BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 19. Colonialism is,
in many ways, one of the most complex and pressing issues of the
present era, said Sénamé Koffi Abgodjinou, anthropologist and board
member of the Black Civilization Museum, Trend reports.


Speaking at the international conference titled “Neocolonialism
and Global Inequality,” organized by the Baku Initiative Group,
Abgodjinou stressed that humanity is facing unprecedented
challenges.


“We are the first human generation confronted simultaneously
with three existential threats. In other words, the ability of our
species to sustain itself is under threat on three levels or in
three dimensions.


The first level is political. It is linked to the return of
wars, many of which are colonial wars or preventive wars. There is
also a technological threat. Today, all the processes generated by
digital technologies could potentially bring an end to the
dominance or even the continuity of our species. On the other hand,
there is an ecologically well-documented scientific threat. This
danger stems from the depletion of the planet’s resources and
pushing it into such a crisis that it can no longer regenerate
itself,” he said.


The anthropologist noted that humanity’s capacity to restore the
planet to a sustainable level is increasingly limited.


“Such periods are favorable for the emergence of ‘monsters.’ It
seems that we are indeed in a phase where many ‘monsters’ are
appearing. I believe they all share the colonial question. Whether
it is the ecological threat, the danger linked to digital
technologies, or the political threat emerging against the backdrop
of the plundering of international law, all of these are, in a
certain sense, colonial threats. In this regard, colonialism
remains one of the central and most difficult issues of our time,”
he added.


The Baku Initiative Group (BIG) was created on July 6, 2023, in
Baku, Azerbaijan, to fight colonialism and neocolonialism. It
promotes self-determination for French, Dutch, and
Belgian-colonized regions. BIG organizes over 30 international
conferences, supports colonial freedom movements through discourse
and legal activism, and connects with over 20 states. The
institution reports to the UN on decolonization, reparations, human
rights, and environmental challenges in colonized regions. BIG, led
by executive director Abbas Abbasov, works with French overseas
territories on minority rights concerns as a decolonization
platform complying with international law.


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