "Cry Freedom" (1987) - Chronicles the life of South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko.

5. "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" (2019) - Based on a true story, highlights African innovation.

6. "Beasts of No Nation" (2015) - Explores the impact of war on African children, including resource exploitation.

7. "The First Grader" (2010) - A story of resilience tied to education and colonial legacies. Listen: Podcasts: The History of Africa Podcast Afropop Worldwide