While news of Whitey Bulger's capture is dominating the headlines back home in Boston, events here in Senegal are also making international news. Thursday saw demonstrations in the streets of Dakar, complete with burning cars, riot police, tear gas, and water cannons. Angry Senegalese took their frustration to the streets after the proposal of a constitutional amendment by President Abdoulaye Wade, that, if passed by the Parliament, would have greatly increased his chances for victory in the 2012 presidental election. Wade also sought to create the post of Vice President, which many saw as a method to transfer power to his son once the 81 year old is no longer in office.
The Senegalese electoral process follows the French model of a two-round system; if no candidate attains a majority in the first round (>50%), another round of voting between just the top two vote getters is held to decide who will be elected. If, however, one candidate recieves a majority in the first round, he is elected without having to hold the run-off. Wade wanted to change the percentage necessary to avoid the second round from the current 50% to 25%. This move was widely seen as a ploy for the aging and increasingly unpopular Wade to hold on to the presidency in the face of a divided opposition.
After 12 years in power, the Senegalese are tiring of Wade. I am certainly not well-versed in Senegalese politics, but the complaints I hear the most are that he is not doing enough to curb the daily power outages (we're 21 for 23 days since I got here. The two exceptions? The day of the national soccer team match and the day of the President's speech at the adjacent soccer stadium) and that he has put his own interests (remaining in power, his legacy, etc) ahead of the interests of the people. Widely criticized is the new Monument to the African Renaissance, a 160 ft tall (bigger than the Statue of Liberty) copper statue on a Dakar hill overlooking the Atlantic. While meant to be a symbol of unity and progress, the colossal statue instead is to many Senegalese a towering reminder of the President's neglect for the common man and his greed. Detractors say the $27 million price tag was too steep in a country where many still live in deep poverty. Wade has also been criticized for pocketing 35% of profits based on his "ownership" of "intellectual rights."
Quick tangent: I've been to the statue, and, if we can forget the backstory behind it for a minute, it's really quite impressive. It's massive...and it stands atop a hill overlooking a remarkably flat city, making it stand out even more. You must climb a Great Pyramid-esque staircase to reach the base. Aesthetically, it's really well done. Like a National Monument you'd see in the U.S. One of two places - the other being the superduper supermarket - in Senegal where I thought, "This could somewhere in America."
Many people here are eager for a change after 12 years of Wade. Sure, much of the frustration is against Wade himself and his policies, but I believe there is also the idea that a healthy democracy requires change. So when Wade started making moves to preserve the status quo, people took to the streets. There is little doubt in my mind that the Senegalese were inspired by the success of the "Arab Spring" where protesters in Tunisia and Egypt among other places were able to force the government's hand by voicing their disapproval publicly. And fortunately, Wade and the government also learned from the Arab movements and decided that capitulating, rather than fighting back, is the best course of action. Within just a few hours of the protests starting, Wade removed the bill from Parliament, and soon enough the streets were quiet again.
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