Senator in Freudian slip – walks it back after saying US must keep “exploiting” Africa

US senator Todd Young made a Freudian slip about Africa at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee on 30 July:

Young said:

How can we foster.. bringing American capital and expertise and standards to Africa so we can keep exploiting… uhhh so that we can… exploring where we can get these minerals

‘For the imperialists, Africa belongs to them’

The slip comes at a time when West African states have formed an anti-colonial alliance. The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali have created a confederation called the Alliance of Sahel States.

The countries broke away from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which their leaders view as a tool of Western colonial power.

Burkina Faso leader Ibrahim Traoré is forthright in his critique:

These imperialists have just one cliché in their heads – Africa as an empire of slaves. That’s how they see Africa. For them, Africa belongs to them. Our lands belong to them. Our subsoil belongs to them. They’ve never changed that framework, even today.

The goals of the Alliance of Sahel States are to bring in a new currency the Sahel, build communications and energy infrastructure, invest in agriculture and energy sectors, industrialise and allow free movement of person’s between Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. The final aim is to federalise into one sovereign state.

One example of neocolonialism is Niger’s uranium. In France, the former hard-coloniser of Niger, uranium from Niger powers one in three light bulbs. But in Niger, 84% of people do not even have access to electricity.

In June 2024, Niger’s military government revoked the license of French state-owned multinational Orano to mine uranium at one of the world’s largest mines in Niger.

Burkina Faso’s Traoré, meanwhile, is widely regarded as invoking Burkinabe pan-African revolutionary socialist leader Thomas Sankara. But Traoré’s government has signed an understanding with Russian state-owned company Rosatom to build a nuclear energy plant in Burkina Faso. It’s unclear where eventual ownership of the plant will lie. Only around 20% of Burkina Faso currently has access to electricity.

Sharing the future

What is clear is that we must envision a future where we share global resources. That would take huge public investment in efficiency and renewable energy – of which Africa would be a solar hub. Africa has 60% of the world’s solar resources, yet its generation of that energy stands at only 1%. And according to the National Geographic Society:

In one hour, Earth’s atmosphere receives enough sunlight to power the electricity needs of every human being on Earth for a year.

Featured image via NTD – YouTube