It appears that something akin to colonial rule may be making a return to Africa. An American man has planted a flag in an apparently unclaimed area of land in Africa, declared it a nation, and appointed himself as its king.
The area of land in question - Bir Tawil - is uninhabited and unclaimed by either Sudan or Egypt, its two neighbours. It is slightly larger than Buckinghamshire, and slightly smaller than County Durham. I have made a search on the internet, and found at least one other person who claims to be the king of Bir Tawil, or at least part of it. The difference with Jeremiah Heaton is that he appears to take his kingdom seriously, although it appears that he is not planning to surrender his American citizenship.
Then again, why should he? Zimbabwe in the 1970s had a prime minister with a British passport, and lots of people have dual citizenship.
I have already commented before on the lawsuit brought against the British government by an Ethiopian man. Apparently the government objects to the fact that at a time of austerity this man is able to secure legal aid to fund his lawsuit. Maybe the evil ConDem government could explain why at a time of supposed austerity Britain can afford to use taxpayers' money to bankroll oppressive regimes in poor countries.
Zimbabwe flourished without aid in the 1970s because its government was able to make do with the country's available resources. Somaliland has flourished for more than twenty years with little or no aid, but somehow we are expected to believe that aid is beneficial - even when it is used to enrich dictators and their families.
Another way in which we supposely help people in Africa is by donating clothes to charity banks. On the one hand people in Africa like buying cheap clothes, but the trade in cheap imports has devastated the native textile industry.
Presumably though African countries can ban the import of cheap clothes. If they did so, then people in those countries would have to pay more for their clothes, but there would be more jobs in textile factories.
A charity bag came through my door earlier today, and asks for clothing and bedding and so on. I have just phoned the charity named on the bag, and was told that the bags are distributed by a private company which donates money to the charity each month in return for the use of the charity's name.
Basically, do not put your old clothes into either charity bags or clothes banks unless you want people in poor countries to be able to buy cheap clothes. If you want people in poor countries to have jobs in textile factories, then dispose of your old clothes in another way.
As for the Kingdom of Northern Sudan, I hope that it will flourish under the benign rule of its American king. Maybe one day he will even have some subjects to rule over.
Update: I originally used the term colonial rule in the opening sentence of this post. I have since amended it to something akin to colonial rule, as I have become aware that Mr Heaton has explained why his kingship should not be regarded as colonialism.
Related previous posts include:
The lawsuit of Mr O
Patriots are not to blame for malaria
Mandela was a communist thug
Mariah Carey is not sorry
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