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capps's review against another edition
5.0
This was a phenomenal read that greatly helped deepen my understanding of the foundation and interconnection of capitalism, settler-colonialism, and imperialism. Walter Rodney demonstrates how intentional and malicious Western empires constructed the concept of race to exploit Africans for the purposes of capitalist accumulation. He takes care to acknowledge and then disprove the talking points of capitalist apologists who attempt to argue that capitalism brought about greater development within Africa, arguing with scientific rigor and precision that this is far from reality.
I read this book after finishing ‘Border & Rule’ by Harsha Walia, and the two complement each other very well.
What Rodney could not have known (but surely would not be surprised by) when he wrote this 5 decades ago is the creation of AFRICOM by the US government, which enjoys bipartisan support of millions of dollars every year to continue the exploitation of Africans and underdevelopment of African nations that are examined throughout the course of this book.
This is a foundational book for my current understanding of political theory, and there are dozens of fantastic quotes, but I’ll end with this one from the postscript: “After reading the harrowing account of the brutalities of slavery, of subjugation, of deprivation and humiliation, when whole civilizations were crushed in order to serve the imperialist interests of the West, when settled societies were disintegrated by force of imperialist arms so that the plantation owners of the "new world" could get their uprooted, and therefore permanent, labor force to build what is now the most advanced capitalist economy, it becomes absolutely clear that the only way out of our current impasse is through a revolutionary path—a complete break with the system which is responsible for all our past and present misery.”
I read this book after finishing ‘Border & Rule’ by Harsha Walia, and the two complement each other very well.
What Rodney could not have known (but surely would not be surprised by) when he wrote this 5 decades ago is the creation of AFRICOM by the US government, which enjoys bipartisan support of millions of dollars every year to continue the exploitation of Africans and underdevelopment of African nations that are examined throughout the course of this book.
This is a foundational book for my current understanding of political theory, and there are dozens of fantastic quotes, but I’ll end with this one from the postscript: “After reading the harrowing account of the brutalities of slavery, of subjugation, of deprivation and humiliation, when whole civilizations were crushed in order to serve the imperialist interests of the West, when settled societies were disintegrated by force of imperialist arms so that the plantation owners of the "new world" could get their uprooted, and therefore permanent, labor force to build what is now the most advanced capitalist economy, it becomes absolutely clear that the only way out of our current impasse is through a revolutionary path—a complete break with the system which is responsible for all our past and present misery.”
kimwhims's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Dense and important, a classic for strong foundations in Africa’s economic history.
tuesday_evening's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
kareds's review against another edition
4.0
Dense, but very readable. I'll need to return to this one with a print version to get everything I missed from the audiobook.
jordanlabarr's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
katmindae's review against another edition
Going to come back to this one later. Unfortunately it is very dense so while it’s very different important information that I want to learn, it’s causing areading block right now
chisanga's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.75