Correction : the last line should read: Meanwhile in neighbouring
Senegal, the moment of truth will soon dawn on Wade who is facing a
united opposition at the ballot boxes, today....
On Mar 25, 11:58 pm, toyin.fal...@mail.utexas.edu wrote:
> >Reply-To: manthia.diaw...@nyu.edu
> >Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:53:23 -0400
> >Subject: Re: Coup in Mali
> >From: Manthia Diawara <manthia.diaw...@nyu.edu>
> >To: toyin.fal...@mail.utexas.edu
> >Cc: kwame zulu shabazz <kwameshab...@gmail.com>
>
> >Dear all,
> >There must be a slight mistake here. I wrote
> >the piece below and sent it to Professor Toyin
> >Falola. Manthia Diawara
>
> >On Sun, Mar 25, 2012 at 11:21 AM,
> ><<mailto:toyin.fal...@mail.utexas.edu>toyin.fal...@mail.utexas.edu>
> >wrote:
>
> >its written by mamdani...i just now realized
> >that his name was not in the essay. I will repost
>
> >>Peace to you, Toyin. Are you the author of this
> >>piece? I wanted to be sure to credit it
> >>properly. kzs
>
> >>On Sunday, March 25, 2012 6:50:05 AM UTC-4, Toyin Falola wrote:
>
> >>Collateral Damage
> >>The criminal and chaotic situation in Mali,
> >>today, is a direct result of NATO's
> >>intervention in Libya to overthrow Gaddafi. In
> >>the wake of the Arab Spring, many of us were in
> >>favor of removing Muammar Gaddafi from power to
> >>open another door to the winds of democracy
> >>blowing in the region. Most urgently, we
> >>wanted to see an end to the humanitarian
> >>disaster provoked by the regime in Tripoli, by
> >>throwing boats full of African immigrants to
> >>the sea; and to stop the impending massacre of
> >>the population of Benghazi threatened by the
> >>narcoleptic dictator.
>
> >>At that time, Presidents Obama and Sarkozy,
> >>with the help of France's own media-savvy
> >>intellectual, Bernard Henri Levy, (BHL), had
> >>concocted a narrative, well packaged for our
> >>consumption, in which the Libyan strong man,
> >>like Sadam Hussein, or Hitler, was described as
> >>capable of committing unprecedented crimes
> >>against humanity; and the National Transitional
> >>Council (NTC) as only motivated by their
> >>passion for democracy.
>
> >>Thus, the invasion of Libya was clinically
> >>executed from the air by NATO planes, to the
> >>greatest relief of the majority of the United
> >>Nations members and all those who believed that
> >>a democratic change in the Arab world in
> >>general, and Libya in particular, will
> >>safeguard the world against terrorism, gender
> >>inequality, anti-Semitism and racism against
> >>Blacks.
>
> >>Today, I am not writing about these clichés,
> >>racist and islamophobic sound bites that are
> >>often embedded in narratives whose true motifs
> >>tromp democracy and humanitarian concerns for
> >>cold neoliberal economic plans.
>
> >>How else would one explain the situation of
> >>poor Mali, defenseless with its archaic tanks
> >>and machine guns pitted against the soldiers of
> >>the former Gaddafi army and their sophisticated
> >>weaponery. As the Malian army retreats, the
> >>rebel army moves in one town after another,
> >>cutting the throats of soldiers and civilian
> >>population; destroying everything in their way;
> >>and creating panic among the populations of Gao
> >>and Timbuctu, which lie ahead of them. More
> >>than 250,000 civilians have fled these towns
> >>and nomadic settlements, to seek refuge in
> >>neighboring countries such as Mauretania,
> >>Burkina Faso, Algeria and Niger. The
> >>populations of Agelhok, Goundam and Tessalit in
> >>Northern Mali have suffered the horrific crimes
> >>that NATO forces had prevented Gaddafi's forces
> >>from committing in Benghazi.
>
> >>Additionally, Northern Mali, after the fall of
> >>Timbuctu and Gao, will soon become an
> >>unchallenged haven for radical Islamist groups
> >>such as Aqmi, Al Qaeda and Ansardine, all
> >>intent on imposing the Sharia law from Algeria
> >>to Mali, Mauretania, Niger, Nigeria, Tchad and
> >>Sudan. Another major threat to the region is
> >>the drug trade, transiting in the Sahara
> >>desert, on its way to Spain, France and Italy.
>
> >>The defeat of the Malian army in the North has
> >>created a national discontent with a weakened
> >>and humiliated regime in Bamako that was
> >>considered by many as one of the beacons of
> >>democracy in West Africa. President Amadou
> >>Toumani Toure (ATT) has now been exposed as a
> >>weak leader, always seeking consensus and never
> >>acting decisively to combat corruption, or to
> >>draw the line on how far he was willing to give
> >>in to the demands of the Tuaregs in the North.
> >>ATT was also accused of undermining the
> >>democratic institutions by always caving in to
> >>the demands of demagogic religious leaders who
> >>were opposed, in the name of Islam and
> >>tradition, to the constitutional amendment for
> >>equality between men and women.
>
> >>Faced with this general discontent, wounded
> >>pride and anger directed at the President, a
> >>junta made up of junior officers has seized
> >>power, like bank robbers taking advantage of a
> >>black out to put their plan into execution.
> >>The Coup seems more ironic, not to say
> >>ridiculous, given that, on the one hand, the
> >>disarray in Bamako, the capital city, sends a
> >>strong signal to the rebels that they are
> >>winning the war; and on the other hand, the
> >>presidential elections are only one month away,
> >>and ATT has reached the end of his last term in
> >>office.
>
> >>As hard as it is to take a Coup d'état
> >>seriously nowadays in Africa, the silence of
> >>Obama, Sarkozy and BHL over Gaddafi's former
> >>soldiers in Northern Mali, side by side with
> >>members of Qaeda, Aqmi, Ansardine and
> >>narco-trafickers seems even more unfathomable.
> >>The fact that Gaddafi's former intelligence
> >>Chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, was recently
> >>arrested, with a Malian passport, in
> >>Mauretania, is an indication that NATO and the
> >>Libyan National Transitional Council did not
> >>complete the job in Libya; they just
> >>deterritorialized it and made it the problem
> >>for Mali today, and soon for Niger, Mauretania
> >>and Niger. It is a déjà vu of another American
> >>and NATO botched job, with which we're all
> >>familiar. Some would even say that it is the
> >>logic of neoliberalism: follow the money and
> >>don't get bogged down with moral imperatives.
>
> >>Now, with the Coup d'Etat in full gear and the
> >>radical religious groups in control of the
> >>North, the usual suspects are lining up with
> >>their condemnations of the Coup, their desire
> >>for a peaceful negotiation of the conflict in
> >>the north, and the return to constitutional
> >>order in Mali. We're familiar with this
> >>narrative, too, from the UN, the US, the EU,
> >>and the AU. Likewise, no one will be surprised
> >>if they fell on deaf ears among the junta in
> >>Bamako and the Qaeda and Aqmi in the North.
>
> >>The populations in Bamako and elsewhere are in
> >>shock, and their only reaction, so far, has
> >>been to take cover and protect their
> >>properties-cars and goods-from the soldiers
> >>turned looters. It is clear therefore that
> >>the Malians' discontent with their
> >>democratically elected President is not matched
> >>by a show of support for the Coup makers. In
> >>fact, it has been hard for many Malians, who
> >>had thought that their country had gone past an
> >>army take-over of power, to wake up for the
> >>last three days and find that their country has
> >>regressed more than twenty years back.
>
> >>So, I dare predict the imminent collapse of
> >>this Coup, like the end of a nightmare that
> >>people have awaken from. By next week, if
> >>civil servants in Mali stay at home and refuse
> >>to collaborate with the junta, and if the
> >>neighboring countries shut their doors to
> >>members and emissaries of the impostors, then I
> >>do not think that they will last long. On
> >>the contrary, I see them retreating to their
> >>barracks, soon after they have finished looting
> >>public and private properties.
>
> >>As for the Northern question, clearly the
> >>Tuaregs deserve a lasting solution to their
> >>plight. Successive Malian governments have
> >>attempted to sweep under the carpet their
> >>demands for equal rights, better education and
> >>better infrastructures. Now they have returned
> >>from Libya, better equipped with an army,
> >>comprising of Tuaregs from Mali, Mauritania,
> >>and Niger, and radical Islamists and renegades
> >>from Libya and Algeria. They are now too
> >>strong for any Malian army to deal with, single
> >>handedly. With the elections coming in France
> >>and the United States, it is also hard to
> >>believe that Sarkozy or Obama will get too
> >>heavily involved in this far removed conflict.
> >>It would seem that Mali's best option, toward
> >>the Northern question, remains a regional one,
> >>with Algeria and Nigeria playing the leadership
> >>roles, either in negotiation or war. This Coup
> >>could not have come at a worst time.
--
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