Many desperate people from Africa, Asia and Middle East are now making perilous journeys in thousands in an attempt to reach Europe in pursuit of green pastures.  Italy’s ports have become the modern-time Kilwa, Mafia, Dakar or Lamu for Africans to enter Europe as it was for Europeans. Europe is grappling with the heavy load of invaders just as Africa did when Europeans invaded and colonized her in the seventeenth century.

While the poor but energetic and ambitious Africans are called a calamity due to the danger they pose to the economies and cultures of European countries, it is sad that Indians and Arabs who ‘invaded’ Africa are not seen with the same lenses. Is it because of racism or ignorance?

Is history repeating itself or the law of reciprocity based on times is displaying its nature? It is time to tell Europe to stop worrying for no reasons. These folks are heroes who want to help poor relatives made poor by black colonialists.

Europe needs to open doors, borders and hearts the same way Africa did when Europeans inundated Africa in search of spheres of influence that later became colonies. They did not have passports the same way our people are doing now. Fortunately, Africans are not going there to rob or colonize them. But they’re going there to work because they’re good and hard workers. If Europeans flooded Africa in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, what’s wrong with Africans flooding Europe in the twenty first century as the sign of reciprocity?

European countries need to learn about the globalization they introduced to the world. They must do so by using the waves of economic immigrants. European countries need to understand that what’s going on is, essentially, the real product of their plundering policies. Europeans should invest in Africa and create jobs; they won’t see the assemblages of Africans coming to their doors to destroy and infringe on European cultures and standards.

By Nkwazi Mhango

Author of Saa ya Ukombozi, Nyuma ya Pazia and Soul on Sale. His books Born with Voice, Fikra za Kimapinduzi and Africa -Reunite or Perish will be out soon.