the well meanwhile, in neighboring georgia, there's also being ripped up by months of protests against the so called ford agents bill. it was passed by the parliament, but it was an veto by the country's opposition precedent before it could become little and p say they intend though to overrule that decision. which origin demonstrates as have been waving you in american flags while marching through the capital streets. banners were written in english, calling on the apartments transparency initiative and describing it as being or the plastic you officials have one to just blow a membership bid codes based practice. the country does adults that long. not so that despite the fact that many western nations have a similar reason tougher restrictions when it comes to foreign agents in the states, the georgia in prime minister says the us and its allies of talk between his country for very different reasons. so to say that since the beginning of

2022, there was a strong interest in having georgia opened a 2nd from here to me, which would have seriously done much impressions of positions on intended would not have been easy for russia to fight them to front the sort of product, all these would have destroyed our country. some people didn't care about the fate of our country. it wasn't the only thing they cared about was we're getting rushes positions that this is what we spoke to sariana on the list found and misplaced textbook. this is to book all my see. and about the similarities of the protests, the, you know, i mean, you, in georgia and the reasons perhaps why the west keeps silent when it comes to discontentment of people in europe on is actually the demo slater. as in the capital lafayette, yvonne, they are running against the aspirations of the armenian government that has nothing to do with it. it says with the you and the nature line. therefore, there is no interest at all to cover this case. unfortunately, in armenia, both cases are very similar,

georgia and armenia. they both are former soviet union countries and, and this is the same american and european recipes has been applied to these 2 countries. i mean, although the american center, your opinions be for sometimes and therefore the policy approach, but they are united in one thing and that they used to persuade the people of these 2 countries into moving toward the west and blocks what, unfortunately, an equal fussing, and has done since 2018 has alienated armenia from its neighbors and also turns armenia again. so that's why they want to disable i solved in the cook, is this, and they want to bring these kitchen money of the americans into this region to these fees called them and the engine oil said they have interest rate at the armina society as well as the georgia society at least 10 people have supposedly being killed and find glib dash and india off the site. loan remo costs severe flooding in the border region between the countries while the foot

h from sas. and find that that shows devastated villages on the coast line. many fragile homes partly completely destroyed that this is off to the flood protection and banquets was swept away. the storm is supposed to be about duration, nearly $800000.00 people from the most vulnerable areas. here's how some of the locals have described the situation. the wind is extreme and the water is also upon us. although it's a little less impactful than previous psych loans. it is lasting longer than before . very, that's a cycle and destroyed the bank under. so people leaving from bogie to give to our home, there are no vehicles available on the road. that's that they're also shortages of food. all shops are close since yesterday gone. but house and india is westbank all state room. so fast houses which is low, no way why electric poles and trees. what of course it in some coastal districts.

remo is the 1st sight blown in the bad thing. go ahead if this is monsoon season, which runs from june to september in this coast. so often hit by side plains, but changing climate buttons have increased the intensity of storms making preparations been natural disasters even more urgent. the last what we have time for this hour, we'll be back with a fresh look at the news in the rooms. 13 minutes until then the, the same with this off the international manila tron is up next with modus operandi, [000:00:00;00] the, the hello,

i'm manila chan. you're tuned into modus operandi. why westerners have been concerned about a chocolate shortage or price of searching for their favorite suite. treat little spot is given to where that chocolate is coming from, or what's causing the disruption in the supply chain. 2 words. workers, right? on this episode, we'll explore complaints of the exportation of african farmers by multinational western corporation. and how recent anti western sentiment and politics may turn the so called chocolate war into a hot one. all right, let's get into the m o the . it's no secret that africa is a constant, rich and natural resources from precious gems like diamonds to cobalt but powers.

the lithium for your cellphones and eaves to the cocoa used to create your favorite dessert. it's all found in africa, but in recent years, africa is more northern parts known as the hell region. and much of west africa have kind of come under scrutiny by western powers. namely the us and france. between political instability such as to the top as to the plight of cocoa farmers looking to earn more from multinational corporations such as nestle or cargo. the eyes of the west are looking toward africa. joining us to discuss, he is not a far freeman. he is an organizer with the pan african community action and coordinating committee member for the black alliance for peace. he's also a host at voices with vision at w p. s. w here in the dc metro, that's part of the pacifica network of stations. so net 5 1st. in recent weeks news across the us,

it was highlighting the chocolate shortage. bloomberg reported that rock cocoa was surging towards $10000.00 a ton. that's an unprecedented number for this commodity. however, the source of this shortage was actually man made african coco far, but being farmers were actually demanding higher prices for their product from, you know, companies such as nestle or hershey, cargill general mills and so forth. so that's a chocolate, is a $130000000000.00 industry annually. get the farmers in places like court of law or gonna earn about a dollar a day. the farmers were asking for pennies more, but the corporations decided they wouldn't pay it, saying the farmers were acting like a cartel, trying to be like opec. so they just stop buying the beans. now the farmers are in a right and the end consumers like you and me, are paying the price your thoughts on this as well. this is

a result of the near liberalism, of the international global economy. the relationship between the coke farmers and the corporations, like nestle, hershey and car gurus and general mills. and these are a direct legacy of european colonization of africa. and then what we're seeing is the contention between, you know, the farmers and, and regular peep. ready and their intent to, to charge a passive self determination to start their interest. and so under new colonialism advocate still doesn't control the exports of the defense goods for even the cat. and this is the cast cross the co and where the money is, is when it comes out of the country and it's manufacturing. and we find that the finished goods like the top, the bars and things that we have. and in particularly in ivory coast and gonna is

this 4 major coca producing countries. and that's a camera room. nigeria, i go through our ivory coast and i have to say, i've been gone it gone and i've read close in the farmers. they're like you said, it's make only like $1.00 a day or something like that. and we're not even talking about the disparities and big plantation of coca pharmacy 1st at the small family farms. the big plantations are what's financed and encouraged by the structure adjustment programs and or the low lending of i'm after world bank, but the coke of farmers regards whether it's punts asians, or small funds, are now beginning to realize their interest in what's happened to this is what's driving the price up isn't particularly ivory coast and kind of they came together to put up a fixed price. this also higher for them to be able to the, to sell the price of their coke up and also included what's known and what they're calling living income differentiate. and that live in income, different genes show,

which is part of the higher prices to go directly to the farmers. now, new liberalism, new liberalism doesn't broach anything about, it's not, it doesn't, it's not for the interest of regular people, regular people's values only as good as what their profit, what, how much profit they can yield to corporations and international finance capital. and so it doesn't really think about those things now. hershey and nestle and all these other corporations. and this is what we saw initially when the, the, or the coca farmer is organized and initiated this price fixing these countries the, they had to go on a public relations acknowledging the fairness of this and that they would comply with this higher price. but then we need it almost, it was just really just the do something in the public, but then also started go reverting back to only paying the lower price. and that as a result of this, the farmers also started withholding, trying to sort of a battle,

a contention withholding their coca. but at the same time the, you know, the companies in the international market with the co farmers don't control, can withstand. and also, just like they do corporations, they just raise the prices in order to deal with a shortage of, of what is cocoa. so that's what we're, we're seeing here. we're seeing the, the farmers realizing their interest and trying to find that. and so, yeah, to yes, so hershey, mars and mando as are 3 of the top 5 chocolate manufacturers in the world. all american companies, any surprise to you, that the reason for this shortage the plight of the farmers is not being discussed by mainstream media outlets here states. i know this is not any surprise at all. i'm one of the inconvenience of the, the moment is that we're living in the time we're actually experience of the time of the year. the chocolate is, you know,

be advertised. some of the companies and news like this will not gain sympathy for the big companies like hershey and nestle and all of that western countries. really, especially they, they can't really afford to cover africa regularly and especially not in any honest way. and without the racial under tons of the racial spin. ready racist spit that it has, you know, the advocates backwards and whatnot. news like what's happening here regarding africa has potential of a weakening, the, a more like pen african consciousness among the african or the black communities and in a pin african and working class. by now, most consensus among these communities within the average within the western countries. and so africa has to be depicted. the only way for people does not have simple size and, and have more pen african, as or, or internationalists. regard or, or, or per view is the african has to be depicted as backward and fraught with terrorism

and violence. and with these to the needs the west to assist them. there's not people centered movements for workers like the farmers in africa and whatnot. and then the people know, with the farming in the top of the industry, there's all this, you know, child labor exploitation and these big plantations exploit tired of labor and whatnot. these things have to be made in the blind spots of, of the western populations. otherwise, it will gain some sympathy, the corporations cannot afford. and so now here's the twist i would say in this, on savory story. several of these cocoa being producing states are equal wass member states, the ivory coast and gonna alone represent 70 percent of the world's production. now we're learning that us after com intends to build a brand new drone basis in, in those states and been in as well. your group, the black alliance for peace issued a statement condemning this move. so 1st, explain for us why you think the drawing bases are a bad idea and i don't know,

is it a coincidence? the situation with the cocoa being farmers in coast of juan gonna so the, the drone bases urbana ideas, not just the drone bases that are a bad idea. it is the whole african once known as the u. what's known as an for com is the us africa command, which is, you know, political read it all across the continent. it is united states military occupation of the african continent under the so called auspices of trying to fight terrorism in assist the advocate and everything else. but michael langley, the commander ban for comes, is a couple weeks ago. put it plainly when he was asked about the why u. s. military is in africa and what, what people should know about that or the reason for it. and one of the most the most telling aspect of what he said along with all the other fluff is that they were there, quote, for influence and access. this is why on for commas is there,

and we know that the presence of africa has done nothing but exponentially put uh, an increase the terrorism terrace activities there. there's a lot of atrocities based on the drones and drone bases, particularly in some malia in libya. and so when they talking about new drawing bases in beginning, gone and are because they're really just talking about extending the type of atrocities that not just drone bases. but all of our com is responsible for on the continent of africa. so it's, it's not a good idea. i don't think it's a coincidence that these 3 countries are considered for, in relationship to the coca and the coca production in particular. but it's not just the coke of production is just a come really about all kinds of a industry and acts as an advocate, whether be timber or oil or the root uranium. but what the west fears is a potential of consciousness of self determination and africa. a radical,

even if lead by workers movement is a dangerous to their interest and we can see self determination. and those types of things express themselves. and particularly in the former friends colonies with these countries have kicked out france. and we also know that the united that means year this part of the, of the, what they're referring to now is the lines of the health states, the last country to take over from really the comp are to class, has now calling for the remove of african from his territory the, the shore answer and i don't wanna be labour that but directly to your point is that the, the expect any expansion of africa, whether be drawing bases or anything is danger. traffic has worked and been met and nothing but of destruction and death, and they have a motive for doing so which is about control and access and coming up next. usually, an economic block doesn't threaten military action,

but that's exactly what equal was did. following a string of crews in west africa, we'll discuss it when we return with net 5. freeman. so type m o will be right back the hi, i'm acceptable and i'm here to plan with you whatever you do. do not watch my new show it seriously. why watch something that's so different. whitelisted opinions that he won't get anywhere else work of it. please do have the state department c, i a weapons makers, multi 1000000000 dollar corporations. choose your fax for you. go ahead, change and whatever you do. don't want my show stay main street because i'm probably going to make you uncomfortable. my show is called stretching time, but again,

you probably don't want to watch it because it might just change the way you the, the valley. her mother says the store. okay. the model girl that i got you. no problem seeing that on the out of the know nothings arguments, us out of the drive i showed my brother through he was trying to help people for

a lo so now i never looked at searches as being the same. well, i guess i lost my list. that's the outcome of chicago police. it'd be gang chicago is like, you'd be a photo of the police. you lose your life as another crime. same. could have been a doctor. a nurse could have been the next president. we can't keep losing people out here. the welcome back to the m o i manila chan. network friedman was kind enough to hang out a little bit more. thanks for sticking around that by so equal loss isn't an acronym for economic community of west african states. why haven't they spoken up against these multi national corporations? it was on points of the group economic,

i mean it's in the name. shouldn't agriculture be more important to the group then? foreign militarism interests. mm hm. so, um, this is, i'm glad you asked this question and then it's a very important question. echo wants to economic community with african states has its origins in the seventy's and did have. and it's came right after we solve this, the sweeping of independence and become ization movements in africa, independent countries gaining their independence from formal colonialism in, in, in africa, from europe. but then the configuration of, of echo was, is that it's is comprised of leaders of the various representatives of various governments in west africa, of the country, the 14 or 15 countries. they comprise african and being the new colonialism, which is the control of the politics and economics of the countries. but with all the outward trappings of independence, it means that is fostered. well,

we referred to as a comfortable class, people who seem to be working in the interest of their population that really are beholden to interest outside of foreign interest. that's what a comfort door is and be with, with these being the leaders that are heading most is countries over heading all of these countries. um, even though that it had good intents in the beginning, now it gloss service impurity must serve as the interest of the western countries. this is why they threaten the military intervention into these year because of what happened there. the taking over, despite the poppy popularity of the take over, and the polls in the expelling of the french, they were going to, they threatened military intervention. and the only reason they didn't is because their, their populations were the population of the various countries hadn't echo was we're not for the intervention. and we're already demonstrating against them. we had demonstrations or celebrations of this, of the, those countries that are expelling france and demonstrations against the leadership

. and these compet doors in the country is that a, comprising like less than it's worth threatening for military and intervention. so there's a lot of political instability in west africa right now. i mean, cruise in molly burkina, faso, guinea new chair was the last bastion of american military influence out there in this the hell. but now under the hunter government, they just abruptly cancelled this 12 year old security packed with african, the spokesman for the hunter, colonel major, i'm gonna do. i'm the rom on said this quote. the government of need air taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people revokes with immediate effect. the agreement concerning the status of us military personnel and civilian defense department employees. in plain language, he basically said new share was expelling the united states. how do you see this impacting the, the growing threat of, say, terrorism from the likes of all,

kinda this is a pretty complicated question and, and so i think it's, it's the 1st should be understood that and for. com was not the despite what they were saying was not having any success, nor the french foreign legion or whatever the. and then how also as friends in the us have the have because military footprints with the us, having the largest military footprint on the corner of africa, puts us ostensibly for the purpose of, of fighting terrorism. and they were not having any, if anything, terrorism at once with terrorism group has expanded increased since their presence . so to do so, it would be mistake to think that without them that they would the, for some reason that the, that the terrorism would necessarily grow. because they were gone. now i also think it's important for us to consider what stabilization and how we think of it

stabilisation and stabilization for who. so this has been instability for the western economic order and domination of western countries and their ability to have access to mental resources and to super exploit africans. but africa, the like we talking about the font farmers and whatnot, who have had been under colonialism for, you know, hundreds of years or so centuries. there was no stability for them. this doesn't represent instability for them. what's happening. and in fact, we should be careful to understand that any, any course, 4 of the quantization for africa being able take the polls, the domination of western countries that should include the united states. now is the top new cohen eyes on the african continent required the going through a phase of,

of expelling the military's and also expelling influence of sanctions and, and the international financial institutions like the i met from world bank. it would have to go through that in order to gain any sense of real people centered stability. then there was governments and, and states that are operating in the best interest of the mass of the people or the mass is being able to assume control. and so in this sense, what's happening is a precursor, a necessary 1st step, further to be real independent, self determined, and even hopefully united africa. and so black lines are peace, stand for against all forms of military intervention in all forms of intervention. and so i think this is the we want the i think is be a, it's a good 1st step, the nitrous taken and then we, we call for all the countries in africa to take the same step and, and again, take the same step and, and look for a sub determine united africa, this work in the best interest of the masses. yes, stability for who is

a great way to look at it. as you mentioned earlier, a new year is uranium rich. france is one of the largest purchasers of uranium from these year. but the military junta announced previously that they were going to halt all sales to the french. there were concerns that emanuel my crone might take military action into new share, you know, under the guise of overturning this to which apparently seems to be a very popular movement that hasn't happened though. on the part of france. we saw a lot of russian flags being waived there, but when you combine this with the eviction of the us military, how do you see things playing out in the share? yeah it's, it's hard to say, i don't think it would be to put it lightly, a good look for there to be a military intervention on the part of the, a direct military intervention on the part of the west to intervene in easier,

especially since these, these movements seem to be quite popular. and we've also seen molly particularly molly these year and became a facile form what they're calling an alliance of the health states security alliance. the 1st of forms of security saying that i am a tap on one is impact on all of them. and all of them have had taken anti french or anti western disposition wanting to have their own currency. what not. and now now it's looking like it's also spilling over to the us with us was trying to avoid that and be neutral. and this that everyone knows that they're all, it's all connected. what's also going to be interesting is, is in week didn't get a chance. and we won't be able to talk about it is the developments in seminole where there is a newly elected president. and he's the youngest president and you know, and, and a prime minister of these 2 young people represent a growing young movement. it's also talking about and to france and the self

determination to set a goal. and then also in getting a bus out with the revolutionary party of the d. c. with the party of a meal car club brawl has taken been able to form a coalition and, and taking power in a vote in the power. so these are popular governments that they can't accuse of being taken over by 2 military interventions. but all of them, the ones that in the military lines and the ones and these have the same, basically same as central agenda. and i think the only thing that can result if, if the west persist with its aggressiveness and its insistence that dominate it, they're going to bring all of these forces together. and we're going to see emerging a new movement of the conversation or the meal colonization in west africa, which is long overdue. that's a free man, member of papa and black alliance for peace, also co host and voices with vision on pacifica. thank you so much for your

perspective today. thank you for having me. and that is going to do it for today's episode at modus operandi, to show that dig deep into foreign policy and current affairs. i'm your host knowledge and thanks for tuning and we'll see you again next time to figure out the m. o the, what is a part of the, the employee would post good isn't the, the place you of us and bidding the word? or is it something deeper,

more complex might be present good. let's stop without cases. let's go out of or the, the great nato. splitting the states angrily opposed funds for the blocks weapons to be used to attack and steve into russian era traits warning it's a road left to spring. if we cannot contain the war psychosis that is developed in brussels, these years will be written as episodes of a great european world war. the way the point where the latest strike on a tragic event. also, the international community condemned the killing of $45.00 goss