17 May 2011
Luanda — Historian Julio Mendes said Monday in Luanda that slavery and other social practices degraded and disrupted of the continent’s productive force.
Júlio Mendes was speaking to Angop at the end of a session of screening of the movie “Amistad” by Steven Spielberg, with script written by David Franzoni.
The event was part of the cycle of university cinema run by the Angolan Institute of Cinema, Audiovisual and Multimedia, together with the Higher Metropolitan Polytechnic Institute of Angola.
According to the historian, the problems that resulted from the slaves trafficking or colonisation are varied and one can clearly note that one of the main evils of the colonial system in Africa was illiteracy that left the independent nations without human resources to boost the development of the continent.
He recalled that when it became independence, Mali had 150 kilometres of asphalted road only, whereas DR Congo, at the time of independence, had nine graduates only.
To him, there is need for a major effort on the part of the leaders of the continent to correct the uncomfortable legacy of the past reflected on the current socio-cultural, economic and political reality.
AllAfrica – All the Time
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Slavery Degraded Continent’s Manpower