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The themes of colonisation and decolonisation dominate in this issue of JoALLS. The colonisation of African communities by European forces was so inhuman and brutal that it left skeletons of African people littered in affected areas on the continent. The trails of murder, massacre, plunder and displacement of defenceless and innocent Africans by marauding, bloodthirsty colonialists are unsavory, heart-rending and disgusting. The crucial role literature plays in documenting the trials and tribulations of Africans cannot be overemphasized. The historical novel and (auto) biography have always become handy in this regard, although caution should be taken on which perspective they are framed. As you read this issue, you will realise that the words ‘Germans’ and ‘genocide’ are what linguists call ‘collocates’; in other words, you cannot talk of one of these two words without the other as the Germans’ heinous crimes were meant to decimate the Herero and Nama populations of Germany South West Africa, now Namibia. The violence against the indigenous African people was not only frightening but also sickening.
Even when the oppressed Africans clamored for freedom and majority rule, the white masters put logs in their ears, oblivious of the imminent mighty storms of revolutions that were gathering. The white masters never took Africans seriously. They looked down upon Africans, taking them for granted as forever their hewers of wood and drawers of water. Like in a hallucination, Ian Smith, former Prime Minister of colonial Rhodesia, is quoted saying: “I don’t believe in [black] majority rule ever in Rhodesia … not in 1 000 years” (20 March 1976). No sooner had he made this statement than black majority rule came to Rhodesia in 1980, the country changing its name to Zimbabwe. Smith had to swallow his words.
Even in postcolonial Africa when the free Africans want to pursue an African national identity through African humanism or ubuntu, former colonialists’ bigotry and white supremacist policies hinder progress as new nations are placed under illegal sanctions in the name of democracy. Despite this, progressive forces in Africa have made a clarion call for the rejection of Euro-Western stereotypes in favour of African culture and ubuntu in Africa’s contribution to the world in every respect. I can sum this call as a call for the decolonisation of the African mind. Also a call to untangle ‘unconscious fear and derangement’ citizens have in the postcolonial environment in Africa.
In sum, when we as Africans refuse to be treated like flotsam and jetsam in our Motherland, and stand united under the banner of ubuntu, we will conquer the enemy and triumph together.
Pleasant reading!