Gallup Polls Suggest Nigerans Support Coup; Americans Would Support One

Niger is poised to be another dangerous flashpoint for the world where the West could again clash with Russia, but this time Moscow will probably be supported by a powerful coalition of African states rejecting Western imperialism.

Eric Zuesse (blogs at https://theduran.com/author/eric-zuesse/)

On August 8th, the Gallup Organization distributed via email to its “Front Page” subscribers, the results from their pollings in the 13 nations of West Africa (these being polls taken prior to the coup in Niger), which showed that in Niger, 84% said they had “Confidence in Military,” and 71% said they have “Confidence in National Government.” 13% more of Nigerans had confidence in the military than in the national Government. The figures in favor of a military coup were even more lopsided in Ghana (80% having confidence in the military, versus 34% having confidence in the Government), Nigeria (69% having confidence in the military, versus 31% having confidence in the Government), Senegal (50% v. 85%), and Gambia (43% v. 71%). But in only one country, Benin, did more people have — and only barely — more confidence in the Government than in the military: 81% v. 78%. So: in West Africa as a whole, it would apppear that overwhelming majorities want a military coup.

This can happen in countries where the public believe that the Government is extremely corrupt.

Another section of that same email concerned corruption in the nation’s Government, and the question there was “Is corruption widespread throughout the government in this country or not?” The only countries shown there were the following 11, which were listed in order of the most corrupt to the least corrupt, the percentages who answered “Yes”:

Mexico and U.S. tied at 74% each.

South Korea 72%

Turkiye 58%

Australia 56%

Austria 53%

France 51%

Canada 47%

UK 42%

Germany 33%

Denmark 20%

The 6 January 2020 Trump-inspired insurrection against America’s Democratic Party might have been tapping into this widesread belief in the United States that the Government (which then was controlled by the Democratic Party) is deeply corrupt. America’s Democratic Party voters have long shown in polls to be far less inclined to believe that the U.S. Government is corrupt than are its Republican Party voters. Consequently: there is far less likelihood of an overthrow of the Government by Democrats than by Republicans, simply because Democrats believe far more in the Government’s lies than Republicans do. Perhaps the reason for this partisan difference is that after the Republican George W. Bush’s lies in 2002 and 2003 that had caused almost 100% of Republicans to believe falsely that Iraq had WMD and so they overwhelmingly supported his invasion of Iraq, more Republicans than Democrats have recognized that they had been suckered by the Government; so, afterwards, the disbelief in the Government tends to be far higher among Republicans than among Democrats (who still don’t yet know that Obama had lied Americans into supporting his destruction of Ukraine, Syria, and Libya — and his sharp intensification of the Cold Wars against both Russia and China). On 8 August 2023, the front page of the Democratic Party billionaires’ New York Times headlined against the Republican Party, “Like Trump, G.O.P Rivals Feed Distrust in Vital U.S. Institutions: Rhetoric Raises Alarms About Lasting Harm”, but America’s partisan conflict is only between two contending groups of billionaires (Democratic Party ones versus Republican Party ones), and the U.S. public are controlled by all of its billionaires. There is nothing that’s intrinsically wrong with, or “Harmful about, “Distrust in Vital Institutions” in a country where the Government is exceptionally corrupt. Similarly, there was increasing distrust in vital institutions in England’s 13 colonies that became the United States, before the Revolution happened, and this was good, not at all “Harm”ful. However, the aristocracy was united against it then, just as they are united against it now. And their propaganda-organs, such as the Democratic Party’s New York Times and the Republican Party’s Wall Street Journal, are united against it today. The only real difference now is the extent of the hypocrisy — it’s far more on the liberal (Democratic Party) side than on the conservative (Republican Party) side. And the polling data show that the Democratic Party’s chocolate covering of the Government’s rot has its intended effects: higher trust in the (deeply corrupt) Government.

As regards the evidence that Gallup released on August 8th that helps to explain why the coup in Niger is widely supported by the Nigeran people, the evidence is overwhelming — such as here and here — that the team who carried out the coup are viewed by almost all Nigerans as being liberators from U.S.-French-and-allied imperialism. Consequently, this ‘coup’ is the very opposite of the type of coups that the U.S. itself has become infamous for perpetrating against foreign countries: it might even become the very model for future authentic revolutions like the American Revolution itself had been but which was on a much slower time-scale. However, if the U.S.-and-allied threats to use military force to restore the now clearly discredited former ‘democratically’ elected leader of Niger actually will produce an ECOWAS invasion of Niger, then the outcome of that U.S.-French-and-allied aggression against Niger could turn out to be either a capstone to the post-1945 American (including French) empire, or else its termination and the end of all empires, by presenting a successful model for liberation movements in all of the world’s vassal-nations. Important history might be made in Niger.