Mali: The colonialism that just won't die

There are times in my cynicism as an American leftist that I am willing to overlook major flaws of certain movements, people, or parties if they seem to have a genuine commitment to social justice, equality, or radical change. Take the case of France: a new center-left government has committed itself to fighting austerity and expanding power of the welfare state, not exactly Greece's SYRIZA but nevertheless I held some optimism that the new French government would buck the power of neoliberal interests in some ways. Then there is Mali. If there is one legacy that still casts a shadow over the 20th century for France it is it's old colonial system, one of a classic core-periphery relationship that makes the former colonial nations still very much dependent on Western trade. In the last few years Mali has experienced a brutal civil war between the unstable and corrupt government and a combination of Tuareg rebels and Islamist fighters. While the Islamists have tried to curb the power of the Tuareg rebels, both groups have been crucial in the current fight that has extended to other French colonial nations such as Algeria. And what has been the response by the Hollande government? Classic foreign intervention, one that is surely to be committed in the name of regional stability and making the world safe from terrorism, but given the track record of France when it comes to stability of former colonies (see Rwanda 1994) it would seem that this operation is nothing more than an expansion of neoliberal interests and defending those interests. Instead of attempting to end years of structural adjustment policies created by the IMF (formerly headed by a French Socialist Party leader) that have left many former colonial nations and their people powerless against Western business interests. So while France attempts to play the humanitarian game, don't forget that this action will do nothing but prop up a Western-backed corrupt government and in the end will only serve the interests of neoliberalism.