Appeared before French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland – the annual Alpine gathering of the world’s elite – to declare that now is “no time for new imperialism or new colonialism”.
This was of course a reference to the current ambitions of Macron’s counterpart in the United States, Donald Trump, who recently The kidnapping of the president of Venezuela and has repeatedly threatened to seize the Panama Canal Made a loud noise About taking over the self-governing Danish territory of Greenland.
Trump himself took to the podium in Davos on Wednesday for a typically flamboyant speech, during which he alternated between windmills, praised Macron for his “beautiful” reflective sunglasses and declared that he would not “use force” in the acquisition of Greenland – which he also mistakenly referred to as I.
Indeed, Trump’s designs on the island have gotten Europe’s panties in a bunch, with the European Parliament announcing its “clear condemnation of the Trump administration’s statements regarding Greenland, which challenge the principles of the United Nations Charter and its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
After Macron’s intervention at Davos, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported that European leaders had “drawn the line” against the “new colonialism” the French leader denounced.
Now, it goes without saying that the clearly deranged Trump should in no way be encouraged in his predatory international pursuits. But it does suggest that Europe has very little to say when it comes to colonialism and imperialism.
Let’s start with France, which reigns over dozens of territories scattered around the world – many of which are marketed as exotic vacation destinations – including the Guadeloupe Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Archipelago of Mayotte In the Indian Ocean.
These territories have officially transcended the lowly colonial status of the French Republic and thereby become part of the European Union, but France cannot shake the old patronizing imperial mentality and attendant superiority complex.
In December 2024, when residents of hurricane-ravaged Mayotte – France’s poorest overseas region – criticized the government’s ineffective response to the disaster, Macron famously said: “If it wasn’t for France, you’d be 10,000 times deeper.”
How’s that for some “neocolonialism”?
As for the tried and true “old” colonialism, France has a particularly appalling track record on that front. Recall the story of Algeria, where about 1.5 million Algerians were killed in the 1954-62 war for independence from French rule.
Although Macron has previously admitted that French colonization of the North African country was a “crime against humanity” marked by widespread torture and other atrocities. Consistently refused To make a formal French apology.
But it’s not just France. Many other European powers, opposed to sudden colonialism, have an impressively brutal legacy around the world.
Indeed, from Africa to Asia to the Middle East and beyond, it is hard to find a piece of land that has not been affected by centuries of European plunder, slavery, mass murder, and similar atrocities.
The Spaniards exterminated the native population throughout the Americas, the British did royal havoc wherever possible, and King Leopold II of Belgium presided over the deaths of 10 million or more Congolese since 1885, when he established the “Congo Free State” as his own personal possession.
In 2022, Belgian King Philippe “deeply regretted” the abuses during the colonial period but did not issue an official apology. as one Article Noted on the occasion of the non-apology, life in the Congo Free State was such that “villages that missed rubber collection quotas were infamous for providing amputated hands”.
In Ethiopia, meanwhile, British historian Ian Campbell estimates that 19–20 percent of Addis Ababa’s Ethiopian population perished in just three days during the Italian occupation of East Africa in 1937.
The list of European atrocities goes on.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Trump should have free rein to commit any crimes or robberies as he pleases. This is just a friendly reminder that we cannot selectively oppose colonialism. (Greenland, by the way, was not long ago a full colony of Denmark.)
Speaking of colonial atrocities, Europe did not for more than two years Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza StripSucceeded in getting enough hands on mass slaughter, preferred Go the superficial criticism route And actually participate.
As the killing continues in the name of a US-brokered ceasefire, Gaza will now, according to the Trumpian vision, be administered by the so-called. “Peace Circle” President – Who else? – Trump himself.
Also on board will be Israeli Prime Minister and genocide extraordinaire Benjamin Netanyahu, heralding a “new colonialism” of arguably the most horrific variety.
However, unfortunately for the world, blood-soaked hypocrisy is nothing new.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.