A-Infos (en) zabalaza #4 - WE REVOLT AGAINST THE TYRANTS! - A Report from the Ivory Coast

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Since the death of the dictator Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the
pretenders to the throne of the Ivory Coast are legion and use all
the stratagems and dubious ideologies to seize power:
republicanism, ivoirity (national preference), or death squads,
attacks...

With the attempt at a coup d'etat on the 19 September, 2002, one
can think that Gbagbo (the new despot, elected official with
difficulty in October 2000) would not today be in power without the
assistance of French President Jacques Chirac. It should be said
that Houphouet-Boigny knew well how to sell Ivory Coast during
his reign.

Racketeers (primarily French) for a long time invested in juicy
markets with the help of their military and financial support for the
dictator. Agricultural products (coffee, cocoa, cotton) especially
interest the French. Manufactured goods are sold in all West
Africa, where they very often constitute the only alternative to the
more expensive French products.

Then, to paralyse the economy of the Ivory Coast, is to touch that
of the whole sub-region. For example, since the failed coup d'etat
missed in Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso suffers an oil shortage for
motorcycles - the most used means of transport by the population,
which is not without consequences. The current crisis is
significant, it shows the race of the despots for power but also the
dominating role of the French State in Africa.

Today the Ivory Coast is again returned to war, it is France which
referees, which says "who does what" and "with whom" (Agreement
of Marcoussis, January 2003). In the event of dissension, it kills
(30 Ivorians were killed by French soldiers on January 6, 2003).
During this time, the African people live in misery, unemployment,
lacking water and food, with limited access to health care and
education...

Vis-a-vis that, resourcefulness and mutual aid are the bases of
survival. Popular revolts are also very numerous: student
demonstrations that denounce corruption, demonstrations of
districts against expulsions, against cuts of water and electricity.
Each African knows that he risks his life while going in the street.
How many dead and wounded to leave this misery and to
denounce corruption? Nobody makes the calculation!

It should be noted that they do not ask for voting rights, nobody
died for this con trick! Those in power, it doesn't matter which
ideology they are, are not content with filling their pockets, but
keep their compatriots in a hole. They racketeer, imprison, torture
and kill any person acting publicly for the right to live in dignity.
"Social peace" is necessary to capitalism, and as the life of an
African is not worth anything...

France supported all the dictators and African presidents, and is
thus accessory to all their crimes. Today it is a new turn that is
taken with the xenophobia that is spreading across the Ivory
Coast. The "foreigners" are once again a safety-valve for economic
problems. One needs a culprit for misery; then fashion indicates a
"Dioula", a "Burkinabé" (just like in France it is no good being
"Arab" or "Gypsy"). Let us stop following blindly and refuse the war
in Ivory Coast.

- Boubacar (an Ivorian anarchist)

This is a translation (from French) of a text about the actual
situation in Ivory Coast, written by an Ivorian anarchist. It was first
published it in Le Combat Syndicaliste - newspaper of the
anarchist union, the CNT-AIT in France.


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