Why do black people in west African countries seem to hate France? Is France pretty much guaranteed to lose influence? Will there be a war over Niger?

Question

What I’m saying is the French are essentially getting kicked out of west Africa by all these military coups and there’s all these pictures of people waving around Russian flags and chanting anti-French slogans.

I get that France still has heavy economic and political influence in west Africa, but at the same time I don’t think Russia really has the best interest of the African people in mind either.

I get that France might’ve stifled economic growth and development on the continent, but at least in the case of Russia, they’re pretty much trying to do the same thing from what I can understand. Extract the raw resources.

Just trying to understand because the issue appears to be that France doesn’t actually invest in Africa and they just use it for raw resource extraction.

But at least in the case of Russia, they appear to be doing the same thing.

So I don’t understand why there’s all this anger directed at France yet all this support directed at Russia.

Maybe the Francophone countries should just become more like the Anglophone ones like Nigeria and Ghana that appear to be doing much better.

So perhaps maybe the best solution for them is to just move towards being more fully independent.

They should ditch the CFA franc and just form their own joint currency.

Lliam · Accepted Answer

You explained the situation well. France still wants to maintain its colonial power in Africa and continue raping their resources and economies. No wonder they hate France. They hate the U. S. for the same reason.

"Niger produces over 5 percent of the world’s uranium, but its uranium is of a very high quality. Half of Niger’s export receipts are from sales of uranium, oil, and gold. One in three lightbulbs in France are powered by uranium from Niger, at the same time as 42 percent of the African country’s population lived below the poverty line.

The people of Niger have watched their wealth slip through their fingers for decades. As a mark of the government’s weakness, over the course of the past decade, Niger has lost over $906 million in only 10 arbitration cases brought by multinational corporations before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the International Chamber of Commerce.

France stopped using the franc in 2002 when it switched to the Euro system. But 14 former French colonies continued to use the Communauté Financiére Africaine (CFA), which gives immense advantages to France. Fifty percent of the reserves of these countries have to be held in the French Treasury and France’s devaluations of the CFA — as in 1994 — have had catastrophic effects on the countries that use it.

In 2015, Chad’s President Idriss Déby Itno said that the CFA “pulls African economies down” and that the “time had come to cut the cord that prevents Africa from developing.”

Talk now across the Sahel is for not only the removal of French troops — as has taken place in Burkina Faso and in Mali — but of a break with the French economic hold on the region."

Gaddafi was working on a pan-African currency that would free the continent from neocolonialism and we know what happened to him. Not only that, but we completely destroyed Libya, stole its gold reserves and are now vacuuming its natural resources.

Russia finally stepped up and defended Syria against certain destruction by the U. S. and its allies and has not raped the country in exchange. Russia doesn't use militarism to satisfy any greedy ambitions. (Ukraine is about survival, not imperialism or greed.)

Maybe they are aligning with Russia as a defense against military aggression by France and the U. S.

Maybe those countries are leaning toward BRICS and the Belt and Road.

RavVid · Accepted Answer

Putin, the convicted war criminal, might well be using classic USSR tactics of developing a cadre of comrades. That is just a guess - I have no evidence. When most people are entirely occupied surviving than it is not going to be too hard to establish a noisy crowd, particularly if it is paid work.

France has been willful with the CFA franc and during the colonial era Britain did put more into building up their colonies than France did believe. You are right former British colonies have done better because systems that worked were transplanted where as France wanted to maintain control more in my reading.

But most of all I am suspecting Russia neo colonialism and looking at you Wagner.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

They have been manipulated by Russia. Russia just uses them as useful idiots to harass the United States and complicate their military activities (drone base).

Exterminatore · Answer

Don’t know about Niger. People of color in France seem to hate France because just like in America they think the police are committing unjustified violence against them and that they are oppressed.

They should leave France and go back to their 3rd world flea bitten hell holes if that’s how they feel.

Astarlessnightsky · Answer

France had colonies in west africa, and with their colonies came exploitation, slavery, genocides, theft, ... and all the bad things. So its not that surprising the people hate france.

jshm2 · Answer

The same reason Afghans kicked out the Americans from theirs, and the Iraqi's and others did do. Whiteboy no good for any country - not even their own!

inhua · Answer

France has gotten too woke to ever recover from the shitshow they created

Dargil · Answer

As in Vietnam, the French were oppressive colonizers.

Anonymous · Answer

France enslaved most of those countries and continues to plunder them even today.

Why do black people in west African countries seem to hate France? Is France pretty much guaranteed to lose influence? Will there be a war over Niger?

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