The international system is built upon principles of sovereignty, states, pacta sunt servanda treaties, citizenship and borders. In theory, these areprinciples purportedly in place to establish a foundation for peaceful and orderly interactions between states. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that Europe and its offshoots, such as Canada, Australia, and the US, hold a significant advantage. They function as a de facto global government, with the authority to freely breach or instruct these principles.
These non-negotiable concepts upon which the international system relies have their origins in the Europeans’ invasion of other regions of the world. This enduring legacy of unwelcome European presence in Asia, the Americas and Africa resulted in the establishment of meaningless pockets, orcompartmentalised territories, that are now calledcountries. People that are trapped in these places, more often than not, never really agreed to be part of these territories because they were not for them in any case.
As we speak today, the world has got places called Mexico, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Zambia, the Philippines and Australia. People are trapped inside these boxes outside their will and their rights continue to be undermined. Beyond neglect, these people have been forcibly separated from their kin and natural environments.
As they continue to live within these compartments, these territories continue to hold little meaning for them as they never made sense in the first place. The Eurocentric state stands as one of the most significant legacies of colonialismand is also about the continued subjugation of people of the world to the benefit of the Europeans.
◻ The nation-state as a European logic of inclusivity and exclusivity
Interestingly, Europe itself does not seem to believe in these concepts when dealing with each other. That is the reason there is a WesternEuropean mega-state that is internally friendly but extremely hostile to outsiders. Western Europeoperates almost seamlessly where people, goods and economies interact with each other as if there are no borders at all. Even the institutions are so integrated to the point that trying to divide and separate them is almost an impossible task. Britain would attest to this after Brexit since it cannot be detached or untangled from the institutions of the European Union (EU).
Switzerland provides another intriguing example. Switzerland is a country that has never acceded to the European protocols and the founding agreements that led to the formation of the EU.However, when visiting Geneva, which is located in the South southwestern tip of the country, it is almost surrounded by France. Not only that, the two places are so intertwined to a point that it is often hard to make a distinction between a village in Switzerland and those in neighbouring areas inside the French territory, such as Annemasse, Ferney-Voltaire, Yvoire, Thoiry and St. Julien, becomes almost impossible to discern.
Residents freely work and live in either territory, with movement facilitated without the need for passports. Regardless of the time or day, crossing from France to Switzerland or vice versa is effortless and nobody even cares. Borders are not manned and only exist symbolically with no purpose. The transport system is so well organised, and workers or shoppers do not care if they are in Annemasse or Geneva.
These interactions raise questions about the true meaning of the concepts that underpin the so-called international system. Airports like Geneva and Basel are literally shared between countries and going to Basil one can find yourself in the Swiss, French or German side within seconds. At Geneva airport, which straddles both Switzerland and France, check-ins for French cities like Paris or Strasbourg are conducted on the French side within the same building. In stark contrast, Zimbabweans or Mozambicans risk their lives when entering Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
◻ Managers of poverty and despair
It becomes increasingly apparent that the formerly colonised territories of the world rigidly maintain colonial structures, with profound implications for those trapped within them. In his book ‘Africa Betrayed’, Ghanaian economist George Ayitteyargues that many liberation movements in Africa took over territories without implementing solid economic policies to uplift the lives of their people. While this observation holds truth, we must understand the reasons behind this situation.
First and foremost, the structure of former colonies remains largely unchanged to basically benefit the Europeans and disempower Africans. This rigid compartmentalisation maintains the old structure and the way they have always wanted to interact with the places they “discovered”. Another critical aspect is that economic and political systems have retained an untainted colonial form and have failedto upgrade the rights of the people residing in these territories to match those of European citizens. This discrepancy allows individuals in Africa to rightfully complain about oppressive systems that do not serve their interests.
Also retaining a strong colonial character, the African economy, which is supported by legal systems that are unfriendly to the indigenes, benefits others rather than its own people. The South African situation serves as an example, with laws that remain Eurocentric and provide little meaning to those trapped within its borders. Similar circumstances exist in Kenya, Uganda and elsewhere, where oppressive systems persist under the management of former liberators who are looking after the interests of former masters with great distinction.
These noble managers are rewarded with the ability to move funds to tax havens as well as through residencies in southern France and bank accounts in Europe and the US. They are the ones who sit on the United Nations benches and peddle a false hope that there would be a change of heart on the part of the ex-masters someday. They repeatedly ignored Samir Amin’s call for a ‘delinking’ of the global South from the global North. Unfortunately, even the renewed agitation for de-dollarisation and alternative structures like BRICS are unlikely to deliver political goods.
Borders enable Europeans and their companies to easily dispose of toxic waste and unwanted materials, including old, tattered vehicles, within these territories. This reckless dumping leads to severe social problems but since these inhumane acts occur outside their borders they will go unpunished. There will always be a talk of “conflict of laws” and jurisdictional challenges, and this means will be held accountable at the end of it all.Criminals move around as they wish because those places remain the toilet of the world.
◻ Disempowerment of the Third World
Trying to understand how the world is structured and how it continues to disempower those people that were previously colonised would take a bit of brevity for all those that are interested in issues such as development, preserving the world, protecting people’s rights and so on. It is meaningless to have Europeans drafting laws that govern everyone in the world because they have no interest whatsoever in seeing a change in the way the world works.
Take for example even the revised trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the USA, now called the USMCA. It fails to address the underlying discriminatory attitudes of Anglo-Saxons that run both Canada and the US towards dark-skinned Mexicans. It is easy to erect high walls to keep Mexicans out but there are no walls separating towns situated on either side of the US-Canada border. It is exactly the same situation as in Switzerland and France.
Even Donald Trump’s tirades were never focused on keeping out Canadians but dark-skinned Mexicans were the target. By the way, Mexicanslost out when these countries were created. Whether they were part of Texas or Canada, it does not really matter because their lives were turned upside down for the benefit of the powers that may be. As former Mexican president Porfirio Díaz once said, ‘Pobre México. Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos’ (Poor Mexico. So far from God and so close to the United States).
Now taking this issue closer to home, a person like EFF leader Julius Malema has often been misunderstood. Whether due to articulation or deliberate ignorance, people fail to grasp what the commander-in-chief has been trying to say all along. The existing orders resulting from agreements reached by liberators such as Kwame Nkrumah and company, who aimed to respect borders, have become our greatest burden. People are forced to migrate in search of food, while wealth is generated within their own countries.
Zambia’s copper production, for instance, benefits the Swiss while neglecting the well-being of itsresidents. The ongoing legal case involving Anglo-American and the affected Kabwe population in South Africa exemplifies the dire situation that people face. However, true change is unlikely to occur because the very same laws created to undermine Africans are seen as fair to deliver justice to them. The legal system is more about clowning within European creations than improving the lives of the Zambian people, who continue to be deprived due to these structures.
Lawyer Peter Leon’s argument regarding Namibia and Zimbabwe “playing with fire” by imposing lithium export bans only confirms that Africa still has a long way to go. Rich countries would unleash the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and economic sanctions to deal with anyone threatening their interests. In 2020, for example, Indonesia placed a ban on nickel exports saying it had domestic shortages. The WTO did not accept this argument and sided with the EU which launched a complaint.
◻ Conclusion
If the well-being of Africans truly concerned the world, the issue of illicit financial flows worth billions of dollars that harm African countries would have been stopped a long time ago. Unfortunately, as long as Africans choose to behave like fifty-fourcountries, or whatever number, change will remain elusive. Furthermore, nothing will improve because Africans have become the primary proponents of citizenship, sovereignty and borders. States (e.g., Morocco and Tunisia) or populations (e.g., South Africa and Tunisia) equally victimise ‘outsiders’ in the name of maintaining peace within their borders while knowing fully well that such tranquillity never existed in these colonial creations.
These sentiments ensure that Africans will never experience progress and will forever serve as a reserve of cheap labour and valuable minerals desired by their developed counterparts. Strangely, Africans cry foul when fellow Africans are discriminated against in Western Europe and other parts of the world. This shows that they are blindsided into believing that the international system and its rules are about them, as their cries get disregarded in multilateral and bilateral platforms.
Amilcar Cabral is quoted to have said, the Eurocentric international system and its structures cannot be reformed but must be destroyed.
Siya yi banga le economy!