AFRICAN HEROES MASSACRED BY FRANCE

Sunday, 1 December, marked the 80th anniversary of the brutal massacre of African soldiers at the French colonial military camp of Thiaroye, Senegal. The soldiers were African men of various ages who had been conscripted and forced to serve in France's colonial army. They hailed from all over French colonial West and Central Africa and were collectively referred to as the Senegalese Tirailleurs - or sharpshooters.

These African men had just returned from Europe, where they had served on the frontlines of World War II in order to defend France from the spread of Nazism. Upon their return to Africa, they were sent to the Thiaroye camp to receive their wages and then return home to the various parts of the continent from which they came. However, this time round, their wages were delayed - and when they dared to protest about this, the French colonisers opened fire on them, murdering up to 400 African soldiers who’d served them in their own army.

On this anniversary, for the first time, a French president, Emmanuel Macron, has officially recognised that this massacre occurred - in a letter to the Senegalese president. Perhaps the reason for the change of tune is that countries across Africa are expelling French troops, and France is scrambling to save its image before a revolting population. However, recognition of this historical atrocity is not enough. Africans in former French colonies are calling for the full removal of all French military forces, an end to the neo-colonial CFA franc currency and the closure or nationalisation of the many French-based multinational corporations that have taken over the local economies of the region.