The film/documentary, titled Tools of Exploitation, chronicles, analyzes and explains Western civilizations influence on African culture/livelihood throughout the period of colonialism (the film covers the slave trade for a brief moment as well) leading to the modern day. Narrated by scholar/author Ali Mazrui, the film focuses on the usurping of Africa’s future potential due to European powers stymying Africa’s growth for their (Western) own gain (hence the name Tools of Exploitation; Africa was exploited for European gain). The film addresses many factors to why this has taken place but focuses mostly on economic reasons as well as the false justifications Europeans used to colonize the continent. …show more content…
The vessels of modernization were left by Europeans, but there was no functionality or means of using the vessels for modernization. While the West was industrializing, Africa was being fed a message of false growth. Africa never had a chance to develop a means of self-creation/production in the 20th century. A perfect example of this was cited in the film. The West African country of Liberia is a large exporter of the raw material for rubber, which is a major commercial commodity in the global economy. However, Liberia itself does not have the means to convert the raw materials into the final product, meaning the country has to import (purchase) finished rubber from outside countries. Was not part of the White Man’s burden and part of the Dual Mandate, to uplift Africa through use of its own resources? How is it that one of the richest continents with regards to natural resources could not take the next step towards mechanization/commercialization with the aid of the West? Again, the emphatic answer is that the West had no intention of aiding the continent in the first place. The economic shackles of colonialism were a pre-meditated, calculated attack on the development of Africa during the turn into the twentieth century. The lasting outcome has left Africa crippled even now in modern times. With slavery, Africa already became under populated destroying a large potential for human development/advancement; colonialism than hampered any immediate potential