Submitted by Ratafarivisions
Submitted by Ratafarivisions
48 responses to “The Focus Must Be Dismantling RACISM Within the System”
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Ratafarivisions@ As you can see, All things deal with land and Beatrice Henry Knew this, She bought the Lands for We could not to WAR with England after the White ran form Barbados when SUGAR prices fell , They set up a system after Slavery for Free and freed to buy and own Land. When this system was used by law of the day “CONVEYANCE ” ,Now the BLP/DLP and the DBLP step aside of ALL LAWS for greed and corruption , land laundering , money laundering ,offshore Banking.
Now today after the VOTE buying the same names pop up as Sir Hillery Beckles , talking out of both side of his mouth.He talk to where ever the gain or the PIMP title takes him , This Same man wanted to date My Mother as a school girl. Thank God We are not part of his seed, As the Crook ,Liar and Scumbag walk with no shame , Sir Hillery keep talking of the past all the way back to 1630 , But will never speak to the Todays and yesterday 1892-2014.If he is a Sir then i need to be King, -
Lol Deeds…you got that right.
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Some type of advocating will have to start so that the racism/discrimination practiced in closed societies such as Barbados can be recognized and dismantled, as long as everyone remains in denial, it will be discriminating as usual, sad to say some people don’t even understand it…….it will be interesting to see who will actually have the nerves or balls to start this process….it’s ok to start the advocating ball rolling on BU, but there must also be some type of activity on the ground in Barbados, with intelligent people leading the charge, someone has to set a precedent for anything to actually happen.
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One of the most effective and time-tested methods of fighting against the truth is to ignore the truth and focus the discussion on the one that speaks it.
In that way, one indirectly throws a subliminal suggestion that the truth itself should be ignored and discredited.
Concerning the truth of reparations, the person or persons that do not win universal approval should not have to be the ones that are left to dig it up from under the dungeons of wicked concealment and neglect..
It should be the ones that are are very picky about who speaks the truth. Their indignation at the one who speaks the truth should be surpassed by their indignation against THE CRIME WHOSE INHUMANITY IS WITHOUT PARALLEL IN HUMAN HISTORY. http://rastafarivisions.com/features/acrime
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PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926 TO 2014 , MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS OF BARBADOS, BLPand DLP=Massive Fruad | May 2, 2014 at 7:21 AM |
Ratafarivisions@ As you can see, All things deal with land and Beatrice Henry Knew this, She bought the Lands for We could not to WAR with England after the White ran form Barbados when SUGAR prices fellw=Where do you go from here Messrs
PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926 TO 2014 , MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS OF BARBADOS, BLPand DLP=Massive Fruad | May 2, 2014 at 7:21 AM | -
We are on our way, We never stopping until Justice is done , We will not say all of our movement but we can assure you the People of Barbados Will be and see much better with us in Office,
Question will come and Answers will be given ,
There is time to give more , as we watch them fall and falling , We will speak more when they hit the Ass-Fault , their on their way down,
They never thought this day would come , That day is here ,We all smelled a RAT in Barbados , Now we know who and what the RATS are the new DBLP fraud government,
We have what they were hiding and removed from the records, as you can see they have near every , house,building FOR SALE , TERRA REAL ESTATE . SUCKER AND LAWYERS AND TOWN &COUNTRY IN THE GAME OF FRAUD, ASK WHO SELLING IF THEY HAVE CLEAR TITLES , MANY WILL LOSE THEIR MONEY AND THE LAWYERS WILL RUN TO ENGLAND LIKE THE OTHER DID ALREADY, -
if wumna want to start wif dismantaling the syatem wunna must first start usingthe financial and purchasing power that wunna have..like supporting wunna owm black business but i know that neva gonna happen cause wunna already been convinced that wunna own are crooks and vagabondd..neva mind that evidence shows different after the financial melt and who the crooks and thieves really are..come tommorow uh can rest assured that people likeWell..Well and her kind wid credit card in hand going to be shopping at the nbig white budiness owned department stores and not worrying two sh.tes about how much money is being spent on small black businesses…peeps money is power .that,s is where to start the dismantaling
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for years blacks talk about fighting the system…..yet can help themselves by keeping the system well oiled and intact,,,,black people are the only race who spend billions of dollars supporting other ethnic groups…check this out…..e,g chinese restaurants ,,,,blacks support them restaurants without batting an eye lash,,,but finding a chinese or an other ethnic group supporting a black restaurant or black business ,is almost unheard off,, yeap unheard off,,but trying telling blacks to support their own…well the evidence is there to see ..no…not gonna happen,,,really these articles about fighting racism don;t mean sh,t ,,until blacks really understand that weilding their financial power is the control ,,a power ,,, that can bring down empires ..a fear that all businesses avoid at any cost,,,,blacks need to stop the madness unify and draw the will to protect their own and stop protecting and supporting other races and groups who don;t give tow rats a,ss about your well being,,,,,,stop the madness,,,
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AC
Very good point AC because here in the US, black people spend billions of dollars annually on Hair-Products, sold by Asians who own and operate these Beauty Stores throughout the inner cities of this country. And the sad reality is that: these Asians people would not employ one black person to work in they establishments. But yet, black women continue to do business with these people, who have demonstrated conspicuously that they care little for black folk.
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AC
The bottom line is we’re our own worse enemy ( I hope I’ve said that correctly), and it is due in part to our poor leadership from emancipation to the present era. We haven’t had the kind of leaders as the Jews did, to set us on a course of economic independence. It is difficult to look at the state of the black world with any measure of optimism. When the African-Continent, the Caribbean, and blacks in North as well as South America, can’t do for themselves economically.
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You guys really simply the issue of ownership of the establishment.
Who owns the car you buy?
Who owns the food you by?
Who owns the financial system to do business?
Who owns the hospitals and the healthcare system.
We could go on and on.
You are so simplistic in appreciating how embedded the influence and control the system it it not funny.
On Saturday, 3 May 2014, Barbados Underground wrote:
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David, have are we simplistic in our analysis of an issue which seems consume the daily conversation of the people in a certain segment of the American society. It is a empirical reality, that when Indians, Arabs, European and Hispanics operates establishments in black communities of America, they employ the people from those communities and the Asians do not.
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David
And it doesn’t’ really matter who own the financial system etc. What is of great concernment, is the fact that the black man has not been able to obtain his fair lot within any of the above mentioned systems.
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AC……you keep missing the point, stop worrying about where i shop, first of all i HATE SHOPPING, HATE CREDIT CARDS, i don’t have one, so I AM NOT THE ISSUE, see why people call you an idiot, now what the hell would i be shopping for when i have everything i need……ADVOCATE/LOBBY for the DLP government to encourage the majority blacks to spend money among themselves, stop enriching the minorities on the island….every time you act like i am the issue in Barbados, when i don’t live there……I WILL STOMP ALL OVER YOUR ASS, SO FOCUS…..there is work to be done on the island and you as the only person on BU now claiming how all powerful the DLP is should be the head one making sure changes are made pronto.
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there is nothing simplistic about having purchasing power wall street knows that blacks like shopping and nice things and relentlessly set up businees in poor neighbourhoods..flood ing them with cheap credit cards gimmicks and subliminal advertising which wreck havoc on small black businesses worldwide if anyone can not understand the enormous effect and influence that black purchasing power weilds just look across the landscapes from the islands to the americas and see where ethnic races set up shop .imeaning black purchasing power is strong and a viable tool in helping to reshape the financial landscape and stamping out racism and racist attitudes
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@ac
What % of the populations does Blacks make up? You really need to debate sensibly. What significant businesses do Blacks own in the USA and Europe? Blacks are consumers NOT a significant members of the owner class.
On Saturday, 3 May 2014, Barbados Underground wrote:
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IN 2004 i passed through Barbados and realized that the credit card scam was just getting into full swing on the island, naturally i asked them if they knew the credit card was a scam, of course since it was introduced by the establishment and was deemed acceptable, i got cussed, bet you no one will cuss me now.
Blacks like too many beads, glass, smoke and mirrors etc, eyes bigger than their stomachs and love to keep up with the Jones’, they are too damn greedy and like to look after their wants and not their needs. consumerism is now their downfall…..maybe AC, since she is also complaining about this, can start some classes outlining those faults. Don’t blame the people who put the pretty garbage out there, as i said, I hate shopping, hate credit cards, don’t own one, see I worked at corporations so who would know better than i the scam involved…there is nothing in any of the stores from Bloomingdale to Bergdof Goodman that would make me take out my hard earned money and spend on their shitty garbage…..maybe blacks in Barbados need to acquire that attitude..
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why don’t i get wid the program david.i am talkkng about black ‘purchasing power” and the positive effect it hss on maintaing the status quo.and if withheld can be do potential harm to economoes.malcolmX advocated and preached such a truth a truth which cost him his life.u can talk all u want about marches but when the smoke clears the reality is that the status quo remains in and blacks purchasing power continues to keep them a stronger and relevant force..one which keeps blacks in economic chains
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whatever people like they like,…people are not robots,,,,,,but when one race or a dominate forced is given legality to raped and pillar a weaker race ,,,that is tantamount to robbery,,,,,,,the black race more than any other race has been weakened and subjected to a higher threshold albeit that the purchasing power is equal to that of the financial power which whites use to suppress and keep them in abject poverty,,, the call for justice through racial upheaval can only hurt blacks as this has been done before ,which brought laws that would quiet any further rebellious acts while moving the goal post higher ;;;implementing laws to protect their own interest while depressing any viable economy output in the black community and poor nations,,,,
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Can someone decipher for me in English what AC is trying so hard to say………anyone???
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Ac writes robot. And I don’t know how to read robot.
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this article are for the ignoramus who only shows up to give lip service but has no idea what they are talking about …….here’s to you Simple Simon…… and WELl…WELL
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……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….http://reachingblackconsumers.com/2012/04/black-buying-power-continues-to-rise/
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@ac
Why don’t you reread the article this time with comprehension.
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AC, don’t’ worry yourself with David and Well Well because they’re speaking from pure theory. I got yaa sista so don’t worry yaaself.
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reread what article…under neath the picture the article states verbatim the exact problem. albeit that i have emphasize where our monies are being misspent to help our suppressors whether they by land or stores the fact is the principle is the same……maybe it is time you take your nasty hat off your head trying to prove absolutely nothing………
‘The map below shows that while Africans continue to suffer in poverty globally, Black lands and Black resources continue to make other people rich’
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@ac
When Blacks in the US which is where you focu is want to buy a car which Black franchise should they frequent?
When they want to by fuel which gas stations should they frequent where procurement id from a Black refinery?
Which supermarket should they buy their stables which are sourced from Black manufactures and farms?
You understand?
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dompey ..i never worry my head about johnny come lately ..and parrots who repeat and regurgitate off the mouthing s of each other
i know what i comment on black history they would never understand because they too busy trying to fight ac over her opinions and support for the DLP GOVT,,,,,,couldn;t give too hoots what they or any body thinks,,,,,, -
@ac
Here is a question for you, if you don’t care what anybody thinks about your opinions why do you expressed them?
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David you just don’t get it you just don’t get it……u know what u meking me tired…..i am going out to dinner……. just for good measure and not appearing to be rude,,,,,,the question you present is exclusive of the fact that blacks in america once owned gas stations and pharmacies and food stores,,,,,,o.k now go put two and two together and first say to yuhself really,,,,,,,,,what happened,,,,,then take a long long walk on the worldwide web and find a website that can give you a history on the death of the black entrepreneur
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@ac
The point is Blacks NEVER had economic or significant buying power in the US, NEVER.
The article you posted despite the rapid growth in buying power by Blacks in the last decade the buying power of Blacks only represents single digit buying power when measured across total USA.
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@ Well Well,
You asked how do you decipher what my girlfriend Alternating Current is writing?”
It is called scroll bar or down arrow….
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LOL @ac and Dompey
Birds of a feather flocking together….
…two Dodos -
you see that is the problem your limited mind can only focus on the blacks in america and spending power my point in presenting the article was to show you how blackis spending power is influential,,,,be that as it may , your intent to prove me wrong was blinded bysimple focusing on one segment of the black population,,,,just for one itsy bitsy moment include blacks world
wide as a major part and influence of purchasing power for the white establishment,,,,,,,,,,,get the picture,,,..the reality that when combined world wide blacks spending power is very influential in driving the white establishment financial power ,,you know i love the way my bajan people think of the world,,just do not forget barbados nor america is not the world,,, i believe the submission posted on bu intention is to bring an awareness to a worlwide problem which is effecting black people and poor nations worldwide . i am not going to argue or debate what the pros and cons of the whys and therfore.s of theblack .. economy with u david,,,,i have read enough on racial issues to know when others are forming opinions based on perceptions and not full knowledge,,,,however i will tell u this that i have never come across a bunch of people so unaware of the many ways that blacks have been manipulated and exploited by the economic forces of the world,,,,,, furthermore it is crazy to believe that some would use a limited view of knowledge to relay information on topics that have ideological political…psychological as well as sociological under tones,,,,,to u i say just keep on keeping on… . -
AC Barbados differs from most countries with majorities. Under normal conditions the majority who have the wealth will have the power to dictate. Barbados like South Africa on the other hand have a majority depending on a minority who hold the wealth.
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Jesus himself said that the poor will always be with us, and the same goes for racism. Take Northern Ireland ,for example, a country that is predominantly white. The Catholics there were treated by the Protestants in the same fashion that blacks are/were treated in the great US of A. Deprived of jobs. Housed in the most atrocious of homes. Deprived of comparable education. Restricted from entering certain areas, and if they did, were killed or injured.
In the Old Testament Book ,The Song of Solomon -Chapter 1 Verse 6
“Look not upon me ,because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me ; my mothers children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept ”
Umpteem thousands of years have passed and nothing has changed.
Looks as if the Mormons are right in their assumption, that we are a cursed race, stated in The Book of Mormons- 2 Nephi, Verse 21-24. -
Leave it to AC to post a link proving what i am saying about the spending habits of blacks, then she promptly turns around and misinterprets her own article……lol
So, in black and white we see blacks in the US over the years and despite all their challenges gaining enough ground economically through education, business, higher salaries, etc and building up quite an impressive spending power…….and what do they do with that spending power? outspend the whites and in several cities as the chart suggests……that proves my point without a doubt…..Yes, there is subliminal messaging, but only ROBOTS would follow those messages into a store to max out their credit cards and acquire debt that could imprison them while the next recession is just around the corner.
Well, in AC’s mind those blacks who spend without discipline and in some recently documented cases have been discriminated against, locked up and racially profiled when they innocently shop in stores like Macy’s for the expensive brand name garbage in those stores, are NOT ROBOTS, but the blacks who show discipline, intelligence and hold on to their economic spending power are ROBOTS……I tell ya…..AC, i suggest you google the definition of ROBOT…..Simply put AC, that means that the 13% blacks in the US are the minorities and are outspending the whites who are at least 65% (I stand corrected on that percentage) and are the majority in the US.. I don’t know when blacks in the US will finally realize that they are aiding and abetting in their own disenfranchisement.
Now we look at Barbados where there is a whole different problem…..blacks make up the majority (90%) so their collectively huge spending power is a given, without the spending power of blacks in Barbados, the minorities who make p a tiny (10%) can kiss their asses goodbye, SO, what do the blacks in Barbados do, spend all their money with the 10% minorities WITHOUT the involvement of ANY subliminal messaging whatsoever, then they complain about it after too,, now that is called indiscipline in spending and plain stupidity……holding on to their money and keeping that economic power intact as a majority is called a high degree of intelligence.
I bet if we spend some time in several different countries around the world, a pattern would emerge about the spending habits of modern day blacks, who have a higher standard of living than they ancestors had or could have ever hope for……..
Sensible blacks and whites in Canada will tell you that they do not waste their money and it’s a tough country to be broke in…..some people never learn.
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It is still a puzzling mystery to me. Here in Barbados, we turn out people with Phd’s , Masters and all sorts of university degrees by the thousands , yet still we see the Close- Brethren types, who have hardly completed secondary education, raking in the money ,not just out of the hand of the ordinary Bajan, but from those highly qualified ones among us as well ,from their many lucrative and thriving businesses all over Bridgetown and island wide.
Reminds me of the Parable of the Talent, Matthew 25;Verse 14-30 -
islandgal246 | May 3, 2014 at 10:31 PM |
AC Barbados differs from most countries with majorities. Under normal conditions the majority who have the wealth will have the power to dictate. Barbados like South Africa on the other hand have a majority depending on a minority who hold the wealth.
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In other words our Parliament is only a Ministry of Minority Rights, at least up until last Wednesday. -
@Colonel Buggy “Looks as if the Mormons are right in their assumption, that we are a cursed race, stated in The Book of Mormons- 2 Nephi, Verse 21-24.”
We are not a cursed race.
The book of Mormon is a made up book, made up by a white American man to suit other white American men. There is no need to believe anything written there unless you are a white American man.
If I wrote the book of Simple Simon of course it would be written to suit people like me, and I would put a little something in there that all other races are accursed.
But would you believe my nonsense?
Probably not.
So why do you believe other people’s nonsense?
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https://app.box.com/shared/z3n3yquiw7k3a36drftw
Are Black Americans Stupid ? -
this is very racist of you David. blacks should buy from blacks only.
well that proves your racist WordPress blog.
always some how it is the white mans fault.
poor black man.
but i notice the poor black man driving $200 thousand dollar Japanese or German vehicles every day in barbados.
how they manage it is beyond me.
just does not make sense.
try not to be so racist on here against whites as unless they are 275 years old they had nothing to do with slavery.
always in barbados race ,race,/ will it ever end?
what do you want ? your government ,police,army,government workers,
are all black,JUDGES,lawyers almost all.
what else do you want? -
First and forth most, one should never use an absolute to describe any group of people. Are all white people racist? Are all Hispanics thefts? Are all East- Indians smell like the cow behind? There are high society, middle – class and poor African American who live totally different lifestyles.
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@ simple simon
If I wrote the book of Simple Simon of course it would be written to suit people like me, and I would put a little something in there that all other races are accursed.
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LOL…life is so funny….
You don’t know how right you would be….. 🙂 -
River
It wasn’t Black man who introduced the racist ideology in our way of life. I think you know as I do, that it was the White man. Now, are you cognizant of the fact that America abandoned the practice of racial – apartheid a little under fifty years? River, just after slavery the white man instituted the Black Code which had within it the One Drop Law as well as a literacy test, which was designed to prevent the black man from exercising his vote, amongst many other injustices.
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Interesting to read about Attorney General Eric Holder in the US pointing to subtle racism at play in 2014.
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Famine-Stricken Niger Feeds French Development and Wealth
Finian CUNNINGHAM 14.11.2013 12:00
The former French African colony of Niger is facing famine – yet again – with international aid agencies reporting this week that up to one million people are currently without access to food.It is the fourth such crisis to wrack the West African country in recent years, when famines struck similarly in 2012, 2010 and 2005. The immediate cause is extreme climate that has hit crop harvests. But the root cause is the deliberate underdevelopment of Niger under France’s parasitical neo-colonialism.
Ironically, this chronic underdevelopment and poverty in Niger, and Africa generally, is a cornerstone for France’s own national development and wealth creation.
Niger has a land area twice the size of France, with a population of only 17 million – a quarter of France’s. Much of the Sahelian country is arid and hostile to agriculture. But given its relatively small population, Niger should be a wealthy nation owing to its other vast natural resources.
It is the world’s fifth top producer of uranium ore – after Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia and Russia. Niger has also other mineral riches, including gold, iron ore, molybdenum, tin, salt, gypsum and phosphates – and what are reckoned to be huge untapped oil and gas reserves.
Yet despite all this natural wealth, Niger is officially the poorest country on Earth. According to the United Nations Human Development Index for 2012, it is ranked the lowest out of 186 nations.
The explanation for this anomaly is that Niger’s chronic condition of underdevelopment, poverty and hunger is a result of politics – French politics to be precise.
Like many other African countries, Niger gained official independence from France in 1960. But, as with other former colonies, its newfound «freedom» soon proved to be illusory.
For the past six decades, Niger has been kept enslaved under the French monetary system known as the «African Franc». The currency was imposed on more than a dozen former French colonies, including Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad, Mali and Niger, as a condition for their political «independence».
Paris dictates that all member countries must deposit their annual revenues with the French Treasury, from which the former colonies can draw down borrowing – but they are charged financial interest for this dubious «privilege». Meanwhile, the French government allows itself to use this African money to invest in its own companies – interest free.
France also unilaterally determines the exchange rate for the African Franc against the Euro and other international currencies.
In this way, France has been able to continue its rapacious exploitation of Africa as if it were back in the colonial heyday of the 19th and early 20th Centuries – only now under the politically correct guise of «independent nations».
The financial and economic looting of Africa means that resources are extracted at the lowest cost to France, which can then export products back to its former colonies at the highest price. The upshot is that Africa is caught in a poverty trap of underdevelopment and hunger – as we are witnessing now in Niger – even though the continent has some of the most abundant resources on Earth.
A measure of Niger’s forced underdevelopment is this: apart from uranium ore, the other major exports from the country are livestock, cowpeas and onions. In other words, the county – despite its vast natural wealth – is stunted and crippled. And France wants to keep Niger crippled, economically and socially, because it ensures that France can exploit the country at will and in particular for the strategically vital uranium ore.
Some 80 per cent of France’s national energy supply is derived from nuclear power generated at 59 plants operated by state-owned Electricite de France. About one-third of France’s total annual supply of uranium ore for its power stations is sourced from Niger. The French uranium-mining company, Areva, has mines across Niger, guarded by French Special Forces.
Electricity supply is perhaps the main determinant of a country’s overall development. So, while French citizens can enjoy ubiquitous electricity, and all the social development that goes along with that, it is on the back of widespread poverty and human suffering in Niger.
Areva is the world’s second biggest uranium-producing company with annual profits of €430 million.
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SiliconAfrica.com
14 African Countries Forced by France to Pay Colonial Tax For the Benefits of Slavery and Colonization
By: Mawuna Remarque KOUTONIN
Tuesday, January 28th, 2014 at 3:41 pm.
Did you know many African countries continue to pay colonial tax to France since their independence till today!When Sékou Touré of Guinea decided in 1958 to get out of french colonial empire, and opted for the country independence, the french colonial elite in Paris got so furious, and in a historic act of fury the french administration in Guinea destroyed everything in the country which represented what they called the benefits from french colonization.
Three thousand French left the country, taking all their property and destroying anything that which could not be moved: schools, nurseries, public administration buildings were crumbled; cars, books, medicine, research institute instruments, tractors were crushed and sabotaged; horses, cows in the farms were killed, and food in warehouses were burned or poisoned.
The purpose of this outrageous act was to send a clear message to all other colonies that the consequences for rejecting France would be very
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INVESTIGATIVETOP STORY
How France loots its former colonies
January 24, 2013 — We try to keep a positive vibe going here at This Is Africa, but every so often you come across something that just paints your mood black. Some of you may already be aware of this, but if like us you’re hearing about this for the first time your jaw will drop. And it’ll probably raise the same BIG questions in your mind that it did in ours.Francois Hollande with the Senegalese President Macky Sall
Incidentally, once you read this you’ll no longer wonder why French presidents and ministers are sometimes greeted by protests when they visit former French colonies in Africa, even if the protests are about other issues. Though what other issues could be more important than this one we have no idea.
14 African countries only ever have access to 15% of their own money!
Monetary bankruptcy
Just before France conceded to African demands for independence in the 1960s, it carefully organised its former colonies (CFA countries) in a system of “compulsory solidarity” which consisted of obliging the 14 African states to put 65% of their foreign currency reserves into the French Treasury, plus another 20% for financial liabilities. This means these 14 African countries only ever have access to 15% of their own money! If they need more they have to borrow their own money from the French at commercial rates! And this has been the case since the 1960s.Professor Nicolas Agbohou, Associate Professor at the Institute of Cheikh Anta Diop, University of Gabon
Believe it or not it gets worse.France has the first right to buy or reject any natural resources found in the land of the Francophone countries. So even if the African countries can get better prices elsewhere, they can’t sell to anybody until France says it doesn’t need the resources.
In the award of government contracts, French companies must be considered first; only after that can these countries look elsewhere. It doesn’t matter if the CFA countries can obtain better value for money elsewhere.
Presidents of CFA countries that have tried to leave the CFA zone have had political and financial pressure put on them by successive French presidents.
CFA Zone
No escaping the CFA Zone
Thus, these African states are French taxpayers – taxed at a staggering rate – yet the citizens of these countries aren’t French and don’t have access to the public goods and services their money helps pay for.CFA zones are solicited to provide private funding to French politicians during elections in France.
The above is a summary of an article we came across in the February issue of the New African (and from an interview given by Professor Mamadou Koulibaly, Speaker of the Ivorian National Assembly, Professor of Economics, and author of the book The Servitude of the Colonial Pact), and we hope they won’t mind us sharing it with you influx, so here goes:
The colonial pact
It is the Colonial Pact that set up the common currency for the Francophone countries, the CFA Franc, which demands that each of the 14 C.F.A member countries must deposit 65% (plus another 20% for financial liabilities, making the dizzying total of 85%) of their foreign exchange reserves in an “Operations Account” at the French Treasury in Paris.The African nations therefore have only access to 15% of their own money for national development in any given year. If they are in need of extra money, as they always are, they have to borrow from their own 65% in the French Treasury at commercial rates. And that is not all: there is a cap on the credit extended to each member country equivalent to 20% of their public revenue in the preceding year. So if the countries need to borrow more than 20%, too bad; they cannot do it. Amazingly, the final say on the C.F.A arrangements belongs to the French Treasury, which invests the African countries’ money in its own name on the Paris Bourse (the stock exchange).
Ownership of natural resources
It is also the Colonial Pact that demands that France has the first right to buy or reject any natural resources found in the land of the Francophone countries. So even if the African countries could get better prices elsewhere, they cannot sell to anybody until France says it does not want to buy those natural resources.The contract must go to a French company, which incidentally has quoted an astronomical price
It is, again, the Colonial Pact that demands that in the award of government contracts in the African countries, French companies should be considered first; only after that can Africans look elsewhere. It doesn’t matter if Africans can obtain better value for money elsewhere, French companies come first, and most often get the contracts. Currently, there is the awkward case in Abidjan where, before the elections, former president Gbagbo’s government wanted to build a third major bridge to link the central business district (called Plateau) to the rest of the city, from which it is separated by a lagoon. By Colonial Pact tradition, the contract must go to a French company, which incidentally has quoted an astronomical price – to be paid in euros or US dollars.From Parliament to resources
Not happy, Gbagbo’s government sought a second quote from the Chinese, who offered to build the bridge at half the price quoted by the French company, and – wait for this – payment would be in cocoa beans, of which Cote d’Ivoire is the world’s largest producer. But, unsurprisingly, the French said “non, you can’t do that”.Overall the Colonial Pact gives the French a dominant and privileged position over Francophone Africa, but in Côte d’Ivoire, the jewel of the former French possessions in Africa, the French are overly dominant. Outside parliament, almost all the major utilities – water, electricity, telephone, transport, ports and major banks – are run by French companies or French interests. The same story is found in commerce, construction, and agriculture.
In short, the Colonial Pact has created a legal mechanism under which France obtains a special place in the political and economic life of its former colonies.
The big questions
In what meaningful way can any of the 14 CFA countries be said to be independent?If this isn’t illegal and an international crime, then what is?
What is it going to take for this state of indentured servitude to end?
How much have the CFA countries lost as a result of this 50-year (and counting) “agreement”? (Remember, they’ve had to borrow their own money from the French at commercial rates)
Do French people know they’re living off the wealth of African countries and have been doing so for over half a century? And if they know, do they give a damn?
When will France start paying back money they’ve sucked from these countries, not only directly from the interest on cash reserves and loans these countries have had to take out, but also on lost earnings from the natural resources the countries sold to France below market rates as well as the lost earnings resulting from awarding contracts to French companies when other contractors could have done things for less?
Does any such “agreement” exist between Britain and its former colonies, or did they really let go when they let go?
Please read
The economic and political effects of the CFA zone
The Servitude of the Colonial Pact (Interview with Professor Mamadou Koulibaly)
The CFA franc still controlled by Paris
Mamadou Koulibaly launches a African crusade
Good that Ouattara is the Cote d’Ivoire President but what about the Colonial Pact?Like & Share this
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