By: Mr. Ahmed Moustafa
I- Africa and the historical world order:
Over the past five centuries, Africa has suffered from occupation by Western powers (Spain – Portugal – Holland – Italy – France – Britain).
Those Western powers that came to Africa specifically to seize its wealth, taking advantage of the lack of military power of these countries at the time, as the majority of the peoples of Africa are tribes distributed from north to south.
Then, even human beings were exploited as (slaves) and exported to Europe and America to serve as servants to the Europeans and white Americans, especially over the past three centuries.
There are many museums related to slavery in African countries, including (the Gorée Island Museum) in Senegal, which documents the worst types of exploitation of humans from the developed West when they were exclusively imported as animals to Europe and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. As well as (1 Million) martyrs in Algeria
That western racist view of the people of the south (the dark-skinned people), which unfortunately has not changed towards us and so far, the statements of the Foreign Affairs official in the European Union (Joseph Borrell) is the biggest proof of that.
Fortunately, Russia was not one of the countries that colonized the African continent during that period.
II- The entry of Africa as a player in contemporary history in the bipolar world order:
The beginning of the revolutionary liberation movements of the great colonialists (Britain and France) in the middle of the last century, specifically, which ignited in my country, Egypt in 1952, at the hands of the Free Officers, among whom was the Egyptian leader (Gamal Abdel Nasser), the undisputed leader of liberation in the South.
So the leader (Nasser) helped and supported all the surrounding regional countries, Arab, African, and others in Asia and Latin America, to get out of the mantle of reactionary monarchical regimes loyal to the colonialists.
This young man, who became president of Egypt in 1954, preceded in his vision all the presidents of the south, especially after his cooperation with the Russian side, in order to make Africa, Asia, and Latin America an influential global power not to be underestimated.
Soft powers were one of the most important of these means (the media) – Egypt was one of the most important beacons of enlightenment in the world in the production of cinema, theater, radio, and television – Abdel Nasser established waves and radio channels at that time (specialized) at the end of the fifties of the last century, in all languages and dialects of the continent Africa to link it to Egypt. (This is an important point to study).
The most important point in this period is the establishment in the mid-fifties of the last century (the Non-Aligned Movement) so that African countries and the South had a position on the bipolar system (the Soviet Union and the United States) with Ghanaian President Nkrumah, Indian Nehru, Indonesian Scarno, and Yugoslavian Tito.
Indeed, the Non-Aligned Movement at that time was the pomegranate of the balance, despite the tendency towards the Soviet Union, which adopted since the Bolshevik revolution, socialism, and communism, and which believed in the fair distribution of wealth.
Especially in countries that were suffering from monarchy systems, where a few owned everything and the majority did not own anything and were suffering from social diseases, including (barefoot).
The South represented a front of accusation under the umbrella of the Non-Aligned Movement within the corridors of the United Nations, especially in the sessions of the General Assembly in September of each year until the beginning of the seventies of the last century to unite the African decision under the banner of Egypt at that time.
At the time, Egypt also provided technical and academic support to African countries, opening its doors to African students and academics. Egypt also established the Al-Nasr General Company for Export and Import, to export Egyptian products to Africa, which had branches in all African countries at such time. As well as relying on the (Arab Contractors Company) as a public company for the construction of major projects within the continent so far.
III. The crisis of Africa due to Egypt’s distance from it and the collapse of the Soviet Union:
Unfortunately, after the departure of leader Abdel Nasser, the advent of President Sadat to power in Egypt, and the expulsion of Russian experts, to win the favor of the Americans during his planning for the Sinai liberation war in October 1973, and his liberal orientations had a bad impact on Africa’s relationship in Egypt.
After his victory over Israel, he was distracted by establishing a strong relationship with America and his statement on American television that 99% of the cards in the political game are in America’s hands and neglected Egypt’s interest in its regional and African dimensions.
After the agreement (Jamaica in 1975) arranged by Kissinger (US Secretary of State), and linking oil to the dollar, wealth accumulated in American treasuries, which made the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with their neoliberal agenda to offer these countries, which Egypt supported and the Soviet Union, their help after battles for freedom in development projects.
They were helped by the linguistic cultural heritage (English and French) and the establishment of organizations specific to (La Francophonie) and others in (the Commonwealth) to link these countries to America, Britain, and France permanently, language is an important factor in dealing.
The fall of the Soviet Union, which was supporting some countries such as (Ethiopia, Angola, and Algeria), also helped to brutalize America, Britain and France in exploiting African countries economically, and shackle them with the circle of debt and interests thereof.
Thus, dictating political wills on these countries, especially in international resolutions, or the General Assembly of the United Nations, but these Western countries also intervened in the Organization of African Unity and the African Union.
IV. Africa between the new powers playing in Africa and the West:
The economic recovery that occurred for some countries in the mid-nineties of the last century, especially China, which became a major economic power and benefited from Western economic thought, but gave it a Chinese flavor until it controlled its economy, had a great impact.
It was the presence of major Chinese companies, which, with the expansion of their business globally and their needs for raw materials, entered into great competition through Africa against the Western trio (America, France, and Britain).
China was adopting the idea of (win-win) agreements and was carrying out all infrastructure projects in African countries, which it also entered to facilitate its work.
This goes along with two things:
The first – the beginnings of the emergence of the group (BRICS – Russia, and China), this idea that emerged from the thought of the Russian Foreign Minister (Evgeny Primakov), who saw that the unipolar world order would not moderate until it becomes multipolar as it was before so that it does not allow for one party to the tyranny of the global decision.
Second – the emergence of other players also in Africa after the presence of China, including (India – Turkey – Iran), who dealt with the same Chinese approach inside Africa (win-win).
But of course, these new powers were not welcome inside Africa – and thus the West set on fire extremist terrorist groups in Central and North Africa – also it may have exploited biological warfare against these countries as proxy wars, and one of the most famous examples is the emergence and disappearance of the Ebola epidemic in Central and West Africa.
The West, for example, did not fulfill some of its promises to support a fund to fight HIV in Africa, despite the friendship that Nelson Mandela had with Bill Clinton and then Obama, the American presidents.
South Africa was included in the BRICS group (with India and Brazil) as a representative of the African continent and as a country that adopted revolutionary thought and had a history of struggle in fighting British colonialism, as well as having important global development, technological, and research rates.
Africa did not get any tangible development and technology transfer from the West, as it got, for example, from China, as well as the number of Chinese scholarships for African students, which reached nearly 70,000 African students in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic.
V. Africa at Present and a New World Order:
According to the latest statistics, it contains 1.4 billion people. It is rich in human wealth and rich in natural resources.
Africa could become the largest place in the world to generate new clean energy in the world (nuclear energy – solar energy from sand, energy from waste, and wind energy), and for this reason, each of the major industrial powers is trying to rush to it, but confidence in the West to transfer technology is lacking due to the West’s deception and racism severe treatment with Africa.
This gives greater confidence in the new powers (China – Russia – Iran – Turkey – India – ASEAN – Pakistan) that will transfer technology to Africa and thus help in the development of many countries within the African continent, which still have many promising opportunities.
The media and information technology have a very big role in supporting the presence of the new powers in Africa – it is necessary to establish headquarters and media stations that speak the main languages in Africa that talk about their economic, social, and cultural conditions and link them to the culture of the new forces.
Information technology is entering as one of the most important elements of the success of the new powers in Africa, which lack technological and information infrastructures that do not enable them to conduct daily banking or financial transactions smoothly, or even applications on the phone that facilitate the circulation of daily business operations as found in (China, Russia, and Iran).
It is information technology that can prevent the African continent from circumventing its cyber sovereignty over the West and influencing its decisions. It will also have a major role in raising the level of education and scientific research – perhaps (Dot Africa) will become a joint project to be accomplished by these forces.
So are scholarships – the more scholarships for bright, deserving students in Africa from the new powers, the more Africa will be connected to them.
Politically – certainly blocs such as (BRICS – Non-Aligned – ASEAN – Silk Road) are among the most suitable blocs for Africa in this period, especially with the BRICS openness to other countries in the so-called (BRICS Plus).
Or the revival of (the Non-Aligned Movement) with the help of Russia and China, through which Africa can play a major role in the new world order, with the throes of this order through the Ukrainian crisis, and Africa, which contains 55 countries, can favor any party in the world and both parties may enjoy mutual benefits.
Last but not least – Africa is a great opportunity for the Russian side, given Russia’s honorable history with Africa, and on the other hand, Russia’s need for a large bloc like Africa that it supports in the future as a strategy to stand up to Western unilateralism, arrogance, and racism.
Be guided accordingly.
The writer:
Egyptian Economist and International Youth Coach
Director of Asia Center for Studies and Translation
Asia Center for Studies and Translation – Directed by Ahmed Moustafa (wordpress.com)
Master Holder in Political Economy 2021, HSE Moscow
Member of CODESRIA, Dakar, Senegal and Group of Strategic Vision
Russia and Islamic World, Journalists Against Extremism
Cellphone: +201009229411
Email: solimon2244@yahoo.com
ahmedmoustafa830@gmail.com
