Thanks, Adolfo, for your interest in colonial & imperial issues. I
thought I was the only one interested.
The Berlin Conference (Nov 1884 - Feb 1885) was convened to formalise
the Scramble for Africa and to settle territorial disputes flaring up in
the Congo.
King Leopold II of Belgium had claimed the Congo as his personal fiefdom
and promptly set about extracting rubber, ivory and teakwood for onward
despatch to Brussels.
The actual extraction was done by the native Congolese. Workers were
assigned a certain quota daily for rubber and if it was not met, the
worker's hands were hacked off.
(I would have included an image of severed hands but GoaNet does not
allow images. Pity.)
Not only was a natural resource looted but it was forcibly done by
native hands. That was the European way of colonial enrichment.
Nearly 10 million natives died from harsh conditions and punishment but
Brussels became a thriving capital.
A similar case occurred in Potosi in Bolivia, South America. The Spanish
marauders had discovered a huge silver mine.
The natives were forced to extract the silver and transfer it to the
ships waiting to transport it to Spain.
In the process, some 10 million natives died.
=================================
I'll stop at this point and return briefly to the narrative of the
Palestine children mistreated or killed by the Israelis from the year
2000. Coinciding with International Children's Day on 1 June 2012, the
Palestinian Ministry of Information reported that 1,456 Palestinian
children had been shot dead by Israelis since the Aqsa Uprising started
in late 2000. The ministry pointed out that all Palestinian children are
still subjected to constant abuse and attacks by Israeli occupation
forces and illegal Jewish settlers across the occupied Palestinian
territories. Dozens have been arrested by Israel in a campaign of
harassment in the occupied West Bank. Children in Palestine make up 52
per cent of the population. As well as almost 1,500 being killed since
2000, around 5,000 children have been injured and 215 are being held in
Israeli prisons; 175 have been arrested since the beginning of 2012.
In an average year, between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are
‘arrested’ (read: kidnapped) by IDF terrorists. In most cases, they are
asleep in their beds when these
terrorists break into their homes and drag them out to waiting vehicles.
Their parents are not told where they are being taken; they are often
held for weeks
or months without charge, and without access to parents or lawyers.
Multiple sources report that children as young as 11 are arrested, held
and tortured in Israeli jails.
Where is the international outrage? Why does the United States not only
stand quietly by, but actually finance the activities of this criminal
regime, to the tune of
$9 million every day of the year? Why are the lives of three Israel
teenagers, living in settlements that the entire world recognizes are in
violation of international
law, worth so much more attention that the hundreds of Palestinian
children arrested and tortured every year?
Eddie
======================================================
------ Original Message ------
From: "Adolfo Mascarenhas" <adca...@gmail.com>
To: goa...@goanet.org; "Frederick Noronha"
<fredericknoron...@gmail.com>; "adrian fernandes"
<adriana1...@yahoo.com>; "Gregory Almeida" <g...@swordfish.co.tz>; "BT
Yahoo Mail" <gdig...@btinternet.com>; "Vivian A. DSouza"
<socorro...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 15 Dec, 20 At 19:35
Subject: Least We Forget The Berlin Conference of 1884
I was wondering how many Goans would be interested in your message
. Let me begin by thanking Ivan D Pereira and yourself. Its so
linked with Eddies contribution about Palestinian Children imprisoned by
the State of Israel I listened to the entire presentation ......the
Brutality in the name of civilization :::White Of course:::::::Several
aspects struck me ....The German who were late in getting colonies
compared to the British and French ..took a Massive chunk in East
Africa, included Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi...nearly a million sqkm
::::The Maji Maji Uprising in German East Africa, like The Herero
Massacre in SW Africa (was the first genocide of the 20th century:) It
caught the German Administration by Surprise but they retaliated with
savagery thousands were mowed down countless others just starved ...8
years later A decade later WW I and thousands more died. For some years
I heard a Africans talking about using drums to send messages Herero
People all the way to Tanzania .:::: The British Supported Portugal
...who in the 16 Century divided the world into two parts Excepting
Brazil, the East was Portugal's and Latin America for the Spanish:::::Is
History Repeating .......
To Be Continued
