France is the only country that makes Americans look humble.
The ego of the French is so colossal that it doesn't even fit within its own country's borders.
Which explains why France spent the nineteenth century colonizing other countries...
Almost half of Africa was a French colony.
And I bet you can guess the most widely spoken language in sub-Saharan Africa?
Exactly!
French!
But not only that!
You've all heard that Latin America is the US's backyard, right?
Well, we could say that Africa is France's backyard.
For example, in 2011, France led every military operation against Gaddafi.
Two years later, Francois Hollande's government sent troops to defend the
President of the Central African Republic while, at the same time, French soldiers were
also fighting Islamic terrorists in Mali.
Basically, the French army has been present in virtually every African armed conflict.
France even controls the currency that many African countries use.
In other words, even though African countries gained independence from France decades ago,
it still maintains a strong influence on their governments.
You can call it soft power, diplomacy or, simply, colonialism 2.0.
And I know what many of you may be thinking...
France must be getting rich off of its African colonies!
Really?
Well, my dear friends, nothing could be further from the truth.
In the last 10 years, France's trade with Africa has dropped from 10 to 4.7%
You heard that right!
Even though France dominates African politics, its economy is an entirely different story.
In fact, after centuries of colonialism and neocolonialism, African countries have barely
evolved.
Hardly any new companies have emerged due to French investment.
And, meanwhile, France is spending billions of euros every year to maintain its share
of influence over the continent, even though, ultimately, it barely gets any benefits.
And...
I bet you can't guess who's reaping all the benefits of collaborating with Africa?
Exactly!
We're talking about…
Chinese companies and Africa need each other like never before
For the last ten years, Chinese investment has changed the skyline of almost all African
cities.
Some countries like Ethiopia are becoming industrial powers, especially in the textile
sector.
Chinese companies aren't only taking advantage of the cheap labor, they have also found a
new market to sell their products to!
Chinese mobiles are sweeping across Africa and more and more people are learning Confucius's
language instead of Moliere's.
In other words, while France sends soldiers, China sends businessmen.
And it looks like it's working out pretty well for them.
So the question remains: Why has France failed to capitalize on its influence in Africa?
And what can the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, do to improve this situation?
Today we're going to answer this question but first, a bit of history.
THE DISADVANTAGES OF PATERNALISM
Those who've been following VISUALPOLITIK already know that after World War II, every
African country became independent from its colonizers.
But make no mistake, not every colonizer behaved the same way!
For example, Spain had two colonies in Africa: Sahara and Equatorial Guinea.
When these two countries decided to become independent, the Spanish government said "Ehm…
Hey dude…
Did we have colonies in Africa?
Really?
OK, well… ahm… well I guess if they want to go, we should let them…
I mean… we already have enough problems to deal with, don't we?"
Something similar happened with Italy.
They had invaded Ethiopia during Mussolini's time and weren't in a position to resist
decolonization much.
However, France was very different.
At that time, the French president was this guy, CHARLES DE GAULLE.
Charles de Gaulle was...
How can I define him?
Something like Donald Trump but with a brain.
"France cannot be France without its greatness" --Charles de Gaulle
On the one hand, de Gaulle had no choice but to allow its African colonies to become independent.
Maintaining colonies is very expensive and France still had to rebuild itself.
But, as you can imagine, a government with so much ego wasn't going to entirely give
up its old possessions.
So France kept its army in all its former colonies and, from the Elysee Palace, decided
to "support" every one of the political elites that had begun governing these new
African countries.
For example, in 1964, the French army supported a coup in Gabon.
Since then, Gabon was governed by OMAR BONGO's dictatorship for more than 40 years.
And who supplied all the weapons?
Yes!
France!
In return, Gabon follows French foreign policy to the word and is its main Uranium supplier.
As you know, France is one of the countries with the most nuclear power plants in the
world.
Well, the uranium they use comes, almost entirely, from Gabon.
And, of course, at a friend's price.
Gabon without France is like a car with no driver.
France without Gabon is like a car with no fuel
--Omar Bongo, Gabon president during 42 years.
And the same goes for other countries such as Ivory Coast, whose president was also placed,
manu militari, by France, in 2011.
The previous one left the presidential palace under cannon shots.
And guess who was pulling the trigger!
Yes, French soldiers.
In return, Ivory Coast is France's main coffee and cocoa supplier.
, French influence in the region is so complete, that even the currency they use is controlled
by France!
See, the so-called CFA FRANC is the currency used in 15 of West Africa's countries, such
as Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast...
Well, it turns out that the Central Bank that issues this currency is required to keep at
least half of its foreign currency reserves in the French Treasury.
And, since its creation, the CFA Franc is linked to French currency: it used to be the
French Franc and now it's the Euro.
That means that when the Euro rises or falls, the CFA Franc simulates its movements.
But wait a moment because there's some fine print!
And that fine print is the productive economy.
In other words, France has been running its former colonies' policy for decades.
But these countries have remained just as poor as when they became independent.
With the exception of Ivory Coast, the countries of the African Francophony continue to have
underdeveloped, agricultural and virtually stagnant economies.
No French company has bothered to open factories in Africa and the money that came from the
Elysee, was invested in weapons or in extracting natural resources.
Nothing else.
After all...
Who wants to do business in Africa?
Well, I think you already know the answer.
CHINAFRICA
We've told you a thousand times here on VISUALPOLITIK, today, China is Africa's main
trading partner.
Since the 90s, China began to grow economically, like there was no tomorrow.
And when one starts growing, one needs resources.
So far, nothing new.
But unlike France or any other Western power, China quickly realized that Africa was more
than mines and oilfields.
I believe Africa is gong to become the next manufacturing hub of the world and poverty
will not be a destiny… and many people will escape poverty.
Thank you!
The woman you just heard is Helen Hai and she's a Chinese businesswoman.
Her company is called HUAIJIAN and makes shoes for big brands.
If you have GUESS or CALVIN KLEIN shoes, it's very likely that they were made by this company.
And I bet you can't guess where one of their biggest factories is?
It's in Adiss Ababa, Ethiopia's capital.
Think about it.
In the 90s, China was the Mecca of cheap labor.
Every large American or European company would set up its factory in cities such as Shenzhen
or Guan Zhou.
But as the country grew, salaries grew too.
And by the year 2011, Helen Hai realized that, if she wanted to cut costs in terms of salaries,
she needed to find another country.
And that country was Ethiopia.
What's more, Helen Hai wasn't traveling alone.
She had the Chinese government's support, which addressed the Ethiopian political elites
and told them "look, guys, if you let us do things our way, we can cover the country
with factories, money, and jobs".
And as we usually say around here... so it was said and done!
The Hawassa industrial park is already operational and Ethiopia wants it to become a manufacturing
hub
But we're not just talking about Ethiopia!
There are Chinese factories in many other countries.
TWYFORD is a company that manufactures ceramic tiles and its main plant is on the outskirts
of Nairobi, in Kenya.
And we can find new industrial parks in other countries like Ghana.
And, even though Chinese companies are supported by the Government, we're mostly talking
about private investment.
And I know what you may be thinking!
That all of these companies make cheap things to sell to rich countries, right?
Well, not at all!
For example, StarTimes is a company in TANZANIA made with Chinese capital, that provides cable
TV.
Since they reached the market, cable TV prices have dropped by 90%.
Thanks to that, more than 10 million Africans can enjoy a service that was once a luxury.
And the same happened with telecommunications.
Companies like Huawei have flooded the market with cheap mobile phones.
In fact, nowadays, the same amount of Kenyans use mobile phones as Europeans.
And of course, to connect all these industrial centers, the Chinese Government has spared
no expense.
Do you remember the New Silk Road?
The so-called One Belt, One Road project that Xi Jimping launched?
Well, the same thing is happening in Africa.
And we're talking about thousands of kilometers of railroads and roads that have changed the
landscape of several areas of the continent.
In other words, unlike France, China hasn't tried to colonize Africa but has, instead,
turned them into business partners.
And thanks to that, they have managed to earn more money... and more influence.
The Confucius Institutes are raising generations of pro-Chinese Mandarin speakers throughout
Africa
And now you may be wondering.
What can France do about this?
Are they just going to sit by while China engulfs the market?
We'll see.
COMMON INTERESTS
I think it won't surprise you to know that a large part of African countries aren't
precisely legal safety paradises that have a lot of respect for the law.
We're often talking about dictatorships.
Others are failed states that can barely contain the fights of various tribes.
That means that setting up a factory in a country like Gabon is much more complicated
than in, for example, the United States.
It isn't enough to buy land and get a permit: you need to have Government contracts.
That means that, in these cases, diplomacy plays a fundamental role.
Remember how I told you that France controls its former colonies' governments with an
iron fist?
Well, you can imagine the rest of the story.
"French companies must go on the offensive and fight the growing influence of rival China
for a stake in Africa's increasingly competitive markets, France's Finance Minister Pierre
Moscovici said on Saturday"
As you can imagine, if France doesn't want China to invest in its former colonies, it
has enough tools to prevent it.
And that's why Chinese money has barely reached these countries.
Of course Beijing has paid for some projects in countries like Ivory Coast and Gabon!
But that's little in comparison to Ethiopia or Kenya.
However, things could start to change.
The new French president, Emmanual Macron, promised to turn the African situation around.
And it looks like it already started.
Macron revives France's partnership with China in Africa
As Macrón said at the press conference, "China has the money and we have the knowledge of
the region."
In other words, France would be willing to allow the African politicians they control
to accept Chinese investments.
In return, they'd require a piece of the pie.
Of course, this news is from January 2018, so there's still a lot to go through before
we can see how this agreement turns out.
So now the question is: Do you think France will change its policy concerning Africa and
start treating its former colonies as trading partners?
Or will they just continue to exchange nice words?
Do you think that this could be a new push to bring Africa out of poverty sooner than
expected?
Leave your answer in the comments section.
Meanwhile, if you want to know how Africa is leaving poverty behind, click on this other
video.
Also, don't forget to visit Reconsider media.com, the podcast that provided the vocals on this
episode that were not mine.
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