{"id":3041,"date":"2023-06-15T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greycontinent.com\/?p=3041"},"modified":"2023-06-18T10:37:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T10:37:40","slug":"senegals-angry-protesters-are-proud-defenders-of-their-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/2023\/06\/15\/senegals-angry-protesters-are-proud-defenders-of-their-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Senegal\u2019s angry protesters are proud defenders of their democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Senegal, often touted as a beacon of democracy in West Africa, was rocked by clashes between state forces and protesters following the\u00a0condemnation<\/a>\u00a0of the country\u2019s main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, on June 1 for \u201ccorrupting youth<\/a>\u201d. By the time of writing, the\u00a0death toll<\/a>\u00a0from the protests and state crackdown was 16, making these demonstrations among the deadliest since the country\u2019s independence in 1960.<\/p>\n

Sonko was initially accused of rape against Adji Sarr, a masseuse at a parlour he frequented, before being convicted on the lesser charge. The case has frustrated many women\u2019s rights activists, who have criticised Sonko\u2019s lesser conviction as allowing the state to disqualify him from elections without fully assessing the question of gender violence. With the case instrumentalised by both sides, women\u2019s rights and feminist activists have found their\u00a0 concerns over gender-based violence drowned out by the political contest in the street.<\/p>\n

In response to the protests, the government has\u00a0arrested\u00a0<\/a>opposition leaders, restricted access to the internet and social media platforms, and deployed the military in several cities across the country. Much of the commentary so far has focused on the violence of the protesters. Images of burning train stations and grocery stores have shocked audiences at home and abroad more familiar with Senegal\u2019s civility and culture of hospitality.<\/p>\n

Those audiences would do well to remember that the deadliest violence, which claimed lives last week, came not from the protesters, but from the state, which has been accused of using live ammunition and armed\u00a0militiamen\u00a0<\/a>against demonstrators. More worrying than reports of looting and vandalism is the regime\u2019s willingness to resort to disproportionate violence to muzzle the discontent pervasive across large parts of Senegalese society, particularly urban youth. The willingness of Senegalese young people to take to the streets to express their outrage should be celebrated as a sign of the vitality of Senegalese democracy, not condemned as a worrying sign of fragility in an unstable region. To understand the importance of these protests, it is necessary to look at Senegal\u2019s recent political history.<\/p>\n

President Sall was elected in 2012 amid widespread protests as his predecessor, Abdoulaye Wade, then 87, ran for a third term which many deemed unconstitutional. These demonstrations ultimately helped boost Sall over Wade, testifying to Senegal\u2019s longstanding tradition of political dissent and protest.<\/p>\n

Sall won re-election in 2019 after two of his chief opponents, Karim Wade and Khalifa Sall (no relation to the president), were disqualified after being convicted of corruption. Karim Wade, son of Abdoulaye, left the country after his\u00a02015\u00a0<\/a>conviction, having served half of his six-year conviction before being pardoned, while Khalifa Sall, who had been mayor of Dakar, received a presidential\u00a0pardon\u00a0<\/a>shortly after the elections.<\/p>\n

Despite Senegal\u2019s reputation as a beacon of democracy, less than democratic conduct from the head of state is far from unprecedented. L\u00e9opold S\u00e9dar Senghor, the first president, imprisoned (and, according to some,\u00a0ordered the murder<\/a>\u00a0of) political opponents during his twenty-year reign that ended in 1980, and Senegal did not see a leader from outside his party until 2000. Although Senegal has been a multiparty democracy for several decades, its heads of state have long been tempted to test the limits of a truly democratic exercise of power.<\/p>\n

Back to Macky Sall. In 2021 the state\u2019s response to protests led to\u00a014 deaths<\/a>\u00a0after Ousmane Sonko, already recognised as the biggest electoral threat to the president, was arrested on the very charges of rape for which he has now been convicted. At least 12 of those killed were reported to have been shot by state forces; the country has yet to see justice for their deaths.<\/p>\n

The rape case was quickly politicised, with support for a trial automatically equated with opposition to Sonko. Women and feminist activists have found themselves trapped between protesters and state forces. The instrumentalisation of the case, along with the escalation of violence, has hurt the struggle for women\u2019s rights in Senegal, leaving activists facing threats and physical violence from both sides.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, tensions have only escalated. Despite his stance\u00a0against\u00a0<\/a>Abdoulaye Wade\u2019s third term in 2012, Macky Sall has not denied rumours that he himself is looking to run for a third term, the constitutionality of which is\u00a0up for debate<\/a>. This rumoured third term has proven highly controversial, with domestic and international observers calling on the president to clarify his intentions and respect the constitution.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the government has repressed dissent unrelated to Sonko and electoral opposition. The authorities brutally suppressed protests earlier this year over plans to appropriate a beachfront property from Dakar\u2019s indigenous Lebous people in the city\u2019s Ngor neighbourhood, leading to the death of a\u00a0teenage girl<\/a>\u00a0(and possibly others).<\/p>\n

Senegal is also riven with economic tensions. While Sall has presided over an economic boom in the Dakar area, the country still suffers from economic inequality and a poverty rate of\u00a036.3%<\/a>\u00a0as of last year. Senegal\u2019s economic, political, and religious elite are all intertwined, contributing to a sense of hopelessness and disgust with the system among much of the country\u2019s youth.<\/p>\n

Many West African countries experience similar tensions. However, Senegal, which has never experienced a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat, is often held apart from its neighbours across the region. What the past week demonstrates is that Senegal\u2019s strength lies in a people ready to defend their democratic freedoms and rights, despite the threat of state violence \u2013 not necessarily in a government that is more democratic than its regional counterparts. While Sonko and his partisans, by dint of their often\u00a0inflammatory rhetoric<\/a>, bear some responsibility for the violence, the ultimate responsibility lies with a regime that is far too quick to neglect at home the democratic values that it touts abroad.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the country\u2019s protesters should not be held to a different standard than their counterparts elsewhere. Protests in other countries, particularly in the West, do not tend to prompt alarmist coverage about the risks of social discord. Protests in Senegal, on the other hand, inevitably prompt\u00a0concerns<\/a>\u00a0that the country\u2019s stability is slipping. Senegal\u2019s demonstrators deserve the same respect as their counterparts elsewhere, and should be understood as defenders of democracy, not harbingers of instability.<\/p>\n

Democracy is by definition fractious, whether in West Africa or Western Europe. Violence, particularly the kind that robs people of their lives, should be condemned. At the same time, those more concerned with street crime and burning cars than demonstrators killed exercising their rights should re-examine their priorities. The week\u2019s events took place in a context where many, not unfairly, suspect the country\u2019s justice system of being politicised. This perception of corrupt justice has also had consequences beyond the electoral arena, severely impeding the country\u2019s struggle for women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, even if violent crime must be condemned, Senegal\u2019s protesters should be lauded for defending their country\u2019s democracy. Senegal\u2019s government, a close ally of France and the West, should be held to account for its anti-democratic tendencies and the lives lost at the hands of its forces.<\/p>\n

Looking forward, Macky Sall has yet to clarify his intentions regarding a third term. Karim Wade, Khalifa Sall, and Ousmane Sonko, arguably Sall\u2019s leading competitors at the ballot box, are now all disqualified from presidential elections next year. The latter was reportedly still at his home at the time of writing, with the Senegalese justice minister saying that he could be arrested \u201cat any time<\/a>\u201d. Although the electoral future of Senegal\u2019s opposition leaders is murky, the Senegalese people have shown that their democracy remains alive and well on the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Franklin Nossiter is a researcher on politics and security in West Africa and the Sahel for the International Crisis Group. A US citizen, he grew up in Dakar, Senegal and is currently based there. The views expressed in his articles are personal.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senegal\u2019s protesters should be lauded for defending their country\u2019s democracy, not condemned for fomenting chaos writes Franklin Nossiter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[108],"tags":[351,414,409,165,398,393,412,391,390,404,410,399,396,392,408,403,407,401,406,395,415,413,115,400,389,411,397,394,405,300,402],"class_list":["post-3041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","tag-accountability","tag-anti-democratic-tendencies","tag-constitutional-debate","tag-corruption","tag-death-toll","tag-democracy","tag-democratic-freedoms","tag-democratic-values","tag-economic-inequality","tag-economic-tensions","tag-gender-violence","tag-government-response","tag-internet-restrictions","tag-justice-system","tag-military-deployment","tag-opposition-leader","tag-ousmane-sonko","tag-political-contest","tag-political-dissent","tag-political-opponents","tag-poverty-rate","tag-presidential-elections","tag-protests","tag-rape-case","tag-regime","tag-repressed-dissent","tag-senegal","tag-state-forces","tag-third-term","tag-violence","tag-womens-rights-activists","entry-card--landscape"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ml3ecjxvie7p.i.optimole.com\/cb:tH84.1188a\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Senegal-protests-16-May-2023.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peSi8E-N3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3041"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3098,"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041\/revisions\/3098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home-5016083355.webspace-host.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}