In Senegal, the position of president used to have term limits, but two years ago Wade amended the constitution to remove these limits. But that’s still not why Senegalese were pissed off and demonstrating in Dakar last month. Not exactly. Prior to the protests Wade was making a final push to tinker with his country’s democratic system once again. This time he was aiming to create the position of “vice president” (they already have a prime minister) as well as reduce the proportion of votes needed to avoid an electoral run-off. These actions were the ones that resulted in the Senegalese people drawing a line and reacting to their President’s inchworm measures to change their system of governance.
It’s obvious that Wade is getting old, and we have watched him place his son Karim (who is half French and doesn’t really speak Wolof) in various ministries and governmental positions over the past few years. There has been rumblings that Wade is posturing to place Karim in power as his successor- and one might argue that if true, this doesn’t exactly bode well for the banner of democracy in Senegal. Fortunately, Wade did retract these amendment plans after his people stood up and said “no effing way” last month. Good on the Seneglese, in my humble toubab opinion.
Why am I giving you the Idiot’s Guide to recent Senegalese political events? Well, for one I think that these events are really important. No matter how crazy life in Senegal can make me, I really don’t hate living in Senegal (in fact, I do like it here, despite my sarcastic blog postings to the contrary). I’m grateful for the opportunity to study in Dkar, and I really do have great affection for the people (yes even you, Mr. A-hole taximan). The last thing I want is for Senegal go the way of so many other collapsed democracies in Africa.
Last week I got into a rather lengthy BSing session with the customs guys at the Paris airport- they asked me what I did for a living and I told them that I was in the military. Kind of surprised, they asked me why I decided to join in the first place, and I told them what I always tell people (and it’s the truth): that I joined because I wanted to do something for my country- since it has done so much for me. They were amazed by this response, and said that they didn’t know of anyone in France who would feel the same sense of commitment for their patrie. That’s too bad- but from my perspective, I know a lot of American servicemembers who would say the exact same thing as me.
I guess that this long-winded entry counts as my belated thank you card to America on its 235th birthday. We may still be a young country, but there are far younger ones behind us who are still figuring out what they want to be when they grow up. I’m not saying that any of them should strive to be just like America, but I am hoping that they can fashion themselves in a way that makes their populations feel like they are getting a fair shake.
