Who owns Africa? = "follow the money"

international | summit mobilisations | news report

Saturday July 02, 2005 02:34

by iosaf

Francois-Xavier Verschave has died.

Francois-Xavier Verschave, one of the recent generation of french writers to consistently attack french imperialism and post-imperialism in Africa died thursday (29/6/05) at his home in Villeurbanne.

Born in Lille, the 28th of October 1945, he trained as an economist, and founder member of Survie(*) which he presided from 1995.and was the author of two books which influenced many. He is succeeded by a wife and three children.

the red states are "french", when the G8 talk about them, they'll look at Chirac. The green states are British. when the G8 talk about them they'll bleep Geldof.

A specialist in french-african relations, he was singular in the development of the concept
« Françafrique »
which included not only economic and political contrl of the former french possessions in the continent but also the hidden agendas.

Agendas which we may reflect our shared by the British government, and are about to come to scotland.

Of more than twenty published works, the two most important on the "french africa" question are considered to be
"La Françafrique" (published by Stock, 1999) and "Noir silence" published (Les Arènes, 2000), quickly became reference works. His economic theories were close to those of Fernand Braudel.
Others which drew interest were "noir chirac" and "noir silence" [for non french speakers "noir" is black]

According to the provisions of a French law passed in 1881, it is a crime to offend the head of a foreign country. The presidents of Congo-Brazzaville, Chad, and Gabon, displeased with Verschave's depiction of their conduct—he had accused them of murder and drug trafficking—took the author to court in 2001.
On May 4, 2001 a French judge ruled in Verschave's favor, arguing that the 1881 law contravened the European Declaration on Human Rights.

The site http://www.stop-francafrique.com/
will carry on his work, and makes essential reading for those interested in a post-post-Fanon understanding of the issues which cause "poverty" and allow it to persist, in post Algerian independence French relations with the continent of Africa 1960-2004 especially in the lead up to the "Africa G8" meeting in Scotland.

(*)Survie-
http://www.survie-france.org/
stop francafrique
http://www.stop-francafrique.com/