My dear President Emmanuel Macron,
“C’est la crise!” (It’s a crisis!). This is how I felt when I first visited France in 1985. When I visited again in 2023, “c’était toujours la crise” (It’s still a crisis!). And now, as you head to India, after making all of Africa kicking, France is still in crisis.
We feel bad that this “crisis” now appears to be an outburst as your former African colonies are lining up, one after another, to get over their colonial past. They finally felt what your constitution provided for a separation of powers and proclaimed France’s “attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of National Sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789″.
Far away from Africa, in Bangladesh, one last-standing autocrat is gasping for air. We are happy to know that you will reinforce France’s confidence in her defying all that your founding fathers claimed about the centrality of human rights and freedom of speech as enshrined in the constitution of France.
Before you head to Dhaka, we, the people of Bangladesh, would like to know the deals you will make out of this visit. It is ripe in the news that you will reap the last harvest as Sheikh Hasina is counting her days before she becomes history. And she is willing to pay any price and endure humiliation to convince you to lobby for her to Modi, Biden, Xi, and whoever you come across. She knows she has no chance with the people of Bangladesh. It is only conspiracy gurus like you could make her stay, as she has been doing it for the last fifteen years without the vote of the Bangladeshi people.
The world knows that Sheikh Hasina is the only female autocrat in the world who has been in power for the last fifteen years without any vote. She is there using the police and army and is far from what the people of Bangladesh want her to be. Over the years, she has been using her rule to plunder poor Bangladeshis capital flights with shadow deals like what they did with France, with you, to launch the so-called Bangabandhu satellite.
In New Delhi, you will be shocked that Hasina paid you 4.17 times more than Indian Chandrayaana -3 costs to land at the South Pole. Bangladesh paid you $248 million USD (in 2015 equals $313.47 in 2023) for this satellite, while India reached the South Pole of the Moon with a cost of only $75 million USD. So, she paid this rent to buy her ticket to power till now? And how the people of Bangladesh would be blamed if they fear another shadow deal to buy her time clinging to that power? As desperate as she is, even her closest allies, like India, the USA, Japan, and the United Kingdom, left her in the woods!
So, with this note, we, the marooned people of Bangladesh, urge you not to venture into Bangladesh at this time and vote for Hasina. Although she already bought the United Kingdom and European Union, including France, through her AIRBUS deal with Biman. This deal has not been discussed, debated, or approved in the court of people’s verdict. No one but AIRBUS and BIMAN know of what is there in the deal. With this deal, she might have muted the soulless barking of the European Union, British Raj, and the like, but the people of Bangladesh are enough to mute mighty Hasina and the barking dogs once and for all.
In the background of this, your visit will only reassure the world how reckless France is regarding democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression. Even if you dare to visit Bangladesh nonetheless, the world would like to see how you reassure that you will stand with the democratic loving people of Bangladesh, not with a sinking autocrat! And more importantly, you will let the people of Bangladesh know why it costs Bangladeshis five times more to launch a satellite when India used only one-fifth of that to reach the moon’s South Pole.
If history indicates, France kept a big part of Africa as its colony using a CFA monetary system. For colonies to get “independence”, France required membership in Communauté Française d’Afrique (still CFA) – created in 1958, replacing Colonies with Communauté.
Such requirements have ensured France’s continued exploitation. Eleven of the 14 former French West and Central African colonies remain least developed countries (LDCs) at the bottom of UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI).
Before I let you go, I would like you to recall what Guinea’s President Sékou Touré told President Charles de Gaulle in 1960, “We prefer poverty in freedom to wealth in slavery.” President Sekou announced Guinea’s decision to leave CFA in 1960 with this statement.
As a consequence, Guinea soon faced French destabilization efforts. Counterfeit banknotes were printed and circulated for use in Guinea – with predictable consequences. Ex-French espionage documentation service (SDECE) head Maurice Robert later acknowledged, “France launched a series of armed operations using local mercenaries to develop a climate of insecurity and, if possible, overthrow Sékou Touré.”
In 1962, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou warned African colonies considering leaving the franc zone: “Let us allow the experience of Sékou Touré to unfold. Many Africans are beginning to feel that Guinean politics are suicidal and contrary to the interests of the whole of Africa”.
Togo’s independence leader, President Sylvanus Olympio, was assassinated in front of the US embassy on 13 January 1963. This happened a month after he established a central bank, issuing the Togolese franc as legal tender. Of course, Togo remained in the CFA. Mali left the CFA in 1962, replacing the FCFA with the Malian franc. But a 1968 coup removed its first president, radical independence leader Modibo Keita. Unsurprisingly, Mali later re-joined the CFA in 1984.
So, if the people of Bangladesh have any hope left to hear the French President shouting for democracy, it may make autocrats like Putin or Xi laugh.
Don’t come to Bangladesh, Mr. President. You are not welcome at this time.
In case you didn’t notice, Bangladesh is in Asia, not in Africa.
On behalf of all the marooned people of Bangladesh,
Banamali Poddar, Dhaka
*The author is a political analyst based in the United States.
September 1, 2023
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
