The summit, placed under the sign of renewal and refoundation, was held in
Montpellier from October 8 to 10, 2021 for the first time without African headsof state and with the ambition of highlighting civil society. Behind thisMacronian com ', the permanence of French neocolonialism. ---- From October 8 to10, the Africa-France summit, skillfully renamed for the occasion " new summit ", a very smooth showcase of France's lackluster presence on the continent, washeld in Montpellier. The occasion for a counter-mobilization, in which the UCLtook part. Usually little invested by the extreme left in France, since theircreation in 1973, these summits have been an opportunity to bring together aroundthe head of the French government his African counterparts (mainlyFrench-speaking countries), and since his beginnings " it is indeed Paris whichhas always summoned its obligees to criticize some, congratulate others, unifypoints of view on some thorny issue and, along the way, remind the rest of theworld of its absolute hold on the populations of distant lands "[1].For the cancellation of the Africa-France summitsThis 2021 edition was intended to be a " summit of civil society " , far fromclosed meetings between political decision-makers, promoting exchanges betweencultural actors, entrepreneurs, sportsmen and women, etc. Marotte of MichaëlDelafosse, PS mayor of Montpellier since 2020, who saw in the reception of thesummit a " new step in the influence " of the metropolis, the event stillreceived the visit of Emmanuel Macron.The Head of State took care to commission Achille Mbembe, a Cameroonian politicalscientist, to return a report that advocates the " refoundation " of relationsbetween France and the African continent, and took place on Saturday, October 9.debating alongside twelve young people from different African countries. Anopportunity for the President of the Republic to pose as the great refounder ofFranco-African relations ahead of the 2022 elections.But many news come to spoil the picture of the harmony of peoples highlighted bythis edition of the summit. The exactions of the French government in Africancountries have indeed been abundantly underlined recently: a coup d'etat quicklyforgotten in Chad, last March, another fiercely considered undemocratic in GuineaConakry, at the beginning of September, the overwhelming Duclert report on therole and the responsibilities of the French army in the genocide of the Tutsi inRwanda in 1994.To denounce the hypocrisy of the Africa-France summit which was held on October 8and 10 in Montpellier, national and local organizations made another speech onthe reality of relations between France and Africa.A movement to denounce the hypocrisy of this summit was quick to form inMontpellier, from the spring of 2021. Bringing together national (Survie, Marchedes solidarités, Attac) and local organizations (UCL Montpellier, but alsoCarmagnole and La Libre Pensée) and individuals, the movement organized a seriesof events before and during the summit to give another discourse on the realityof France-Africa relations: a discourse that speaks of neocolonialism,extractivism, civilian victims. The convergence of these different movements wasnot obvious, and sometimes a source of tension: a committee upholding the demandfor the cancellation of the Africa-France summits has notably stood out from acommittee for a counter-summit.The two collectives meeting however, beyond the nuances, on the major part of thepolitical background, the mobilization against the summit did not suffer from theinternal debates. On the contrary, the multiplication of the number ofinitiatives has enriched the movement of a varied thought on the conditions of areal equality between France and the African countries without diluting themobilization. The basis of common demands included the withdrawal of Frenchtroops from Mali, the cancellation of odious debts dating from the colonial era,and the regularization of all undocumented migrants.Repression against undocumented migrantsIt is in this context that, on Thursday 8 October, the very day of the launch ofthe summit, took place, the arrest at the Montpellier Sud-de-France station ofeight members of the Parisian Collectives without Papers (CSP) by the NationalPolice. A doubly nauseating roundup, as they came to support a mobilizationdenouncing the inhuman living conditions in which undocumented migrants arevoluntarily maintained by the French state. Following an immediate mobilizationin front of the Montpellier police station, six of the arrested were releasedwith an obligation to leave French territory. The two remaining people weretransferred to the Administrative Detention Center (Cra), an antechamber for theexpulsion.They were not released until after the summit, and mobilizations demanding thelifting of the inflicted OQTF continued in Paris during the rest of October.Nothing therefore seems to stop the cynicism of the state apparatus, ready toemploy methods of intimidation of unheard-of violence against this mobilizationwhich tainted the smooth communication of the France-Africa summit. Thedemonstration of Saturday, October 8, the culmination of the counter-summit,therefore took place in a climate of indignation, a new stone having been broughtto the shameful edifice of Françafrique.On the side of the official summit that took place during this time,unsurprisingly, no shocking statement from Emmanuel Macron who was satisfied withinexpensive promises on the return of old works of art and maintaining his courseon the reform of the CFA franc, confiscated from West African institutions.If the mobilization in Montpellier has struggled to massify this year, fororganizational reasons and state repression against undocumented participants,this summit was however an opportunity to prove something else. These greatmasses in Françafrique are creating less and less illusion, both among the Frenchpopulation and in African countries, where many voices have been raised againstthis summit[2]. The 2021 edition, like the following ones, are opportunities tocollectively analyze Franco-African relations, and to forge links between thefronts of struggle: economic and political self-determination of populations,expulsion of multinationals which dry up natural resources and corrupt publicauthorities, rights of exiled populations.Théo (UCL Montpellier)AN ANTI-COLONIALIST COLLOQUIUMThe Committee for the cancellation of the Africa-France summit, of which UCLMontpellier is a signatory, wished to maintain its initial slogan: the requestfor the cancellation of the summit. A conference was organized in Grabels onOctober 2, a week before the summit, around four round tables: economy andfinance, military interventions, migration, and necessary repairs in Africa.Among the speakers invited for the occasion, sociologist Saïd Bouamama also spokealongside members of the Collectif des sans-papiers 34 on migration issues,denouncing the living conditions of undocumented migrants in France, andemphasizing the capitalist interests to maintain a fringe of employees in socialmisery. Cancellation-sommet-afrique-france.frTo validate[1]" Montpellier, Françafrique at the end of its rope ", Boubacar Boris Diop,SenePlus.com .[2]See among others the publications of the Collective for African Renewal (CORA) .https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Sommet-Afrique-France-un-coup-de-vernis-sur-la-Francafrique-9372_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten