Arts Can Make or Mar in Politics

The logo of the Patriotic Salvation Movement, MPS, seen on 13 May, 2011 in the afternoon in N'Djamena is a piece of art. It is a successful political marketing tool at the service of the ruling party in the Chad. The image is spread all over the country. Chad is 1294 000 000 km2 wide and large. According to the President, the slogan that is underscored by the logo is "Chad at the fore-front of revival”. The slogan is backed by three instruments on the logo. The first one is a long-range rifle. It was the sole image on the logo. A daba has been added since 1996. It crushes the aforementioned rifle in the form of cross.

Untold meanings of the message signal that firearms have stopped ruling supreme in Chad. Prominence is now given to the burial of the hatchet. Indeed, the first fifty years of the country tell the story of coups, revolutions and other mass atrocities. Therefore, war is an old habit in Chad. A new era has to see the light of day. The "daba", second icon, is authoritatively present. It passes on the message that the way-back to farming should be treated as a case of the emergency. Agricultural revolution can secure sustainable development. Chadians are aware of it. As such, they grow vegetables on the banks of Logone and Chari that have dried up. Small markets spread out in N'Djamena. Makeshift stalls bend under the abundance of vegetables and some fruits. Mangoes and watermelons are more visible. If small amounts of money had been deducted from funds that purchased weapons so as to invest in farming, the risks of food scarcity often indicated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, would not have ringed the bell. It is a miracle to see vegetables grow here. Chad cannot boost of having the technical expertise and financial means of Israel or Egypt. These countries transform deserts into farmlands.

The sudden oil overflow is an optical illusion Chad. Petrol is not a renewable energy. Therefore, wells shall run short of petrol one day or the other. Gabon and Nigeria are already experiencing oil exhaustion. Both countries are devising fruitful alternatives to the crisis. Moreover, oil is managed under the discretion of people in leadership position. They are not accountable to the rank-and-file.

The third image above the two others on the logo of MPS is a triumphant flame. It should translate the enlightenment torch of an emerging Chad to come soon. This development phase requires a prerequisite: industrialisation. This is not achievable in a country that lacks energy. Electricity is a sad story in Chad. Night meetings hold under moonlight. Citizens are still sleeping outside. They cannot stand the heat in their houses. Ventilation or air-condition is unknown to them since there is no light

Anyway, industrialisation in Chad needs steady support from creative economy. However, cultural policy is vague in the development programme dubbed "at the fore-front of revival in Chad". The said revival is more economic and less cultural. Actually, N'Djamena is the hotpot of pickaxes knocking here and there. The ground is dug to make way for optic fibre from Cameroon. Construction works are on in the capital city. Chinese are building a second bridge on Chari.

The five-year revival programme was preceded by that so-called "social" agenda. One of its results is the construction of a large-scale mother-child hospital. Once more, culture was neglected and abandoned during social five-year programme. Actually, all community arts centres in Chad are in a desperate situation. The country only has the French Institute. Consequently, culture is poorly disseminated. The only positive observation is the free flow of artists and goods. No policeman limits the mobility of the men of culture at borders. People go and come on both sides along the bridge. It is necessary to go towards the authorities to obtain toll-free entry visa with an official smiling. Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, because they apply mutual protectionism rules, have a lesson to learn.

However, Chadians do not agree with our pacifist interpretation of MPS logo. Even the artists criticise the appearance of the rifle on the aforementioned symbol. It portrays the idea that violence and conflict are not easy to get rid of. Chadians live with this trauma in their minds. Opposition parties in the country also criticise the rifle. It is an expressed will, it is reported, to exercise terror and maintain a regime in power by instilling fear and displaying the tools of armed repression. The slightest mistake shall face armed response as bullets will explode demonstrators and mutineers’ heads. The "daba" shall help bury them or dig them a mass grave, once the concerned persons are killed. If such an operation fails, the flame above shall burn them to death for subversion.

This criticism demands no neglect. Chad is the republic of Kalachinokov guns. The nation square is a vivid evidence of this. Public authorities constructed it thanks to the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Chadian Independence. It is a modern space in front of the presidential palace. The sculpture of a soldier gives a military salute in front of the door of the presidency. Now, the bust of Japhet N' doram with a ball, the all-time greatest Chadian football player, in replacement of the soldier on the same spot would have convinced the overwhelming majority of Chadians. The warrior seems to eternally worship, almost idolising, Idriss Deby Itno. This image contradicts the other statue that is located some kilometres away. It is a slave who has freed himself. He has unchained his hands to secure independence.

Actually, the President himself is a born-soldier. He has already crushed at least two mutinies. His chances were very slim, though. Idriss Deby Itno used guns to topple his predecessor. Hissène Habré then had to escape by nearby North-Cameroon. The fallen President also used firearms. He overthrew Goukouni Wede following a successful coup. Besides, his troops fought Kadhafi’s army in order to have control over the Aozou strip. Chad fails to get rid of the identity of a regime that easily takes up arms. Army general Kamougue Kamal AbdelKader has just died. A 3-day national national mourning decree has been signed. Flags are at half-mast for the glorious memory of the deceased. The nation is paying him tribute for his key role in the maiden coup that toppled Chad’s first President Tombalbaye in 1975.

The national mourning is delaying the publication of the results of the presidential election. The incumbent has carried the day. But it is up to the constitutional court to confirm the results. Nevertheless, the general deceased was a candidate. He had even asked people to boycott the election. The President had appointed him Minister-special Advisor to the Head of state. But he showed less interest for it until he died. All these considerations mean nothing to common Chadians. They want to live a normal life almost like the fifty women seen at the Southern entry to N'Djamena. Each woman was carrying a kitchen appliance on her head. The women were taking a bride to her new home. The wife has to secure the kitchen tools of her new house. She shall use them the next day to prepare the very first meal in her household. The dream of a common life is also the ideal of a street comedian seen not far from the bridge on Chari. He clowned around with a tail as a devil. The public enjoyed the humorist disguised in an old man attire. It is a recipe inherited from the Cameroonian Jean-Miché Kankan. According to him, the elderly are individuals with a lot of humour. They embody best the laughter and the ridiculous. This life with a permanent smile and the absence of crackling rifles is the ultimate goal of Chadians. Such might also has been the intention of the designers of the MPS logo. Unfortunately, people are free to make comments and interpretations.

Build-Up to the Publication of Press Freedom Index in Cameroon

The news that leaked in Cameroon this week of press freedom is that Bertrand Teyou is free. He wrote the book La Belle de la République bananière : Chantal Biya, de la rue au palais. Cameroon’s first Lady is overtly criticised in the book. An over-zealous administrative official took upon himself to raise hell about it.  

This reminds me of something. Cameroon challenged its classification on the World Press Freedom Index in 2010. Reporter without Border’s report angered the Minister of Communication in Cameroon. The country was shifted to the 39^th position in Africa, and129th on world classification. Issa Tchiroma Bakary was scandalised and almost denounced an international plot against the country. Nevertheless, he is the only one to have been caught off-guard. Indeed, the journalist Bibi Ngota died in prison. He was detained along side two other fellow journalists. For sure, it was not due to any press violation. They were charged for common law offences. But it remains that a journalist died in prison. Public authorities even tried to challenge him that he did not deserve the status of journalist. Indeed, Bibi Ngota was not awarded a diploma by any journalism or communication training school. However, Cameroonian law recognizes the status of journalist to any person who earns his living on information gathering processing over a minimum of 6 years even without any formal training. Actually, Pius Njawé is the sole Cameroonian who contributed to the Windhoek declaration. His legacy to Cameroon is a well established critical private newspaper and Freedom FM, a radio station with all technical equipment that has never been authorised to operate. Pius Njawé was trained on the job.  So was Bibi Ngota. To make things worse, the honour of the deceased journalist had been desecrated. It was officially reported that he died from HIV-AIDS.

Reporter without Borders’s next classification will be published in October, 2011. The same causes may have the same consequence. The Senior Divisional Officer of Mfoundi banned a festival on human rights under motives of possible public disorder, absence of authorisation from the Ministry of Culture and no receipt of holding a any public event. The festival was sponsored by the European Union. This ban marks the second conflict between the European Union and Cameroon in a few months. The first misunderstanding had to do with the grant for homosexuals. If in the last case mentioned, the Minister of External Relations was somehow right to react against the grant in a country where homosexuality is considered a crime by law, in the first one the administration gets it all wrong. It is even an insult made to the intelligence of Cameroonians to think that the screening of some movies, be they provocative, can cause revolutions. It is naïve to continue to believe that media have a powerful impact on people. The audience selects messages. It is not a sluggish mass that is ready to receive everything. Besides, the festival on human rights has caused the firing of the Director of cinematography in the ministry of Culture was fired. Johnson Wang authorised the screening of films such Revolution, mode d’emploi and many others. 

The administration has given another blow. The Sub-Divisional Officer of Yaoundé III has banned a documentary on banana. The police intervened. The organisers were blamed that they did not have an authorisation to hold a public event. Now, Frank Bieleu's documentary merely displays the working conditions and wage in the industrial banana plantations of Penja in the region of Littoral. All these bans, sorts of come-back to censorship, make cheap and good noise for minor events. The last big budget in film is the movie Les Saignantes. One of the best festivals in the country is Ecrans noirs. But public authorities hardly celebrate them.

The classification of Cameroon next October is going to surprise again. Now, it will just be a matter of perception and index. They do not measure absolute truth. Figures reign supreme in all classifications. But the quantitativism does not constitute the only axis that explains life. There is also qualitativism. It is up to the state to take advantage of figures that are made public to improve the living conditions of citizens. Always being ready to contradict the figures that are published is a waste of time when people are in need of moving forward.

Why Labour Day Is Useless in some Countries in Africa

Télesphore Mba Bizo

It is surprising to see Africans making a spectacle of themselves on 1st May. It represents the International Labour Day. In principle, this celebration comes after one has sacrificed over a year. But in Sub Saharan Africa, mostly, labour day is just another celebration. Actually, the calendar is full of public holidays. The anniversary date when somebody came to power is a public holiday. The launch of political party prevents people from working that day. Established churches also have, at least, two public holidays per year. Each state celebrates a national day. At times, there are two or more. Besides, there are anniversaries that worry state men, for instance, the date a former President or an opposition leader died. Only forces of law and order can work on such a day. Any successful encounter in sports calls for a public holiday. Citizens are paid for idling. The state steals them good working days. Even Saturday is a working day in some countries. But offices are closed that day. Incidentally, people use state cars the same day for shopping.

If countries do not encourage hard-work, citizens themselves cannot be praised. The most disciplined workers spend 8 hours per day in their offices. But they spend their time, when they are not online, playing computer games: cards, zuma, pinball and soccer with virtual encounters like champion’s league matches between Barcelona and Real de Madrid. The most meaningful moment is the time they spend to share bottles of beer at lunch. Nobody ever fails to show up at 12h. It is by that time that administrative documents are signed and processed in a hurry.

How can people justify the relevance of celebrating the international labour day when most workers hardly deliver their best? At this junction, celebrating becomes a mere repetition. That is the only thing that people do over the year. Again, most good workers actually stay at home. Only trade-unionists and administrative officials fight to deliver speeches at the rostrum.

Africa often complains that European development models are imposed on her. The West then acts as if the world is governed by rigid truth; as if laws and clear-cut formula govern the world. A sort of “copy and paste” process. For instance, Europe imagined that the protest in the Arab world would easily propagate and affect Sub Saharan Africa. Now, life is relativity. Many African countries went through hard times in the early 90s after the Berlin wall was demolished. On that occasion, Mathieu Kérékou or Sassou Nguesso were toppled following national conferences.

If Africa has something to learn from the West, it is the working model. 8 good working hours per day in an atmosphere of corporate culture, results-oriented spirit and respect for prescribed deadlines in service delivery. At times, Europe can disappoint many people because she acts as the master who teaches lessons to a continent that has failed grow old, and which enslaved and colonised nations with brutality in the past. It is then high time that new cooperation modes were planned and multiplied. Emerging countries, likely, constitute a destination. Among these countries, only China is making waves because she is a model of hard work to reckon with, even salaries may be low. Yet, South Korea, India, Bresil or Turkey also constitute laudable options. The time for appropriation has come. However, there is no need to duplicate poor examples. People are expected to contextualise without diluting the original quality. A committee of experts in charge of following-up and assessing appropriations and adaptations should see the day of light in countries.

The ultimate goal is to prompt workers within the sector of arts and culture to be devoted as if their workplace is a factory. This production of goods, services and wealth will go a long way to raise the bar of creative industries in the hierarchy of macro-economic contributions to states. The celebration of 1^st May, I am humbly thinking, demands some previous and personal commitment to work. In this light, the British are entitled to celebration.  They worked hard to sell Kate and William’s wedding to the world. Even Africa consumed the culture of the United Kingdom through a ceremony. The beatification of Pope Jean-Paul II is the same success story. For sure, people are unlikely to stop frowning at him because of the Roman Catholic position against the use of condoms in a world where casual sex and HIV-AIDS prevail. But the new generations will keep the memory of a hard-working pope of our century.

Harmful Poverty and piracy

A contribution from group discussions in Bamako-Mali during  the Winter school of Arterial Network.

Odekuchu Ivo lives in Ekok, a Cameroonian city on the border line with Nigeria. He is a video-filmmaker on his way to Enugu in Nigeria in September to collect the copyright dues that he had willingly saved over one year. His wife is on the verge of delivering their 9^th child. The 8 others are waiting for him to come back and sponsor their school year.

In Enugu in Nigeria, posters of his movie dubbed Sweat Mother are pasted everywhere. The film, he hears, is watched by the diaspora in the UK, the US, France and even in China. Odekuchu is moved by the audience of his film and, therefore, dreams of a good turn-over.

But in the copyright office, he is disappointed by Azikiwé Ernest. No movie had been registered under the name Odekuchu Ivo. Instead, the owner of the movie Sweat mother is Odekucho Irene. Pirates have defeated him over his product. The pirated movie displays more sophistication than the original film.

All the hopes of saving money over a year have disappeared. Tous les espoirs d’une année d’épargne s’envolent en fumée. Odekuchu goes back to Ekok in South-East Cameroon on foot. At home, he discovers that the wife has died after poor delivery. Even the baby has passed away. The 8 other children cannot go to school this year. The video-films their father produces cannot provide them the daily bread needed. 9 months later, the elder son Odekuchu Joachim is arrested in Douala in Cameroon for armed robbery with people dying.

Nigeria is the world leading producer of video-films. Only a handful of authours and actors earn a living on it. Things are unlikely to change before 2015. It is the deadline for the MDGs. The 1^st consists of reducing abject poverty by half. The Odekuchus will miss the deadline. The same holds true for more than 60% households across Africa. In this regard, out of the 50 poorest countries the world over, 33 are from Sub Saharan Africa according to the human Development Index. The son Odekuchu Joachim fails to get job satisfaction from farming. Therefore, he embarks on armed robbery and ends up serving

The 2^nd MDG is free primary education for all by 2015. But artist Odekuchu’s children are now school drop-out. They won’t complete primary education. Therefore, illegal use fire arms would become their duty as they would end up with the blood of innocent people murdered in their minds.

The 3rd MDG is woman empowerment. Yet, Odekuchu’s wife because dies because she is a victim to poverty. The surgery fee in the absence of her husband, the sole bread-winner in the family, was unfordable. Abandonment and lack of solidary among nurses unfortunately led her to death.

The 4th MDG is the reduction of infant mortality and the 5th is the improvement of maternal health. The 9^th child passes away owing to poor patient management at the Ekok Maternity.  The same reason also accounts for the wife’s death. A woman dies each one minute across the world. The misfortune is on. Nothing seems to be able to reverse the trend by 2015.

The other MDGs are somehow above Africa. That is fighting HIV-AIDS when malaria is still the main silent killer. That is to worry about environmental issues when food is absent from tables. Arts and culture are still failing to meet people’s basic needs, especially food, clothes or the weather. Therefore, it is unlike that people show interest in meeting secondary or as stated by the 8^th MDG, that is constructing a world partnership for development.

To earn a living on arts and culture, a market is needed. Africa has some markets. Only Nigeria represents a market of 150 million people. One African out 7 is from that country. Her video industry accounts for 300 direct jobs, 1,200 films per year. It has turned out to be a successful alternative to possible oil exhaustion. Unfortunately, it is the market of piracy par excellence. Producers offer more pirated CDs than original copies. Markets are poorly structured. Neither cultural industries nor artists take advantage of it. So, creative industries are null and void within a context that has been overwhelmed by poverty and in an atmosphere that is definitely contrary to MDGs. 

A Cultural Case that has Conquered the Decision-Making Centre

Senegal had offered Africa a President Poet. No one questions Léopold Sédar Senghor’s contribution to cultural enhancement in Senegal. Haiti also has been having its President Singer since 4 April 2011: Michel Martelly. The pop music singer defeated Mirlande Manigat. She is the former first Lady.  No one agreed that he enjoyed some political maturity. Besides, people only knew he will run for the elections in July 2010. Haiti is a small African section located in the Pacific Ocean. The country shares its evils with the continent: abject poverty, hunger, diseases and cataclysms. In this regard, Haiti, the maiden Black republic, is the poorest nation in America.

Hitting the Target celebrates Michel Martelly’s courage. Political victories against men and women in power or closer to it are a handful in “so-called small republics” in Black countries. Moreover, the new President did not have the same fate with his singer counterpart Wyclef Jean. He is reported to have been shot a bullet at the eve of the elections. Besides, Michel Martelly is rejuvenating

the presidential function. So far, most African Heads of States aged 50 or less came to power after revolutions like Sankara in Burkina Faso or after turning republics into monarchies where fathers hand over power to their sons after cases of sudden death in Congo, Gabon, Togo and why not Senegal in the days to come.

A socio-cultural analysis places the success of Michel Martelly under the conceptual framing of the conquest for the decision-making centre. A previous column encouraged arts people to stop occupying social periphery. They are endowed with resounding political marketing assets and tools. Sweet Micky, as his fans call him, made use of it to rise to the presidency. However, the discourse on the conquest for decision-making centre is not limited in particular to the executive. It is not a call for all artists to rule countries or to be appointed ministers. However, any artist can find himself or herself useful even locally. Decentralisation is still very recent in many countries in Africa. Unfortunately, majors do not understand the ins-and-outs of it. The involvement of people in the process takes time. Things are even worse. Politicians are hardly abreast of arts and culture issues. Therefore, municipal councils need information. One of the best ways to provide information is to be elected municipal councillor. Other artists have the means to become members of parliament. Mp function is even an ideal way to get the message across. Parliament is the place where laws are voted. If arts people had invaded parliament houses, devising and implementing cultural policies would not have delayed in Africa.

Michel Martelly has succeeded in being elected President in Haiti. However, his campaign discourse stressed youth employment and land reform to booster productivity in the country. The sole cultural aspect discussed is tourism. Let pray that cultural hopes will gain ground.