Revelations: Africa in Poetry

Africa voice

131 Africa voice In the name of western civilization Old age comes early for Africa Starting with slave trade Where daughters and sons of the land labored for nothing Toiling day and night for nothing Breaking the hardest rocks with their hands Lifting the biggest rocks with their hands Building the tallest buildings with their hands Bound in the strongest chains all their bodies Old age comes early for Africa Off it went slave trade The worst evil of Africa! Only to be replaced with another evil Colonialism! Bringing back the injustices of inequality And the ruthlessness of the tenets of slavery: Apartheid and racism With the colonialists labeling Africa a dark continent With a people who had seen no light Only to justify their imperialism All in the name of civilization Off it went colonialism The worst evil of Africa! Only to be replaced with another evil Cultural imperialism but in the name of globalization! 132 Bringing back the injustices of inequality Where some cultures are more equal than others Labeling other cultures inferiors Only to justify their imperialism All in the name of civilization Today, look what they do! They preach democracy which they themselves never practice They preach peace when they invoke wars and manufacture firearms They label others undemocratic when they themselves are They label others uncivilized when they define civilization for all others Isn’t this hypocrisy and treachery? Is their civilization the only civilization? And how relevant is their civilization to Africa? ...