The Sahel Revolution: Real Decolonisation!

People throw about the term ‘decolonisation’ left, right and centre. University campuses say they’re decolonising curriculums, and corporations – the workplace. But true decolonisation is a question of land, sovereignty and self-determination.

Today, three countries in Africa – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – have taken revolutionary steps towards achieving just that. They have booted out Western troops stationed on their territories and torn up exploitative contracts with multinationals.

Now the trio is pushing ahead with building nuclear power plants, gold refineries, solar-panel fields and other critical development projects. These are vital, as, for example, up until now, people in the three Sahel nations have had little access to electricity, while France has been getting 15% of its (electricity generating) uranium at bargain-basement prices from Niger.

Obviously, the West can’t stand it when Africans stand up for themselves. So the EU and the US have sanctioned Mali, with Brussels also targeting Niamey. There have been multiple destabilisation attempts in a bid to remove the leaders of the so-called Alliance of Sahel States (a mutual collaboration and defence pact between the three, now upgraded to a confederation) – in particular, alleged assassination plots in Burkina Faso.

So while it’s important to decolonise curriculums and workplaces, if we are serious about the struggle, we must defend the gains made by our brothers and sisters in the Sahel. What are your suggestions for how best to do that?

Video credit: https://tiktok.com/@bigbrolgnd/vi