No to French Imperialist Military Intervention in Mali!

(«Proletarian»; Nr. 9; Winter 2012-2013)

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For the past several weeks the increasingly insistent sound of jackboots have been heard à propos Mali. At the End of September the French President Hollande went with the Foreign Minister Fabius to the UN General Assembly to plead for a green light for military intervention in northern Mali, which he obtained without difficulty.

But for several months, since the overthrow of President Amadou Toumani Touré, French diplomacy has been busy preparing for the military intervention, whether through negotiations with neighboring Algeria or by sending special forces into Burkina Faso (1).  A Former French colony in Central Africa, Mali has experienced years of struggles, sometimes violent, by the nomadic Tuareg population living in the north against the oppression and discrimination of the central government.

After the Tuareg guerillas inflicted a heavy defeat on Malian soldiers, forcing them to retreat to the south of the country (the “useful lands” where the overwhelming majority of the population are found, in contrast to the northern semidesert) on March 22 the defeated soldiers took power in Bamako. Under pressure from neighboring states and French imperialism the military junta was forced in early April to give way to “acting president”, Traoré. But as soon as he was inducted, the new president was wounded in an attack on the presidential palace by nationalist demonstrators close to the military, and he went to France to recuperate.

The Prime Minister, Cheick Modibo Diarra, returned from the United States (where he worked at NASA), to lead the country during the presidential vacancy. When Traoré returned from Paris in August, a “national unity government” was then formed, in accordance with the “ultimatum” issued by the African member countries of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States); but the differences between the presidential clan and the Prime Minister, including the attitude to adopt vis-à-vis the North, have not disappeared.

In the weeks that followed, international pressures have increased for foreign military intervention in the North, where Tuareg rebels have been forced to give way to Islamist organizations.

The Islamists were probably better armed, but they have benefited most, it seems, from the anger of the people of Timbuktu and other cities in the face ofTuareg “pillages”; the restoration of order, by the establishment of a brutal Islamic order, was apparently positively appreciated, at least initially, by some segments of the population (2).

To prepare minds for a military intervention, a campaign of international opinion has and is being developed concerning the “atrocities” committed in the north (destruction of religious monuments, stoning of an adulterous couple, etc.). On the front page of Le Monde the Prime Minister demanded “drive the drug traffickers and terrorists out of Mali”, criticizing the President for wishing to negotiate and lauding Fabius and Hollande for their contributions at the United Nations (3). Finally, the Malian government gave in and in early September formally requested foreign military intervention to wage battle in the north.

Twice as large as France, but populated by only 15 million inhabitants, Mali is a poor country which has, however, still untapped potential resources (apart from some gold production); French imperialism has multiple interests in intervening in its former colony: mineral resources with the probable presence of oil and gas and uranium deposits in the northern part, but also to protect its “influence” throughout the whole subregion.

However, it would rather not appear on the front lines, preferring to leave the fighting to African auxiliaries, contenting itself with managing the logistics. The military presence of the former colonial power in Bamako would certainly provoke hostile demonstrations: everyone there knows that the actions of French imperialism have never been motivated by the plight of the local population!

Neither the people of northern Mali, Tuareg or not, nor the disinherited Malian masses in general nor French proletarians have anything to gain from imperialist military intervention, which in one way or another they will have to shoulder the costs.

The grievances of the Malian masses will not be resolved by war, but by social and political struggle, the only way to resolve the problems of proletarians as of the masses Mali lies in the struggle against the international imperialist order which on the one hand condemns entire populations to vegetate in hopeless misery, and on the other condemns the proletarians of the entire world to an ever greater exploitation. And in this struggle it is the proletariat of the imperialist countries that have the greatest responsibility because they are the ones that can strike at the heart of world capitalism and destroy its inhuman order.

No to any imperialistmilitary intervention in Mali!

French Imperialism Out of Africa!

Long Live the World Communist Revolution!

 


 

(1) see Le Figaro, 23/09/12. This article seems apparently very well informed by French military sources also speaks of a “murky role” played by the Algerian authorities. see; www.lefigaro.fr/international/ 2012/09/23/01003- 20120923 ARTFIG00152-mali-la- france-en-pointe-contre-aqmi.php. French special forces are based in Burkina Faso see; www. marianne2.fr / blogsecretdefense/Mali-le-COS-est-bien-present-au-Sahel-contrairement-a-ce-que-dit-Laurent- Fabius_a763. html

(2) see: www. jolpress.com /international-mali-intervention-armee-militaire-assemblee-generale-onu-islamistes-nord-aqmi-ansar-dine-mujao-touaregs-mnla-charia- article-813612.html

(3) See Le Monde, 01/10/2012. The Prime Minister threatens: “We must now secure the major cities of Mali”. Who are his targets: some  “gangs of terrorists” in the north, or the oppressed masses in the cities?

October 7, 2012

 

 

International Communist Party

www.pcint.org

 

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