ASC-075287668-2887-01

68 CHAPTER 1been the domain of elder men. Through the Rural Development Schools, farmersreceived education in modern agricultural techniques (which often, due tolack of means, could not be practiced). The Party Elementary Schools organisedcourses on the structure of the republic’s administration, Marxism-Leninismand the aims of the US-RDA. 125 This then, would propel the nation forwardboth economically and morally. This process of mental transformation wascalled ‘intellectual decolonisation’. 126 It was first and foremost directed towardsthose parts of the population that had enjoyed an advantageous position insociety under colonial rule: the bureaucrats; the merchants; the elders; and thenomads.Coercion, resistance and controlThe leaders of the regime were quick to realise that several interest groups inthe country could still effectively oppose their policies and that parts of thepopulation were not necessarily happy with their restructuring of the economicand political landscape along socialist principles. Measures that especiallycaused resentment among the population at large were the Service Civique andthe so-called Investissements Humains – human investments. Since the MalianGovernment lacked resources to develop the country, it tried to cut costs bydemanding the population to work voluntarily with national fervour onconstruction sites in their spare time. The five-year plan for example, projectedthe improvement of roads throughout the country, financed for 40% through‘human investment’. 127 These ‘chantiers d’honneur’ received much attention inthe media and in administrative reports, since they were not only meant tocreate new infrastructure, but also to inculcate civic duty in the Malian population.The human investments caused strong resentment. To many Malians, thepractice resembled too closely the much-hated forced labour under French rule,or fasobara as it was called in Bamanakan, which had been abolished in 1946.This resemblance was of course denied by the Keita regime, arguing thatfasobara had been colonial exploitation in the service of the white man, whilethe human investments uniquely served the needs of the people. 128 A secondasset was the Service Civique, the conscription of young man into labour brigadesworking common fields (forobara in Bamanakan) and state organisedagricultural schemes. Many Malians closely associated the ‘little farming soldiers’of the Service Civique with the so-called Deuxième Portion under French125 Ernst, K. 1976: 83-85.126 Snyder, F. 1967: 87.127 Société Nationale d’Etudes pour le Développement, S.N.E.D. 1980: 44.128 For popular feelings about fasobara during the Keita regime, see Hopkins, N. 1972:160-163. For the official point of view, see Kouyaté, S.B. 1965: 68-69.