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PeaNut ge finds Bn Ray Finch MEP and Dr. Dirk Crols The EU and Africa: are we bringing back the evils of the past? frica’s history has been one of exploitation; from the slavery of earlier eras to the resource-grabbing of industrial proportions by today’s first-world nations. The European Union, through exploitative financial, commercial and fishing ‘agreements’, continues the work of earlier colonialists, ensuring that nations of Sub-Saharan Africa remain in a state of dependency to the extent that they are simply unable to exploit their natural and human resources. In short, they are caught in a poverty trap. In hoc to the EU, unable to develop their own economies and, in some cases, plundered by their own corrupt rulers. In this exhaustive work, authors Ray Finch, MEP and his assistant Dr. Dirk Crols provide an analysis of the problems faced by African nations vis-a-vis the European Union. eee This is a story about the exploitation of the territories of Sub-Saharan Africa through the policies and actions of the economic and political powers in Europe, both present and past. There is a common thread running through all the parts of the narrative, and that thread is the interests of both Big Business in Europe and predatory leaders in Africa, seeking profit and plunder. Actors, systems and policies have changed over time, but the underlying theme has remained constant. eee Essentially, European powers used Africa both as a source of raw material and as a market for selling Western European manufacture. Territorial boundaries were drawn and entities created to serve the interests of the European Great Powers. The African colonies were forced to specialise in primary products and existed as suppliers of raw materials to feed Europe's industry. Naturally, the roads, railways, electric power systems and administrative structures that were built in the African territories mainly served to facilitate the extraction of natural resources. At the same time, the colonial powers obstructed the development of a local SOPOTHE High Stet contrast ~ London and Lagos - stassive wealth has accumulated to European inion countries at the expense of Affican nations that are exploited to generate resources with litle reat benefit t0 their own econonnies, industry to continue the dependence of African colonies on manufactured products. a % In the twentieth century, the continuous exploitation of Africa was also a central part of the project of the pioneers and architects of European integration. A collective European exploitation of Africa would, in their view, foster European integration and sustain the position of the old continent in world politics. The trade and development relationship between the early European Economic Community (EEC) with African countries was a copy of the late French colonial trade system. It was designed to retain 7 , African countries as suppliers of raw materials, thereby © African countries perpetuating the colonial economic system with its unequal deliver the resources division of labour. but do not receive The political and economic elites in Europe have created and designed the EEC, later transformed into the EU,as a the value of these corporatist organisation. The EU's policies have always been : aimed at protecting and promoting the interests of corporate entities in various fields, ranging from agriculture to fisheries and mining. The EU’s policies towards Sub-Saharan Africa have facilitated a continuous pattern of exploitation, imposing unequal international agreements, and using punitive tariffs and harmful subsidies. Essentially, the EU has continued the policy of exploitation by the former European Great Powers, thereby acting as an empire and obstructing development in Africa. resources. de * History is repeating itself, Also in the postcolonial era, the African continent is primarily utilised as a source of raw material; again wealth is drawn from Africa and transferred to Europe. African countries are delivering the resources, but are not receiving the value

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