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Notes from the Author

A Summary of the Trilogy

Volume 1 “Go home m’zungu, Go Home!”

Africa before the m’zungu

The pre-m’zungu history of Africa features a number of sophisticated empires; some

regional populations with structured societies and beliefs that parallel (and sometimes exceed)
those of the m’zungu; areas where women’s role in society was respected (including some
where women enjoyed a level of equality beyond that recognised by most m’zungu nations today); and

societies that allowed a social mobility for slaves.

The m’zungu did not bring civilisation to Africa. He simply brought his own culture and

values and went to great lengths to impose them on Africans.

*****

Extraction, Commodification, and Self-Interest

The French to build an Empire. The British seeking commercial opportunities. The Belgian

Emperor for personal enrichment.

The 19th century scramble for Africa was simply a competition between m'zungu

nations. Their objectives were, and have always remained, ones based on extraction and
exploitation - but always presented under the guise of "improving the lot of Africans".

It’s now some 80 years since the first academic work showed that in the colonial era,
the m'zungu took more out of African than the m'zungu put in.

The m’zungu came to Africa for selfish reasons.

*****

Decolonisation was itself not an act of altruism.
m’zungu governments left a trail of the assassination of African leaders and coups. Both

in the years that led up to independence and in the decades of chaos that followed. African

independence came about because a number of factors created an acceptance among
m’zungu governments that decolonisation was inevitable. e.g.

a growing realisation by colonial powers of the high costs involved in colonial rule
an increasing resentment felt by African populations with colonial rule, which led to
widespread civil disobedience and in some colonies to armed struggle against rule by
the m’zungu