In Episode 161 [22] of the CounterVortex podcast [23], Bill Weinberg provides an overview of the under-reported conflicts in West Africa, where government forces and allied paramilitary groups battle multiple jihadist insurgencies affiliated either with ISIS or al-Qaeda on a franchise model. Horrific massacres [24] have been committed by both sides, but the Western media have only recently started to take note because of the geopolitical angle that has emerged: both Mali [25] and Burkina Faso [26] have cut long-standing security ties with France, the former colonial power, and brought in mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group [27]. In both countries, the pastoralist Fulani people have been stigmatized as "terrorists" and targeted for extra-judicial execution [28] and even massacre [29]—a potentially pre-genocidal situation. But government air-strikes on Fulani communities [30] in Nigeria have received no coverage in the Western media, because of the lack of any geopolitical rivalry there; Nigeria remains firmly in the Anglo-American camp. Listen on SoundCloud [22] or via Patreon [31].
Production by Chris Rywalt [34]
Film discussed: Burkinabè Rising: the Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso [35], Cultures of Resistance Films, 2019
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