Stop French neocolonialism: an international call from Azerbaijan Baku hosts people suffering brutal French colonialism

Discussions around the still prevalent French colonialism in various corners of the world have been at the epicenter of an international congress in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.

The event, titled “Neocolonialism: Human Rights Violations and Injustice”, was organized on October 20 by the Baku Initiative Group, a special platform dedicated to exposing the existing elements of France’s colonial policy.

Dozens, including the representatives of the countries and territories facing the modern twist of French colonialism and human rights violations, i.e., neocolonial aspirations of France inherited from its bloody imperial legacy in Africa, as well as Pacific and Oceanian territories – Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Mali, as well as Corsica, New Caledonia, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and France and the United Kingdom, attended the congress.

Baku’s host status was not spontaneous, at all. Human rights have been brutally violated for three decades in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Armenia kept 20 per cent of the country’s sovereign territory and displaced more than 700,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis from those lands, subsequently denying their right to return. They lost their permanent residences, jobs, farms, businesses, most tragically, their basic humanitarian privileges in the wake of the occupation. Lack of food and medicine in open-air tent settlements or obsolete train coaches accommodating them was common in the early years of their forcible displacement until the government of Azerbaijan mobilised all efforts to improve their living conditions.

Today, the Azerbaijani authorities support the struggles across the world to prevent violations of human rights, solid examples of which can be traced clearly in the 170 years of French colonialism.

“Azerbaijan is deeply concerned with the ongoing colonialism and its reemerging manifestations. Although 70 years have passed since the Bandung Conference, some countries continue to pursue colonialism. Among those, the foremost one is France,” President Ilham Aliyev said in his letter addressed to the participants of the congress in Baku.

“Overall, most of the bloody crimes of the colonialism history of mankind were committed by none other than France. France had occupied tens of countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Latin America, plundered their resources, and for many years oppressed their peoples while perpetrating numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. The French troops subjected hundreds of thousands of civilians to ethnic cleansing based on their ethnic and religious affiliation,” he added.

Assistant to President Aliyev, Hikmat Hajiyev, said in his speech at the event that Baku would continue throwing weight behind the struggles for independence and sovereignty, for the restoration of the rights of the people facing discrimination and racism.

Gross violation of human rights by France in Algeria, where 1.5 million people were killed during a century of colonial rule, was voiced by Azerbaijan’s Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva.

Bloody French colonialism

Representatives of the countries and territories suffering the ongoing colonial intervention by France revealed numerous aspects of the French authorities’ measures to tighten the grip on the people they have been crippling under neocolonial influence. Jean-Jacob Bicep from the People's Union for the Liberation of Guadeloupe said their struggle for sovereignty has been brutally suffocated by France in different periods through mass killings, including 10,000 revolutionaries, as well as repressions, and deliberate assimilation policy. Paris, according to him, even involves teacher in its overwhelming neocolonial policy to wean off the independence movement in Guadalupe by large-scale propaganda to change the mindset among children and youth. Seventy years of struggle for independence is not yielding results due to France’s indifference to the rights of Guadalupian and hostile measures to stop any attempt to protest the ongoing crackdown.

Mass deportations, exiles, massacres, and enslavement by France have dramatically changed the fate of the people of the Caribbean Martinique; the ethnic proportion of the island was deliberately changed by relocation of poor people from Africa, and the people were forced to slavery – these were voiced by the representative of Martinique, Luc Francis Carole.

France also put the health of the Martinique people under a serious risk by using chlordecone is a pesticide in banana plantations, he said. Despite resistance and protests, Paris did not cease the application of the chemical substance in the Caribbean region until 1993. Being very persistent, chlordecone has permanently contaminated the soil and water, preserving its harmful impact on crops and livestock production even today, as 90 per cent of the population in Martinique and Guadalupe suffer from the aftermath of the pesticide’s use by France, according to him.

Moreover, the French colonialists supplies ninety percent of the food supplies to France exposing the indigenous people to deadly starvation.

For the representatives of the French Guiana, Maurice Pindard, the aftermath of the colonization of the island by France is largely seen in the financial and economic situation. Use of force saw the occupation of the French Guiana’s entire territory by the Frenchmen. Massacres and deportations took its toll on the ethnic proportion of the island.

For France, the people of Guiana are not humans, they are abandoned to their fate with no financial income as a result of the massive exploitation of the island’s resources and subsequent channeling of funds to France, Pindard stated. He also underlined the dominance of the French culture over the indigenous culture enforced by Paris through forcible education based on French textbooks.

Representatives of the indigenous Kanak people of New Caledonia chided France for denying basic human rights, blocking their language and cultural rights, depriving them of medical assistance, committing mass killings and deportations, exposing them to deadly diseases, and more.

Representative of the commune of Lifou in New Caledonia, Pierre Gaez, said President Emmanuel Macron personally leads the French neocolonialism reflected in the deprivation of freedom and crackdown on the struggle for independence.

Davy Nicolas Bolo, the next representatives from New Caledonia, said despite the independence referendum of the Kanak people in 2021, the French authorities have been denying to recognize the poll results.

Officials from Corsica, French Polynesia, Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and others also highlighted the massive repressions, human rights violations, racial discriminations and other atrocities committed by France and the modern-day reflections of the ongoing French colonial policy.

French domestic discrimination

Attendees of the “Neocolonialism: Human Rights Violations and Injustice” congress in Baku also highlighted the alarming level of racial discrimination in France, reflected primarily in growing Islamophobia as a form of neocolonialism.

According to human rights campaigner, director of the UK-based CAGE human rights organisation, in 2022, France adopted anti-separatism laws to silence Muslims. Subsequently, organisations fighting for the rights of non-French people, including Muslims, were banned, including Collective Against Islamophobia and BarakaCity. Bookshops were closed. A total of 28,000 investigations were launched into cases related to Muslims in a bid to silence just protests against human rights violations, with racial discrimination on top. As a result, 906 organisations were shut down.

Muslim people were forced out of the French society by the country’s authorities as their businesses were massively locked down and their rights to practice religious belief were hindered. Those who did not come to terms with French domestic policy were persecuted. More than 15 million euros were seized from the Muslim people during the investigations. Police oppression was expanded. Since 2022, at least one Muslim was killed by police officers.

In addition, Islamic dress code was banned in schools, universities, and public institutions. Islamophobia has been promoted through special offices established by the governments. Those fighting for the rights of Muslims were banned from travelling in the Schengen zone by the French government.  

In conclusion, France is currently advocating for an image of a “peaceful, unbiased, democratic” country striving for a global dominance. The dominance can be considered existing. But in the form of neocolonialism and racism. For the other types of dominance, including in the South Caucasus, Paris has long lost its reputation as a reliable global actor and partner.