My great grandfather fought bravely in the Boer War, and while he was not born in South Africa, he remained for a few years before returning to England.
It was through his (and other Englishmen’s) resolve and sense of duty that South Africa was developed into the power-house that it was (until 1948).
I mention this because all around the world you will see the feint footprint of English administration in the sturdy infrastructure systems which we are famous for. They exist in India, Africa, the Far East, Australia and of course, North America.
Barring the latter two, what happens when you remove English Intellectual Property from a country?
Quite simply, that country collapses, and in most cases, they collapse quite spectacularly!
While people point to India as a rising star, I always ask them in what field? Poverty? Women’s Rights? If Ghandi’s legacy is the Slumdog Millionaires of the famous movie, then I scoff at Indian power.
Ditto any other country. In South Africa, the National Party took you to the brink of civil war until they were forced down, and your current crop of leaders seem intent on taking thieving to new heights of arrogance. Truly, you have some Olympic stars in the corruption category.
I suppose my real point is that I despise the way in which the term ‘Colonialism’ has become a dirty word in the African lexicon. After all that was done to improve the lot of African’s, you would expect a little bit of thanks.
Instead we have the laughable situation of watching the Mugabe and Zuma administrations trying to pull themselves up by their Colonial bootstraps, while insulting Britain at the same time.
To misquote Churchill, it is like watching a man standing in a bucket trying to lift himself up by pulling on the handle!
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