The president of France, Francois Hollande, today visited the city of Timbuktu in the African nation of Mali. Timbuktu, in the north of this country, had been living a nightmare for many months under the rule of Taliban-style jihadi militants for many months. The ordeal ended (for now, at least?) thanks to a combined effort of French and Malian armed forces.Hollande was greeted at liberator. People of Timbuktu were beside themselves to see the man who had helped free them from the ordeal of life under the Islamists. This is amazing, considering that Mali was a French colony as recently as 1960.
I have a word of criticism here for many in the Western world who automatically condemn any intervention by foreign powers in the third world, using terms such as “neocolonialism”. (For a few examples, look at the comment section at the website of Spanish newspaper El Pais, source of the picture above). Hollande is called all kinds of names, form “colonial warrior” to “Napoleon”, as some commentators deny Hollande’s grateful reception altogether. I have brought up earlier that when it comes to science denialism, the political Right is a lot worse than the Left and there is no question about that. However, I feel deeply troubled by those who have the luxuary of not living in the third world, who would not like living under Islamist rule one bit, and yet not wanting to see the people of Mali freed from Islamist tyranny, because they are not bothered as much by citizens of the third world having to live under Islamists as they are by the picture of a European leader greeted by cheerful Africans. That is not just hypocritical, it is racist.
