The UN General Assembly established two periods of work for the world's indigenous peoples: from 1995 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2014. The goal of both decades was to strengthen international cooperation to address the problems faced by indigenous peoples in areas such as human rights, the environment, education, health, economic and social development.
In an interview with Sputnik, Alexander Zdanevich, senior lecturer at the Department of African Studies at St Petersburg State University, spoke about indigenous populations’ problems in Africa, metropolitan countries attempts to return to the African continent, and Russian influence in the region.
Sputnik: The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed today, on August 9. How important do you think it is to preserve the culture of indigenous peoples nowadays, and where do you think indigenous communities in the world are most vulnerable?
Alexander Zdanevich: In case of Africa, on the one hand, everything is quite clear and definite, because the continent has been experiencing the post-colonial period of development of independent states for quite a long time, since the 1960s. Different countries have different situations, where, for example, the indigenous population, ethnic minorities, are subject to persecution or harassment. In other countries, on the contrary, they try to support the principle of federalism, so that people first of all consider themselves citizens of a certain state, and only afterwards their belonging to certain ethnic groups is taken into account. But in terms of the universal humanistic component, of course, all this should be supported and preserved. It is impossible to give any general assessment.
Sputnik: The president of Ghana recently called for reparations to be paid to descendants of slaves in Africa and the African Diaspora. What do you think about that? And what can you say about neocolonialism in the contemporary world?
Alexander Zdanevich: These kinds of compensation claims are not uncommon. Such occasions arise quite often. But, as a rule, neither the metropolises nor modern political players take them seriously. Political leaders of African states, especially those who belong to opposition parties, use such occasions to increase their electoral potential. But they do not always succeed. One can recall the most striking examples of the Republic of South Africa. There is Julius Malema, who speaks quite frequently and vividly, sometimes on the verge of ethics, in public. And all of this always causes a harsh reaction in society, both within the country and abroad.
Sputnik: To what extent do western countries now continue to exploit developing countries, including those on the African continent, to capitalize on their resources?
Alexander Zdanevich: From the standpoint of the classical approach, of course, the term exploitation is no longer very popular. Of course, many people use it. However, mostly people talk about mutually beneficial cooperation, the search for partners on the continent, the return to some values, and relations that have been lost. But it is clear that the lion's share of the initiatives of the metropolitan countries is just an attempt to return to the continent in terms of control, for example, over the existing management models or in terms of raising one's own status in terms of using valuable and useful resources, ranging from hydrocarbon raw materials to rare-earth metals, uranium and so on. On top of that, these are markets, no matter how you look at it. And finally, the number one on the list of problems that can be exploited is the humanitarian sphere, that is, medical care, access to drinking water, child mortality, for example. This is what is also played by modern politicians. Or they play the military-technical cooperation card.
Sputnik: How would you assess Russian influence in the African region? Do the established traditional ties between the continents provide a solid foundation for the further sustainable development of cooperation between the countries of Africa and Russia?
Alexander Zdanevich: Since the 1960s, African states and presidents of the old wave, and the new wave, as I see it, have been looking for a kind of vertical stability in their relations with their international partners outside the continent and within it. In this sense, we, as the successors of things that were started back in Soviet times, are a more understandable model for them than some of our direct competitors, or, as we call them, partners. Of course, financial participation is not comparable - for example, if we compare the level of direct investments, then it is still too early for us to compete with China. But in terms of stabilizing our country's diplomatic relations, ensuring security, security guarantees on the continent, and partnership in economic development, especially in agriculture and military-technical cooperation, the mineral resources complex - all of this, of course, is up to us. It is gratifying that these very relations have been intensifying over the last five years. And we, as specialists, very much hope that this trend will continue, because over the last 25-30 years we have been seriously stagnating in this matter, and thank God that, according to our calculations, since around 2016 all of this has been gradually developing.
The 2019 Russia-Africa summit has confirmed that. We very much hope that the second such event will take place in the next few years. The venue is now being chosen. And there are different options as to where it will be held. African leaders have said that they are ready to participate, both in terms of organizing the venue itself and the meeting, but they are still discussing it. So, everything is basically in the process. Of course, our western partners from among the countries of the former metropolitan countries are irritated by this to some extent. It cannot but be annoying, because when a new player appears in these large areas and markets, this is always, of course, a reason to think about it.