Africans Denied Freedom & Human Rights by Imperialists & Local Leaders - Essay Sample

Additionally, the imperialists denied all the Africans the freedom to political association and enjoyment of African-style life. Those people who resisted got arrested, and some of them got brutal beatings. Surprisingly, the local leaders, like the chiefs and village elders, supported the imperialists’ ways of life, undermining African human rights. For instance, the local leaders adopted some of the imperialists’ policy of collecting taxes and then passed them as though they were traditional African laws. It was a system that enhanced dictatorship among the African communities.

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Another form of worst treatment that all Africans had to go through is torturing, abuse, and rape of the African girls. Back then, the Africans had to the right of expression or complaining. Thus, it allowed the imperialists to rape African girls leaving some pregnant and emotionally wounded. Nonetheless, there was no place where the local people could get a chance to launch complain since the imperialists were the masters and initiators of the law. The irony of the matter is, the imperialist propagated the ideologies of justice and godliness, but their actions reflected cruelty.

In a country of East Africa, British rule introduced some form of identification system that barred people’s free movement from one region to another. It was a system that violated the African’s freedom of movement and association. The system made it easy for the imperialists to rule since people were already divided into tribal and regional lines. Although it might look vague, this system of segregating people based on their tribal affiliation led to the modern tribalism witnessed in many parts of the countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. Since the colonial period, ethnicity continues being the force that divides people.

Moreover, some African faced the highest form of market exploitation during the time of imperialism. It was common among those established Africans who were allowed to own pieces of land and cultivate cash crops for sale. The imperialists offered very low prices for the crops sold by Africans. In contrast, the products sold by Africans fetched a very high price when sold in the international market as end products. In a way, this was a form of stealing African resources and enriching the imperialists’ nations such as Britain, German, France, and Belgium.

However, some of the imperialists’ treatment towards African was necessary. When analyzing the British system of rule in Africa, it is clear that the Britons denied any African who had not denounced their ways to get access to education. Without such a form of harsh laws, some African people could not have denied their evil means such as witchcraft, female circumcision, and denying a girl child a right of expression. This system makes the African be able to connect with other civilized people all over the world. On the other hand, the French required the Africans to learn the French language for them to get good treatment. In a way, that is a good thing since French is one of the languages recognized by the United Nations for communication purposes.

In conclusion, imperialism is a system whereby powerful countries use their supremacy to the extent of their rule and control of the political and economic system. The main driving factors that led to imperialism include greed for resources and search for cheap raw materials for the rapidly expanding industrialization. The main pioneers of imperialism were the British, Germans, French, Belgians, Portuguese, and the Spanish nationals. Most of the imperialism got exercised in developing Continents such as Africa and Asia.

The period of imperialism witnessed various forms of treatment towards the African people. Like the Britons, some of the imperialists had a fair system that allowed African to get access to education, Christianity, and better medical care. Consequently, African people’s livelihood improved due to low children’s mortality rates and better clothing forms. On the other hand, the Africans got subjected to forced labor and slavery in their land. The imperialists forced the Africans to move out of their lands, leaving them with no property rights. Furthermore, the African people got harsh treatment from the imperialists’ laws causing them to resent the white man. Other inhumane forms of treatment included beatings, torture, and raping of the African girls.

All in all, the imperialists changed how African people opened their eyes to industrialization and the development of modern housing, roads, and railway systems. Assuming the imperialists never came to the African Continent, some of these technologies, such as railways, roads, and modern houses, could have taken several years before getting into this continent.

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