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Radio War Nerd EP #394 — Gabon, feat. Dr Jeremy Rich (Patreon)

Published:
2023-09-02 21:33:35
Imported:
2023-09
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Content

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 

Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd

Sound production by Telescope Audio Studios

Check out the Radio War Nerd Merch store here!

*Buy John Dolan's comic memoir "Pleasant Hell" now available in both audio and ebook format.

Files

Comments

Ipota

great episode! so sweet how excited he was to be talking to u guys lol

David Andrews

You guys killed it with this one. Dr. Rich was fabulous. Well-done!

Angus Cairnie

This is classic, meat-and-potatoes RWN content. Great episode

LC

Excellent episode

JoR

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.

radiowarnerd

I agree. So far we've had no luck staying in contact with him.

James Whale

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

Steven Wilsher

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.

Of course

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/

Steven Wilsher

I'm very grateful to both of you taking the time to reply, but I was specifically interested in the aside about the SA basically funding the creation of the AC (NOT SA) in the 70s: the claim (and your reaction) is at 28:40 in the recording.

Benjamin Cheney

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)

Mark Ames

agree, and it's near impossible to find that story but I'll be looking into that more

Steven Wilsher

Cheers. And thanks again to John and Dr Rich: an excellent episode and the best intro I've found for Gabon

Jaime Christley

I’m feeling very smug about my correct pronunciation of “Simenon” being validated

xnfec

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.

Alec

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.

Doug Cartel

'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.

Alex Muir

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

Anton Gyula

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.

Josh Link

This was a fascinating episode. Loved hearing about his time as an election observer.

Benjamin Glover

I swear the RWN community is the smartest group of people I've ever met

a clash of purple

They're certainly smarter than the typical D.C. 'think tank,' though that isn't saying much...

Hans Anders

I’d love to see dr Rich back on the show. If not for Gabon, then for the DRC

Mark Ames

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.

Mark Ames

Belatedly being the imperial runner-up pays off with people since pay much less attention

Mark Ames

second the Henwood/Perez recommend, needs its own episode to grasp it

Peter Z

Amazing episode. Love hear more from the doc on Africa.

Ander Pierce

Haha "We're here for the fucking money" xD

Yairo Martis

This episode is wild. The election observer tale alone is bonkers.

Sean Atkinson

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.