Aime Cesaire wrote Discourse On Colonialism in 1955. Cesaire takes a risky stance arguing against colonization and the by-products thats come along with it. Cesaire blames the poor relationship amongst colonizers and colonies on Europe. Europe does nothing more than colonize smaller nations and colonies to exploit them namely for financial purposes and also for their natural resources. Europe created two problems in Cesaire's words the Proletariat Problem and the Colony Problem. The Colonial problem is one rooted with diseased society, that there is no positive relationship. The largest problem in Colonization is that colonies are not advances once colonized. Furthermore the issue pertains around the fact the relationship is centered around, "forced labor, intimidation, pressure, the police, taxation, theft,
rape, compulsory crops, contempt, mistrust, arrogance, self-complacency,
swinishness, brainless elites, degraded masses." All of which problems are sure to set the local culture back a few steps.
The last remaining problem is the Proletariat Problem. This problem exist due to the racial nature of forced labor and colonization. With the racial nature slavery can be connected and compared with Colonization. Thus Cesaire concludes that colonization is a form of dehumanization. Europe has a fascination with dehumanizing minorities especially blacks in Cesaire's opinion. Cesaire writes in a unique perspective and uses the example of Hitler and the Jews and compares that with Europe and Colonization. In conclusion it was an interesting read with many important points brought to the forefront.
Eye opening article. You usually don't hear much of the events brought up, only the usual holocast stories. Never even knew about some of these problems
ReplyDeleteAime Cesaire's "Discourse on Colonialism" portrays the problems that colonization develops, not only to the proletariat, but also to the colony. He states that the countries are aware of this problem, but act oblivious towards it because of racism. Cesaire believes that colonization degrades humans and exploits them. It leads to dehumanization because of the barbarism and racism. He finds that the foremost problem of colonization is that it prevents a colony from advancing and also could possibly lead to the elimination of a culture. Cesaire uses the Holocaust as the most prominent example of what can happen when countries are oblivious to the problems of colonization.
ReplyDeleteThis really opened my eyes to the many things i've been missing out on for a while. I never really looked at such things as problematic. However, after reading this it allowed me to view things from a different perspective. The importance stated here is that countries are aware of these ongoing problems, yet choose not to do a thing about any of it. Instead, things are set out of control and this leads to the problem of colonization and ultimately the usage of the Holocaust and such imagery gets across the mind of the reader.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting piece. Oftentimes, people seemingly confuse colonialism to be more like conquest. If you think about it, there is hardly ever a steady infiltration in the cases listed in the reading. Rather, a group comes in and typical takes to drastic measures to take over and prove their dominance over another group. This is certainly not the way to go about it, but looks to be the only way it's handled- forcefully.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the most interesting thing is what we discussed in class in regards to the "cleaning up" of a society. I don't know how these people justified their terrible acts, but to them they believed it was necessary. This article definitely opened my eyes to the problem of coliization and dehumanization around the world in this time period, and examples of it happening even today. This was, and is, a huge problem that needs to be addressed, and I believe this article does just that.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this piece, I would have never viewed colonization to be dehumanizing. Aime Cesaire brings up valid points when talking about the adverse effects of colonization on the colonies as well as the proletariat. I agree with Cesaire’s argument when she says how colonization can lead to racism as well as the loss of an entire culture. She gets her point across by using the Holocaust as an example of the discrimination that can occur if nations are unaware of the problems that come along with colonization.
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