Week 59 - Track 23

week 59 track 23 listen to um bimbi's interview hello and welcome to happy and co interview today we have a very important specialist in decolonization here in the studio a chill let's talk about africa and europe in april 2015 the rhodes statue fell in south africa at the university of cape town how did you interpret that event for those who are not aware of who we are talking about cecil john rhodes was a privateer he was a ruthless actor in the mercantile expansionism that characterized 19th century settler colonialism in the southern part of africa through

political alliances sheer brutality and expediency he carved out for himself a huge chunk of south africans mineral wealth in particular diamonds in kimberley and gold in the white waters rent he bestowed some of the land he had grabbed in cape town to the university which in return erected a statue in his honor on the steps of one of its main buildings i interpret the topping of his statue as a small symbolic victory in the long and protracted struggle for universal justice african is known for violent conflict that holds the continent back do you think there

is a possibility that africans will be able to overcome this kind of violent politics i don't know it might be that we'll have to live with violence just as we have seen other political communities living with it for a very very long time colombia has been at war with itself for a long period of time now in mexico it is more or less the same thing violence in mexico is taking different forms in places such as brazil india or pakistan there is a level of social violence that is pretty high and it goes hand in

hand with institutions of civil politics if one wants to use such a term so if you look from a historical point of view there will never be a moment when we are at peace with ourselves or our neighbors and that's the kind of social economic and political formations that are emerging in the continent and elsewhere too will always be a mixture of civil peace and violence you have also been critical of the rule of europe and the continued colonial relationships that are maintained at the same time europe is almost shutting itself off this newly emerged

in europe in stark contrast with africa and other developing countries that are steaming ahead advancing economically socially and politically thereby creating their own world in relation to the continent europe has developed over the last 25 years or so an attitude of containment in sense that the biggest preoccupation has been to make sure that africans stay where they are the fixation with the question of immigration has jeopardized to a large extent the development of more dynamic relations between africa and europe the obsession with boundaries and visas the emergence of races in most parts of europe europe

closes its borders africa will have to open its borders so it seems to me that only in becoming that vast space of circulation the africa might benefit positively from the current geopolitical reconfiguration of the world that is going on