Masa Musa, African, was the richest man on earth. His legacy is self-indulgence. Masa Musa left nothing of worth for his fellow Africans. Elon Musk, African, is the richest man on earth today. What would be his legacy? Self-indulgent champion and enabler of the American right? A fashion that may not last even a generation!
In 1885, at a conference in Berlin, the Europeans carved several Towers of Babel out of Africa. With pencil and paper in hand, the Europeans, with depraved indifference, created for their own benefits territories in Africa that separated kin from kin, and lumped together peoples of different cultures, languages, religions, and traditions; peoples who had absolutely nothing in common. That single deplorable act is responsible for all of Africa’s travails today.
Africa’s political class, being beneficiaries in perpetuity, have no interest whatsoever in dismantling the Towers of Babel that the Europeans created in 1885. Africa’s politicians as well as soldiers are the post-independence colonialists. A successful court challenge could peacefully prise the colonial trophies out of their hands. Elon Musk, African, richest man of earth, could use a tiny fraction of his wealth to assist Africans to reverse the disaster of 1885.
The grounds for a court challenge to the 1885 act are fairly straightforward. First, the African peoples did not participate at all at the 1885 conference. They were not consulted, and had not ceded one inch of their territories to the Europeans. The Europeans did not respect the authority of African leaders. The Sultan of Zanzibar sought invitation to the conference but was rebuffed. Ethiopia and Liberia, independent nations, had educated Africans and could have been invited but they were not because the welfare and interest of Africans ran contrary to the interest of European nations that attended the conference.
Second, in 1885, less than 10 percent of Africa was under European control. Of the 14 countries that participated in the Berlin Conference, Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway (unified from 1814-1905), Turkey and America had no presence in Africa at all. The conveners and participants at the Berlin Conference knew next to nothing about the Africa that they were carving up.
Third, although America participated in the Berlin Conference, it did not ratify the treaty that resulted. Opponents at home attacked participation in the conference as a violation of America’s diplomatic tradition. The Cleveland White House was anti-imperialist. Yet, it was America’s benevolent neutrality that enabled the European purposes to prevail.
Fourth, the Europeans who so cruelly created Towers of Babel in Africa had themselves previously fought several wars to jettison multi-ethnicity and create mono-ethnic countries on their continent. Brexit is living proof of the power of ethnic nationalism, and the consequences of a lack of common identity and language. Since 1990, 34 new countries have been created mostly in Europe, and all monoethnic. 1991 – Soviet Union separated into 12 Republics. 1992 – Yugoslavia dissolved into Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. 1993 – Czechoslovakia broke up into Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Dissolution of many African countries into their constituent nations is long overdue. Africa is big enough easily to accommodate another 50 nations. Africa: land mass 30.4 million kmsq; 55 countries; 1.3 billion people. The US fits into Africa more than 3x. The UK fits into Africa more than 120x. The USA, China, India, Europe and Japan combined together fit comfortably.
90 of 195 UN member states have population of less than 10 million. 21 of 53 Commonwealth member states have population of less than 1 million. 35 of 55 African countries have population less than that of Lagos.
The most populous African countries are Nigeria, Ethiopia, DRC, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda. These 7 alone have the potentials of 30 mono-ethnic, economically viable modern states between them. Each country is made up of a number of discrete indigenous ethnic nations that have remained resolute in preserving their ethnicities. Indeed, many like the Yoruba of Nigeria actively seek self-determination and independent nation status.
Only the small are successful. Europe’s wealthy nations of Luxemburg, Norway and Switzerland have fewer than 10 million people. Since the 1990s, the per capita GDP has risen faster for smaller nations than for the bigger ones. Of the 14 countries with over 100 million population in the world, only the US and Japan are wealthy.
Elon Musk, what I wish for you to do as my brother African is this: join me @baasegun1 to challenge the validity of the Berlin 1885 Treaty in the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the continental court established by African countries to protect Africa’s peoples. My need is as simple as that.