Divide and Conquer (Rule)

Divide and Conquer (Rule)
Dissecting the Middle East and Africa

Divide and conquer is an extremely interesting theory. In Politic and sociology, according to Wikipedia, “is combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy.” This is as simple as it gets. To truly understand this theory look no further than to the Middle East and Africa.

The Middle East and Africa are continents that are in constant flux. Here are two continents with massive amount of natural resources but are not united. These continents have natural resources from Oil, Diamond, Gold, Bauxite, Cocoa, Coffee, Iron Ore, Cotton, and Livestock to name a few. Most of these resources do not benefit population but instead they are export to other countries. I find it ironic because two continents with all these natural resources are consider third world countries. How did these early civilization take a step back in their evolution?

The first know civilization is the Mesopotamia (an area around the Tigris-Euphrates River). This area is present day Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. According to Wikipedia it was know as the cradle of civilization. This part of the Middle East had a complex civilization that included language, writing, science, technology, government, religion, economy, culture, ritual and they celebrated life through massive feasts, festivals and holidays. Presently, these countries look like they are just discovering civilization.

Africa also had a several well develop civilization. We had the Ancient Egypt, Ghana, Kush, Mali, Songhay, etc. Ancient Egypt is the first known civilization in Africa. It ran along the Nile River. This was a civilization that adapted to the condition of Nile River Valley. According to Wikipedia, it’s achievement where in mathematic, quarrying, surveying, and construction techniques. Ancient Egypt legacy was in the arts and architectures. Some of these wonders are the pyramids, temples, libraries, and literatures. They also created a practical and effective system of medicine. Except for the arts, literatures, and architectures, current day Egypt is far from its Ancient form.

So what went wrong with these two continents? We know that Empire rises and Fall. In every civilization that has fail is due to some form of greed. Take Ancient Egypt for example, their need to expand their borders to show its power and might was the catalyst for its fall. The more land they acquired the more power they gain over new population, wealth, and military. The problem with over extending is that it decentralized absolute power. The invasion of other culture leads to another problem. Lack of first hand knowledge of these cultures begins to undermine the authority of the invader. History keeps repeating itself because we don’t seem to have learned from it.

Can these two continents every gain the glory once created by their ancestors? Yes, they can but must take major steps outline below. Unity is the key to success. United we stand divide we fall which is basically divide and conquer. If we are united as people no want can divide us and without division, no want can conquer us. The Middle East and Africa needs to:

· Create Accountability
· Transparency
· Educate the massive (Public Education for all)
· Eliminate barbaric rules and laws
· Use their natural resources to build up their infrastructure and economy
· Country Wealth are not passed down through birth
· Stop manipulating your population by playing on their differences

(Religion, Ethnicity, and Class structure)
· Freedom of movement without harassment or demanding of bribes
· Open and Fair Election
· No one Above the Lord (not even Royalty or Presidents)
· Strong Criminal justice System
· Need leaders that are looking out for all and Not just for themselves
· Create a Lobby System (don’t allow corruption)

Implementing above list will point them in the right directions. We should take care of own before we reach out to others. If these continents had these things in place most of it population will remind within their own border instead of seeking it else where. We can create save environment that foster development and advancement that we can all marvelous at and have our children pride off. Our ancestor will smile in their grave to know that their hard work did not go in vain.

The best way to eliminate the divide and conquer theory is to remember that you are one people unity for a cause. It does not matter that you are Iraqi or Iranian the fact is that you’re from the Middle East make you brothers/sisters. It also should not matter that you’re Liberian or South African because you too are African first. We should look for what connect us rather than what make us different. Remember before there were civilization in Europe, the Middle East and African had it.