IBRAHIM TRAORÉ CALLS OUT FRANCE'S RACIST VIEW OF AFRICA

France's view of Africa is racist, paternalistic and based on a perception of Black people as sub-humans, at least according to Burkina Faso's president Ibrahim Traoré. In a recent interview with RT France, he said Paris' declining influence in Africa is its own doing.

On 6 January 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that African leaders 'forgot to say thank you' for his country's previous military interventions on the continent. His comments came just weeks after Macron gave an offensive speech on the French-occupied island of Mayotte, which had just experienced a devastating cyclone that severely damaged the local infrastructure, stating, 'If it weren't for France, you'd be in 10,000 times deeper in sh*t.'

More recently, on 23 April 2025, Macron claimed that the leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger do not represent their people because 'there was no election.' He then claimed that Gabon, which signed a business collaboration deal with France on 22 February 2025, was a better model for Africa.

However, the people of the Sahel are showing the world another form of people power: direct political engagement through daily organisation to protect and defend the revolution. In Burkina Faso, for example, this is demonstrated through the Citizen's Night Watch - volunteers who come out every night as the eyes and ears of the struggle. It's this kind of people power that, arguably, has been advancing the interests of Africans at a far greater speed than any previous election.

Video credit: @RTenfrancais (X)

Sources

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/frances-macron-insulting-all-africans-says-burkina-faso-president/3450047

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsVzbegPpWk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxkk56oLpTk

https://www.liberation.fr/politique/si-cetait-pas-la-france-vous-seriez-10-000-fois-plus-dans-la-merde-les-propos-de-macron-a-mayotte-ne-passent-pas-20241220_TFRN3C54CJA6VE36Q7BO6MG7II/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OPppG79LSY