Because the Qatar 2022 World Cup witnessed previously colonized peoples tackle former colonial powers on the soccer area, conversations concerning the “scars of the previous of the current” inevitably erupted each on-line and offline. Particularly France, enjoying in opposition to each Tunisia and Morocco, discovered themselves proper within the center.

Amid this noise and basic World Cup pleasure, a related piece of reports appears to have handed the radar of the worldwide media. European Union on 12 December announced He was establishing a “army partnership mission” to assist his “combat in opposition to terrorism” in Niger.

The mission, beneath the command of French Vice Admiral Hervé Bléjean, will final three years and value round 27.3m euros. So why is the EU spending hundreds of thousands in Niger amid an amazing home value of residing disaster? And on condition that the goal nation is without doubt one of the poorest on this planet and its inhabitants would profit far more from socioeconomic help, why is it pouring hundreds of thousands right into a army mission?

The reply lies in France, a number one member of the EU, which over the previous few years has proven eager curiosity in deepening its relations with the Nigerian authorities. Maybe a part of this may occasionally must do with the truth that Niger uranium, an essential supply of vitality for the nation within the midst of the vitality disaster, is powering French nuclear energy crops. And a part of that will additionally must do with Niger’s key place as a transit nation for the hundreds of migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean. the deadliest frontier on this planet – to hunt safety and respectable livelihoods in Europe.

However what does Niger, a rustic that did not qualify for the World Cup, must do with French soccer?

Greater than meets the attention. Simply as France pursued success in soccer, it sought financial energy – by extraction.

The French workforce that led the nation to the World Cup remaining was dominated by gamers from numerous backgrounds, lots of which hint their roots again to the previous French colonies in Africa. For instance, Kylian Mbappé, winner of the World Cup Golden Shoe award, was born in France to an Algerian mom and a Cameroonian father.

Confronted with feedback concerning the origins of French soccer gamers, French officers stubbornly insisted that they had been “French”. They dismissed references to their origins as racist.

However really that isn’t the case. Trevor as Noah pointed Throughout the same dialogue on inclusion and overlapping identities in 2018, [French players are] African, I strive to not exclude them from their Frenchness, however to incorporate them in my Africanism.”

However to go additional than that – France adopted a distinctly selective assimilationist method in direction of folks of African descent; It is vitally explicit about who may be French. Of the numerous immigrants and refugees who need to come and dwell in France, just a few are awarded French citizenship, and many individuals of African descent born within the nation face structural discrimination and aren’t thought-about absolutely French.

France deports yearly 10,000 people those that enter the nation looking for safety and a greater life. Others lead a lifetime of distress and violence beneath the nation’s strict anti-immigration legal guidelines and sanctions, which are sometimes criticized by human rights organizations. For immigrants and refugees, the street to France appears to be reserved just for a choose few.

There are additionally those that are French residents on paper however don’t just like the French “standing”. Take the Muslim neighborhood of France. They make up about 8 p.c of the French inhabitants, and but 40 p.c to 70 p.c of these incarcerated in French prisons are Muslims, largely from former French colonies in Africa.

The neighborhood suffers from excessive charges of impoverishment and dropout and is remoted in city environments. It’s also systematically marginalized by mainstream politicians who overtly embrace Islamophobia and accuse the Muslim inhabitants of being “extremist” and threatening French values.

In different phrases, France engages in selective inclusion, which tends to exclude greater than embrace. Mbappé is French as a result of he’s a gifted soccer participant; A French-born youth of North African descent, imprisoned for a selected crime or just unemployed and pushed into the inequality often called the “suburb”, is normally simply an “Arab”.

This selective inclusion can be a manifestation of neocolonialism, wherein France pulls human expertise from its former colonies and rejects the remaining – the nugatory ones. Certainly, colonialism was simply that: it took and absorbed the perfect of different lands, whereas rejecting every little thing else and giving little or no in return.

And that brings us again to Niger, the place France has been extracting uranium for many years, giving the folks of Niger little in return, and worse but. pollutes the soil and water. Whereas reaping the advantages of vitality produced from low cost uranium, France has accomplished little to assist the Nigerian inhabitants, of which solely 13 p.c have entry to electrical energy.

Niger additionally makes use of the CFA franc as its forex, a colonial remnant that economically hyperlinks the previous French colonies to Paris. About 50 p.c of the financial reserves of 14 African international locations, together with Niger, are nonetheless beneath full French management right this moment; consequently, none have any management over macroeconomic and financial coverage. France earns billions of euros annually within the type of “reserves” from Africa and lends among the similar cash to its house owners at market charges.

It’s no coincidence that Niger’s most important freeway, from which many extracted assets had been transported to Niamey and different strategic areas, right this moment follows the precise route of the mass murders carried out by the troops of French captain Paul Voulet in 1899. Take management of Lake Chad for France earlier than the UK will get there.

A lot has modified since colonial instances, however the exploitation of Africa continues, with corrupt governments in lots of African international locations guaranteeing the “stability” wanted to run these processes – they purchase billions of euros price of weapons for this goal, amongst many different issues. crushing inside opposition.

The way to counter all this? There aren’t any simple recipes. Nonetheless, it will be a step in the precise route to reject the “rigorously chosen inclusiveness”, particularly within the French case.

One other step is perhaps to take a look at the legacy of Senegalese movie director and author Ousmane Sembène, who has produced a collection of works to advertise the reconstruction of an African house whose roots are largely rooted in misplaced African cultural values ​​and traditions. Sembene didn’t oppose the affect of non-African cultures, together with these of the (neo)colonialists, however as an alternative advised that Africans embrace them in a extra comprehensible and knowledgeable means. Perhaps that is the way in which ahead.

The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.