France still forcing 14 African countries to pay colonial tax
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Tags: Colonial Tax, Slavery and Colonization, Soviet Union Empire
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80% of the 10 countries with the lowest literacy rates in the WORLD among adults are in francophone Africa.
Namely: Benin (40%), Burkina Faso (26%), Chad (34%), Côte d’Ivoire (49%), Guinea (29%), Mali (23%), Niger (29%), and Senegal (42%).
This spectacular result is achieved after over 150 years of French colonization!
During the almost 200 years of French colonization in Africa and Asia, France has built only ONE university in their entire colonies.
It was in Indochina.
After 150 years of French colonization of CAR (Central African Republic) there was only ONE person with a PhD degree when the country became independent in 1960.
READ MORE: AU chairmain calls for African leaders to cut ties with France
However, France continues to collect rent on the colonial buildings they have left in these countries, and 14 African countries are still forced nowadays by France to pay colonial tax for the benefits of slavery and colonization.
Imagine the US still paying RENT to the British for the White House for instance, or Russia to collect rent from the vast public housing they have built through eastern Europe during soviet union occupation.
Now take note of this. When Eastern European countries got their independence in the 90s from the Soviet Union Empire, ALL those countries without exception achieved 100% literacy rate, thousands of well trained engineers, doctors, many universities, etc. and lot of housing, transportation and energy infrastructure,…
Even today, after 20 years of these eastern Europe countries independence, 99% of schools, universities, houses, transportation system, energy infrastructures in those countries are the ones left by the Soviet Union Empire.
Soviet Union occupation of those countries lasted only 50 years. Now, go to Africa, and check what the WEST left after 500 years of occupation and colonization!
The French socialist party was traditionally the best manager of French neo-colonialism because they argued their rule was more “humane” than American or British neo-colonialism. It was a key part of France’s geo-political strategy in resisting American influence and building its own superpower status. Its part of the reason De Gaulle pushed its former colonies into joining the EEC (precursor to the EU). So they could vote against expanding British and American influence in the region. These African countries were pawns in the Cold War game, but also this French-American rivalry
Well, France’s former colonies aren’t forced to pay a tax per se.
It forced these countries into a common currency called the CFA franc, which is on a fixed peg with the French franc (or nowadays the Euro). Most foreign currency reserves – and thus a lot of power in controlling macroeconomic policy is with the French treasury in Paris
“Macroeconomic policy” doesn’t sound like a vicious form of neo-colonialism on the surface, but its actually huge. France controls interest rates, and keeps inflation and monetary growth in check. The ways to combat this is pushing African countries into wage freezes, cutting of public spending, curtailment of unions, etc. African countries are forced into listening to these prescriptions to keep the currency stable. They don’t have a choice to do otherwise.
Macroeconomic policy is like the apex of a country’s economy. If you control macroeconomic policy, you have a lot of power
The anglophone provinces of Cameroon (aka Southern Cameroons) have been engaging in a general strike against French neo-colonialism, which has left them marginalized as compared to the francophone provinces (which aren’t exactly doing great either). This has been going on for several months in the face of brutal repression.
It’s a little tough to follow events as they play out because of lack of media coverage, most of what I know is coming from my Cameroonian comrades on social media, but this is a movement that socialists should be aware of.
I’ve been learning about this in one of my courses, specifically in regards to the Haitian revolution. While I’m not totally surprised, it’s still appalling that they managed to justify taking reparations from former colonies for lost property when that property was actually Haitian human beings. Even more appalling is that the economic devastation these former colonies are struggling through is directly the effect of this history.