The new colonialism

The left continues to condemn colonialism.  Western nations taking over “third world” countries was indeed morally problematic and the source of many problems today in our “post-colonial” world.  But today the left is championing a “new colonialism,” one that insists on imposing the modern West’s views of sexual permissiveness, contraception, and abortion on cultures that recoil from them.  Now Pope Francis is speaking out against this “ideological colonialism.”

Maybe this will encourage the left to abandon multi-culturalism and moral relativism!  Then again, those are the ideas they are trying to impose on traditional cultures.

From Grazie Pozo Christie,  Pope Africa Visit — Condemns Ideological Colonialism | National Review Online:

Pope Francis wrapped up his visit to Africa last week, having received exuberant welcomes in Uganda, Kenya, and the Central African Republic. Before departing the continent, during a visit to Kangemi, a slum in Nairobi, the pontiff alluded to how the rich and powerful West continues to exercise its considerable influence on the African nations. Specifically, he condemned “ideological colonialism”: the relentless effort by the West to impose its values regarding family and sexuality on the African people as a condition of economic assistance.

All those who decry the long history of European and American paternalism and colonialism should be aware that they continue in this new form — ideological rather than military. Powerful and heavily funded actors such as the U.N., the World Health Organization, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ignore the rich cultural contexts of the African nations in favor of promoting their own social ideologies. Their purpose is to force cultural changes in the areas of sexuality, family, and reproduction. To be fair, their efforts are mostly made in good faith, based on the view that the loose family arrangements in the West and its rapidly shrinking birthrates (approaching zero) are great boons that the West should export.

The most egregious of these efforts are aimed at lowering the birth rate through sterilization, contraception, and abortion.

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