ALBERTO MORAVIA
393
nature for which the African, facing problems of economic under–
development and social and cultural backwardness analagous to those
of Asia, prefers instead the Western solutions. The "irrational" reasons
for this preference can be reduced
to
three: the first is colonialism
which, precisely because it is older, crueler and stronger here than
anywhere else, has driven the Africans to adopt the culture of those
very colonialists against whom they revolted: and this is due in part to
the fact that in those cultures one finds the most effective antidote
against the evils that they brought about, and in part to the relation–
ship of attraction and repulsion that is always established between the
executioner and the victim. The second reason is the individualistic
nature of the African culture: Africa has never known the great
centralizing and bureaucratic empires so diffuse in Asia; outside of the
tribes, or of the family, the African was always as free as a bird in air
or a fish in water. The third reason is the particular character of the
magical and fetishistic religions of Africa which are not an obstacle,
like Buddhism or Mohammedanism, to the understanding and acceptance
of modern industrial civilization, but rather a stimulus to that under–
standing and acceptance exactly because of whatever there is of the
magical and of the fetishistic in the machine. To these three reasons,
one could add a fourth which has its origin in the infantile character of
the African: neo-capitalism with its infinite mass-produced products of
light industry, all well-made, ingenious and almost always superfluous,
fascinates the Africans in the same way that the copper wires and glass
beads of Venice fascinated them when the adventurers of one or two
centuries ago offered them in exchange for gold, ivory and precious
woods.
For the Africans, neo-capitalism is therefore everything that provides
happiness in this life; in this sense, contrasted with the Asians who
have accepted the severe Marxist humanism, the African is eudaemonistic.
These are my thoughts as I walk down the main street of Accra,
through the most multicolored crowd I've ever seen in my life. What
an incredible and cheerful sight: between the two lines of uneven
mismatched buildings swarms a multitude dressed in fabrics of the
most brilliant colors and the boldest designs imaginable. The men wrap
these fabrics around their bodies in the style of Roman togas, from the
head to the feet, leaving the neck, one shoulder and arm bare; the
women wear them tight at the hips and the bosom like evening dresses
for La Scala or the Metropolitan; kerchiefs of the same material wound
around their heads with and tied into enormous bows that give the
im-
