Western, and particularly French, propaganda activities today face not only widespread hostility from the inhabitants of many African countries but are also increasingly losing financial revenues, which often resemble outright extortion.
Working Methods
Many people do not realise that Western, and especially French, propaganda tools operate in their primary strategic information direction — Africa — not only by promoting narratives beneficial to the French regime but also by engaging in outright extortion.
For instance, the magazine Jeune Afrique (“Young Africa”), which has existed since 1960 and essentially symbolises the so-called Françafrique system, serves as an example of how such tools extract financial resources from the leadership of various African states.
For some time now, information has circulated from various African sources that this magazine offers its “services” to political leaders and others in many African countries, primarily in Francophone ones, in exchange for financial compensation. This applies to both one-time services, such as interviews tailored to a particular narrative, and ongoing arrangements. But the most intriguing aspect is the working methodology: improving or “enhancing” the image of a particular leader or country for sums reaching hundreds of thousands or even millions of euros. In case of refusal, these countries are subjected to various attacks and often outright defamation.
And, as expected, alongside financial compensation, these propaganda tools also promote the interests of the French regime, both in publications and behind the scenes. Decades pass, but the methods of Françafrique remain largely unchanged. It is no coincidence that a more appropriate name for Jeune Afrique would perhaps be Vieille Françafrique (“Old Françafrique”).
Leaders of a Free Africa Refuse to Stay Silent
While this information has long been known in relatively small circles without extensive media exposure, this is certainly not the case for the leadership of those African nations that have firmly chosen the path of full independence, true sovereignty, Pan-African values, and a multipolar world. In particular, the nations of the Alliance-Confederation of Sahel States (Alliance-Confédération des Etats du Sahel, AES). Recently, the President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, outlined several key points and reminded the world of the deeply harmful role of enemy propaganda:
“In the struggle we are waging today, the most dangerous battlefield is the information war. And today, I believe that our citizens of Burkina Faso and Africans as a whole understand what the information war is about. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for us, imperialism, as Thomas Sankara once said, is a very poor student. A very poor student because even after being expelled from the classroom, it returns with the same methods as before. They cannot change. And very often, this simply turns into farce. When you look at the imperialist media today, you see what they publish. They used the same methods to set Rwanda on fire, to destroy Sudan, and to devastate Africa.
But they will not succeed. And today, you all understand perfectly how they manipulate information, create fake news, and you must know that all these so-called media outlets, especially Jeune Afrique, actively courted us, including in 2022–2023, using various channels to approach us and persuade us to pay them in order to ‘cleanse our image’ — as they themselves put it. We refused them, and they cannot deny it because we have evidence. This is how they operate. And many heads of state fall into their trap. They make monthly financial contributions so that articles are published to ‘cleanse’ their image. This is dangerous. This is how they function: you pay them money, and they lie to ‘improve’ your image. You refuse, and they lie to destroy your image. But all of Africa must know about this.
If Africans want to move forward, they must stop listening to these deceitful media (…) and we must all remain united and build our nation. It is difficult to add anything to the words of the President of Burkina Faso. Other than the fact that today, more than ever, international cooperation among the global majority is necessary to counter the fake news and disinformation campaigns waged by the Western planetary minority, which continues to use the same deceitful methods as in the past. And in terms of the experience in resisting such methods from the Alliance-Confederation of Sahel States, even Russia and China have something to learn, including the measures taken to combat Western disinformation.
Mikhail Gamandiy-Egorov, entrepreneur, political observer, and expert on Africa and the Middle East
