It’s not lost on me that we left Mali because of all the question marks around the political and security situation and we are now getting phone calls from friends in Mali asking if we are OK over here in Senegal. We are indeed ok. In the village of Somone, you wouldn’t have any idea there was unrest elsewhere in the country. But there are question marks about the political situation in Senegal.

Some weeks ago, Dakar based journalist and photographer Ricci Shryock tweeted about the importance of understanding the context and history of protest in Senegal. At the time, she was writing about localized protests in the Ngor quartier of Dakar, but the broader point was: protest is not indicative of democracy’s failure in Senegal — it is actually a vital component of that democracy.

The current president of Senegal, Macky Sall, was first elected in 2012 after a wave of protests ensured the departure of Abdoulaye Wade, who insisted on running for a 3rd term. The same thing happened in 2000 with Abdou Diouf. In that case, it was Wade who led the charge. And now as Macky Sall approaches the end of his second term, he refuses to say whether or not he will run for a third term. As you can imagine, there have been protests about it.

There have also been protests since 2021 surrounding the various trials that threaten to disqualify lead opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko from running in 2024. Last Thursday those protests reached a tipping point.

Here is some background in English from Al Jazeera. This, in French, is even better, from Ousmane Diallo.

I said in a previous post that I would keep my mouth shut, and I haven’t changed my mind about that. This newly arrived, relatively uninformed toubab is just trying to listen and understand. Many people have told me that the awful violence – mostly at the hands of state security services – on Thursday and over the weekend was worse than anything that happened in 2021 or earlier.

Many people have also told me that this is not a “Senegal on the brink” moment. When I mention the number of coups there have been in the region, they laugh. The foundation is strong, they say, and the protests will help keep it that way.

In the meantime, life goes on here in the Petite-Cote, albeit without mobile internet and access to social media.

I hope the people that need to come to their senses do so soon.