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February 25, 2011

Anti-Biya Protests Continue

After the brutal police crackdown of peaceful protesters in Douala on February 23th , 2011, the regime scored one lame point for itself. But it should not be too quick to praise itself like the Agama lizard.Thinking that everything will lie low naturally like was the case in February 2008 , is a huge miscalculation.
Greater determination is rising up as the days go by. Be it in Cameroon or overseas, the momentum seems to be rising against Paul Biya. So far, he has been using his greatest tool, the police,BIR and gendarmes to instill fear in the people. The intimidation campaign is on, but for how long will it last? The more people in Cameroon and the world read and see the images of the February 23th crackdown, the more they are resolved to kick the dictator and his cronies out. It is just a matter of time before the whole system come crashing like a pack of cards. For now , more effort needs to be focused on galvanizing the key persons for this movement(motorcycle riders, and taxi drivers). Their participation will help to cripple the transport system, thereby keeping the working class in doors and calling more public ATTENTION to the matter. The brainwashed BIR (Rapid Intervention Unit) agents cannot kill more than 20 million Cameroonians, if Cameroonians rise up as "ONE MAN".One huge obstacle in this struggle is the mixed signals that the public keeps receiving from the so called "political leaders". While Ms Kah Walla is calling on youths to go out and protest, Mr. Fru Ndi is rallying Northerners ; telling them "Biya must Go" is not his top priority.
Rather, he asked the score of masses who were rallied for the event in Garoua, to shun the election organizing body - ELECAM (Elections Cameroon). My question at this juncture is ,why are they confusing the masses and weakening our change movement? How can you ask a people to run and walk at the same time? Like I said before, the Youths do not need the involvement of political candidates cos it will only increase the "bipartisan" political rift that already exist in our political arena and as people knock heads against each other, Biya comfortably sits in Etoudi and robs his "kleptocratic" hands in satisfaction. If these politicians refuse to unite and stand on a common front and brandish a single agenda; they automatically do not have the merits of meddling in this youth movement. A people torn against themselves cannot stand, and will definitely not achieve any success due to mutual mistrust and calumny. Literally, any "support" or intervention from the politicians seems to be more of a poison than a panacea to the situation at hand. By the way, history risk to repeat itself in case of a strong support from the opposition. Someone once said, if we do not learn from history, history will learn from us. Back in February 2008 when the youths protested against the price hikes and high cost of living; losing over 160 souls in the struggle; President Paul Biya used a message from Fru Ndi, the one time main opposition leader, as an alibi to accuse the opposition of trying to gain power through the streets since they could obtain it through the ballots. The youths have a fervent determination to see political changes occur in Cameroon and power alternating, but since the same causes may lead to the same effects, Biya may want to use that "old trick" one more time.So, my humble advice to all political aspirant to the presidency will be to stick to their day jobs, keep their eyes on the elections and campaign for neutrality , independence and fairness in every process of the upcoming stakes; but leave this goal of ousting the dictator through street protests in the hands of youths. Funny enough, most of those opposition leaders are of thesame age group as the person they are vehemently struggling to topple. Plus, some opposition leaders have been leading their respective political parties for "donkey years". If the youths devise a concrete strategy and gain grassroots support for their cause,they stand a better chance of rallying and uniting the entire country to join the struggle against dictatorship. If such level of unity of ambition is attained, they will surely overcome the enemy and his gang. Although many Cameroonians back home were and are still intimidated by the present " reign of terror" put in place by dictator Biya, Cameroonians overseas on the contrary did not fold their arms.They chose to be actors than observers.Although some may say that whatever protest done oversees has no impact, they forget to note that , most great protest are instigated from outside the country. Plus , actions of citizens overseas pays off in the case of a dictatorship since, it helps to attract media attention and the wider international community, causing them to take a closer look at the country in question.

From South Africa to Washington DC and other locations in Europe,Cameroonians rose up and mounted very strong protest movements which sent shock waves across some international media. Videos and photos are parading the cyberspace and foreign media and people are reading about the political situation and the tension that reign in Cameroon. Many protesters have fallen back to "re-strategize" and come back with the next succession of protests that will culminate in the final ousting of dictator Paul Biya. Until final victory is attained, the youth revolution song and slogan remains "Biya Must Go00000" - "Biya Degage".

1 comment:

  1. Hello my "daughter."
    I am a young camerounian, like you. i have read some lignes of your story in the" UN Careers" web page.
    Please I want to converse with you because I'am also intressted by the peace or all the actions of the UN. please write me back to t.g.hermann@gmail.com it is my e-mail.
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete