From West Africa to the USA, it is therefore a matter of choice and tensions this week Although many Ivorian citizens, above all,
strive to return to normalcy and say that they are tired of the power struggles between political leaders, the resentment created by this empty choice of its significance will remain for many years, perhaps still real reconciliation and institutional consolidation.
What stands out on Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea is not the personal future of political leaders at the end of their careers. What is at stake is the capacity of all opinion leaders in these two countries to stop driving up divisions, fractures, anger, revenge, even revenge.
RFI: you emphasize the ethnic dimension of these political struggles … and think it’s necessary to talk about it before it’s too late
Yes. I am thinking in particular of Guinea. Attention is already turning away from the election crisis in this country, where Alpha Condé has completed its third agenda by the end. We downplay the violence and fear that has taken hold in various parts of the country. The post-election Guinean drama is the dissolution of the already fragile national cohesion of this country. What is at stake is the deepening of the feeling of mistrust between “Peuls” and “non-Peuls”, whether they are Malinkés, Soussous, Guerzés or Kissis. Given the many cultural mixes, it is absurd to want to classify each Guinean into a specific and unique ethnic group and derive their political affiliation. But the overlap between assumed political preferences and assumed ethnicity is an indisputable fact in the current political crisis. The ambitions of Cellou Dalein Diallo are interpreted by many as representative of Peul’s desire to see a president from this society exercise presidential power for the first time. Alpha Condé’s regime knows how to play it perfect and locks Cellou Diallo in a trap he cannot free himself from. It is not by denying these realities that we will find the most appropriate political, institutional and pedagogical responses to make ethnocultural diversity in our societies a factor for collective prosperity and not a factor for the dissolution of the social structure.
You also draw a parallel with the United States, where political practices – as soon as they break away from all ethical frameworks – also give rise to crime in society.
Yes, in the United States, the election campaign was at a worrying level, mainly characterized by invective, untruths that the incumbent president is used to. His statements and his son, yes his son Eric Trump, who condemned in front of the cameras fraud in full voice, apparently surprised no one.
Everywhere, from the United States to India via Brazil, there is nothing that can not be questioned by unscrupulous political actors. Those who believe that ethics has no place in politics, that all practices are therefore acceptable, do not perceive the seriousness of the threat from the trivialization of the emergence of racist, sexist, sectarian and / or political leaders. greedy. The moral bankruptcy of too many opinion leaders feeds violence, fear of the future and disillusionment on all continents. That is why the Heads of State deny their most solemn commitments, cunning with culture, manipulation of rules and deliberate weakening of institutions are a devastating signal given to young people and children. .
The lessons from the first two West African elections this season are that cunning, cynicism and power pay off.
