Carlton Cofie

BEING A BLACKMAN

2009-08-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

The colour black has some interesting suggestions depending on how it is viewed. As a garment the impression is powerful, in fact, quite intimidating. Consider the black suit of the lawyer and the awesome effect it has on the beholder. It is no wonder that anyone who wishes to be taken seriously is attired in black. Mohammed Ali, the all-time greatest boxer, explained it better when he emphasised that strong coffee is black coffee.

But black, when it takes the form of a human being, is seen as anything but serious, save when he or she is an athlete.

Maybe when you are a successful Blackman you are treated with some respect that evokes thought of equality with the other race. This is evidenced in the fact that successful Black personalities are sometimes idolised by people of other race to the extent that they easily and readily intermarry. Look at the footballers, athletes musicians and other successful Blacks.

But one stark reminder of the racial divide is the extent to which Michael Jackson pushed himself to look white, live white and be loved and adored as a White. He grew up in the knowledge that whatever a white person can do, the black guy needs to perform twice as good, in order to be acknowledged. He denied it, his family still deny it. But, not everyone is fooled about Jackson’s discomfiture with being black. It is obvious the late king of pop kept his family at bay mainly to shut out a constant reminder of his blackness.

News reports from America and Europe leave no one in any doubt the wicked reality of being black.

Today in Britain, a Black person is about seven times more like of being victimised under the dispensation of Stop and Search than his white compatriot. On the road he is 5 times more likely to be pulled over by traffic Police.

In America, there is the reality of sadness facing Blacks in terms of repossessed mortgage acquisitions. Money lenders have taken advantage of the semi-literacy of black buyers and given them loans with Shylock’s interest rates. When the homes are repossessed other blacks are then lured into acquiring these properties, keeping up a cycle of viciousness. When a White buyer with less education and worse credit-worthiness goes for the same mortgage, he gets a fairer deal in terms of explanation and treatment.

The social system in Britain and America are well synchronised about what to get from the Blackman and what to give him back. When it comes to basketball, football athletics, music and other recreation, the whole population cheers him on and makes him feel so accepted. And being gullible, he declares ‘see, we are all equal!’
Call it the great deception if you like.

Many years ago Marcus Garvey made the point that for racial equality to be meaningful, Africa should be for Africans, Europe for Europeans and Asia for Asians. He argued for Africans and people of African origin to concentrate their efforts on building a strong and prosperous Africa, as this was the only way the black race can earn the respect of the other race.

But, alas, Garvey was branded a dangerous man. Others labelled him a complete mad man. His detractors, some of them Blacks themselves, counter-argued that the problem of black and white in America will work itself out, and that all the Negro has to do is to be humble, submissive and obedient, and everything will work out well in the course of time.

A whole century has almost gone by and the world is being awakened to the reality of Europe for Europeans. The European Union is about this fact. In France, Britain Belgium and Portugal where Black people were enslaved, colonised and supposedly assimilated, there is now a strategy to remind them of their being foreign. The idea is to make them return to their homeland Africa and make way for Europeans from the East.

Whereas you can point to a social system that keeps the Blackman underground, you cannot easily see a anyone responsible for this status quo. What you see is the Blackman himself being his own enemy and letting the situation prevail.

Cursed ?

Some scholars have sought to explain away the situation biblically. They argue that the Blackman’s woes can be traced to their great ancestor Ham, Noah’s son, who was cursed for laughing at his father’s nakedness after the God-fearing man went binge-drinking to celebrate the survival of the deluge.

But Israel was curse too, wasn’t she? Israel’s sad history over the past thousand years, holocaust and all, has been attributed to a curse for their offence of crucifying Jesus Christ. Israel has picked herself up and become an example of national advancement. Why can’t the black race?

The curse of Ham had been used by some members of Abrahamic religions to justify racism and the enslavement of people of Black African ancestry, who were believed to be descendants of Ham.

The Blackman has refused to stop living merely by instinct. He forgets the awareness, planning, selfless commitment and the sense of purpose required to cause a change of perception about his race.
He continues to bear more and more children without stopping to think of the need to better educate his children to rise and take his deserved place among the other race.

There are also more reports of Blackmen in general being so involved in crime that efforts are being made to get them to change their ways and become respectable citizens in the UK. Shame!

The big question now is how the Blackman has used the freedom and racial equality for which men like Marcus Garvey, Bu bois, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and a host others sacrificed their lives.

Todays personalities like Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Harry Belafonte, Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and Denzel Washington bring tears to my eyes every rime time I watch their movies. Furthermore, when I, as a Blackman in UK analyse the influence of football stars like Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole- not forgetting American musicians like Beyonce Knowles, 50 cent, P Diddy- I see a collection of people who with a certain orientation, can change the world’s opinion about the their race.

In spite of all these heroes it takes the likes of Madonna, Angelina Jolie to go to the poor region of Africa and adopt children born into starvation and disease.
Apart from the lonely African Nelson Mandela crying out about the situation, it is usually white guys like Bono and Bob Geldof who are carrying the responsibility of drawing the world’s attention to the plight of the black race. They are the ones who endeavour to hold world leaders to their pledge to the LIVE 8 concert to give more to Africa.

This is not to say that the involvement of some blacks in the works of charities is not acknowledged. The truth is, the they are using a spoon to empty the ocean.

It is mind-blowing to hear today’s black personalities like Morgan Freeman heap praise on the noble selflessness of Nelson Mandela. In the meantime they are just piling on their individual wealth and watch on television how hunger and disease is ravaging Sudan, Niger, Chad, Malawi, Namibia and others.

The lotus eater that he is, Morgan Freeman thinks it is nonsense to observe Black History Month because to him it is no longer relevant in today’s world. He contends that blacks have achieved equality with white people, so much so, that it is not necessary to refer to people as white or black. But the leopard cannot change its spots .

As long as African poverty, disease and misery continue, we cannot expect to be treated as equals, especially when the wealth and talent of the homeland is so vast and people of African descent continue on their ego trips to amass individual wealth.

The Blackman outside Africa still finds it hard to own up to being African and doing anything to help his own. It is disturbing how the Whiteman has been compelled to be the only conscience of the world and be at the centre of all efforts to improve the human race, especially the black race.

Conclusion

Perhaps if Marcus Garvey were alive today, he would advise all black folks to look to America, where Barack Obama, a black man, (well, he’s near enough, ain’t he?) has been installed as president.

Obama, in turn, advises that ‘we must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans. Obama acknowledges that slavery and colonisation have had deleterious effects on African development.

But he hit the nail right on the head by pointing out that the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. Corruption, greed, nepotism, despotism………..are responsible for the woes of the black race.

The black race presents a classic case of arrested development.

Are we ever going to change ?

Abolish The Commonwealth

2008-01-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

If anyone calls for the abolition of the British Commonwealth he would indeed only be giving voice to what many sober observers have contemplated these last few years. And those to benefit when that happens are Africans, Asians, British and in fact all concerned. Dependent countries like Montserrat and Pitcairn Islands and wealthy countries like Canada have no cause to demand its extermination because they see things differently. But the others may well see the point in the prospect of having to live without the vain sense of belonging to a grouping headed by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

This confused grouping of former British colonies claims to have achieved independence through bloody struggles with the British master and swore never to allow themselves to be so used, abused and confused again. If Mozambique, an outsider to begin with, decides to remain part of this charade, the people are free to do so.

Slave trade, colonisation and brainwashing aside, current realities like the European Union and the African Union are betrayals which weaken the case for the continued existence of the unwieldy and farcical mammoth. These realities show that the Global Community is being fashioned naturally along regional lines before this global sense of oneness can be achieved. We seem to still be few hundred years before achieving this global oneness where people refer to one another without regard to race.

Marcus Garvey’s philosophy of Africa for Africans naturally translates as Europe for Europeans and Asia for Asians. Some scholars have slammed the idea as a recipe for racial tension. Their opinion is that Black people will someday work out their existence and take their place in the Whiteman’s land and the world over.

While the Blackman somnambulates the earth hoping supernatural forces will turn things around, the Whiteman has shown the wisdom in Garvey’s principle by saying obliquely that indeed Europe is for Europeans. Look to Morocco and you will understand why she was not allowed to join the European Union. Even worse, laws are being tightened to prevent Africans from taking advantage of colonial connections to migrate to Europe.

This is sad because this forced connection was started by the Whiteman when he came to Africa and under the pretext of trade deceived gullible African kings to take control of the Blackman and his wealthy surroundings. Slavery has come and gone. So has colonisation (and assimilation and association by the French). Some observers of the regressive self-government in Africa suggest that colonialism is indeed the best thing that ever happened to the Black race.

Well, the Blackman may in a thousand or a million years pick himself up and claim his rightful place among the races judging by the pace of the natural process. But what is the sense in waiting for a millennium when the power to change things quicker is in the hands of Africans themselves right now.

The only way the Blackman can hope to take his rightful place among the races is not in living with the Whiteman in the Whiteman’s country. The answer lies in Africa developing itself to the stage where it requires no foreign assistance to survive. Everyone knows this, don’t they? So why is this not happening?

The one thing militating against this forward march is the lack of self confidence and self control among Black people. They are still in the vain pursuit of literally turning into the Whiteman before they can change their ways and work with a sense of purpose. Sons and daughters of the Commonwealth believe that Britain is a place where they need to be in order to realise their true potential as scholars or professionals or simple rational beings.

Even after so many years of education at their top Universities they still think their schooling to be incomplete without finishing off at a British University. And once this education is finished they try and work in Britain as a way of getting exposure and better experience. But all that Britain has to say is ‘go back home, be the best you can be and develop your continent.’ This may have its positive aspect but the Commonwealth citizen has become too anglicised that to ask him to give up all that in a hurry is very painful.

Today we see the excellence of the Black man in boxing and other sports like athletics and football. However, the lack of drive or purpose has not caused this excellence to be translated into a higher sense of oneself. He still does not believe that he, as a representative of his race, is called upon by realities to psyche up his own folks to believe in the principle of self-confidence and self-control and take his destiny in his own hands. He even forgets that a millennium ago there were great Black empires in Western Sudan with sophisticated and well-run governments. This was possible without White influence or connection. So why cant it happen again?

The vast fertile land of Africa remains hardly cultivated though millions are dying from starvation on the continent. Rather they believe in something called White benevolence to put bread on the table through food aid, charities and grants. This is not forthcoming and the people continue to suffer!

Simple elections cannot be held freely and fairly without recourse to fraud. Today in Kenya, as in Zimbabwe, there is a living example of how the Simple-minded ones believe that true democracy is a preserve of Europeans.

DISTURBING DEVELOPMENTS

The first feeling of injustice the Commonwealth citizen feels in Britain is when he comes to UK to study. He pays higher fees compared to what the Home/European student pays.
It is a wicked reversal of honesty when the rich EU student pays less and the unfortunate foreign student from the Highly Indebted Poor Country pays more.

There is an argument that the Commonwealth sponsors worthy students every year to study in UK universities. But how can anyone explain why a handful of people are given the scholarship per year on a continent dying for better quality personnel to break free from its state of arrested development.

Children of the the Commonwealth are no longer the protégés of Britain. Sierra Leonean footballer in Britain, Al Bangura, recently faced the harsh reality of the Commonwealth wickedness when his refugee status was revoked and he was threatened with deportation. He was saved from deportation just because he is a footballer playing is a worthy role with Watford Football Club.

Ama Sumani, a Ghanaian who suffered cancer in Britain is removed from Britain and sent back to Ghana where it is obvious she would not get the necessary medical care and even the wherewithal to afford it.

These are just a few examples of the atrocious insensitivity of Britain towards people whose country it looted to build an empire, sent her children into slavery and colonised their homeland. In short, Britain used, abused and refused them.
Britain refuses to show natural benevolence at a time when thinkers from the former colonies are still demanding that Britain offers some compensation to make up for the wicked exploitation.

NEW FOUND LOVE

Romania and Bulgaria are the new favoured ones. Before them, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Poland. These are true kinsmen from the continent and move about in Britain with their heads held high. The job centres are filled with them and they seem to be the first choice for any available opening. The bold ones are even able to claim benefits for their children back home.

These people cannot even communicate in English yet they are sometimes the bosses of many English speakers who, poor souls!, are compelled to abide the their overbearing and stiff-necked attitude.

In Britain today there is a mixture of so many strange languages being fused reluctantly into the system to help the vast numbers of these new EU entrants adjust, whereas the very national language is getting suppressed to the extent that in certain schools about half the number of pupils cannot even speak English

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

While this goes on one group of people, the Black, have been made scapegoat for it all. Two or three Black boys walking together stand every chance of police interference.
Black children have reportedly been faring so poorly in schools as to lead to suggestions that schools practise Apartheid to segregate them for purposes of edification.
It is nearly guaranteed that a Black man driving a car will be stopped by the police and checked for crime .

A report has been issued about the high propensity among Black men to engage in criminal activity. This empowers the police to clamp down on them.
Commonwealth citizens from other areas like India and Pakistan also see Britain as a natural destination. There are billions of them and Britain would indeed have to reclaim land from all the seas around it to accommodate the numbers.

Well, Britain, has done the obvious thing. It has so much to choose from that it is choosing only what it needs from foreigners. Workers within the shortage list of professionals are the only ones qualified for Work Permit.

Everyday in the media there is talk about the nuisance caused by foreigners. Not a thought is spared to consider that it was the British who first began exploration into foreign lands, made them slaves, colonised them, used and refused them.

It is now ‘payback time!,’ the Zimbabweans would say. They speak boldly about the need to pay the British back in their own coin. Britain, they say, has got away with murder. In fact, some argue that what Mugabe has done to the Whites in Zimbabwe is just the beginning of the Blackman’s attempt to retaliate.

This indicates that we are heading to the situation in ancients empires where people trooped to wealthy kingdoms and through barbarian skulduggery deplete their wealth and leave them in ruins.

Too soon, the prophesy of Tony Blair that African, left in its state of underdevelopment and discontent, will become the breeding ground of terrorists, has come to pass. Consider the London bombings of 2005 and the fact that a Ghanaian and even a Jamaican were among that terrorists.

It is evident that Britain’s Day of Judgment has come and its destruction is not being perpetuated by foreigners alone. The combined unhappiness of natives and foreigners has spawned a generation of British youth who have no love, charity or remorse. They kill their mates, parents and neighbours upon the slightest provocation. Surely the downfall of the former great empire is started from within by its nationals and will be finished off possibly by foreigners
LEADING THE WAY

It is plain to see that the way forward is for people to love their own homeland as to want to live there and enjoy the fullness of life.

But, some one has got to lead the way. Successful and prominent Africans, Indians and the Pakistanis have to stand up for their people, use their wealth and knowledge to build their homeland and encourage compatriots to trust only in themselves and their countries.

There is no such thing as a Commonwealth unless it involves just one country or continent. As it stands now, the diversity of people and territorial incontiguity of the members make it a charade. At best it is a Common Fraud.

Some will argue that a Commonwealth citizen in Britain has the advantage being allowed to vote. But of what use is the right to vote in the absence of the right of abode? Consider the visa restrictions of Commonwealth graduates in UK. Unless he falls within certain sought after professions he has no right to a work permit even if he studies in the UK for years.

British Universities will take your hard earned money and still refuse to give you a job in UK. You will not even gain a work permit. If you are lucky enough to be under 30 years of age then you may qualify for a 2-year visa extension to try and work. But woe betides you if you happen to be over 30 years old.

In a wild goose chase poor, students from these countries enrol on course after course just to remain in UK as students with very limited right to stay. This has led to British Universities getting richer and richer while the overseas student gets poorer and poorer.

To the Asian and especially the Africans, this issue of second class citizenship as experienced in Britain, head of the Commonwealth, can be addressed not by laws established by the Racial Equality Commission in UK but by people moving back home and making it where their true satisfaction is.

The mockery of master’s degree holders doing menial jobs under the supervision of White semi- illiterates must come to an end. There is a joke about almost every taxi driver in UK being a university graduate from Pakistan: every menial worker from Africa possessing a master’s degree.

The former colonies who boast of being independent have no reason or justification to allow their sons and daughters to troop to the mercenary environment of Britain, the filthy place, to slave for academic laurels they could well earn at home. Learning at home leads more naturally to getting a worthy job and advancing one’s life.

Britain has shown that it prefers to give out jobs to European brothers who can’t even speak English and damn the old Commonwealth citizen who has spent a lifetime speaking English, living by British standards; in short, being in the very finishing stages metamorphosing into a British.

Britain and its so-called Commonwealth have failed its followers and needs to be ostracised. Let the Great Deceiver be shunned and left to endure the misery of her terrible climatic conditions.

Sign Of The Times

2007-08-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

After British Prime Minister Tony Blair left office Africans remain a group of people whose frustration and anger remain for a long time to come.

On the face of things it does not appear like Tony Blair owed Africa anything and needed even care what the African expects or thinks about him.

But on account of some pronouncements and pontificating about the continent Mr Blair raised hopes only to dash them without the least remorse.

It was the same Premier who cleverly stated before the Live 8 concert that Africa remains a scar on the conscience of the world. He went on to say that if the poverty, frustrations and woes of the continent are not tackled soon it will be Africans who will become the terrorists of the future and destroy the peace and tranquillity of the world.

Well, be that as it may, there is a particular section of the African race who will exhibit that propensity. That is the former British colonies who were once known as the British Africans.
This group of Africans who have managed to put behind them the painful experiences of slavery and colonialism comforted themselves in the fact that their association with the British has led to enlightenment and modernity.

They have been brought up in the British way, trained and educated in the British way. It is was not for nothing that these people never considered themselves as being the best they can be without finishing off their education in Britain.

Therefore it is still common to find that even when they have had the best education possible in the homeland these Africans and in fact all their counterparts in the British commonwealth, still travel to UK and spend hard earned monies to acquire advanced education in British institutions of higher learning.

Take a look around the British Universities and you will see.

Be that as it may, the African commonwealth scholars in UK now have to deal with the conscious move by Britain to thwart their efforts of self improvement in the land of their mentor.
The commonwealth citizen from Africa and elsewhere is now being eschewed in favour of Eastern Europeans from countries like Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic and lately Romania and Bulgaria.

The stark reality is that even the menial jobs which the Commonwealth citizens relied on for survival in Britain have all been taken away and given to so-called European brothers and sisters who cant even speak a word of English. Is this fair?

Let’s ask ourselves the honest question of where these so-called European kindred were when the Commonwealth, former colonies, were being plundered to built the British Empire.

To tell the truth, what we now have is a European Wealth instead of the Commonwealth.
But the sad truth is that leaders of these Commonwealth countries while deluding themselves about a benevolent former master turned ally, refuse to trust in the ability of their own citizens to take their destiny into their own hands.

Every week, leaders of the commonwealth waste hard earned resources of the folks to travel to the colonial nerve centre in London in search of solutions to better the living conditions of their countrymen.

Well, while this beating about the bush continues, ordinary people from these countries whose experience of Britain is pain, frustration and misery have begun to express the sentiment that if

Britain will not help them positively then Britons should have no peace.
Thus, Tony Blair’s prophecy has come true in his own time.

First it was Somalis, then a Jamaican and now a Ghanaian have become suicide bombers, causing terror in London.

These are creative young men who have analysed the activities of Blair and Bush in Iraq and elsewhere and decided that the overwhelming atrocity of the Western world under these two nations must be countered somehow.

There is time yet if Western power will be focused more on the improvement of poorer regions whose people being sick of this selfishness have sworn that those who know the right thing but do it not should be spanked with many stripes.

There is still time! Help Africa before frustration turns its youth into full-fledged suicide bombers and remorseless terrorists.

Avaricious Black Brethren

2006-08-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

The Electoral Commission of Ghana has lamented the low turnout of Ghanaians during the recent exhibition of the voters’ register throughout the country.

It can be truly worrying if you are in politics. But, this has only a single meaning to any observer. The electorate fell they have been let down by the men in all the various political parties.

As a journalist who left Ghana 3 years ago my bird’s eye view of the situation is no better. Although some of my compatriots here argue that it is good as long as you are outside the country and can remit home. The exchange rate favours you.

But what about the millions of my people back home who are having to live and work under the conditions where your income is just a fraction of your expenditure.

I have been here in the England working to finance my masters degree in journalism at the University of Westminster. I read about Ghana almost everyday to see how my life could improve if after the degree I go back home to work with the national broadcaster.

But, all I hear is outrageous living costs in the country unmatched by the wages. Even professionals cant make ends meets. Speak to any professional and he or she tells you about a desire to travel outside to Europe or America to seek greener pastures.

And imagine who they cite as the one pushing them to emigrate?
None other than President J.K. Kufuor. All his government has brought is expensive administration that cannot be backed national earnings.

Let’s consider the expansion of Parliament to 230 members. They argue that it brings government closer to the people and enhances a fairer representation to the electorates, constituency by constituency.

But what about the cost of maintaining them, Sir?

I have read and followed such Ghanaian writers as Kwaku Kwakyi of Michigan who have asked why MPs car loans and emoluments cannot be suspended or abolished to give meaning to the poor status of the country.

The annual expenditure of $52 million or so, as Kwakyi makes it, which goes into financing MPs car loans, can equally revamp railways and for that matter transport system and even provide jobs for Ghanaians.

The government and its leader have failed the people !
Shame on all those who still support the president blindly !!

As for the president himself he will go down in history as the truest ostrich of all time. As his country reels under the pressure worsening economic conditions, he buries his head in the proverbial sands of foreign trips purporting to sell Ghana abroad.

The key to saving Ghana lies in a lean and mean government. A government which should be known of its austerity and frugality. That way the people of Ghana, home and abroad, may sympathise with national leadership and sacrifice too.

How do you expect Ghanaian doctors and nurses and other professionals to sympathise with government and not get sucked into brain drain?

I remember Professor PAV Ansah. I wonder how he would digest and spew out the sour grapes Kufuor and his people are feeding Ghanaians.
This will set his teeth on edge !

I consider the teachings of Marcus Garvey and ask myself what he would make of this. Did he not cast pearls before swine when he committed his life to challenging the Blackman to have self- confidence and self control?

Well my people have failed to establish a respectable identity to and be treated as the equal of the white man.

The performance of the Ghanaian football team, the Black Stars, in the world cup has shown that the Blackman can do whatever he sets his mind to. It takes only discipline and a sense of purpose.

Look, As I struggle in England doing menial jobs I have come into contact with Asians who think they are better people than the black race.

Why because when it comes to helping one another, all the other immigrants selflessly share information about job openings and better survival options. The Indian or Pakistani who is well placed will easily lead a compatriot into a job any day.

What does the African do?

When there is a job opening where he works, he never tells another African even someone from his own country. He actually holds the job down for his next of kin. They even hold down the job for kinsman when he is yet to arrive in UK.

You can imagine how many times I failed to get a job even where there are Ghanaians in certain firms here. It is being held for a kinsman.

I am so sick and tired of this I just want to return to my humble job as a Radio Newsman.

I have to finish paying off fees and loans. And if I rush home now, it will be impossible to pay with my Ghanaian wages even as a professional.

So you see my anger at the men who run Ghana. They make life miserable for all of us.
And if I hear of plans by the ruling government to stay in power from generation to generation I get scared, sad and indignant.

The rat race among Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Kofi Apraku, Yaw Osafo-Marfo and rest to take up leadership, what is there to offer that is different.

Is any of them saying anything about the wastage started by the NDC which the NPP perpetuates shamefully?

you criticise the NPP, even fairly, they wonder if you are not NDC. And the NDC rejoices because, the rats, they think you are a sympathiser missing the (P)NDC days.

Shame unto you if you call yourself a leading Ghanaian, or for that matter African, politician.

Remember, as Garvey said, he who knows the right thing but does not do it, shall receive more punishment.

.

Refocus..Bush,Blair

2006-02-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

The world has watched on in horror as the presence of America and Great Britain leads to a total destruction of Iraq. The peoples anger in that country is such that they refuse to live peacefully as long as there are foreign forces in their country, purportedly to help them achieve democracy.

If George Bush and Tony Blair wish to change the world and to make people eveywhere love western democracy, then the strategies of the world's powerful countries need to change.It may appear foolish or simple but that is the only way forward.

Bush and Blair must begin by doing a rotational adoption of the world's poorest peaceful countries, one at a time and establish mission style universities, libraries, factories etc and use it as a bait to get them to accept westernism.

Apart from making the west appear kinder and more trustworthy, this will also show that being a peceful country attracts practical suport from the west.

War and hatred have failed. The world must now try peace and affection. People sometimes behave as humans only when they have been shown love.