" And so the strike came to Theis. An unlimited strike which for many along the whole length of the railroad, was a time for suffering, but for many was a time for thought. When the smoke from the trains no longer drifted from the savanna, they realize that an age had ended--an age their elders had told them about, when all of Africa was just a garden for food. Now the machines ruled over their lands, and when they forced every machine within a thousand miles to halt they became conscious of their strength, but also of their dependence. They began to understand that the machine was making them a whole new breed of men. It did not belong to them; it was they who belonged to it. "

― Ousmane Sembène