Since 1918, November 11th is the day the world remembers the atrocities of the World Wars and stands in solidarity with the men and women that lost their lives in the name of European liberation. However, what seems to be lost in our collective memory and erased from our history books are the contributions made by Africans on the continent and in the diaspora. What is particularly interesting are the nuances highlighted by Africa’s involvement in safeguarding Europe, as they relate to European hypocrisy and anti-colonial nationalism.

These are the conditions faced by up to two million Uighurs Muslims in western China's Xinjiang region. Yet, in July 2019, as countries condemned the Chinese state at the UN, 37 countries banded together to defend China’s human rights record and dismissed the countless reports on the mass detention and torture.

What stood out from the letter submitted in China’s defence was the composition of its signatories, with overwhelming Chinese support coming from a number of Middle Eastern and African states.

In the turn of the 21st century, Africa was regarded as “the hopeless continent”. Africa had lost its strategic position in the post-Cold War environment and became the playground for Western states to exercise their ‘transformative’ ambitions and self-interest, under the veil democracy and good governance. The continent no longer had the power to leverage two superpowers against each other for resources. Capitalism had won. Now, Africa was met with international indifference.

Tuesday 11th September 2001.

The towers fell.

Twelve days later, in his State of the Union Address, George W. Bush uttered the words:

The world loves talking about developing countries. We sit, discuss, and argue about why they are not growing, why they are, why they are corrupt, and how we can do business in them.

Developing countries are in. They are the new ‘sexy’ thing.