Equatorial Africa

The tunisian experience and the boiling magma of democratic change across africa

THE TUNISIAN EXPERIENCE AND THE BOILING MAGMA OF DEMOCRATIC CHANGE ACROSS AFRICA

Democracy and the will of the people once more witnessed its supremacy over autocracy in Africa following the anti-government demonstrations in Tunisia over high prices of food, basic needs, unemployment, human rights abuse, and corruption. The scenario turned into an Oliver asks for more drama when a demand over fair food prices turned into a demand for Bin Ali’s quit from power. All efforts to downplay the people’s patience proved abortive. The people’s voices were too strong to be suppressed. It was too late for Ben Ali to play either smart or macho over Tunisians. It fulfilled the Bob Marley saying that “you can fool the people all the time but you can’t fool all the people all the time”. The many days of resistance by the demonstrators to the curfew and ruthless beatings and arrests by the state security forces did not yield any success for Ben Ali. The iron was already hot and Tunisians had to hit it while it was hot. It is now a lesson of change that is breading a new wave of consciousness around Africa and even the Arab world where most of its leaders rule their nations with iron fist.

There is no doubt how the forceful abdication of the Algerian dictator is a great milestone in democratic struggle in the continent. This reminds us of the wildfire fashion with which coups d’états brushed across Africa in the early sixties and seventies eventually replacing colonially implanted civilian rulers with military boys though with consequent establishment of an era that brought into the mainstream of African politics a row of military dictators who only out of the persistent internal and international pressures for the democratization of Africa in the early nineties, that they hypocritically transformed themselves from military kleptomaniacs to civilian dictators. Other countries who hadn’t any history of military rule inherited civilian dictators who performed no less than their military counterparts. Most of these old schools rulers clinched themselves to power while manipulating their countries’ constitutions by extending their rulership at the expense of their citizens’ fundamental rights, rule of law and economic development.  The African experience has always been that of old wine recycled into new bottles. With this phenomena, Africans began their long journey to suffering which has continued till date with high rates of unemployment that have rendered much of Africa’s youths frustrated. Persistent skyrocketing prices of basic commodities and apparent abandonment of education and healthcare services provision resulting to high rates of illiteracy and spread of epidemic diseases. For the past five decades or so, when most African countries got independence, their leaders have ramshackle the continent causing havoc that has outweighed any harm both colonialism and slave trade ever did to the continent. Apart from the deleterious effects of long dictatorial rule by its irresponsible and corrupt leaders who have no clear vision for their people, spillover effects of its numerous civil and cross border conflicts mostly resulting from power tussles and competition over scarce resources among politicians, have often inflicted untold sufferings on its citizenry. The political economy of power and rulership in Africa is a sad drama which if well understood by Africa’s present generation, the only option will be to resort to arms against their autocratic leaders as a means of seeking redress for the unaccounted destruction these leaders have meted on their populaces. Fortunate enough, change has come to Africa with the obvious success of the anti-dictatorship demonstrations in Tunisia.

Today the winds of change are living no stone unturned. Centripetal and centrifugal forces are raising apprehension round the continent about why Africa despite its abundant resources, its people wallow in poverty and squalor while its leaders live in affluence and squander-mania. The consciousness by Africans of the sordid state of decay perpetuated by their leaders is orchestrating a swift paradigm shift.  The well heralded widespread anti-government protests in Tunisia have seen the end of 23 years of highhandedness of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who stepped down from the presidency and fled Tunisia on 14 January 2011 after 23 years in power. Despite his attempt to use his control of the apparatus of force to foil the demonstrations, the luck of autocracy ran out of his way. Today he is a scapegoat of twenty first century dictatorship. The big question now is which African dictator and which African country will be the next? The Tunisians anti-government demonstration broke out following an arbitrary increment in prices of bread which the government implemented without considering the plight of the populace. Tunisians decided to give a full stop to many years suffering. Apparently, Tunisians have set a pace which should prompt contagious responses in other African countries where citizens are living under repressive rule, poverty and absence of the rule of law.  The Tunisian people’s victory over dictatorship is sending high waves of consciousness to Africans on issues of national rebirth and what measures citizens should adopt to unseat stubborn. Fears of similar anti-government reactions are popping goose pimples on the faces of the remaining African dictators and their juggernauts. That is an obvious consequent because the dictators know that they have nothing to offer for their nations apart from milking away their nation’s treasuries.

A day after the abdication of Ben Ali, Egyptians are equally responding with new waves of pressure to to oust the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak who has been on power since 14th October 1981 and having intentions to bring his son as the next president.  Citizens in Senegal are equally questioning the legitimacy of Abdoulaye Wade’s long rule, and contemplating the Tunisian style mob action to stop Wade’s extension plans especially his hidden agenda to implant his son Ali Wade as next president of Senegal, similar to what Eyadema did in Benin and Bongo in Gabon.  Similar sentiments are rising in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and other authoritarian Africa states. Presidents like Paul Biya of Cameroon, Obiang Guema of Equatorial Guinea; Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Idriss Debi of Chad, and the Tunisian run-away Ben Ali, have been presidents since President Obama of USA and President Sarkosy of France where in secondary schools.

Africans have come of time and the globalized world has given all world citizens the ability to invoke their civic consciousness about the state of their communities, nations and of course individual lives. If ever the was a time for the people of Africa to demand for their rights to democracy, I daresay this is the time. Democracy is an art of sacrificing one’s body, soul and mind to the course of free speech, good governance and the pursuit of happiness. Democracy is a global gift and Africa is no exception among recipients.

Thank you

Tabi H. Joda

 

About the Author

(Author, Management Consultant, and Strategist)

The African Centre for Anti-Corruption,

Abuja, Nigeria.

Email: tabi51@yahoo.com Tel: 2348036899290

Equatorial African dance

Higgins & Gage Postal Stationery Catalogue, FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA, via email $0.00

Equatorial Guinea-Lo1-3 1 Pesetas 1969 Uncirculated Cat#1″Free U.S. Shipping” $0.00

EQUATORIAL GUINEA 100 PESETAS COIN 1970 UNC $0.00

Fr Equatorial Africa 1946 Definitive set Sc#166-84 mint $0.00

Adventures in the Great Forest of Equatorial Africa and $0.00

(Banknotes) French Equatorial Africa – 20 francs 1957 (P30) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $0.00

Overprint FRENCH EQUATORIAL Gabon STAMPS Page from Old Collection LOT 449L $0.00

Overprint FRENCH EQUATORIAL Gabon STAMPS Page from Old Collection LOT 450L $0.00

French Equatorial Africa 1938 Tires Advertising Cover $0.00

My Second Journey Through Equatorial Africa: From the C $0.00

Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa (1861) $0.00

My Second Journey Through Equatorial Africa: From the C $0.00

Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa (1861) $0.00

The Life and Work of Emin Pasha in Equatorial Africa (1 $0.00

The Life and Work of Emin Pasha in Equatorial Africa (1 $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 142-155 MNH. 1946 Phoenix, Matched Corner Blocks $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 142/165 MNH. 1941 Phoenix + Surcharges corner blocks $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 158-165 MNH. 1946 Phoenix Surcharges, Corner Blocks $0.00

French Equatorial Africa: 1948 aluminum 1 Franc, 1-year type; scarce BU $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA, 1944 Red Cross Fund 5f.+20f., block of 4, mnh./lhm. $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA, 1942 LIBRE 24-10-40 1f.50 Blue, lhm. $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA, 1942 LIBRE 24-10-40 1f. Green & Blue, lhm. $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA 1946 POINTE NOIRE CONGO REG COVER STAMPS x2 BRAZZAVILLE $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA Sc —(YT 53 var)**VF NH DOUBLE OVERPRINT $150 $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA Sc —(YT 56 var)**VF NH DOUBLE OVERPRINT $150 $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA Sc B1(YT 63)**F-VF NH $110 $0.00

Equatorial Guinea 500 Francs 1985 P 20 GEM UNC w/FDI UN FLAG STAMP Serie E.01 $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 183/84 on 1953 Air Mail Cvr $0.00

Fr. Equatorial Africa C34 MNH, UPU-75 Globe Plane s8321 $0.00

Cameroon + French Equatorial Africa 25 Francs 1958 VF! K26 Eland Heavy $0.00

EQUATORIAL GUINEA AFRICAN BIRDS set+ IMPERF $0.00

EQUATORIAL GUINEA HORSES set+2S/S+ IMPERF $0.00

SAILBOATS Equatorial GUINEA set+S/S MNH#24202 $0.00

French Equatorial Africa to Cameroun 1944 Censored Cover $0.00

Fr Equatorial Africa 2012 Scott Catalog Pages 1395-1400 $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 182 on 1952 air mail cover $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 182/84 on 1957 cover $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 183 on 1955 air cover to US $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 189/90 on 1961 local cover $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 202 on 1959 cover to France $0.00

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA 1 & 2 FRANCS 1948 KM6 & 7 BU (Last 2 coins of the Union $0.00

Equatorial Guinea 500 Pesetas 5000 Bipkwele overprint 1969 1980 aUncirculated $0.00

Equatorial Guinea 100 Pesetas 1969 Uncirculated $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc C38 on 1954 air cover VF $0.00

EQUATORIAL AFRICAN STATES: scarce 1961 50 Francs, 2-yr type; shiny BU $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 106b MNH. 1940 90c Emil Gentil, double overprint $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 109v MNH. 1940 1fr Emil Gentil, Double Overprint $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 110a MNH. 1940 1.40fr Paul Crampel, Double Overprint $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 114a MNH. 1940 2.15fr Victor Liotard, Double Ovpt. $0.00

French Equatorial Africa Sc 127a MNH. 1940 1fr on 65c Gentil, Double Surcharge $0.00