Niger’s military government has announced the nationalisation of the country’s sole industrial gold mine, accusing its Australian operator of “serious breaches” as the junta seeks greater control of natural resources.
The military junta has ruled the West African nation since seizing power in a 2023 coup, promising to crack down on Niger’s myriad security issues.
Juntas in Niger, neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali have ramped up pressure on foreign mining companies in recent years, with Niger nationalising the local branch of French uranium giant Orano in June.
What upsets me is when westerners do absolutely no research on the background and material processes at play in the global south and jump to finger-wagging at an unquestionably progressive, anti-imperialist action. It’s chauvanism.
Military juntas just have a bad track record. It doesn’t matter where they’re located.
Speaking without doing any research on a topic and just parroting the western viewpoint just has an evil track record used to justify coups, invasions, and sanctions. It doesn’t matter how well-intentioned you are.
I don’t think the apprehension about military rule is just a Western thing.
I mean they came to power through a coup
The refusal to actually look into the underlying social forces and class struggle on the ground in Niger leading to the nationalization of their gold mine is deeply western, and parroting the narrative uncritically is western.
Yes, the current government came to power through a coup, one against the pro-imperialist comprador that was doing the exact thing you accuse the new government of doing. The new gov is widely loved by its people, similar to Ibrahim Traoré in Burkina Faso.
You’re just posturing and finger-wagging people working to directly combat the serious problem of western imperialism forcing under-development of Africa.
I’m just hoping they don’t go the way of most military juntas.
I’m just hoping you’ll stop trying to play innocent while uncritically parroting western talking-points.
Not sure why in your mind being apprehensive about military juntas is a Western thing. Many places have more recent experiences about it going bad.
Because you don’t know what you’re talking about, have done no research, yet feel fully comfortable speaking your uninformed opinion on how a country chooses to chart its own course.
Interesting pics
I got more