Colonialism and its relationship to slavery

Dear Editor,

It is well nigh impossible to put everything in a one-liner thought. However, if we search and read widely enough, we would discover that colonialism and racism are symbiotic twins.

Regarding the relationship between colonialism and slavery, if only we realize that half of the real story is yet to be told.

It is a given that slavery has always been part and parcel of humankind’s development.

It is also a given that there have been many populations and points raised about the symbiotic relationship between colonialism and slavery. While I have not had access to the many points that may have been raised, I can surmise that perhaps many of those points may have some validity.

Having said that, if colonialism is the symbiotic twin of slavery, then that has been the case throughout humankind’s existence because it is also a given that humankind thrives on domination.

Melissa Lane, in her book “The Birth of Politics”, opined, “Politics is a spectrum of the possibilities of power. It defines relations among humans and the purposes they pursue.”

At one end of the spectrum is sheer exploitative domination, where the only question is, as Lenin said, “Who [is able to dominate] whom? There was no single birth of the idea of domination; all too many societies in human history have been marked by it. At the other end of the spectrum of politics is a much rarer ideal: that of a regime of free and equal citizens with the power to decide and act.

“There is no monopoly on this practice either; it has evolved in many places and in many forms. Yet, one set of ideas, from one particular era and one part of the world, has been enormously influential in delineating a vision of that ideal that continues to resonate powerfully in our own times.”

One only has to look at the tribalism in politics and its consequence; dominance is all around us, which has led to a new kind of colonialism, which, in the end, has morphed into a modern form of slavery, the symbiotic twin of colonialism.

Everywhere you look, there is evidence of the existence of slavery in the form of democracy, socialism, communism, etc. Take a look at the masses of Bahamians, Americans and most, if not all, countries.

We are modern-day slaves, and, unfortunately, only a few have escaped its grasp.

As Harriet Tubman said, “I freed a thousand slaves, but I could have freed more, if they only knew they were slaves.”

Many of us are slaves, and we do not realize it because we are of the view that when the “white man” was overthrown in The Bahamas, in 1967, we were free and no longer slaves.

Boy, have we not paid a price. Look around you! What has really changed?

— Dr. Donald McCartney, DM-OL

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