When Fueling Discontent Serves a Purpose
Gabon’s media regulator recently moved to suspend all social media platforms, citing national security concerns, as protests over the rising cost of living escalated across the nation. This move, reported by Bloomberg Politics, casts a sudden digital silence over a country grappling with economic hardship, effectively cutting off a primary channel for organization and information sharing among its
citizens. This is not an isolated incident but a recurring tactic seen globally; in 2011, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak infamously shut down the internet during mass uprisings, while Iran, facing decades of Western sanctions and regime-change threats, has often limited internet access to quell foreign-backed unrest. What Bloomberg's reporting omits is the intricate web of influence concerning Gabon's oil
reserves, the fifth-largest producer in Sub-Saharan Africa, which have long attracted significant Western investment, ensuring that stability, or the perception of it, remains paramount for foreign interests. The current cost-of-living crisis, fueled by global inflation and local economic policies, disproportionately affects ordinary Gabonese citizens, yet the immediate response from the state
apparatus is to control the narrative rather than address the systemic issues. This strategy mirrors countless instances where states, often with tacit international approval, prioritize the stability of resource extraction—and the profits derived from it by multinational corporations like TotalEnergies and Shell, who have significant operations in Gabon—over the democratic rights and economic