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How France Stole Trillions of Dollars from Africa
“Africa is poor, and its people need aid.” This is a message echoed over and over again by journalists, charities and non-governmental organizations. European and American children are told to finish their food because there are poor starving children in Africa. But why has the continent become synonymous with poverty, when it is rich in natural resources. Why has Europe refused to invest in Africa with as much fervor as it sends aid? Western media has gone out of its way to entrench this image of Africa in the world. Of Africans always needing aid and help with its never ending problems until all the world feels is sympathy fatigue. Is Africa poor?
A Global Justice Now report found that in 2015, 203 billion dollars left Africa compared to the 161 billion that the continent received through loans and aid. But the amount of money that leaves Africa is never highlighted. And the ways in which money and resources are exploited from the continent to benefit foreign governments and companies is hidden.
In 2019, Italy’s deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio pointed out that France’s policy in Africa caused poverty and as a result the migration of Africans to Europe by dangerous sea routes. He is quoted as saying, “If we have people who are leaving Africa now it’s because some European countries, and in particular France, have never stopped colonizing Africa.” He claimed that if France did not have these African colonies it would not be among the largest world economies.
These are serious claims. But is there some truth to them? Has France impoverished its former colonies in Africa for its own economic gain? Di Maio isn’t the first to question France’s policies in Africa, and point out how self-serving and exploitative they are. For context, France was the second largest European colonizer in Africa after Britain. France mainly colonized countries in West Africa like Senegal, Mali, Niger, the Ivory Coast and many others. After these countries gained independence in the 1960s they still maintained strong political and economic relations with France.
Europe has tried to paint its continued relationship with its former colonies as a altruistic move since Africans were building their nations from scratch; however the reality is that African nations had been looted and robbed of their natural resources by these colonial powers. Before colonialism Africa was rich, with natural resources and trade. After the theft of colonialism they were beginning at a deficit, with the odds stacked against them.
West Africa had trading systems which had developed over hundreds of years, before the French arrived in Africa. Gold was the main commodity, hence the term the gold coast. When the Europeans arrived they introduced the slave trade that depleted the population through slave raids. They also destabilized gold mining because the communities found it unsafe to mine their lands for fear of attacks. This started the unequal relationship that has continued through the colonial era and lasts to this day. European policies have destabilized the continent from the very beginning.
When the slave trade was abolished, Europe also started importing raw materials such as cotton from Africa. Cotton was labor intensive and Africa had a surplus of cheap labor. One of the ironies of the colonial era was that Africa’s largest export was raw cotton while its largest import was manufactured cotton. Through this paradigm, Europe made sure Africa did not develop a manufacturing ability so they had to keep buying European goods. This trade model also provided manufacturing jobs for Europeans abroad. Europe made sure Africans provided cheap labor by introducing mandatory taxes in their colonies. Africans’ only access to European currency was through the wages they were paid at European farms. These farms had been acquired by stealing land from Africans and resettling them in crowded and unproductive settlements.
And yet, the colonial powers continued exploiting these countries even after independence. In all this France stands out in the scope of policy intended to keep money flowing in from her former colonies, regardless of the consequences on their economies. This is because of the way that most French colonies gained their independence.
In 1958 France had a new constitution that wanted to restructure the French empire into a federation. All colonies apart from Guinea accepted. Guinea declared her independence in 1958 and was punished for it. Her schools, hospitals and public administration buildings were burned. Animals and food were poisoned to show the other African colonies that the price of rejecting France would be high.
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Published Sep 15, 2023
