Free «Colonialism as Forefather of Globalization» Essay Paper

In the previous part the ethical concerns regarding the topic of Enlightenment were discussed. The following section aims to continue the previous work with the major objective of presenting a historical overview. One of the topics closely connected to the issue of Enlightenment is the colonialism. It went hand in hand with the Enlightenment and took into account the same ethical concerns. Colonialism has raised the problem of ethics, as acting ethically presupposed making commitment in order not to bring harm to other people.

A famous researcher Fanon emphasized that harm played the essential place in formation of the colonialism. It maintained the interest towards its avoidance. Fanon emphasized that “this contradicting situation could not be resolved ethically, since ethics, along with the method, was here under scrutiny” (Persram, 126). Colonialism, ultimately, created fundamental inequality. It has formed the environment which demanded political rule in order to build the ethics.

Colonization has played a significant role in the establishment of globalization of modernity. From the perspective of modernity, the colonization in earlier days appeared as the particular stage that assisted to incorporate the globality.

From the first moments of its initial creation, colonialism has had a profound effect on the indigenous communities and disrupted their basic structures. Milena Bubenchik has conducted an investigation of colonialism and found out that it was responsible for the disruptures and psychological traumas experienced by the native population. It could be assumed that colonialism might be perceived as the clear explanation of the self-control challenges experienced by the Aboriginal communities. It has to be noted that it produced a serious effect on the societies throughout the history. For instance, a scholar Cesaire conducted the historical study and put an emphasis on the postcolonial European colonialism. He made an attempt to draw the parallels between the issues of colonization and civilization, and took Nazism as an example. Cesaire stated that the Hitler’s way of doing politics was the manifestation of intra-European colonialism. The scholar emphasized in his work that liberalism and capitalism have become the background or the nucleus of Nazism, which turned out to be extremely exploitative and murderous. Cesaire has written his work “Discourse on Capitalism of 1955”, where has related several diverse things, which included colonialism, capitalism, and Nazism. He emphasized that during the Nazis colonialism, the major tools which were applied in order to transform the whole Europe into the veritable colony.

It should be noted that like the Enlightenment, the colonialism has shaped the rules and laws within the society. During the intra-European colonialism, the communities which experienced the most severe effect were the Jews and Blacks. Researcher Fanon was ambivalent regarding the consideration of the greatest victim of this system. Fanon observed both Jewish and Black people, but was unable to make decisive or specific conclusion, since both communities have endured great sufferings and persecution.

It is worth underlying that colonialism was of a global importance, because it affected the worldview of particular nationalities and shaped the political and economic situation in the whole world. For instance, while taking the Nazism as the direct manifestation of intra-European colonialism, it is worth to remind that it resulted in the occurrence of WWII, which, in turn, resulted in mass atrocities that affected the social situation in the world. Moreover, the WWII turned out to be the event that has produced the detrimental effect on the global economy as the number of the European countries have experienced the devastating consequences of the war.

There were many notable researchers which made groundbreaking contributions into the investigation of the history of colonialism, its effects and consequences. Among them there were such academics as Franz Fanon, Taylor Wilkins, and Aime Cesaire. Franz Fanon, for instance, has made his observations of the totalitarian abuses, which were particularly regular and topical during the period of the intra-European colonization. While discussing the ethical situation connected with the Franz Fanon, who proposed that ethical map, where he emphasizes the existence of the colonizer and colonized. The colonial thought of that period, according to Fanon, was grounded on violence and totalitarism. Taylor Wilkins has also actively participated in the discussion of colonialism and studied the issue of terrorism. Unfortunately, the violence and terror has played significant roles in colonization. In fact, according to the hypothesis of Franz Fanon , the colonialism always presupposes the link between the colonized and colonizer. It was the first and foremost important thing in the research of this phenomenon, and Taylor Wilkins has made a second step. He investigates the issues present in the relations between the colonized and colonizer as well as the powers which assisted the colonizer to force he colonized into doing what he/she wanted. Aime Cesaire has conducted a detailed analysis of the development of colonialism in Europe. His work included not only the explanation of the past facts, but also his vision of the events and their consequences. It should be emphasized that Cesaire has made an immense contribution to the investigation of colonialism.

While discussing the researches part in investigation of the role of colonialism, the contribution of the researcher Arendt has to be mentioned. When Arendt discusses the issue of colonialism, she takes into account the European colonization of American and Australia. Arendt emphasized that colonialism was a phenomenon, which influenced not only the laws and ideals of mother country into the colonial territory, but also the extension of these laws (King and Stone 39). Arendt also outlines the most essential ethical concerns of colonialism. She has pointed out that during the period of European colonialism, Africans have experienced the strongest racial discrimination. Ruth Ginio has discussed the considerations of Arendt and pointed out:

“Race and bureaucracy were the two means through which the colonial powers ruled the non-Western world. While racism had always attracted the worst elements within Western civilization, the colonial powers ruled the non-Western world” (188).

Racism was the biggest problem. Again, there was an evident negative effect of the colonizer on colonized. Unfortunately, the colonizers usually treated the colonized individuals with pejorativity. The African-Americans experienced severe discrimination. Cesaire noted in his works, while discussing the effect of Nazism, that he did not find out who experienced worse treatment Jews or Blacks, though. During the period of Hitlerism, Jews experienced great repressions from Nazi soldiers. In case of colonialism in Africa, the black citizens have also experienced great humiliation from by Europeans. They were treated as the representatives of a lower class. A famous academic Gilroy has discussed the facts of black colonialism and emphasized that settler colonialism was marked by racial hierarchy and domination. The colonizers transformed the law, and made it partial and fractured. Moreover, the violence has become more spectacular and excessive. Arendt addressed the problem of racism, and it reveals the role of violence in colonization. Arendt emphasizes that violence was the manifestation of racism. However, one of the specific features of the Arendt’s studies is the fact that in her explanation of the European violence in relation to indigenous people, she unintentionally excuses the colonizers. A well-known scholar Staudigl discusses the writing of Hannah Arendt, and her assertions concerning the Europeans’ application of violence and racism against the Africans. Hannah Arendt has mentioned the following “natural human beings who lacked the specifically human reality, so that when European men massacred them they somehow were not aware that they Africans had already been killing themselves” (136).

It might be assumed that Arendt somehow accepted the fact of violence as a representation of the norm. It is evident that she understood the negativity of such actions, but unfortunately, she tried to find an explanation for them. She attempted to find the cause, which resulted in such a disastrous manifestation of violence. The context, in which the author has made such an assumption, resembles the previously used ones, where the people were divided by the hierarchies of power.

In conclusion, it can be assumed that the paper at hand aimed at discussing the issue of colonialism in the global context. Globalization, which appeared later on, became the heir of colonialism. It should be emphasized that colonialism has brought about a number of ethical problems. One of them was the extreme racism and discrimination of particular communities. The research has assisted in understanding the system, applied in colonialism. It also outlined the role of a colonized and a colonizer, as well as their interrelations. Unfortunately, the relations between them are often marked by violence, racism and discrimination. It was the result of the power hierarchies. The work included the description of critical studies of researchers Fanon, Cesaire, Arendt, and Wilkins. Their investigations were significant as they provided the necessary routes for understanding of the process of colonialism. In general, it has to be stated that it was an important process which shaped the world and lead to the outcomes humanity experiences today. It is rather difficult to understand whether it was positive or negative. It produced a number of positive features, but also resulted in the exacerbation of ethical problems. One of its worst traits of colonialism was the fact that thousands of people have experienced violence and oppression. Investigation of this phenomenon turned out to be essential for understanding the current state of affairs in the world.