NOURNEWS- The black history of colonialism in developing and third world countries shows that with the advent of the industrial revolution in the last years of the 19th century, until now, western countries have done their best to exploit the fertile continent of Africa with the firepower of their weapons, but the recent political developments in this historic continent shows the imminent and fatal fall of the colonists and their dependents in this part of the globe.
In regarding to this matter; In a conversation with Dr. Ja’afar Ghanadbashi, an expert on African issues, we discussed the issue on hand:
Nournews: Considering that the country of South Africa is one of the leaders of independence and anti-racist movements in Africa, in your opinion, what cultural, geopolitical and environmental factors can be the foundation of our relations with this country?
Dr. Ghanadbashi: South Africa is indeed the inspiration for anti-racist movements. In fact, the racist that ruled South Africa was the most severe racism ruling system because the whites under the apartheid regime had given all the facilities to the whites and the movement that was formed under the leadership of Nelson Mandela in this country was successful to overthrow this political system and become a symbol of the fight against racism.
Even when South Africans talk about the issue of Palestine, they believe that the Zionists have created a kind of apartheid and racial separation in the occupied territories, and the Zionists look at the Palestinians as an inferior race.
For black Africans, independence-oriented movements are very important, but due to the contemptuous view of blacks by the colonialists, there was an egalitarian movement in the depth of African independence movements.
For about 300 years, the colonialists took the youngest and healthiest young black people from Africa to different countries for work and slavery. Now the black people who are in Latin America, Brazil, Mexico and other parts of the world are all the children of black people who were enslaved.
In any case, during the Cold War, South Africa was never recognized as a third world country due to its industrial, agricultural and strong infrastructure capabilities, and this economic base was due to the existence of gold, diamond, titanium and other precious metals mines. All of these precious metals are used in air and space industries and other advanced industries.
This is a God-given wealth that South Africa has and this issue has caused good reserves for this country, and on the other hand, it is a very good geographical location that has made the ports of this country in the two Pacific and Indian oceans a place for maritime trade and when all other countries communicate with this country, one of their goals is to enable the use of ports of the South Africa.
Apart from that, South Africa is the leader of all African countries in electricity production and industrial and agricultural production, and it can be said that it has up to 50% of the total production of African countries and a market of 60 million people.
We can have good relations with South Africa for various reasons. One of the records that we have in South Africa and especially the view that Mr. Mandela and his friends had is that they all consider the Iranian government as their supporter in the fight against colonialism, exploitation and racism.
Later on, we will consider to the needs and capabilities of both sides. We have capabilities in the field of fossil fuels, including oil, gas, and petroleum products, and naturally, South Africa can be one of our customers in this field, and they also have capabilities in the field of some agricultural products as well as some industrial products that we can be a buyer of.
This issue has been proven in the past and they have been able to work with us in this field. If our private sector is activated, it can do a booming business using the sea lines of this country. We have the cheapest shipping way to South Africa because the Bandar Abbas to Durban Sea route is the cheapest and safest sea route. We can have a lot of joint ventures and mining cooperation because of South Africa's experiences in this field, because we are still in the early stages of mining.
So, we can have a series of technical cooperation in the field of mining and smelting of metals, because they have very good experiences in this field, we are also good producers in the field of some electronic, electrical and weaponry industries, so good business opportunities can be created between the two countries. Also, the export of scientific and medical services is a good field for cooperation, because although South Africa has many medical schools, it welcomes some of our doctors who are looking for foreign exchange earnings, and we are also interested in using the experts of this country in the field of mining.
In the field of politics, South Africa plays a very important role, as you know, this country is one of the members of the G20, and in this sense, it has found a special political position. Although the Group of 20 is an economic group, or the economy of this country is considered as one of the emerging and powerful economies in the BRICS group.
In the African Union, the position of South Africa is very important, which means that it has a high and great reputation. Therefore, when we see that African countries welcome us as their business partners, we see that one of the reasons is South Africa's view of us, which is accepted by different countries, therefore Mr. Amir-Abdollahian’s visit to this country and holding the 15th joint commission of the two countries means creation of new waves of freshly expanded and prosperous relations between Iran and South Africa.
NourNews: Considering that the African continent has always been known as the sphere of influence of the Zionist regime, what effect do you think the establishment of relations between Iran and South Africa will have on the future influence of this regime in the African continent?
Ghanadbashi: The relations of the Zionist regime with African countries are mainly in very limited areas and are not commercial, because the Zionists mainly want to secretly exploit the mines of South Africa or export some low-volume and high-income goods from this region.
I n this regard, the relations between the two countries does not conflict with the actions of the Zionists in terms of trade, none of them restricts the other economically, but in the political arena, it is certainly true when South Africa recognizes the Zionist regime as a racist regime and considers it similar to the former apartheid regime, this means they align with us in the fight against the Zionist regime, and considering the position of South Africa, it can bring together and cooperation of many other countries in the anti-Zionist fight, and this issue is very important because many countries, both in North and South Africa, are aware and under the influence of the tendencies of South Africa and this can be very effective in organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, of which South Africa is a permanent member, or the United Nations General Assembly.
The Zionists want to accuse us of making weapons in the nuclear field and create restrictions for us, so South Africa's votes can be effective in this regard and our relations can change these votes in our favor and to the detriment of the Zionist regime.
NourNews: How do you see the effects of recent developments on the African continent, such as the Niger coup, on the relations between the two countries?
Ghanadbashi: Niger is located far from South Africa, and although these two countries are on the same continent, these developments do not have much impact on our relations with South Africa. Of course, if Nigerians succeed in achieving this process that has been falsely called a coup, but is actually a revolution, and keep France behind their borders, it would mean the beginning of a new anti-colonial trend in Africa against Western countries’ colonialism in this continent.
South Africa also wants such a policy, although the Americans, the French and the British are one of South Africa's major partners in the economic field, but in any case, if this move that happened in Niger causes the complete cut off of France's interests from Niger and if this process continues, this means the beginning of A new anti-colonial trend that will benefit all countries and South Africa and will remove possible obstacles to expanding our relations with South Africa and other African countries, and naturally this is very important because the movement of Nigerians is in line with our global strategy.
Our global strategy is to fight against colonialism, the exploitation of nations and the looting and ravaging the wealth of nations, and the movement that happened in Niger can strengthen our position.
NourNews: You also mentioned the role of France, considering that France has tried to increase its military presence in Africa especially in recent years, what effect can the strengthening of relations between Iran and South Africa have on France’s military presence?
Ghanadbashi: Over the last two decades, the US, France and Britain, contrary to the process that started before and were trying to reduce their military bases, again started the process of increasing their forces and deploying new forces and expanded NATO into Africa very quietly.
The Americans tried to have military forces and advisers in most countries, and the French tried to increase their forces in the African continent, and if France fails in Niger, it means that a domino has started to fall, and it can stop the whole process, a new process in which colonialism returns to its old ways.
Colonialism in the world has a history that includes the cannon boat process or persuading countries with military repression, neo-colonialism, and French colonialism, which was very unnoticed and was only in an economic form. Again, during the last two decades, these countries have returned to their past policies of colonizing. This strategy has now faced a failure in Niger, and this failure can certainly continue and at least prevent the growth of this colonial method. Even now, in Paris itself, there is a dispute between the French authorities that this method is not correct and the military method has caused sensitivities. What is happening in Niger is actually a reaction to this old colonial way.
Interview by: Ali Rahmani
NOURNEWS