It has been over sixty years since Sartre first termed the word 'neocolonialism'. I read or tried reading his opus
Colonialism and Neocolonialism years ago. But Jean-Paul was too deep for my military mind, or maybe it was the fault of the translator. Or maybe it was because years before that I had read
Larteguy, and had a bias towards Bigeard's paras taking names and kicking butts. Plus I never liked Sartre's portrayal of DeGaulle, whom I had always admired despite his antipathy towards my own country. Sartre and many others since have put the blame squarely on the West for a later brand of colonialism. Mostly in Africa. But also in Asia, especially for the US in the Philippines, and Vietnam, and Laos, and Lebanon, and Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Syria, and others. Maybe so.
But there is also an even newer cutting-edge neocolonialism going on in Africa in the 21st Century. China's Xi Jinping AKA the Marquis of Belt & Road and co-prince of Africa is using a modern twist
of a much older colonial notion. Xi does not stoop to conquering a country to exploit its population as labor and its natural resources. He now uses debt bondage and/or bribery on an international scale for the mercantilist exploitation of resources. They probably got the idea from the West. Although they are doing it to an extent that dwarfs anything the World Bank tried to do in the past. They are also buying influence by interfering in elections a la Trump-Russian collusion. They probably got that idea from the West also.
But the colonized are now fighting back. Not just in Africa but also in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
https://www.newzimbabwe.com/chamisa-i-will-kick-out-chinese-investors/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/01/08/violent-protests-against-chinese-colony-in-hambantota-sri-lanka-rage-on/2/#
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-22/book-reveals-extent-of-chinese-influence-in-australia/9464692
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/china-s-cobalt-conundrum-congo
https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/if-china-bugged-the-au-headquarters-what-african-countries-should-be-worried/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/05/16/on-chinas-new-silk-road-democracy-pays-a-toll/
Within my grandchildren's lifetime they will be doing the same to us. What goes around, comes around.
