Friday,
August 01, 2008
The
ANNOTICO Report
This
article focuses on the relations between
But
this brief history needs to be considered in the greater context of other
European Colonies.
It
is pointed out that tens of thousand Libyan "terrorists"
were captured and held prisoners. Later 20,000 Italians had their
property confiscated and were expelled, so their are
claims for "compensation" on both sides.
The
gradual Colonization of the greater part of Africa by Britain, France, Portugal,
Germany and Belgium starting in the 1870s became a frantic scramble ("Scramble
for Africa,") formalized by the The
1885 Berlin Conference, to establish international guidelines for the
acquisition of African territory, and institutionalized this "New
Imperialism".added almost 9 million square miles
(23,000,000 km2) ? one-fifth of the land area of the
globe to its overseas colonial possessions.The
great self esteem some European states felt at possessing territory many times
larger than themselves.
The
Europeans possessed attitudes of superiority and a sense of mission. There were
significant contrasts in the harshness in which the colonial powers
administered their Colonies. The French were able to accept an African as
French, if they gave up their African culture and adopted French ways. The
British did not accept full equality and disapproved of interracial marriage.
The Portuguese were more tolerant than the British concerning mixed marriages,
though still viewing full blooded Portuguese as superior.
"The
French, the Portuguese, the Germans and the Belgians exercised a highly
centralized type of administration called 'direct rule.'" The British
sought to rule by identifying local power holders and encouraging or forcing
these to administer for the
King Leopold II
of
Italy and Libya
The
Economist
July
312008 |
AFTER years of
awkward negotiation,
On July 24th Saif al-Islam, the influential son of Libyas leader,
Muammar Qaddafi, announced the imminent signing of a deal to compensate Libyans
for 32 years of Italian colonial rule.
Like all former
colonial relationships, that between
Clamping down on
illegal immigration is a priority for Mr Berlusconi,
which explains his anxiety to close a deal that escaped the previous
centre-left government in November. He has personally handled the talks with
the Libyan leader.
Those who cast
off from
But it would
leave at least two questions. One is whether
The other question
is whether a deal would be seen by Italians as worth compensating an oil-rich
country for. Unlike the British and French, Italians rarely agonise
over their colonial past. Criticism of it barely figures in schoolbooks. In
1981 Libyan petrodollars funded a film on the resistance to Italian rule.
Lion of the Desert had an all-star cast including Anthony Quinn and
Oliver Reed. The government imposed a ban, saying it was damaging to
the armys honour. Hardly any Italians have seen
it since.
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