13- August-2023- Aljazeera
Colonialism and the Niger Coup
The military leaders of Niger can count on Nigeriens’ support thanks to anti-colonial sentiment — but for how long?
History Illustrated is a weekly series of insightful perspectives that puts news events and current affairs into historical context using graphics generated with artificial intelligence
Regardless of efforts by French President Emmanuel Macron, a post-colonial hostility towards France persists in Niger that benefits leaders of the July 26 coup
French colonialism in Niger got off to a notorious start with a brutal military campaign to expand France’s control of West Africa in 1899
Over the years, several uprisings took aim at French control, including a Tuareg rebellion in 1916.
Macron now has a problem: How does he protect France’s interests, which include 1,500 French soldiers at an airbase in Niamey deployed to fight armed groups in the Sahel region
What is new in Africa today: Along with the change in global balances, a conflict of influence between states has started in Africa. On the one hand, countries like France, the U.K., Belgium and the United States want to continue the last phase of traditional colonialism. On the other hand, China, Russia, Iran and Türkiye have gradually started to be active in Africa. And in the age of social media, people are aware of the potential and wealth in their own countries and the rest of the world.
Since 1960, grinding poverty and political instability have been the backdrop to five coups, including the latest by General Abdourahamane Tchiani
Türkiye’s African approach sets it apart from West’s colonial legacy
The colonial story of African states is something that the world already knows from documentaries and books. In fact, colonial history is like African history.
Colonial culture
Colonial culture is something that colonialists have studied thoroughly, inspiring the West to nurture despair in the underdeveloped regionsWith the Industrial Revolution, Western states gained an edge over the rest of the world. Not only did they gain the upper hand, but they also invaded the rest of the world. When World War I ended, China, India, Far Eastern Asia and the Ottoman lands were occupied.
The developed countries have planned not only the development of their leagues but also how underdeveloped and developing countries will be left in misery.
Colonial culture is something that the colonial empire has studied thoroughly. Either cross-section of an African country today and deepening on it or checking the general progress in time will give a clear understanding of it.
Today, if we consider African countries and study them from the point of view of underground resources, climate and energetic population, we realize that most of them are entirely self-sufficient. A human body needs blood circulating within its veins. Each colonial Western state has constantly sucked the blood of the African countries like a vampire by getting its teeth into the arteries of these countries.
Coup leaders in Niger have played to anti-colonial sentiment, but sanctions now threaten to make people’s lives even more difficult than they already are — something the military rulers will find challenging to overcome