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So the economist quoted in the DW article, Ndongo Samba Sylla, has an article in English on the CFA Franc from 2015. It has more explanation in English than I've found elsewhere so I'll post it here.quote: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. quote: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. quote: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%). quote: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. 1. It looks like the claimed veto is de facto and not formal. 2. France has a vote but the representative from WAEMU doesn't? Who are the other voting members of the monetary policy committee? quote: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. Also, while I was looking into the CFA Franc I found this document in the Wikileaks archives. According to US intelligence sources, one of the Sarkozy government's internal reasons for regime change in Libya was to protect the CFA Franc from a competitor currency. quote: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. Wow, our leaders are so honest to each other behind closed doors
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 14:45 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:39 |
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What's the deets on this rail strike action?
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 14:55 |
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Joint nationwide strike by SNCF workers, teachers (and other civil servants), hospital staff, and air traffic controllers. quote:Main info Here's the calendar for the rolling strikes at SNCF over the next three months: At noon, the director of SNCF was on France Info fearmongering about the CGT calling to disrupt train services on the other days in an email. Also, there's going to be a strike at Air France on Friday.
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 15:13 |
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So it literally is France's colonial currency for Africa [/quote] Yes, were you under the impression we unilaterally imposed it in the 90s or something like that? The unified colonial currency was kept in use because it was politically and economically convenient for the local* big industries (*mostly owned by foreign capital) to keep it. It was part of the decolonization deal: don't ruin our business and you can have your political independence, because in case you missed it, African colonization was and still is (at a corporate level those days) all about the exploitation of African resources for a relatively small group of investors. You do know the particular history of decolonization of the western and central African nations versus Morocco and Algeria, right? 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. La Réunion and Mayotte did adopt the Franc in the 70s and now use the Euro. Pacific islands still use the franc pacifique (CFP). Toplowtech fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Mar 21, 2018 |
# ? Mar 21, 2018 15:44 |
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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
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 16:00 |
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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 Toplowtech fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Mar 21, 2018 |
# ? Mar 21, 2018 16:15 |
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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? The administrative board of the central bank voting members are: - the governor of the Central Bank - one member for each member state of the WAEMU, appointed by their relevant government. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo. - one member appointed by the French government. Total ten members, governor included. The monetary policy committee members are: - the governor of the Central Bank - the two vice-governors of the Central Bank - one member appointed by the WAEMU Council of Ministers from a list where each WAEMU government proposed one - one member appointed by the French government - Four other citizens of WAEMU countries, appointed by the WAEMU Council of Ministers The audit committee members are: - one administrator of the Central Bank, citizen of the WAEMU country currently presiding the Council of Ministers - three administrators of the Central Bank, citizens of other WAEMU countries The national credit council, for each WAEMU member country, is: - the finance minister - the Central Bank representative (I think the one they appointed to the administrative board) - any and all members of the monetary policy committee that are citizens of the relevant country - four members appointed by the relevant government, including the director of the treasury - the president of the professional association of banks and finance industries - another member appointed by the aforementioned professional association of banks and finance industries - three members appointed by the chambers of commerce, industry, and agriculture - two members appointed by consumer organizations, defending the interests of bank customers - two members appointed by universities - four other members appointed by the monetary policy committee for their recognized skills in the domains of the economy, monetary policies, finance, law, or accounting. That's for the BCEAO. The BEAC has a different organization and is not the subject of the article you were quoting. This is the stuff from the official site. You'll notice that for the monetary policy committee members, the president of the WAEMU Commission is not listed, which is consistent with people who are there only in an advisory council. Instead, there's a voting representative appointed by the WAEMU Council of Ministers. The article tactically neglects to mention that. I'm not going to claim that the CFA should absolutely be upheld or that it's the best possible thing for the African countries that use either flavor of it. I am myself quite critical of ECB policies aiming at having a strong currency and a low inflation regardless of what would be most appropriate for the Eurozone as a whole; and it makes sense to me that monetary policies that are detrimental to countries such as Greece, Italy, or Spain would be even worse for countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, or Senegal. But these articles tend to be written in a way that plays a bit fast-and-loose with the facts to make it look like a Sinister French Conspiracy to Oppress Black People Out Of Spite instead of a colonial legacy that African governments have found convenient (for a mix of good and bad reasons) to keep around. The simple fact that a non-Francophone country that was never part of the French empire decided 23 years after getting its independence from Portugal to adopt this currency shows that there's more to it than French imperialism. Inversely, the fact that countries like Mauritania left the CFA (13 years after independence in Mauritania's case) shows that it's not a prison and that leaving it is definitely possible. The ECOWAS, which is a superset of the WAEMU, is planning on creating its own common currency for its member countries that aren't in the WAEMU. It would be the eco. After successfully creating it, then the CFA would merge into it. It's a cool plan but since they're using euro-like convergence criteria (even if slightly more lax), they have for now drifted further away from their goals than they were when they first had the idea.
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 18:04 |
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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)
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 19:42 |
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Probably won't make it this time unless the demonstration gets relocated in Malakoff. Don't get teargassed too much
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 23:43 |
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Thanks, this is all very helpful
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# ? Mar 21, 2018 23:52 |
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Chez les Français, c'est toujours la grève.
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 03:40 |
Flowers For Algeria posted:So! Who among you will be marching tomorrow alongside me?
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 04:22 |
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JustJeff88 posted:Chez les Français, c'est toujours la grève. God, if only
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 07:41 |
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Happy "Nicolas Sarkozy est mis en examen pour corruption" day, everyone.
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 10:22 |
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Thoughts and prayers
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 12:19 |
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unpacked robinhood posted:Thoughts and prayers Curses and swears!
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 13:07 |
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Flowers For Algeria posted:God, if only I don't know how much time you've spent in the anglophone nations, specifically the US/UK/Canada, but there I can attest that it's "Live to work", not "Work to live". Virtually no holiday time, long hours, miserable work culture. Just to give you an example, our de facto assistant manager at work has been there a year. We've been so understaffed that he's often worked 55-60 hours per week, yet he's accumulated a total of two days paid holiday. That's so insulting that I think that he should use those two days to find the CEO of our company and spend about 48 hours beating him fiercely with The Rights of Man.
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 20:17 |
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Gosh, did humanity do a bad job at building civilization
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# ? Mar 22, 2018 20:58 |
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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.
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 11:05 |
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Kassad posted:Montpellier : des étudiants occupant la fac de Droit passés à tabac par des hommes cagoulés. what even is the goal (other than gratuitous violence)
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 11:46 |
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Judging by the comments from obvious sympathisers under the Midi Libre article, break the strike and generally beat the poo poo out of leftists Also wow, don't read the comments under the Midi Libre article
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 11:56 |
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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 Pretty much this. There's also speculation that the university leadership let it happen. There's a video interview of the law faculty dean in that article I linked where he all but says that it was students opposed to the strike who took things in their own hands. He certainly doesn't seem shocked or saddened that it happened. Edit: "There were about 50 students [opposed to the strike] and they wanted to defend themselves. I cannot blame them. [...] I'm rather proud of my students. They have my full approval." Kassad fucked around with this message at 12:21 on Mar 23, 2018 |
# ? Mar 23, 2018 12:15 |
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Flowers For Algeria posted:Gosh, did humanity do a bad job at building civilization No, just the brutish uncivilized Anglo-Saxons
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 12:19 |
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hostage crisis in a supermarket near Carcassonne, the attacker pledged allegiance to isis edit: sky reporting one dead hostage Kurtofan fucked around with this message at 12:23 on Mar 23, 2018 |
# ? Mar 23, 2018 12:21 |
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Possibly two dead: https://twitter.com/julbeaumont/status/977144253653676032 But don't worry, Gérard Collomb is on the way to personally take down the terrorist. Edit: Seems that the police are seeing someone who might be dead but can't get close enough to confirm https://twitter.com/afpfr/status/977144725722599424
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 12:29 |
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what even is the goal (other than gratuitous violence)
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 12:38 |
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best case scenario it's a lone inspired rear end in a top hat on the internet trying to win his virgins in the afterlife, or it's the start of an ad campaign to show the shitheads they still mean business by killing european zionist pigdogs
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 12:45 |
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Man, a hostage situation in a supermarket. That’s like, a friday in America. Our terrorists are getting lamer and lamer every day.
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 12:57 |
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https://twitter.com/LePoint/status/977171836415946753
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 14:15 |
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yeah i'm sure that's gonna happen
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 14:21 |
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https://twitter.com/afpfr/status/977178533733814274 https://twitter.com/afpfr/status/977178755398623233 https://twitter.com/afpfr/status/977178893227569158
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 14:48 |
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that gendarme has balls of steels, that poo poo seems like straight out of an action movie
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# ? Mar 23, 2018 17:29 |
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/opinion/macron-trump-friendship.htmlquote: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.
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# ? Mar 24, 2018 05:53 |
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Ah, yes, an Op Ed in the New York Times by Murdoch apologist Roger Cohen. Do take at face value.
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# ? Mar 24, 2018 06:00 |
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I intended it for mockery, not reading for real
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# ? Mar 24, 2018 07:24 |
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icantfindaname posted:I intended it for mockery, not reading for real Carry on, then!
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# ? Mar 24, 2018 07:26 |
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The term hero is tossed around lightly. Legit respect to this guy. https://twitter.com/gerardcollomb/status/977405502740205568
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# ? Mar 24, 2018 12:36 |
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That woman he saved has to be experiencing an interesting mix of conflicting feelings
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# ? Mar 24, 2018 21:52 |
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Did Valls miss this chance to rant about salafists? Do bears poo poo in the woods?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.
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# ? Mar 25, 2018 21:12 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:39 |
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Wahabis > salafis, according to a Valls study on lovely islam
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# ? Mar 26, 2018 06:54 |