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Like other colonial empires – the UK, with its sterling zone; or Portugal, with its escudo zone, France had its franc zone. The CFA franc – orginally the French African Colonial franc – was officially created on 26 December 1945 by a decree of General de Gaulle. It is a colonial currency, born of France’s need to foster economic integration among the colonies under its administration, and thus control their resources, economic structures and political systems.

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Post-independence the CFA franc was redesignated: for the eight members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) – Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo – it became the African Financial Community franc; for the six members of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMC) – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad – the Central African Financial Cooperation franc. The two zones possess economies of equal size (each representing 11% of GDP in sub-Saharan Africa). The two currencies, however, are not inter-convertible.

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Firstly, a fixed rate of exchange with the euro (and previously the French franc) set at 1 euro = 655.957 CFA francs. Secondly, a French guarantee of the unlimited convertibility of CFA francs into euros. Thirdly, a centralisation of foreign exchange reserves. Since 2005, the two central banks – the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) – have been required to deposit 50% of their foreign exchange reserves in a special French Treasury ‘operating account’. Immediately following independence, this figure stood at 100% (and from 1973 to 2005, at 65%).

This arrangement is a quid pro quo for the French ‘guarantee’ of convertibility. The accords stipulate that foreign exchange reserves must exceed money in circulation by a margin of 20%. Before the fall in oil prices, the money supply coverage rate (the ratio of foreign exchange reserves to money in circulation) consistently approached 100%, implying in theory that Africans could dispense with the French ‘guarantee’. The final pillar of the CFA franc, is the principle of free capital transfer within the franc zone.

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Despite its exceptional longevity, the CFA franc by no means enjoys unanimous support among African economists and intellectuals. Its critics base their analysis on three separate arguments. Firstly, they condemn the absence of monetary sovereignty. France holds a de facto veto on the boards of the two central banks within the CFA franc zone. Since the reform of the BCEAO in 2010, the conduct of monetary policy has been assigned to a monetary policy committee. The French representative is a voting member of this committee, while the president of the WAEMU Commission attends only in an advisory capacity. Given the fixed rate of exchange between the CFA franc and the euro, the monetary and exchange rate policies of the franc zone nations are also dictated by the European Central Bank, whose monetary orthodoxy entails an anti-inflation bias detrimental to growth.

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In October 2016, a group of African and European economists published a book entitled [in translation] Liberate Africa from Monetary Slavery: Who Profits from the CFA Franc? The date was not selected at random; it coincided with a meeting of the franc zone’s finance ministers, central bank governors and regional institutions. In the wake of the public debate sparked by the book, people are beginning to speak out.

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Qaddafi's government holds 143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver. During late March, 2011 these stocks were moved to SABHA (south west in the direction of the Libyan border with Niger and Chad); taken from the vaults of the Libyan Central Bank in Tripoli.

This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency
based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an
alternative to the French.franc (CFA).

(Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7
billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the
factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to commit France to the attack on Libya. According to these
individuals Sarkozy's plans are driven by the following issues:

a. A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production,

b.Increase French influence in North Africa,

UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05779612 Date: 12/31/2015

c. Improve his intemai political situation in France,

d. Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world,

e. Address the concern of his advisors over Qaddafi's long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa)

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Main info

• Rail services in France set to be severely disrupted with only 40 percent of TGV trains running
  
• 30 percent of fights to be cancelled out of Paris airports CDG, Orly and Beauvais
  
• Paris Metro to run as normal, but RER services hit
  
• Many schools and creches set to close as teachers and public service workers strike
  
• Eurostar says it's still not sure if services will be affected
  
• Rail workers have announced another 36 days of strike action)
  

Chomskyan posted:

What was even the rationalization for dividing the currency zone into two? It just reeks of divide and conquer. Curious what limitations there are on economic activity between the two zones.

Chomskyan posted:

No, I know virtually nothing about French colonialism, other than a little bit about France destroying Algeria. But if you can point to some resources in English (especially those written by Africans) I’d like to learn more

Chomskyan posted:

2. France has a vote but the representative from WAEMU doesn't? Who are the other voting members of the monetary policy committee?

Toplowtech posted:

Cat Mattress posted:

Flowers For Algeria posted:

So! Who among you will be marching tomorrow alongside me?
The demonstration in Paris starts at 2 PM, rallying place is in front of the Ministère de l'Economie, metro station Bercy. Please don't chuck Molotov cocktails at the people in uniform guarding the ministry, they're my colleagues (feel free to aim at any minister, though)

JustJeff88 posted:

Chez les Français, c'est toujours la grève.

unpacked robinhood posted:

Thoughts and prayers

Flowers For Algeria posted:

God, if only

Kassad posted:

Montpellier : des étudiants occupant la fac de Droit passés à tabac par des hommes cagoulés.

TL;DR in English: a group of men in balaclavas and armed with sticks beat the hell out of law students occupying a lecture hall in Montpellier. There are a few videos in the article.

lost in postation posted:

Judging by the comments from obvious sympathisers under the Midi Libre article, break the strike and generally beat the poo poo out of leftists

Flowers For Algeria posted:

Gosh, did humanity do a bad job at building civilization

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PARIS — It is tempting to say that the relationship between President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Trump is the unlikeliest of friendships, but that would be to miss the point.

Sure, they agree on very little. Not on Iran. Not on trade. Not on the European Union. Not on climate. Not on whether to criticize Vladimir Putin. Not on the importance of dignity, or truth, or the Enlightenment.

Still, I hear that they speak all the time. Trump follows Macron’s labor-market reforms and calls to congratulate him. The first state visit of his administration will be Macron’s to Washington next month, a special honor for “a great guy.” The French president is Trump’s best friend in Europe, and possibly beyond. Things fizzled with Theresa May, the British prime minister. They never went anywhere with Germany’s Angela Merkel. Trump-Macron is the only trans-Atlantic hinge not creaking.

This is not really surprising. Both men came from nowhere, mavericks hoisted to the highest offices of their lands by a wave of disgust at politics-as-usual. They are, in their way, accidents of history, thrust to power at the passing of an era. Longing for disruption produced these two disrupters.

Both laid waste to the political establishment, either smashing or co-opting mainstream parties. Both understood the fact that voters were bored as well as angry, mistrustful of the liberal consensus, angry at globalization’s predations, restive for grandeur, thirsty for the outspoken rather than the dutiful warnings of experts.

Macron, who at 40 could be Trump’s son, has honed a grandiose theater of the center, thereby giving centrist politics new vigor at a time of extremist temptation. He’s tough on immigration because he knows his survival depends on it. Trump’s is the theater of the zigzagging bully, nonstop noise often drowning out meaning. For both men, movement and action are essential.

Gaullist pomp, shunned by Macron’s predecessor, is back. If that’s what it takes to defeat the racist National Front, bring it on. Macron celebrated his victory last year with an address to the French people at the Louvre, greeted Putin at Versailles, and returned to the Sun King’s palace this year for a “Choose France” summit meeting of global C.E.O.s to trumpet some $3 billion in foreign investment.

“It’s not ‘Make France Great Again’ — except that it is, sort of,” a French friend observed.

Macron’s Bastille Day celebration — complete with guards on horseback, troops, tanks and fighter jets — so impressed his special guest, Trump, that Trump now wants his own version with a heavy air component (but sans tanks) on Veterans Day.

Ridiculous? I think this friendship is so important as Trump surrounds himself with hawks that I’m prepared to swallow hard.

Or rather, it’s potentially so important. We have yet to see what Macron can leverage from this relationship. We don’t know if it’s a nice thing or a beneficial thing. It did not stop Trump from leaving the climate accord or recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The jury is still out.

Trump did exempt the European Union from steel and aluminum tariffs, an issue on which the French had pressed hard. “If we are viewed like China, that would be a big problem,” one senior official told me before Trump’s decision.

Next up: Iran. If Macron cannot avert the worst on Iran — a decision by Trump on May 12 to torpedo the nuclear deal by no longer waiving sanctions — then all bets are off. The accord, which reversed the program that had made Iran a threshold nuclear power, is working. The French are determined to preserve it.

If it collapses, the Shia-Sunni Middle Eastern confrontation will worsen, Iran may race for a bomb, and Saudi Arabia will not be far behind. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty could fray to the point of meaninglessness.

The signs are not good. Mike Pompeo, nominated by Trump as the next secretary of state, is an Iran hawk. John Bolton, the new national security adviser who will replace Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, wants to abrogate the nuclear deal and bring down the Iranian regime — and that’s just for starters. Devastation looms. Macron’s — and Europe’s — challenge in blocking Iran folly has just grown tougher.

As Trump’s behavior becomes more erratic, a trend the Russia investigation will only accentuate in the coming months, the Macron friendship is some insurance against the worst. Unlike Trump, the French president knows what he wants and is capable of pursuing a coherent strategy.

He’s also a bulwark against all the destructiveness Trump has embraced: ethno-nationalist bigotry, the growing authoritarianism of Putin and Xi Jinping, the erosion of the rule of law, trade wars, the militarization of foreign policy and the undercutting of the European Union.

Macron’s vision of restored greatness is consistent with French ideals. Trump’s involves the betrayal of America’s. There’s the difference. A lot hinges on this being a friendship that delivers.

icantfindaname posted:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/opinion/macron-trump-friendship.html

icantfindaname posted:

I intended it for mockery, not reading for real

quote:

"Je pense qu'il faut prendre un acte fort, politique, à caractère symbolique d'une interdiction du salafisme", a également proposé Manuel Valls. "Je reconnais que c'est extrêmement difficile, on peut fermer des mosquées, un des imams salafistes de Marseille est en voie d'expulsion...", a-t-il détaillé.

Pour lui, "les idées salafistes, les mots salafistes ont gagné la bataille idéologique au sein de l'islam". "Nos adversaires, ce sont les salafistes, les Frères musulmans, l'islam politique", a fait valoir Manuel Valls.