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‘Good coloniser’ myth persists as Italy turns again to Africa for energy security

Historians agree that hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed under Italian colonial rule

Published

6 months ago

October 28, 2023

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'Good coloniser' myth persists as Italy turns again to Africa for energy security

Italy’s government is eyeing Africa in pursuit of energy security, even as some officials defend Rome’s often-bloody colonial past on the continent — giving short shrift to historical accuracy.

Historians agree that hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed under Italian colonial rule in Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and what is now Somalia from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th.

Yet Italy’s deputy foreign minister, Edmondo Cirielli, said in June that the country’s presence on the continent was “civilising”, without bloodshed or repression.

“Whether before or during Fascism… (Italy) in Africa built and created a civilising culture” in its colonies, said Cirielli, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, borrowing the “good colonisers” myth popular on the far right.

“Our ancient and thousand-year-old culture does not make us a people of pirates who go around plundering the world,” Cirielli said, in comments that raised eyebrows among historians and the left-wing opposition.

Unlike Germany reconciling with its Nazi past or France with its occupation of Algeria, Italy has been slow to embark on public soul-searching about its colonial history.

But opposition lawmakers have now drafted a bill to establish a “Day of Remembrance for the victims of Italian colonialism” in the four African countries.

The suggested date is February 19, which marks the start of a massacre of Ethiopian civilians by Italian troops in Addis Ababa in 1937.

“Other countries such as Belgium and Germany have apologised for the crimes of colonialism,” said Laura Boldrini, an MP for the centre-left Democratic Party who co-authored the bill.

“In Italy, we tend to deny and tell ourselves that ‘Italy, good people’ built roads, hospitals and schools,” she said.
Boldrini, a former head of the lower house of parliament, said right-wing newspapers had written disparaging articles about the text, “and this government does not take colonial crimes seriously”.

The bill has little chance of being adopted given the opposition of Meloni’s coalition, which has a parliamentary majority.

‘HISTORY OF VIOLENCE’

Alessandro Pes, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Cagliari, said the “stereotype of the ‘good coloniser’ has no significant historical foundation”.

Rather, that rhetoric “hid a desire for colonial expansion carried out through the use of violence and the forced subordination of colonised populations”, Pes told AFP.

Italy’s eyes turned to expansion after it became a unified state in 1861, with the young nation anxious to establish a toehold in Africa in competition with other European powers.

It sought “to resolve the big problems of unemployment and social malaise in Italy” by exporting workers to newly-occupied territories in the Horn of Africa, said Uoldelul Chelati Dirar, a professor of African history at the University of Macerata.

Differing from its European rivals, however, Italy developed more infrastructure like roads, bridges and railways while in Africa, something right-wing politicians are quick to point out, he said.

Those investments have fuelled the “good people” myth that is deeply rooted in Italian society, “reflected in the extreme resistance to accepting the evidence that our history has also been a history of violence, exploitation and racism”, added Pes.

British historian Ian Campbell estimates that Italy’s occupation of Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and then-Italian Somaliland caused 700,000 African deaths.

This includes 150,000 people killed in Libya alone during the Fascist era under Benito Mussolini, Chelati Dirar said.

EDUCATIONAL GAP?

In 2008, Silvio Berlusconi, then prime minister, signed a deal with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to pay $5 billion in investments to compensate for what the premier called “damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era”.

But little is taught in Italian schools today about this aspect of its past, prompting some historians to make a link between an educational gap and modern-day racism.

Meanwhile, Meloni has criticised Italy’s European partners and fellow colonial powers — without naming them — during speeches addressed to African nations, as she seeks new deals on energy and access to raw materials.

Earlier this month in the Republic of Congo, she called for “an approach that is not the predatory and paternalistic one that has characterised relations with certain countries in the past”.

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Business

A sigh of relief as inflation at lowest ebb of 17.3pc in two years

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1 hour ago

May 2, 2024

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A sigh of relief as inflation at lowest ebb of 17.3pc in two years

Pakistan’s consumer price inflation has come down to 17.3 per cent in April, the lowest during the preceding two years, data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) says.

Pakistan has been beset by inflation above 20pc since May 2022, registering as high as 38pc in May 2023, as it has gone through reforms as part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme.

Month-on-month inflation is down 0.4pc, showing negative growth for the first time since June 2023.

The Finance Ministry in its monthly economic report said it expected inflation to hover between 18.5pc and 19.5pc in April and ease further in May to 17.5pc-18.5pc.

“The inflation trajectory is slowing primarily on account of food inflation which has slowed down considerably,” said Faizan Kamran, chief executive of a Karachi-based investment and research company.

Kamran added that he expected inflation to fall into single digits in the next five to six months.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) maintained its key interest rate unchanged at 22pc for the seventh straight policy meeting on Monday, hours before the donor agency executive board approved $1.1 billion in funding under a $3 billion standby arrangement signed last year.

Pakistan receives last tranche from IMF

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) received SDR 828 million (around $1.1 billion) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday – a day after the Fund approved the last tranche for Pakistan under the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).

In a statement, the SBP said the amount would reflect in the foreign exchange reserves for the week ending on May 3.

Last week, the SBP said its foreign exchange reserves dropped by $74 million to $7.981 billion (in the week ending on April 19) because of external debt repayments.

IMF greenlights $1.1bn tranche

On Monday, the IMF approved disbursement of $1.1 billion tranche, concluding the second bailout package in eight years. The board met in Washington and completed the second review. It is learnt that all board members, except India, favoured the last installment for Pakistan.

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Business

Czech central bank cuts a key interest rate again with inflation down and the economy on the mend

Published

2 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Czech central bank cuts a key interest rate again with inflation down and the economy on the mend

The Czech Republic’s central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate for the fourth straight time as inflation dropped and the economy showed signs of recovery.

The cut by a half-percentage point brought the interest rate down to 5.25%. The move was expected by analysts.

The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, which marked the first cut since June 22, 2022. It continued with a cut by a half-percentage point on Feb. 8 and went on by another half-percentage cut on March 20.

Inflation declined to 10.7% in 2023 from 15.1% in 2022, according to the Czech Statistics Office, and dropped to 2.0% year-on-year in February, which equals the bank’s target, and remained unchanged at the same level in March.

The Czech economy was up by 0.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, and increased by 0.5% compared with the last three months of the previous year, the preliminary figures released by Statistics Office indicated on Tuesday.

That came after the Czech economy contracted by 0.2% in the last three months of 2023 compared with a year earlier.

The Czech bank’s decision comes as central banks around the world, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, are trying to judge whether toxic inflation has been tamed to the point that they can start cutting rates.

The European Central Bank left its key rate benchmarks unchanged at a record high of 4% in April, but signaled it could cut interest rates at its next meeting in June.

But the U.S. Federal Reserve emphasized earlier this week that inflation has remained stubbornly high in recent months and said it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has “greater confidence” that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target.

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Business

Neelum Jhelum Power Plant shutdown for physical inspection of head race tunnel

Published

2 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Neelum Jhelum Power Plant shutdown for physical inspection of head race tunnel

The Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Plant was shut shutdown yesterday for a physical inspection of its head race tunnel to locate the problem which led to a decrease in pressure a month ago.

Once the problem is traced, a comprehensive plan will be chalked out in coordination with the project consultants and the international experts for undertaking remedial works to rectify the issue, said a press release.

According to the details, a sudden change in the head race tunnel pressure was observed on April 2, 2024. As per the advice of the Project Consultants for the safety of the head race tunnel, the project management kept operating the plant at a restricted generation of 530 MW since April 6 to monitor fluctuation in the head race tunnel pressure.

Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Plant continued generating about 530 MW of electricity till April 29 without any issue. However, at 2257 hours on April 29, further change in the head race tunnel pressure was observed. Subsequently, the generation was gradually reduced but the pressure could not sustain within the safe limits as per the advice of the Project Consultants.

Keeping in view the safety of the head race tunnel and the powerhouse, the plant was shut down at 0600 hours on May 1 for a physical inspection of the head race tunnel to identify the problem of reduced pressure. Consequent to the detailed discussion with the consultants for dewatering of the 48 Km-long tunnel, the intake gates at the dam site were lowered for flushing of the de-sanders.

The dewatering started from the powerhouse side on the same day. The dewatering will be executed at intervals for the safety of the tunnel.

It is important to note that Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project has been constructed in a weak geological and seismic-prone area. It has a 51.5 Km-long tunnel system. Its head race tunnel is 48 Km long, while the tail race tunnel is 3.5 Km-long. About 90% of the project is underground. Earlier, the plant was shut down in 2022 for repair of the tail race tunnel downstream of the powerhouse. After completion of the repair and rehabilitation work, the plant resumed electricity generation in August 2023.

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