The old Colonial guns have been dusted off and the new insidious colonialism, neocolonialism, has become the new war game. Due to the changing dynamics of world politics the United Neocolonialist(UN) and the International Colonial Court(ICC) are now used as a means to cease countries sovereignty. It has become evident, especially when one looks at their most recent cases, that Africans are disproportionately represented among their current cases at the ICC. When one looks at people killed over the last 10 years by individual states or regional groups African leaders as a whole do not merit the over representation of the cases of the court. It is a biased court. It does not really matter if the people before the court are criminals because, by predominantly targeting Africans the the court promotes the post-colonial narrative of Africa as a land of rogues while white washing the crimes in other regions of the world especially the west.
Recently in the Ivory Coast, as the French and French armed rebels bombed Gbagbo's bunker everyone remained silent. The same French who support the dictatorships in other places in Africa many of whom have had the same leader for over 10 years were now promoting what some called "a more muscular" foreign policy in their former colonies! Such analysis often ignored the interference that many former French colonies have experienced and continue to experience. It ignored an even bigger point namely, the fact that the French are looking out for their own interest. When leaders like President Gbagbo have gotten to the level were they were no longer a puppet they are bombed out of power! In this case, the French to joined up with Rebels who have been killing with impunity for years to massacre between 1000-3000 unarmed civilians many of them in the western Ivorian town of Duekoue.The Duekoue massacre occurred right here in African and nobody condemned it!!!
The people of Duekoue called for help! In fact, a resident of the area Laurent N’Guessan said: “We are very scared,” he had heard “heavy artillery” since early in the morning. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-28/ivory-coast-rebels-claim-to-enter-western-cocoa-producing-town-of-duekoue.html
This was as the French backed "unarmed rebels"(yet they had brand new state of the art weapons) had started to encroach on lands which did not belong to them and were peaceful at the moment. In the end there were over 1000 unarmed civilians dead! The Duekoue Massacre of 2011 shall surely forever remain in the consciousness of all Africans who believe in justice! Where was the UN? What is the point of sending peacekeepers if you are not going to protect civilians? The people asked for help but because the UNARMED citizens were perceived to have voted for Gbagbo a blind eye was turned and they were allowed to be massacred. Left to die like dogs because, in this neocolonial age you only deserve protection if you are a puppet or a perceived supporter of one.
Now that Ouattara has been given power; the Ivorian constitution be damned, he is struggling to keep the rebels who fought for him in check. In fact many have started killing each other and the situation may end up being worse than it was before. Surely the wounds created will last more than a generation and Ivory Coast may never be the same.
Source:http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2011/04/20/heavy_fighting_in_ivory_coasts_largest_city/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Even today, grown men are forced to strip down to their undergarments and arrested simply because of who they are perceived to support!!! .Is this Justice?
With regard to my last article, I am perfectly aware of Mr. Ashers rejoinder(See:Rejoinder -Today Libya and Ivory Coast, Tomorrow Ghana- for sure!24/04/11) were he in essence attempts to, albeit poorly, take the side of and justify the ills of this neocolonial age. I considered not responding to it because, it was fraught with many so many errors that it would take numerous articles to refute them all but, I am going to give a short comment.
In talking about leaders abusing their citizens in the name of sovereignty I can agree with the general sentiment but, the bigger point was either missed or woefully ignored. Namely, many of these issues started due to interference. Thus, how can issues which have their roots in interference and the greed of outsiders be solved with more interference? it's absurd! It is especially absurd when one looks at it from the interest of those doing the interference. Let me clear this up for Mr. Ashers. THEY ARE LOOKING OUT FOR THEIR OWN INTEREST. When it was profitable to support dictators, dictatorships were supported and kept in power but, when it becomes more profitable to support democracy it is supported. It is a game!
This is a game being played by more powerful states on weaker ones. One simply has to look at Gaddafi who was brought back into the world community and received high powered delegations from the West who were even bowing to him as if he was a king! They cleaned up his image and he paid his way back into the world community. Today he is enemy number one! Over 1 billion dollars has been spent by the west to remove him. Is he a different man today than he was 1 year ago?? NO! But, the interest within these countries has changed and the wealth of the region(North Africa) requires that he be removed as soon as possible. Who is next? I would guess that the next one in line is likely the president of Algeria who will be asked to go with the ultimate goal being the formation of a restrictive Mediterranean Union in which countries south of the Mediterranean(North Africa) sell their resources to those in the Northern Mediterranean(Europe) and help to keep the Northern Mediterranean countries more powerful in a new neocolonialism in the area. Libya before the intervention was the most free and richest country in Africa. In fact what they paid for petrol in Libya was 6-10 times less than what all other countries in Africa which are poorer pay! Today it is a failed state and everyone is trying to get out! The idea of a Mediterranean union has been on the books for a while.
Source:http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6879
Gaddafi refused to join this union for obvious reasons since even in 2011 the French are limiting any aspect of Arab culture in their country. He also realized that the union is a source of neocolonialism in the region(North Africa) and the fact that the benefits will only be unidirectional!
In the end as I said in my last article, this is a dirty game being played and if one does not look deeper they will find themselves on the receiving end of these injustices when the game turns to reality for them. You may think you are on the right side but, the "right side" changes with the wind and largely depends on what the interest of the West at the moment is in the region. If you don't believe me go find out why Nkrumah was removed as a simple "chip" in the Soviet vs. USA battle of the 1960's and who largely funded it.
