Le dernier feu de paille des titrologues (Par le Pr. Mouhamed Abdallah LY)
These self-proclaimed experts had accustomed us to commenting on articles based on a headline casually picked from a press review, or to offering opinions on books they hadn't read. They've now added another string to their bow: criticizing exhibitions they haven't visited; this is the case for Yoro Dia, the most talkative among them. Worse still, they've created a controversy out of thin air, all the more bizarre because it's occurring not at the exhibition's opening, but at its closing, just hours before it's taken down.
According to them, "Front Line" is an apology for violence against the defense and security forces. Are they aware that the long list of victims' names, written in white on a black sign, includes the names of dead police officers?
According to them, "Première ligne" promotes insurrection at the expense of the Republic. Outside of their oligarchic fantasies, is there, in human history, a single Republic whose advent and/or consolidation did not require violent struggles? Are they unaware that resistance—even insurrection—of a people against an oppressive power was considered a "sacred duty" by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1793, and that the 1948 Declaration recognizes resistance to oppression as an inalienable natural right? Long before that, in West Africa, resistance to oppression was also established as an inalienable right. It has a history spanning almost a millennium, as evidenced by the Charter of Manden in the 13th century. Indeed, although the latter does not explicitly mention the term "right to resist oppression", it nevertheless proclaims the principle on which it is based: that of the inviolability of the human person.
According to them, "Front Line" should have been exhibited at the PASTEF headquarters, not at the Museum of Black Civilizations. Are they aware that a museum is first and foremost a place of memory, including the memory of political violence? Wouldn't the Museum of Black Civilizations be failing in its mission if it only focused on past traumatic events (slavery, colonization, etc.) while ignoring the painful events that have stained its homeland, Senegal, resulting in nearly 80 deaths, acts of torture, and 2,000 detainees? In truth, it is the Museum of Black Civilizations' responsibility to host temporary exhibitions that document legitimate struggles and provide spaces for reflection and commemoration of the victims. This perspective is all the more important for a Museum of Black Civilizations because this struggle was carried out for three years by a youth who, in the same movement, fought for sovereignty, the exit from the CFA franc, the departure of the colonial army, the restitution of cultural property looted and held in Western museums, etc.
Moreover, by hosting "Première ligne," the MCN does more than just prevent forgetting and support mourning; it also raises questions that are entirely impartial: where do we stand with yesterday's promises? What can be done to ensure this never happens again? This exploration of current issues also touches on other essential questions: what have we done since then to banish torture and develop a different criminal justice policy?
Alas, in a surge of revisionism that veers toward falsifying history and desecrating the dead—"it was drones that killed the protesters," they claim—and in a counter-revolutionary push that uses every available means, the arsonists have chosen to play the role of the outraged virgin. But where were they when, not long ago, the artist Kehinde Wiley presented "The Labyrinths of Power" at the MCN, an exhibition of portraits of African Heads of State, including Macky Sall? The PASTEF activists who visited this exhibition went beyond their petty apprehensions to understand that the American artist aimed not to celebrate the leader of the APR, no less a champion of the colonial past, but to explore the staging of contemporary political power through art.
Finally, at the PASTEF headquarters—this is a wish—there will not be a temporary exhibition called "Front Line" but a Museum of the Resistance. This Museum of the Resistance would, in itself, be a political actor that would document, among other things, the burning and subsequent closure of its headquarters, the dissolution of the party, the derision (ex-PASTEF), the criminal repression of its activists, the resistance and resilience of Senegal's African youth, the political odyssey of its President, and that of its Secretary General, from prison to the Palace…
As for the prominent media pundits—Yoro Dia of the APR party foremost among them—they bear, along with the oppressive regime they supported to the bitter end, full responsibility for the tumultuous nature of the emergence of an alternative to their repressive kleptocracy. It is this popular, democratic, and determined resistance that the works gathered in the "Front Line" exhibition document with talent and sensitivity. Decency would dictate that, given their primary responsibility, they should remain silent. In the aftermath of the 2012 elections that brought them to power, elections whose organization required the mobilization of the Senegalese people, they saw no need to honor either the Senegalese who had mobilized for democracy or the memory of the demonstrator Mamadou Diop, whose life was cut short by a vehicle of the security forces. A private institution, the Raw Material Company, took on this task alone, through the exhibition "Chronicle of a Revolt," which documented and archived for posterity the cost paid by the Senegalese people to defend their democracy. PASTEF is not the APR—which seems to have seen the republic only as an instrument of enrichment and domination—but a political force that intends to restore to the State the sole vocation that legitimizes it: to honor and serve the Senegalese people, each of whose lives is precious to it. This is what Première Ligne proclaims: our lives are precious; our bodies are inviolable, and we will no longer tolerate any affronts to their dignity.
Professor Mouhamed Abdallah LY,
Researcher at IFAN;
Member of MONCAP;
Director General of the Museum of Black Civilizations.
Commentaires (10)
Une critique objective ne peut pas être l'apanage d'une certaine classe d'opportunistes et de haineux.
Ousmane Sonko a participé à démystifier tous ces pseudo-intellectuels qui prenaient un malin plaisir à narguer le peuple avec leurs analyses à deux balles.
Merci Professeur vous au moins vous êtes un sachant et vous respectez nos morts ! Wasalam
Félicitations professeur, un texte aussi plaisant sur le fond que la forme.
Participer à la Discussion
Règles de la communauté :
💡 Astuce : Utilisez des emojis depuis votre téléphone ou le module emoji ci-dessous. Cliquez sur GIF pour ajouter un GIF animé. Collez un lien X/Twitter ou TikTok pour l'afficher automatiquement.