As the beautiful sleek looking but deadly French Mirage fighter bombers fire missiles to impose an innocuous sounding "No-fly zone", older Arabs may remember the French use of murderous aircraft against the civilian population of French "Protectorate' of Arab Syria.(2)
As the French proudly bombard "protectively' in a North Africa it once owned and exploited, we remember the triple genocide in French Indochina. First, during the brutal racist occupation of Vietnam(3); second, as the Vichy French Colonial Army running its colonies for the Japanese Imperial Army aided the confiscation of rice for export to Japan while a million Vietnamese starved to death(4); third, as fresh French troops, brought back into Vietnam in U.S. ships, murdered Vietnamese for eight years, beginning almost immediately after the joyous street celebrations in Paris as it was liberated from Nazi occupation.(5)
We can also appreciate the past inhumanity of France thinking of the sad history of French genocide in Haiti five times over. Firstly, by the enslavement of Africans;(6) secondly, by the working them to death in Haiti to make France rich;(7) thirdly, for the genocidal punishment of the Haitian slave revolution;(8) fourthly, for the cruel life-costing reparations forced on Haiti;(9) lastly for French refusal to return that huge sum of extorted money even now as Haitians suffer earthquake devastation, poverty, U.S. exploitation and foreign occupation.(10)
But democracy and even more important, freedom, was for centuries denied the non-white population of the world.
The once colonially occupied and still neo-colonially exploited billions of non-white human beings remember that while French and English people proudly practiced parliamentary democracy they denied freedom and democracy to all their millions of colonial subjects at gun point.(11)
It is obvious to this author that it is the petroleum deposits in Libya which are crying for freedom from African control. To free Africa of its wealth has always brought military intervention from industrialized and dehumanized nations.(12)
Having control of their own oil wealth has enabled Libyans along with neighboring Algerians to enjoy the highest income standard in Africa (South Africa's has a wealthier but unevenly available standard) (The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report 2010 ranks Libya the highest ranking of all African nations, #1 (Only 4 were ranked in the "High Human Development" category: Libya, Mauritius, Algeria and Tunisia.)
Let's not be fooled by the French or any other of today's now neocolonialist powers (which just happen to be basically white).
It is the oil in Libya which must be freed - free from African control. Ergo the pretext of humanitarian goals.(13)
Footnotes:
(*)
In 1934, Italy adopted the name "Libya" (used by the ancient Greeks for all of North Africa, except Egypt) for its colonies of Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania, both having been run separately by Italian governors. Italy had conquered both from the Ottoman Turks in 1911. From 1943 to 1951, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were under British administration, while the French controlled Fezzan and the United States maintained the large Wheelus Air Base.
(1)
By 1956 France had committed more than 400,000 troops to Algeria. Foreign Legion bore the brunt of offensive counterinsurgency combat operations, France also sent air force and naval units to the Algerian theater, French forces utilized the helicopter for the first time in a ground attack role in order to pursue and destroy fleeing FLN guerrilla units. The American military would later use the same helicopter combat methods in Vietnam. The French also used napalm,
Benjamin Stora, "Avoir 20 ans en Kabylie" , in L'Histoire n -324, October 2007, pp.28--29 L'Histoire is a monthly mainstream French magazine dedicated to historical studies, recognized by peers as the most important historical popular magazine (as opposed to specific university journals or less scientific popular historical magazines).
(2)
Druze Revolt of 1925 -- 27 and French Air Power
When the French occupied their Mideast colonies of Lebanon and Syria in 1919, they faced the same sort of nationalist unrest that the British faced in Iraq. Initially, the French sent a larger air contingent to garrison Syria than the British sent to Iraq and by the end of 1919 had built up a force of four squadrons in Syria. French Breguet 14 light bombers, sturdy aircraft from the Great War, played the same role that the RAF's DH-9s played in British colonial operations. Gen Maxime Weygand, commander of the garrison in Syria, argued that airpower was "indispensable" and requested more air squadrons so that he could withdraw ground troops. In 1924 Weygand issued directives to his air units that closely resembled British air-control doctrine. He intended to use aircraft to bomb tribal groups when incidents occurred as a means of intimidating them into complying with the French regime. The French increased their air presence in Syria and by the end of 1923 had several squadrons organized into the 39th Air Regiment. 39Ã me RAO.
Posting on War and Game a huge array of military resource Internet sites assembling factual investigation of details of war from ancient times onward by Mitch Williamson, a technical writer with an interest in military and naval affairs. He has published articles in Cross & Cockade International and Wartime magazines.
(3)
September 14, 1859 French gunships, 3,000 men and 300 Filipino troops provided by the Spanish, attacked the port of Da Nang. Sailing south, De Genouilly then captured the poorly defended city of Sai Gon (present day Ho Chi Minh City), on 18 February 1859. On 13 April 1862, the Vietnamese government was forced to cede the territories of Bià n Hà a, Gia Ä a' "nh and Dinh Tuong to France. In 1862, France obtained concessions from Emperor Ta' Ä a' c, ceding three treaty ports in Annam and Tonkin, and all of Cochinchina, the latter being formally declared a French territory in 1864. In 1867 the provinces of Chau Doc, Ha Tien and VÄ nh Long were added to French controlled territory. In 1862, France obtained concessions from Emperor Ta' Ä a' c, ceding three treaty ports in Annam and Tonkin, and all of Cochinchina, the latter being formally declared a French territory in 1864. In 1867 the provinces of Chau Doc, Ha Tien and VÄ nh Long were added to French controlled territory. In 1862, Emperor Ta' Ä a' c was forced to ceding three treaty ports in Annam and Tonkin, and all of Cochinchina, declared a French territory in 1864. In 1867 the provinces of Chau Doc, Ha Tien and VÄ nh Long were added to French controlled territory. Commandant Henri Rivià re stormed the citadel of Hanoi on 25 April 1882. On 20 August 1883 Admiral Amà dà e Courbet stormed the forts which guarded the approaches to the Vietnamese capital Hua' and forced the Vietnamese government to cede Tonkin to French control. Courbet, attacked Son Tay in December 1883. Tucker, Spencer C. (1999) Vietnam. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 29.
In September 1930, French had realized the seriousness of rural uprising and brought in Foreign Legion troops to suppress the rebellion. On September 9, French planes bombed a column of thousands of peasants headed toward the Nghe An provincial capital. Security forces rounded up all those suspected of being communists or of being involved in the rebellion, staged executions, and conducted punitive raids on rebellious villages. History, Libcom.orgSeptember 14, 1859 French gunships, 3,000 men and 300 Filipino troops provided by the Spanish, attacked the port of Da Nang. Sailing south, De Genouilly then captured the poorly defended city of Sai Gon (present day Ho Chi Minh City), on 18 February 1859. On 13 April 1862, the Vietnamese government was forced to cede the territories of Bià n Hà a, Gia Ä a' "nh and Dinh Tuong to France. In 1862, France obtained concessions from Emperor Ta' Ä a' c, ceding three treaty ports in Annam and Tonkin, and all of Cochinchina, the latter being formally declared a French territory in 1864. In 1867 the provinces of Chau Doc, Ha Tien and VÄ nh Long were added to French controlled territory. In 1862, France obtained concessions from Emperor Ta' Ä a' c, ceding three treaty ports in Annam and Tonkin, and all of Cochinchina, the latter being formally declared a French territory in 1864. In 1867 the provinces of Chau Doc, Ha Tien and VÄ nh Long were added to French controlled territory. In 1862, Emperor Ta' Ä a' c was forced to ceding three treaty ports in Annam and Tonkin, and all of Cochinchina, declared a French territory in 1864. In 1867 the provinces of Chau Doc, Ha Tien and VÄ nh Long were added to French controlled territory. Commandant Henri Rivià re stormed the citadel of Hanoi on 25 April 1882. On 20 August 1883 Admiral Amà dà e Courbet stormed the forts which guarded the approaches to the Vietnamese capital Hua' and forced the Vietnamese government to cede Tonkin to French control. Courbet, attacked Son Tay in December 1883. Tucker, Spencer C. (1999) Vietnam. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 29.
In September 1930, French had realized the seriousness of rural uprising and brought in Foreign Legion troops to suppress the rebellion. On September 9, French planes bombed a column of thousands of peasants headed toward the Nghe An provincial capital. Security forces rounded up all those suspected of being communists or of being involved in the rebellion, staged executions, and conducted punitive raids on rebellious villages. By 1931, the uprisings that had begun with the Yen Bai mutiny had been quelled. On its face, the war had been grotesquely one-sided: 1,000 killed and 50,000 captured (of whom 10,000 subsequently died) at the cost to French forces of a single soldier. History, Libcom.org & pagerankstudioinfo
(4)
Millions starved in a famine that occurred in northern Vietnam from October 1944 to May 1945. the mismanagement of the French administration in Vietnam played a role. The French reformed the economy in order to serve the administration and to meet the needs of war. The Vietnamese Starvation of 1944-45 , Bui Minh Dung, U. of Cambridge, U. of Tokyo.
(5)
The 1946 -1954 French Indochina War, (also known as the Dirty War in France) and in contemporary Vietnam, as the French War) was fought between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps (brought into Vietnam on U.S. ships) against the Viet Minh led Vo Nguyen Giap. Ho Chi Minh saw the war as an independence struggle against colonialism, and expected the free world to support him. in 1949, the conflict became a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons supplied by the two superpowers.
French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, African, Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Vietnamese ethnic minorities) and professional troops (European of the French Foreign Legion). The use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the governments to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home. It was called the "dirty war" (la sale guerre) by Jean Paul Sartre) during the Henri Martin affair in 1950 because it aimed to perpetuate French imperialism.
In testimony at Military Tribunal 1953, Martin, a navy mechanic, deplored the atrocities committed by the Foreign Legionnaires who burn and plunder villages. "Why do our planes machine-gun every day defenceless fishermen? Why do our soldiers loot, burn and kill?"
2003-08-02). "Guerre d'Indochine: Libà rez Henri Martin," l'Humanità .
By 1954, the United States had supplied 300,000 small arms and spent US$1 billion in support of the French military effort and was shouldering 80 percent of the cost of the war.Vietnam. There were talks between the French and Americans in which the possible use of three tactical nuclear weapons was considered. The Ten Thousand Day War , Thames 1981, Michael Maclear, p. 57
One version of plan for the proposed Operation Vulture envisioned sending 60 B-29s from U.S. bases in the region, supported by as many as 150 fighters launched from U.S. Seventh Fleet carriers, to bomb Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap's positions. The plan included an option to use up to three atomic weapons on the Viet Minh positions. Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave this nuclear option his backing. U.S. B-29s, B-36s, and B-47s could have executed a nuclear strike, as could carrier aircraft from the Seventh Fleet.[Dien Bien Phu, Air Force Magazine 87:8, August 2004.
U.S. carriers sailed to the Gulf of Tonkin, and reconnaissance flights over Dien Bien Phu were conducted during the negotiations. According to Richard Nixon the plan involved the Joint Chiefs of Staff drawing up plans to use 3 small tactical nuclear weapons in support of the French.
At the Geneva Conference the French negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh. Independence was granted to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The U.S. Navy: a history, Naval Institute Pres s, 1997, Nathan Mille
(6)
Haiti experienced three centuries of slavery. In the history of the Atlantic slave trade, the French turned four times as many Africans into slaves as the Americans did, they used them far more brutally. Slaver voyages: France, 4,200; British North America/United States, 1,500. Slaves delivered to: French West Indies: 1,600,000, British North America/United States, 500,000.*
Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade, Simon & Schuster, 1997.
(7)
The French colonial slave system was particularly brutal, worse that virtually any other place in the Western world. Slaves were routinely treated with great brutality and inhumanity. Short and Oversimplified History of Haiti by Bob Corbett
For decades the general policy for plantation owners was to work their slaves to exhaustion, illness and death, for replacements were so cheaply available. Armed guards would abuse and torture for pleasure and to instill fear - bayonets jabbed at the bellies until blood spurted, whereupon the dogs leaped at the men, tore them apart, and devoured them. audience applauded." Caribbean by James Mitchner
So great was the wealth produced by slave labor, with losing Haiti, France lost 2/3rds of its world trade income.
(8)
150 thousand out of a population of 465 black slaves died fighting the French for their liberty. 150 thousand out of a population of 465 black slaves died fighting the French for their liberty. (long after the French Revolution). Many gassed with sulphur dioxiede before Napoleon's humiliating defeat at the hands of Toussaint's and Dessalines's armies. Captured, Toussaint L'ouverture captured in a raid was imprisoned in the high Jura mountains, left to freeze to death without blankets.
An Unbroken Agony by Randall Robinson
(9)(10)
Today, the people of Haiti have joined with their democratically elected government to demand that France restitute to the Haitian people this for the Ransom Paid for its Independence - 21.7 billion dollars in today's currency. On behalf of the people of Haiti, President Jean Bertrand Artistide has made an official request to France, which has formally recognized slavery to be a crime against humanity; French legislators have verbally recognized the legitimacy Haiti's request for restitution. Unfortunately, in an echo of the ugly "1825" past, the French government has reacted to this just request by placing Haiti on a list of "undesirable" countries not to be visited; this vindictive and unjustifiable response is being protested by people of conscience, particularly in France and Haiti. Restitution by France to Haiti, Haiti Action
(11)
The French colonial empire at its height saw the total amount of land under French sovereignty to cover 8.7% of the Earth's total land area, and in 1931, also 8.7% of the world population under French suzerainty.
Institut National de la Statistique et des Ã"degreestudes Ã"degreesconomiques
(12)
In 1914, excepting Ethiopia, every inch of Africa was controled by Europeans. Ethiopia was invaded and occupied by Italy in 1936. Africa, Imperial Boundaries
(13)
Most respected investigative journalists have spoken or wrote expressing this observation or opinion, including Robert Fisk, John Pilger and Noam Chomsky very recently. On Feb. 21, two days after the violence in Benghazi had begun, an elderly experience Fidel Castro told Associated Press that he suspected what was happening would be used by NATO for invading Libya.
