Niger’s military government has announced the nationalisation of the country’s sole industrial gold mine, accusing its Australian operator of “serious breaches” as the junta seeks greater control of natural resources.
The military junta has ruled the West African nation since seizing power in a 2023 coup, promising to crack down on Niger’s myriad security issues.
Juntas in Niger, neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali have ramped up pressure on foreign mining companies in recent years, with Niger nationalising the local branch of French uranium giant Orano in June.
Imperialism slowly dying
Acceleraring its demise, too!
yes!
lessgo
Based and correct
Rad.
Fuck yea. Imperialists out!
W
WaPo next week: “Authoritarianism is on the rise in Niger”
Fuck yeah, nationalize the whole continent.
Amazing
So the nation can share its own wealth instead of bowing to modern day colonialism
Let’s hope so. Military juntas don’t have a great track record though.
Neocolonialism wasn’t doing the country any favors either
It’s a military dictatorship, that wealth is going to the military leadership, and no one else.
No, that’s not how it works. Previously, all of the wealth was going to Australian imperialists and a few compradors, now that wealth stays within Niger. Through opposing Australian imperialism and nationalizing industry, Niger gets to use that wealth on developing themselves, which is in the interests of the proletariat of Niger. This is a fantastic thing, and you’re finger-wagging them for kicking out the imperialists.
I’m saying that a dictatorship never cares about the people.
Because Niger is a military dictatorship not a communist utopia.
At best, that wealth will be spent on a lavish palace that will be used by the general and only the general.
At worst, it will buy weapons that will be used to further subjugate the people.
At worst, I’d say it’s a neutral change. Even the scenarios you’ve outlined are better than the alternative. But the truth is, we won’t know until we know. Simple as that.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think they are a communist utopia either, and I think people get carried away hyping them up. I just don’t think arguing about it is a hill worth dying on.
We follow the money and we will know, right? If they start getting new infrastructure we know the guy is for real.
The money is being concentrated in Gen Tiani’s hands, and nowhere else.
He’s abandoned much of the country to Jihadists, while only securing the capital…
Although that’s technically not true, he’s brought in mercenary units from other countries, including the Wagner Group, (the Russian neo-Nazi brigade that tried to coup Putin)
Tiani has given the mercenaries free rein in the countryside, as long as they help protect his capital.
And like any other dictatorship, the war against the media has been intense, with even random bloggers being disappeared off the street.
Easy money is made by making a corrupt backroom deal with Australia so they can plunder the mine for pennies on the dollar.
Kicking out the colonists is a risky move which isn’t good for short term profits which is what an exploitative government always seeks.
Does this make the Junta 100% epic good and based? No. But this specific action is good.
Say that in a year when it’s revealed that the Junta is using slave labor in the mine that they seized.
Military dictatorships are never good for the people. Full stop. We have thousands of years of examples of militaristic rulers, from warlords to kings. Every single time someone seizes power in a coup, the people suffer for it.
The post-coup government is broadly supported by its people precisely because it kicked out the comprador government that actually did spend all of their kickbacks on lavish material goods as bribery from siphoning all of that wealth outside. You’re justifying the western narrative against the Sahel States despite the people supporting the new government as though you know better than them. No investigation, no right to speak.
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Nice bit of ableism there. I’m going to cheer for what materially benefits the people of Niger and how they choose to chart their own course, and I’m going to call out chauvanists that think they should be able to tell the people of Niger what to think and how to best express their soveriengty.
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I got a little giddy, did a little jig and crossposted someone else’s article. Apologies to you and the mods, , I deleted it now, but this is excellent news!
I don’t mind crossposts. And this is indeed great news for the Global South.
You’re so generous, and I do appreciate it. It would have been two articles about the topic in World News, so I just saved the mods an unnecessary step. You posted first, so naturally your post should remain. The source from the other article was Barron’s if you’re curious.
Fuck yeah
I’d approve more if it wasn’t a military dictatorship doing this.
It never ends well.
Good thing the people of Niger don’t need your fucking approval.
Take this chauvinist bs somewhere else.
Why Stan for a dictatorship?
You probably stan zelensky, Mr “cancel all elections and make certain parties illegal” without a hint of irony.
No, it’s a fucked up thing to do.
I understand why he wanted to. Fighting off the unprovoked invasion from Russia does tend to sap a country’s attention. But even so, it’s the duty of democracies to fight against dictatorships. Or at least it should be… I can’t say that many live up to even that low bar… But I’d still take even a broken democracy over any form of dictatorship.
Niger should have the ability to chart its own course. Nationalizing industry previously imperialized by the west is the only way out of the thumb of imperialism and underdevelopment, Niger doesn’t need the approval of foreigners in order to exert their own sovereignty.
Military dictatorship. Enough said.
Just look at the other military dictatorships of Africa and tell me that the people are charting their own destiny.
Very big difference between a popularly-supported anti-imperialist government and western-backed compradors, and pretending there isn’t is just a way to legitimize the western intent on plundering and punishing the Sahel States for kicking out the imperialists. Enough said.
Again, military dictatorship.
For contrast, the Nazis were considered broadly popular in Germany in the 1930s.
But a dictatorship is always a dictatorship. It’s never good for the people, regardless of how much they like the boot on their neck.
But it’s a local boot and not a foreign boot. So that makes it okay. somehow.
This is pure chauvanism, the Nazis gained popularity through colonizing their neighbors and appealing to racist conspiracy. The government of Niger is popular because they kicked out the imperialists and have been investing in development, and you’re finger-wagging the people of Niger as though you know better than them.
I can’t find any actual evidence that the Military Junta is in any way popular…
They seem to have crashed the economy, then implemented a law that lets the military rob from the rest of the government in order to enrich themselves.
They partnered with various mercenary groups, including the Wagner group, to put down juhadists and dissidents as if those were the same thing…
Pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a military dictatorship.
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