FRANCE FLEECING AFRICA: A SIMPLE GUIDE

In this clip, US radio personality Ebro Darden (@EbroInTheAm on X) speaks with German actor of Ghanaian descent Boris Kodjoe (@BorisKodjoe on X) about France’s continued exploitation of Francophone countries in Africa post-independence. As a condition for independence, the West African countries had to agree to terms that ensured they remained under France’s control and French interests were maintained. One such predatory agreement was that the African nations in the CFA Franc Zone were required to keep at least 50% of their reserves in France under the pretext of ensuring ‘currency stability.’

Continued……. France also had the right-of-first-refusal on the extraction and sale of their natural resources. This meant they had to offer their resources to France first before any other buyers - and at a fraction of what these minerals were actually worth on the market. Thus, while Paris continued to develop at their expense, the mineral-rich countries remained poor and independent only in name without genuine sovereignty.

However, recently there has been a shift, with Sahelian countries Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, for example, cutting ties with France and refusing to remain in Paris’ financial stranglehold.

Sources:

https://www.cadtm.org/Africa-How-France-Continues-to-Dominate-Its-Former-Colonies-in-Africa

https://www.crossbordertalks.eu/2024/05/08/france-africa/

https://report.az/en/foreign-politics/zahid-oruj-france-earns-400-500b-annually-from-africa-as-colonial-tax/

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/739771.shtml

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/5/24/africa-is-not-poor-we-are-stealing-its-wealth

https://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/africa-subsidises-rest-world-40-billion-one-year-according-new-research

https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/historical_materials/1957980/?

Continued……Many children have become separated from their families amidst the chaos, with more than 1,100 identified in the first two weeks of February. The constant threat of bombardment and gunfire has left Congolese youth vulnerable to abduction, recruitment and s*xual violence.

For over three decades, s*xual violence against women and girls has marked the Western-backed resource conflict in DRC. Gathering accurate statistics is challenging, as many victims hesitate to come forward due to the stigma attached.

The UN reports that more than 700,000 people have been displaced since January, adding to the about 7 million internally displaced as of last year. By 2010, around 6 million had lost their lives, with many more uncounted since then, in a brutal Western-backed resource war involving 120 foreign-backed militia groups competing for control over DRC’s estimated $24 trillion in mineral resources. M23 stands out as the most organised of these rebel factions, with multiple UN reports indicating Western-backed Rwanda and Uganda support them.

Sources:

https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-eastern-democratic-republic-congo-increasingly-exposed-sexual-violence

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgy0d3pgv0o

https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sexual-violence-survivors-democratic-republic-congo

https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/children-young-nine-face-mass-sexual-violence-and-mutilation-drc-save-children

THEY DENY OUR CULTURE YET FILL MUSEUMS WITH IT!

Europeans long portrayed Africans as lacking culture. And yet they couldn’t resist stealing our cultural treasures in their thousands and putting them in museums around the world - if private collectors didn’t snap them up for a small fortune first.

Experts reckon over 80% of plundered African artefacts remain in European museums. The British Museum, for example, holds over 70,000; Belgium’s Royal Museum nearly 200,000; another 75,000 are in Germany’s Ethnological Museum; and France’s Quai Branly Museum keeps almost 70,000. The list goes on.

In this clip, pan-African academic PLO Lumumba argues that one reason Europeans stripped us of our culture was to erase our identity - and thereby make the task of subjugating our people easier.

Video Credit: Kabalega Foundation (YouTube)

JAMAICANS BARRED FROM OWN BEACHES: END THE BAN!

Imagine living on a beautiful island with picturesque beaches - but you’re not allowed to visit them.

That’s what life is like for Jamaicans, where less than 1% of the sandy coastline is open to the public. It’s a colonial legacy of the 1956 Beach Control Act, which grants private landowners extensive - almost exclusive - rights over coastal areas, effectively barring residents from enjoying their own shores.

As a result of this exclusion, prime beachfronts are predominantly reserved for private entities and foreign tourists, with Jamaicans marginalised in their homeland.

Under British rule, laws were instituted to favour the interests of the colonial power and its economic expansion at the expense of the local community. Although Jamaica achieved independence, these colonial-era statutes persist, perpetuating stark social and economic disparities.

Continued……This clip is part of a campaign calling for an end to the colonial-era beach law. In it, @mikaelaloach argues that denying locals access to their natural resources not only infringes upon their rights but also undermines their cultural heritage and identity.

It’s a prime example of exclusionary colonial practices creating systemic inequities impacting the quality of life of Jamaicans today, even after their so-called independence from the UK in 1962.

Video credit: @mikaelaloachy

Sources

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/banned-from-the-beach-jamaican-locals-want-their-ocean-access-back/ix0zj00x3

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/second-class-citizens-why-locals-in-this-island-nation-cant-use-its-stunning-beaches/o76xj99ac

https://globalvoices.org/2023/10/15/an-overseas-media-report-reignites-jamaicas-longstanding-concern-regarding-limited-beach-access/

https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/world-news/2024/11/27/jamaicans-fight-colonial-era-beach-law-in-court/