Ignored (and complicated) tragedies of Africa
Apr 6, 2012 19:18:16 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2012 19:18:16 GMT
Of course, just the title I put on this thread could probably encompass thousands of events, but today I would like to talk about the current situation in Mali.
A week or two ago, there was a coup d'état in Mali. Who cares, right? Well, I care because I have seen Malians as some of the most hardworking people in Paris since the first moment that I arrived. Back then, they constituted the vast majority of the sanitation workers of Paris -- the garbage men, in other words. Poorly paid hard labour, but they did it magnificently well. Garbage is now picked up at all hours in Paris, but in the past it was something that was done exclusively around 5-7 a.m. I have always been an early riser so I often saw them at work. In those days, the garbage trucks did not have the hooks to pull up the specially designed bins automatically, so the garbage cans had to be picked up manually and dumped in the back of the truck -- horrible, backbreaking work. On top of that (Parisians will probably never change), sometimes the cans were overflowing and sloppy, and things would by lying on the pavement. The Malians would always pick up the overflow as best they could and throw it in the trucks, even though it was not part of the official job.
Later, sanitation jobs were reserved for EU citizens, and the Malians were tossed aside, particularly when the wages became acceptable to "white" people. They moved on to other low paying jobs in construction or dishwashing or whatever, never complaining because they had families to support back home, and obviously even very low French wages are better than wages in Mali.
As time has passed, it is not only Malian men who live and work in Paris but also their wives and families. The wives arrived at some time or other -- and were sometimes abandoned -- and children were born, Parisian children who will never go to live in Mali, in spite of their roots.
I live very close to the African section of Paris, where people from just about all African countries live, and Malians form one of the biggest ethnic groups, France having been considered an Eldorado for them, if they could make the journey. At my mother's nursing home, some of the kindest and most wonderful and caring orderlies are from Mali, and I see how hard they work even when they have 5 or 6 children at home.
So I, for one, care about what happens in Mali. Not many people do.
Mali is (was) one of the more democratic countries of Africa, with authentic elections and authentic winners. However, it appears that the government in place was rather corrupt (I certainly am no expert on this.), and the military took over because they had not been paid for a long time. Nobody considered this to be a good thing -- I don't think that France expressed a clear position about it, mostly because we are too close to our own elections -- but the situation was mostly "wait and see." The new junta "suspended" the constitution but promised new elections for the near future. Anybody who promises elections can't be all bad.
And then the other bad thing happened. In the northern region of Mali, there is a stronghold of the "local" African Al Queda movement. As you can imagine, their program is to impose strict Islamic law throughout the region. They took advantage of the coup d'état to declare the entire northern section of Mali independent -- cities like Gao or the famous tourist city of Timbuctu. Women must now "dress appropriately," alcohol is forbidden, etc. And their plan is to take over southern Mali and apply the same rules.
France being the reference for this part of Africa, it is pointed out that "Mali is three times the size of France" and most of these northern regions are completely isolated in the Sahara. It is extremely difficult to track down the rebels in the vast nothingness of the region. They are heavily armed, mostly with weapons obtained from Gaddafi's Libya, given, purchased or brought by refugees after the fall of the regime.
The problem is that France does not want to be the "gendarme of Africa" anymore, as it is no longer in fashion, and it angers as many Africans as it pleases when it happens anyway (such as in Côte d'Ivoire). On top of that, with the French presidential elections only three weeks away, Sarkozy cannot take the risk of intervention without the assurance of a fabulous and rapid success (and obviously that assurance is impossible and unlikely).
Yet Mali needs help and it needs it fast. This situation upsets me.
I talked about it with one of the nursing home employees this evening as I held my mother in my arms while she wiped her nether regions. "I knew this was going to happen," she said. "As soon as Libya fell, I knew that Mali was going to pay a terrible price. All of those extremists with weapons were going to go south. I don't know at all if my family will be safe. France needs to intervene."
But what is going to happen? And nobody really cares.
A week or two ago, there was a coup d'état in Mali. Who cares, right? Well, I care because I have seen Malians as some of the most hardworking people in Paris since the first moment that I arrived. Back then, they constituted the vast majority of the sanitation workers of Paris -- the garbage men, in other words. Poorly paid hard labour, but they did it magnificently well. Garbage is now picked up at all hours in Paris, but in the past it was something that was done exclusively around 5-7 a.m. I have always been an early riser so I often saw them at work. In those days, the garbage trucks did not have the hooks to pull up the specially designed bins automatically, so the garbage cans had to be picked up manually and dumped in the back of the truck -- horrible, backbreaking work. On top of that (Parisians will probably never change), sometimes the cans were overflowing and sloppy, and things would by lying on the pavement. The Malians would always pick up the overflow as best they could and throw it in the trucks, even though it was not part of the official job.
Later, sanitation jobs were reserved for EU citizens, and the Malians were tossed aside, particularly when the wages became acceptable to "white" people. They moved on to other low paying jobs in construction or dishwashing or whatever, never complaining because they had families to support back home, and obviously even very low French wages are better than wages in Mali.
As time has passed, it is not only Malian men who live and work in Paris but also their wives and families. The wives arrived at some time or other -- and were sometimes abandoned -- and children were born, Parisian children who will never go to live in Mali, in spite of their roots.
I live very close to the African section of Paris, where people from just about all African countries live, and Malians form one of the biggest ethnic groups, France having been considered an Eldorado for them, if they could make the journey. At my mother's nursing home, some of the kindest and most wonderful and caring orderlies are from Mali, and I see how hard they work even when they have 5 or 6 children at home.
So I, for one, care about what happens in Mali. Not many people do.
Mali is (was) one of the more democratic countries of Africa, with authentic elections and authentic winners. However, it appears that the government in place was rather corrupt (I certainly am no expert on this.), and the military took over because they had not been paid for a long time. Nobody considered this to be a good thing -- I don't think that France expressed a clear position about it, mostly because we are too close to our own elections -- but the situation was mostly "wait and see." The new junta "suspended" the constitution but promised new elections for the near future. Anybody who promises elections can't be all bad.
And then the other bad thing happened. In the northern region of Mali, there is a stronghold of the "local" African Al Queda movement. As you can imagine, their program is to impose strict Islamic law throughout the region. They took advantage of the coup d'état to declare the entire northern section of Mali independent -- cities like Gao or the famous tourist city of Timbuctu. Women must now "dress appropriately," alcohol is forbidden, etc. And their plan is to take over southern Mali and apply the same rules.
France being the reference for this part of Africa, it is pointed out that "Mali is three times the size of France" and most of these northern regions are completely isolated in the Sahara. It is extremely difficult to track down the rebels in the vast nothingness of the region. They are heavily armed, mostly with weapons obtained from Gaddafi's Libya, given, purchased or brought by refugees after the fall of the regime.
The problem is that France does not want to be the "gendarme of Africa" anymore, as it is no longer in fashion, and it angers as many Africans as it pleases when it happens anyway (such as in Côte d'Ivoire). On top of that, with the French presidential elections only three weeks away, Sarkozy cannot take the risk of intervention without the assurance of a fabulous and rapid success (and obviously that assurance is impossible and unlikely).
Yet Mali needs help and it needs it fast. This situation upsets me.
I talked about it with one of the nursing home employees this evening as I held my mother in my arms while she wiped her nether regions. "I knew this was going to happen," she said. "As soon as Libya fell, I knew that Mali was going to pay a terrible price. All of those extremists with weapons were going to go south. I don't know at all if my family will be safe. France needs to intervene."
But what is going to happen? And nobody really cares.
