It is difficult to get a true picture of what is happening in Mali, a country that few in the West could find on the map and fewer could tell you anything about the place. Now it is headline news, a country which suddenly, according to our millionaire lords and masters, is a threat to the entire civilised world. As Cameron has stated, it will require a world response, You and I might not have known what was going on in Mali, but our corporate pariahs have been in their milking the country assets at least since since 1988 as Mali followed the dictate of the World Bank and the IMF, (International Mankind Fuckers) and privatised most of its major public enterprises. (From Wikipedia) The Malian government participates in foreign involvement, concerning
commerce and privatization. Mali underwent economic reform, beginning in
1988 by signing agreements with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
During 1988 to 1996, Mali's government largely reformed public
enterprises. Since the agreement, sixteen enterprises were privatized,
twelve partially privatized, and twenty liquidated. In 2005, the Malian government conceded a railroad company to the Savage Corporation. Two major companies, Societé de Telecommunications du Mali (SOTELMA) and the Cotton Ginning Company (CMDT), were expected to be privatized in 2008.[
Now that the West holds most of their public enterprises, they want to get in and secure their natural resources. Mali is one of the biggest gold producers in Africa, the French with their massive nuclear energy facilities will be eager to get its hands on the Uranium, then of course their is gas and oil. Yes, Mali is a risk to our civilised world, so the lie goes.
‘Islamist terrorists’ etc., etc.
The public relations version of the French et al invasion is a familiar refrain. “Islamic terrorists” and “jihadists” have taken control of northern Mali and are a threat to international security and to the wellbeing of the local population. Terrible atrocities against the local populace are alleged and given wide publicity by corporate media. Similar myths were peddled by the war makers when they invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
It is true that Islamic fundamentalists have ruled northern Mali with an iron hand since taking over in 2012. But the reasons for this latest intervention lie in the determination of the world’s imperial powers to keep the human and natural resources of poor regions of the world as preserves for capitalist profits. West Africa is a region of great resource wealth, including gold, oil and uranium.
The uranium mines in neighbouring Niger and the uranium deposits in Mali are of particular interest to France, which generates 78 per cent of its electricity from nuclear energy. Niger’s uranium mines are highly polluting and deeply resented by the population, including among the semi-nomadic Touareg people who reside in the mining regions. The French company Areva is presently constructing in Imouraren, Niger, what will become the second-largest uranium mine in the world.
