Where the West has been predatory, we must be collaborative

You know, France imports from Niger close to 3,000 tons every year of uranium for their power plants, for their nuclear power plants. 70% of their energy is coming from nuclear power plants and a considerable portion of that energy is being supplied by Niger. France, however, has never built a nuclear power plant in Niger or any kind of a power plant for that matter. France has never done anything for Niger, for Mali, for Burkina Faso, for Africa, for any of their former colonies. They never did anything to make those people not hate them.

As far as I know, in any of the universities in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, all of whose economies rely heavily upon mining, whether it's uranium or gold or what have you, none of those universities, far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, offer courses or degrees in mining or any related field. France and the West generally has taken a very predatory and a plundering approach to these countries, and they've given all of those countries and the people of those countries every reason to despise them. But for Muslim countries and really for all countries in the global South, but I'm talking specifically about the Muslim countries, this opens up multiple opportunities for Muslim countries and for other countries in the global South to fill the gaps that were created by the West and by France's predatory selfish plundering form of colonialism. Instead of having Niger import their electricity from Nigeria, why couldn't The UAE, for example, or Saudi Arabia build a power plant in Niger? Why couldn't, for example, Malaysia, has at least six universities that offer degrees in mining and related fields, why couldn't they, go to Niger, to Mali, to Burkina Faso to develop, schools and departments within their universities to offer degrees in mining and related fields.

Theoretically, both of those things could happen. You could build a power plant and you could offer degrees in mining, but then, of course, you would have to deal with the, local faction in Niger, in Mali, in Burkina Faso that is collaborating with the French, that's collaborating with the colonizers, that's collaborating with the neocolonialists and benefiting from that and profiting from that because obviously that's what's happening. So you would have to find a way to either neutralize that faction or reach some kind of a settlement or negotiate a deal with those factions so that you could actually undertake actions that would empower those countries and empower those populations to be able to independently operate their mining sector and to have an independent source of energy because there's no reason why they shouldn't. You see the way that the West has historically dealt with other countries, it has been a very predatory and a very vicious approach. And I think that that reveals to a certain extent what they must understand on some level about their own civilization, about their own culture, that they feel that in order to get access to resources that other countries have, they must oppress and subjugate them.

They must use violence because they know that they don't have anything to offer to those countries and to those people that would make them inclined towards sharing their resources with them. They don't have anything to offer those countries that would make them genuinely want to be allies with them, to be partners with them. They understand that if they don't subjugate these countries, that they if they don't use violence against these countries, and if these countries have any option to not deal with them, they won't deal with them. But that's not the way a civilized society would behave. Contrast that with the story of Hajr when Allah gave her the well of Zamzam.

This is a woman with an infant alone in the desert who now suddenly has access to a self replenishing well of fresh nourishing water. When tribes and caravans would pass by, these are people who have been traveling through the desert who desperately need water. But when they saw the well of Zamzam and they saw that it belonged to Hajj, that Allah had bestowed it upon her, no one tried to plunder it, no one tried to take it from her, no one tried to kill her and take control of Zamzam, but instead they dealt with her with respect, with honor, and dignity because that's what civilized people would do if they want access to resources that someone else possesses. You build a strong relationship with them. You have good relations with them.

You deal with them with respect and dignity and prove your value to them, show your value to them so that they will be inclined to share with you, so that they will be inclined to form partnerships with you, so that they will, out of friendship, out of goodness, out of goodwill, they will share their resources with you because they will care about you. That's what civilized people would do. What the West has done historically and is doing right now is to behave like a predator. So whenever they see someone who has a resource that they either need or want or want to have control of so that they can determine whether or not anyone else can have access to it, whenever they see someone with a resource that they're interested in, why they treat them as nothing but prey. And they do everything in their power to subjugate them and to oppress them and to exploit them.

But there's no reason why the Muslim countries and the other countries in the global South should take that approach. There's no reason why capitalism has to be completely devoid of social responsibility. There's no reason why capitalism has to be completely devoid of social morality. You can practice capitalism. You can pursue profit, but still have some morality, still have some decency, and have some sense of enlightened self interest whereby you can see that mutual benefit is beneficial for everyone.

Rather than just pursuing short term profits for yourself only, you can see the value and the long term sustainable value of building, solidarity between countries, between peoples, between nations, and between private sectors so that you can pursue long term sustainable value, long term sustainable profitability that will be beneficial for not only one company or two companies or one oligarch or two oligarchs, but for entire nations and for entire regions. So with the pivot to the global South, with the pivot East, I hope that the nations of the global South and the nations of the Muslim world can begin to approach business, can begin to approach the private sector, and can can begin to approach their bilateral and multilateral relations with a completely different mindset and a completely different paradigm than what we've been used to for the last one hundred, two hundred, three hundred years. And instead of approaching it with a competitive and predatory mindset, approach it with a solidarity mindset and can help uplift every nation that has been subjugated by the West for as long as there's been something called the West.