French colonialism

200 Hundred Years Ago, France Strangled Haitian Revolution With Inhumane Debt

April 25, 2025 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. Educate! Debt, France, French colonialism, Haiti, Haitian revolution, History

On a stormy August night in 1791, Dutty Boukman (1767–1791) and Cécile Fatiman (1771–1883) conducted a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman in northern Saint-Domingue, in the French-owned part of Hispaniola. Boukman was captured in Senegambia (now Senegal and The Gambia), and Fatiman was the daughter of a woman from the Congo (as Aimé Césaire wrote) and a man from Corsica. Their ceremony amidst over two hundred enslaved Africans was the catalyst for a mass uprising across the French plantations. Boukman, in Kreyòl, spoke words that were passed down through memory for generations and eventually entered the history books.

France Must Compensate Haiti

April 20, 2025 Florencia Abregú, People's Dispatch. Resist! Debt, France, French colonialism, Haiti, Haitian revolution, Multinational Security Support, Reparations

April 17, 2025 marked two centuries since one of the most unjust episodes in modern history: the forced collection of an illegitimate debt that France imposed on Haiti as a condition for recognizing its independence. On April 17, 1825, King Charles X signed an ordinance forcing the nascent republic to pay 150 million gold francs – equivalent to about USD 21 billion today – plunging the country into a cycle of poverty, dependence, and violence that continues to this day. Amid an unprecedented humanitarian and political crisis, social organizations, political parties, and human rights defenders from Latin America and the Caribbean have submitted letters to French embassies demanding historical reparations.

A New Military Strategy Of French Neo-Colonialism In Africa

January 13, 2025 Pavan Kulkarni, People's Dispatch. Educate! Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Anti-Imperialism, France, French colonialism, French troops, History, Pan Africanism, West Africa

In his New Year’s address, Alassane Ouattara, president of Ivory Coast since 2010 when he took power with the aid of a French military intervention, announced “we have decided on the coordinated and organized withdrawal of French forces” from the country. However, his address made no mention of terminating the 1961 military agreements with France. These “agreements are at the root of the problem. As long as these agreements exist, France will be able to use them to carry out military maneuvers or intervene at the request of its servants in power in Ivory Coast,” General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Ivory Coast (PCRCI), Achy Ekissi, told Peoples Dispatch.

France Must Go From Africa Is The Slogan Of The Hour

December 6, 2024 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Resist! Africa, Anti-colonialism, Burkina Faso, Chad, Decolonization, France, French colonialism, Mali, Niger, Senegal

A cascade of anti-French sentiment continues to sweep across the belt of the Sahel in Africa: joining Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, Chad and Senegal demanded in November that the French government withdraw its military from their territories. From the western border of Sudan to the Atlantic Ocean, French armed forces, which have been in the area since 1659, will no longer have a base. The statement by the foreign minister of Chad, Abderaman Koulamallah, is exemplary: ‘France… must now also consider that Chad has grown up, matured, and that Chad is a sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty’.

Chad And Senegal To Follow The Sahel States

December 1, 2024 Xinhua, Orinoco Tribune. Resist! Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Chad, Decolonize, French colonialism, Senegal

Dakar — Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said on Thursday that the presence of French military bases on Senegalese territory is “not compatible” with the sovereignty his administration upholds. “Senegal is an independent country, it is a sovereign country, and sovereignty is not compatible with the presence of military bases in a sovereign country,” he said in an interview with the AFP news agency, addressing relations between Senegal and France, particularly regarding the French military presence and bases in the West African country.

People Of Sahel Inspire Global Movement Against Imperialism

November 24, 2024 People's Dispatch. Organize! Alliance of Sahel States (AES), French colonialism, French Imperialism, Niger, Pan Africanism, Sahel region, West African Peoples' Organization (WAPO)

Shouts of “Free, Free Palestine” and “Down with Imperialism” rang through the streets of Niamey as anti-imperialists from Niger and around the world marched together against Israel’s genocide on Thursday, November 21. The march culminating in the landmark Thomas Sanakra Memorial came at the conclusion of the three-day Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel, organized by the Pan-Africanism Today Secretariat and the West African People’s Organization. The march was no symbolic event. Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have been in the frontlines of the struggle against imperialism over the past few years.

Niger Hosts Historic Conference On The Fight Against Neocolonialism

November 19, 2024 Pavan Kulkarni, People's Dispatch. Strategize! Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Coups, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), French colonialism, Niger, Pan Africanism, Sahel, Sahel region, West African Peoples' Organization (WAPO)

Delegates from the popular movements, labor unions, peasant organizations, and left parties in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the US have arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger, to attend the “Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel” from November 19 to 21. The Pan Africanism Today Secretariat (PAT) and the West Africa People’s Organization (WAPO) have organized this conference “For Anti-Imperialist Unity, Peace, and Friendship between Peoples”, at the time of a critical breakthrough against Francafrique in Sahelian West Africa. Amid a wave of mass protests against the continued stranglehold of France over its former colonies, popularly supported military coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022, and in Niger in 2023 swept away the regimes domestically perceived as subservient to France.

Niger Resists In The Crosshairs Of Sanctions And Climate Catastrophe

November 12, 2024 Pavan Kulkarni, People's Dispatch. Resist! Alliance of Sahel States (AES), climate crisis, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Floods, French colonialism, Niger, Sanctions, West African Peoples' Organization (WAPO)

In the aftermath of devastation left behind in the wake of unprecedented floods, Nigeriens are rebuilding their livelihoods and economy with the help of the several relief measures instituted by the government to drastically cut prices of essential commodities and services. The Sahel-wide flooding between June and October has exacted a particularly high toll on the people of Niger, destroying crops, cattle, houses and infrastructure in one of the world’s poorest countries whose economy had already been strangled by the seven month-long sanctions.

Niger To Host Conference In Solidarity With The Sahel

November 9, 2024 Stanley Kwabla Arku, People's Dispatch. Organize! Africa, Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Anti-Imperialism, Coups, French colonialism, Niger, Pan Africanism, Sahel, West African Peoples' Organization (WAPO)

This November, Niger is opening its doors to voices from across Africa and beyond, in a show of solidarity with the people of the Sahel, as they face one of the region’s most dynamic periods. From November 19 to 21, Niger’s capital, Niamey, will host the “Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel,” a three-day event dedicated to addressing the urgent struggles and aspirations of the Sahelian people. Set in the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Center, the conference will bring together activists, political leaders, union representatives, and members of social movements and Pan-African communities from around the world.

Martinique Masses Continue Rebellion Against French Colonial System

October 21, 2024 Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report. Resist! Caribbean, France, French colonialism, Mass Action

The Caribbean Island of Martinique is classified as an overseas department of France but it is treated like a colony, lacking any voice in its own affairs. Social unrest has flared up again prompted by hyperinflation and the heavy-handed tactics utilized by security forces under the control of Paris. Due to its colonial dependency, the rate of rising prices in Martinique far exceeds that of the colonial power in France. During September, thousands of people took to the streets in response to the escalating prices for food and other consumer goods. Riot police from France were deployed to put down the unrest which involved industrial actions among the workers.

The Pacific Lands And Seas Are Neither Forbidden Nor Forgotten

July 19, 2024 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! French colonialism, French Imperialism, Indigenous Rights, Mass Action, New Caledonia, RIMPAC, Social Movements, US Imperialism

Since May, a powerful struggle has rocked Kanaky (New Caledonia), an archipelago located in the Pacific, roughly 1,500 kilometres east of Australia. The island, one of five overseas territories in the Asia-Pacific ruled by France, has been under French colonial rule since 1853. The indigenous Kanak people initiated this cycle of protests after the French government of Emmanuel Macron extended voting rights in provincial elections to thousands of French settlers in the islands. The unrest led Macron to suspend the new rules while subjecting islanders to severe repression. In recent months, the French government has imposed a state of emergency and curfew on the islands and deployed thousands of French troops, which Macron says will remain in New Caledonia for ‘as long as necessary’.

New Caledonia: Kanak Revolt Against French Colonialism

May 24, 2024 Rob Grams, Black Agenda Report. Educate! French colonialism, History, Kanaks, New Caledonia, Revolt

Recently, a high-intensity revolt has been taking place in New Caledonia: looting, destruction of businesses, armed struggle against the police (molotov cocktails, live ammunition...), prison mutiny... In any other region of France, this would be front-page news. But New Caledonia isn't just any other region of France. It's a colony, and as such it's of little interest to mainland France, so it's hard to understand what's going on there. Let's try to unravel the mystery. New Caledonia is a group of islands in Oceania. Until the 18th century, the indigenous peoples of New Caledonia lived without Western interference. This situation changed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Sahel’s ‘Axis Of Resistance’

April 7, 2024 Pepe Escobar, Orinoco Tribune. Resist! Africa, BRICS, Burkina Faso, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Chad, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, French colonialism, Mali, Mike Pompeo, Multipolarity, Niger, Russia, Sahel region, Senegal, Sudan, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping

The emergence of in various geographies is an inextricable byproduct of the long and winding process leading us toward a multipolar world. These two things – resistance to the Hegemon and the emergence of multipolarity – are absolutely complementary. The Axis of Resistance in West Asia – across Arab and Muslim states – now finds as its soul sister the Axis of Resistance spanning the Sahel in Africa, west to east, from Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea. Unlike Niger, where the change in power against neocolonialism was associated with a military coup, in Senegal, the power change comes straight from the polls.

Is This The End Of French Neo-Colonialism In Africa?

September 23, 2023 Zoe Alexandra and Vijay Prashad, People's Dispatch. Resist! Africa, Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Burkina Faso, Coups, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), France, French colonialism, History, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sahel

In Bamako, Mali, on September 16, the governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger created the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). On X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Colonel Assimi Goïta, the head of the transitional government of Mali, wrote that the Liptako-Gourma Charter which created the AES would establish “an architecture of collective defense and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations.” The hunger for such regional cooperation goes back to the period when France ended its colonial rule. Between 1958 and 1963, Ghana and Guinea were part of the Union of African States, which was to have been the seed for wider pan-African unity. Mali was a member as well between 1961 and 1963.

Niger’s Government Accuses France Of Mobilizing For War

September 13, 2023 Pavan Kulkarni, People's Dispatch. Educate! Africa, Coups, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), France, French colonialism, Niger

Questioning the “sincerity” of France’s comments about the withdrawal of its troops from Niger, the transitional military government, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), has accused the former colonizer of mobilizing for war. CNSP spokesperson Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane said on September 9 that a “hundred or so rotations of [French] military cargo planes unloaded large quantities of war material and equipment” in multiple member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He added that “two A400M type military transport aircraft and a Dornier 328 were deployed as reinforcements in Ivory Coast”, and “two Super Puma type multi-role helicopters” and “around forty armored vehicles” have been deployed “in Kandi and Malanville in Benin”.

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