The New Age of Empire - How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule The World by Kehinde Andrews

Happy Black History Month Folks,

I want to recommend this book 'The New Age of Empire - How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule The World' to everyone, especially for this Black History Month.

Kehinde Andrews' book is a sharp, unapologetic dismantling of the West’s grand narrative, which presents itself as the beacon of progress and civilisation. We are currently seeing how neo-colonialism leaves deep and still-visible scars in places like Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Kashmir etc.

Andrews' work resonates on a visceral level. It pushes us to reconsider everything we’ve been taught about how the world came to be structured as it is. What Andrews does, in essence, is tear down the romanticised story of Western superiority and replace it with a brutal truth: the West's so-called success is built on genocide, slavery, and colonialism. The book argues that it wasn’t the Enlightenment or the Industrial Revolution that led to the West’s dominance. Instead, it was the systemic exploitation of people and resources, from Africa to India, trans-Atlantic slavery and settler colonialism from the United States, Latin America and Australia where millions from Europe migrated and the genocide of the Indigenous population was almost total, that funded and fueled West’s rise.

I was particularly struck by Andrews' analysis of how scientific rationality was twisted during the Enlightenment to justify White supremacy. And it talks It is the same logic that allowed the British to see themselves as "civilising" India while draining our wealth and enforcing subjugation. He clarifies that these intellectual frameworks weren’t just ideas but the backbone of violence, exploitation, and empire. Andrews does something crucial by challenging the Marxist notion that class is the most important lens through which we understand capitalism. He points out that capitalism itself is a product of colonialism. It was through the wealth generated from the transatlantic slave trade, the pillaging of colonies like in Asia and Africa, and the destruction of indigenous populations that Europe was able to industrialise in the first place. As someone from a country that was looted by the British Empire, this rings all too true.

Industrial labour in Europe was built on the backs of millions of colonised people, who were reduced to nothing more than raw materials in this grand machine of Western development. The book is also a timely critique of how colonial structures continue to operate in the modern world. Andrews shows how organisations like the IMF and World Bank, much like the East India Company of old, continue to control and exploit countries in the Global South under the guise of development and financial aid. It makes it clear how Western powers offer loans and economic interventions that serve their capitalist interests, not ours, locking economies in the global south into cycles of dependency.

The book also offers an insightful and accessible 101 on the Palestinian struggle, connecting it to the broader context of colonialism and imperialism, making it essential reading for anyone looking to understand the roots and ongoing dynamics of the ongoing settler colonial project in the Middle East. What resonated most deeply with me was Andrews' focus on how non-Western powers like China and India, despite their rise, aren’t really breaking the system. Instead, they’re adapting to the same colonial logic that the West built. This is a sobering realisation for those who think that just because a country is no longer colonised, it is truly free. Economic and political sovereignty, Andrews reminds us, cannot be achieved within the framework of global capitalism that still bears the marks of colonial exploitation. My only gripe is that he didn't dig deep into the role of Caste that dictates the workers' struggles in India.

One of the most powerful sections of the book for me was Andrews' critique of successive UK government, which, with its "hostile environment" policy and the Windrush Scandal, reminds us that the imperialist mindset is not a relic of the past but continues to shape Western governance today. It is the same colonial mindset that justified the British Raj, manifesting now in racist immigration policies and the exploitation of migrants that continues today and that culminated in the recent riots of summer 2024.

This book is a must-read, especially for those of us in post-colonial nations. Andrews doesn’t just give us a history lesson; he exposes the colonial roots of modern global power and forces us to confront how deeply embedded these systems are in the very fabric of our current world. His critiques of Enlightenment thinking, Marxism, and the idea of "free movement" and Universal Basic Income are eye-opening. If we are to dismantle these structures and truly move toward liberation, we must first understand how they were built. Andrews’ work is a crucial guide for that journey.

Thank you for the recommendation, Lamley Sinclair .

#BlackHistoryMonth #Book #BookRecommendation

P.S. Opinions expressed here are mine and don't reflect my employers or anyone else.