Africa Archives - Page 2 of 3

The two receptions of the BRI

4 min read XULIO RIOS

XULIO RIOS
The Belt and Road Initiative (IFR) celebrates its first decade of implementation in 2023. The time elapsed supports it as a long-term project. Two attitudes have marked the global reaction to it. On the one hand, developing countries have celebrated being able to have an alternative proposal that focuses on their most pressing needs, especially in terms of infrastructure.

China's plan provides specific support in areas poorly served by traditional available financing, filling a gap of singular importance. On the other hand, developed countries have evolved from initial ambiguity and reservation to a certain competitive hostility.

Africa America Archived Asia

Humanity dominated by narrative

6 min read CAITLIN JOHNSTONE

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE
The more inner work you do and the more awareness you bring to your own internal processes, the more you understand the extent to which human consciousness is dominated by mental narrative. And the more you understand the extent to which it is dominated, the more aware you become of how much power someone could gain over other people by controlling those narratives.

After a while, you start to understand that no one sees reality as it is. Not even you. What we are perceiving are a bunch of mental stories that we have formed about the world, based on information that we have absorbed through prescriptive filters greatly distorted by our conditioning, prejudices and cognitive habits.

Africa Archived U.S. USA/Europe

Gabon: the fall of “Obama's man in Africa”

7 min read MAX BLUMENTHAL

MAX BLUMENTHAL
Before his removal in a military coup, Gabon's corrupt president, Ali Bongo, was courted by Obama and feted from Washington to Davos. The US war in Libya, which destabilized the region, might not have succeeded without him.
When a military junta arrested President Ali Bongo Odinmba on August 30, Gabon became the ninth African nation to overthrow its government in a military coup.

Africa America Asia China U.S. USA/Europe Latin America News

“The decarbonization of the rich is not ours”

10 min read CECILIA VALDEZ

CECILIA VALDEZ
Green colonialism or green capitalism is what critical environmentalism calls the exploitation of natural resources from the global North over the global South, and which will make it possible to guarantee the energy transition that industrialized countries boast so much about, that is, those that more pollute. But the energy transition requires natural resources that the north does not have, such as lithium or green hydrogen.

While the socio-environmentalist denounces the serious consequences of plundering practices, governments and corporations close agreements. Even countries that show irreconcilable differences in world geopolitics shake hands in their territories and seal commitments. On the side of Latin American progressives, the more or less critical position regarding extractivism depends on whether they are a government or not, and on the pressing economic needs that make them dependent on foreign currency.

Africa Archived Asia China Latin America

BRICS to more

3 min read XULIO RIOS

XULIO RIOS
If the summit that the BRICS have held in Johannesburg has revealed anything, it is the firm will to reactivate their association with two main parameters of action. First, development issues will continue to be high on its agenda; secondly, issues related to peace and security will gain relevance in their positions.

The common denominator is the implementation of a roadmap in which both issues are inextricably linked.
After enlargement, the BRICS will represent 37% of world GDP and 46% of the planet's population.

Africa News

What is happening in Niger is far from a typical coup

8 min read VIJAY PRASHAD

VIJAY PRASHAD
On July 26, 2023, Niger's presidential guard mobilized against the incumbent president -Mohamed Bazoum- and staged a coup. A brief contest between the different armed forces of the country ended with the agreement of all branches on the removal of Bazoum and the creation of a military junta led by General Abdourahamane “Omar” Tchiani, commander of the Presidential Guard.

This is the fourth country in the Sahel region of Africa to have suffered a coup: the other three are Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali. The new government announced that it would stop allowing France to extract uranium from Niger (one in three French light bulbs is powered by uranium from the Arlit deposit in northern Niger).

Africa America Asia U.S. USA/Europe News

Fifteen reasons why media employees act like propagandists

28 min read CAITLIN JOHNSTONE

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE
If you look at the Western media with a critical eye, you end up noticing how their reporting consistently aligns with the interests of the US centralized empire, much as you would expect if they were government-run propaganda outlets. That this extreme bias occurs is obvious and indisputable to anyone paying attention, but why and how it occurs is harder to see.

Africa America Archived Asia China U.S. USA/Europe Latin America

Towards de-dollarization and a multipolar world

9 min read SERGIO NAVAS

SERGIO NAVAS
The dollar has lost its purpose as a "trusted world currency" and emerging powers are eager to build a less dangerous alternative. It is not a question of replacing the United States with China as the dominant force, but of establishing multiple poles, each enjoying its important sphere of influence.

Africa America Asia USA/Europe News

Those who pollute, those who pay and those who get rich with green capitalism

11 min read PASCUAL SERRANO

PASCUAL SERRANO
The phenomenon of global warming and all that this implies for the future of our planet has generated a movement of concern, concern and reforms at a global level. The simplified speech is simple, the future of humanity is in danger due to the activity of the human being and we must take measures to face this deterioration.

Now, many nuances arise. Are we all really equally responsible? Does it make sense to ask for voluntary actions and sacrifices that may have a very limited impact, if the governments and citizens of the most powerful countries do not take action?

Africa Archived Spain

Arabi: Rabat has exerted enormous pressure to condition the Spanish government

10 min read Jayro sanchez

JAYRO SANCHEZ
The Polisario Front celebrates 50 years today since it was founded in Maurtinaia on May 10, 1973. We spoke with Abdulah Arabi, the front's delegate in Spain, about the situation in Western Sahara after the drastic change in the position of the Spanish Government, which in March 2022, he supported Morocco's position in the conflict.

Africa Archived Asia U.S.

The Sudan war and foreign interference

4 min read EUGENIO GARCIA GASCON

EUGENIO GARCIA GASCON
The war that broke out on April 15, due to a conflict of egos, could be complicated if the generals leading the two sides, Abdel Fattah al Burhan, supreme commander of the army, and Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, Hemedti, head of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) -a powerful paramilitary formation not integrated into the army- gather the support they are looking for in other countries in the area and what until now is a local conflict turns into another of a regional nature.

Lula and Dilma Rousseff at her inauguration as president of the BRICS Bank in Shanghai. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert

Africa America Archived Asia China Latin America

The great opportunity of the BRICS to improve world development

6 min read MARCO FERNANDES

MARCO FERNANDES
The BRICS countries occupy an increasingly important place in the world economy. In GDP by purchasing power parity (PPP), China is the world's largest economy, India third, Russia sixth and Brazil eighth. The BRICS now account for 31,5% of global PPP GDP, while the G7 share has fallen to 30%. They are expected to contribute more than 50% of global GDP by 2030, and the proposed expansion will almost certainly bring this forward.