Published February 7, 2008

China, India are Africa's 'new colonialists': Soros

They're exploiting the poorest continent just like the previous European masters did

(DAKAR, Senegal) Hungry for oil and minerals, China and India have become Africa's new colonialists, exploiting the world's poorest continent in the same way as its old European masters, billionaire financier George Soros said on Tuesday.

European nations' scramble for resources, from slaves to diamonds and gold, led them to subjugate Africa's peoples under colonialism. After independence swept the continent in the 1950s and 1960s, they often supported corrupt and dictatorial regimes.

Over the last decade, amid concern over minerals funding wars from Angola to Democratic Republic of Congo, Western governments and MNCs have largely accepted the need for accountability and transparency in extractive industries. But India and China, which are pumping billions of dollars of loans and investment into Africa, have not, Mr Soros said.

'They are in the process of repeating the mistakes that the colonial powers have made,' Mr Soros told Reuters here. 'There's a certain irony in the old colonialists recognising their past mistakes and trying to correct them, and the new colonialists then repeating those mistakes.'

So what? If India has at last learnt that it has the power and authority to exert its influence, so be it. If the erswhile imperialists feel that this sphere is their monopoly, then they should be corrected. The times have changed. Let India have its share of the big pie. Well, may be, my words would be taken as wrong but isn't it good that India as a nation is exerting influence. Isn't it better than a goon like Raj Thakeray exerting his influence? Or isn't it better than Indians preaching regionalism, or casteism, or sectarianism or communalism or any other ism? Remember one thing if you don't fight somebody outside then you fight yourself or if you don't dominate any outsider then one organ dominates other as every organ is dominated by some outsider.

As far as imperialism and colonialisim is concerned India's glorious history ended with the end its influence in the areas in and around Thailand.