Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, and
the past chairperson of the African Union (AU), landed in Italy on Sunday, and
made brute racist remark against his black Africans. Needless to say, it
betrayed his gross disdain for black African people and called into question
the true intention behind his zeal for African unity.
Addressing the
European Union (EU) in Rome, Gaddafi warned that “Europe runs the risk of
turning "black" unless the EU pays Libya at least €5 billion (£4.1
billion) a year to block the arrival of illegal immigrants from Africa”.
He continued,
“Tomorrow Europe might no longer be European and even black as there are
millions (of Africans) who want to come in. He described the migration pattern
as something “very dangerous”.
Don’t be surprised
that such statement came from a recent leader of the African Union, Muamar
Gaddafi -- the self-proclaimed King of Kings of Africa. Unbelievable isn’t it?
He is essentially saying, “Europe, you need to protect your prestigious
whiteness and prevent it from being corrupted by black Africans”. In this
era where racism and discrimination based on color are being fought against, it
comes as quite absurd for the so-called Pan-Africanist enthusiast to make such
pronouncements. It is obvious from Gaddafi’s pronouncements that he holds no
regard whatsoever for black Africans.
What he sought to
accomplish was to cast black Africa in a bad light by appealing to the racial
prejudice of some gullible white Europeans as a scare tactics to secure funding
for his fight against the African migrants who use Tripoli as an entry point to
Europe.
It's worth noting
that Gaddafi not only referred to the potential risks posed by illegal
immigration as undesirable consequences, but also that the presence of blacks
in Europe, whether legal or otherwise in itself constituted a danger to white
European identity.
Gaddafi projected
his own racial bias on white European Christians when he further said, “We
don't know what will happen, what will be the reaction of the white and
Christian Europeans faced with this influx of starving and ignorant Africans”.
After casting slur
on the “blackness” of sub-Saharan African people, he unabashedly called on
Europe to open its borders to Libyan citizens, “There is also desirable
immigration. There are Libyans who have money and I encourage them to come to
Italy to invest.”
After his speech,
one Italian Parliamentarian, Luigi de Magistris, criticized the Libyan leader
of keeping tens of thousands of African migrants in "concentration
camps" in the desert, reported Telegraph, UK.
Gaddafi’s disdain
for Sub-Sahara Africans calls into question the intention behind his zeal for
African unity. This is confusing because the seed of Pan-Africanism in its
present form was sowed and watered by the toil and sweats of black African
nationalists including, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Patrice
Lumumba, among others.
Many scholars
believe Gaddafi has a clandestine agenda for Sub-Sahara Africa and that the
African Union (AU) was simply a means to further his religious and political
ambitions. One such scholar, Professor Kwesi K. Prah, alleged in 2004 that
Gaddafi’s objective in AU is to create a space for Arabism and Arab
expansionism.
Gaddafi betrayed
this sentiment at an Arab League in 2001, when he declared to the Arab
Diasporas, “The third of the Arab community living outside Africa should move
in with the two-thirds on the continent (Africa), and join the African Union
which is the only space we have”. Readers are reminded to take note of the
phrase “…the only space we have”. What was he implying exactly? Well, your
guess is as good as mine is.
Broadcasting live on
Rwanda Radio on 17 May 1985, Gaddafi said to Rwandans, “You must teach that
Islam is the religion of Africa…We must wage a holy war so that Islam may
spread in Africa.” – quoted in [Bankie and Mchombu, 2006:239-240].
It came as no
surprise that in a second speech he delivered to paid Italian women on his
recent visit to Rome, he declared to them, “Islam should become the religion of
Europe” he then handed them free copies of the Koran. Does this in anyway tell
of his larger political and religious ambitions?
If Gaddafi is going
so far as telling Europeans to adopt Islam and in effect become modeled like
Libya, what stops him from pursuing his Arab expansionist mission in
Sub-Saharan Africa with its “ignorant” and “starving” masses using oil cash as
lure to trap some self-seeking African leaders into his deceptive trap? There
are reported cases of West Africans in Libya who have been hanged by his regime
simply because they chose to exercise their faith as Christians. Is this the
vision he holds for Europe and the rest of Africa?
Gaddafi must be
told in the face that black Africa has had enough from Arab and European
expansionisms in the past which culminated in colonialism and its attendant
horrors. That, black Africa is never a cultural vacuum to be filled by the
religious traditions of any over-zealous group of people seeking wealth,
dominance, and influence. That, black Africa fought and freed itself from the
shackles of religious and political oppression long time ago, and there is
no going back. Africans do not need to define their identity by any imported
heritage, be it Gaddafi-style Islam and its attendant political and religious
repression and atrocities.
By his impulsive
utterances and actions, Gaddafi has shown quite clearly that he harbors racial
sentiments against black Africans. He has demonstrated that he perceives
Sub-Sahara Africa merely as a lost territory, with people whose worth lies
ultimately in being converted to Islam. His comments show that he will do
anything for money and power including but not limited to inciting Europe
against Africa on racial terms. I call on the African Union (AU), the European
Union (EU), the Italian government, the United Nations (UN), the Arab world,
and Sub-Saharan African people to condemn in no uncertain terms the racial and
thoughtless remarks of the Libyan leader.
