Colonialism is a central theme in several of the pieces I have read this term for my English literature class; this is not surprising considering many of them were written during an era where this was actively happening. While colonising foreign lands is a thing of the past, the impacts of the colonial legacy are still being felt today, perhaps nowhere more so than in Africa. This being said, political and military interventions in former colonies are still common practice, although whether or not they are any more welcome than the original colonists is a different story. According to French president Francois Hollande, however, military intervention is necessary to deescalate the current situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), where Christian groups are rebelling against the successful coup of Muslim (former) rebels.

Reading this news story, I was instantly reminded of the war between Lilliput and the Blefuscu in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. The situation in the CAR is proof that the petty, religion based wars Swift showed so much disdain for are still a major source of conflict in the world today. Just like the war between the states of miniature people, this conflict is essentially being caused by two different interpretations of the same basic story. The only distinguishing factor between the two groups fighting in the CAR is their religion, just like the Lilliputians and the Blefuscans. At the end of the day, the biggest difference between Christianity and Islam is who the prophet of God was, while for the Lilliputians and Blefuscans the issue was “which end of an egg is the convenient one.” Instead of military intervention, maybe the French should provide the CAR with a couple million copies of The Life of Pi.