Point-blank: Second wave of liberation

Mohamed Salmawy
Tuesday 12 Sep 2023

recent events in Africa should be approached from another perspective: the struggle for freedom from foreign control over the countries’ natural resources and economic potential.

 

Forget outward appearances. Look beyond the repeated rhetoric coming from some African governments that the recent military coups in certain countries have no purpose beyond seizing power.

I believe the recent events should be approached from another perspective: the struggle for freedom from foreign control over the countries’ natural resources and economic potential.

It is as though we are watching a second wave of the national liberation movements that swept Africa in the second half of the 20th century. Egypt played a pioneering role as a leader in that wave and a champion of African liberation struggles that culminated in the national independence of one state after another.

However, after some time, it became clear that while these countries had freed themselves from conventional colonialist hegemony, they found themselves prey to a new form of colonialism that uses economic instead of military control to dominate them. This is the case in some of France’s former colonies, where some French troops remain stationed too.

The people in some of these countries have also awoken to the fact that their ruling regimes are often the allies and instruments of the neocolonial powers. In such a context, a coup is effectively a means to an end, as opposed to the end itself. The end is liberation from the domination of the old colonial powers and their continued monopoly over the country’s resources. 

Does this perspective offer a truer insight into the recent spate of coups in the Sahel and West Africa? 

I believe it does. The most recent case, in Gabon, embodies this perfectly. It is no coincidence that the first clash the new regime has had was with France which has continued to control that country’s mines and mineral resources since Gabon’s independence in 1960. This perspective holds equally true for Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso before that. 

“We’re living in a world of madmen,” cried French President Emanuel Macron in a recent speech to foreign ambassadors at the Élysée Palace.

What this tells us is that France, which appears caught off guard by the second wave of liberation from its colonial control in Africa, lacks the type of historic leadership it had during the first wave.

General de Gaulle understood the dynamics of history and handled Algeria accordingly. Judging by his reactions to what is unfolding so far, Macron is no match for him at all.


* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 September, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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