Africa's Grievances Against "The West"

Why African countries are turning against the west

When covering the Niger situation I was so focused on the military picture and didn’t really do a good job of explaining the mindsets of the people on the ground. A good amount of people in Niger support the military for doing the coup. A big mistake western militaries make is they go into a country without fully understanding what the people are thinking.

Pro coup protesters waving sign “Down with France, long live Putin”

Why Are They Like This?

Well let’s take it back a few years. Niger was a French colony until 1960 when they had their first civilian government. From 1960 to 2022 GDP per capita in Niger grew from $129 to $533. If you adjust that amount for inflation, they basically didn’t grow at all. Niger’s current GDP is only 16.6 Billion dollars and they’re 2x bigger than the state of Texas. Look at this through the eyes of a Nigerien, the system doesn’t seem to be working out for you. All these years being of being “friends” and trading your Uranium at a cheap price to France doesn’t seem like it’s working out. The US put a base in your country to fight terrorists but the terrorists are still there. You’re still poor as hell… It’s clear to you now that you need a change from this western system, it’s not working out for you. Well who else is fighting against “the west”? Russia, so let’s wave the Russian flag in our protest and away from this tyranny.