 With celebrations on the streets in the Gabonese capital, Libreville, after the military removed President Ali Bongo, who claimed a third election victory on the 26th of August, is it safe to now say the days of Gabon being run as a Bongo family business are finally over? And in Australia, the Antony Albanese-led Labour government is set to introduce a new bill that regulates the wages and conditions under which gig workers operate, looking to grant them almost employee-like status. Why are industry leaders opposing legislation that seeks to protect the most vulnerable section of the working class? Salams, you are watching Daily Debrief, coming to you as always from the People's Dispatch Studios here in New Delhi. For 56, almost 57 years, the Bongo family has run the oil-rich nation as a personal fiefdom. Omar Bongo took office in 1967, less than a decade after independence from France, but supported the system that allowed France to maintain its sphere of influence in sub-Saharan Africa. His son Ali, who also served as a defence minister previously under Omar, took over the presidency following a 2009 election just two months after Senior Bongo's death. In 2016, when Ali won his second presidential election, there were massive protests, and the country's parliament was torched. Though Ali Bongo distanced Gabon somewhat from France and established the country as an environment leader, wealth inequality remains massive. Despite being among the richest countries in Africa, mostly because of its oil resources, over a third of the population remains below the poverty line. For context and the latest from the ground, we go to Kambali Musavuli, of the Centre for Research on the Congo now. Kambali, good to have you on the show on DDDB, as always. Tell us first, there's a new general in charge in Libreville. What do we know about him? What are analysts saying is likely to happen under sort of his charge now? No, Gabon surprised all of us on African continent. It was one of the least countries we thought the coup would take place. So soon, as we are watching what's unfolding in West Africa, particularly in Niger, but with the coup announcement of the national TV in Gabon, and then later announcing that the new leader of Gabon is General Ngema, who leads the presidential guard, was quite a shocker because now we are trying to compare, is this also similar to the anti-imperialist front taking place in Niger and Burkina Faso or Mali, or is something that we should be cautious? So what is his background? He leads the presidential guard. A few years ago, he was suspected for being part of a coup plot. He was removed for a while until he was reappointed to lead the presidential guard. He is from the same ethnic group as the president. The presidential guard is virtually, actually literally a mono-ethnic military force. They are in charge of protecting the president of the country, very well trained, very well equipped. But seeing what has unfolded with the presidential guard actually taking the lead for the coup, it seems to me that this is an internal fight within the Alibongo camp, within the elite that controls the country. Why am I saying so? In past situations in Gabon, anytime there were protests, anytime there were uprising, it was the presidential guard that was sent out to oppress people, to beat the protesters. So if a coup, some analysts have said if a coup had taken place and it was just the military, the ordinary military taking place, we would have been worried to see will the presidential guard support the coup and fight those who are participating in the coup. But now, the top military force protecting the president, they are leading that. We have to wait a few days to really understand but at current time, as you look at what is happening, it appears to be an internal fight within the Alibongo camp whereby the presidential guard took power. But there is a backdrop to that. How did they just fill up that void? There was a presidential election in Gabon and the process of the presidential election was more with so many regularities. Opposition leaders were barred from actually campaigning. I think they gave them less than a month to campaign. I think even a week, if I'm not mistaken, to campaign for the presidential elections. Some of the polling stations were open in the afternoon, so people did not get a chance to actually participate in the electoral process early in the morning. And not only that, they instituted a curfew during the elections. So those who would not get to the polling time were not able to vote. And when people start organizing and protesting all these irregularities, the government or the country or I should say the president because he's the country, he started to institute a cut off the internet actually. Communicate with one another and share what was happening. So the tension was already very palpable in the country. We all knew that the election would be rigged. And when the election result was announced on Sunday, if I'm not mistaken, that Alibongo had won by 67%. The tension within the country was already very strong. And of course, this is not the first time that has happened. For the past decade, Gabonese have been organizing, protesting in the streets against the regime of Alibongo, which is a continuation of what I call a dynasty. I think we can get into that more as we discuss. Yeah. So give us a bit of that context as well for those who might be unfamiliar with the history of or the political history of Gabon, since it's independence from France, Kambale and also contextualized because the English media or at least sections of it is viewing or is at least covering or analyzing this in terms of France's relations with these countries, which is again, a typical sort of prism through which the Western press sometimes looks at events happening in these parts of Africa. Gabon, again, is an independence from France in 1960. The leader then only led the country for seven years. His vice president took power in an election, of course, in 1967. That was Omar Bongo. Omar Bongo is the father of Alibongo today. Omar Bongo led the country all the way to the 2000s. So Alibongo is the third president of Gabon after literally over 60 years of the country being in existence. And with that 57 years of that time, Gabonese have been led by Omar Bongo and Alibongo, a father and son. So it's pretty much what many have seen it as this is a dynasty. Gabon is a very strategic country beyond what France may want to do there in terms of the currency. They use Fonsefa, the Central African Fonsefa, which is also controlled by the Bank of France. But strategically, Gabon is right by the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea space. Because of its geostrategic position, it has also attracted beyond France, also the United States. The United States, Africa is very active there. They actually have military operation in Gabon. They have military training with Gabonese soldiers. Not only that, in the 2018 presidential elections in the Congo, Donald Trump has sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House back then in the U.S. Congress, informing her that the United States was going to deploy 80 plus Marines to Gabon for the potential election crisis in the D.R.C. to protect U.S. citizens and so on. So for us in the Congo, when we sort of say, wait a minute, Gabon doesn't bother the Congo. U.S. Marines are coming to Gabon. So Gabon must be a very strategic country. So beyond that military strategic position that he has, he also has resources, particularly oil. Gabon is a member of OPEC and they produce a lot of oil. So destabilizing Gabon can actually cause challenges with a few prices around the world. So those two things are also at play when it comes to the geo-strategic position of Gabon. But what he's not really discussed, that in spite of just the position of Western powers in Gabon, the people of Gabon have organized for over decades to make sure that they have the proper representation in the country. And it's unfortunate to see that, of course, the people who are taking power are not the ones elected by the people. They're feeling a vacuum that exists. The most organizing force in Gabon today is the military. Our hope is we in this school that the voice of the people is protected, the voice of the people is heard, and that the elected leaders of Gabon, the democratically elected leader of Gabon, particularly even the opposition leader, is able to regain control of the country and move Gabon forward. Finally, if we can talk about the kind of talk you're getting from the ground, what are people saying, people who are perhaps participating in the process of organizing some of those voices and making sure that it doesn't become a case of, again, a coup taking place, but then the status quo being maintained and the old establishment elites continuing to hold power and the massive sort of wealth and equality that exists in Gabon continues to persist. You know, there is something very powerful in what happened, even with this contradiction. The vast majority of the Gabonese are celebrating the end of the Alibongu rule. Because of the oppression that they face, the fact that they've not had political space to choose their leaders. So it's totally understandable to see thousands of people in the streets celebrating the end of the Alibongu regime. At the same time, there has been world caution, particularly for some of the religious leaders in Gabon, some of the political voices, journalists who follow very closely the situation, in saying that the same way there's been a silence around the organizing of Gabon, we risk to have the same situation with the coup because there are many coups taking place on the African continent and people may not pay attention closely to what is happening in Gabon. So they are asking the world to pay close attention to what is happening there so that their revolution, the way they are presenting it, this is a liberation. They've been liberated from Alibongu, that the liberation of Gabon doesn't turn into a force. And some African countries have faced that. When we look, for example, for the Congo, in 1997, the longtime dictator Mobutu was toppled by a war. These rebels came into Kinshasa, on May 17, 1997, they were able to remove Mobutu from power after 32 years of reign. But that did not bring liberation to the DRC. Today, after two decades since 1997, we see that Congo has lost over 6 million people due to the conflict, still being waged for the mineral resources. So when we look at Gabon, that's what we have to watch out for. But I want to also add last points from the voices on the ground. You know President Alibongu posted a video of himself appealing to the world to come and make noise. The Gabonese are very surprised that this video is circulating. The reason why they're very surprised that the video is circulating, just a few days before the video starts circulating, there was no internet in Gabon. So the people of Gabon did not even have the opportunity to share their voice and to also make noise because the internet was not up. But now that it is in captivity, he called for support, not in the language of the Gabonese people. Gabonese have their local indigenous languages and they also speak French. But he made an appeal in English, which should actually give a sense to who he wants to address. Exactly. So he's not asking the Gabonese people to come and free him, he's asking those who have put him in power to free him. And that's the biggest contradiction of his statement and that the people of Gabon are waiting for who is going to come and liberate him. Because for them, they feel liberated from him and they hope for a new Gabon for tomorrow. All right. Leave it there for today. Thank you very much, Kamali Mussovuli, for joining us on Daily News. And in Australia, the Labour government is building support for a bill called Closing the Loopholes, which seeks to protect and enhance the rights of gig workers, Uber drivers, delivery riders, for food ordering apps and others who do work of a similar nature, most of it, which is in the service industry, of course, and is essential to the economy. But they work under conditions that make it increasingly difficult for them to make ends meet despite longer hours and harsher working conditions. People's dispatches, Anish has been covering the story and tells us more about the bill. Anish, good to see you back on Daily Debrief. First up, the bill is called the Closing the Loopholes Bill. So clearly the government recognizing that there's an entire section of workers who are not covered and are therefore probably considered the most vulnerable workers in the entire Australian economy. What does the bill actually seek to address in terms of regulations that will sort of help these workers make ends meet? Well, one of the things that the bill will introduce is the term called Employee-like workers, which pretty much would be like a catch-all term for anybody who's not necessarily recognized as an employee, but definitely is a worker. And that is definitely something significant in this current scenario because what you have when it comes to gig economy and when it comes to workers in the gig economy, they're generally not considered as employees under legal or their contractual obligations. And so corporations definitely have this chance of using that to pretty much exploit them for all sorts of things and give them no benefits whatsoever. Even questions of minimum wages do not affect them despite the fact that most of them, while being technically contractors, they pretty much work for this one single company or platform, and that pretty much should define them as ideally as workers. Now, this is pretty much taking a lot from the Californian judgment a couple of years ago regarding the gig economy. We did that on the show as well about how there was this ABC rule of deciding who is a contractor and who is a worker, basically pointing out that people who work on a single platform for most of their working hours are pretty much entitled to be considered as laborers. And that pretty much gives them the right to negotiate to form perhaps unions and to even go for collective bargaining to negotiate their pay, their working hours and even work conditions. That is pretty much a single most important thing. Now, one of the reasons why this bill was pretty much fast forwarded was the fact that there was another death earlier this year of a gig economy worker who died in an accident and pretty much just it opened up the whole situation there where overworking has led to multiple deaths over 13 people have died in the last couple of years. And that has pretty much led to the government fast-tracking this bill right now. Right. Anish, I was in Australia recently as well to cover the FIFA women's world cup and what I found that in sort of these sort of cases with companies like Uber as well as delivery companies, whether it's food delivery or other companies like that, in any case because I suppose wages are different from regular jobs, it's migrant workers, new entrants into the economy who are generally taking these sort of jobs. And insurance particularly becomes a critical concern. Is that something that is also going to be addressed in any kind of comprehensive manner? Well, right now, we're not sure how it will be put into effect. What we know is that they will essentially be considered as regular workers in most cases and for pretty much all intensive purposes on the state or otherwise. And the fact that it will also, the bill will also empower the fair work commission pretty much also shows that they will have the right to demand the same kind of benefits, including as points of our insurance and medical coverage as workers as laborers in their respective apps and platforms. And this is, but we have to wait and see how the, you know, the degree fees of the law is going to be enacted. But definitely a welcome step because, as I said, it brings out the fact that these are definitely workers and brings them into the legal fold of labor loss. But most importantly, as pointed out, it brings into coverage a large number of people who are completely vulnerable in the industry. And we are looking at about 200, 250,000 people who are in the gig economy already. And for a country like Australia, that's a huge number of the workforce. And as you pointed out, they are also a large number of them are ethnic minorities or migrant workers. And obviously, they are extremely vulnerable to a large number of exploitation. And that is pretty much what this bill kind of seeks to address. But we'll have to, as I said, like you'll have to see how, you know, the the finer details of the bill would be enacted. And that is something that needs to be made. Like we have to remember that despite being a labor government, this government has, you know, previously shown very pro corporate tendencies in the past, especially the Prime Minister, Albanese. But in this current scenario, this is this bill is essentially, you know, something that was that came about because of a large scale workers mobilization that Australia has witnessed in the past several years. And definitely the kind of organization that gave economy workers have seen in the past couple of years, especially, especially because of the intervention of established trade unions. And that is why this bill is pretty much here. And we're talking about it as well. And it probably will be a bit of step forward for everyone. It definitely sounds like a welcome step forward. Just a last bit, Anish, response from some industry leaders in Australia indicates, you know, how statements like this will hurt both workers, as well as consumers. How do you respond to that kind of an approach to a to a bill that looks to actually empower and protect workers from the kind of exploitation you've spoken of? Well, like their argument is quite convoluted. If you look by some statements that have already been made, pretty much there are arguments that it will actually move up the cost of, you know, your services that large number of people do depend on, obviously. But then the issue is that these, you know, those costs need to be paid by the by the industry itself. Like the fact that a large part of their wages are still going to be like they will be dealt with as contractors, they have to give a significant share of their wages as to their platforms. And this will definitely continue. But what you're looking at is creating a baseline for wages for conditions. And these are not really going to like there are multiple studies that show that it is not going to impact that significant peak to consumers as well. But it is definitely going to impact the profit margins of multiple corporates. But we have to also remember that this bill isn't making for nearly two years now, like, especially from the promises that Labour Party made in 2021. And the fact that they have been, you know, seeking advice and, you know, consulting with pretty much all stakeholders including, you know, people in the industry corporate leaders for months now more than a year actually with obviously behind closed doors. But the fact that this has come about after multiple rounds of consultations. And yet you have the same kind of complaints that we had about two years ago shows that the industry is not really concerned about workers or improving the conditions of the workers despite show despite studies showing that they are, you know, quite vulnerable and exploited. So that is something like the need to take that with a pinch of salt. But definitely it is going to be a task uphill for the Labour Party to get the bill passed begin with and also to get industries to sort of industry leaders to actually be on board of work. And then, of course, implement what the bill contains and give those rights to their workers. We leave it there for today, Anish. Thanks very much for that update. And we'll ask you to, of course, track the progress that that bill makes in the Australian Parliament as and when that happens. Right, and with that, we bring to a close this episode of the Daily Debrief. As always, we invite you to head to our website, peoplesdispatch.org for details on these stories and all of the other work we do. Also, since I forgot to mention it at the top of the show, if you like what you see, don't forget to subscribe to share to follow Peoples Dispatch on the social media platform of your choice. Thanks very much for watching. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Debrief. Until then, stay safe.