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Tag Archives: politics
Betting big on sovereignty
In ordering French troops to quit Malian soil “without delay,” Mali’s transitional authorities are making a high-stakes wager. Their bet seems to be that whatever price the evacuation of Operation Barkhane imposes on Malians in the short term, it will … Continue reading
Making Mali great again?
Or, The Mali that can say “No” A dramatic shift has been taking shape in Mali, and two recent events suggest that it is now irreversible. One: the massive rallies in Bamako and dozens of other cities and towns throughout … Continue reading
Cherchez la France: Mali’s complex postcolonial identity
There’s an old French expression cherchez la femme–literally, “look for the woman.” In the 1850s, novelist Alexandre Dumas used this phrase to convey his sense that whatever tensions or conflicts arose between people, somewhere at the root of them would … Continue reading
Bamako’s mood: good for Goïta, bad for France…
Pollster Sidiki Guindo has just unveiled results from a phone survey of 1144 Bamako residents conducted between September 30 and October 3 (see full results here). The results will surely warm the heart of Mali’s president, Colonel Assimi Goïta, because … Continue reading
A message to my people: Can we halt America’s tribalization?
I wrote this opinion piece for US newspapers but couldn’t find an editor willing to run it. The intended subtitle was “When African civil wars foreshadow our present heart of darkness.” While US politics isn’t a subject I would normally … Continue reading
In search of Mali’s Russia connection
If you follow press coverage of public events in Mali, particularly street demonstrations, you may have noticed a pattern over the last few years: alongside expressions of anti-French sentiment, which I’ve written about extensively on this blog, are frequently expressions … Continue reading
“Hands off my junta!”
Or, Why the international community should show post-IBK Mali some love The parallels between this week’s events in Bamako and those of March 2012 keep coming. On top of the fact that both began as mutinies at the Soundiata Keita … Continue reading
Taking it to the streets
Yes, Mali’s 2020 coup looked a lot like the previous one eight years ago. Frustration had been mounting, both among the general public and among the military. The army had been taking too many casualties up north. Troops in the … Continue reading
Tuesdays with Mahmoud
During a recent press conference (below), Mahmoud Dicko–former head of Mali’s Haut Conseil Islamique and de facto leader of its political opposition–said that big events in Mali often happen on Tuesdays. The 19 November 1968 coup that overthrew President Modibo … Continue reading
Sounding the alarm
I received a 15-minute audio clip from a friend via WhatsApp in which an unnamed man, apparently a Malian, discusses Mali’s political situation in a tone of utter desperation and indignation at the fact that seven years of foreign intervention … Continue reading
Bridges from Bamako 