Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-12-Speech-3-124"
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"en.20000412.3.3-124"2
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"The solemn declaration of the first EU-Africa summit in Cairo opens by stating, and I quote: “Over the centuries, ties have existed between Africa and Europe ... developed on the basis of shared values of strengthening representative and participatory democracy”.
Given that this secular past was a story of slavery, massacres, forced labour, plundering, colonial conquests and oppression, during which the rich European countries bled that continent dry, we can only wonder what is the most shameful aspect: the pride of the representatives of the imperialist countries or the baseness of the local Heads of State who agreed to co-sign such a declaration, on the pretence that they were doing so in the name of their peoples.
We express our solidarity with these African peoples who have paid a heavy price to our ruling classes; and it is not even enough for us to cancel a debt that has already been largely repaid. Genuine cooperation with Africa could only begin if we return to the people of that continent what was stolen from them over a century of colonisation and is still being stolen from them today.
Genuine cooperation on an equal footing can only be established between Europe and Africa if they are no longer in thrall to industrial and banking groups that grow rich on exploiting the working classes of the two continents.
In view of these circumstances, we voted against the joint resolution that welcomes the Cairo summit, while voting for the only amendment that contains concrete proposals."@en1
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