It must be remembered that all Africans are not the same. There are thousands of tribes who are in conflict with eachother. And the Bantu agriculturalists have expanded, brutally genociding other tribes along the way.
Africans are almost entirely NOT hunter gatherers by nature.
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:...majority+of+africans&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=uk
The Hamites like Somalis and Tutsis (who can be categorised as Caucasian) are even another race entirely from the bushmen who are also different to the the Bantu (who are negroes with the characteristic "muzzle").
hmm, interesting article. i read Guns, Germs and Steel as well as Collapse by Diamond. GGS was alright, didn't necessarily learn a whole lot since i was familiar with most of what he said from other sources. I didn't really like Collapse. i think the topic has been dealt with in a far superior manner by writers such as Joseph Tainter in his book The Collapse of Complex Societies. Diamond is way to reformist for my liking, exhibiting an optimism in the current system that i find delusional/non-desirable even if workable.
as for the article, i think it makes some good observations that should shed some much needed light for some people here who homogenize Africa and generally don't seem to be aware of or care about the dynamics between societies with different "modes of production." i think the author of the article shows some ambivalent tendencies towards the end. integration/"equality" for pygmies seems to be hinted at as desirable, as long as it isn't done in such a way that focuses too much on the past. but then the example of San land struggles with the system is given, lending credence to the idea that foragers are a separate culture who should not be asbsorbed by the assimilation machine. i have my doubts about the usage of the legal system for any meaningful change to occur in relation to "land rights" and things of such sort oriented towards autonomy. i am very familiar with how these things have worked historically and in the present in the united states in regards to indigenous peoples. i think John Trudell, former spokesperson for the American Indian Movement summed it about as well as one can.
"Townsend: You mentioned to face the world that's coming. There is a lot of proposed legislation right now that really erodes sovereignty. It seems as if there is a conservative movement within governments all across the country, that there is not a | better recognition of tribal sovereignty and treaty issues, but it seems as if things are moving backwards.
Trudell: Yes. Our enemy here, if one looks at it historically, the only time that they have ever given anything to us or back to us, was so that they could take it away later. It was to meet a political need at a certain time. 'The Indians are raising hell and they got a lot of public support. So here, we'll pass this legislation, say we're going to make some concessions to them.'
But then 20 years later, they've already got it figured out how they're going to take it away. It's not just with Native people. Look at the citizens of America. We have to understand that. We will gain nothing from this way of life, this system of America. Anything that even | represents "right" that they're going to extend to us, is only so that they can take it away later, because they had to make a concession to us at this time. But, as soon as they are in a position that they no longer have to make that concession, then they will take it away. That has been their history.
That's how our land bases have shrunk.
Look at history. Take the first treaty ever | signed, and all this land people retained, but somewhere later a court decision said, 'no, you can take it away.'
And the Indians get too angry, so another court decision says, 'you can only take this much.' So the Indians get a piece. Then 20 years later or 50 years later, a new court decision says, 'no, you can take it all now.'
That's our history. It should not be surprising to us at all. This is what is going to be our historical experience.
It's been happening to us for so long now, it should almost be a part of our intuition, or genetic. (laughs)
And to me, in reality, these are cannibals. They want to eat our land, our lives, they want to eat our future. That's as cannibalistic as it can possibly get. But it has a form, government, nationhood, or whatever it calls itself,, but in the end, it's a bunch of cannibals."
