Frantz Fanon and the Inefficacy of Anti-colonial Violence

Jodie Bradshaw

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Feb 27 2023 • 

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“For in the first days of the revolt you must kill: to shoot down a European is to kill two birds with one stone, to destroy an oppressor and the man he oppresses at the same time” (Sartre, 2000, 22). Fanon’s central defence for his argument favouring anti-colonial violence is that “violence is necessary because it works” (Frazer and Hutchings, 2008, 9). This essay interprets Fanon’s argument in The Wretched of the Earth as follows: anti-colonial violence has the potential to emancipate the colonised subject from the immanent violence colonisers have subjected to them. The central argument of this essay is that Fanon’s claim is indefensible because of the inefficacy of anti-colonial violence in achieving the aim of enabling colonised subjects to re-create themselves.

The first section will define Hirst et al.’s notion of immanent violence (forthcoming 2023) to shed light on Fanon’s description of the psychological impact of colonial violence on colonised subjects. Fanon’s argument will be outlined in the second section, and its strengths will be acknowledged. It will then be argued that Fanon’s claim is mistaken on two fronts. Firstly, Fanon mistakenly argues that anti-colonial violence will liberate the colonised subject from the co-production of subjectivity with the coloniser. This essay argues that all individuals are always co-constituted by the other and that Fanon simply substitutes the essentialising mould proposed by the coloniser for another. Secondly, contrary to allowing all colonised subjects to re-create themselves, anti-colonial violence and the coloniser’s retaliatory violence entails an intensified gendered immanent violence, whose victims are doubly victimised by colonisers and anti-colonial revolutionaries alike. Thus, it will be concluded that a more effective way of combatting colonial immanent violence is to dismantle the racialised and gendered discourses that make this violence possible. However, this is not to say that anti-colonial violence is ineffective at achieving different aims to re-creating the self, such as establishing national sovereignty.

Immanent Violence and the Colonial Matrix of Power

While colonialism simultaneously constitutes a form of physical, structural, and immanent violence, the latter is most relevant to an analysis of re-creating the self in the wake of colonial violence. By immanent violence, this essay refers to the forms of violence which operate “in the internal realm of values, beliefs, and identity” in our patterns of thinking, language, concepts, speaking and behaving (Hirst et al., forthcoming 2023, 8-10). This form of violence is at play in our assessments of ourselves and other people and the knowledge we produce about each (Hirst et al., forthcoming 2023). When the knowledge made by a people is systematically disregarded and invalidated, then immanent violence has been committed inasmuch as these people are not regarded as active subjects in knowledge production (Hirst et al., forthcoming, 2023). Frequently this occurs to colonised people, who are treated as objects in Western forms of knowledge production (Hirst et al., forthcoming 2023).

While immanent violence can be committed unconsciously, it can also be deliberate, calculated, and ideological, as was typically the case with colonisation. According to Mamdani, all colonial endeavours are characterised by the “native question”: “how can a tiny and foreign minority rule over an indigenous majority?” (1996, 16). For Sartre and Fanon, the solution to this question is immanent violence. Their anti-colonial resistance is debilitated by dehumanising the colonised subject and having them internalise this dehumanisation. To achieve this end, the coloniser undertakes a campaign of immanent violence, equating the colonised subject with a quintessence of all that is bad (Fanon, 2002, 44). Not only is the colonised subject declared to be impervious to ethics and lacking values, but they are also represented as the very negation of values: evilness in its most complete form (Fanon, 2002). This epitomises Said’s conceptualisation of orientalism, whereby Western writings represent the distinction between the ‘Orient’ and the ‘West’ along binary lines (1979). According to an orientalist logic, the ‘Orient’ is characterised by, in short: irrationality, backwardness, and exoticism, while the ‘West’ is depicted as rational, moral, and the pinnacle of civilisation (Said, 1979). Describing the ‘Orient’ in this way means, for Said, that orientalism amounts to a Western strategy for “dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (1979, 3).

Orientalism facilitates Western domination of the ‘Orient’ because of the immanent violence it entails. The discursive practices employed become sites through which the identities of subjects and objects become constructed and positioned in relation to one another (Foucault, 1972, 49). For instance, Fanon gives the example of the use of zoological language by colonisers when they speak about the colonised subject, reducing them to an animal (2002, 45). Here, a hierarchy is established, with the colonised subject being the inferior object and the coloniser being the superior subject. In the coloniser’s discourse, each colonised subject is subsumed into an indistinct mass, effacing all nuance and individuality (Fanon, 2002, 46-47). This stereotypical labelling of human beings “can have an emptying and rigidifying effect” (Phillips, 1994, 208) on the colonised subject, catalysing the alienation introduced into the core of the colonised people (Fanon, 2002, 45). This results in the colonised subject experiencing what Du Bois has coined as “double-consciousness”, whereby one experiences “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others”, leading to a feeling of “twoness” as a result of these “two warring ideals” inside of oneself (1997, 615). That is to say that the colonised subject come to see themselves through the perspective of the coloniser, as well as through their own eyes. Yet, even in their own eyes, they are debased. With the colonised having had to choose between death and submission, the choice to live is experienced with such shame that it strips them of their status as “a man” (Sartre, 2000, 15). Ultimately, being subjected to immanent colonial violence leads to the internalisation of an inferiority complex (Fanon, 1963, 94).

The Emancipatory Potential of Anti-colonial Violence

According to Fanon, anti-colonial violence has an emancipatory potential for the colonised subject subjected to this immanent violence. It is by means of this “irrepressible violence” that “man recreat[es] himself” (Sartre, 2000, 21). During the liberation struggle, the colonised subject puts an end to the history of colonisation and brings “into existence the history of the nation—the history of decolonisation” (Fanon, 2000, 51). In the act of anti-colonial violence, they discover that their life is equal to that of the coloniser, that the coloniser’s skin is worth no more than their own (Fanon, 1963, 48). Having learnt this, the colonised subject is no longer immobilised nor petrified by the coloniser (Fanon, 1963). Consequently, anti-colonial violence “frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction; it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect” (Fanon, 2000, 94). In turn, Fanon effectively argues that anti-colonial violence not only expels the coloniser from the colonised territory but also from the colonised mind. It becomes a cathartic moment of discrediting the coloniser’s orientalist characterisation of the colonised subject.

What is compelling about Fanon’s argument is that he forces his readers to acknowledge that the experience of colonial occupation is inherently violent. Therefore, whether or not to engage in revolutionary anti-colonial violence is not a choice between peace and violence. In fact, Barber goes as far as to argue that violence is not an instrument of choice under all tyrannical governments (2003, 77, 88). As the powerful are most frequently victorious in confrontations based on force, Barber argues that violence is mostly a last resort by those who are disempowered by the existing political order (2003). Hence, asserting the need for oppressed people only to pursue peaceful means may very well constitute tolerating their ongoing “oppression, dispossession, unrecognition, [and] indignity” (Baier, 1995, 213). This undermines Fanon’s critics, who appeal to deliberative ideals of peaceful resolution.

With this said, it is ironically in Fanon’s representation of victims of violence where the downfall of his argument can be located. In chapter five of The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon illustrates “the corrupting and debilitating effects of violence, whether reactionary or revolutionary, on both perpetrators and victims” post-decolonisation (Frazer and Hutchings, 2008, 10). This suggests that anti-colonial violence did not, in fact, cure subjects of pathologies induced by colonialism (Frazer and Hutchings, 2008, 10). Therefore, it calls into question the potential for anti-colonial violence to re-create the self in overthrowing colonial influence. It is this question that the next section will address.

The Inefficacy of Anti-colonial Violence: Recreating the Self

In order for Fanon’s instrumental justification of anti-colonial violence to be defensible, there must be reasonable certainty that the end it pursues is likely to be attained. For Arendt, “violent action is ruled by the means-end category”, and this action is only rational “to the extent that it is effective in reaching the end that must justify it” (1969, 4&79). Following this reasoning, this section argues that Fanon’s anti-colonial violence is indefensible because of the discrepancy between its intended outcome (a re-creation of the self) and its actual outcome (the inexorable co-constitution of the self by the (colonial) Other). That is to say, the self is inherently “co-dependent and co-constituted by others” (Martens, 2016, 70), and therefore one’s “self-portrait [inevitably] comes from the realm of the Other” (Doubrovsky, 1993, 37), even after the physical presence of the colonial Other is removed. “Physical absence is thus not sufficient to free one from constraint” (Mercken-Spaas, 1974, 58) because the Other still inhabits us in our memory (Kristeva, 2000, 66). For this reason, O’Loughlin describes the other as “a spectral and silent presence in my subjective experience of self” (2009, 100).

In turn, the oppressive encounter with the colonial Other which Fanon describes can be interpreted as an inescapable part of lived experience: it is the human predicament. As a result of the inevitability of the Other moulding the self, all subjects, including the colonised subject, cannot re-create their sense of self. Jefferson explains this in terms of the necessary interconnection between subjectivity (the content of selfhood) and intersubjectivity (2000, 40). As subjectivity is conceptualised in terms of sameness and difference, it is “inextricably bound up with the subject’s relation to the other” (Jefferson, 2000, 40). In fact, Jefferson even goes as far as to say that the totality of a subject’s experiences constitutes an experience of other subjects (Jefferson, 2000). Echoing DuBois’ point, as mentioned earlier, Jefferson argues that the subject is thus shaped by the image of themselves which they meet in the eyes of others (2000, 47). However, unlike DuBois, Jefferson argues that this is experienced universally by subjects (2000, 40), as opposed to being limited to the colonial context and its legacies.

This understanding of selfhood differs significantly from that of The Wretched of the Earth, which Sartre interprets as a self which is created in “the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us” (2000, 17). However, in seeking to eject the unified sense of self-imposed onto the colonised subject by colonisers, Fanon ends up replacing it with a new totalising mould. In the text, Fanon demonstrates what Tidd describes as a Derridean desire for self-totalisation: a production of narratives about the self that therapeutically allows individuals to comprehend their experiences (1999, 78). In the wake of the insecurity induced by the colonial domination, Fanon seeks ontological security for the colonised subject, which he acquires by essentialising the collective self of these colonised subjects. Indeed, ontological security can be secured through structures, narratives, and routines which manage dread (Croft and Vaughan-Williams, 2017, 20). Landy points out that such systematisation of experience sustains “the fantasy of an existence purged of all contingency” so that the subject may “live in harmony with itself” (2009, 198). However, these resources have a sacrificial logic, meaning they render a collective self by excluding the stereotypical other (Croft and Vaughan-Williams, 2017, 20). With this in mind, Fanon’s pursuit of ontological security can be read as an obsessive fixation with rejecting and disassociating from intersubjectivity with the colonial Other. Fanon vehemently refuses to recognise the role of the Other in defining the self post-decolonisation. Despite the comfort this provides, we should remember that we cannot abolish antagonistic confrontations between interiority and the exterior world (Mercken-Spaas, 1974, 61) and accept it as necessarily influencing the self.

Anti-colonial Violence and the Intensification of Gendered Violence

Furthermore, Fanon’s conceptualisation of the self is undeniably masculine. Due to this narrow lens, he can disregard the fact that his calls for militarisation will entail intensified gendered immanent and physical violence. Indeed, his text itself directly contributes to this gendered immanent violence. This is apparent in descriptions of the “native” who will re-create “himself”; for instance: “[w]hen the native is tortured, when his wife is killed or raped, he complains to no one” (Fanon, 2000, 92). Here, women are not the “natives” who will be engaging in anti-colonial violence and re-creating the self, for they are to play the role of the wife in this teleological tragedy, for which their deaths serve to make their male counterparts sympathetic. The allusion to women as collateral damage during anti-colonial violence is likewise present in Sartre’s preface: “[i]t will not be without fearful losses … they massacre women and children … This potential dead man has lost his wife and his children” (2000, 23). In both cases, women are only evoked to provide insight into the psychological suffering of the male protagonist, which the coloniser has inflicted.

As mentioned above, Hirst et al. argue that immanent violence has been committed when people are regarded as objects instead of active subjects in knowledge production (forthcoming 2023, 9). This essay argues that this occurs to women in The Wretched of the Earth. The objectification of women is most apparent in Sartre’s reference to women and children in conjunction. Enloe has usefully criticised this as a recurring tendency for both collective nouns to appear together as “womenandchildren” (1993, 166). This “serves discursively to associate women necessarily with children” and, in turn, to compare the former with the latter, who “are not fully mature”, are “not fully capable of rational thought”, and who are “in need of care and protection” (Shepherd, 2005, 395). Indeed, as the victims of both “massacre” and “rape”, it is clear that both Fanon and Sartre do not treat them as active subjects, neither in the text nor in real-life anti-colonial violence.

In the examples cited above, the coloniser has administered gendered physical violence. It is worth conceding that Fanon’s call for anti-colonial violence cannot be delegitimised based on the gendered physical violence committed by the colonial power alone. Indeed, Fanon himself insists that while the colonised subject accepts all the consequences for the violence they have pursued, they should not be held accountable for the actions of others (1963, 88). Yet, the coloniser is not the only actor who commits gendered immanent violence in Fanon’s text. For example, Fanon describes the colonised subject’s envy of all of the “possessions” of the coloniser, painting a picture of their fantasies of sitting at the coloniser’s table, sleeping in his bed, and “his wife if possible” (Ibid., 39). This is likewise an instance of objectifying women, as women are reduced to a man’s possession and are only of interest insofar as they are sex objects. Additionally, it appears that she is only desired insofar as she becomes a means of masculine vengeance through cuckoldry. In this way, the colonised male subject in Fanon’s text also commits gendered immanent violence.

Moreover, the militarisation called for by Fanon exacerbates gendered immanent violence. This is because militarism is generally informed by patriarchal values, which can “deepen the privileging of men as a group and masculinity as an idea” (Enloe, 2000, 144). This is especially the case as women are frequently pawns in military strategies. When military actors perceive women principally as breeders, as the property of men, and as the symbols of male honour (Enloe, 2000, 134), the military operations they devise often include targeted sexual violence towards women as a means to assault the male enemy’s masculinity (Roseneil, 1995). This demonstrates Shepherd’s point that “violences are sites at which gendered identities are reproduced” (2006, 390). In other instances, women are frequently victims of additional violence, such as the “lootpillageandrape” “litany” evoked by Enloe (2000, 134). Both cases involve gendered immanent violence as women’s perspectives are systematically disregarded and invalidated. They are not treated as legitimate active subjects: they are reduced to an object of pleasure or a tool to emasculate another subject. This objectification is compounded by the fact that the perpetrator is not always an enemy soldier; they may be a fellow citizen, “a neighbour-turned-wartime-rapist” (Enloe, 2000, 144&151). This is relevant to anti-colonial violence as militarisation and gendered sexual violence extensively co-occur despite the:

“Different cultures, different religions, different political ideologies, different foreign allies, different modes of warfare, different military-civilian relationships- but in each situation the rapes of women were by men who thought of themselves as soldiers”.

(Enloe, 2000, 134)

The psychological effect of this is much akin to that of the colonised subject described by Fanon: female victims of wartime sexual violence are “reduced in her own eyes to a nonperson” (Enloe, 2000, 130). However, unlike her male counterpart in The Wretched of the Earth, she is denied an active role in anti-colonial violence. She does not get an outlet for her built-up rage, and she cannot re-create her sense of self.

Conclusion

To conclude, this essay argues that the question of how “man re-creat[es] himself” can be reworded as how to rehabilitate the victims of immanent colonial violence so that they do not “become so preoccupied with earlier atrocities that the past swallows up the present and stymies the future[?]” (Enloe, 2000, 151). The solution proposed by Fanon for male colonised subjects is the cathartic release attained by anti-colonial violence. Furthermore, he optimistically asserts that this will pave the way for a better society, as it introduces the notion of a common cause and a national destiny in the consciousness of the mobilised masses (1963, 90). The fundamental shortcoming of Fanon’s argument is that his means of violence cannot justify the end of re-creating the self because of the inefficacy of the means. This essay has sought to illustrate the universal inability for self-re-creation in the sense of dispelling the influence of the Other more broadly and the colonial Other in particular. This is because subjectivity is inseparably bound to its relation with the Other and is therefore constituted by intersubjectivity (Jefferson, 2000, 40). This essay has also shown that rather than curing colonised subjects from their internalised inferiority inflicted by immanent violence, anti-colonial violence – and violence more broadly – heightens gendered immanent violence. In conclusion, this essay proposes that the answer to treating the harm caused by immanent violence may be in dismantling the racialised and gendered discourses that make this immanent violence possible. Future research is encouraged to critically engage with these discourses to destabilise the violence they commit.

Bibliography

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Baier, A. (1995). Moral prejudices: Essays on ethics. Harvard University Press.

Barber, R. B. (2003). The War of All against All. In: Verna V. Gehring (Ed.), War After September 11. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Croft, S, and Vaughan-Williams, N. (2017) ‘Fit for purpose? Fitting ontological security studies into the discipline of International Relations: Towards a vernacular turn’, Cooperation and Conflict, 52(1), 12—30.

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Du Bois, W. E. B. (1997). The Souls of Black Folk. In: Gates, H. L. Jr. and McKay, N. (Eds). The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, pp. 613–740.

Edward, S. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

Enloe, C. (1993). The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War. London: University of California Press.

Enloe, C. (2000). Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives. University of California Press. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kcl/detail.action?docID=2033424.

Fanon, F. (1963). Les Damnés de la terre. Paris: François Maspéro.

Fanon, F. (2000). The wretched of the earth. New York: Grove Press.

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Hutchings, K., Frazer, E. (2008). On politics and violence: Arendt contra Fanon. Contemporary Political Theory, 7(1), 90–108.

Jefferson, A. (2000). Nathalie Sarraute, Fiction and Theory: Questions of Difference. Cambridge University Press. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kcl/detail.action?docID=144766

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OECD suggest changes to retirement age in Poland

Poland should increase its retirement age

TVN24 | TVN24 News in English
27 lutego 2023, 

"Monetary and fiscal policy should be carefully balanced to support growth while avoiding high inflation expectations becoming entrenched," Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in its latest report. The organization also suggested Poland introduce various changes, including the retirement age.

"In this challenging environment, macroeconomic policy needs to strike a fine balance between supporting the economy while reducing inflation," the OECD said in a report devoted to Poland.

"Structural reforms aimed at paving the way for a successful green transition, reaping the benefits of digitalisation and strengthening public finances, will help Poland to continue lifting living standards," the report added.

The OECD also forecasts Poland's GDP growth "to recover to 2.4% in 2024, while inflation is projected to peak in early 2023 before falling to 3.5% by the end of 2024".

Furthermore, the OECD advised against continuing of the so-called credit vacations in Poland after 2023, and suggested it would be better to use the Borrowers Support Fund.

"For the immediate future, it is important to ensure that energy-related support to households and firms remains temporary and does not add to inflationary pressure," the OECD said.

OECD suggests changes in retirement age

According to the OECD, "carrying out a comprehensive spending review, improving spending efficiency and broadening the tax revenue base by eliminating some value-added tax exemptions and increasing taxes on real estate" could help to balance Poland's public finances.

"Extending working lives, including through gradually aligning male and female retirement ages, and increasing that age with healthy life expectancy gains, is also key," the OECD underscored.

Retirement age in Poland

The retirement age in Poland is different for women and men: 60 and 65 respectively.

In 2013, the then PO-PSL liberal government introduced a reform assuming the same retirement age for men and women - at 67. The retirement age for men was meant to increase gradually until 2020, while in the case of women - until 2040. The current right-wing PiS government reversed those changes in 2017.

‘This will have consequences’: South Africa divided over Russian naval drills

Russian war ships docked in South Africa for ten days of military drills over the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine have divided locals and raised fears South Africa could face the same diplomatic isolation as Belarus

The Russian military frigate Admiral Gorshkov in Richards Bay, South Africa during joint military drills that have created waves in South Africa (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry/AFP)

By Joe Walsh
February 27, 2023 

South Africa could face “consequences” from the international community after undertaking military drills with Russia over the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, opposition leaders in the country believe.

Russian warships have spent the past 10 days week in South African waters undergoing navy exercises including live ammunitions on targets in a naval exercise dubbed Mosi II.

But opposition leaders feared it signals a worrying embrace of Russia. The exercise also includes Chinese naval ships and more than 350 members of the South African armed forces.

“Troops and ammunition that get employed in war [having been used in these exercises]; that’s complicity,” Darren Bergman, Shadow Minister for International Relations and Cooperation and MP for the country’s official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), told i.

“If Belarus can be charged with complicity, why can’t South Africa?… I believe this will have consequences.”

The exercises, which include simulating liberating boats captured by pirates as well as the use of artillery fire, have left South Africa’s opposition fearing for where it leaves the country within the international community.

The DA has been vocal in its support of Ukraine and opposition to what it sees as the government moving closer to Russia and away from neutrality. Having previously raised concerns over South Africa’s refusal to condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine, the DA is now increasingly worried about what closer relations with the country could mean for its more economically important relations with the West.

“It will definitely have an impact when it comes to trade agreements and aid,” Mr Bergman said. “Any further exclusion from the international community is going to be hugely damaging [to South Africa’s struggling economy].”

The country was grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday, meaning companies, banks and individuals will now be subject to much stricter due diligence tests when doing any type of business or financial transaction internationally.

Activists holds posters during a protest outside the Russian Consulate in Cape Town against the scheduled navy drills (Photo: Esa Alexander/Reuters)

And it’s not just the official opposition that is concerned about South Africa’s closer ties with Russia. Civil society groups in Cape Town have also protested the navy exercises and hosting of Russian warships.

“We are concerned mainly that the South Africa government has welcomed Russian military aggression into the previously peaceful waters of the Southern Ocean,” said in a statement issued jointly by The Green Connection, Extinction Rebellion Cape Town, Kai Tikquoa Conservancy and the Ukrainian Association of South Africa.

“This not only sends a signal of South African alignment with the aggressor that violates the UN Charter, but also creates a risk for further confrontation between South Africa and its other trading partners.”

A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) told i that “the UK is disappointed with South Africa’s decision to hold a military exercise with Russia coinciding with the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine”.

The US response has seen a resolution drafted by several members of the House of Representatives opposing South Africa’s hosting of military exercises with Russia and calling on the Biden administration to conduct a thorough review of the US-South Africa relationship. Though the resolution is highly unlikely to pass, it suggests a growing view in Washington about South Africa’s relationship with Russia.

Dr Leaza Jernberg, an independent analyst and African foreign policy expert, argued that not everyone in South Africa is unhappy with the arrival of Russian warships, telling i how former President Zuma’s major foreign policy achievement was joining the BRICS grouping which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

There is a “more pro-Russian side around Zuma [and that] his supporters are still in positions of power,” she said

.

A protester holds a slogan in front of a Ukraine’s flag during a demonstration at Umhlanga beach in Durban (Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/AFP)

Although not in any official position of power, Mr Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has been described as the country’s Ivanka Trump and has consistently reaffirmed her support for Russia to her 200k+ followers on Twitter.

Meanwhile Julius Malema, the leader of the country’s third-largest party the EFF, marked its 10-year anniversary by accusing Nato of being the prime aggressor in the conflict by encroaching on the security of Russia, adding “we must, as the left, condemn and expose Nato”.

Early reports suggested the Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov would test out its Zircon hypersonic missile weapon, as part of the drills. However a joint statement by Russia and South Africa confirmed that hypersonic missiles would not be fired from Russian vessels during the exercises.

Although it is only South Africa, Russia and Chinese ships that are involved in the exercise, fellow BRICS partner Brazil is also present, with representatives from its naval forces there in an observer capacity.

Yet, despite this military co-operation amongst the BRICS nations, it has yet to become firm diplomatic support for the Russian war in Ukraine as a UN vote to demand the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the country was not opposed by any other BRICS country.

South Africa, China and India all abstained on the vote, while Brazil supported the motion. In total 141 voted in favour, with 32 abstentions and only Eritrea, Mali, Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria voted with Russia against the motion.

The UK and the West is increasingly aware of Russia’s influence in Africa and is looking to counter it. The FCDO spokesperson added: “We are working closely with the UN and partners across Africa to protect the UN charter and end Russia’s invasion. As well as causing devastating loss of life and human rights abuses, this conflict is driving up the cost of food, fertiliser and energy, deepening the hardship of millions across the world.”

France football mutiny as three stars quit national women's team

Fri, February 24, 2023 


The French women's football team was reeling Friday as three of its top stars decided to quit with iconic captain Wendie Renard claiming the current set-up was detrimental to her mental health.

Within an hour of the 32-year-old Lyon centre-back's announcement, Paris Saint-Germain pair Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto also announced they no longer wished to play for France.

"It's sad but it's the only way to protect my mental health," said the 142-times capped Renard, five months ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.

"I won't be going to the World Cup under these conditions. My face may mask the pain but my heart is suffering."

Star striker Diani, 27, who leads the scoring charts in the French league, said she was also severing her links with the national team.

"Following our captain's announcement, I'm suspending my engagement with the national team. If profound changes are introduced I'll be back," said Diani.

Katoto, 23, was equally blunt.

"I am no longer in line with the management of the France team nor the values it promotes," she said.

The French federation said it would study the matter next week.

"No individual is above the institution which is the French team," the FFF said in a statement.

"We acknowledge their decision and our executive commission will study the matter on February 28."

France is coached by 47-year-old Corinne Diacre who took over the team in 2017 and is under contract until 2024.

Although Diacre and the FFF were not blamed directly by the players for their decisions to quit, the coach is known for an abrasive style and has sidelined stars in the past.

Renard herself was stripped of the French captaincy when Diacre was appointed, only getting the armband back four years later.

Diacre's decision to recall Kheira Hamraoui, who has a cool relationship with Katoto and Diani, is unlikely to have helped ease the crisis.

Hamraoui was the victim of an orchestrated and brutal attack in November 2021.

Fellow French international Aminata Diallo was charged with aggravated violence and criminal association for her role in the ambush on Hamraoui.

Diallo, who has denied any involvement, spent five days in jail after her indictment and has been under judicial supervision since her release in September. In January she was permitted to sign for Spanish side Levante.

France have yet to win a major international tournament and have recently lost to both Germany and Sweden.

French football has been plagued by controversy recently with Noel Le Graet, the president of the country's football federation (FFF) suspended since January.

The 81-year-old has been under pressure since he made dismissive remarks in a radio interview about France legend Zinedine Zidane's potential interest in coaching the national team.

A report commissioned by the sports ministry also focused on allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" towards women.


French women's football team boss Diacre under pressure after player revolt

Issued on: 27/02/2023 - 

French football's most senior administrators are expected on Tuesday to decide whether to back the women's team coach Corinne Diacre in the face of a player revolt led by the former team skipper Wendie Renard.

Renard, who has featured 142 times for France, announced her retirement from the national squad on Friday.

The 32-year-old said she needed to withdraw from the international set up to maintain her mental health.

In the wake of the shock announcement, two more players Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto also said they wanted to quit the squad.

Bosses at the Fédération française de football (FFF) -– which runs the national teams – acknowledged the moves in a statement which ostensibly supported Diacre and her staff.

"The FFF would like to recall that no individuality is above the institution of the French team," a statement said.

"The FFF has taken note of the statements of Wendie Renard, Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto."

Open secret

Their departure five months before the women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is likely to underline the lax approach of FFF executives to an issue that has been an open secret for several years.

Diacre's fate will be discussed during a meeting of the FFF's executive committee – known as the Comex – which will also wrangle over the future of the president Noël Le Graët.

The 81-year-old has been under pressure since a radio interview last month in which he adopted a condescending tone towards the former France international Zinedine Zidane.

Though Le Graët apologised, the gaffe unleashed a flood of questions over his suitability for such a prestigious post. He stepped aside while a government audit into the FFF was completed.
Toxic culture

That report documented a toxic management culture at the FFF in which employees were ritually humiliated in open meetings and senior executives traded often sexist invectives. The decisions taken during Le Graët's terms as president also came under scrutiny.

Diacre rose to prominence in 2014 when she was chosen to lead the second division outfit Clermont Foot 63. She took the club to mid table in her first season and stayed until was appointed boss of the France team in 2017.

The side's 2019 World Cup campaign ended in the last eight where they were beaten by the eventual champions the United States.

But soon after the tournament, reports emerged of problems with star striker Eugénie Le Sommer as well as Renard. Goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi announced her retirement in 2020 citing problems with the team's management.

After reaching the last four at the European champions in July 2022, Diacre's contract was extended until August 2024 to take in the World Cup as well as the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

For all the apparent strife, the women's team has performed better under Diacre than the seven previous coaches.

Germany: Strikes at Cologne, Düsseldorf airports

DW
22 hours ago

Hundreds of flights were canceled, affecting about 15,000 passengers. Strikes and protests have hit a number of European countries in recent months as the cost of living rises.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at Germany's Cologne-Bonn and Düsseldorf airports on Monday during a strike organized by the Verdi union.

A majority of flights at the Cologne-Bonn airport were canceled, with only two out of 136 flights taking place.

If not for the cancellations, Cologne-Bonn expected around 15,000 passengers on Monday. It is the second-largest airport in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous region, after Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf airport said only 89 flights out of 330 flights were taking place. Twenty nine were diverted to other airports and seven were rescheduled for the next day.

Why is there a strike?

Strikes and protests over a rise in the cost of living have hit a number of European countries, including France, Britain and Spain, in recent months.

"If the employers continue to be obstructionist and do not present us with results, then the reaction of the employees here is clear," a Verdi spokesperson said at the Cologne-Bonn airport.

Verdi announced the strike on Friday. The union said collective bargain efforts had failed to come closer to an agreement.

The airports were largely empty because passengers had been informed of the strike in advance and were able to change plans.

A Verdi-led industrial action also led to flight cancellations at several major airports, including Frankfurt and Munich, earlier this month.

Cities in the western state of North Rhine Westphalia, including Cologne and Bonn, were also affected by public service worker strikes on Monday.

Verdi said that an agreement with the federal government and local authorities was a long way off.

sdi/ar (Reuters, dpa)

Indigenous Maple Syrup Makers Tap Into Tradition

This sweet revolution reclaims an ancient craft.

BY COURTNEY EDGAR

ATLAS OBSCURA

FEBRUARY 27, 2023


Isaac Day and Deborah Aaron, owners of Giizhigat Maple Products, at the 2020 Planet IndigenUs event in Toronto. 

JAENE CASTRILLON/COURTESY OF GIIZHIGAT MAPLE PRODUCTS

UPON CUTTING DOWN A TREE in Canada one spring, the first European known to have tasted maple sap, Jacques Cartier, found a delicious elixir. There “gushed out from it a juice, which was found to taste as good and as delicious, as the fine wine of Orleans or Beaune,” reads a 1557 account of the event.

But centuries before the first European settler arrived in North America, Indigenous communities in Eastern Canada were harvesting sap from maple trees of the region, boiling the raw bounty, and turning it into sugar water, syrup, and maple sugar. Haudenosaunee traditional knowledge includes descriptions of cutting maple trees to access “sweet water,” and many Anishinaabe communities have sugaring-off traditions when they collect sap. Many used maple products not only for their delicious flavor, but also as medicine and even as a way to help preserve foods.

As of 2020, there were over 5,300 producers of maple syrup across the country, accounting for nearly 47 million tree taps nationwide. After all, Canada produces over 75% of the world’s maple syrup, most of which is harvested in Quebec. But there are only a handful of Indigenous-owned maple syrup companies across Canada, and even fewer Indigenous-owned sugar shacks.

There’s a quest for historical quaintness behind every aspect of maple syrup production, from the anachronistic glass bottles to the rustic charm of the sugar shacks. But what this popular imagery doesn’t capture is the Indigenous origin of maple syrup itself.

This print from 1883 depicts a First Nations group making maple sugar. 

WILLIAM DE LA MONTAGNE CARY/LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES, CANADA

While only a small proportion of maple syrup producers in Canada are Indigenous, those who currently own their own maple farms and processing plants are proudly reclaiming their heritage. Many apply traditional methods and the teachings of elders to their work in an effort to keep that history alive.

When Europeans settled in Ontario in the 17th and 18th centuries, they cleared vast swaths of forest from the land, including the sacred maples and sugar maples, known for the sweetest saps. Research shows that during this era, Indigenous peoples lost much of their ability to harvest maple syrup. Then, the forced resettlements of the Indian Act of 1876 caused the disappearance of traditional maple ceremonies and festivals.

By then, settlers had learned the traditional processes and eventually industrialized maple syrup production. More recently, though, there has been an attempt at reconciliation through collaboration, and an effort to recognize maple syrup as an Indigenous creation. In the past, Sand Road Maple Farm in Moose Creek, Ontario has invited Ojibwe, Métis Cree, and Algonquin knowledge-keepers to lead smudging ceremonies and prayer at the start of their season.

A traditional ceremony marking the opening of the Kinsmen Fanshawe Sugar Bush in Ontario, Canada. MARK SPOWART/ALAMY

But Indigenous-owned companies themselves are now making headway in the industry. Giizhigat (Gee-jah-gut) is located in Richard’s Landing, Ontario. Its Indigenous owners, Deborah Aaron, a member of Six Nations of the Grand River reserve, and Isaac Day, an elder and healer from Serpent River First Nation, use traditional teachings in their syrup-making approach. They bought their equipment in 2012 and completed their first maple syrup run in 2015.

Another Indigenous maple syrup producer, Kleekhoot Gold Bigleaf Syrup, is located on the West Coast’s Vancouver Island, in a region known as the Alberni Valley. Kleekhoot is run by members of the Hupacasath First Nation. The owners use Bigleaf maple trees, a tree unique to the West Coast of British Columbia, to produce their golden syrups. This tree creates syrups with caramel and vanilla notes.

Often, these companies combine tradition with contemporary technique. Wabanaki Maple, located in Tobique (or Neqotkuk First Nation) is not technically a maple-syrup producer. Instead, Wabanaki flavors and barrel-ages syrups, for unique aroma profiles such as rum, oak, whisky, and bourbon. Jolene Johnson, owner of Wabanaki, is Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and from Tobique. When she started her business in 2018, she was the first Indigenous woman working in the industry in the Atlantic provinces.

Travis Jones, a community member, tends the fire in the evaporator and boils the sap to make Ziibaakdakaan Maple Syrup. 

COURTESY OF CAPE CROKER PARK

“I’m not aware of any other Indigenous female-led maple syrup companies in Canada at this time,” Johnson says. “But when I first embarked on my journey in 2018, I realized that there were very few Indigenous businesses in the maple syrup industry.”

In Maliseet culture, maple syrup would be heated during the preparation process to ensure stability and a long shelf life, Johnson says. “This was a practice done for many years in our culture, so supply could be kept throughout the long harsh winters in our territories,” Johnson explains. “The maple syrup would have been boiled down so that it was hard like maple candy, and then it could be stored more easily and broken down to use as maple sugar.” Wabanaki still uses this technique.

According to Johnson, maple syrup production within her own Maliseet culture was historically centered around the women—that each matriarch or head of the family would manage her own sugar grove, but it was still very much a community effort.“The responsibilities of the women would include things such as making hundreds of birch bark baskets to hang on the maple tree, so it could be gathered once the sap is flowing,” Johnson says. “They would also maintain the fires so the sap could be boiled down to syrup, candy or bricks.”

She can’t say what roles the men would have played in the process, but assumes that they would have helped too. “Perhaps gathering and providing the firewood or carving holes into the maple trees to allow for the sap to flow,” ” Johnson says. “These are only my thoughts, since much of the history of Indigenous people and maple syrup was not necessarily documented, but rather passed on through stories from generation to generation.”

Isaac Day of Giizhigat, freeing maple lines that had been knocked down from fallen trees and covered in snow. COURTESY OF GIIZHIGAT MAPLE PRODUCTS

For Johnson, working with maple is a community endeavor, as well as a family endeavor. “In fact, I was first introduced to maple syrup through my sister and her husband who have been collecting maple syrup as a hobby, and passed on a lot of teachings and knowledge to me,” Johnson says.

Besides creating unique maple syrups, Wabanaki also celebrates Indigenous culture through its Bareroots Initiative. This gift box project seeks to help support the environment and reforestation. “It is curated with products from other amazing Indigenous businesses across Turtle Island,” Johnson says, referring to the name for North America used by many First Nations peoples.

While there may not be many Indigenous-led maple syrup companies in Canada today, the ones who do this work should be celebrated, as they uphold their traditional values, advocate for the environment, and empower Indigenous youth to follow in their footsteps to reclaim their history. “As a 100-percent female, Indigenous-owned company, we care and are passionate about sharing our culture,” Johnson says. Making maple syrup, she says, is how she’s chosen “to help support and give back to our communities, and the next seven generations.”

VERBAL CLASH IN THE PEACE MOVEMENT

Germany: Left Party, Wagenknecht clash after 'peace' rally

Mark Hallam
02/27/2023February 27, 2023

After a contentious "peace rally" in Berlin that critics said was a platform for Russian propaganda, the socialist Left Party and prominent member Sahra Wagenknecht, who arranged the demo, continued to trade blows.

Leaders of Germany's socialist Left Party, die Linke, and prominent member Sahra Wagenknecht continued trading jabs on Sunday after the large and contentious "peace rally" organized by Wagenknecht in Berlin on Saturday.

There was also a debate over turnout, with Wagenknecht and her supporters claiming that 50,000 people had attended, wildly exceeding police estimates, which were closer to 13,000.

Wagenknecht and a prominent German feminist publicist, Alice Schwarzer, had organized the rally, which was to show support for the Ukraine "peace manifesto" they had published a week earlier calling for a stop to military exports to Ukraine and calling for negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow. About 670,000 people had signed by Sunday.

Germany's government and mainstream parties had roundly criticized the action and the manifesto, calling the event a stage for Russian propaganda and the peace proposal "a chimera, ... a misleading of the population," as Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck put it.

 

The event was largely peaceful and most placards and messages were relatively banal, though some contentious slogans and symbols were also on show

Image: Monika Skolimowska/dpa/picture alliance

Linke co-chair says 'our fears were confirmed'

But Wagenknecht also faced criticism from her own party, before and after the event. Leading members had warned that the rally would attract far-right factions of Germany's society. Observers noted many isolated cases of pro-Russian or right-wing symbols among the participants.

Germany's populist right-wing AfD was vocal in its support for the event while also noting the participation of its members.

Wagenknecht did say on stage, however, that extreme-right demonstrators had "no business" at the cross-party rally, claiming she thought "that went without saying."

"Our fears were confirmed," Die Linke's vice chairperson Katina Schubert told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, in comments to be published in Monday's edition. Schubert used German political jargon for leftist factions in inter-war Weimar Germany collaborating with conservative revolutionaries, "querfront" or "cross-front," and said: "Whoever starts a call appealing to the cross-front, reaps the cross-front."

Schubert said that "the confusion of victim and perpetrator was a recurring theme in the speeches, so far as I followed them."

Speakers at the rally on Saturday included Wagenknecht, Schwarzer, a US-based professor best known for spreading theories about COVID mirroring Chinese disinformation in recent years, Jeffrey Sachs, and a retired Bundeswehr officer turned private sector consultant, Erich Vad. All argued for negotiations with Russia, some were highly critical of NATO and the German government.

"Comparisons of [Foreign Minister Annalena] Baerbock with Hitler, as could be seen among participants in the crowd, were not refuted at the stage. In my eyes, that's a horrendous relativization of fascism," Schubert said.

The opposition party Die Linke, known as the successor to former East Germany's socialist ruling party, does hold a position comparable to Wagenknecht's on Ukraine: that Berlin should engage more for negotiations and less for weapons exports.

However, the party has often sought to distance itself from its outspoken former leader's comments on the war.

Wagenknecht and the party leadership have also been on a broader collision course over an array of issues like migration and how to contain COVID for several years.
Wagnknecht's rally was deemed as a response to demonstrations around Berlin in solidarity with Ukraine one day earlier (pictured here), on the anniversary of Russia's invasionImage: Jochen Eckel/IMAGO
Wagenknecht calls criticism 'embarrassing'

Meanwhile, Wagenkencht told German public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday that she had found the criticism from her party allies unwarranted.

"First of all, I don't think it will do the peace movement any harm if, finally, there is a really big peace demonstration," she said, asked about criticisms that her rally would harm hopes for peace in the long run.

"And the debate, that was in part put forward by the leadership of Die Linke, I must say I simply found that embarrassing. Effectively, they were taking part in the intimidation being exerted upon the people participating," Wagenknecht said, again implying efforts to spoil her rally.

On Saturday, Schwarzer and Wagenknecht had repeatedly touched on the idea of there having been a "hysterical" overreaction to their peace manifesto in the media and political debate. Both had sought to foster the idea of a "citizens' movement" that the mainstream was trying to silence.

In one sense, at least, Schwarzer and Wagenknecht were proven right, as their demo dominated comment pages around the country on Monday. Multiple newspapers weighed in.

"Wagenknecht and Schwarzer really must ask themselves if Saturday's demonstration could stand up to the allegation of confusing victim and perpetrator. And they should ask themselves, whether they are turning themselves into involuntary supporters of Putin," one paper, the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, wrote.

Edited by: Rina Goldenberg

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Pre-Inca graves discovered in Peru



Suzanne Cords

DW
15 hours ago

Not much is known about the Chancay people, who preceded the powerful Inca. The discovery of 30 graves could provide more insight into their culture.

"The graves we're finding in these excavations belong to the year A.D. 1000 up to 1440," Pieter Van Dalen, an archaeologist at the National University of San Marcos in Lima, told the press agency Reuters.

The burial sites date back to the heyday of the Chancay people, who once inhabited the fertile valleys near the coast. Their name stems from the Chancay Valley which is the main region which they once had inhabited.

Little is known about this pre-Inca culture, and researchers hope to learn more from the burial sites, specifically from the tombs belonging to the elite that were found at up to 5 meters (16.5 feet) below the ground. According to the team's initial findings, they are very lavishly designed. The deceased were wrapped in textiles alongside ornately decorated vessels of various sizes.

The graves unearthed belong to people from different social classes, Van Dalen said.

This skeleton was discovered during the construction of a gas pipeline

Image: Klebher Vasquez/AA/picture alliance

Skilled craftspeople

So far, the findings are consistent with what archaeologists already knew about the Chancay, who were noted as talented craftspeople. Thousands of their textiles have survived to this day, meaning that they must have produced them on a large scale.

HUMANS MANUFACTURE SINCE PREHISTORIC TIMES SUCH AS WITH USE OF OCHRE

The fabrics are exquisitely crafted and dyed in shades of yellow and brown, as well as scarlet, lavender blue and olive green. Popular motifs were birds and a deity with a crescent-shaped headdress.

Textiles like this one demonstrate the art of the Chancay people

Liszt Collection/picture alliance

The ceramics are also a testimony to the Chancay's artistic talent. Works are often black and white and feature geometric or highly simplified animal and human motifs. Large clay dolls, which often represented the female sex, were also commonly produced.

A terracotta double vase from the Chancay culture

World History Archive/picture alliance

For all their craftsmanship, however, the Chancay were apparently not great warriors. Historians assume that at the beginning of the 15th century, the Chimu conquered their territories to the south and that later the Inca finally subjugated them around 1450.
Hoping for new insights

About 2,000 graves have already been discovered in the region in recent years, so archaeologists are hopeful that the 30 graves found roughly 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of Peru's capital, Lima, will provide new insights into the social and political structures of the Chancay civilization.

But, first, the remains will be meticulously cleaned and carefully stored. Perhaps then they will be able to reveal some secrets from the vanished world of Chancay.

This article was originally written in German.

WE THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER NOTICE

Are Korean TV dramas shifting from tales of love to revenge?

Julian Ryall
DW


A previous generation of programs saw the heartthrob lead overcoming obstacles to win the heroine's heart, but that plotline is being replaced with tales of vengeance.

South Korea's drama series are attracting legions of viewing fans around the world, although one media critic has warned that the industry is shifting away from the popular romance tales of the past and instead embracing plotlines focused on revenge.

In a column published in The Korea Herald on February 8, long-time contributor Kim Seong-kon said "Hallyu," or the Korean Wave of popular culture, grew out of the popularity of television dramas such as the romance "Winter Sonata" or "Dae Jang Geum."

"In those series, young people love each other despite ordeals and obstacles, or strive to accomplish noble goals of becoming the best in their fields of expertise," Kim wrote. "Such dramas portrayed South Korea as a romantic and historic place foreigners wanted to visit."

In recent years, however, "things have radically changed," he said

.
In search of revenge

In today's television offerings — such as "The Glory," "Eve" or "Revenge of Others" — "the protagonist, who is obsessed with vengeance, devotes his or her life to get revenge on someone for misdeeds they inflicted in the past," he said

In some stories, revenge is meted out to school bullies or rich and powerful businessmen.

"One of the unacknowledged problems with such revenge dramas is that they unwittingly depict South Korea as a land of resentment and vendettas," Kim suggested.

"Without intending to, they also make Korea out to be a society run rampant with school bullying.

"Such publicity might make South Korea a less attractive place for foreigners."

Kim said the sudden emergence of revenge dramas could be the result of increased numbers of people believing they have been "the victims of social injustice," a sentiment that has been encouraged by "left-wing politicians" who have "exploited the situation by pouring fuel on popular enmity towards the rich and the privileged."

Others with their fingers on the pulse of South Korean youth culture are less convinced of any connection.

"I am unsure if there is a notable increase in the number of revenge plotlines," said Jungmin Kwon, an associate professor at Portland State University in Oregon who specializes in East Asian popular culture.

"It is true that Korean citizens are very sensitive to matters related to social injustice, the gap between the haves and have-nots, and economic inequality," she told DW.

"However, this is not a new occurrence, although sensitivity may have increased recently."

Korean television has always enjoyed revenge dramas, she said, and it would be difficult to link these shows to "political predisposition."

More importantly, she said, there are no reasons for television companies to make programs that, "may agitate less privileged viewers against the wealthy in consideration of the current political leadership."

Diverse narratives, characters

Yet, she agrees that K-dramas have seen a shift to more diverse narratives and characters.

"TV shows used to be concentrated on family melodramas, trendy romances, or historical dramas," Kwon said. "Now, with the advance of media technologies, we are living in an age in which multi-platforms and multi channels are competing to grab eyeballs.

"Traditional TV networks have been losing their foothold, and the younger generations are migrating to streaming services and mobile devices to consume media content."

Fierce competition has forced content providers to look for new materials, angles and a variety of characters, especially if they want to appeal to the all-important youth segment of the viewing public.

"Genres such as noir, mystery, crime, fantasy and action, which used to be less employed in the TV industry, are on the rise," she said. "And in terms of characters, we do see more and more TV shows with female leads, senior leads and queer characters, albeit mostly in supporting roles."

David Tizzard, an assistant professor of education at Seoul Women's University and a columnist for a Korean daily focusing on social affairs, says K-dramas were "a new cultural phenomenon" that emerged from the radio serials of the nation's difficult days in the 1950s and 1960s.

"These weekly episodes were generally focused on love triangles and featured urban people exploring modernization," he said. "They were fantasy depictions of life written by the country's elite to provide a sense of release from the reality of poverty the population experienced.

"As color television became a staple, Korean dramas became the same thing. They focused on love triangles and often showed a depiction of life more glamorous than society was actually living through," he added. "They were successful because of the star power of the actors and the nature of the story lines."

Popular across Asia

They resonated in Asia for the same reason. There was also appeal in "a romanticized version of a simpler, more conservative life," Tizzard said.

"If people watch dramas today, however, I'm pretty sure they might immediately think Korea is a place of horrific bullying, violence, suicide and death," he said. "Those concepts seem to resonate and be very popular in the West. It's a way of making them more accessible to a larger audience beyond the female viewers who primarily engage with the high-teen and romance concepts."

But he dismisses the suggestion in Kim's column that a character in a television program who successfully avenges him or herself on a rival might be mimicked by an individual in real life.

"That's a trope as old as time," he emphasized. "That rock and roll is the devil's music. That playing computer games will turn you violent. I don't believe these dramas will affect large numbers in society and turn them into vigilantes.

"There will always be isolated incidents and they should, of course, be treated seriously — but I don't believe these programs will create a rise in people seeking revenge against others."

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

Book Review: China and Latin America by Christopher Alden and Álvaro Méndez

In China and Latin America, Christopher Alden and Álvaro Méndez explore the evolving connections between China and Latin America. As the significance of China to Latin America becomes increasingly apparent, this book offers comprehensive reflection on the current political context and the historical dynamics of the relationship, writes Cheng Yeung Yang.

China and Latin America: Development, Agency and Geopolitics. Christopher Alden and Álvaro Méndez. Bloomsbury. 2023.


From China’s economic reliance on Latin American silver to ‘La Trata Amarilla’, cooperation between the two regions was primarily based on the exchange of commercial, agricultural and mining goods. Chinese immigrants sought employment in the construction of canals and railways, sugar plantations, guano and saltpetre mines and other industries in the latter half of the 19th century. Chinese immigrants of the 19th century settled in cities such as Lima, Tijuana, Panama City and Havana, where they established modest businesses that flourished as the community evolved over the subsequent decades, thus establishing the first close approaches between China and Latin America.

China and Latin America: Development, Agency and Geopolitics, authored by Christopher Alden and Álvaro Méndez, navigates a historical narrative of the relations between China and the Latin American region from their inception to the present. The book describes the great complexities that both regions have had to overcome, as well as how their relationship and social, economic and political dynamics have shaped what we can now observe as a rapidly expanding Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that when considering Sino-Latin American relations, it is crucial to situate the US. The relationships between Latin America, China and the US are characterised by very complex dynamics.



China’s geopolitical relationship with Latin America was negligible for decades. China and Latin America first engaged politically in the 1960s during the Cold War’s ideological conflict. As the Cold War divided the communist East from the capitalist West, this led to a succession of military regimes that supported US interests while China focused on its domestic and regional issues. As democracy spread across Latin America in the late 20th century, so did the US’s pragmatic approach to China. Resources and trading drove China’s entry into the Latin American market.

Upon the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party promoted relations with Latin America based on an anti-imperialist cultural and ideological rapprochement. In 1960, under Fidel Castro, Cuba was the first country in the region to recognise the People’s Republic of China. Therefore, China was able to envision a minor shift in its regional projection, shifting from cultural exchanges and partisan diplomacy to a strengthening of progressive political partnerships.

However, in the next few years, political relations were minimal during Mao Zedong’s government. Later, in 1978, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China launched a reform programme based on the adoption of socialist market principles, which consisted primarily of two components: internal adjustment and foreign opening. As a result of this ‘new socialist market economy’, China’s society witnessed tremendous internal upheaval. China restored diplomatic links with several Latin American states through its open foreign policy. A new horizon of diplomatic ties was created and developed into what Alden and Méndez allow us to observe in the book as one of the most fast-growing dynamics in contemporary politics.

In the third chapter, the cases of Chile, Peru and Argentina are presented. Chile’s relationship with China has been influenced more than any other Pacific coast state in Latin America by the broader framework of Asia-Pacific trade agreements and associated activities. Regarding Peru, by reaching out to Beijing and enshrining an economic link through mechanisms such as the 2009 Peru-China Trade Agreement, this has brought a wave of Foreign Direct Investments to Peru’s shores, expanded market opportunities in both countries and sparked a new cycle of commodity-driven prosperity.

In the case of Argentina, the political theatre of changing leadership and political parties has obscured the continuity that has served to preserve the partnership. Opportunities abound, from middle-class consumers to strategic resources, and politicians such as former President Mauricio Macri and the Kirchner dynasty have recognised the benefits of Chinese investment and loans in resources, infrastructure and e-commerce. Chinese confidence in Argentina’s long-term prospects — echoed to varying degrees in other regions — indicates a willingness to ground bilateral ties in elite and commercial relationships.

Subsequently, we are introduced to the Bolivarian republics of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. The Bolivarian nations, determined to overcome their historical reliance on the US, discovered in China a willing, if wary, partner. China’s development of financial and technological resources in petroleum, building and other sectors was used specifically to recoup losses and develop long-term growth potential in these industries. The continuous increase in commodity prices allowed these governments to seek rents from export tax income and transfer them to economic and social programmes aimed at traditionally underserved communities. Beijing’s avowed commitment to non-interference in internal matters ensured that strengthening economic cooperation would not result in the interventionism that accompanies US dependency.

In the fifth chapter, the authors examine the case of Brazil. The country with the largest economy and population in Latin America has natural resources, a thriving agro-industry, technical prowess in key industries and a large market that has attracted Chinese companies and financial resources. The Brazilian-Chinese partnership is the most economically robust, technologically focused and internationally significant in Latin America. Beijing established a partnership that reflects many of the economic complementarities that have contributed to the growth of both nations. There has been an international push to institutionalise cooperation via the China-Brazil High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee (COSBAN) and other mechanisms, such as the China-Brazil Fund for Expansion of Production Capacity and the BRICS alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This has demonstrated how these opportunities could be translated into concrete initiatives at both state-to-state and private investment levels, expanding cooperation into new industries beyond natural resources.

Different from the above cases, Mexico’s relationship with China shows Beijing’s struggles to translate economic power into tangible results. Mexico’s attitude toward the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the main reason Chinese companies have had trouble entering sectors of the Mexican economy like railway infrastructure and energy. Chinese competition is seen as a major threat to Mexico’s economic standing in the US, which explains its lukewarm response to China’s overtures. Since 2017, Mexico’s policy toward China changed due to President Donald Trump prompting deteriorating diplomatic relations with the US, the US-China trade war and the late realisation that the country needs to reach out to new markets, sources of investment and technological innovation to prosper.

From the perspective of most governments in Latin America and the Caribbean, prospective Chinese development finance, access to its market and the arrival of its tourists were seen to be a net gain for their economies. The subsequent dismantling of diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in Latin America, which had served as a de facto bulwark of US interests, coupled with the escalating surge in Chinese finance in other countries in the area, was enough to warrant a hard look at its impact on US strategic interests.

As portrayed by Alden and Méndez, the importance of China in Latin America and the Caribbean is becoming increasingly tangible and obvious to politicians, academics, businesses and Latin American civil society. In less than seven decades after its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has become one of the continent’s major economic and political actors.

This book offers a comprehensive reflection not only on the current political context but also leads us through the background history that has shaped the present-day dynamics. Undoubtedly, China and Latin America will be an enjoyable read for students, professionals and the general public with an interest in the complex contemporary political issues presented in Alden and Méndez’s study.

This review first appeared at LSE Review of Books.

Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USAPP – American Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.

 
About the author

Cheng Yeung Yang is a graduate student in the School of Politics and International Relations at East China Normal University and assistant researcher at the Project of Recovery of the Historical Memory of Chinese Immigrants in Costa Rica for the Latin (and Hispanic) Americanist Academic Network on Sinological Studies at the University of Costa Rica.