By Raul Antonio Capote on May 25, 2024
Work by Michel Moro.
From 1445 to 1870, Africa was the main source of slave labor, especially for Europe and America. Countless human and material resources were extracted from the continent, causing a bloodletting that weakened its economic and social structures.
The plundering of resources did not end with slavery. The 19th and 20th centuries marked an era of ruthless plundering by the colonial metropolises.
From the sweat and blood of Africa’s sons and daughters, from the plundering of its natural resources came most of the wealth that made capitalist development possible in Europe.
The decolonization of Africa was a gradual and complex process of independence, mostly extending from the late 1940s to the close of the 1960s.
However, the political emancipation of African states from the former colonial metropolises did not mean the end of economic dependence because colonialism gave way to neocolonialism.
Africa has the highest concentration of natural resources in the world: oil, copper, diamonds, bauxite, lithium, gold, tropical hardwood forests and fruits, it possesses 60% of arable land; but these riches remain in the hands of large Western multinational corporations.
The transnationals invest and extract resources, from which they accumulate immense profits that are evaded to tax havens, under the complicit gaze of the international financial institutions which, moreover, continue to demand the repayment of colonial debts.
In other words, Africans pay their former exploiters even for the right to breathe; the plundered remain indebted to those who for centuries robbed them of their wealth.
On the other hand, as when they were colonies, the raw materials travel to the West and then return converted into finished products, losing, in the exchange, the surplus value obtained in the process.
For example, crude oil extracted from Africa returns refined, mostly, which means that the continent continues to depend on the import of products for its own consumption.
The inhabitants of the Niger Delta, an area immensely rich in this resource, live in poverty. The oil industry has polluted the land and water, most of them have no access to electricity and life expectancy does not exceed 54 years.
After independence, France created a sort of contractual community with many of its former colonies. The relationship between the metropolis and its former colonies was established on the basis of “cooperation” agreements.
Paris imposed the following conditions: the establishment of military bases, the maintenance of colonial debts and the implementation of two different currencies under the name of Franco cfa, one for West Africa and the other for Central Africa.
It was under these premises that Cameroon, Senegal, Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Mali and Mauritania were born in 1960.
To make it easier to understand, the CFA franc plays a key role in economic influence: the French Central Bank can veto decisions made by African regional banks, and half of each country’s foreign exchange reserves must be deposited in the French national treasury. Almost nothing.
The dependence of this currency on the euro prevents African states from controlling public debts and combating inflation, since they do not depend on them, but on the trends of the foreign currency.
Likewise, Gallic companies extract gold, metals, cotton, oil and uranium without limits, favored by the currency exchange rate.
What is Happening in Africa?
A wave of anti-imperialist sentiment is spreading in Africa. The era of neo-colonialism, of the outright theft of natural resources, seems to be coming to an end.
More than 60 years after their independence, the former French colonies are calling for an end to the cfa franc and the Barkhane military operation, which began in 2013.
Mali, in May 2022, cancelled the defense agreements with France, something imitated by Burkina Faso, after Ouagadougou decreed the end of the treaties signed with Paris.
In the same vein, the Niger authorities revoked the military agreement with the U.S., which allows U.S. forces to remain on Niger’s territory.
Meanwhile, the transitional government in Chad asked Washington to put an end to its military presence.
It should be recalled that the Pentagon has at least 29 bases in 15 African countries, while France has a presence in ten African nations.
The entry of new international actors, especially China and Russia has opened up new options for the region’s governments and reduced dependence on the West by providing, among other things, alternative sources of financing.
In the Sahel, the withdrawal of the United States has allowed other regional powers such as Algeria, Nigeria and Rwanda to increase investments, establish bilateral agreements on collective security projects and economic cooperation.
Africa’s major economies have begun to withdraw their gold reserves from the U.S. Recently, South Africa decided to repatriate them, a move that was followed by Nigeria and, a few days later, the Ghanaian authorities took a similar decision.
As if that were not enough, in the international arena, the continent’s independent role has been highlighted by South Africa’s position; taking Israel to the International Court of Justice, the UN’s main judicial body, on charges of genocide and war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Namibia also condemned Germany’s support for Israel when it was tried for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
By the year 2050, Africa’s population will exceed 2 billion, surpassing India and China, so that the demographic weight of its population in the world concert will be coupled with its prevalence as a multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic continent, rich in traditions and values that, as the motherland of humanity, will bring it one step closer to the total emancipation it needs and deserves, so often and for so long usurped by thieves.
Source: Cuba en Resumen