Global Voices » Norbert Bousigue

Spain: Conguitos Racist Logos in Question

Norbert Bousigue — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:01:11 +0000

On Maneno, a blogging platform dedicated to meet the needs of sub Saharan Africa bloggers, schauzeri wonders why Conguitos, a renown sweets company in Spain, retained their current logos despite the offensive undertones for Africans [article also available in spanish]. According to schauzeri, The offensive logos, which have been in circulation since 1960's, do not seem to be perceived as a problem in Spain.

Cameroon: Concern for freedom

Norbert Bousigue — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:35:20 +0000

Though Cameroon is not the focus of world attention, some recent blog posts question the reality of freedom in this African country.

On his blog [fr], Édouard Tamba worries about freedom in his country:

Le 8 novembre dernier, le sous-préfet de Yaoundé II débarque au Palais des congrès avec l’intention d’interdire la tenue de l’Assemblée générale de l’Ordre des avocats du Cameroun. […] Quelques jours plus tôt, c’est le même sous-préfet qui interdisait une réunion des syndicats de taximen […].

Le week-end dernier, ce sous-préfet interdisait la marche de l’Ong Jane and Justice, oeuvrant dans la sensibilisation contre les accidents de la route. Le même jour, celui de Yaoundé I interdit une réunion illégale de la ligue provinciale d’athlétisme du Centre. “En voilà au moins un qui a gardé sa lucidité”, commentent certains. Trop tôt ! Ledit sous-préfet, après des pressions du ministre des Sports et de l’éducation physique, autorise finalement la réunion. […]

The 8th of november [2008], the sub-prefect of Yaoundé II arrived in the convention center with the intention of banning of a meeting of the Cameroon bar association's general assembly. […] A few days earlier, this same sub-prefect had banned a meeting of taxi drivers unions […].

Last week-end, he banned the march planned by the NGO Jane and Justice, whose aim is to increase public awareness about traffic accidents. The same day, the sub-prefect of Yaoundé I banned an illegal meeting of the regional athletics league. “Here at least there is someone who is still sensible,” some say. No! This same sub-prefect, after pressure from the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, finally authorized the meeting. […]

In the comments of this post, Ti Aya is disillusioned:

Est-ce que c’est vraiment une régression ? Il me semble qu’il en a toujours été ainsi, non ?

Is it really getting worse? It seems to me things have always been like this, haven't they?

In the same post, Édouard Tamba reports another incident, the banning of a press conference by the civic association for collective interests protection (ACDIC), along with photographs of the violent repression of a protest in Yaoundé by this association on December 10th.

In reponse to this event, François Bimogo, editor of the magazine Éclat d'Afrique, sent this message [fr]:

Après l'interdiction […] de sa conférence de presse […], l'Association Citoyenne de Défense des Intérêts Collectifs a tenu une manifestation de près de 500 personnes […] à Yaoundé […].

Face à des manifestants à mains nues qui brandissaient des pancartes pour dénoncer les détournements, la corruption et la réaction de l'État Camerounais pour éviter la crise alimentaire du maïs qui guette le Cameroun en 2009, une cinquantaine de policiers anti-émeutes lourdement armés ont fondu sur les manifestants après une tentatives d'exfiltration de force de […] Bernard NJONGA, président de l'ACDIC. A l'issue de violentes empoignades, une trentaine de manifestants ont été chargés et embarqués […].

After the banning […] of its press conference […], the Civic Association for the Defense of Collective Interests held a demonstration of nearly 500 people […] in Yaoundé […].

50 riot police heavily equipped were faced unarmed protesters carrying only signs denouncing embezzlement, corruption and the government's response to the food crisis which threatens Cameroon in 2009; the police tried to arrest the ACDIC president […], Bernard NJONGA. After a violent brawl, they arrested about thirty protesters […].

In his post, Édouard Tamba comments:

La démarche de l’Acdic pourrait être contestable en ce qui concerne le cadre légal régulant les manifestations publiques. Mais de là à en arriver à de telles exactions. On se pose des questions.

With respect to the laws regulating public demonstrations, the actions of the ACDIC may be questionable. But to go from that to such violence. It raises a lot of questions.

The end of François Bimogo's message can explain it:

Selon une étude […], l'ACDIC a découvert que plus de 1,2 milliards de F CFA ont été détournés depuis 2006 au Ministère de l'agriculture et du développement rural […].

According to an investigation, the ACDIC found that in 2006, more than 1.2 billion CFA francs [US$ 2.5 million ] had been embezzled by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Department.

More information on this subject can be found on this blog [fr].

Although the 2007 annual report of the NGO Reporters Without Borders says that press freedom is beginning to become reality in Cameroon, it remains fragile and under threat.

On PrinceReport, a post written by Yemti Harry Ndienla describes human rights abuses, as reported by US State Department:

Cameroon’s human rights record remains poor and government continue to commit numerous human rights abuses year-in-year-out. Government backed security forces commit numerous unlawful killings; engaged in regular torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and prisoners with impunity. On the other hand, Prison conditions remain harsh and life-threatening while authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained anglophone citizens (SCNC) advocating secession, local human rights monitors and activists, other citizens and above all journalists. Furthermore, there are disturbing reports of prolonged and sometimes incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on citizens' privacy rights.

Annual reports on Cameroon by the US Department of State have always buttress the above including the fact that “the government restricted citizens' freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, and harassed journalists. The government also impeded citizens' freedom of movement. The public perceived government corruption to be a serious problem. Societal violence and discrimination against women; trafficking in persons, primarily children; discrimination against indigenous Pygmies and ethnic minorities; and discrimination against homosexuals were problems. The government restricted worker rights and the activities of independent labor organizations, and child labor, slavery, and forced labor, including forced child labor, were reported to be problems”.

This and another both mention the specific problem of the two English-speaking north-western provinces of Cameroon, where a separatist movement exists.

Narmer tells the story of Njoya Hilary Tikum, who fled Cameroon in 2006, because he was an Anglophone secessionist, and suffered repression in his country. He sought, and obtained, political asylum in the United States, and he now lives in New York City.

Cameroon is not devastated by war, but Paul Biya's regime remains strong, and freedom needs to progress in his country.

Senegal: Troubles in schools

Norbert Bousigue — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:30:15 +0000

Recently, several Senegalese bloggers and journalists have turned their attentions to the challenges of educating children in Senegal.

In an article on the news website PressAfrik [fr], Awa Diédhiou writes that “The Senegalese school is in danger”, because many schools -mainly in Dakar - are close to markets,

L’école sénégalaise est menacée. Beaucoup d’établissements scolaires sont en train de se transformer timidement en un fief de délinquants et l’environnement est de plus en plus carnavalesque. Les enseignements se déroulent dans un fond sonore assourdissant provenant des marchés dont l’animation et l’encombrement permettent aux voyous et aux drogués d'entrer discrètement dans les écoles

The Senegalese schools is in danger. Many educational institutions are timidly becoming the domain of delinquents, the [classroom] environment more and more like a carnival. Classes are held amid the deafening clamor of [nearby] markets whose bustle and congestion lets thugs and drug addicts enter schools unnoticed.

Picture of the clasroom of the school of Agnam-Goly, Senegal by Adama Diop, under Wikipedia Commons License.

Naomed, writing [30th of November 2008] on the blog Politique au Sénégal [fr], points another issue :

De 2001 à nos jours, au moins 1 050 cas de grossesses ont été recensés dans les écoles du département de Kolda. […]

Plus de 50% de ces grossesses seraient dues à des enseignants.

From 2001 to present, at least 1,050 pregnancies have been registred in schools of the department of Kolda [an area with 300,000 inhabitants]. […]

Teachers would be responsible of more than 50% of these pregnancies.

With rather coarse words, the author of this post emphazises two important problems.

First, is the lack of sex education in schools, which make girls “gullible”, “good to consummate” and “ignorant about essential matters”. Naomed criticizes religious leaders who are “quick to denounce occidental way of life” and thinks the real sin is ignorance. An ignorance apparently shared by teachers “incapable of using condoms”.

Second, the impunity ot those teachers seducing their pupils. Naomed points out that in most cases, no legal action against them. “People negotiate and sort things out,” Naomed writes. Money changes hands, the matter is forgotten.

L'omerta fonctionne parce qu'un consensus non dit couvre en général ce genre d'actes, tout comme il couvre la corruption, le détournement… C'est la rançon de la difficulté des sénégalais à condamner l'un des leurs. La rançon de la propension des sénégalais à négocier toujours et encore, même le non négociable. La rançon de la tendance des sénégalais à résoudre tous les problèmes avec l'argent.

A conspiracy of silence exists because generally everyone agrees to cover up these misdeeds, just as they do for corruption, embezzlement… It's the price the Senegalese people pay for their reluctance to blame one of their own. The price the Senegalese people pay for their inclination to, forever and always, negotiate even the nonnegotiable. The price the Senegalese people pay for solving all their problems with money.

This sad reality seems to be confirmed by Hamidou Sagna, who writes an article on allAfrica.com [fr] about NGO's and schoolchildren in Hann-Bel Air, a district of Dakar, calling for the end of brutalities, abuses, genital mutilations and rapes against girls. The children wore T-shirts with inscriptions saying “I want to learn without fear”, “My school, a safe place to learn” and “Stop harassing girls”.

A post on Scoops de Ziguinchor [fr] reports the speech of the mayor of Ziguinchor, when he delivered some furniture and stationery for the schools. He was satisfied and told the parents: “You sacrifice yourself for the future of your children. Good choice”. But more surprisingly, he also criticized education:

Toutefois l’édile de Ziguinchor est d’avis que plus les gens sont instruits moins ils regagnent leur village et plus ils tournent le dos à la terre. « Le travail de la terre est aujourd’hui une contrainte. C’est comme qui dirait une punition pour ceux qui n’ont pas pu fréquenter ou réussir à l’école. Cela il faut y réfléchir. Car constituant l’ennemi principal de notre développement économique et social ».

Nevertheless the mayor of Ziguinchor thinks that the more people are educated, more they quit the land. “Working in the fields is today a constraint. It seems to be a punishment for those who didn't go successfully to school. We have to think about that. For it is the main adversary of our economic and social development”.

The mayor notes that villages are losing inhabitants; school educates people only for them to migrate to the cities where they face uncertain futures, and often unemployment.

Even so, more and more children in Senegal are going to school. UNESCO figures show that 72% of children attended primary school in 2007. It's progress, but one that creates new challenges and issues.

Waxal: First African Blog Award for Journalists

Norbert Bousigue — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:35:20 +0000

The first Waxal Blogging Africa Awards have been just launched! All African bloggers who work as journalists can submit their blogs. The deadline is the 7th of December 2008. The individual winners - one for an English blog, one for a French blog - and one for a blogging organization, will be rewarded with a cash prize, and all the best blogs will be promoted by the organizers through various channels.

Panos Institute of West Africa [fr], one of eight institutes of the global Panos network, an independent institution that promotes new media and communication in developing countries, took this initiative, in partnership with Highway Africa, Rhodes University and SABC - and Global Voices.

Here is the call for nominations to the awards:

WAXAL (pronounced WA-HAL) means “speak” in Wolof (Senegalese language) and the word captures the essence of the evolution of the worldwide web as a platform for conversation and for the raising of marginalized voices.

For this first edition, the WAXAL Awards will seek to recognize the production of blogs by people working as journalists (from all kind of media: print, online, radio, TV) and by African organizations working to favour the production of alternative information and citizen expression.

To this end the awards are in the following category:

1. Best French-speaking Journalist Blog

2. Best English-speaking Journalist Blog

3. Best Citizen Journalist Blog produced by an African Organization

The first and second categories will recognize individual journalist blogs, whereas the third category will reward individual organization's blogs. For this last category, the blog content can be in French or English. It’s envisaged to include other languages, notably African languages, in next editions of the blog contest. Apart from promoting blogs, this contest will help understand, among others, issues related to journalists’ use of blog in Africa. Internet users can vote online for the 5 Best Blogs in each category. A bilingual panel of judges composed of media professionals will select the winners.

Who can participate?

For the first two categories, the WAXAL Awards is open to any African citizen who owns his own blog, but works as journalist in any kind of media organ, online or conventional (print media, radio, TV) or who works as freelance journalist. The blog submitted should be the journalist own blog, instead of the blog of the media organ for which he/she works.

For the third category, blogs should have been produced by African organization, with the aim to produce alternative, citizen information, raise marginalized communities voices. Blogs just reporting on an organization’s activities are excluded.