Page 35 - Afrika Must Unite

C H A P T E R T H R EE

C O L O N I A L P A T T E R N O F E C O N O M I C S

M a n y h a v e argued that the resources of Africa were useless
to the native inhabitants until they were developed, and they
could not have been developed without European capital and
skill. It has even been said that ‘the European investor, however
Jself-interested he may have been, was serving Africa.’1 This sort
’ of argum ent reminds me of the m an who, having found buried
treasure in his neighbour’s garden, took it away and then told
his neighbour that he was doing him no harm , because, until
then, he was unaware of its existence. In any case, he did not
own a spade. To those who study the facts fairly, it must surely
I be clear that the European occupation of Africa was carried out
* for the benefit of Europeans. Concern for the welfare of the
\ African peoples hardly entered into the matter.
J Jules Ferry, Premier of France in 1885, gave the dominant
(reasons for the European quest for colonies in Africa, when he
spoke in the Cham ber of Deputies in defence of the colonial
policy of the French Government.
He said:

Is it not clear that the great states of modern Europe, the
moment their industrial power is founded, are confronted with
an immense and difficult problem, which is the basis of industrial
life, the very condition of existence - the question of markets ?
Have you not seen the great industrial nations one by one arrive
at a colonial policy ? And can we say that this colonial policy is a
luxury for modern nations ? Not at all, gentlemen, this policy is,
for all of us, a necessity, like the market itself.
Today, as you know, the law of supply and demand, freedom
1 A. J. H anna: European Rule in Africa (1961). Hist. Assoc. Pamphlet G.46,
p. 17.