Top 10 books about neocolonialism | Susan Williams
The nations of Africa waved a joyful goodbye to their European occupiers in the second half of the 20th century. But in many cases, their freedom was short-lived: for after the colonisers had left through the front door, they returned quietly round the back. And this time the US came, too – the new and hungry kid on the block, collaborating with big business and local elites to exploit Africa’s rich resources.
This process underpins White Malice, my account of the CIA’s secret infiltration into the newly free nations of Africa. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, watched in dismay as new states became independent in theory, with “all the outward trappings of international sovereignty”, but their economic and political policies were directed from outside. This, he lamented, is the “essence of neocolonialism”.
These 10 books help to answer the questions posed by Abderrahmane Sissako’s, in which the World Bank and the IMF are put on trial in Mali: “Why when Africa sows does she not reap? Why when Africa reaps does she not eat?” The books are primarily about the African continent but not exclusively: neocolonialism is by no means limited to Africa.
