USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: France in Africa: Counter-Summit

i found this very striking.

some of the rhetoric turns on the argument that france still functions as a colonial power in africa.

i wonder how the countries in question feel about that assessment.

i can't imagine a senegalese accepting that judgment, accepting that despite independence of 1960, they are still enslaved to their former colonial masters.

it would make an interesting debate, if it could go beyond the level of rhetorical speechifying.

it is hard to take this question seriously without asking perhaps two: how much does the french military keep such and such a regime in power.

one answer in chad would differ from that of almost all the other francophone countries.

or, how much of the economy depends on french trade. at a time when china has become the largest economic power in africa, how can we parse that question.

when the russia wagner group is replacing the french barkhan forces in the sahara, how do we parse it?

i believe french economic interests are still crucial in shaping relations in many counties. but i don't really know how much and where; i do pretty much know the old french intellectual hold on african universities or publications or filmmaking is largely diminished.

the debate has to be real for me to read it with real interest and belief. that article is good for kicking off the debate, but it overstates too much, assumes too much, and especially uses the word "france" as if it were not a divided entity on all these questions. after all, macron hardly represents the french on the left or african-french people whose values are very far from the conventional french conservative ones.

i know our list is dominated by interests in nigeria, but i hope some with an interest in other spaces will share their views as well.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - France in Africa: Counter-Summit

 

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