The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.23           June 10, 1996 
 
 
Imperial Troops Out Of Africa!  

"When the people stand up, imperialism trembles," said Thomas Sankara, the slain leader of the 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso.

The recent rebellion in the Central African Republic was such a nightmare for the imperial masters in France. They were shocked by an uprising of thousands of workers, peasants, and soldiers who became outraged when Paris unleashed a barrage of firepower on the capital city of Bangui. At same time thousands of working people in France hit the streets of Paris to protest the government's plans for an assault on their social wage. Linking the struggles of the toilers in the two countries against the common enemy in Champs Elysée can be the most powerful blow to the French exploiters.

The New York Times and other big-business media went out of their way to paint the rebels as "looters" and "thieves."

Just who are the real looters, the true thieves, murderers, and the plunderers of wealth?

French banks and corporations stash daily the loot from exports of gold, uranium, and diamond deposits in the land-locked African country. While the bloodsuckers in Paris are exploiting these natural resources, the masses of people in the Central African Republic are forced to engage in subsistence farming to eke out a living.

The result? Average life expectancy in the country is less than 43 years. An estimated 87 percent of the urban population does not have access to safe drinking water.

When the African toilers attempt to improve their miserable existence, the lords in Paris don't hesitate to use massive military force to maintain the domination they profit handsomely from. The rebellious soldiers and other government employees were simply demanding back pay and better working conditions. Their bloodthirsty masters in France responded with their payment: raining bullets on the general population to terrorize them into submission.

Washington didn't stay out of the picture. U.S. Marines arrived in Bangui to reinforce its embassy there. At the same time U.S. forces are stepping up probes for launching a direct military assault in nearby Liberia under the pretext of restoring "peace." At stake there are vast rubber plantations, iron ore reserves, and other resources.

The imperialist rulers will frequently resort to military force to crush strikes, protest actions, and other struggles of the African toilers. But time is on the side of the African people. More resistance to imperialist domination and superexploitation is on the horizon.

The labor movement around the world should embrace the struggles of our brothers and sisters in the Central African Republic and demand that Paris and Washington get out of Africa now.

 
 
 
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