0:00 Sey shells is a small country tucked

0:02 away in a corner of the world which

0:04 hasn't been relevant in almost 200

0:06 years. It's a collection of over a

0:09 hundred islands just north of

0:11 Madagascar. But 99% of its 100,000 odd

0:15 people live on just three. The vast

0:18 majority on only Mah, an island you can

0:21 drive from tip to tip in less than an

0:23 hour. Life here seems easy. Per person,

0:27 it's the richest African nation. has the

0:30 highest literacy rate in Africa, one of

0:32 the lowest death rates, and is the least

0:34 corrupt country on the continent. And on

0:37 top of all that, you get to live here.

0:40 It seems like an island paradise, which

0:43 makes it kind of crazy to say that this

0:45 was the result of a quite brutal

0:47 dictatorship.

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0:50 Modern seawwa politics and its way of

0:52 life have been defined by the visions of

0:54 one man at a time being one part

0:57 socialist repressive state and one part

1:00 tax haven to be used by foreign banks as

1:03 a playground for millionaires.

1:05 The man who seells embodies was France

1:09 Albear Renee since his violent takeover

1:12 of the country in 1977. He's directly

1:15 ruled for over half of independent

1:18 history while his party stayed in power

1:20 until 2020. Not typical of a dictator,

1:24 he embraced the easy life, often being

1:27 seen in a button-down shirt and

1:29 expensive loafers and never never being

1:32 afraid to take dodgy cash when needed.

1:36 As a spoiler, seells became rich through

1:39 export abundance. per person. They

1:42 export the most things out of any

1:44 African country around $22,000 a sea wa

1:49 most importantly through tourism. A lot

1:52 of tourism, but also things like fishing

1:55 and yacht registration of all things.

1:58 It's this bounty of cash which has

2:00 really allowed Sey Shells to invest in

2:02 the safety net which has made it

2:04 famously such a nice place to live. But

2:07 let's back up a little. The islands were

2:10 administered by the British for around

2:12 150 years, seized from the French

2:14 because they let too many pirates use it

2:17 as a safe haven. It was then used, of

2:20 course, as a slave-based plantation

2:22 society. But since slavery was legally

2:25 banned in the British Empire, it was

2:28 indentured labor from freed African

2:31 slaves or Malagasi Chinese and Indian

2:34 coolies. If you couldn't already tell by

2:37 the pictures or you're truly colorblind,

2:40 congrats. By the way, Sey Shells is a

2:43 very racially mixed country and one

2:46 which didn't see nearly the racial

2:48 divisions as most other British

2:50 colonies. The dominant ethnic group,

2:52 Creole, is a mix of many of these

2:55 different groups. Put another way, all

2:57 of these men are Creole. But

3:00 politically, the main event of

3:02 importance before independence was his

3:05 cotton economy completely crashing. Half

3:08 of all freed people leaving to Maitius

3:10 and rebuilding itself as a coconut,

3:13 vanilla, and cinnamon export hub. That's

3:16 to say, a poor crop-based society for

3:19 the rest of its British history. In

3:22 fact, Renee himself was born into a

3:25 family which administered a coconut

3:27 plantation. His father wasn't part of

3:30 the elite sect of society which owned

3:32 the land, the leftover families from

3:34 French colonization, the Grand Blancs,

3:37 but part of a poorer white family. He

3:40 grew to be resentful of these land

3:42 owners, and this upbringing would

3:44 certainly make a mark for how he would

3:46 run his country. Then like many other

3:49 sea wa he went abroad to the UK for

3:52 school but never liked it. Coming back

3:55 to practice law before again returning

3:57 to London to work in banking. While

4:00 there because he was fluent in French he

4:03 was sent off to Jersey to work in

4:06 offshore banking. Jersey along with

4:09 Gernzie have had a murky status famously

4:12 being stashes for Britain's mega rich to

4:14 hide funds away from London authorities.

4:17 This is another model he would replicate

4:20 in sey shells. When he finally came back

4:23 from that, he became involved in

4:26 politics, especially of African

4:28 nationalism and decolonization,

4:31 which owing to Seyell's small size and

4:33 relative peace. It was quite late to

4:36 there. He faced his first challenge.

4:40 James Man,

4:42 unlike Renee, loved the UK. His vision

4:46 was staying a British colony for now and

4:49 stacking bans through uninterrupted

4:51 tourism and offshore banking. That part

4:54 Renee agreed with. He also to the point

4:58 of his undoing loved women. While

5:01 president of Sey Shells somehow finding

5:04 the time to judge the Missworld beauty

5:06 pageant. Clergy members would broadly

5:09 support Renee because of it and the

5:11 western press never really treated him

5:13 like a serious leader either. Manim just

5:16 always seemed to be on island time. In

5:19 the last part of the colonial period he

5:22 led the Seyell's Democratic Party while

5:24 Renee formed the Seyell's People's

5:27 United Party. This one pro-UK, pro-

5:30 tourism and conservative. The other

5:33 pro-independence, anti-ourism and

5:36 socialist. There were three

5:38 parliamentary elections during this

5:40 period. Each and every one man won

5:43 handsomely despite having similar vote

5:46 shares. It was a period which saw the

5:49 development of an American satellite

5:51 base which grew to be the island's

5:53 largest employer as well as the opening

5:56 of a brand new airport. Tourism boomed

6:00 almost immediately when the island

6:02 opened up to the outside world and

6:04 voters rewarded Manom for it. So Renee,

6:08 determined to lead his country to

6:10 independence became more militant, angry

6:14 and frankly fearful of Manom. He took

6:17 aid from the Organization of African

6:19 Unity by portraying himself as the

6:22 leader of a liberation organization and

6:25 would now support total war against

6:27 reactionary elements which ended up

6:30 meaning a string of bombing attacks

6:32 against the SDP. London didn't take this

6:36 seriously, wanting to get rid of Sey

6:38 Shells after their east of Suez retreat.

6:41 Is this east of Suez? ES is east of Sai

6:45 canal region.

6:46 MCOM as a result did start to take more

6:49 foreign money though some even from the

6:52 CIA in what they're calling the worst

6:55 CIA funded government ever. They gave

6:58 him a few hundred a month and a 10

7:01 member intelligence force team. Anyways,

7:05 after the last election, Renee decided

7:07 to join a coalition government with

7:09 Manom despite the fact that they

7:12 absolutely couldn't stand each other.

7:14 During this time, they jointly

7:16 negotiated independence. Yay! Lower the

7:19 Union Jack, raise the seaw flag. Man

7:23 would be president and Renee prime

7:25 minister. But also during this time, it

7:28 was increasingly clear to every possible

7:31 observer that Renee wanted to be in

7:34 charge. He was going to coup the

7:36 government. Pretty obvious was his

7:39 stockpile of weapons on a small island

7:41 off of Mahi. But more Manim was actually

7:45 warned by the Kenyan government, a Saudi

7:47 prince, a guy who was kicked out of

7:49 Rene's coup, the UK police, and the CIA

7:53 that one was coming. but for some reason

7:56 he ignored them. Really, the blame's on

7:59 him. And while he was off in the UK for

8:02 Queen Elizabeth's silver jubilee on the

8:05 night of June 4th, 1977,

8:08 it happened. They seized the critical

8:11 areas of Mahi. The next morning,

8:13 announcing that Renee was delighted the

8:16 people chose him to be their leader.

8:18 Three people were killed during the

8:20 coup, including one unarmed SDP leader.

8:24 Man, of course, initially bragged that

8:27 he was with a supermodel the night it

8:29 happened, but more seriously blamed the

8:32 Soviets. But the Soviets had no idea

8:35 what was going on. They blamed the

8:37 Chinese and the Chinese blamed the

8:39 Soviets back. The real culprit was

8:43 Tanzania, whose pan-African socialist

8:46 leader, Julius Nerer, aided in training

8:49 Rene's gangsters in providing weapons.

8:52 It was one of the craziest outcomes of

8:54 the world's newest state, having only

8:57 60,000 people at the time. It would be

9:00 like if Bermuda were to break out into a

9:03 dictatorship today. Renee was obviously

9:07 not tied to the socialist label. He was

9:10 more Africanist, if that's a thing. But

9:13 he ran an officially socialist

9:15 government. It was more for development

9:18 and to keep a distance from Western

9:20 governments, which he absolutely hated,

9:23 than any sort of advancement of workers.

9:26 His new constitution would only allow a

9:29 single party to run with presidential

9:31 ballots now just being yes or no

9:34 questions to see him in charge or not.

9:37 and not necessarily explicit violence,

9:41 but disappearing people would be a

9:43 common use of force to keep himself in

9:45 charge. A senior SDP leader and

9:48 outspoken critic of the regime,

9:50 Hassanali, just vanished one day, only

9:54 years later revealed to be killed in

9:56 Rene's office. His wife had allegedly

9:59 called Renee personally to ask him to

10:02 investigate what happened to him. Of

10:04 course, he didn't know anything. he told

10:07 her. This was one of the most unique

10:10 aspects of Renee's regime. Since it was

10:13 such a small island, everyone knew

10:15 everyone. Renee and his defense

10:18 minister, Ogilvi Burlui, would

10:20 personally involve themselves in the

10:22 investigations. Instead of using

10:24 independent police forces, it was unlike

10:28 other brutal regimes where a chain of

10:30 command could depersonalize the leader

10:32 from those being killed. It was very

10:35 personal here. In other cases, they were

10:38 killed outside the country, most

10:41 famously with the murder of Gerrard

10:43 Haro, shot dead on his doorstep in the

10:46 United Kingdom. Other ways to control

10:49 opposition were mass arrests. One time

10:52 21 SDP members were arrested together,

10:56 some low-key torture, and by encouraging

10:59 self-deportation through the seizure of

11:01 land and assets. trying to dismantle the

11:05 Grand Blanc hold on land. He personally

11:08 seized a Ladig villa in the process.

11:12 Another way to control it was with the

11:14 Sey Shells marketing board, a massive

11:17 state monopoly which controlled most

11:19 consumer goods as well as imports. The

11:22 National Workers as Union would be the

11:25 one and only labor union in the country,

11:28 banning all others. But development and

11:31 construction weren't nationalized. They

11:34 were often given to allies of the

11:36 regime, like to the wealthy Sevi family,

11:39 which Renee was connected to via his

11:42 ex-wife's ex-husband.

11:45 Unsurprisingly, as well, Mr. Contrarian

11:48 wasn't a big fan of tourism. Agriculture

11:51 was sucked dry of labor once the airport

11:54 opened, and people found it much easier

11:56 to make money in hospitality. Renee

11:59 wanted to boost it up again and maybe

12:01 add industrial fishing to the mix too to

12:04 diversify away from tourism and become

12:08 self-sufficient.

12:09 This tuna canning plant was his pride

12:12 and joy. He was so proud of it. But by

12:15 the end of the regime, Sey Shells

12:17 actually ended up importing more food

12:20 than before and he just ended up

12:23 accepting tourist dollars as the main

12:25 source to build a safety net off of.

12:28 free education, free health care, free

12:30 transport, lowcost housing, decent

12:32 infrastructure, and very much growing

12:34 wages. Honestly, not a bad trade for

12:38 letting foreigners get drunk on your

12:40 beaches. One of his most controversial

12:43 legacies, though, remains the National

12:45 Youth Service. An integral part in his

12:48 eyes of building socialism. It was a

12:52 camp like a summer camp where every

12:54 seawa youngster would be sent out of

12:57 high school to learn the practical

12:59 skills Renee wanted to boost like animal

13:02 husbandry and fishing as well as to be

13:04 indoctrinated into the regime. The idea

13:08 was inspired by the way after a state

13:10 trip to North Korea which remained a

13:14 close ally to Renee sending them troops

13:17 and weapons along with East Germany and

13:20 Cuba.

13:21 So as a result of Rene's economic

13:23 legacy, even today around 70% of

13:27 Seichelwa work for the government where

13:30 most production is found. But despite

13:33 being genuinely popular in the islands

13:36 because of the increasing quality of

13:38 life, not everyone was enamored with

13:40 Renee. 10,000 people left the island

13:43 during his dictatorship. 15% of the

13:46 population. His media censorship

13:49 alienated the upper and middle classes.

13:52 The national youth didn't like him,

13:54 although they would end up voting for

13:56 him later in their lives. The Americans

13:58 didn't like him. The Soviets didn't like

14:00 him. And the South Africans particularly

14:03 hated him. Seells was of deep interest

14:07 to the apartheid South African

14:08 government. being the offshore financial

14:11 center they used to avoid western

14:13 sanctions. They saw it as so important

14:17 to the point of sending a mercenary to

14:19 go and kill him when he threatened to

14:22 cut ties with the country. 4 years after

14:25 Rene's coup, a counter coup led by Mad

14:28 Mike Hay tried to bring Manom back to

14:30 power. They came disguised as a South

14:33 African drinking club. Ye ancient Order

14:36 of Frothblowers, but their weapons ended

14:38 up being found in customs. After a

14:41 shootout, the men hijacked an Air India

14:44 flight and ran away back to South

14:47 Africa, where nearly all of them were

14:49 released without punishment. Botched

14:52 coup attempts also occurred in 1982 and

14:55 1987,

14:57 both from internal security forces,

15:00 which both saw purges of his defense

15:02 force after. When asked what he believed

15:05 in, Renee answered that he was red on

15:08 the outside but green on the inside.

15:11 Perhaps nothing encapsulates this better

15:13 than his mafia aligned government. One

15:16 of the key allies through his regime was

15:18 Mario Richie, a guy expelled from Italy,

15:22 Switzerland, and Somalia, who ended up

15:25 in Sey Shells. Would you really be

15:27 surprised if I told you he had some mob

15:30 ties? Befriending Renee, they created

15:33 the joint Sey Shells Trust Company, a

15:36 state-owned enterprise which would

15:38 organize foreign companies and

15:40 investments, helping them deal with tax

15:42 codes, bureaucracy, all that. It was

15:45 essentially the state-owned vehicle for

15:48 anybody to evade their law, including

15:51 for money laundering, drug trade

15:53 proceeds, or just trying to avoid taxes.

15:56 Which is why many people have given Sey

15:59 Shells the label the world's only

16:02 socialist tax haven. Victoria, a town of

16:06 20,000 people, held eight major banks in

16:09 it during Rene's day. And throughout

16:12 this time, he worked with the infamous

16:14 Gambino family, gave mafia members

16:17 refuge, as well as used mafia muscles

16:21 to, you know, make his enemies sleep

16:24 with the fishies. In 1995, Renee also

16:28 passed the controversial Economic

16:30 Development Act to let anybody who

16:33 invested at least $10 million in the

16:36 country be granted immunity to pretty

16:38 much any foreign crime. This had to be

16:42 revoked 5 years later though due to the

16:45 absolute international outrage it

16:48 caused. By the '9s, after three coups

16:51 and the collapse of both the Soviets and

16:54 apartheid South Africa, Renee had the

16:56 insight to no longer play both sides off

16:59 each other, but join the western liberal

17:02 side. By his own accord, Renee had

17:05 reversed his coup and state-led

17:08 development strategy. That's right. He

17:11 was done being a dictator. Just like

17:13 that, another new constitution was

17:16 drafted to turn the country into a

17:18 multi-party democracy. Man made a party.

17:22 This new guy, Wavvel Ram Kalawan, who

17:25 actually lived under Renee, ran against

17:27 his party six times before his big break

17:30 in 2020. And then Rene's own coalition

17:33 fractured. his defense minister and

17:36 tourism/ youth minister both making

17:38 parties of their own. But all that

17:41 didn't matter much. Every election Renee

17:44 took part in, he won. One of the major

17:47 reasons he did this was to be able to

17:49 take loans from the big three, the IMF,

17:52 World Bank, and African Development

17:55 Bank, which in the9s had some pretty

17:58 strict restrictions on lending you money

18:00 without conditionality. Some of the

18:03 general conditions were to become a

18:05 democracy, slash the government budget,

18:08 raise taxes, and privatize state-owned

18:11 assets. Various waves of privatization

18:15 hit Sey Shells as the debt grew more and

18:17 more unsustainable.

18:19 Frankly, the longer he stayed in power,

18:22 the more his government resembled

18:24 Manom's original vision of Seyell, a

18:27 liberal touristfilled tax haven. It was

18:30 also during this time they really

18:32 hammered out the framework to let

18:34 foreigners hide money here with a couple

18:37 of acts and let foreigners register

18:39 yachts the cheapest in the world. Two

18:42 shady aspects of the current budget

18:44 which are a legacy of Rene's personal

18:47 views of money. In his quest against

18:50 tourism, Renee did end up nationalizing

18:53 two hotels, which were eventually sold

18:56 not back to the original owners, but to

18:58 a Malaysian firm instead. Foreign

19:01 capitalists were still preferable to

19:03 domestic enemies. 60% of his precious

19:07 tuna canery was sold to Hines,

19:10 ironically, actually boosting profits to

19:12 the government as productivity shot up.

19:15 In fact, now Seyell makes a ton of its

19:18 money through the sale of its land to

19:20 foreigners, which they can own 100% of.

19:24 The Outer Islands are prime real estate

19:27 for any unsatisfied billionaire to go

19:30 crazy on. Not that crazy. Renee stepped

19:34 down in 2004 because, get this, my

19:37 American audience, he thought he was too

19:40 old at 68 to lead the country. He did

19:43 lead for 27 years straight after all.

19:46 Let him at least live a little on the

19:48 islands. The next 12 years were led by a

19:51 Renee loyalist, James Michelle, then

19:54 succeeded for four years by Danny For

19:57 also a member of their party. On a

20:00 timeline, here's Rene's rule and here's

20:03 his party's rule. It's no wonder then,

20:06 especially for such a small country,

20:09 that Renee has come to completely

20:11 dominate it. He only died in 2019, the

20:15 same year much of the worst things came

20:18 out about his regime via the Truth and

20:20 Reconciliation Council. His two

20:23 successors continue to do much of the

20:25 same things as Democratic Renee, not

20:28 Marxist Renee. offshore finance,

20:31 tourism, fishing, you know, keeping the

20:34 money makers to keep the safety net.

20:37 Because they're so tied to the ocean

20:40 economy, they did lead some efforts to

20:42 fight the Somali pirates back when that

20:44 was a whole ordeal. And they've also

20:47 guilted some more investment by

20:48 threatening to dig up oil if someone

20:51 doesn't invest green energy into the

20:54 country. COVID and the financial crash

20:56 were understandably big deals for a

20:58 debtridden touristbased economy. Uh they

21:02 made a stock market, a small one, but

21:04 it's real. Oh, and the Americans are

21:07 back after shutting their embassy down

21:09 for 23 years. Pretty much only because

21:12 of the increasing Chinese influence on

21:15 the islands. But other than those, most

21:18 of the political story of the country is

21:20 tied up in this one man. Renee was kind

21:24 of like the left-wing version of

21:26 Singapore's Lee Kuan Yu. Not a very

21:29 ideological guy, but certainly convicted

21:31 that he and only he should be in charge.

21:35 Both ended up presiding over great

21:38 transformations of their countries in a

21:40 benevolent dictator type of way into the

21:43 richest in their respective regions. So,

21:46 my one last question to you is, why

21:49 don't more people know about Renee when

21:52 we all gawk over Lee? Duh. There's one

21:56 obvious answer. There are no edits of

21:59 him.

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