MONTPELLIER AFRICA-FRANCE SUMMIT
https://lepays.bf/sommet-afrique-france ... pellier-2/
What does the media show and collective release have in store for us?
10 October 2021
In 2017, when Emmanuel Macron succeeded François Hollande at the head of France, many Africans were impressed by his young age. It was, one might say, a first element of rupture compared to the age of the presidents who preceded him at the Elysee Palace. From now on, we can afford to evoke another element of rupture linked to Emmanuel Macron. This is the new format that the latter has just brought to the Africa-France summit. Indeed, for the first time since the start of the Africa-France summits in 1973, this meeting excluded the heads of state of the black continent. Macron wanted to have as interlocutors, in their place and place, men and women from African civil society. In any case, if one of the selection criteria was not to have the tongue in the pocket, we can say, in view of the hammered remarks, that the Cameroonian Achille M'Bembe, who was in charge of piloting the summit, succeeded in his casting. Indeed, the 11 (eleven) women and men selected from among the 3,000 people invited from the continent, were able to find the words and sometimes the images needed to address the great leader of the Whites.
This meeting had a cathartic function
In this regard, the metaphor of the Burkinabè Elda Koama can be cited as an example. Indeed, the young lady suggested this:
All the traditional reproaches that were formulated on the continent against France were raised in Montpellier. And the tone used was that of the leaflets with which African university campuses are very often inundated. In short, Jupiter was treated to an unfiltered questioning session. And the answers he gave to some of them, allow us to say that the man defended himself very well. The questions facing which he gave the impression of having lost his Latin and his splendor were those which were linked to the third term. This new look summit, one might say, had a purpose. That of allowing young Africans to say loud and clear what African public opinion thinks of relations between France and Africa, in particular between the former colonial power and its former colonies. From this point of view, the Elysée was not surprised by what it heard. Moreover, we can risk saying that this meeting had a cathartic function, that is to say that of allowing Africans, through their young people and their civil societies, to free themselves from the affects in connection with relations that their respective countries maintain with France and which have, for a long time, been repressed in their subconscious. From the point of view of psychoanalysis, this can help heal the pathologies that affect relations between France and the black continent. In reality, France is aware today of the fact that African public opinions generally have, rightly or wrongly, a very bad image of her.If the relationship between the African countries and France was a pot, know that it is very dirty, this pot ....
Africans must convince themselves that no power on this planet is working against its interests
The Malian case is only the tip of the iceberg. In Ouagadougou as in Niamey or even in Brazzaville, there are many citizens who have a big heart against France and who are ready to shout it from the rooftops. And very often, this anger is carried by African civil society organizations. That France had the audacity to invite some of these organizations to its soil to discuss the relations it maintains with Africa, may therefore raise questions! One of them could be to know if France does not want, by that, to instrumentalize these “voices” of the “voiceless” so that they help it to deconstruct the anti-French speeches which, today ' hui, are well established in Africa. Does not wanting to involve these organizations in the management of this famous fund that France intends to set up to promote democracy in Africa, part of this strategy? In any case, we are waiting to see what has in store for us after the media show and collective release of Montpellier. Will it mark the start of a healthy and mutually beneficial relationship between the two parties? Or will it be a simple and strategic change of packaging? While waiting for the field to provide answers to these questions, Africans must already convince themselves that no power on this planet is working against its interests. And the multitude of summits Africa-France, Africa-Japan, Africa-Italy, Africa-China and we forget, are all summits whose creations are motivated by this reality. And the African wisdom that
is there to convince those who still doubt it.the hand that gives is always above the hand that receives
"The country"