Exporting Democracy: Death or Slavery

By Sophia Z Kovachevich

The world is in ferment. The situation of today’s world is at its worst. There is trouble in every part of the world. We were supposed to have peace and prosperity at the end of the Great Wars. And for a few decades we did. The Cold War kept peace of sorts and no major wars were fought. But it all changed with the collapse of the USSR. We lost the balance of power and only USA dominated. At the moment there are wars all over the world on every continent – it is the super-powers attacking small nations. The excuses are taking democracy to those countries by force through war or war on terror. We are terrorising small nations in the name of ending terror by bringing not only terror, but also death, destruction and annihilation in our wake.
This book sets out to comprehensively look at the reasons behind the present condition of the world today. It looks to uncover if there is any real democracy in the world today and the types of democracy available to us. Not everything is suited to everyone. We certainly do not want totalitarian rule in the name of democracy. But that is the way we are going. It is time to stop. Take stock and decide – do we want a better world or do we want to destroy this world?
Perhaps we are the final throes of our civilisation and don’t even realise it!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: May 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669887881

Sophia Z Kovachevich

Sophia Z Kovachevich has been a lecturer and a teacher for over 40 years. She has numerous degrees in various subjects ranging from literature to political science , history, aromatherapy, diverse religions and many more. She is a keen knowledge seeker and always aims to broaden her horizon and her knowledge. She is widely travelled and speaks a number of languages in varying degrees of fluency.

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 by Sophia Z KOVACHEVICH.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 04/30/2022

Xlibris

AU TFN: 1 800 844 927 (Toll Free inside Australia)

AU Local: [phone] ([phone] from outside Australia)

www.Xlibris.com.au

840218

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword to Exporting Democracy

Part I

Democracy and Imperialism

Democracies

Western Imperialism: an introduction

Western Imperialism in Africa

Western Imperialism in Asia

Western Europe & Russian intrusion in China

Japanese Imperialism and expansionism

US Imperialism in China

Westernisation & its Aftermath

Part II

Revolutions

Introduction to the American War of Independence

American Revolution or the War of Independence 1775

The French Revolution 1789

Major Effects of the French Revolution

American Civil War 1861-1865

Causes for the Civil War

End of the Civil War

The Revolutions of 1830 – Europe

The Revolutions of 1848

Russian Revolution 1917

Causes of the Russian Revolution

Imperial Russia

Who financed the Bolshevik Revolution?

Russian Communism and the world

Chinese Revolution 1927-1949

Part III

World Wars

World War I

Causes of World War I

Aftermath of World War I: Political, social and economic

Chemicals used in World War I

Right Wing Parties- an introduction

Right Wing Parties and the world today

World War II

Causes of World War II

Germany and USA

Companies that aided Nazis during WWII

German Allies

Axis preparations for World War II

Course of World War II

Some of the main arenas of war

End of World War II

The Holocaust

After the War

Death toll in World War II

Aftermath of WW II

Political Aftermath

Social Aftermath

Economic Aftermath

Post WW II, Decolonisation

Part IV

Colonisation

New Imperialism

Colonialism and Colonisation

Cradles of Civilisation

Introduction

Mesopotamia

The Chinese Empire

The Indus Valley Civilisation

Egyptian Civilisation

Libyan Civilisation and Western interference in Libya

Africa and Colonisation

Scramble for Africa

Boer Wars

Western interference in Egypt from the 19th century

Political Murders

Asia and Colonisation

Middle-East and European Powers

Terrorism

Islamic Socialism

Part V

Modern 20th-21st century Democracies

Causes for the failure of democracy

The Exporting of Democracy

Some Case Studies of destruction for Democracy

South East Asia

Vietnam

Korea

Cuba

Iraq

Syria

Lebanon

Palestine

Iran

Afghanistan (2001-2021)

Central America

Nicaragua

El Salvador

Guatemala

Honduras

Some other Latin American countries to receive US kindness

Summing UP

The USSR

Break-up of the USSR

Break-up and Bombing of The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)

Reasons for dismembering Yugoslavia (1991-2001)

Part VI

Exporting Modern Day Democracy

Early Interventions 19th and early 20th century

US Interventions/interference 2000-2021

Terrorism: War on Terror & the Arab Spring

Conclusion to Exporting Democracy

Bibliography

Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.

Maximilien Robespierre

The most extravagant idea that can be born in the head of a political thinker is to believe that it suffices for people to enter, weapons in hand, among a foreign people and expect to have its laws and constitution embraced. No one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies.

Maximilien Robespierre

DEDICATION

T HIS BOOK IS dedicated to all those nations, races, cultures and peoples who have been victims with no way to seek redress against the politics and greed of powerful nations. It is for the suffering humanity of the world. We all have great dreams but most are shattered due to man’s greed and desire for control over others. The more we progress the more we regress. But the good thing is that the worst like the best passes. This too, will pass.

May all the peoples of the world be able to live in peace and harmony one day perhaps in an unattainable Utopia. One must have hope.

May future generations see a better, more humane world than ours today

The book is also dedicated to my husband firstly for his patience and understanding and to my family for their love and understanding even when they disagree.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T HIS IS TO say thank you to modern technology that has enabled me to access a lot of documents in a short time, order books on line and most important of all introduced me to these writers, philosophers, researchers, journalists, professors, humanitarians who have made it their business to open our eyes to the injustices of the powerful and to keep us informed of behind-the-scene underhand manipulations of the few. They have expounded their ideas for the world to access, read mull over and understand. Ideas in themselves are good or bad as we make them.

Without modern technology, my task would have been so much more laborious.

It is also to thank those both dead and alive for their courage and determination to seek for justice against all odds.

This book has tried to put before you truthfully what I have gleaned in my research. I hope you accept it in the spirit in which I offer it to you – without prejudice. Any oversight or misunderstanding is solely on my shoulders.

FOREWORD TO EXPORTING DEMOCRACY

Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains

Jean –Jacques Rousseau—The Social Contract

T HESE ARE THE dramatic and oh so true opening words of the great French philosopher Rousseau, written so long ago that has influenced so many through the decades and still continues to do so.

We are the lucky ones. We are born free. I grew up in a cushioned atmosphere with all amenities available to us. Finances were never an issue. But the majority in the world were not so lucky. As I grew up I thought more and more about the plight of the poor, the dispossessed, the unfree. Finally, after intense studying, travelling and immersing myself in various fields like political sciences, history, literature, world religions, world affairs etc., I decided to see if I could contribute even an iota towards a better world where conditions for the majority might improve. One thing I learned is that interference – political, moral, social, economic, relational or in any other form, in another nation’s or person’s business is a sure recipe for disaster. It was so in ancient times and it is more so now as the world is shrinking and there are less and less places of safety. It is certainly true about democracy. If you interfere in a country’s democratic right to choose freely then where is their freedom of choice–the democratic rights of its people?

Our generation grew up in what is regarded as democracy. During the time of the Cold War there was relative peace as no great wars were fought but all the while smaller, weaker countries were losing their free will, their livelihood, their lives, their religion, their traditions and their total freedom in the name of democracy wielded by powerful countries and Corporations. The abuse of man by man has gained impetus in the name of brining democracy to them and freeing them from their own culture, religious practices, history…. This was and still is wrong and not at all in keeping with the ideals of democracy. I came to the conclusion that democracy was a Utopian concept. It did not exist in Greece the home of democracy nor in Rome nor anywhere else. It did not and does not exist. In our greed for wealth and power we use whichever tool is best suited to attain those goals. Democracy seems to fit the bill. So our war paraphernalia, our propaganda machines, our covert services, our intelligentsia are all employed to further increase our power and wealth at the expense and freedom of other nations.

We choose countries that are rich in oil, gold, diamonds, emeralds, ivory, mineral resources, gas and start instigating unrest within the country. Our covert agencies know how to stoke unrest and begin civil disobedience movements. We supply arms, ammunition, even covert operatives and armed personnel, and concoct reasons to put the victim countries under sanctions, political and economic. Then we turn them into pariah nations. Meanwhile our propaganda machines work feverishly to demonstrate that we need to interfere militarily – we a ‘democratic’ world power with the help of organisations like NATO to bomb, mine, kill, maim, the designated country, its fighting forces its civilians – men, women and children. We terrorise the populace. We bring democratic terrorism to them. But that’s okay. We are a democratic nation. We say these countries are not democratic and they have to be democratic whether they want to or not, whether they have a good system or not – it is not their choice but that of another nation, a nation with its own selfish agenda. It is our moral duty to intervene, kill and destroy in order to bring our type of advancement, culture, democracy to these nations with terrible leaders. We forget that culture began with these countries when we were still in the Dark Ages. We forget that once we had become powerful, we colonised them and stripped them of their wealth art, artefacts - because we still desired their natural resources. But most of all we stripped them of their freedom. We offered them death or slavery.

When we finished breaking up the countries who had dared to follow a different path within our sphere, we turned back our attention to those countries that had escaped the yoke of colonialism; or countries still worth exploiting in faraway lands.

WW I and II showed us how to make new weapons to kill, maim and destroy from a safe distance. We discovered the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, the nuclear bomb, the uranium-enriched bomb and so on. We also discovered the use of terrible chemicals to prolong the agony of death to use against the victims. We invented cruel land mines to leave behind a legacy of death and destruction once we had done our duty in destroying the country. And we discovered biological warfare. We discovered the true terror we could inspire from a safe distance. We discovered the art of terrorising those who would not bend to our will. Our world will probably end in biological warfare.

Then there is the humanitarian aspect. We intervene and interfere in the affairs of other countries because we say their practices are not humanitarian. Then we bomb them, mine their land, drop chemicals on their crops and foliage, use advanced military hardware to fight them, set-up military bases and reduce them to poverty and homelessness and to lives as cripples. I doubt if anyone can genuinely regard these actions as humanitarian?! Yet we pat each other on the back and the United Nations gives us Nobel Peace Prizes for humanitarian actions and for peace (when we bring war, destruction, death). But such is our modern democratic world!

I believe all countries strong and weak should be allowed to pursue their own policies, so long as it does not negatively affect others. Once a strong country begins the attacks, it becomes the only response for the victim to respond in whatever way they can. Terrorist organisations have sprung up in recent times because they have been forced to spring up. Don’t get me wrong, I abhor violence in any form. But when a race has no recourse, they are forced to go underground. WW II and the brave men and women of the French Resistance demonstrated that. I believe compromise can solve most problematic issues but the stumbling block is greed and megalomania of powerful nations. Many nations dance to the tune of bullies for self-preservation or to get the scraps from the table. So victims are helpless to resolve issues and are forced to fight with weapons they have.

In this book I have attempted to give you a comprehensive picture of the world and the achievement of main cultures until today and the state of the world today with our demand that all democratise according to our desires and our view of democracy. Is this what George Orwell (1984) was hinting at? Now we have Big Brother, Newspeak, Thought Police etc. The totalitarian state is now replaced by democracy where you have to lose your identity and follow the herd blindly. I had grown up in a Europe of honour, courage, nobility – of King Arthur, of King Alfred, of Cú Chulainn, of Mabinogion, of Lugh, of St Francis of Assisi of all the martyrs and great leaders who care for their people. I was proud to be a European. I grew up on ideals of nobility, loyalty, honour courage, faithfulness. I believed we could make the world a nicer, kinder, gentler place. I was disappointed as I grew up and realised that we had all fallen short of our ideals, our best selves.

PART I

DEMOCRACY AND IMPERIALISM

What is democracy?

T HE WORD DEMOCRACY comes from the Greek word ‘demos’ meaning people and ‘kratos’ meaning strength. The term democracy was first used in Classical antiquity in 508 B.C. by Cleisthenes, an ancient Athenian lawgiver. He reformed the Athenian constitution to a ‘democratic’ one but in the city only the ‘free men’ were allowed a voice-freedom. Women, young boys under 18, resident foreigners or the metoikoi and slaves were not allowed to vote. Nor were Greeks from other parts of Greece if they were not native to Athens and born in Athens. This in effect meant that all political decisions were in the hands of the males in the aristocracy – the ekkelsis , and the fighting men that comprised the middle class, made all the decisions. So, right from the start, democracy was compromised. Still it was the first democracy in the ancient world. And a major step from tyranny.

So Greek democracy evolved and developed as time passed. It was a three-tiered system of government. There was the ekklesia – the sovereign governing body that was responsible for the laws and foreign policy; the Boule which was the representative council chosen from the ten Athenian tribes and the dikasteria or the popular courts where the citizens argued cases before a group of jurors who were selected by lottery. Representatives were elected by lots.

Greece gave to the world a very enduring contribution – the contribution of direct democracy which paved the way for the future representative democracies of the world.

Democracy was the brain child of and led by Cleisthenes who reformed the constitution of ancient Athens and set it on a democratic footing. And so is referred to as the father of Athenian democracy. He was a Member of the Athenian aristocracy belonging to the Alcmaeonid clan. He was the person who reformed Athenian law. He divided the Athenian population into 10 tribal groups. Each group would cast lots to select their representatives. But two things were essential to its practice: (a) the community should be of a manageable size so all could comfortably participate in the debates and (b) the representative should have enough free time to indulge in the debates, form and implement new laws. That meant the male aristocracy. They practised it for the next 100 years in most Greek city states.

The practice caught on and spread. After their conquest by Rome, the Romans took on the idea by forming the Roman Senate. Rome called its system rēspūblica meaning affairs of the people or populous romanus the republic of Rome. But the divisions remained – it was a male led system of government where all the strata of the society were not represented until much later in spite of the Roman conquests of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean. It remained a city state.

Cleisthenes (427 BCE) was not the only Greek to advocate democracy. The idea germinated with him. It was reformulated and changed with the changing times. He was followed by Plato 347 BCE who was in turn followed by Aristotle 322 BCE. Plato (Republic) was Aristotle teacher. Aristotle, like Plato, speaks of correct and corrupt forms of government. Aristotle is regarded as the Father of Political Science till today. In his book he also elaborated a systematic science of politics. His Politics (expounding on Plato’s Republic but going much further) provides much of the foundation for modern political thought. He came up with the idea of the different forms of government:

• Kingship is government by one virtuous ruler.

• Aristocracy or government by the virtuous few for the good of all.

• Polity that is constitutional government in which everyone has a share in political power.

• Tyranny or the rule by one lawless ruler.

• Oligarchy that is rule by the wealthy few in their own interest.

• Democracy rule by the demos or people (rule by the needy)

Today they have been transformed into the following five forms

• Democracy: is that rule in which all participate and in which the majority counts. Rule is in the hands of the people. In modern countries representatives are chosen by the people for the different positions of government

• Republic: is the system by which the people choose the ruler or leader. His power is not inherited but appointed. It can be ruled by a group. They are also called liberal democracies

• Monarchy: It is ruled by a crowned head, often hereditary. They hold all power until their death and it passes on to the next generation. They are royalty. Today there are only a few monarchs that wield power - in Brunei, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Swaziland.

• Communism: This is based on communist or socialist ideology as formed by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. A single party or group runs the state. Countries that practice this are China, Cuba Vietnam.

• Dictatorship: In this form a single person has sole power over all in the state. It is authoritarian rule. The dictator holds all the power and enforces them He controls the defence forces, police, treasury everything. He usually seizes power militarily or by a coup d’état. He is not accountable to anyone for his actions legal or not. Dictators wield absolute power.

For Aristotle three forms were good ad three were corrupt. He thought aristocracy was the right form and its corrupted form was oligarchy, as the oligarchs were rich, not virtuous. Monarchy is the good form and tyranny the corrupted form where the ruler was a tyrant. Lastly constitutional government was the good form and democracy the corrupted form as it was majority rule by the needy. He believed the corrupted forms did not pursue the common good. In our modern democracy the leaders are not chosen for their virtues or good deeds but for their wealth, power and backing. With the rise of Corporations, it has become still more corrupt. Democracy has now become a tool for the wealthy and powerful to exert control over others for their own ends.

He distinguished the good and corrupted forms of government by evaluating which represents the public interest best. A good government sees to the interests of all leading to a good life for most. A bad form leads to misery for the people. He thought the best form of government was aristocracy because it values everyone’s interest. Oligarchy, democracy and polity do not.

This idea of selective representation was especially evident after the French revolution when the rabble took over the country and the guillotine worked overtime chopping off mainly aristocratic heads. Lord George Gordon Byron, as late as 1821, called Democracy: an Aristocracy of Blackguards, it being the worst of all forms of government. Meanwhile things were also in ferment in Italy as Italy was afire with revolutionary activities of the Carbornari a secret society advocating liberal and patriotic ideas which in the 1800s became a secret revolutionary group (Lett. & Jrnls. (1978, Vii.107)

This brings us to the question when did the connotation change in our understanding of democracy?

In the modern world the connotation has changed quite dramatically. Under the guise of democracy, passes colonial control, exploitation of one country by another, abuse of power, big corporations with untold wealth and power, rich politicians. There are more homeless people in Western Democracies than in the Islamic Socialist countries or in China or North Korea the last three not accepted by the West as democracies or are they? From personal experience, during my travels, I have been to Democratic countries, Constitutional Monarchies, Monarchies, Socialist countries and Islamic Socialist countries with so-called dictators like in Libya and Iraq, Yugoslavia among others that had taken better care of their populace than democracies do. There were better living conditions for all the inhabitants. Whereas, countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, rich tyrannies, do not take care of their populace especially the women. So democracy is not the only form of government that offers a good life to all. Democracy has the potential if only it could be used for the common good in actual fact as in name.

DEMOCRACIES

T HERE ARE MANY types of democracy. We will briefly look at some of the main ones and then look at which impacts most in our modern world. Such a long time later, democracy in one form or another has become the preferred form of government in most countries today. Its basic types are:

Diagram.jpg

Democracy is generally understood to mean the voice of the people and the resolution of important matters through a referendum. It is supposed to be a system where one may speak freely without fear or favour and be heard; freedom of the right to express an opinion without fear; true equality before law; guarantee of basic human rights to all its citizens; one person, one vote (this criteria is generally met); religious liberty to all citizens of a nation, no torture under false premises, no arrest and detainment for speaking your mind etc. In fact it is not so. It is presumably a system of government where all can participate in the running of the government (chosen by the people) and the resolution of problems and conflicts, amicably, and fairly. But we are human and fallible. We are even more fallible when power is at stake and in the hands of a selective few – as is the case in all modern democracies. Absence of prejudice and fairness is often how democratic decisions in democracies are supposed to work out. Most, if not all people, are prejudiced in some way or the other. It is against human nature to always, in all situations, under all circumstances – be totally unprejudiced. And now here is Corporatism – an integral part in most democratic nations today.

The main tenets of all forms of democracy are: equality before the law; Separation of the Judiciary, Legislative and Executive bodies; Freedom of opinion/speech; the guarantee of basic human rights; religious liberty and the right to vote. Different countries view these rights differently and adjust their forms of democracy accordingly. Often, more than one form is incorporated in a country.

The most democratic countries in the world, aimed at protecting the rights of the individual – not just the majority of voters are: Norway, Iceland, Sweden and New Zealand.

Direct democracy: is when the citizens of a country choose their leader directly. As noted before, this was flawed at its very inception, in Ancient Greece. Vote was only allowed to established members of the Athenian aristocracy. It was not allowed to the women, slaves or young boys under the age of 18. It was practised in ancient Greece and ancient Rome (The Roman senate). It is now used as a mixed form of democracy in countries where it is practised. This system is viable in small countries with a homogenous population and similar religious beliefs and a relatively high degree of education, for example in Switzerland where it has proven to be quite successful.

Most countries today practise some form of Representative or indirect democracy. This type of democracy is based on the people’s choice of their parliamentary members. This type of democracy is supposed to take care of the majority and minority in a country. It is the commonest form of democracy but many countries that practice this form of democracy do not give the same voice to their minorities. The commonest forms of representative democracy are:

Parliamentary democracy: In this model, the legislative holds maximum power. The legitimacy of the executive branch is derived from the legislative branch which is the Parliament. The heads of government and that of the state are different people. The head of government is the Prime Minister but there is a titular head –the monarch (as in the UK) or a Prime Minister (as in Australia) or president (as in India) with mainly ceremonial duties.

Under this is also the Theo-democracy form as is practised in the Islamic states (Islamic Democracy or Islamic Socialism) where the leaders follow the Shura and pronouncements and judgements are made according to the precepts as laid down in the Shariat. This is practised in Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Mauritania and Pakistan. In Saudi Arabia it is authoritarian theocracy. The Christian form is that practised in The Vatican (absolute monarchy) and the Jewish form in Israel and is often referred to as totalitarian democracy (Jacob Lieb Tamon). In Theo-democracies all governmental rulings are expected to follow particular religious values in keeping with specific religious precepts.

Monarchy is usually hereditary rule, often absolute: Darussalam, Oman, Swaziland, Brunei Saudi Arabia, and Vatican (both theocracies), or mixed: UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, rarely coregency: (Andorra two simultaneous rulers). Generally they are Constitutional: (Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan Brunei Cambodia, Canada, Denmark, Grenada, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom & Northern Ireland. Canada is a sovereign state and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth of England as the head of state. Australia and New Zealand belong to the Commonwealth too, but have different forms of government.

Authoritarian Democracy: is also referred to as Totalitarian democracy. Here the head of state is elected democratically but the decisions are made by an elite group or by the head of state. They are expected to maintain the integrity of the nation and its citizens. This falls into two main groups Bonapartist and Fascist. In the former the authoritarian leader has the confidence of the citizens while in the latter the conventional view of democracy is rejected and the leader and his group control all power. Countries where authoritarian democracy is practised are: North Korea, Syria, Chad, Central African Republic, UAE, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea, Laos, Burundi, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Guinea-Bissau, Uzbekistan Tajikistan Equatorial Guinea, Turkmenistan, Democratic Republic of Congo.

There are many other types of democracy that come under the wide umbrella of Indirect Democracy like liberal democracy, social democracy etc. Some of the more common ones are: Participatory democracy which is the opposite of the Authoritarian form. In this form, in theory, all can participate in the decision making process. In practice it is very difficult to implement This is subdivided into many different types but in all, the overriding factor is the participation of all members of the population in the decision making process as practised in the social movement in Venezuela, Italy, Germany France (not very successfully), Britain and Portugal (future appears bleak).

Presidential Democracy: where maximum power is in the hands of the president whose opinion is more important than the government’s. The president is chosen directly or indirectly by the people. The President and the executive are not liable to the legislature but neither can they dismiss the legislature except under emergency circumstances. The legislature too, cannot remove the president except again, under very serious circumstances. The ruler of the state is the head of government. In the USA, which is regarded as a flawed democracy, there is not the same equality under law for all. For example the Native Americans are a dispossessed class and still often live on reservations. The African–American does not have the same rights in reality as the Whites do. Prejudice is ingrained in the American psyche. It is of course much better than it was. The LBGT are also fighting against discrimination in many countries including The USA though on paper they have been free since 2015. In many Third world countries they are much discriminated against. In this form of democracy, the populace is expected to elect the most qualified representative to represent them though this is not always the case. Other factors play in too. Usually the person with most power, wealth and backing (of Corporates and wealthy people) wins.

Presidential Democracy is practised often mixed with other forms. In alphabetical order in: Afghanistan, Algeria Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Somaliland, South Africa, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

One party system (Communism and Socialism): Under this system all people are equal under law but there is only one party to choose from. The president is elected from within the party. There is no class – all people are equal before law. This is the type practised in China where it is more like democratic Centralism. It is a one party system. In this the members of the political party in power discuss and debate policies which are then based on the consensus of the majority and implemented. The head of the state is the president and he has the final say. Other countries that follow similar type are North Korea, Cuba, and Vietnam. Ex-USSR followed Marxist Socialism. Now Russia is a Federation with a Republican form of government.

There are various other subdivisions but these are the most important ones. All democracies in practice direct or indirect - follow a mixed type of democracy.

In recent years there has been an upsurge of Right Wing parties to the detriment of democracy. Democracy does not function well when one party dominates the political landscape especially from the Right or Far Right.

WESTERN IMPERIALISM: AN INTRODUCTION

I MPERIALISM IS WHEN a country invades and subordinates another country and often in this way, builds an empire. Throughout history this has been the case but the invaders’ culture generally amalgamated with the native culture to form something having both the cultures. Imperialism generally takes place when a country covets the land or wealth of another country and has the military clout to take what it desires. Imperialism affects the social, political, cultural, economic and moral development of the enslaved country in mostly negative ways. Sometimes it leads to the genocide of the natives like in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Imperialism can be defined as the policy employed arbitrarily by a foreign country to extend authority over another country and people. It leads to colonisation. The imperialistic, colonial power occupies the countries physically, destroys their independence. The colonised countries become impoverished, backward socially, politically and economically. They lose the purity of their culture, their land and wealth. Colonisation often leads to civil war but because the colonial countries have superior military hardware, it ends up in colonised countries being devastated and destroyed in their attempt to be free again. This is what the Western imperial powers did from the 15 th century onwards. It is still happening today in the 21 st century. Western imperialism took an overwhelming toll of Asia and Africa and is still doing so under the guise of bringing democracy. But whereas earlier when they colonised, they left something good behind too, now it is all about destruction only.

Due to the cruel, harsh and violent actions of the colonisers in their struggle for control of the country along with the impacts of slavery and subjugation, their cultural appropriation linguistic control and religious and racial discrimination over the country, the country lost a lot of its culture and status. One reason why English is now the most widely used language is due to the British imperialistic and colonial policies from the 14th century onwards – not only in Asia and Africa but also in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand the islands in the Caribbean.

The condition of African and Asian countries and their being relegated to third world countries was because the Western imperialists took all the wealth, used the natural and mineral resources, took the riches of the two continents to enrich themselves. Africa and Asia were culturally developed long before Europe but that development was cut off during the dark years, centuries of colonial enslavement. Even today in the 21st century whenever an Asian, African, Middle Eastern country surmounts its difficulties and the citizens find their feet, they are bombed and destroyed by the strong Western powers of today.

As society enslaves from childhood with social norms, cultural attitudes and behaviours, and religious precepts and traditions, so do strong countries enslave weaker ones with economic clout, military hardware, military personnel and social stigma.

WESTERN IMPERIALISM IN AFRICA

W ESTERN IMPERIALISM AND greed for the wealth of Africa and Asia saw the rape and impoverishment of both the continents. It was not just the European nations but also the United States and some Asian countries that were guilty of the carnage on Africa and Asia. We will start with the effect of imperialism on Africa first. This Scramble for Africa as the Western powers competed for dominance over large parts of Africa had immediate and far-reaching consequences.

European incursion into Africa began in the Age of Discovery pioneered by the Kingdom of Portugal under Prince Henry the Navigator. He sent many voyages to Africa and seeing the lushness and wealth of the continent sent colonists to settle there. Slave trade of Africans began in 1446 from Western Africa by the Portuguese. They were followed by the Spanish (1492-1976) French (1638) the Dutch (1652), the British (1660); Danish (2 periods) 8th to 10th centuries, and 1600s to 1792 during the Atlantic slave trade. A little known fact is that of the slave trade carried out in parts of Europe by Iberian Jews known as Radhanites. They transferred slaves from pagan Central Europe through Christian Western Europe to Muslim countries in Al-Andalus and Africa (see bibliography Jews & African slaves). Wealthy Jews were also involved in the slave trade in the Americas as ship-owners who imported slaves and as agents who resold them. Some well-known names in the US were Isaac Da Costa of Charleston, David Franks of Philadelphia and Aaron Lopez of Newport, Rhode Island. Other Jews were involved in the trade in various European Caribbean colonies. Alexandre Lindo, a French-born Jew who became a wealthy merchant in Jamaica in the late 18th century, was a major seller of slaves on the island. Other countries were USA 1776-1865 (from its founding to The Civil War), France, 3rd largest trader, 1721 to 1810; and Italy 1890 to 1941.

Jon Locke was the first Englishman to take slaves from Africa. In 1555 he brought the first slaves from Guinea to England. William Towerson (1556 to 1570) brought slaves from Africa to Plymouth. The real beginning was with John Hawkins from 1562 onwards from Sierra Leone in the Triangular slave trade between England, Africa and the New World.

Britain had been heavily involved in African slave trade from the 1660s but by the 1807 a bill was passed abolishing it but only on paper. Previous to that, it was the worst transgressor responsible for over 2.5 million slaves. Soon after, Britain started sending settlers to Africa.

There is a popular misconception that the enslavement of Africans was worst in America. It was not. The worst were the Western colonists in Africa itself. From 1680 to 1795 on an average at least one African person was executed in Cape Town each month and the corpse hung and rehung around the town to act as a deterrent to others (Joseph Conrad: Heart of darkness; Alistair Boddy-Evans, 2019).

From 1400 to 1900, about 20 million people were captured from Africa and transported elsewhere.

Britain played the most significant role in the Age of Imperialism when the first British settlers (1820) went to Africa. Britain was the largest empire at that time due to its powerful navy and its expansionist policies. France was second only to Britain. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many European countries spread their power over vast areas of the world. Some of these countries were: Germany, Spain and Belgium and the Netherlands. They all had parts of India, Africa and China.

Europeans had an economic interest in Africa long before the Age of Imperialism. In the Age of Exploration, between the 15th and 17th centuries European traders had been trying to find shorter routes to Asia via Africa, using their navigational skills. The countries were Spain, Portugal, Britain and France. Portugal was the first to find it. They sailed along the African West coast, establishing trading posts and gaining economic access. Bartholomew Dias, the Portuguese explorer was the first to sail around the tip of Africa in 1488. He was followed by Vasco da Gama, the first European to sail to India via Africa. Soon ships from Europe sailed to India, China and the surrounding areas.

This early explorations of Africa did not initially result in expansion of land and power into the African interior. The Europeans were not aware of the wealth that lay there. In the 1800’s this changed and more and more expeditions were sent to the African interior. They were met with malaria, yellow fever and similar diseases which they combated with new medicines and technologies. Explorations into the interior continued. Soon the Scramble for Africa would begin.

That happened with the New Imperialism of 1881 to 1914. The Scramble for Africa or the Partition of Africa or the Conquest of Africa as it was variously called, was in fact the invasion, division, occupation, colonisation of African territories and the enslavement of its people by seven European nations. Many Europeans believed that it was not colonisation but taking civilisation to the Dark Continent as Africans were regarded as evolutionarily backwards, uncivilised and undeveloped. It was European duty to rule them until they were able to do so. The exploitation of Africa was never mentioned or even referred to. But it was brutally exploited - the land, its wealth and its people who were taken and sold as slaves around the world. Yet, remember Africa was much more advanced and cultured long before Europe as the history of many African countries like Egypt shows. And humankind is said to have evolved from Africa.

Around 1870 European powers jockeyed for control in Africa which continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The main countries involved in the scramble were Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Some causes for this were for wealth, power, ethnocentrisms, spreading of Christianity and its different denominations, the colonisation of the African continent; the Atlantic Slave trade which was in its heyday; European desire for control of the Suez Canal; the Berlin Conference; the First Moroccan Crisis; the Boer War, and the brutal desire of King Leopold II to rule in the Congo. But most of all, Europeans became aware of the wealth in men and material that lay in Africa-for gold, diamonds, ivory, natural wealth, huge tracts of lush land and the huge population that could be sold as slaves at excellent prices.

After Europe carved up Africa, they then established governments to rule the territory and govern the Africans according to European precepts to best serve European economic ends. Imperialism in Africa thus helped European economies to grow while simultaneously beggaring the African economy. African resources were extracted, shipped and used to strengthen European economies. For Example, King Leopold II of Belgium exploited the rubber of Congo to export and for personal aggrandisement and as Belgium became richer, Congo became poorer. This policy applied to all the European nations with regard to their imperial African policy. Belgians regarded King Leopold II as a great humanitarian who spread Christianity to the Congo whereas in reality, he was a tyrant who beggared, enslaved, or murdered the natives.

Africa was very rich in natural resources like diamonds, gold, oil and minerals as well as manpower and ivory. European exploitation of Africa led to shortages of natural resources, visible till today. The invasion of wealth seekers from Europe; death and slavery of huge numbers of Africans and death by imported European diseases, disruption of traditional way of life, culture, political organisation and social norms were a few of the negative impacts that Western imperialism brought to Africa. Besides this there was the imposition of a new religion – Christianity on their traditional religious observances; Western ideals were forced on them, their age old agrarian society and subsistence farming was forced into a new mould. Small farm holdings were forcibly taken away from the Africans and given to Europeans to form huge plantations on which the Africans were then forced to work under very cruel and exploitative practices. There was large-scale exporting of these commodities to European markets for European use and enrichment. The European patriarchal society was imposed on the Africans. New crops were introduced along with new tools and farming methods to increase food production mainly for export. Economically, Imperialism destroyed African self-sufficiency and greatly increased its dependency on colonial powers. It exploited African raw materials and made Africa poor. It took away the rights of the indigenous people and led to slavery on a large scale especially in the United States.

It also led to the destabilisation of established institutions which had once prospered; to the loss of heritage treasures Later, it led to many internal wars due to the making of unnatural borders and doing away with age old ones to follow colonial rules of territorial possessions in Africa. It left behind a legacy of new and terrible diseases among them HIV/AIDS which overtook Africa in the early 20th century wiping out many (especially in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini (Swaziland), Zambia and Zimbabwe). Africa has 15.2 of the world’s population and more than two-thirds were infected with this new and horrifying disease that seemed not to have a cure, at that time. Since 2012, it can be somewhat controlled with anti-retroviral treatment.

After World War II the African people fought for independence from their Imperial masters and to regain their cultural heritage. But Imperialism had left Africa divided, poor, weakened and backward. Civil war among nation states and within states was one of the legacies of post Imperialism. The artificial boundaries established by the Imperial powers failed to reflect religious and tribal boundaries. The newly born post Imperial African states were unstable and unable to deal with the new conflicts, so civil war and sometimes genocide, resulted. During this traumatic time, Africa received very little help or support from the Western World to develop their economies. This is reflected in many modern-day African states. Their poverty level is still one of the most terrible in the world today. From a very rich continent it has become a very poor one, backward in many ways now. This is the Imperial legacy left behind for Africa.

Today Africa is free from Imperial rule. Imperialism did leave behind development in technology and the roots of democracy. The question is: what kind of democracy? A lot of African states end up with dictators. Imperialism left behind many deep scars that are yet to heal. It also left behind a lot of divisiveness and religious intolerance and a very low standard of living.

During WW II, though Africa was not directly involved at the start of the War, they were forced to shoulder the ever-mounting costs of war, economic and otherwise. Africans were tired of the unfair and cruel treatment generally meted out to them by the colonists. They were often treated as dull, stupid and sub-human creatures. Resentment against this treatment grew. The Europeans claimed to be helping the Africans to become civilised and to a better life but in actuality they were doing the opposite. They were impoverishing Africa and treating them like savages. Africa had a developed culture much earlier suited to their needs. Now they would make Africans cultured with their brand of civilisation. In fact they brought darkness to Africa. The Africans had no real rights in Africa under colonial rule. Even agriculture was controlled by the Europeans. And in spite of their poverty, they were heavily taxed. Their land was not their own. Their mines and all natural resources were not their own. Even their basic human rights were not in their hands. Discrimination