MLK Day at Proctor Academy!
January 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
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Nomadic Wax
Proctor Academy MLK Celebration
 This is the first page I’ve created that features only photographs from inside the Norris Theater. While living in the west African country of Senegal, Ben Herson became intrigued with the use of rap music to promote polital and social change, a phenomenon that propelled the election of Abdoulaye Wade in 2000. Collaborating with creative friends, Ben founded Nomadic Wax to explore and document the power of underground African music as a vehicle for social change. He brought Nomadic Wax to Proctor this weekend as we observed Martin Luther King’s legacy. On Friday night, the whole school gathered for a hip-hop concert featuring Senegalese rappers. As the evening progressed, the crowd closed in on the performers on stage. Ben noted that American rap descends from the oral tradition of call-and-response that survived the slave trade, and slavery itself. The introduction of hip-hop into African culture, therefore, is the completion of an artistic circle that began with the capture and trade of human chattel in west Africa hundreds of years ago. The role of hip-hop in Senegalese politics is remarkable. While American rap lyrics glorify violence, crime and sex, none of this was possible in Senegal, due to cultural and religious (Muslim) traditions. Elders must be honored and promiscuity is deemed sinful, so lyrics decrying poverty and politcal inertia filled a vacuum. In short, the Wade regime failed to bring the change that was promised in 2000. So, the elections of 2007 provided a rich setting for competing, underground musical positioning. Thirteen candidates vied for votes that would place them into an anticipated run-off election between the two highest qualifiers. Nomadic Wax’s documentary film "Democracy in Dakar" is a series of shorts–interviews and raps by underground artists and observers. All of the calls for change had failed, as voters opted for stability. A sense of national despair followed. While the role of hip-hop as an agent for social change in Senegal is beyond question, it failed–at least in 2007–to do something that the folk and gospel movement achieved in the United States in the 1960s.
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 Ben Herson decided to document the power of hip-hop to accrue social change in Senegal.
 It may look and sound like American rap, but the lyrics respect social traditions and tabboos which prohibit personal attacks on elders.
   Students were invited to join in!
 A panel discussion followed Saturday morning’s showing of "Democracy in Dakar."
 Following the panel, students were invited to hang out with the artists.
 Speaking in Monday’s assembly, Andover resident Ray Mitchell recalls the power of folk music at the April, 1965 MLK-led march on Montgomery, AL, of which he was a part.
 Members of the chorus sing a traditional spiritual Monday morning.
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Shockingly, the results of the February 25 election made a run-off unnecessary, as the incumbent Wade miraculously secured a majority of the popular votes.
VOA
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
‘
Democracy in Dakar’ Film Shows Power of Hip-Hop Among Senegalese Youth
By Jackson Muneza Mvunganyi
Washington
15 August 2007
Interview with Ben Herson and Mcgee Mcilvan
Listen to Interview with Ben Herson and Mcgee Mcilvan
A film on the role of hip-hop in shaping the political discourse in Senegal is getting rave reviews. The documentary Democracy in Dakar is the brainchild of filmmaker and producer Ben Herson, who visited Senegal’s capital, Dakar, in 2003.
Herson first got interested in Senegalese music a couple of years ago, when he was working on his university thesis about Senegalese music. He was amazed at the vibrant music scene in Dakar, given the small resources and financial rewards available to young musicians there. He says he was intrigued by their passion and devotion to music and decided to expand his project into a full-length movie. Herson’s next visit came during Senegal’s presidential election campaign held earlier this year. He witnessed the power of young, politically conscious rappers – and the enthusiasm of their fans.
Democracy in Dakar shows the influence that hip-hop music has among young Senegalese. Herson says it’s a tool that has been used by the youth to voice their frustration with the political establishment. The documentary features rising stars in the Senegalese entertainment industry and plenty of unknown MCs, whose storytelling abilities are much like those of the traditional Senegalese griots.
“The young rappers perform traditional Senegalese rap songs “that tell stories about society, much like ancient griots narrated the lives of ancient societies,” he said.
Young Senegalese musicians, like those in other parts of Africa, have fused traditional music and messages with western styles popular among their fans. Young film director McGee Mcilvan says he saw more than a than a dozen Senegalese rap groups in Dakar which have created unique and distinct sounds.
Many tracks on the video feature what the Senegalese call "ego tripping," a mode of hip-hop that includes bragging. The movie also sheds light on the personalities of the rappers and their inspirations.
Washington Post
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
African Underground: Herson & McIlvaine Map It Federal Triangle Bethesda
THE INTERSECTION OF hip-hop and activism gets a lot of lip service in the U.S., but the reality is that popular rap music is still mostly about the bling, not the political ring. That’s not the case in Senegal, where political hip-hop thrives.
Ben Herson (Nomadic Wax) and Magee McIlvaine (Sol Productions) have been documenting the Senegalese hip-hop scene with a series of CDs and documentary films, including the multi-part "African Underground: Democracy in Dakar," which can be viewed in its entirety on Brightcove.com. The duo will present the movie and discuss their activities on Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, followed by an after party at Club Peju in Bethesda, featuring performances by African hip-hoppers Moussa Sall (Senegal), Dumi Right (Zimbabwe) and Salim Diallo (Mali).
» EXPRESS: How did you get interested in Senegal — its music and its politics?
» HERSON: I started this project in 1999 with my college thesis titled "Fat Beats, Dope Rhymes and Thug Lives: Youth, Hip-Hop and Politics in Dakar." It was an undergraduate dissertation about the role of hip-hop on the political landscape in Dakar during the 2000 presidential election. After I finished writing the thesis in 2000, I stayed in touch with the MCs who I had been interviewing over the past few years and they asked me if I would be interested in producing or distributing some of their music abroad.
Though I had been playing music professionally and recording, I had never produced a record from the ground up before. I called my cousin — and now co-producer — Dan Cantor of Notable Productions and the two of us went over with a hard disc recorder and a few microphones in the summer of 2001. That recording session focused primarily on groups who had been involved in the underground hip-hop scene in Dakar — who at the time, I felt, were not getting the attention they deserved. Those songs ended up on the "African Underground: Hip-Hop Senegal" compilation — the first of an ongoing series of underground hip-hop compilations, and now films, from Africa. The most recent one, "African Underground: Depths of Dakar," is now out on Nomadic Wax.
» MCILVAINE: I spent my childhood in between Southeast D.C. and Southern and Eastern Africa. With over half of my childhood spent in Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania, the various cultures, languages, and musical styles had a significant impact on my life. As music became more and more a part of my life, I found myself resorting to the musical sounds of my childhood. When I first heard African hip-hop, specifically Positive Black Soul of Senegal, something clicked. It was a kind of music that matched my own experiences at that moment. Hip-hop had been taken from the U.S. and, throughout Africa, made into something new and unique.
Throughout college, I had an international hip-hop radio show and organized small concerts as well. In 2005, I studied abroad in Senegal and this cemented my interest in African hip-hop, particularly Senegalese. Seeing it with my own eyes, the music, the culture, and meeting the artists who I had been listening to from thousands of miles away was an incredible experience. Upon my return to the U.S., I contacted Ben of Nomadic Wax — the only label in the U.S. promoting Senegalese hip-hop — and we began to organize shows together. With a few others, we organized the first-ever-in-the-U.S. international hip-hop festival. That year — my final year in college — I did my senior thesis, which was a documentary film examining the ties between West African griot culture and hip-hop in the U.S. today.
Those projects really cemented my ties with Ben and Nomadic Wax and pushed my involvement in international hip-hop to a professional level. After graduating from college, I began a nonprofit film production company with two other friends. After filming the presidential elections in Venezuela and gaining a great deal of experience filming politics in a potentially unstable country, Ben approached us with the idea of filming the elections in Senegal.
» EXPRESS: How many "Democracry in Dakar" segments are you planning on making?
» HERSON: The "African Underground: Democracy in Dakar" series was filmed and edited on location in Dakar, Senegal. There are six episodes that were recorded during our 2007 trip to Dakar and one segment recorded in New York City and D.C. with Senegalese living abroad. We are currently in the process of editing a 65-minute piece with all the segments to be screened as a feature length documentary.
In April and May the Sol Productions team continued the "African Underground" film series in France with "Democracy in Paris" — a similar series of shorts also focused on the role of hip-hop and politics, but this time in France. We’re working on continuing the series on other countries as well. The goal is to take this format of guerrilla style film making, journalism, video blogging and music production to other countries in Africa. The top choices where we have some excellent contacts are Sierra Leone, Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania.
» EXPRESS: What do you hope these videos inspire in the viewers?
» HERSON: To create a dialog about the role of youth and hip-hop culture on the political, social and cultural landscape in around the world, especially Africa.
Western audiences are becoming acquainted with and interested in urban or nontraditional African culture thought films like "Blood Diamond," "Tsotsi," "The Constant Gardener," etc. We’re looking to take this dialog a bit further and let those living in Africa talk about their experience for themselves. Documentary film is an excellent medium to both reach a captive audience as well as create a platform for people to express themselves.
Part of the concept for this was to use the Internet as a way to facilitate the dissemination of this in both the Western world as well as Africa. Each time we completed a part of the series it was immediately released on every viral media channel that we could access — YouTube, MySpace, Current TV, etc. — in an effort to allow others to watch it, repost it and blog about it. In that sense, it was a massive success. The first episode went to number one on Current TV in only a month and Senegalese people were watching the episodes in the thousands. It’s been amazing to see how both a Western audience as well as an African one has gravitated to the story.
» MCILVAINE: We are among the first to really use music, film, and the Internet for a political purpose. Our films had a political impact in that they told a story that no one else was telling and were picked up by all the major Senegalese media sources. As it was free and on the Internet, anyone could repost them, and we watched as the videos began to spring up everywhere. And with each new reposting of them, we saw the online conversations and dialogue grow.
For Senegalese, these films have had a major impact on the Senegalese diaspora communities. For non-Senegalese, we have watched as thousands of people from all over the world have compared the situation there to their own, from Australia to the U.S. What became quickly obvious was that, even if you are not Senegalese, there is much to learn from this story.
» EXPRESS: Did you face any difficulties from politicians or police while making the videos? And have you heard from any Senegalese authorities since the videos have gone online?
» HERSON: At the time of making the videos we had virtually no problems at all. Everything is rather informal in Senegal and, for the most part, no one really seemed to care we were filming. Having said that, no one in the government knew that we were making this film. The videos have gotten close to 70,000 views since March, so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the Senegalese government has seen them, though I have not heard anything about it.
» MCILVAINE: The videos have been picked up and posted by all the major opposition newspapers, so I am sure the government has seen them.
» EXPRESS: I know hip-hop is popular in many parts of Africa, but outside of South Africa — where, in reality, kwaito rules — is Senegal the African home of hip-hop right now and why?
» HERSON: The Senegalese have over 1,000 years of musical and oral traditions that are very similar to hip-hop. Tassu is a griot style of chanting/singing over beats where rhyme and wordplay is a key element. Tallif is a freestyle form of poetry without music — similar to a hip-hop a capella.
And as a side note: Leopold Senghor, Senegal’s first president, was a poet. So for Senegalese, they really feel that hip-hop was born in Senegal and was taken to America, via the slave trade, and re-exported back to them. Ask any Senegalese rapper where hip-hop was born and many will say "Africa" — or even more specifically "Senegal" before they say the "South Bronx."
» Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; Wed., 5 p.m., free with RSVP to leadership@wilsoncenter.org; 202-691-4000. (Federal Triangle)
» Cafe Peju, 4867 Cordell Ave., Bethesda; Wed., 8 p.m., free with RSVP to rsvp@nomadicwax.com (put "DC/After Party" in the subject line); 301-523-0480. (Bethesda)
BBC
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Hip-Hop in Dakar
Luke Branston looks at Dakar’s current hip-hop scene and its influence on politics.
Senegal has adopted hip-hop music since its first occurrence in the early 80s and has made contributions to the international hip-hop scene since the 90s with groups such as Positive Black Soul and Daara J having made an indelible mark on both hip-hop and world music scenes. Unfortunately since then, the newer underground generation of young MCs and lyricists have made less of an impact internationally.
New York label Nomadic Wax diligently aims to discover, record, produce and promote the wealth of underlying talent within the hip-hop scenes of Africa. In 2001, label founder Ben Herson travelled to Dakar armed with a portable hard disc recorder and a set of microphones and managed to lay down some vocal tracks from the cream of the crop of MCs in the region. This campaign became the ‘African Underground: Hip Hop Senegal’ compilation, which received wide acclaim from many music publications and shone some light on an impassioned musical movement in Senegal.
‘Depths of Dakar’ is the second release in the series, on this occasion the studio became an open mic scenario, anyone who could take the mic was recorded, this lead to a mixture of both well-known and amateur artists being selected for the final result. Released as an accompaniment to the ‘Democracy In Dakar’ documentary, the project intends to investigate the effect of hip-hop on Senegalese politics.
Rap is a powerful vocal medium for many of the youth in Senegal and the use of rap is seen as something of a political weapon. In 2000, for example, a series of politically aware songs were released. These fiery protest raps played a major part in influencing the votes of the poor and the young which lead to the then ruling party (whom many saw as corrupt) being removed from power in one of the most democratic elections known to West Africa. The ‘Democracy in Dakar’ documentary follows the 2007 election and gives a down to earth perspective on the public opinion on the current leadership alongside interviews and performances from Senegalese rappers, giving their honest, undiluted stand point on the state of the country. The documentary alone is an intriguing insight into the socio-political structure of Senegal.
The album has tunes rapped in a mixture of Wolof, French and local dialects, the songs are loaded with percussive organic beats, skillful sequencing and plenty of live instrumentation, featuring parts played by members of Antibalas and drums from the legendary reggae drummer Leroy Wallace . As well as politics, the tunes also deal with social problems and morality. OMZO , a well-seasoned rapper, returns with several cuts, most notable “Goor Yombul”, a piece which highlights the familiar moral issue of polygamy. Female lyricist Fatim delivers ”Real Woman”, a striking afro-funk/hip-hop mix, her compassionate lyrics are projected in a no-nonsense fashion whilst the soaring raw horns and accented congas give it a hypnotic groove. Other highlights include Adama ’s celestial reggae-infused tune “Aduna Bi” which rings a sweet melody of hope and Zoo Squad ’s “Fresh Time”, another song saturated in funk, sharp trumpet hooks and cool Rhodes piano with nothing but perfectly executed lyrics.
If you are looking to get a deeper outlook on what’s happening in Senegal both musically and politically or if you just want to listen to some fresh African hip-hop, then you must take a look at this highly motivated, politically conscious project.
Senegal’s democratic shine dims under Wade-groups
November 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Nick Tattersall
DAKAR, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Senegal’s carefully polished reputation as a bastion of democracy in turbulent West Africa is dimming as its octogenarian leader, Abdoulaye Wade, grows increasingly autocratic, rights groups say.
Political posturing aimed at positioning his son to succeed him, the detention without trial of critical journalists and the diminishing powers of parliament all betray Senegal’s faltering democratic credentials, Wade’s critics say.
They say his obsession with hosting an international Islamic conference next year — a two-day event for which luxury hotels and new highways are being built in Dakar — have pushed more pressing social and economic problems off the political agenda.
“The Republic’s agenda is dominated in the short term by the organisation of the Islamic Summit and in the medium term by political manoeuvring around President Wade’s succession,” said Alioune Tine, head of African human rights group RADDHO.
“The presidential role has become an arch-institution which is not just overbearing but enslaving and subjugating all the other institutions, reducing them to dwarf status,” he told a news conference in Dakar on Wednesday.
Wade’s son, Karim, is an influential presidential adviser and head of the government agency managing the infrastructure projects for the Islamic conference, a role which has seen him increasingly involved in public debate and raised questions about his own political ambitions.
“This skilfully maintained veil of mystery (around Karim) allows his accomplices and henchmen to sow in the public mind the idea that the son of the head of state could legitimately succeed his father,” Habib Sy, director of Senegalese anti-graft group Aid Transparency, wrote in a local newspaper this month.
Wade’s spokesman has publicly denied that Karim is the president’s anointed successor.
WEAKENING PARLIAMENT
Senegal’s reputation for political stability has long made it a favourite among western donors and investors. It was one of the first African countries to espouse multiparty politics in the 1970s and is the only West African country other than the Atlantic archipelago of Cape Verde never to have seen a coup.
But riots swept across the capital last week after police tried to evict thousands of street vendors. The protests were fuelled by wider discontent over Wade’s perceived failure to address high youth unemployment and rising food prices.
Diplomats and local civil society groups have voiced growing concern over the increasing power of the presidency.
Macky Sall, the country’s parliamentary speaker, was unceremoniously sacked by Wade as deputy leader of the ruling PDS party two weeks ago after summoning Karim to appear before a finance commission charged with overseeing public spending.
Some political commentators fear Sall may now also lose his position as head of the national assembly.
“If he is removed from parliament as he has been from the party, it will totally ruin what credibility remains for the national assembly,” Tine said.
The senate is an even weaker balance against the power of the executive. The PDS won 34 of 35 seats in an August poll boycotted by the opposition, while the remaining 65 senators are appointed directly by Wade.
Journalists who have criticised Wade have found themselves jailed, triggering criticism from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“The government’s continued use of criminal defamation and insult laws to jail and prosecute journalists undermines Senegal’s democratic credentials,” it said this month after four journalists held for critical stories were provisionally freed. (Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Senegal defends low poll turnout ‘normal’
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Senegal on Monday defended the low poll turnout used by critics to put a question mark on the legitimacy of weekend legislative elections, saying the west African nation had never had enthusiastic voters.
"The turnout rate is 38 percent," Macoumba Koume, director of communication in the interior ministry, told AFP.
"This low turnout rate in legislative elections is not new in Senegal," he said. "In general terms, the presidential elections attract a higher turnout."
A 17-party opposition grouping had called for an unprecedented boycott of Sunday’s ballot, which looks set to be won by President Abdoulaye Wade’s ruling party.
AFP correspondents and local media reported that polling stations were far emptier than for February presidential elections that gave Wade his second term and for the last parliamentary elections in 2001, when slightly over two-thirds of voters cast ballots.
The governing Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) looks set to win a new governing mandate with its coalition partners and the 81-year-old Wade dismissed the apparent success of the boycott.
Senegalese voters turned out in droves in the 2001 presidential elections, which were marked by a 67.4 percent turnout. The polls put Wade, an opposition figure, in power after former president Abdou Diouf’s two-decade rule.
Most heavyweight opposition figures were absent from the ballot papers, including former prime minister Idrissa Seck and Ousmane Tanor Dieng of the former ruling Socialist Party, who came second and third respectively in the presidential elections.
There were still some 4,000 candidates who vied for the 150 seats in the new and enlarged national assembly.
Wade’s PDS enjoyed a comfortable majority in the smaller outgoing parliament, holding 90 of the 120 seats.
The legislative polls had been postponed twice. The last delay, which forced authorities to drop plans to have it held concurrently with the presidential election, came after opposition allegations of "irregularities" of seat allocation.
Senegal Sees Low Turnout in Legislative Poll Amid Boycott
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Kari Barber
Dakar
03 June 2007
Barber report - Download (mp3) 536k
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Election workers wait for voters, 03 Jun 2007
Voter turnout appeared to be low in Sunday’s legislative election in Senegal, considered one of the most stable democracies in West Africa. Many potential voters are staying away from the polls in response to a boycott called by the major opposition parties. Opposition leaders have called the presidential polls in February unfair and have demanded a review of the electoral system. Kari Barber has more from Dakar.
A handful of voters cast their ballots in the Fann district of Dakar. There is no line. Electoral workers say it has been slow all day.
Samba Mbodj came to vote, but he says he is the only person in his family of 20 who did.
Mbodj says he cast a blank vote, meaning he approves none of the candidates. He says he does not support President Abdoulaye Wade’s Senegalese Democratic Party and only voted because he wanted to perform his civic duty.
Maou Sow boycotted the election, 03 Jun 2007
Store owner Maou Sow is boycotting the election. He says he is following the lead place finisher Idrissa Seck, and leader of a new party called Rewmi.
"The candidate I voted for is boycotting, so I do not want to choose another guy. That is why I do not want to vote," said Sow. "That is why I am boycotting like him."
Seck, a former prime minister, and about a dozen other opposition leaders called for the boycott, saying Mr. Wade had refused to meet with them to discuss complaints they had about the electoral process and voting rolls in the presidential election.
Opposition leaders also say the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party has unfair access to government-run detailed computerized information about voting districts.
Over 3,000 candidates, including some from smaller opposition parties, are vying for 150 seats in a newly enlarged National Assembly, 30 more than it previously had.
Opposition spokesman for the Socialist Party Mamadou Barry says the boycott is an exercise in democracy.
"We want a fair, transparent electoral process, period. That is all we want. We are not against Mr. Wade," said Barry. "We just want the electoral process to be clear and if he wins, he wins. If we lose, we lose. But at least we have a fair process, clear that everybody abides to."
Barry says he hopes turnout Sunday will be less than 50 percent.
Officials from the ruling party say elections are fair in Senegal, and that the opposition is calling for the boycott because it fears will lose by a landslide.
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Senegal: 60-armed gov’t security agents raid radio station
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Sat. June 02, 2007 12:43 pm.- By Bonny Apunyu. - Send this news article
(SomaliNet) The security agents, sent by the government telecommunications agency, which is responsible for regulating the Senegalese radio stations seized all equipment of the Group Avenir Radio; the all-news station, which launched this week, has been banned for 45 days, according to Wal Fadjri.
The Sixty armed Senegalese government security agents raided the headquarters of a radio station yesterday, the Senegalese newspaper Wal Fadjri reported.
Madiambal Diagne, the radio station’s owner, is also the executive director of Le Quotidien, a Senegalese daily known for its criticism of President Abdoulaye Wade.
Officials from the telecommunications agency failed in an attempt to have Diagne stop broadcasting according to Afrol News.
"Mr. Diagne was asked to remove the station from the air but he refused, asking them to do it themselves," a staff member reportedly said.
The security agents then raided the station and took it off the air.-allafrica.com
Voters stay away as opposition snubs Senegal polls
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Diadie Ba
DAKAR, June 3 (Reuters) - Many voters stayed away from Senegal’s parliamentary elections on Sunday as the main opposition parties boycotted the ballot to protest against what they called President Abdoulaye Wade’s "monarchy".
Polling stations in the capital Dakar and other cities of the small West African state saw only a trickle of voters in the first hours after they opened, witnesses and officials said.
Opposition leaders had urged citizens to stay at home to contest what they said was the octogenarian leader’s increasingly autocratic style and his refusal to discuss alleged flaws in the presidential poll that re-elected him in February.
The boycott and one-sided polls risked tarnishing Senegal’s image as a model of working democracy in Africa. The mainly Muslim country has won a reputation for political, religious and ethnic tolerance since independence from France in 1960 and has suffered no coups — a unique record in turbulent West Africa.
The Senegalese state news agency APS reported "almost empty voting centres" in Dakar’s populous Pikine suburb and "a timid start to voting" in other parts of the country.
"I’m not voting because the last elections in February were rigged. I feel discouraged by that," said Sory Ibrahima Diakhate, a 50-year-old security guard sitting on a chair on a dusty Dakar street, like others as quiet as on a normal Sunday.
The opposition boycott strategy was expected to give Wade’s ruling Sopi coalition a walkover win in the polls and extend its control over a recently enlarged 150-seat National Assembly.
More than 3,500 candidates were standing, despite the boycott by more than a dozen opposition parties, several led by former presidential candidates who lost to Wade in February.
The opposition said the low early turnout, compared with the enthusiatic voting of February, showed the success of their boycott strategy.
"This is a real slap in the face for Wade," said Dialo Diop of the Siggil Senegal (Stand up Senegal) opposition coalition.
The coalition distributed leaflets urging voters to snub the polls to "save democracy" and "fight Wade’s monarchy".
"DEMOCRATIC FATIGUE"
Opposition leaders launched the poll boycott after Wade refused to discuss their complaints that the electoral process and voters’ roll were flawed and tilted in favour of his ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS).
"We’re experiencing a general malaise after the presidential elections … Senegal is feeling a bit of democratic fatigue," said Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based human rights group RADDHO.
Wade supporters accused the opposition of acting out of defeatist spite and some saw the boycott as political suicide.
"If you don’t vote, then you can’t get up and say anything the next day … Five years without having a voice (in the National Assembly), that’s irresponsible," said Alioune Youm, 48, a commercial agent, as he voted in downtown Dakar.
Many fear the opposition boycott will remove any effective check to Wade, who has already been criticised for harassing political foes and media critics with temporary detentions.
He was enthusiastically elected in 2000, ending four decades of Socialist rule, but popular disillusionment has grown since then and he faces criticism for not doing enough to end poverty, unemployment and high prices for food and basic goods.
In a sign of this social frustration, thousands of young Senegalese have risked their lives trying to reach Spain in rickety open boats in a bid to start a new life in Europe.
"Wade behaves like a king, he doesn’t listen to people. Abroad everyone says this is a model of democracy, but we don’t see it like that," said student Rokhay Ba, who did not vote.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. |
Senegal Government Closes Private Radio Station
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Phuong Tran
Dakar
01 June 2007
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In Senegal, a media owner is preparing to fight the government’s shut down of his new private radio station. Officials say he did not follow the right procedures, but he says he is being silenced. For VOA, Phuong Tran has more from Dakar.
Premiere FM ordered to shut down for 45 days
Radio station owner Madiambal Diagne looks over his new studio. Microphones are in place. The station’s red, white and silver logo hangs on the wall.
But the transmitter that sends out broadcasts is missing. Police took that away on Thursday, when the station’s first broadcast was scheduled. They delivered an order for Diagne to cease operations for 45 days.
Madiambal Diagne shows his station’s permit paperwork
Diagne shows the paperwork he filed in 2003 for a broadcasting permit.
He says that after three years he still had not been assigned a frequency, so he bought another radio station for $140,000, and took over its frequency.
He says for the past six months he did everything the telecommunications agency asked him to do.
He says when the agency said his satellite was too close to the airport, he moved it to another town.
Diagne says he received notice that his file was complete. And then the police arrived.
Madiambal Diagne also publishes ‘Le Quotidien’ newspaper
He says most people in Senegal know his media group, which also includes newspapers, has had a rocky relationship with the government.
In 2004, after Diagne published a confidential government memo that admitted internal corruption, the journalist was arrested and held in jail for more than two weeks on charges of endangering the country’s security.
His arrest sparked a national media blackout and international condemnation.
Senegal’s Regulatory Agency of Telecommunications says it closed the radio station temporarily, because it lacked proper authorization.
Diagne says the agency is using a law that has never been enforced or publicized.
Diagne says the law requires a presidential decree in order to broadcast. He says a decree takes years. The journalist adds that none of the dozens of radio stations in Senegal has received the decree.
Premiere FM studio in Dakar
Representatives from the telecommunications agency did not respond for comment on this report.
In 2005, some people participating in the "African Media Development Initiative" survey conducted by 17 research groups said Senegal’s telecommunications agency was not neutral in assigning frequencies.
But in the same survey, Bacar Dia, Senegal’s Minister of Information, said Senegal’s government supports a free and independent press, but that many stations fail to submit valid applications.
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