After the arrest of the progressive-leaning opposition chief Ousmane Sonko in Senegal, protesters and dissatisfied segments of the political left have taken to the streets. On this unique Truthout interview, James Genova discusses the historical past and political tradition of Senegal and talks concerning the root causes of the continued protests and the present crises unfolding within the nation.
Genova is professor of African historical past at Ohio State College at Marion, the place he has taught since 2004. Along with quite a few articles, Genova is the creator of three books on Africa together with, Colonial Ambivalence, Cultural Authenticity, and the Limitations of Mimicry in French-Ruled West Africa, 1914-1956 (2004); Cinema and Growth in West Africa (2013); and most not too long ago, Making New Folks: Politics, Cinema, and Liberation in Burkina Faso, 1983-1987 (2022).
After breaking down the historical past of Senegal’s political management within the trendy period, Genova discusses the impacts of privatization, gentrification, and basic austerity regionally and nationally. He additionally explores the ramifications of sophistication politics throughout its administrative areas in addition to the overseas coverage of Senegal and its therapy within the media whereas providing a perspective of the worldwide response to the emergency on the bottom.
Daniel Falcone: Might you give an outline of the better Senegalese political tradition together with some historical context that explains the place we’re at this second?
James Genova: Senegal is famous as one of many few African international locations that has not skilled a navy coup or main civil conflict in its 63 years since independence. Nonetheless, this doesn’t imply Senegal has been proof against lots of the social and financial points which have produced discontent and instability throughout Africa and in lots of elements of the International South. For its first 40 years of independence Senegal was dominated by the Socialist Get together — a average group constructed across the persona and philosophy of the nation’s first president, the poet Léopold Sédar Senghor. His imaginative and prescient of négritude (a particular African persona that produced an inherent inclination towards communal belonging and African unity) was a cultural model of the extra overtly political pan-Africanism advocated by his Ghanaian up to date Kwame Nkrumah.
On December 31, 1980, Sédar Senghor retired from the presidency (a rarity in African politics) and was succeeded by his prime minister, Abdou Diouf, who remained in workplace till 2000, when he was defeated in presidential elections by the longtime opposition chief Abdoulaye Wade on the head of a broad coalition whose major aspiration was “change” and the defeat of the Socialist Get together. In 2001, Senegal amended its structure to restrict the president to 2 consecutive five-year phrases after the completion of Wade’s seven-year time period in 2007.
Within the 2007 elections, the opposition (now together with a lot of those that had supported Wade in 2000) boycotted the election and claimed it might not be free and honest. That was as a result of, in 2006, Wade had considered one of his former high lieutenants, Idrissa Seck, arrested for treason after he broke with the president and indicated a run in opposition to him in 2007. This was unprecedented in Senegalese political historical past. Consequently, Wade simply gained reelection to a five-year time period. He then pushed by way of a revision to the structure in 2008 that restored the presidential time period to seven years after Wade’s present time period led to 2012. In 2011, Wade introduced he would run once more in 2012 — many within the nation considered this as a violation of the constitutional prohibition in opposition to a 3rd time period. This led to huge protests that continued all through the summer season of 2011.
This was the primary time in Senegal’s historical past the place the political stability of the nation was referred to as into query and it introduced into public view lots of the underlying main social and financial points that troubled a considerable portion of the nation’s inhabitants, and which have been solely worsened by the insurance policies pursued by Wade in addition to Diouf in his final decade in workplace. The constitutional court docket dominated that Wade may run in 2012 since his first seven-year time period “didn’t rely” in opposition to the prohibition of a 3rd time period since he was ending his “first” five-year time period and the clock was basically reset with the 2008 revision. Nonetheless, Wade was defeated in 2012 by Macky Sall, his former prime minister, who was elected to a seven-year time period. Sall’s major place was opposition to Wade and most of his financial and social packages have been equivalent to his former boss.
In 2016, Sall pushed by way of one other revision to the structure that after extra shortened the presidential time period to 5 years however would solely take impact after completion of his seven-year time period in 2019. Furthermore, Sall introduced that his first time period wouldn’t rely in opposition to the prohibition in opposition to a 3rd time period, which means that if he gained in 2019 (which he did) he can be eligible to run for reelection in 2024.
The present disaster has been touched off by the arrest and trial of the principle opposition determine Ousmane Sonko, who shaped a left-leaning opposition group in 2014 when it turned evident that Sall was extra a continuation of the liberal financial insurance policies of Wade and Diouf. Sonko positioned third within the 2019 elections with greater than 15 % and was clearly the most important menace to Sall going into 2024 with the trade unions, youth, political left and disaffected sectors of society behind him.
Mainstream press retailers are commenting on the uprisings in Senegal and hint them again to the therapy of the nation’s political opposition. How do economic and social issues function root causes to the protests as properly?
The financial and social points are on the coronary heart of Senegal’s present political disaster (which has been welling up for the reason that Nineties and has intensified within the twenty first century). Whereas the nation has one of many highest per capita gross home product of any African nation and an unemployment price at slightly below 4 % (itself one of many lowest in Africa), endemic poverty, huge disparities in wealth and sharp contradictions between rural and concrete areas have all contributed to a way that the federal government is unresponsive to the individuals’s wants.
The rich in Senegal (a lot of them linked to exterior firms and overseas international locations) are vastly rich. But almost half the nation lives under the internationally acknowledged poverty line.
For instance, a part of the unrest in 2011 was across the huge power shortages that produced day by day blackouts (even in Dakar) for an hour or so a day and at instances that summer season may final every week or extra. Then, younger individuals took to the streets and located cultural management by way of rappers resembling Y’en a Marre (Fed Up) who produced the anthems for road protests. The rich in Senegal (a lot of them linked to exterior firms and overseas international locations) are vastly rich. But almost half the nation lives under the internationally acknowledged poverty line. Wade sponsored an enormous gentrification of Dakar, together with constructing a brand new airport, that was designed to “cleanse” the town of poverty, homelessness, beggars, and others — making it palatable to Western and Center Japanese vacationers, who did are available massive numbers.
Sall has continued the insurance policies of privatization, lowering authorities payrolls, encouraging non-public worldwide funding and borrowing from the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) and different overseas banks that Wade and Diouf pursued. This has left the Senegalese individuals to fend for themselves with very restricted assets and with out deriving a lot profit from the event packages of their political leaders. High food prices, power shortages, unemployment, poverty and lack of social protections have significantly hit the youth who really feel disconnected from the nation’s political institution and unheard by their leaders.
How is the nation divided politically by region, demographics and social class? Readers, I concern, might essentialize a spot like Senegal and cut back it to a single story.
By way of regional/demographic/class divergences in Senegalese politics, there are just a few notable fault traces. The Casamance area within the nation’s south has lengthy been an outlier to Senegal’s political tradition. A low-level insurgency has operated within the area for the reason that Eighties however in recent times has solely produced sporadic violent incidents. In any other case, the most important divisions are rural versus urban. Dakar (and environs) alone has roughly 3 million individuals overseas’s 17 million inhabitants.
Nearly all of the nation’s improvement cash has gone to the cities with little change within the rural areas. Nonetheless, when it comes to politics, the cities are the epicenter. The inhabitants is crowded, younger, under- or unemployed, and there’s little developed infrastructure within the neighborhoods the place most individuals dwell. Whereas Islam is the faith of properly over 90 percent of the nation, it has not been a serious overt think about Senegal’s politics.
Senghor, (the nation’s first president) was Catholic — a gaggle which makes up 3 % of the inhabitants. The most important brotherhoods, particularly the Mourides, do issue into electoral outcomes with their help being important for victory. Nonetheless, this affect has waned within the twenty first century, and the nation may be very secular in its politics — particularly within the cities. Social class largely is between wealthy and poor, greater than the traditional definitions of capitalist, employee, peasant. Endemic poverty has pushed waves of migration, largely to France but in addition massive numbers to the USA. It has additionally outlined the lives of generations of Senegalese who’ve grown pissed off with the dearth of financial and social progress.
Mixed with the manipulation of Senegal’s political construction since 2001, successive presidents have sapped legitimacy from the state and produced a basic disenchantment among the many younger that’s harmful for the upkeep of any semblance of democracy and political stability. The present disaster is a transparent indication of the state’s fragility.
Are you able to touch upon how overseas coverage and world actors in a multipolar world issue into the politics of Senegal? What are your ideas on media coverage of the scenario within the West?
Definitely, overseas coverage and world actors play a task in Senegal’s politics. Going again to the nation’s independence in 1960, the function of France (the previous colonial energy) has loomed massive. The connections between the nation’s political institution and France run deep — Senghor retired from the presidency and moved to France, the place he was elected to the Académie Française. Nonetheless, for the reason that Nineties, the worldwide affect of the shift to neoliberalism within the post-Chilly Conflict period has deeply structured Senegal’s financial system and politics. Diouf, Wade and Sall all enacted liberalizing insurance policies — promoting off state property, increasing the attain of the non-public sector, downsizing authorities, lowering advantages and so on.
This has produced rising debt, rising overseas curiosity in and management over Senegal’s financial system and elevated costs for the typical Senegalese, when there aren’t shortages. Meals dependency has elevated, power shortages are endemic and public infrastructure (not associated to the tourism trade) is uncared for. For the reason that twenty first century, the U.S. has tried to realize better affect in Senegal, a lot to the chagrin of France. China has additionally change into a participant, investing within the cultural infrastructure in addition to offering funds for railroad improvement. Furthermore, Morocco and Saudi Arabia are important traders within the nation with Iran sometimes trying to be a participant, largely with out success thus far.
By way of media protection — within the U.S. one virtually by no means hears about Senegal (until one thing dramatic occurs that enables for a quick 15-second video of fires or tear fuel). There may be little protection of the nation, although the U.S. has an ongoing collaboration with Senegal’s navy in “counterterrorism coaching,” though terrorism just isn’t a factor in Senegal. Outdoors the U.S. is a unique story. French media and European media on the whole present fairly a little bit of protection of Senegal on a wide range of points virtually constantly (as they do for the remainder of Africa as properly).
The BBC recurrently has a present that focuses on Africa from financial, cultural and political views, and Senegal will get its fair proportion of protection. Senegal is a serious cultural producer — movie, literature, artwork, textiles, jewellery — so it does garner consideration in a method that these points don’t within the U.S. Frankly, the U.S. is lower than two dimensional in its protection of Senegal and Africa extra broadly. I usually say that should you took a generalizing assertion about Africa from the nineteenth century and put in opposition to widespread statements about Africa within the U.S. media, you possibly can not inform there was a distinction. There may be just about no understanding of Africa. (Have a look at the current protection of Sudan, which informed us nothing about Sudan or why it issues what is occurring there.)
What are your ideas on how institutions, assume tanks and human rights teams have responded to the Senegalese area and the political divisions that wreak havoc on the nation?
By way of establishments and such, the most important participant (exterior of governments) is the IMF, as is the case throughout the International South. For probably the most half the IMF and different worldwide gamers have pushed a formulaic liberalism that has been imposed all over the world for the higher a part of 30 years now. This has not solely induced financial and social misery in locations like Senegal, however it has additionally most importantly sapped legitimacy from the state and state establishments, leaving individuals adrift and not using a clear give attention to the place to search out or what could be the mechanisms for enhancements of their lives.
Persons are lower unfastened, and the state involves be considered as an “enemy” to be prevented, countered and resisted, however actually not revered or considered a possible cite for the redress of grievances. This makes it a lot tougher to prepare and maintain political actions, to impact change, and to offer a supply of hope and optimism for the individuals. Human rights teams haven’t been main gamers within the Senegalese drama since that nation has been one of the crucial secure and least troubled of African international locations traditionally.
Frankly, the assets of most of these teams are stretched very skinny, and this forces a give attention to “massive” occasions or areas of huge disaster, which normally doesn’t apply to Senegal. In a method, this additionally opens an area for the type of political manipulation we’re seeing in Senegal, as presidents use the courts to eradicate their opposition and flout constitutional norms (at the same time as they technically comply with the structure in flouting these norms) since “the entire world” won’t be watching.
