Africa, the progressive break with Europe is accompanied by a laborious “decolonization of Western thought” and humanitarian aid

ROME – Kehinde Andrews, British academic, scholar of the culture of black, African and other populations, teaches at the Birmingham City University School of Social Sciences, and is the first professor in the UK to lead a program dedicated to this topic in Europe. He wrote: “Dead white men are revered by many as responsible for the progress of civilization. But this so-called progress has come at the expense of millions of black people. Global inequality is not an accident, it is designed to keep the hierarchy of civilization intact.” race”.

The diplomatic disaster in Africa, increasingly anti-Western. These are affirmations that light numerous “fuses” under a debate on the decolonization of international cooperation, underway in Europe. A confrontation that has various sides, from the economic to the political-diplomatic one, but is also very conditioned by a, so to speak, “subcutaneous” need for the so-called “decolonization of Western thought” throughout Europe. A need that should also be accompanied by an effort on the part of African countries and all those where action is urgently needed, to disengage from the Western mental mechanisms which block any inclusive reasoning. In this regard, on the valuable “open site” dedicated to the facts of the world of RemoAgainst – coordinated by Ennio Remondino, former RAI correspondent and war reporter – there is an article by Michele Marsonet – full professor of Philosophy of science and methodology of the human sciences, vice-rector for international relations at the University of Genoa – entitled “Disastro European in Africa amidst bad colonial legacies”. He writes: “Africa is becoming increasingly anti-Western and, above all, anti-European. It is a real diplomatic disaster, even with the expulsion of numerous ambassadors of the European Union”.

The most recent posting examples. Chad began a few days ago by ordering the German ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours. The Berlin representative had criticized N’Djamena’s government for the delays in holding elections after yet another coup d’état. However, it would be above all France to be hit the hardest by measures to interrupt diplomatic relations, which many observers attribute to the failure of the military expedition in the Sahel, with the Barkhane operation of 2014, when it regionalised its military presence in the area in order to -jihadist. The ambassador from Paris in Mali was given 72 hours to leave the country. Same thing in Burkina Faso. Here too the coup government ordered the French ambassador to leave “because he is no longer reliable”. The Italian diplomat Barbara Manzi, UN representative in the capital of Burkina Faso, was also expelled from the Ouagadougu government, declared “persona non grata”.

Few still know how strategic cooperation is. In short, all of this only confirms the absence of a Community political and economic strategy with respect to Africa. The fundamental strategic function of International Cooperation is perceived only as a “patchy patch” by EU countries, with Italy among the last countries in the standings, in terms of resources for public development aid. Which have also increased, even if the financial contributions for development in poor countries are growing only on paper, because in reality most of the funds are diverted to limiting migration. The most virtuous countries (especially the most forward-looking) remain: Luxembourg, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

The leap from helping to collaborating. That said, however, it must also be recognizedItalian Agency for Cooperation (AICS) the merit of developing – for now perhaps only in theory – a more modern model of international cooperation, which promises to be truly “decolonizing”, directed towards solidarity co-development, through “equal partnerships” and greater local ownership of the projects that are going to be implemented in the countries in which the intervention takes place. Therefore, the transition from the logic of aid to that of collaboration, which is the nucleus of the political-ideal reasoning relating to the theme of decolonization. This is a trace outlined by Emilio Ciarlo, head of institutional relations of AICS.

The reversal of perspective in solidarity aid. In fact, Africa, like all low-income countries involved in Cooperation interventions, has always been subjected to schemes that fail to exploit its wealth, both material and immaterial, of the places and people one encounters. Aid bearers propose, indeed impose, their own relationship with the environment, with people and their communities. Values, cultural traits, visions of the world and of the future mix badly and in an altered way. In one of the frequent moments of confrontation between the African diasporas, for example, Thomas Sankara, the Burkinabe revolutionary and beloved supporter of pan-Africanism, was mentioned. Before being killed, he tried to affirm the idea according to which the peoples of Africa must seek their way for growth and development through knowledge and the story of their own values ​​and traditions. It was the call of a great figure in African history, a powerful voice that raised hopes throughout the African continent. But, surely not by chance, that voice was silenced.