Global Interdependence - Article Example

Global InterdependenceEvils of ColonizationDiscourse on Colonialism by Aime Cesaire, Late Victorian Holocausts El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World, by Mike Davis and The Global Cold War, Third World Interventions and the Making of our Time by Odd Arne Westad, all has a common theme. They deal with the evils of colonization and imperialism in its different forms. The article of Aime Cesaire, theorizes colonialism as a process of decivilizing the colonizer by robbing him of all humane instincts and teaching him to treat the colonized and objectively himself as an animal.

In the article of Mike Davis, a heart-wrenching picture of Indian famine is projected during its days as a British colony. Davis shows how, the fearfulness of the calamity was accelerated by the callous colonizers that led to the death of thousands of poor men, women and children and livestock. In the article by Odd Arne Westad, hails USA as an interventionist power whose sole aim and purpose has been territorial expansion. USA has not been fair in treatment to its own citizens, as we know from the terrible plight of the Black Americans.

One of the ideals that worked behind motivating the elites of the United States was liberty, which was accessible to those who had private property and education. Thus, the authors in their respective articles condemn vehemently the destructive force of ruling a supposedly inferior race by a self-proclaimed superior race. Colonization: Theory and PracticeDomination is the key theme in all the three writings. All these three writers have criticized domination in terms of rule and interference, thereby weakening a country to considerable extent and robbing its citizens of their natural wealth and environment.

Aime describes colonial invasions as ‘hideous’ and is very justified in calling so since the act of taking over another nation completely destroys it and its people. Only force is the base of the relation between the colonizer and the colonized. Davis’ article only reinstates this theory by citing the example of the infamous famine that crippled India during the British Rule. While India produced enough crops to feed its people, most of it was hoarded and the rest exported to different parts of the world.

While millions of people died, the colonizers maintained a policy of non-interference. In the article by Westad is a further reinstatement of the evils of forceful acquisition of others land. Colonizers generally cite the example of the colonised’s ignorance, brutality, superstition etc. as was written by Jefferson to Lafayette in 1813. It is shocking how the rulers hide their own animal instinct of cruelty, brutality and coercion by accusing the colonizer.Live and Let Live Human beings can only flourish through mutual cooperation and respect for each other’s civilization.

Domination of one race by the other not only goes against the ideal of mutual cooperation and peaceful coexistence, but also generates enmity and bitter hatred of man against man. In the so-called self-assigned ‘missions’ of the rulers to civilize the ignorant brutes, many wonderful civilizations have been lost and their remnants destroyed. What is civilized to the Western world may not always be acceptable to the rest of humanity and there should be the freedom to practice and profess what they believe in not in what they are supposed to believe in.

References1. Cesaire, Aime, Discourse on Colonialism, Monthly Review Press2. Davis, Mike, Late Victorian Holocausts El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World, Verso3. Westad, Odd Arne. The Global Cold War, Third World Interventions and the Making of our Time, Monthly Review Press.