April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

11 March, the day the student union ANEB had called for a mass
demonstration. The capital was completely sealed off by the army, the
police and the gendarmes, who put down the protests. It was only that
evening that Blaise Compaore deigned to address the nation for the first
time since the unrest began. But he only talked about the material damage
caused to public and private property.
The regime has stuck to the same tactics it has used since 1997 to deal
with the latest crisis, alternating carrot and stick while denouncing the
fact that its concessions have failed to reduce tensions. This is the model
of the way they dealt with the student unrest - protests, repression,
arrests, legal measures, discrediting the movement (subversion),
negotiations and calls for mediation. The authorities have always called for
a mediator during every student uprising - in 1990 it was the Burkinabe
Movement for Human and Peoples’ rights; in 1997 and 2000, it was the
Mediateur du Faso; in 2008, it was the national Parliament itself, often in
conjunction with spiritual leaders (traditional and religious). This time too,
they have set up a six-member ‘committee for initiatives’ headed by the
Bishop of Ouagadougou. The justification for discrediting the movement
this time was that the students were being manipulated by the UNDD on
behalf of an external power, in this case, the Ivorian Laurent Gbagbo. It is
extremely unlikely that Hermann Yameogo has much influence with a
youth movement that is prepared to put the lives of members on the line
in the fight against impunity. This opposition politician, who has
sometimes served as a state minister in the Compaore government, is a
prime example of political opportunism and how some dissidents alternate
between the ruling party and the opposition. But the accusation against
him is strange, since normally unrest is blamed on the Volta Revolutionary
Communist Party (underground) which was set up in 1978 and is accused of
having links with the ANEB, thus justifying the repression.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the regime didn’t point fingers at the
communist party this time. The fact that they shut down all national
universities and social welfare organisations on 14 March indicates that the
government is trying to restrict the unrest to a problem in the education
sector. It is equally obvious that this decision, coupled with the frustration
that has been rising since 20 February, could lead to more violence during
demonstrations which would in turn allow the state to initiate ‘legal
proceedings’. This is another constant - arrests take place after each
protest, the judiciary enters the game and the students are forced to find
ways of supporting their comrades instead of keeping up the pressure.
However, the latest protests are not necessarily part of an organised
structure (trade unions, political parties, associations). And when one
reads the various commentaries on the failure of the struggle in the wake
of the Norbert Zongo affair and on developments in North Africa, one gets
the feeling that the youth this time (and the less young who also came out
spontaneously) is convinced that a formal organisation isn’t necessary to
kick a leader out.
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Translated from the French by Sputnik Kilambi.
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Reference
[1] L’Observateur Paalga, n° 7826 du 23 February 2011, Koudougou -
Disturbances after the death of a student.