The renewed scramble for Africa’s minerals and resources has intensified, powered by debt traps and ‘development’ arrangements involving global powers, and fuelling conflict and genocide, including in Sudan, Sahel and Congo. Our governments’ bartering away of our natural wealth for a chance to survive another election or debt cycle is cementing the neoliberal hold.
In the face of this imperialist assault, one might expect African governments to fortify their people. But instead, some of them have responded with a cynical turn inward. ‘Sovereignty’ and ‘national values’ have become the trending lingua franca of the ruling class, shrouded as a rallying call for liberation. A power-hungry, power-hoarding elite is retreating into cocoons of reactionary populism. A mix of illegitimacy and unpreparedness pushes many to ‘save’ themselves, while couching it as saving the nation.
