Aimé Césaire's essay discusses European hypocrisy that existed for many years throughout European history. Césaire studied liberal ideas that had germinated during the Enlightenment or Age of Reason, a time when many new ideas were arising. Reason was used to guide the actions of people and nations; religion was no longer the main force. Science has become extremely important because it provides answers to questions. With the Enlightenment came the ideas of liberalism. Before the Age of Reason, monarchies governed the people. There was great poverty and disparity between social classes; people were disillusioned. People wanted change and the Enlightenment provided ideas of liberalism. The people wanted the rights they deserved as a people. This era inspired the creation of the Declaration of Independence in the United States and in France the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen; this inspired other countries to fight for their rights. These ideas in Europe asserted that the individual has the right to liberty, civil liberties, and the right to govern himself; that’s liberalism. The Age of Reason pushed industrialization and technological innovation to the forefront. Industrialization began in the late 18th century, with Britain giving it a 50-year technological advantage, and spread to the rest of Europe. Industrialization gave these industrialized countries great advantages over non-industrialized countries in military, transportation, and communications. For example, the cotton gin machine enabled more cotton production than ever before done manually. The idea of ​​the assembly line allowed for greater productivity, which allowed for faster production of weapons. T...... middle of paper ...... When people wanted to become civilized as the white man wanted by getting roads and ports, Europeans denied them roads and ports. These people who claimed to want to civilize them prevented them from doing so; and these atrocious acts they committed against these non-white people dehumanized the colonizer. Aimé Césaire had every reason to think that capitalism was, in short, a devil. When Hitler attempted to conquer European countries, European countries were outraged by his actions. What Hitler did to them was the same thing other Western Europeans did to non-European peoples. The only reason they were outraged was because it was being done to them. (Aimé Césaire 36) Imperialism and colonization had lasting consequences due to the notion of superiority that the white man helped to foster racism which still exists today although on a smaller scale..