The Curse of Colonialism

Imagine how you’d feel if I planted a flag in your front garden and claimed that your house, land, assets, you yourself and your family belonged to me by right of my moral, intellectual, racial and military superiority. If you behave I might let you stay on as my cook or gardener – unpaid of course. If you resist I’ll shoot you down, sell your children and award myself for bravery.

Outrageous – definitely. But this is exactly how civilized, Christian nations behaved on a global scale for over four hundred years. They didn’t call it robbery or murder, they called it colonization.

In the 15th century the nations of Europe developed the technology to sail around the world. Their muskets, cannon and cavalry were more than a match for the spears and arrows of the peoples they encountered.

1492 was a great date for Columbus and Spain but bad news for America. The Spanish and Portuguese savaged the new world, destroying civilizations, introducing epidemics, stealing mountains of gold which quickly buried any moral objections. Pragmatic theologians decreed that Indians had no souls therefore killing them or enslaving them was no more serious than hunting or farming.

In Central and South America today colonialism has left a legacy of inequality and instability. Descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors still enjoy more wealth, power and education than the indigenous majority.

Other European nations – English, French and Dutch were quick to join the game of world monopoly, snapping up countries in Asia, the Americas, the Pacific and Africa… the English grabbing the lion’s share.

Those of us from British stock grew up convinced that our upstanding forebears brought the natives the benefits of civilization like railways, decent clothing and cricket.

Unfortunately the British, like the other colonial powers, subjugated indigenous populations, stripped resources, traded in slaves and had the arrogance to describe their robber-baron role as “the white man’s burden.”

New Zealand and Australia are considered examples of successful British colonies but this success was at the expense of the Maori and Aborigines.

The British declared Australia “terra nulla” … a land empty of people.

“Abos” were hunted like animals and driven to the brink of extinction. Even now Aborigines still face scorn and prejudice. Their attempts to seek just reparation are often aggressively resisted.

Our record in Aotearoa isn’t a whole lot better. Although Maori warriors fought with exceptional skill and courage they couldn’t withstand the tide of colonization. If iwi couldn’t be conned out of their land it was forcibly confiscated. The treaty of Waitangi – a major breakthrough in colonial relations – was neither interpreted fairly nor honored from the outset. Disease, alcohol and attrition shattered Maori society as Goldie painted his famous portraits to capture images of a dying people.

Fortunately Maoritanga has experienced a renaissance but it takes a culture more that a few generations to recover from the effects of colonialism. Maori still figure disproportionately in all the negative social statistics. The Treaty rather than being celebrated is feared and resented by many kiwis.

But what about the missionaries – surely they did a wonderful job in New Zealand and other colonies converting the heathen masses?

Certainly there were missionaries who did tremendous work, spreading the gospel, representing Jesus in holistic ministry, but all too often Christianity became another aspect of colonial enculturation and control. Even today millions in the developing world associate Christianity with US imperialism.

Surely civilized, educated nations should be able to offer less developed countries the best of technology, democracy and faith without stealing their land, robbing their resources, exploiting their peoples, overwhelming their cultures and seeking to seize power, but the motivation for colonization was always greed not altruism.

To excuse the immorality of their deeds, colonists came up with pseudo scientific theories, loosely based on Darwinism to “prove” that natives were so far down the evolutionary ladder that their rights and freedoms didn’t count. It was the natural role of Europeans to rule these barely human savages.

The most blatant example of colonialism – the “scramble for Africa” occurred from 1880 to 1914 – adding nine million square miles to Europe and dividing Africa into more than 50 states whose boundaries were set without regard for where the people lived or how they organized their own political divisions. In Uganda, for example, the British forced together over twenty different tribes into arbitrary borders, including traditional enemies – not a good basis for stable nation.

Newcomers Germany and Belgium were among the worst colonists, the Germans practicing genocide in Namibia, the Belgians sowing the seeds of civil war in Rwanda.

Colonizers didn’t want their colonies becoming strong, independent nations able to take charge of their own resources and demand fair prices. Frequently the Europeans deliberately underdeveloped and destabilized their African colonies so that they could continue to rip off their resources – resources which should have funded positive development but instead became a focus for corruption and conflict.

Colonization was not only a major cause of the tragic mess in Africa today but also an important factor in the Vietnam War, the current Israeli – Palestinian conflict, the ongoing strife in Chechnya and many more.

It’s clear even from this superficial survey that colonialism caused centuries of suffering and still has severe effects today. But have we really learned better attitudes?

Organizations like the World Bank and IMF still blunder into developing countries with think big projects and loans that have all manner of strings attached. We still expect to buy cheap coffee, sugar and cotton at the expense of the producers. We consume far more than our share and dump our waste on countries to poor to refuse it.

In the aid industry, as we magnanimously support projects and sponsor children, we need to constantly remember that we are not superior to people in the majority world, merely more fortunate. It is by God’s grace not our merit that we were born into an affluent, peaceful, free country.

We should always approach our work with humility, grateful for what we’ve been given, open to learn from other cultures and keen to serve our Lord by serving His people whatever their colour, culture or creed.

Our privileged position was purchased by our colonial past and the exploitation of indigenous peoples. Let’s pray that in some small way Jesus will enable us to redress the balance and heal some of the hurts caused by colonialism.