Radio War Nerd EP #394 — Gabon, feat. Dr Jeremy Rich
Guest: Dr Jeremy Rich, professor
Recorded: August 31, 2023
We talk to Dr Jeremy Rich about Gabon's history from French colonialism up to the recent coup Gabon overthrowing the Bongo dynasty. Dr Rich also shares his personal experiences in Gabon in the 1990s up through his strange gig as an election observer in 2016.
Total time: 1:57:22
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Comments (35)
So they have copied the US "Democracy" model: Half of your supporters claim they are opposition. Somehow 60% of the electorate believes it enough to actually participate in the electoral charade.
This episode is wild. The election observer tale alone is bonkers.
Absolute all-timer of an episode
Haha "We're here for the fucking money" xD
Amazing episode. Love hear more from the doc on Africa.
I’d love to see dr Rich back on the show. If not for Gabon, then for the DRC
Both Congos!
I swear the RWN community is the smartest group of people I've ever met
They're certainly smarter than the typical D.C. 'think tank,' though that isn't saying much...
This was a fascinating episode. Loved hearing about his time as an election observer.
Wow, what an excellent episode, Dr. Rich is a great guest. It was just a small offhand tidbit, but I'm particularly interested in that Belgian mayor who was apparently involved with the 2016 election. If anyone has any more information about that, I'd love to know.
I always wondered what election observers actually did in developing countries' elections... One more reason to dislike foreign-funded NGOs! If anyone is interested in how the CFA (the French based currency in Francophone Africa) works, there was a great interview on Behind the News with Doug Henwood interviewing Francisco Perez about it: https://shout.lbo-talk.org/lbo/RadioArchive/2023/23_08_10.mp3
second the Henwood/Perez recommend, needs its own episode to grasp it
Phenomenonal episode...
'we need our own Pinochet' is such a funny thing to say when he literally just did what the russian ruling class did in the 90s. It's just, the very last thing he tried to privatize was the #1 money maker for the whole country, so liberals can pretend and go NOT REAL CAPITALISM because of that.
The existence of the Central African Franc currency (CFA) alone should have its own deep dive, it’s the most blatant example of neocolonialism using economic forces. “How have the French managed to keep this up for so long” is right, Mark. Of all the European “great powers”, France has acted the most blatantly and aggressively towards its colonial holdings post vietnam and into the 21st century, and i think it’s because of the fact that sub-Saharan Africa, much like Ethiopia, is another one of those places “nobody” cares about. France has more places under its grip that “nobody” cares about than anyone else in Europe.
Belatedly being the imperial runner-up pays off with people since pay much less attention
"That was state of the art social media ... The diaspora is dumping tons of money and weapons ... internet obsessed ... endless YouTube clips ... " "Macron Sets France’s AI Agenda In Meeting With Meta, Google" https://www.competitionpolicyinternational.com/macron-sets-frances-ai-agenda-in-meeting-with-meta-google/
Great ep. Thanks. The domino effect of YouTube. "Soundtrack of a Coup" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/world/africa/niger-coup-music-videos.html
Such a good episode.
Didn't V.S, Naipaul have a chapter on Gabon in one of his books? I seem to recall it being mentioned once in an episode. A long time ago.
Looked it up, and dang you're right. Masque of Africa, his last book. Ashamed to say I owned it, started it, but it didn't grab me, so I didn't get far. I might even own a signed copy of it somewhere, I saw him on the speaking tour for that book, and he was really impressive despite being old and slowed down. Deep booming commanding voice in that shriveled little 80-yr-old body of his. Now I gotta read it.
I’m feeling very smug about my correct pronunciation of “Simenon” being validated
An excellent episode in all aspects. Thanks to Dr. Rich, Mark, Gary/John, and Brendon for putting this together so quickly! Also, if anyone wants to sample Ali Bongo’s foray into funk/disco, here it is: https://www.discogs.com/release/2461429-Alain-Bongo-A-Brand-New-Man Very interesting that Fred Wesley, the legendary James Brown and P-Funk collaborator, collaborated on this album. I hope he got paid well (I’m sure Ali/“Alain” was much more generous than James)
I thought it was John-Gary
RWN delivers oncce again!
Thanks to Dr Rich for an amazing episode. The aside on the Atlantic Council and apartheid South Africa sounds like its worth an episode on its own, but I'd be grateful if anyone has any good references on it.
An internet search shows a theysaid-theysaid spat among Those People (foreign policy and human rights NGOs). Human Rights Foundation, run by trustfund child of the oil business and CIA asset class, Thor Halvorssen, said a secret doc showed the Atlantic Council was going to honor the Gabonese leader with a pay-to-play freedom award. The Atlantic Council, repped by Frederick Kempte, a Wall St Journal alum, denied the story, sneering at the "small" organization while hoping for a future collab,... and then, hilariously, said Ali Bongo would likely deserved such an award, but he was too much the patriot to leave his country at such a delicate moment. https://hrf.org/press-release-why-is-atlantic-council-honoring-the-dictator-of-gabon/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/30/the-atlantic-council-did-not-give-a-global-citizen-award-to-gabonese-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-africa-gabon-elections-think-tanks/
Excellent episode! I think you should have him back . Also may be good to have episode about weird ngo experiences other people have had like that
The more episodes on Africa, the better. Especially with how depressing (and honestly, dull) our iteration of the "great European war" has been. Speaking of this topic, I assume you guys never heard back from Sousa Jamba (Patriots author). I Googled him and saw him on LinkedIn, so presumably he's active. He's a dream guest, hopefully you can work some magic and get him on somehow.
I agree. So far we've had no luck staying in contact with him.
Excellent episode
This is classic, meat-and-potatoes RWN content. Great episode
You guys killed it with this one. Dr. Rich was fabulous. Well-done!
great episode! so sweet how excited he was to be talking to u guys lol