In Africa, the work of renewal that awaits the youth requires action: civic engagement, which alone will dismantle the system of neo-patrimonial patronage networks that prevents citizens from engaging in an enterprise economy, and make the bed of misery, famine, ignorance and illiteracy that are a brake on democracy.
Venice, Italy, January 21, 2017. Pateh Sabally, a 22-year-old Gambian, died under the eyes of passers-by who could not find anything better to do for him than to shout « He’s a shit », « Go home », « Let him die! ». This tragedy, which provoked an almost planetary emotion, comes after the murder of a 36-year-old Nigerian refugee, Emmanuel Chidi, in Fermo, central Italy, on Wednesday July 6 2016. What Pateh Sabally and Emmanuel Chidi share, it is their belonging to a continent, Africa, where bad governance having broken the countries politically, socially and economically down, pushes on the way of departure, millions of young people. They go to slaughter crossing the sea to reach happiness which, to quote Ibrahima Ly in « Toiles d’araignée », is « the conquest of every individual ». They are fleeing the insolent display of unemployment, the corruption, nepotism and favoritism system, the disintegrating educational, cultural and sporting systems, the breaking families … A situation that shows that all the ingredients are there to lead the youth into impasse, disillusionment, hopelessness, despair…
In his latest book, « Jeunesse africaine, le grand défi à relever »[1], the former Malian Prime Minister and leader of the Yèlèma (change) party, Moussa Mara, paints the same dark picture of a youth who immolates itself by fire in Tunisia, takes refuge in alcohol in Monrovia, takes up arms in Nigeria, embraces sectarianism in the Congo, becomes extremist and radicalizes in Somalia and Egypt, a youth who is enclosed in the persuasion « that elsewhere is better ». Yet, in recent years, youth issues have become such a priority that an African Youth Charter was adopted on July 2, 2006 by the 7th ordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government (effective August 8, 2009). On the continent, it is not uncommon to hear that the future belongs to the youth, that the future of a country depends on its youth. The African youth, Senegalese chronicler and consultant Hamidou Anne explains, « is at the heart of all speeches and projections, from African leaders to foreign investors and « friends » of Africa, who point their nose in search of market shares ».
Many analysts today believe that the African youth, who will make up 80% of the world’s youth by 2030, has the potential to be « the spearhead of change » on the continent. To put it plainly, a real job of renewal awaits the African youth which according to a widely held view, is considered a « time bomb » that will eventually explode, if we are not careful.
From denunciation to action
For Hamidou Anne, today’s youth must invest public space in a different way. « Not just by blogging or entrepreneurship, but above all by politicizing our actions. We have to get the youth to become politicized, not just to campaign in parties (why not). But politicization means understanding the power struggles at stake in Africa, identifying our evils, our responsibilities, and charting a new path to take Africa out of the post-traumatic state in which centuries of slavery, colonization and neo-colonization have plunged it », he said. It is easy to understand that it is about a civic commitment that consists of revolting, rebelling against the evils that are corroding the country in an organized, united and concerted way. This dynamic is already underway in some countries, such as Senegal with the « Y’en a marre » movement, and in Burkina Faso with the « Balai Citoyen ». These two movements are now seen as sentinels of democracy on the continent.
Even though they feel a great disillusionment after the post-independence failures that have given rise to a contempt for politics, young Africans have to pronounce the rupture with pure denunciation in order to move towards action. This is the opinion of the columnist editor Said Djaafer, editorial director of the Huffington Post Algeria, who, questioned, says: « we must do politics to be able to change things and hope for a renewal. Doing politics is not staying on social networks. These are tools purposes themselves. For the youth, it is obviously necessary to make an effort to learn, but They must also « get involved » in associations, in parties … There is no royal way to start the necessary and desired renewal, but this will not happen without « work ». And changing things – by changing oneself – the need for effort, constancy, even if the political field in most of our countries is disappointing and depressing. We must fight against this and do the « work » on ourselves so as not to sink into a denunciation without action ». Young Africans must take an interest in public affairs, escaping from these static denunciations behaviors, which are heavily accentuated by social networks where it is believed that they are « doing » by typing on the keyboard.
If analysis abound to say as Moussa Mara put it, make the youth responsible, give weight to youth organizations and issues, the continent must go further. The Renewal will emerge only from the dynamism and creativity of the youth. Society must give young people an active place, let them undertake, undertake in the economic, political, citizenship, family and cultural fields, so that they cease to think that happiness is elsewhere. Entrepreneurship, the « new African dream », can no longer dispense with the youth because it is the first victim of the supremacy of the elders which obstructs its future, and hinders human development in most countries of the continent.
Getting an active place in all fields will enable young Africans to take charge of their future, but must not make them forget where they come from. In the context of globalization that Africa must not obscure, in the face of a West that is radicalizing itself with Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orban, active and enterprising youth will only bring the real Renewal if it builds it in citizen’s way of living with respect for one’s own culture, which Senegalese scholar Felwine Sarr calls « the decolonial turn ». « Civic construction is also a journey. It feeds on self-knowledge, that is to say, its land, its roots, its country, its history, its civilization and the various forms of its traditions, its beliefs, its culture » Moussa Mara writes.
But it remains clear that all this will involve civic engagement in dismantling the system of neo-patrimonial patronage networks that prevents citizens from engaging in an enterprise economy and make the bed of misery, famine, ignorance and illiteracy that are a brake on democracy [2].
[1] Moussa Mara, African Youth, The Great Challenge, Paris, Mareuil Editions, 2016
[2] Philip Murray, Human Insecurity in Mali, Small War Journal, March 25, 2016
Boubacar Sangaré