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100 years ago: Misdeeds under the flag

by
04 October 2024

October 3rd, 1924.

WE FEAR that the Bishop of Zanzibar’s [Frank Weston’s] comments on the situation in East Africa, which we quote elsewhere, will arouse considerable disagreement. Nevertheless, it cannot, it seems to us, be denied that his contentions are based on the fundamentals of the Christian religion as well as on sound common sense. It is difficult indeed to base any opinion on the second without also basing it on the first. The Bishop boldly challenges the commonly accepted theory that the white man has the right to settle in undeveloped territory, to purchase lands from the unsophisticated natives, maybe for a handful of cowries, and to compel them to accept so much of his civilization as will make them tractable serfs. This is what colonization has often meant. The results may have justified the means in sparsely inhabited continents like North America and Australia. It cannot be justified in East Africa, and indeed it is highly dangerous now that the races, hitherto backward in development, are beginning to realize that they too have a share in the rights of man. Every missionary who has worked in South Africa tells us that eventually Africa can only be won for the Church by African teachers and priests, and Christians must insist that the spread of Christianity shall be encouraged and that the most enlightened and capable Africans shall be attracted to its ministry by even-handed justice and unfailing respect for the welfare of the natives in territories under the British flag.

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