As the president of France made a state visit to Niger in July, Ali Idrissa, head of civic group ROTAB, or Network of Organizations for Transparency and Budget Analysis, called on citizens to turn out wearing yellow scarves and tee-shirts. The goal: to protest France’s extraction of uranium for nuclear energy while so many in Niger lack access to electricity.
The yellow scarves are a symbol of yellowcake uranium, which fuels the plants “that makes the Metro run, that lights up the Eiffel Tower,” Idrissa says, while 90 percent of Nigerians live without electricity. Here, Idrissa discusses the divide, and his arrest to prevent civic protests from disturbing the visit of François Hollande.
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