Colonialism and Imperialism: Stranger Than Fiction

By: Desiree Muoz

Take up the White Mans burden

The savage wars of peace
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest,
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hope to nought.1

Introduction
The majestic 3D animation in Ang Lees movie take on the best-selling novel The Life of Pi, the
palpable on-screen misery of characters in the Tom Hopper adaptation of Les Miserables, the
dysfunctional yet sincere and palpable human emotions in Silver Linings Playbook all these and
more pale in comparison to the long-running show that is our world history. As a matter of fact, one
does not have to go beyond reality to experience an Argo-like thrill, riveting, mostly appalling and
sometimes utterly painful real-life stories that will give Tarantinos Django Unchained a run for its
money, where the award-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis is easily outplayed by the real Lincoln. A
travel into the worlds not-so distant past will do just that.
The world, especially during the period of colonialism and imperialism is an Oscar-worthy epic that
could be our ticket to walk down the Hollywood red carpet. But unlike in the movies, we are not
merely viewers who sit comfortably with our popcorns infront of the screen, we play our own parts.
Better than in the movies, this epic of a reality gives us the privilege to choose the role we want to
play and play it well.
So if one considers playing a role right and score a real-life Oscars award for humanity, one might
like to truly internalize the role by knowing where the story came from, understand the plot, become
aware of both accuracy and lapses in the script, interact well with fellow actors, be bold enough to
improvise, rewrite if necessary or even come up with a completely different but better storyline.

Opening Curtain
The mindset is the barbarians are backward and inferior, and for the wrong benefit we have to uplift them
and civilize them and educate them and so on. The psychology behind this is kind of transparent. When you
got your boot on someones neck and youre crushing them, you cant say to yourself, Im a son of a bitch
and Im doing it for my own benefit. So what you have to do is figure out some way of saying, Im doing it for
their benefit. And thats a very natural position to take when youre beating somebody with a club. 2

1 Kipling, Rudyard (1899), The White Mans Burden.

2 Chomsky, Noam (2006), Colonialism in 10 Minutes: The Scramble for Africa, http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Pw12KGSj53k, last accessed 09 February 2013. Transcription of interview with Noam Chomsky on
http://www.petemccormack.com/social_005.htm, last accessed 09 February 2013.

Colonialism and imperialism are two different ideas that both mean political and economic
domination of the other3. However, in Colonialism, one nation assumes control over the other,
while Imperialism refers to (formal or informal) political or economic control (Ibid). In other words,
Colonialism can be thought to be a practice and imperialism as the idea driving the practice4.
Colonialism could refer to the settlement of places like India, Australia, North America, Algeria, New
Zealand and Brazil, which where all controlled by the Europeans, while Imperialism is where a
foreign government governs a territory without significant settlement such as the American
domination of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and the scramble for Africa in the late 19th century5.
Having been born and raised in a country that was colonized by Spain for 300 years, bought by the
Americans for $200,000, invaded and ruthlessly maltreated by the Japanese during the Second
World War, became a republic only to be ruled by a dictator for 20 years until the 1980s, and now a
democratic country dominated by everything foreign, the issues of colonialism and imperialism are
certainly not alien to me. We Filipinos even like to put it this way: The Philippines was 300 years in
the convent and 50 years in Hollywood.
The actions and writings of our heroes reflect the same theme of patriotism echoed by
revolutionaries in various parts of the world, then and now. The Arab Spring reminds me of the
demonstrations I used to go to when I was studying at the University of the Philippines. Together
with the progressive students coalition, I would march the streets of Mendiola to fight US
Imperialism and the US puppet government. With the running slogan thrown at our countrys
President: tuta ng kano (American dog) in big placards and streamers.
Albeit less violently, I cried the big words against imperialism and the bad guy that, in our case, is
Uncle Sam (read: U.S.). I was a young, determined student out to fight for what is right and did I cry
out my ideals out loud (too literally, Im afraid). In retrospect, I didnt really have a concrete idea
what I was fighting for. All I knew was that at the end of the day, Id go back to my dorm room
wondering about my credibility for wearing a pair of Nike shoes. To address this seemingly minute
ideology glitch, I changed to wearing locally made slippers but I eventually stopped marching on the
streets of Mendiola. I had an inkling it takes more than street shouting and footwear changes to
address centuries-old oppression, social inequality and poverty.
A post-colonial author, Jamaica Kincaid renders a timeless description of the embedded effects of
colonialism set in her homeland of Antigua, an island in West Indies in the Caribbean region.
Entitled A Small Place, the book expresses her observations and sentiments on how the Antigua
she knew and the Antigua she grew up in is no longer the Antigua that exists now, years after being
colonized by Great Britain. Hers is a nuanced account of the effects of colonization that has
inevitably become a way of life, by describing Antigua and its peoples daily of life.
On one hand, miles away that Antigua is apart from my native Philippines, Kincaids ideas resonate
and strike a familiar cord. On the other, her apparent externally-directed angst leaves me wondering
about my admiration towards developed, mostly Western, and former colonizer countries. In more
than two years that Ive been in Europe, it never crossed my mind to hate the convenience, comfort
and security prosperity brings the clean canals, the walk-able sidewalks, the flood-free streets, the
systematic garbage collection, the numerous beautiful parks, the excellent roads, the efficient public

3 Difference Between Colonialism and Imperialism, last accessed 15 February 2013 in

http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-colonialism-and-imperialism/#ixzz2KCFvLXHH.
4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.
2

transportation system, the affordable healthy lifestyle. In fact, I can only wish for my country to be
the same (in so many terms). But just as my admiration is about to overthrow the crippling roots of
colonialism and imperialism in ex-colonies out of the window, I come across stories like Scramble
for Africa
In a Henry Bernstein article entitled Colonialism, Capitalism, Development, he illustrated the
transition of societies from feudalism to industrial revolution, up to capitalism. According to him, the
colonization of North America and the Caribbean by the English has brought in an unprecedented
system of international trade6. One that links large scale raw materials production for manufacturing
in Europe, market development in the colonies for European goods, and procurement of slave labor
from Africa for plantation production7.
Bernstein continues that the Scramble for Africa in the 1800s was Europes most rapid and dramatic
wave of expansion, wherein European powers ruled about 10% of Africa in 1876 and extended to
90% by 1908. The documentary film Uganda Uprising (2006) chronicles some of the events during
this Scramble for Africa period that is causing a lot of violent conflicts and encounters among
African tribes up to now. Having seen the film more than once myself, it is beyond my
comprehension how, what, where, why do humans have that capacity to put other peoples lives
through hell, then and now. It is a film that if I were the real-life villain and was invited to, would not
even dare to show my face at the Oscars ceremony, even if it was my only chance to fulfill a
lifelong dream.

Climax
You Acholis, Im going to put you in a bottle like grasshopper. You see if I put a grasshopper in a bottle and I
will block that bottle, you will see outside and not be able to get out, you will look for food and not get it. So
you start eating yourselves.9

Even though most Western colonial territories had achieved independence by the 1960s,
sovereignty did not bring with it freedom from imperialist influences 10. In most cases, the transition
from colonial province to independent state was a violent and arduous journey11.
Some post-colonial nations, until now, cannot stay together peacefully in one country as civil wars
brought about, if not aggravated by ethnic divide and colonization continue to arise. As the writer
Marker further points out, most of these conflicts are large and complex, and that imperialist
practices and policies, especially those concerning boundaries, ethnic rivalry, uneven distribution of
resources, human-rights violations, and lack of good governance can be found at the heart of
protracted problems12.
History is relevant, without question. As one Filipino adage would say, ang hindi marunong
lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi makararating sa paroroonan (one cannot go into the future,

6 Bernstein, Henry (2000), Colonialism, Capitalism, Development.

7 Ibid, p. 249.
8 Ibid, p. 249.
9 Okumu, Ronald Reagan (2006). Interview in Uganda Rising, last accessed 15 February 2013,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw12KGSj53k>.
10 Marker, Sandra P. (2003) Effects of Colonization.

11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
3

unless one truly knows how to look back at the past). It then becomes vital for those wishing to play
a role in post-colonial transformation, to acknowledge the colonial and even pre-colonial past, and
take into account the effects of old policies that continue to dominate the current political and
governance milieu.
Events in the past of any person or group of persons, to a large extent, determine the subsequent
event(s) of such a person or group, however, it should be emphasized that the look-back into, and
memory of the past should serve as guides to the future instead of rousing bitter feelings or excite
hatred13. When we understand that the world is not leagued against us, but rather it is a series of
events through which we must live courageously... Our flaws in the past, the wrong choices and
steps our mistakes should embolden us to deal with the present and plan for the future 14. Thus,
in as much as historys vital role in planning and changing the future is valued, it has been done and
it now becomes more a question of what we, the readers of history, are going to do about what
weve read and hopefully have learned from the past.
In the words of Tom Bottomore in the book Interpretations of Marx, history does mean nothing
does not possess immense riches does not fight battles" 15. It is men, real living men, who do all
this, who possess things and fight battles... history is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit if their
ends16. Whatever the contradictions within a given form of society, and whatever abstract forces
(such as the progress of science and technology) may be at work, they can only become effective
through the conscious, purposive actions of human beings, a conscious, purposive actions of
human beings, one that is holistic and takes into consideration the entire human race17.

Curtain Call
I sit across someone who is of the same descent as Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese who was
instrumental in Spains colonization of the Philippines in March 16, 1521. Whose ambitious voyage
to be the first man to circumnavigate the world was instead funded by Spain, thus, my countrys
name Philippines from King Philip of Spain, one of Indias Orientales Espaolas that lasted 300
years.
I examine this someones features carefully while I sip on African tea paid for by the Dutch
government. Oddly enough, something that is most probably borne out of my penchance for
historical fiction, I see similarities between him and the guy who was killed by a local Filipino Sultan
in Cebu, Rajah Jumabon. I smile a bit as I find myself staring lovingly at this someone, and thinking
of my grade school history lessons at the same time. Its a very silly involuntary reflex, my
apologies.
And how much can this interwoven reality move forward to a better world? How much one can
compromise? How much contradiction one can take? How much one should study colonial history
to see the evident evils of colonialism yet enjoy the same fruit that was bore out of it? How many
tales will be reduced to telltales? How many tragedies will be turned into love tragedies? How many
intense declarations of hate would be invalidated as mere human (irrational) feelings? How many

13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Bottomore, Tom (1988). Introduction in Interpretations of Marx.
16 Ibid, p. 5
17 Ibid, p. 5
4

sweeping generalizations of greatness and power? How much forgetting can we do? And how
much remembering can we avail ourselves of?
At the end of the day, everything is easier said than done, complexities easier homogenized. The
effects are deeply interwoven in the psyche of a colonized country that one cannot say we as a
nation without the bits and pieces of colonization that has remained embedded into our
consciousness and sub-consciousness that are passed on through generations.
Tomorrow will be another day of contradictions, of questions, of compromises, of guilt, of first-world
bashing in ISS. I might even witness snow for the first time here in The Netherlands, the country
that played a leading role in the spread of slave production to the mainland coasts and islands of
the Caribbean, to meet local demands of merchants and sugar refiners in the 18th century.
But for now all I really have are questions, more questions.
How (sur)real, how strange.

References:
Bernstein, Henry (2000) "Colonialism, Capitalism and Development", in Tim Allen & Allen Thomas
(eds) Poverty and Development in the 21st Century, pp. 241-70.
Chomsky, Noam in Uganda Rising, 2006, online video, accessed 15 February 2013,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw12KGSj53k>.
Dolan, Ronald E., ed. (2010) Philippines: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of
Congress, 1991, accessed 15 February 2013, <http://countrystudies.us/philippines/4.htm>.
Kipling, Rudyard (1899) The White Mans Burden, Rudyard Kiplings Verse, 1865-1936 (Garden
City: Doubleday and Company, 1946), 321-323.
Fanon, Frantz (1989) Algeria's European Minority in Studies in a Dying Colonalism, pp 147-162.
Earthscan Publications Limited, UK original 1959.
Fanon, Frantz (1989) "Appendix 1", Algeria's European Minority pp 163-181. Earthscan Publications
Limited, UK.
Kincaid, Jamaica (1988) A Small Place, Virago, London.
Marker, Sandra P. (2003) Effects of Colonization, Beyond Intractability.org, accessed 23
November 2010, <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/post-colonial/>.
Okumu, Ronald Reagan in Uganda Rising, 2006, online video, accessed 15 February 2013,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw12KGSj53k>.
Uganda Rising (2006) documentary, Mindset Media, distributed by Mindset Media, Canada.
Interpretations of Marx , 1988 / ed. with an introduction by Tom Bottomore, Oxford, p.5.
Accessed in electronic form: Difference Between Colonialism and Imperialism | Difference Between
| Colonialism vs Imperialism http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-betweencolonialism-and-imperialism/#ixzz2KCFvLXHH