France seeks to rebrand itself as a partner of African sovereignty rather than as a custodian of neocolonialism while the living legacy of anti-colonial resistance across Africa remains a decisive force.
Burkina Faso has been trapped in neocolonial underdevelopment for nearly all of its post-independence history – can the new government of Ibrahim Traoré follow in Thomas Sankara’s footsteps and change course?
Most countries of the Sahel were under French rule for almost a century before they emerged from direct colonialism in 1960, only to slip into neocolonial structures persisting today, writes Vijay Prashad.
Every empire falls and the fantasy of American exceptionalism doesn’t exempt the U.S., writes Wilmer J. Leon, III. Yet the failing hegemon behaves as though it still controls events, but instead creates worldwide danger.
Rather than send troops in response to the coup, France and the U.S. seem to favor a “Rwanda” type solution applied in Mozambique, writes Vijay Prashad. Only this time ECOWAS would apply force.
The Economic Community of West African States imposes strict, Western-approved economic measures that have spurred a flurry of military insurrections across the region, writes Alan MacLeod.
France and the U.S. have been blindsided by popular support for Niger’s coup, as the trend towards multipolarity emboldens Africans to confront neo-colonial exploitation, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar.
Each of these coups was led by military officers angered by the presence of French and U.S. troops and by the permanent economic crises inflicted on their countries, write Vijay Prashad and Kambale Musavuli.