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Article: Crass Rhodes
- Article from:
- The Spectator
- Article date:
- September 21, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Spectator Sep 21, 1996. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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When I was travelling through the Sudan a few years back, old men would often come up to me and say, `Why did you leave us? Things were so much better when you were here.' Since then, I've always felt pretty good about Britain's colonial legacy in Africa. Conventional wisdom has it that we exploited the natives and raped the land. What tends to be forgotten is that, if we hadn't got to places like Kenya or Rhodesia first, they would only have fallen to less enlightened European regimes. At least in return for diamonds, gold and suchlike, we attempted to bequeath notions such as justice and parliamentary democracy. Go to, say, a former Belgian colony like Zaire and all they've got to show ...