In the conversation about Burkina Faso, the rest of the world is publicly discussing how Ibrahim Traoré is pushing back against the narrative that African countries need “assistance” using their resources. Already, there has been propaganda spread about his tyranny, and spies have already been detained since Burkina Faso made it clear that foreign nationals were not permitted to plunder without considering the welfare of the nations. The imperial United States has long touted its greatness in technological advances, but often fails to mention that the majority of the resources to create that technology come from other countries. Essentially, the empire enjoys its practice of using African resources “for their own good.”
No one asked for either chattel slavery, or for imperialists to sweep through the entire planet taking resources from everyone else. The myth that “everyone lives better when the United States gets what it wants” has smoothed relations with other nations that also wanted to violate the boundaries of countries with resources. This is the mythology of western thought: “getting what I want will help you, too, so I should never be accountable for my behavior.” The truth is that the United States finally looks like the bully it is, and instead of people justifying our behavior, more people–even those who also violated borders–are looking to distance themselves and their policies from us.
In an era where a lot of information is available online, people are aware that imperialism is wasteful and destructive, which is why the myth of being “for their own good” is no longer effective. Food waste is a habit, rather than an anomaly, so whatever food aid the empire provides will never equal the amount of waste produced from most consumption methods. Rather than live communally like most of the civilized world, the empire insists on encouraging nuclear families that live in sequestered households, meaning that deforestation is consistently justified with bad “evidence.” Moreover, none of the technology created with stolen resources is built to last for a long time, thanks to planned obsolescence. Taking someone else’s goods only to throw them away makes the empire look too politically immature to handle the issues of climate change.
Most egregiously, there is no gratitude or respectful engagement after providing resources that help make the empire rich. People are still peddling the narrative of “uncivilized nations” and hoping that people will believe that the rest of the planet needs imperial interference. Criticism of multiple types of government is deemed acceptable, while self reflection of imperial patterns is seen as treason. Even imperial Great Britain allowed African migrants to come to the headquarters for education and careers, but the United States has no sense of reciprocity, and extra entitlement to boot. Therefore, people have no reason to trade with the empire because it feels that people should be honored for the opportunity of theft.
The funniest consequence about the current political shift is that the empire seems genuinely shocked that everyone is disgusted with results and behavior of stealing from everyone. If someone came into my house and stole from me, and then expected me to be warm and accommodating when they returned, I would likely ask that a wellness check be done in my own home to protect myself from such delusion when they came back. Telling ourselves that everyone needs to be violated is an unhealthy mindset, and fortunately, there is enough information in the world to curtail that lunacy so that the empire can start deflating its unearned self confidence.
* The above picture is take from a reposted political cartoon by Mikail Ҫiftҫi on Rehber TV regarding the pillage of Burkina Faso’s resources.
Chasing A Dying Empire 