What is unprecedented in this war is the anger with which the Western media, especially in Europe, is divided in two to blame, and even demonize, countries choosing to remain neutral in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. In addition to India and China, we are talking about several African countries here.
However, beyond the insensitivity to the drama unfolding in Ukraine, what many African countries now refuse to do is be mere puppets in the service of Western powers when it comes time for a vote at the United Nations.
This new reality is part of the rebalancing of power that has been under way since China began flexing its muscles. If it is expressed now in broad daylight, it is because the hegemony of the Western world that has lasted since the end of the Cold War is fading a little.
Without delving into the ins and outs of this war, this short story aims to give a less centered reading of the neutrality shown by many African countries when it came time for condemnations at the United Nations.
We have to hide our eyes not to realize that this repositioning is a symptom of the great divide that now separates two worlds, two international communities. A detachment we quietly saw coming, but its size was revealed in broad daylight by this terrible war.
This new stance demonstrated by many African countries contains a coded message that the Western media is struggling to decipher. In the question, the vast majority of African countries have always been dictated by Western countries on which side of the force should be when an important vote comes. If a country wanted to be invited to a party of nations in which America has been the undisputed leader since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, it often had to accept this puppet role.
To put an image, it is as if, when it was time to vote, the representative of France raised his right hand and that, with his right, he urged the members of Françafrique to imitate his gesture. This time, to the great displeasure of the Western world, many African countries rejected this slogan.
The complete surprise. Even Europeans wonder how countries traditionally under their influence could choose such shameless opposition in the face of Vladimir Putin’s horrific aggression against Ukraine.
In fact, this so-called neutrality of the victims of colonialism and imperialism in the Western world hides a coded message that says something like this: “You have conquered enough countries and imposed your military superiority over the rest of the world to know how to manage for yourself with this conflict that is happening this time on your continent. This war is yours.” And if we refuse to join our ranks, it is not out of a lack of solidarity with the terrible suffering of the Ukrainian people, but to remind you that we cannot continue to be mere pawns on your geopolitical chessboard. In other words, you are no longer the only international community on the planet!”
