if you look carefully at other cultures, you note that they actually never completely change their traditional ways for totally new ways brought in by foreign peoples, but merely bend the old way a little so that it encorporates the new elements. Valentines or Christmas are very good examples of traditional pagan festivities that have been changed somewhat by addition of foreign elements. i believe that this is the way it should be done. it provides continuity, which a people, as an individual, needs. breaking with the pastis accepting losing track of oneself, which is not good for a people at all.

Africa is an example of a continent where almost all the people have dropped most of their old ways for new ones introduced through colonialism. Africans changed their names. this is embarrasing. if Russians had conquered Africa, would Africans of today bear names like Vladimir, Putin, Lebedeyev, etc. what do Russians think of us? we've adopted foreign systems of governance and given up ours, we use western languages as official languages, and our own languages are slowly getting extinct. we marry likewesterners do, from bride and groom to best man and the dress and bouque that goes with this and have dropped the traditional way we used to do suchthings, we have given up our systems of downry, arranged marriages, systems of naming whereby names are mere identities nowadays, just like they are to the English, rather than related to clan, totem, period of birth, replacing a dead relative, etc. eating habbits and staple meals have also been influenced. we live in countries designed for us by foreigners, and even believe they represent individual African races. we pray to a God introduced to us by colonialism. we dress entirely different from the way our ancestors used to dress, except in some parts of Africa where they still wear kente.

this list is endless...

i mean, behold... we have become Englishmen, Frenchmen or Portugueseby every standard except appearence and name... i do not even want to mention our brothers in Angola and other portuguese colonies who are even worse than those from English colonies. is this normal? is this good for us?

I always wondered that Toloane. WE don't know our REAL names here so we had to adopt other names but I always wondered how I could meet Davids, Jeremiahs etc from mainland Africa. That is a damned good question. Never thought about colonization having that deep of an effect. Now will anyone pick up on the post is the real question......

Toloane

You have taken a sledge hammer and hit it on an enormous nail.

If Africa does not lead the way how can Blacks worldwidecombat this Great White Way of thinking that permeates our very thoughts and stunts our development.

To me African countries having European languages as their official languages is ascandalous and anembaressment.

Good post.

first off, the president of Angola is called "José Eduardo Dos Santos". check his pic below...




the name is just the tip of the iceberg. this man, and the bulk of west Angolans, no longer know what African culture is, except that which they view in museums. yes... they have placed theirheredity in museums. you can know more about them when you associate with them. you will discover they are as acculturated as it gets. they are Portuguese men and women in African skins, coconuts asCarribeans term that, who look down, down upon anything African, and strangely consider themselves superior to Africans, but not from the point of view of a superior African race, but something Portuguese. all have Portuguese names, from first name to last name, and, like Tiger woods, will always draw their ancestry from every race and lastly the black race, even if they are as black as the man pictured above. you wouldforgive African Americans or Carribeans this mentality, but these guys live right in the interior of the continent.

brainwashing, mental slavery and cultural genocidedoesn't get worse than what happened to these guys.

the scale of this damage, as many conscious Africans will tell you, goes like this:

most brainwashed are the former Portuguese colonies, then the French, and lastly those of the English empire who have somewhat preserved a lot of their own culture, but then just look at the changes i mention in my post above, a list that is incomplete, and be perturbed. it is a lot of things that have changed, with just those from English colonies. worse than this exists? unfortunately, it does...

i mean, the colonizers went everywhere... China, Asia, but non of these people came off aschanged as Africans did after they gained "independence". we couldn't possibly be such walkovers.

Can the effects of colonial behaviour be reversed.

Is there a historical example.

What made African culture so susceptable.

What would be the point of unification on a continental scale/ if done only to mimic the EU.

Thats what comes to mind.

Toloane wrote:

Quote:

African culture is based onregressive mumbo jumbopurposeless supertstitions,wherescience is imported rather than home grown and where inclusive system of governmentis literallya foreign concept.

The only way Africa will progress is when right thinking Diasporan Blacksreturn and establish civilisation therein.

By right thinking DiasporansI mean those who place their faith in a system which is bigger than all the small men and small in waiting for whom "culture" is nothing more than a tool to keep the mass of Africans ignorant.

I wonder how many Africans would opt to stay in Africa if every single African were offered a free pass to the West.

Sobering thought really eh?

:-)

DSP wrote:

@ outlaw

Man I have defended america and the military against most guys/gals on here, but man you even managed to insult me on that post.

I mean our own leadership suffers here. Until they manage to help the Black American underclass, how can you rightfully say they can lead an AFrican country? Africa does not need more rhetoric. They need their own leaders to stand up and correct her because an outsider, black, white or other would never know all of the internal concerns.

Besides could you see Jesse rhyming at an AU consortium?