Editor, RE: “Context is very important in any democratic dispensation” (The New Times, January 7). The author asked whether the “masters” consider Africans as normal human beings who can think and are able to make their own informed decisions. The answer is, no; they don’t. As Edward Said rightly observed, all colonial (and by extension all imperialist) schemes begin with an assumption of native backwardness and general inadequacy to be independent, equal and fit. It is this mindset that makes them believe they have the right to deprive you and me of our freedom to decide for ourselves. The right way to counter that risk is to leave no doubt you are unwilling to accept that subordination and are prepared to resist their attempts at your domination with all the force available to you. Mwene Kalinda
