Zurich Citizens News, 1969-10-23, Page 15THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23. 1969
ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS
PAGE FIFTEEN
The International
(by Ramo
DEMOCRACY HARD TO
COME BY
It used to be that the map of
Africa was depicted in all sorts
of colours. It was easy to pick
out what belonged to the British
Empire since it was coloured red
and ran all the way from South
Africa to Egypt. In°fact, it was
easy to see which countries be-
longed to what European nation
because each colonial power
was assigned a different colour.
About the only country of any
size that was independent during
the height of colonialism was
Abyssinia, and it had the mis-
fortune to be overrun by Mus-
solini in 1935 so that for a while
almost the entire map of Africa
bore colonial colours.
To -day all that has changed,
and one is hard to put to fund a
nation that is still a colony. The
only ones of any size are two
large Portuguese ones - Mozamb-
ique and Angola. The outstand-
ing characteristic of Africa, then,
over the past few years has been
the rapid rate that the countries
have thrown off their colonial
ties and become full- fledged
nations.
It is to the credit of Great
Britain that the British Common-
wealth led the way in granting
independence to the various
colonies. The secret is in know-
ing when the colony will not
tolerate a foreign presence any
longer, and all in all the British
guessed quite well in this matter.
They didn't always hit the nail
on the head, but considering
what happened to the other nat-
ions who were faced with the
same problem, they didn't fare
too badly at all.
Trying to make a nation out
of what has been a colony is
fraught with danger. During the
colonial period the mother cou-
ntry is responsible for the ad-
ministration of government,
justice economic development
and so forth. The local pop-
ulation can always blame some-
body else if things don't go too
smoothly, but after the country
becomes independent, it is not
quite as easy as all that.
For one thing, the multitudin-
ous tribes that make up the new
nation may not be able to work
in harmony. We saw this in Brit-
ish Kenya, the Belgian Como
and most dramatically in Nigeria
where the Ibos found they were
being descririnated against by
the other tribes with the feder-
ation and therefore left to form
their own nation - Biafra. What
has happened in Nigeria since
that time is a classic example
of a nation that wants independ-
ence but is not yet ready to dem-
onstrate the maturity needed to
guide the country through the
ne
nd Canon)
infant years.
I have already suggested that
I thought the British got out of
colonialism rather easily. Some
of the other European nations
held on so long that they were
literally kicked out. This was
the case both in French Algeria
and the Belgian Congo where the
colonial power didn't leave un-
til a long civil war during which
thousands of people died. The
French seem to have been no-
toriously bad in knowing when
to leave, and only the wisdom
of such men as Pierre Mencles-
France, who gave Tunisia its
independence, prevent the pic-
ture from being utterly black.
It was actually General De Gau-
lle who finally realized that the
French were fighting a losing
battle in Africa and decided to
end the useless struggle by creat-
ing a considerable number of new
states out of the vast French Col-
onies. It was one of these, Gab-
on, which, under a French
order, first issued a snub to Can-
ada- the first shot in a diplomat-
ic battle which still continues.
'Regardless of how the colonies
gained their independence, they
are all learning that the price of
freedom does riot come cheaply.
The word democracy that was
bandied about so freely, is
little more than a myth in a
great many nations, for it is
something that must be learned
and not simply legislated. The
road towardolitical maturity
is a long andhardone, as it
has been for the advanced nat-
ions.
In the meantime, one thing we
can do is to sit back and see how
long little Portugal can manage
to hold on to her two big colon-
ies in Africa.
0
Approves Co-op
(continued from page 1)
has asked both May and Bosanquel
councils to meet with them with-
out the Grand Bend group being
present, so the three municip-
alities could discuss the GB
proposals.
Under the proposal presented
by Grand Bend, the Township of
Hay would have to pay the sum
of $5, 500 over a three-year
period, while Stephen was asked
to contribute $7, 600, the same
amount as Bosanduet.
At the present time Hay Town-
ship is paying the village of Zur-
ich $1, 000 per year for fire pro-
tection.
Three municipal drains were
dealt with by the council at
their meeting, and the same
number of tile drainage loans
were processed.
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Taking its title from Francisco
G. Penzotti, who travelled al-
most the entire continent of
South America 75 years ago
distributing the Holy Scriptures,
the film Penzotti Pathways, show
the continent today and Pen-
zotti's continueing influence.
Photographed in Peru, Bolivia,
Chile, Paraguay, Brazil and
Venezuela by Emmanuel J.
Heuer, of Toronto, it illustrates
the work of the Bible Societies
against a varied background.
A Scripture distribution train-
ing course held in various centres
of South and Central America is
called a Penzotti Institute. The
film record included one of the
Institutes in action.
From high in the Andes mount-
ains to a sudden drop into ban-
ana groves, from the noise of an
auto assembly plant to the quiet
of a coffee plantation, from a
colourful market scene to a live
classroom of a Penzotti Institute,
from throbbing cities like Sao
Paulo to the lonely "Chaco" and
from the mighty figure of the
Christ overlooking Rio de Janeiro
to the boats on the lonely stretch
of the Amazon and Paraguay
rivers, this film embraces the
vivid contrasts and challenges
of the great continent under the
Southern Cross.
"Penzotti Pathways" will be
shown at Blake Mennonite Church
on Sunday, November 2, at 8 p.
nn.. The public is invited. Mr.
Heuer will he present to speak
and show this film.
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