Devon Patriot

Cecil Rhodes – was he an Imperialistic Racist Bigot or a Benevolent Philanthropist?  

We have heard recently in the news that students have demonstrated in Oxford to get a plague and statue of Cecil Rhodes removed from the premises of Oriel College.  It appears that the organization responsible for this outrageous activity is the Rhodes Must Fall group. 

To its shame, it appears that Oriel College has agreed to remove the Rhodes plaque from its premises in King Edward Street – so capitulating to a few politically-correct left-wing bigots (less than a 100) who participated in the demonstration.  The demonstrator’s also handed in a petition, signed by a mere 250 people, to the governors demanding that the statue be removed from the main entrance to the college. 

Fortunately, the removal of the statue from Oriel College will prove difficult as it is a Grade 2 listed building; consequently it will require planning consent from the local council.  Furthermore, the general public of Oxford will be able to oppose any planning application for the statue’s removal. Hopefully, many local residents will write letters of objection to the council that will force the councillors to reject the planning application; so ensuring that the statue remains in its present location.

Cecil Rhodes attended Oriel College, Oxford, in 1973, and lodged at No. 6 King Edward Street; therefore these memorials are appropriately located as a fitting memorial to this great man who did so much for the British Empire, South Africa and Oxford University.

The Rhodes Must Fall organization is a protest movement that began on 9^th March 2015, originally directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that commemorates Cecil Rhodes.  The campaign for the statue's removal received global attention and led to a wider movement to "decolonise" education across South Africa.  On 9^th April 2015, following a UCT Council vote the previous night, the statue was removed and has now been relocated.  Rhodes Must Fall captured national headlines throughout 2015 and sharply divided public opinion within South Africa between white and black citizens.  It also inspired the emergence of allied student movements at other universities, both within South Africa and elsewhere throughout the world.

In Oxford the main protagonist for the removal of these historic monuments is one Ntokozo Qwabe, a founder-member of the Rhodes Must Fall group who attended the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal to study law; paradoxically his education was paid for by the Rhodes Trust.  This Trust has now been re-named as the Mandela-Rhodes Trust to appease the liberal bigots who are embarrassed by their failure to achieve the great things Rhodes did for their nation – it will probably be re-named again in the future as the Mandela Trust, so eliminating Rhodes from their history.

It now seems that the Rhodes Trust is funding Ntokozo’s further education at Oxford, although it’s not clear what he is studying – probably another post-graduate law degree.  Talking about “biting the hand that feeds you”, this parasite is taking advantage of the Rhodes Trust to fund his own bigoted agenda of spreading racial hated against all white people.

It seems incredible that indigenous British students at Oxford can demonstrate in support of the hateful Rhodes Must Fall organization.  This clearly indicates that these students have been brainwashed with politically-correct dogma throughout their schools years, and are now unable to see the truth of the situation, in that their actions are racist and discriminatory against the indigenous population of the United Kingdom.  Let’s hope that someday soon these students will see the error of their ways and make amends by supporting organizations that seek to preserve Britain’s heritage, culture and ethnicity.  

 

Cecil Rhodes – his life and achievements

Cecil Rhodes was born in 1853, at Bishop’s Stortford, England, and the son of a vicar.  He was a sickly child, so due to his poor health he was sent to Natal to be united with his brother.  After failing to grow cotton there, he and his brother attempted to make their fortune in the Diamond mines.  Cecil saw alternative methods for making money by providing services to the other miners.  He quickly realised the potential for riches by creating a monopoly.  At first this was done with water, but he then applied this principal to acquiring diamond concessions.  His efforts at amalgamating various companies paid off with an enormous personal fortune and the creation of the De Beers consolidated Mines Company in 1888 and the creation of Consolidated Goldfields.  Unfortunately for Rhodes he missed much of the opportunity to create a foothold in the newly discovered goldfields of the Transvaal.  He was certainly a ruthless businessman.

Rhodes used much of his personal fortune in the field of politics.  Despite earlier support for Irish Home Rule, Rhodes quickly became a spokesman and activist for imperial expansion.  His most famous ambition was to create a railway along a continuous pink strip of land from the Cape Colony to Cairo.  He used his political skills and money to become the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in 1890 and espouse his imperial ambitions on a much grander scale.  He lobbied hard for the annexation of Bechuanaland and later, when he was becoming disappointed at the lack of political will at the Colonial Office, he even formed his own company to claim land in the interior of Africa.  The British South Africa Company achieved a Royal Charter in 1889 and proceeded to negotiate its way into the lands of the Mashona, Matabele and beyond.  Later, his ambition would be his political and economic undoing when his associate, a Dr. Jameson, attempted to invade Transvaal in order to support an abortive coup.  The political fall out from this adventure forced Cecil to resign his premiership of the Cape Colony.

Cecil Rhodes never lost his passion for his imperial dreams and spent much time planning and organising the colonies that were to bear his name; Northern and Southern Rhodesia.  When the Africans in these colonies rose up in rebellion to his company's rule, he personally conducted successful negotiations to the satisfaction of Matabele tribal leaders.  During the Boer war, he helped to organise and fund the defences of Kimberley in the siege.

Rhodes was a very complex and contradictory individual.  His true feelings and ideology have never fully been understood by historians and biographers.  What is clear is that Rhodes was a very personable leader who had the ability to inspire others and attract attention to his causes and ideas.  On the flipside, he was a ruthless businessman who could often be accused of being little more than a bully.  His treatment of Africans was equally contradictory, as he often talked about them in a highly derogatory manner and virtually pioneered the 'Apartheid' system of separating the Africans working in his mines from the outside world. Yet, he also seems to have taken an uncommon interest in their cultures and language and had a respect and understanding for Africans that would have seemed remarkably liberal for his era.

Rhodes left a will that was to create one of the most successful educational endowments of all time; the Rhodes Trust and the Rhodes Scholarships.  These were open to any of the Teutonic peoples; Britons, Germans and Americans, and had the express purpose of enabling the academic elites of these countries to mingle and understand one another better in an attempt to create an Anglo-Saxon empire across the world.  Even in his death, Rhodes' dreams were bigger and more comprehensive than most other peoples'.

  

With so many slurs and lies said about Cecil Rhodes; what is the truth?

What follows are a variety of remarks made by numerous African and anti-Rhodes writers that have been extracted from articles published on various pro-African/anti-white websites.  After each comment is a statement that explains the true situation, which in most cases completely overturns any negative accusations made against the British involvement in Africa.    

A certain Rasta Livewire commented on his website that “For more than three centuries after European settlers arrived in South Africa in 1652, the so-called white rulers viewed the so-called blacks only as labourers and denied them proper schooling.”

It must be remembered that public education for some children in the UK didn’t really start until the passing of the School Grants Act 1855; up until that time what public schooling did exist was mostly carried out by charitable church schools (Sunday Schools).  Furthermore, it wasn’t until the passing of the Board of Education Act 1899 that made for free education of all children up to the age of 14.  So in reality, the common working man was treated no differently than the native African over that period.  During this period many blacks received a basic education due to the work of the many Christian missionary schools in the tribal villages.

It is often mentioned that Cecil Rhodes made a fortune off stolen African land, skills and labour.  His modus operandi was cynical crass inhumane exploitation of Africans.  “Nine-tenths of them will have to spend their lives in manual labour, and the sooner that is brought home to them, the better,” Rhodes said in 1893.

This sounds similar to what happened to the common English people during the Norman Conquest!  At the time of the European occupation of South Africa in 1652, the Negro population was estimated to be less than 1 million, and by 1850 the European population was greater than that of the Negro, and South Africa was largely uninhabited wilderness.  There was no need to steal land from the natives, as uninhabited, fertile and uncultivated land was available in abundance; so anybody who was prepared to work the land rightly claimed ownership.  The African Negro possessed few skills that could be exploited.  It is true that Cecil Rhodes used the local Negro as labourers, and they were paid for their services; their wages would certainly have been comparable to an English labourer, and this was the period when slavery was illegal throughout the British Empire.  As for the Rhode’s statement that the Negro is only fit for manual labour; well, this is basically true due to their extremely low intelligence - with an average IQ of 70.

It is said the Cecil Rhodes was a racist and an imperialist who increased the Empire in Africa by enslaving the indigenous Africans.

Rhodes was not a racist.  He was certainly an imperialist but only because he believed in the modernity and progress that the British Empire of his time represented.  The expansion of the British Empire into Africa did not enslave any Africans, in fact it actually liberated many tribes from subjugation by other more powerful tribes – the subjugation of the Xhosa tribe by the Zulus for example.  It must also be remembered that it was the British who abolished the international slave trade, and used the Royal Navy to police the high-sea for Islamic slave‑traders who frequently raided South Africa for slaves who would be transported back to various Arab nations where they could be sold.

As Prime Minister of Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes is often accused of waging racist wars against the various African tribes to enforce British rule over them. 

Contrary to what these people say there was very little need for the British to wage war on the African tribes; apart from one incident with the Zulus, all other disputes were settled by negotiation in a civilised non-racial manner – mostly to the benefit of the African Tribes.  However, there was indeed one conflict in which the British behaved in an abominable and racist manner against a certain group of people.  This was to be the greatest atrocity ever carried out in the name of the British Empire, and the victims were not Negros but white farmers – the Boers.

In the 1970s some historians, with left-wing allegiances, wrote books and gave lectures in which they stated that Cecil Rhodes was indeed a racist, and the architect of apartheid in South Africa.  He, also, implies that Rhodes failed to provide adequate housing in the main unban areas for the Negro labourers and their families.

Apartheid did not exist in South Africa during Cecil Rhodes’ lifetime.  However, human nature being as it is means that people tend to associate with their own kind; therefore, in contemporary Britain with its huge immigrant population an overwhelming majority of Moslems and Negros choose to live in ghettos with their own people.  Indigenous people stuck in these ghettos feel threatened and isolated, and quite naturally want to move away to be with people of their own race, culture and heritage.  It is not racist to wish for these things.  Clearly, the white South Africans realised that the Negro was incompatible with their way of life.  Consequently, they built townships where the Negros could live and follow their own culture and traditions free from interference from the white man – what a very compassionate and ethical thing to do!  As for Cecil Rhodes’ government not providing adequate housing for their Negro workers; well if one compares the abject poverty in which the labouring classes lived in the UK during that period, then it is clear that by comparison the Negro worker was treated quite well.  

It’s lazy journalism for modern-day writers to criticise the treatment of the Africans during Rhodes’ tenure of office.  A truer picture emerges when one considers how the poor were treated in Britain over the same period.  It is wrong to apply today’s morally decadent standards on events that happened over 100 years ago; when Christian values prevailed (and contrary to what the politically-correct establish may say) native peoples were treated with the utmost respect!

What did Rhodes and the British Empire do for the native people of Africa?

All one seems to hear nowadays is about the so-called atrocities that the British Empire inflicted onto the native populations; but our school-children learn nothing of the benefits bestowed on these native folk by the British colonialists. The benefits that the local tribes gained from the European settlers were numerous, and what follows are some examples:  

  

An Organised Structured and Civilized Society

  

Before the Europeans arrived in South Africa the local natives were a primitive tribal people with no government structure or written laws - they hadn’t even developed a written script for communicating with each other.  It wasn’t until the Europeans arrived that an orderly democratic structure was put in place to govern the country and make laws.  It is often stated that the local natives were denied any parliamentary representation; but one must remember that most working class men in the UK were also denied the vote until 1918, and women until 1928.  In the early days of colonisation the natives were left alone to govern themselves with no interference from the white settlers.  As new towns developed the local natives moved closer to them to seek employment as labourers, as that is all they were suitable for, as they had no skills, couldn’t speak English and were totally illiterate – clearly, it would be years before these people became sufficiently educated to participate in a democratic society.  This was apparent to the European settlers, so naturally they retained the governance of the nation within their own ethnic group.  What the natives now have is a highly functional political and social system inherited from the British with Cecil Rhodes at its helm – for that, they should be grateful.

Industrial and Agricultural Advancement

Before the Europeans arrived in South Africa the local natives had no understanding of science or engineering.  They were still basically a hunter-gather society, and what agriculture they did have was very rudimentary at a level similar to what would have been seen in the Fertile Crescent some 12,000 years ago.  It wasn’t until the Europeans arrived that technologically advanced machinery and highly productive agriculture techniques were witnessed by the local natives; they copied these practices, so allowing their populations to rise rapidly as food production increased. The gold and diamond mines provided opportunities for the natives to get well paid labouring jobs so increasing their standard of living as they, and their families moved into settlements close to the mines.  This enabled the more intelligent Negro who mastered the English language and understood the mining technology and practices to gain promotion, so improving their standard of living and status within their community.  Looking at the adjacent picture of mine workers it is hard to distinguish between the labourers and the skilled miners – hardly a master/slave situation – they all look as if they’re being exploited by big business concerns.   What the natives now have is highly functional agriculture and industries inherited from the British with Cecil Rhodes at its helm – for that, they should be grateful.

Civilised Communities and Metropolitan Infrastructure

Before the Europeans arrived in South Africa the local natives had no understanding of an organized and structured society.  Living in primitive tribal villages they had no sanitation and water was probably extracted from a nearby stream, hygiene was none existent.  The women would have spent most of their lives in the tribal village with maybe an occasional visit to the next settlement.   The coming of the Europeans changed all that: for they built a network of roads that connected all the towns together; railways were constructed to transport people and goods throughout the country; sewers and piped water systems were built to improve the hygiene of the towns; eventually these would be extended to incorporate the native settlements.  As electrical generation and distribution systems became established these too were eventually connected to the native settlements, so improving their standard of living.  Postal services and telephone systems were later introduced that would eventually be extended to cater for the native population.   What the natives now have are highly functional townships inherited from the British with Cecil Rhodes at its helm – for that, they should be grateful.

Education and Healthcare

Before the Europeans arrived in South Africa the local natives had no form of writing as they hadn’t invented a suitable alphabet, so they were a totally uneducated race of people.  Furthermore, apart from a few herbal recipes they had no medicines or means of treating physical injuries.  The coming of the European settlers changed all that such that: to get any job other than a manual labourer the native had to have a basic understanding of the English language together with basic numeracy; the native workers were given basic medical treatment for minor injuries so that they were able to perform their work tasks effectively and efficiently.  Before 1953, many black people attended schools set up by religious organisations; following the Bantu Education Act state schools provided schooling for all native children to the same quality that white children received.  Free healthcare for the natives was implemented in 1942 with the initial establishment of 44 community health centres within tribal lands, these were progressively increased as resources and facilities became available.  What the natives now have is free educational and healthcare systems inherited from the British with Cecil Rhodes at its helm – for that, they should be grateful.

How should Cecil Rhodes be remembered, and what should be done with those people who denigrate his name?

Although Cecil Rhodes was an imperialist and thought that expanding the British Empire would benefit the whole world, he certainly wasn’t a despot; nor did he enslave the local natives – he saw them as a source of cheap labour, just like the white working class.  His business acumen made him an extremely wealthy man, although some of his business practices are open to question – just like any other businessman of the era, Rockerfeller, Henry Ford, Getty etc.  What cannot be denied is that European settlement into South Africa together with the development of the gold and diamond mines brought much wealth into the area which immensely benefitted the local natives; and Rhodes was instrumental in this.  It is essential that our school children (both indigenous and ethnic) are taught about the good things that the British Empire brought to the world, in particular the benefits that native peoples gained from being a part of it.

As for those left-wing bigots who call for the removal of all Rhodes’ memorials; then these people should be arrested and charged for racial harassment, or whatever Hate Crime charge is applicable. 

It must be remembered that modern Africa owes everything to the white man for converting their countries from primitive feudal tribes into highly developed civilizations, with high-tech communication systems, transportation networks, efficient agriculture to mention only a few things.  What have Africans given the world, apart from HIV and AIDS?