r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 23h ago

Biotechnology Burkina Faso says no to Bill Gates’ plan of creating modified species of mosquitoes

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/burkina-faso-says-no-to-bill-gates-plan-of-creating-modified-species-of-mosquitoes/xyk7xm8
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u/Smart_Spinach_1538 22h ago

Unfortunate. Distrust of the west can be misused by the people in power or they may genuinely distrust Gates proposal.

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u/the_Kell 22h ago

The project has been in effect in Burkina Faso since 2014(?, if I remember correctly from the article). But since Traore took over in 2022, he's been heavy on "no foreign influence or help."

It would be interesting to see the data on the project while it was active.

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u/Jealous_Response_492 22h ago

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/programs/global-health/malaria

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u/Zephyr256k 20h ago

There's no actual data there, it's all just puff about what the project is and who's working with them.
Doesn't even link to any real data.

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u/jofra6 16h ago

I personally know people working on Bill Gates' project in West Africa, a malaria vaccine is actually in development. Yes, malaria is a parasite, but somehow it's in the works.

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u/Logical-Breakfast966 15h ago

I’m guessing mRNA? It really is refining what a vaccine can be. Too bad all the research funding got cut in the us

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u/jofra6 15h ago

Yeah, I don't know the specifics, but I understand that it's mostly/completely being funded by the Gates foundation... I imagine at one point the WHO/CDC was involved, but this was largely privately funded as I understood it.

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u/Zephyr256k 15h ago

No, RTS,S is a recombinant (not mRNA) vaccine.
It was developed primarily by GlaxoSmithKline in cooperation with Walter Reed and PATH.
Gates foundation has provided major support for the final phases of trials and distribution, but most of the research and development was done long before they ever got involved.

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u/jofra6 15h ago

My understanding is limited, I knew the person working on the project in passing. Thanks for the correction!

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u/skolioban 13h ago

Surprisingly, there's a candidate for malaria relief, which is.... ivermectin. Yes, the horse paste dewormer idiots had been praising as a miracle drug. There are actual trials going on right now.

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u/organicversion08 11h ago

Not surprising, it's an antiparasitic drug.

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u/SnooPuppers8698 14h ago

no foreign influence unless its russia lmao

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u/Popular_Brief335 22h ago

So he is stupid?

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u/Nachooolo 20h ago edited 20h ago

He's a military dictator that expelled the French forces and hired the Wagner Group to fight jihadists. The jihadist control around 40% of Burkina Faso's territory and their attacks are intensifying.

So. Yes.

Edit: Yes. France is neo-colonial power.

But. Because life isn't binary. Traore can also be a military dictator whose is doing a horrible job at fighting the jihadists while also selling his country to the Russians (who are also doing a horrible job at fighting the jihadists).

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u/mulligan 20h ago
  1. Military dictator is bad
  2. Hiring the Wagner group, also bad

But you make it seem like expelling French forces is also bad, why?

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u/LiechWaffle 20h ago

Because they asked help from France to get rid of the jihadists. But they couldn’t do it so Russian propaganda made people starting to believe the French were on the side of the terrorists and that’s how Wagner took their place. So yes bad

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u/jofra6 16h ago edited 16h ago

There is evidence* that Russia was clandestinely aiding said jihadist groups, in multiple West African countries that have had coups d'état, aiding governmental opposition that then conveniently took power and hired Wagner to "help" secure their countries.

  • See Popular Front episode "Investigating PMC Wagner's Mission in Africa".

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u/Nachooolo 20h ago edited 20h ago

More mixed. The French there were not as an occupation force, but to help the Burkina Faso goverment with the insurgency.

Of course, they were also there to impose French neo-colonial interest. But they were far better at fighting the jihadists than the Russians.

And the Russians aren't there pro bono either. So they replaced a neo-colonial power that was good at fighting the insurgency with another neo-colonial power that is bad at fighting the insurgency.

And, alongside this. This change happened because a coup changed a semi-democratic, corrupt government to a corrupt military dictatorship.*

*Edit: The coup that dissolved the goverment was done by Damiba. Traore did another coup months afterwards and replaced Damiba as the dictator.

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u/Moifaso 17h ago

Of course, they were also there to impose French neo-colonial interest.

In this case, the "neocolonial interest" was "we would like to not have ex colonies fall to jihadists and flood us with refugees"

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u/EconomicRegret 12h ago

No. France and its corporations have tons of economic/business interests and investments in Burkina Faso, in the Sahel, and West Africa in general, e.g. mining (gold, uranium, etc.), banking, agriculture,, industry, etc. And these terrorists are threatening their interests.

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u/Moifaso 11h ago edited 11h ago

Trade between BK and France is in the few hundreds of millions. That's a drop in the bucket. Like all the Sahel countries it's a desperately poor place with very few productive sectors. France doesn't even have that big a stake in the big industries - almost all foreign owned mining is British, Canadian, Australian, or Chinese owned.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/burkina-faso-completes-nationalisation-five-gold-mining-assets-2025-06-12/

Bottom line is that economic links do exist, but they're minor when compared to the cost of aid and a military intervention. BK and the other Sahel states are landlocked, very poor, and mostly trade with neighbors. Their value to France (and the value of their security) comes from cultural/diaspora connections, and from the significant number of French citizens live or have family there.

We're talking about countries with already very significant migrant/refugee flows to France. If a 2013 ISIS situation were to unfold in the Sahel, France would really feel it. That's the big concern, not the .3% of France's trade that passes through the region.

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u/Chucknastical 1h ago

is in the few hundreds of millions

I don't know squat about the area but just want to point out trade between France and its former colonies is not the point. It's who owns the capital.

Burkina Faso may trade with countries other than France but it's possible French nationals and interests ultimately control the capital behind those industries.

It all winds up in offshore accounts anyway so it's not like it would show up in France's GDP numbers. Doesn't mean a French billionaire isn't living off the countries resources.

Case in point, what Wagner and Putin are doing there now.

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u/FIuffyAlpaca 58m ago

Lol someone drank the Russian propaganda

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u/MrAngryBeards 20h ago

Obviously African countries are too late to claim any form of sovereignty /s

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u/Schiano_Fingerbanger 17h ago

Replacing French troops with Wagner mercs is not a gain in Burkinabé sovereignty 🤦‍♂️

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u/TomDRV 20h ago

I don't know much about it but It's probably because whatever the geopolitical and realpolitik motivations they have to be there (may not be altruistic), they are at the end of the day a professional army attempting to protect locals and kill terrorists.

The wagner group is most definitely not. I think they're more concerned with defending resource mines in return for favourable export deals for russia to due the resources.

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u/Hour-Anteater9223 20h ago

You should watch the CGP grey YouTube video rules for rulers

I think it will be helpful in understanding how authoritarians who do not have democratic systems must still provide value to their constituents “keys to power”.

TLDR when a dictator is “replaced”, the new dictator has to allocated the state capture to benefit their keys to power (ie wagner, or other military backers) in a manner that justifies those backers leaving the previous dictator.

Unless it’s a scenario where a commodity can be extracted at a more intense level, like RSF and Al-mehti’s gold mines, the size of the wealth dictatorships can siphon off these developing nations rarely grows faster than the need to reallocate state capture to their supports who are more important than random citizens, hence frequent coups and non responsive government to the constituents.

If you throw out the French who are obviously flawed(central currency control etc, but once again we could argue that’s to prevent access to resources like that state capture we previously described, CERTAINLY at minimum paternalistic…)

Yet Burkina Faso will still need for such a role to fight the Islamic rebels trying to overthrow the country. It’s very likely the “cost” of that support presently provided by Wagner has been 1. Less successful 2. More expensive 3. But the French are gone. So to some, worth it if every aspect of their life is measurably worse, which should leave any sane person thinking was it actually worth? But Im not going to speak for the average Burkina Faso person, but neither is a dictator such as Torare

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u/blacmagick 20h ago

Because colonialism is good and developing countries shouldn't have national sovereignty, obviously.

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u/AccomplishedFail2247 20h ago

So they invited the fucking Wagner group in?

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u/blacmagick 20h ago

Yes, inviting a foreign group or country in by choice = national sovereignty.

A foreign country refusing to leave, maintains control over your currency, influencing your country's policies and politicians =/= national sovereignty.

This isn't hard.

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u/Single_Quail_4585 20h ago

The french were invited by the previous government though...

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u/boozewald 20h ago

You should look up Thomas Sankara.

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u/blacmagick 20h ago edited 20h ago

"Invited" is a strange way to say "invaded", and "previous government" is a funny way to reference people who lived in 1896.

People really need to learn their history before they decide to regurgitate false information online. And the worst part is this is SO FUCKING EASY TO VERIFY. Am I losing my mind, or are people actually this fucking stupid.

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u/Nachooolo 20h ago edited 20h ago

Do you think that a military dictatorship backed by Russia has national sovereignty?

This is like saying that Franco's Autarky was Spain having national sovereignty...

The French were (and still are) neo-colonial. BUt it is downright absurd to think that Traore is the defender of Burkina Faso independence.

He's just another dictator selling his country to a foreign power.

It's just that now that power is Russia. And that Russia is doing a horrible job at keeping the jihadists at bay.

This is not a binary conflict. France and Traore can be bad at the same time.

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u/bourton-north 20h ago

That is not the actions of a stupid person. Those might be the actions of a bad person, but not stupid.

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u/eagleal 18h ago

I’d wage my 2 cents and call this analysis bonkers.

Russia is bad maybe, but it’s there for the same reasons France was there, or why the USA and China too are contending Africa and has nothing to do with helping governments against “jihadists”. It seems Russia offered better terms to the new dictator.

The rise in militia activities you’ve seen it’s not because of France leaving, but an ongoing chain of crisis brought by destabilizations in ME and surrounding regions. And this is mainly the shortsighted policies of the Western hegemony, with USA, UK, France and Israel being the main actors.

In fact you can see the fall to the US hegemony in the Pacific and current local regional powers starting real military attritions

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u/sbFRESH 10h ago

The leader is actually quite popular in Burkina Fasso. He has quite a lot of support thanks to keeping his promises and being serious about making Burkina Fasso an independent state.

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u/brain_rays 8h ago

Burkina Fascist

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u/Zeikos 22h ago

Not necessarily, I doubt taking Gate's offer would be a free lunch.
Given Burkina Faso's recent efforts in building infrastructure and investing in local industry I would guess that they have internal plans in place and they don't like the tradeoff of taking aid from the US.

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u/Whatsapokemon 21h ago

It's literally a free lunch. The Gates foundation has been doing charity programs for decades.

Gates is the rare breed of people who actually wants to leave a positive mark on the world.

It's also not "aid from the US", it's a private charity.

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u/Loeffellux 20h ago

I'm taking an alternative approach to this issue. My problem is not that Gates is a secret villain but simply that good intentions don't automatically make for the optimal outcome.

I can't recall the specifics but the AstraZeneca corona vaccine was actually invented by Oxford University who pledged to donate the rights. They were then convinced by the Gates foundation to sell the rights to AstraZeneca instead.

I'm not saying there weren't real and understandable reasons for this like ensuring an orderly and safe rollout by a company that's well established in the industry and so on. But at the very least, this decision has had negative consequences for people living in poorer countries that often had to buy the vaccines for higher prices than richer countries. In the end, a lot of them had to wait for China's vaccine.

I'm also not saying that I can be sure that more people would've survived had the rights been granted for free like Oxford originally planned but at the very least it seems likely.

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u/Nauin 19h ago

Please educate yourself on Bill Gates before making statements like that. He's not as bad as most of the other billionaires but he is still plenty problematic and these charity donations more often than not completely destroy the economies and job markets of the places they're donated to.

Behind the Bastards has a multi-part series on Gates that goes into a lot of his history and what he has done to influence the world. Some good, a lot bad.

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u/Moifaso 17h ago

but he is still plenty problematic and these charity donations more often than not completely destroy the economies and job markets of the places they're donated to.

Citations needed. Most of the stuff he donates either involves local labor or are things that locals aren't equipped to do - like genetically modifying mosquitos.

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u/Nauin 14h ago

There's a ton of citation out there, but really use the source I recommended in my original comment; The two part Ballad of Bill Gates by Robert Evans.

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u/Derbloingles 24m ago

He gave a citation

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u/Fireproofspider 14h ago

Charity programs aren't a free lunch when talking about long term economic and developmental outcomes.

I'm not familiar with this particular program but one of the issues in my industry (pharma) is the lack of actual protection capabilities. This was especially hard during COVID and now with USAID pulling out.

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u/brunckle 4h ago

"He who gifts gives with strings attached."

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u/VonBeegs 1h ago

Did the whole COVID vaccine IP thing not open your eyes to Bill Gates being just another asshole billionaire whose "charity" is just a method of regulatory capture?

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u/dnyank1 21h ago

I doubt taking Gate's offer would be a free lunch.

Are you confused what a philanthropist is? or...

Gates is retired from business. Over the next 20 years he wants his wealth redistributed to the global poor.

He really is doing it all for free.

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u/DevilishlyAdvocating 20h ago

Altruism aside, aide can be problematic by giving developing nations a crutch that prevents them from developing the skills, economy or infrastructure to provide for themselves.

No opinion on this particular case but that can be the tradeoff of the "free lunch".

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u/Lonyo 14h ago

Trying to deal with malaria isn't exactly a crutch.

Polio was almost eradicated by concerned global effort. Smallpox was eradicated

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u/DevilishlyAdvocating 9h ago

It's a fair point, like I said I'm not commenting on this specific issue, moreso responding to:

Are you confused what a philanthropist is?

Since that is a flawed argument in this space.

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u/ABHOR_pod 13h ago

I mean, sure. That might be true for many things like donating clothing or building roads or whatever.

I don't think there's a local industry for curing malaria in Burkina Faso. Might be an industry in treating the symptoms, but "Curing an endemic disease that has killed more humans than literally any other cause in history, for millennia." isn't exactly a local industry kind of endeavor. It's also not exactly something the free market is champing at the bit to solve.

I don't think that specific argument applies to the Gates foundation.

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u/MrAngryBeards 20h ago

Also you really have to fully ignore the history of Africa to not see why one would be resistant to foreign aid, especially from ultra rich people from the US

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u/DevilishlyAdvocating 20h ago

Exactly. Just because Gates might not get anything out of it doesn't mean it's a total benefit without tradeoffs. Extremely ignorant to suggest otherwise.

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u/MrAngryBeards 19h ago

Under these circumstances, even some perfectly spotless no-strings attached aid could still be non-ideal in the long run. A lot of African countries have no proprietary solution to some of the issues they face, because foreign aid most often comes in the shape of band-aid solutions. Rarely do they make direct injection of money into government projects. When that occasionally happen, it's not no-strings-attached.

I don't entertain the thought too much because it really ruins my day but it's not hard to see why so many critics see the Gates Foundation as just a tax write-off scheme. Bill Gates is literally worth more money now than he was when he co-founded the giving pledge, even with all the hundreds of aid programs across Africa over however many years.

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u/Moifaso 17h ago

I'm sorry this argument is just insane in context

You know what famously is also a massive hindrance to development? Malaria.

More than half of BK's population are minors and half the country is under jihadist control. They have bigger fish to fry with their very limited resources than trying to homegrow an inferior malaria intervention.

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u/Happycricket1 21h ago

Apparently, people mistake Bill Gates for China.

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u/iamthewhatt 20h ago

Are you sure it isn't just people not trusting the global ultra rich after what we see happening right now?

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u/Ok-Self5588 20h ago

Insane thing to say when the IMF and World Bank exist. Chinas foreign aid comes with unitedly fewer strings attached than western aid but keep lying to yourself that China is the imperialist hellscape in this equation

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u/Dic3dCarrots 20h ago

Its the paradoxical enemy trope, belt and road is both a tragic economic blunder of the sad poor planned economy, and a hegemonic debt trap that the Chinese will use to steal what they will. Turns out theyre more 1950s American than anything else where they will work with any friendly regional power to develop their economic gosls even if that juices otherwise unsavvory political organizations. As long as the illicit activity doesnt happen on Chinese soil, they'll make any friendly want to be industrialist very wealthy, they just have to be willing to take direction from the ccp on global affairs and keep the local situation friendly, no matter how. China benefits from modernizing Brasils ports as much as Brasil does, the only loser is the US.

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u/AccomplishedFail2247 20h ago

But then China owns the fucking ports, thats the problem. And 99% if all the serious news coverage is about the hegemonic debt trap side of the operation, no one’s talking about it in a negative sense. China owning most of Africa and South Americas critical infrastructure is not a good thing

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u/el_muchacho 19h ago edited 19h ago

Once again, the debt trap is a lie. And no, China doesn't own "most Africa and SA's critical infrastructure".

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u/Tha_Sly_Fox 21h ago

It’s charity, he’s saying no bc of politics. BF recently had a military coup to overthrow their government and they new leader uses the west as a boogeyman to blame all their problems on.

They kicked out western anti terrorism units and replaced them with Russian Wagner soldiers, though I believe it’s becoming Russian “African Corps” soldiers since Wagner is being slowly disbanded.

The west is far from perfect and I understand African distrust over former colonizers, however this was part of a larger series of military coups across the Sahel over the past 5 years with military dictators taking control and kicking out western partners then replacing them with Russian troops who reportedly split their time between suppressing the locals populations on behalf of the government and taking control of precious metal mines while local jihadis groups run rampant and unchecked.

Gates is an American whose charity has an association to the US government, BF made the case the entire west is evil and can’t be trusted, ergo no charity from the west even if no string attached.

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u/el_muchacho 20h ago

it's not USAID (which has been gutted by Musk), it's the Bill Gates Foundation. Completely unrelated to the US foreign aid and policy.

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u/CrunchingTackle3000 14h ago

I seriously doubt the credibility of your statement

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u/johnwilkonsons 21h ago

Yes. Every time he loses a village or town to the jihadists, he comes out with some nutty (and likely untrue) announcements like being entirely debt-free or making education free (while they're one of the poorest countries on the continent). It's like clockwork

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u/Icy-Consequence7401 21h ago

Are you getting this info from twitter per chance? He has never said Burkina Faso is debt free

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u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 19h ago

Well the West has royally fucked over basically everyone in Africa, with the French the most, then Americans, and finally Chinese still doing it to this day.

But yes he's a ministry dictatorship so he's using a bad situation to help himself not the people. But kicking the West out would likely be better long term simply because most of what they do is extract resources and leave no wealth in the country.

It's why so many countries want to nationalize their industries, and why the United States has been involved in various wars in Africa since the early 00s. We use military force to back up those western companies any time a country there tries to kick us out. It's the biggest reason why places like Africa and South America have been stuck in poverty for so long. All their wealth is taken away.

This doesn't mean he's a good guy, more than he's taking advantage of a bad situation and doing a broadly popular thing in the dumbest way possible. You want to kick out the extractive companies, not everything.

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u/ThroawayJimilyJones 19h ago

If i had to guess, he lived in a place where there are less mosquitoes.

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u/LyptusConnoisseur 22h ago

Stupid, paranoid, and indifferent to people's suffering. 

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u/ProgressBartender 20h ago

Dictators need the suffering to keep the people under their heel.

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u/[deleted] 21h ago edited 21h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/jofra6 16h ago

*since Russia aided in a coup.

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u/Waldo305 19h ago

Unless its from russia who i think still protects his ass and his capital.

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u/dimgrits 17h ago

no foreign influence

except Russian's)

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u/bullairbull 15h ago

I see heavy propaganda stuff of this dude on social media, and from the surface level, it just seems like that. Is there more to him than just another power hungry dictator trying to portray himself as being strong and smart who doesn’t need any outside help?

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u/Terrible_Tutor 14h ago

Traore took over in 2022, he's been heavy on "no foreign influence or help."

Making Burkina Faso again

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u/shitbagjoe 11h ago

Government contracts are only won by western governments/companies which means there’s basically no chance of them ever being self sufficient since no business can make any money. They all get outbid by foreigners. There’s a point where too much help can be a problem.

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u/amateurviking 10h ago

The team is Target Malaria, they’ve done a tonne of good work

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u/drawkbox 10h ago

Burkina Faso was coup'd by Russia in 2022. This is why.

Russia and Africa's Coup Belt, all done by Wagner and Africa Corps at direction of the Kremlin.

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u/SpinningAnalCactus 6h ago

"no foreign influence or help" except from Russia or China.

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u/Terrible_Armadillo33 39m ago

No foreign influences unless they are authoritarian like him AKA Russia.

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u/zztopsthetop 21h ago

Except russians.

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u/nizhaabwii 22h ago

Still Russia

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u/Sea_Commission4008 18h ago

This, dictators will accept help from dictators

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u/timbomcchoi 20h ago

When I was living in Ethiopia I saw so many people refusing to vaccinate themselves or their kids, because that's just Bill Gates trying to make them sick.

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u/HaLLIHOO654 20h ago

Effects of social media

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u/Pure-Drawer-2617 19h ago

Also the effects of the US actively doing fake vaccinations in third world countries in recent history, and doing it to black people on home soil as well. No wonder people don’t trust them.

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u/En_CHILL_ada 16h ago

Exactly. It's like everyone here has forgotten all of the history that these people have lived through. They have extremely rational and logical reasons to not trust western intervention or "charity."

I see a lot of people in this thread bringing up the jihadist problem Burkina is facing. Where did this spread of violent jihadism in north Africa come from again? Was it the western intervention in Libya? Libya was the most prosperous nation in Africa at the time. We turned it into a hell hole of warring jihadist militias.

If you look at all the other terrorist groups that the west and Israel have funded throughout post ww2 history (hamas for one example with current relavence) it's a pretty rational conclusion to think that maybe these terrorist groups were created by the west to destabilize the region and ensure that this wave of self-governance and anti-colonialism in Africa fails.

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u/Professional-Error-3 4h ago

There was literally a civil war in Libya at the time of western intervention. And both the Arab league and the UN were in support of stopping Gaddafi's slaughter

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u/throwuk1 18h ago

Or actual fucking history.

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u/snoozieboi 1h ago

Yeah, I think all parties are to blame.

The west often comes in ruining stuff with good intentions, but also have the long backlog of slavery or dubious business practices (wasn't there mother's milk replacements that were worse than regular mother's milk, oh it was Nestlè) . Then also in modern times aid comes in with "free food" and tanks whatever economy they had.

Vaccines could come in rather late too so all they saw from their perspective was that all that got the vaccine (too late) died. It was how ebola looked for the survivors. Your family member got sick, western people came in strange white protective suits and soon after your family member died. From their view the westerns were at it again just like in the past.

The only long term solution I have ever seen most of our problems as humans is free education everywhere. It teaches scrutiny of information and also the ability to absorb new info and alter world views.

Ironically we see this ability declining in select regions of the west now too...

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u/WillingLake623 22h ago

Why would an Africa nation trust the west after they raped and pillaged and continue to rape and pillage the entire continent?

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u/nonhiphipster 22h ago

Because “The West” shouldn’t be confused with literially everyone in the western hemisphere of the planet

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u/coolcosmos 22h ago

Bill Gates isn't anybody.

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u/AnEmptyBoat27 21h ago

Western oligarchs using their unmatched wealth to influence other governments for the benefit of capitalists has nothing to do with western capitalism

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u/Moifaso 16h ago

Enlighten me on how Bill Gates influenced Burkina Faso through this aid program

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u/sorry-not-tory 20h ago

… are pretending that eastern oligarchs are any different?

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u/AnEmptyBoat27 20h ago

No. If I say cancer is bad, it doesn’t mean I’m saying aids is fine

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u/Dapperrevolutionary 20h ago

Like eastern oligarchs are any different

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u/BrazilianTerror 22h ago

Bill Gates pushed african countries to literally prohibit trading seeds with neighbors so that people are forces to buy from monsanto, etc. and guess who owns a lot of shares of monsanto?

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u/shish-kebab 21h ago

Sources?

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u/evildeliverance 21h ago

A quick google search shows they are not entirely making it up, just manipulatively framing it in the worst possible light. AGRA is pushing for regulation that favors the use of modern high yield seeds. The idea is that more food per acre of crop means less starving kids.

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u/ahundreddollarbills 21h ago edited 20h ago

OP just making shit up, connected shit together to make a stupid story.

As far as I can tell, The foundation is just pushing for more GM seeds and industrialization of farming. Both of which many people do not like but the foundation sees it as a way to feed more people.

At the same time that this is happening, many actors in Mali are working to strengthen industrial seed systems, in particular by encouraging laws that allow greater participation of private companies in various aspects of seed production and commercialisation. These efforts are supported by programmes such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

and

in 2012 the Tanzanian government passed a Plant Breeders’ Rights Act. The Act goes beyond the requirement of UPOV ’91. If farmers use and exchange so-called protected seeds without the authorisation of the breeder, they face punishment under criminal rather than civil law. This means that on top of paying fines, they may be liable to imprisonment. Since the law applies to industrial rather than peasant seeds, the Tanzanian government is telling farmers not to worry, as the law does not concern them.

source

I don't know how or if those two are connected to the gates foundation, but that won't stop some story taking hold about how Bill Gates is poisoning our food.

As for the Monsanto shares, the only info I could find was a purchase of 500,000 shares back in 2010. 500,000 shares is a lot for the common person, but in this case it was only 23m, adjusting for todays stock price it would still be worth only about 67m A drop in the bucket compared to the 77 billion dollar endowment the foundation has. The foundation has 10x more money in Walmart (about 700m) but no one is trying to spin a story that he is responsible for walmart's price increases.

source

TL;DR

Gates is pushing for more GM seeds and industrial farming, locals upset and GMO critics worked up too.

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u/WestEndOtter 21h ago

Monsanto sell various seeds. It is more like "would you like to buy standard seeds which you can trade or double sized seeds which you agree to not trade?" Most farmers prefer the latter

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u/venom21685 21h ago

It's not a new thing either. Even without patent protection for GM seeds, many hybrid varieties are undesirable to save the seed because the hybrid traits are not stable from generation to generation. So even if you plant super duper seeds the plants grow and reproduce seeds that aren't quite as super duper.

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u/[deleted] 22h ago edited 13h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/m3thodm4n021 21h ago

You're as dumb as the maga folks if you actually believe that. But Alex Jones agrees with you if that makes you feel better

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u/5Hjsdnujhdfu8nubi 21h ago

If the "absolute worst parts of western capitalism and exploitation" is spending billions upon billions to get rid of diseases like malaria, HIV and neglected tropical diseases then the world would be a utopia.

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u/THE_IRL_JESUS 21h ago

The absolute worst?

At least he gives vast amounts to charity, surely someone like Musk would be worse.

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u/haarschmuck 21h ago

Bill Gates was an asshole during his time at Msoft but using that to take away the good he has done with his foundation is insane.

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u/Wompish66 22h ago edited 22h ago

The man who turned it down is a dictator that took over the country in a coup.

Not long after Russia's Wagner Group arrived.

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u/TXDobber 20h ago

And is currently losing a war to jihadists who are going around raping and pillaging villages, massacring soldiers, etc

While Traore sits in the capital, allowing Africa Corps (yes, Russia really named their Wagner replacement the fucking Africa Corps) to plunder the country for its gold, just as they are doing in Mali.

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u/Str0nglyW0rded 22h ago

Don’t worry, china is having its own hold my beer moment with Africa.

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u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

Every western idiot goes straight to "b-but China" as if we dont have hundreds of years of documented European and American brutality far worse than anything China has ever done to an African nation. Which is basically just loans btw.

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u/bgg-uglywalrus 22h ago

Nah, see it's different because they were white and so you have to forgive them. /s

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u/MuyalHix 20h ago

Colonialism is funny.

A country can come in, destroy your culture and commit all the atrocities they want, but you are supposed to forgive them and never bring it up.

Then they get all angry when you choose to trade with someone else.

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u/Rodot 21h ago

Fun that, the net sum of all Chinese investment in Africa is less than the value McDonald's

Apple has invested more money in China than the Marshall plan, even adjusted for inflation

0

u/Matshelge 22h ago

Just loans? That you say this means you have a very simplistic view of colonization and what China is doing right now.

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u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

I dont see the Chinese military bases littering the continent, taskmasters cutting off the hands of child slaves, slave ships, or anything else Europeans and Americans did.

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u/TXDobber 20h ago

Oh but Russian military bases are… anyone who knows literally anything about the war in the Sahel right now (which these tinpot military strong men are losing btw) knowing just how wrong you sound.

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u/Omnipotent48 20h ago

How tf did you see a discussion about China and immediately hit the "but Russia!" button as if that's relevant to Chinese loans?

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u/Cute-Percentage-6660 19h ago

Im ignorant, can you elaborate for those of us who do not know

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u/Synth_Sapiens 22h ago

"just (unpayable) loans"

lmao

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u/tafoya77n 17h ago

Yep the a thing the west would never do. We'd attach requirements to restructure their entire economy and make sure healthcare is on the chopping block.

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u/Dokramuh 21h ago

I'm going to lose my mind. What do you think the IMF is? Except china isn't doing the whole instigation of civil war, regime change, colonization, etc that the west has historically done.

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u/Synth_Sapiens 21h ago

China isn't doing what? 

ROFLMAOAAA 

Imagine being this illiterate. 

You really should look up relations of China and neighboring countries. 

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u/JFHermes 21h ago

like most people's college degrees or the US national debt.

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u/harryoldballsack 22h ago edited 20h ago

History vs present

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u/MuyalHix 20h ago

The west has been fucking over Africa even to this day...

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u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

And as we can see with the west fully supporting genocide in the middle east right now, history has no real bearing on the present.

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u/Psychobob2213 22h ago

Give them time. China has our playbook and is iterating it as fast as they can everywhere they can.

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u/man_gomer_lot 22h ago edited 22h ago

Either you are completely unaware of king Leopold II or are slandering the Chinese to be as depraved and barbaric as the Belgians.

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u/ForrestCFB 22h ago

Yes, because we all know china in it's history hasn't murdered millions right?

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u/ItemFast 22h ago

Something tells me you are unaware of the Chinese equivalent. You basically saying because they didn’t do it in the recent 250 years to you they are better than west….listen to what Chinese neighbors say about they. Malaysia Taiwan Australia Korea

You will start noticing that they aren’t so different. You view is gullible thinking any super power nation is “better”

“They have only done loans” Wait and see what happens when those loans collapse and they start taking your land as repayments.

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u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

Classic Western projection.

"We did evil shit so the Chinese will too, but WORSE"

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u/Psychobob2213 22h ago

They are actively engaged in it.

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u/ItemFast 22h ago

What do you mean Chinese will…they already fucking did to their neighbor china is built on several kantons and terrorized everyone around them for years. They have killed their own student in taimen square and slave traded around SEA. It’s not projection they aren’t different

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u/HugaBoog 22h ago

I don't see any Chinese troops in Africa pointing guns at their heads. And before you say debt trap, these countries are willingly taking on Chinese backed loans. And I further raise you IMF. Predatory lending at its finest.

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u/Pristine_Pick823 22h ago

Do yourself a favour and google: "Chinese mercenaries in Africa" and "Hua Xin Zhong". Pretty much the same model France, the US and Russia have been employing in there since the 90s...

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u/MadRhonin 22h ago

Ah, because China wouldn't know anything about predatory lending...

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u/WillingLake623 22h ago

“Every time China visits we get a bridge. Every time Europe visits we get a lecture.”

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u/TXDobber 20h ago edited 20h ago

The lecture is usually something like stop allowing gay people to be the victims of pogroms, stop engaging in rampant corruption that leaves your country stagnant, stop pocketing the money you make from resource extraction and start reinvesting into your domestic economy.

But what do you expect from tinpot African leaders who have been in power for decades, who wish to have their holiday to Europe, their Ferraris, send their kids to university in England, and to still be allowed to rule as lords over their citizens who remain little more than peasants.

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u/DrKpuffy 22h ago

"Everytime China visits they take another small bite of our sovereignty. Every time Europe visits we receive education and assistance to help us do it ourselves"

It's crazy how willing to slurp up propoganda some people are.

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u/krutacautious 21h ago

China doing debt trap diplomacy is itself a malicious propaganda narrative started during the first Trump administration to counter the BRI. China Debt trap narrative has already been debunked by reputable strategic think tanks such as Chatham House.

Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’ | 4. Sri Lanka and the BRI https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/08/debunking-myth-debt-trap-diplomacy/4-sri-lanka-and-bri

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u/waterbelowsoluphigh 22h ago

China has forgiven most of its loans... ergo avoiding predatory debt trap IMF style lending.

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u/mukavastinumb 22h ago

Do you have a source for this?

I found this and it contradicts what you said:

China has announced another round of write-offs on interest-free loans to more than two dozen African countries, but observers say the relief addresses only a small fraction of the overall debt burden on those countries.

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u/waterbelowsoluphigh 21h ago edited 21h ago

I'll pull some sources in a little bit, however, do you have a link to that article that isn't hidden behind a paywall, I am interested in reading it.

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/08/20/china-forgives-debt-africa/ this is a good write up. Going back to 2009. From the article, "China is forgiving 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries, after already cancelling $3.4 billion and restructuring $15 billion of debt from 2000-2019. Beijing pledged more infrastructure projects and offered favorable trade deals in a “win-win” model of “mutually beneficial cooperation.”

Further on in the article, "Similarly, mainstream academics at Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School acknowledged in Washington’s establishment magazine The Atlantic that “the Chinese ‘debt trap’ is a myth.”

Scholar Deborah Brautigam wrote that the US government-sponsored narrative is “a lie, and a powerful one.”

“Our research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of existing loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country,” she added.

Brautigam found that, between 2000 and 2019, China cancelled more than $3.4 billion and restructured or refinanced around $15 billion of debt in Africa, renegotiating at least 26 individual loans.

This past debt forgiveness is in addition to the 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries that Beijing has announced it will pardon."

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u/M0therN4ture 21h ago

This is completely made up. Sri Lanka went bankrupt because of Chinese debt trap. Forcing to a 99 year lease of the most important port.

2022:

Sri Lanka's China 'debt trap' fears grow as Beijing keeps investing

2024:

Game of Loans: How China Bought Hambantota

"Unable to repay its debt, Sri Lanka gave China a controlling equity stake and a 99-year lease"

You've got to wonder why no one except China wants to give unplayable loans to countries such as Sri lanka when they know they won't be able to repay the debt with interest. That is why "the west" isn't lending them money because they know these countries would not pay it back. China on the other hand forces the indebted countries to hand over ownership of the project they built as repayment, whether these countries like it or not.

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u/TripleDet 22h ago

Taking advantage of leaders who don’t care about their people or don’t understand the predatory nature of the debt traps. We’re in an age where most control isn’t implemented by a gun pointed at heads.

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u/pineappleFanta87 22h ago

China has forgiven most its loans to developing countries in Africa, what are you talking about?

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u/tartare4562 22h ago

I refuse to believe anyone can genuinely be this naive.

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u/mediandude 22h ago

So has the West, much earlier than China.

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u/leafeternal 22h ago

At least the Chinese are rebuilding Africa.

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u/justforthisjoke 22h ago

Yeah are people forgetting the forced administration of contraceptive shots on Rhodesians or the time the government of Israel lied to Ethiopian immigrants about being given a vaccine when they were being effectively sterilized instead?

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u/HBC_Hair 18h ago

A 2016 study in the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, for example, argues that “the rapid decline in fertility rates among Ethiopian Israeli women following their migration to Israel was not the result of the administration of [Depo-Provera], but rather the product of urbanization, improved educational opportunities, a later age of marriage and commencement of childbirth and an earlier age of cessation of childbearing.” 

The claim that Israel was deliberately trying to reduce its Ethiopian population also conflicts with the fact, noted above, that the humanitarian organizations in question—and the Israeli government itself—worked actively for decades to bring large numbers of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. [See link for detail]

https://thedispatch.com/article/assessing-claims-that-ethiopian-immigrants-to-israel-received-birth-control-shots-without-consent/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26554851

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u/justforthisjoke 12h ago

Clever bait and switch. Notice how you aren't addressing the claim that Ethiopian women were given DepoProvera without their informed consent, but just talking about the fact that it wasn't the primary cause for the drop in birthrate. It's funny, the subheader on the article says "investigations were inconclusive", but you really have to keep reading to find that the investigation was inconclusive because the Comptroller in charge of the investigation didn't actually speak to the complainants, and that 2 of the organizations being investigated didn't cooperate with the investigation.

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u/Famous-Nail-6987 22h ago edited 22h ago

Continues to? That’s Russia and China doing it now, which blows a hole in your retarded narrative…

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u/SkwiddyCs 13h ago

Burkina Faso’s leader was assassinated by the French military lol

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u/GIK602 22h ago

This is exactly it. Forget what this article says. The media makes it sound like this is a free gift from Bill Gates to them with no cost. Burkina Faso is doing the right thing by cracking down on foreign-backed NGOs. They are working towards economic independence, and Western corporations don't like it.

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u/Whatsapokemon 21h ago

"The west" is not monolithic.

Heck, "the west" from the 1600s is not the same as "the west" from the 1800s, and that itself is so much different from "the west" of the 2000s.

You're acting like African nations can't have foreign ministers which actually understand history with nuance. They're not morons, they're able to comprehend that the world has changed a lot in the past centuries.

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u/TheSpartanExile 22h ago

I love that you didnt even read the article and came up some racist narrative about these poor backward and corrupt people not trusting, "the west."

"Ali Tapsoba, a leading member of the coalition said, 'The problem is the solution proposed by Target Malaria, which consists of eliminating the vector using gene-drive mosquitoes,'

He added that 'This technology is highly controversial, unpredictable, and raises ethical concerns. More specifically, the impacts of gene-drive organisms on health and ecosystems remain unknown and potentially irreversible.' "

Literally, this is a plan that irreparably damages the ecosystem and trials have been halted because this has correctly raised concerns. 

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u/CriticalNovel22 21h ago

I love that you didnt even read the article and came up some racist narrative about these poor backward and corrupt people not trusting, "the west."

The article literally says

Since seizing power in 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s administration has increasingly sought to limit foreign involvement in domestic policy, particularly projects tied to high-profile Western philanthropists such as Bill Gates.

The suspension also aligns with the military government’s populist agenda, which often casts Western-funded initiatives as undermining sovereignty.

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u/loves_grapefruit 22h ago

I don’t blame them for their caution. There is an enormous precedent for unintended consequences when we try to mess around with ecological systems. Some people still haven’t figured out that when you fuck around with one thing, it always affects a bunch of other things in ways you didn’t foresee.

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u/imatexass 20h ago

I don’t blame them. The distrust comes from a hefty load of experience.

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u/Remote_Cantaloupe 20h ago

Distrust of the west can be misused

Distrust of an entire continent/culture/race is invalid by definition, there's no sense in which it can be "misused".

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u/Perunov 19h ago

I presume it's traditional "GMO is scary, mutant mosquitoes the size of a songbird and Jurassic Park Horrors coming right up!!!!" thing

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u/360_face_palm 17h ago

or he just didn't bribe enough of the right people

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u/No-Raspberry-4562 16h ago

It is wise to mistrust Gates. He is neither an expert (experts would tell you it is a big gamble) and more importantly he only works in his own interest. He is willing to gamble with their egology but take all the profits once they are hooked. He did it with his PATENTED GMO seeds trap already. It fucks up diversity and the soil, now they tray to sell them fertilizers and influencing politics to forbid planting of old diverse crops. Yes it's real. For the mosquitos nobody understands how the viruses and the whole transition process will mutate.

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u/o0Jahzara0o 16h ago

Gene modifications has scared countries in the past as well. GMO drought resistant corn was offered to some country (I forget which) that was having famine issues. They declined it for their mistrust of gmos..

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u/ikiice 14h ago

After what happened to patent free covid vaccine they're absolutely right to distrust Gates

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u/rivasjardon 9h ago

After the things bill gates has said I would have to think about it.

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u/jeffsaidjess 6h ago

Ruthless billionaire who crushed all his opposition to maintain the spot of Microsoft as number 1 .

Government had to intervene to stop him.

Why the fuck do people lap up his “I’m just a meek feeble altruistic nerd “ persona.

Watch his 1990’s deposition.

He’s a ruthless strong man. Shit like that doesn’t change its who he is.

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u/Vandirac 5h ago

Traore is strongly aligned with the Chinese interests in the area and is basically selling off the country piece by piece.

That distrust is not organic.

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u/Possible_Golf3180 3h ago

Bill Gates has done stuff in Brazil with modified mosquitoes before. They were made to be incapable of reproduction and in the end they could reproduce anyway. One could say life found a way, but movie quotes aside that small detail led to the Zika outbreak being way worse than it would have otherwise been. So it’s perfectly reasonable to reject Mr Wangblows.

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u/Qweedo420 22h ago

No one should ever trust anything billionaires do or claim, Bill Gates destroyed like 11 countries with his AGRA project

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u/RoundTableMaker 22h ago

Im not African but I don’t trust gates either. I know he’s on here and hope he reads it.

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u/hey-dude-stop-it 22h ago

Any friend of Jeffery Epstein is no friend of mine.

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u/RoundTableMaker 22h ago

You just pissed off a lot of rich people

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