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YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES
Global Politics
Colonization and Imperialism
While global politics today is a result of the historical existence of many diverse civilizations all over the world, much of this influence was subjugated and nullified by European colonialism and imperialism over the last 500 years. Their invasion reached all corners of the globe, with such voracity and violence that civilizations and communities were systematically destroyed before being understood or given a chance to contribute to the world today.
These societies - boundless with indigenous knowledge, practising their own lifestyles and culture, with their own social systems within their geographical setting - were seen through tainted glasses as barbaric, far behind the "modern" philosophy, science and religion of the Europeans. The hydraulic engineering of the Incas in the Andes, the University of Timbuktu in Mali and majestic architecture of the Angkor Wat offer testimony to the splendor which preceded colonial barbarity.
It was their duty to liberate the natives from the clutches of their evil culture and ways, to enlighten them with more profound manners and methods of living, so the Europeans "shared" their superior beliefs, values, customs and religion.
Colonization and imperialism was indeed vicious and barbaric. On each and every continent, human beings were treated like animals, as prey to feed the needs, the ego, the stomachs and the desires of the colonizers.
The subordination effectively threatened and destroyed in some cases existing systems of life, along with the culture, local knowledge and the diversity of beliefs and values which grew from that social system. It was the start of a 500 year process of "harmonization", with European culture and thought as the central theme. Practically, no social sphere, economics, culture, or politics were left unscarred. Yet in spite of this adversity, there have been 500 years of resistance to the elimination of these cultures and there remain vast cultural differences among people throughout the world.
Though there were systems which remained intact, many which could have been valuable alternatives to the global system we see today were systematically destroyed. They were replaced with economic and political systems which forced the colonies to produce resources to their "mother countries" - with the "civilizing" of themselves as a reward. The relation between colony and colonial master was nothing short of political and economic slavery.
Textbook history notes that colonization ended after the Second World War, as colonies fought for and were granted independence. While the physical absences of the colonial powers may have symbolized "independence", it did not however reverse many of the policies of the colonial rulers. In many cases, political power was merely transferred from foreign control to the hands of local elites, who did nothing to discontinue the colonial relationship between administration and society.