Overview

"This book chronicles Jooa and Tolu's struggle to carry forth Coco's dream of rebuilding Tokoan identity and autonomy amidst the lingering shadows of colonialism. It is an interrogation of internalised oppression and imagination of decolonized futures. Their journey forces painful confrontations with history and visions of radical healing. Ultimately, it is a quest to redefine on their own terms what it means to be Tokoan after generations of alien subjugation. The question ""Who am I?"" is one that goes to the heart of the Tokoan condition. Though Toko had finally thrown off the shackles of alien colonisation, Coco knew in his heart that true freedom was still elusive. As he approached the end of his life, he worried that the window for building an independent Tokoan future was closing. The youths Jooa and Tolu represented the generation who would determine their planet's destiny. On a hilltop overlooking the sprawling capital of Opeki, Coco poured out his concerns and they listened intently. Despite its vast natural riches and large youth population, Opeki remained mired in poverty. The brains and talents of its people were drained away to alien worlds instead of being invested locally. After the colonists were expelled, the Tokoan leaders failed to unite the diverse nations into a cohesive force. Fragmentation left them vulnerable to neocolonialism - the aliens no longer ruled directly but manipulated Toko economically and culturally. Coco warned that without unity and self-reliance, the Tokoans risked sliding back into servitude. The lure of joining the advanced interplanetary economy promoted by the aliens tempted many to leave, Coco acknowledged. But he saw the exodus of skilled workers and academics as betraying the dream of independence. With Opeki's oil, diamonds, gold and ecological capital, they possessed vast wealth. Yet this flowed to aliens and left ordinary Tokoans impoverished. Opeki exemplified the paradox of poverty amidst plenty inflicted by neocolonial forces. Alien corporations returned to commercially exploit Opeki's minerals and agricultural exports. Instead of nationalising their own resources, the post-independence leaders allowed alien interests to dominate the economy once again. Farmers worked land leased from alien owners while urban workers laboured for alien-run factories. Opeki was caught in an extractive system which enriched outsiders while keeping locals in deprivation. The education system was also designed to serve alien agendas by training Opeki youth as a low-cost source of intellectual capital for their companies and institutions. Alien languages and curriculums had squeezed out Tokoan knowledge. As a result, Opeki's brightest minds found they could only thrive by emigrating. This brain drain left a shortage of proficient professionals and leaders to develop the country. The cycle of poverty became entrenched. Coco described how in his youth Opeki was self-sufficient in food using traditional agricultural techniques and communal land stewardship. But those practices were disrupted by cash-crop plantations run by the colonisers. Dependence replaced sustainability. Now the aliens' genetically engineered imports had displaced native crops entirely, forcing Opeki to exchange their minerals and oil just to eat. An economy once structured to nourish the people had been transformed into one leeching their wealth"

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