50 Years of Independence. And of Militant Marching.

May 25, 2010 · Filed under Random Pieces of Upliftment, Random Rants · Tagged Africa, Anglophones, Cameroon, Cameroun, Francophones, Independence, Marching, Militant, Peace Corps

50 years of Paix, Travail, Patrie (Peace, Work, Fatherland), according to the national motto.

Felicitations au Cameroun! Congratulations Cameroon! 50 years and a whopping 2 presidents later (take that term limits!), this West/Central African country, nicknamed “Africa in miniature,” has survived intact in a continent that has not been known to be kind to young nations.

50 years of increased sales for green, red, and yellow umbrellas! Especially at this market in Bangangte.

Okay, okay, I must satisfy my Anglophone neighbors and friends by noting that the formerly-British, Anglophone portion of Cameroon (2 of the 10 regions), was never technically independent itself, but joined the newly created Francophone state adjacent to it on October 1, 1961. This was after a UN referendum on its status whose choices were: join La Republique du Cameroun, newly freed from France a year earlier, or join Nigeria. For all you mathematicians out there, that’s two choices, not three. Those of you scratching you heads right now, I’ll help you out: noticeably absent was a choice on independence.

Let's be fair. Cameroon has been kind to this young Anglophone. He was able to fit bags of potatoes and random Chinese electronic imports (as well as 6 other Cameroonians) into this age-old passenger sedan.

Okay, so now I’ve appeased my English-speaking Cameroonian brothers and safeguarded the weekly lunches of corn fufu and vegetables (an Anglophone staple) that I kindly receive from my neighbors. But have I appeased the majority of Cameroonians? What does fifty sovereign years (at least politically; economically, that’s another story…) mean to them? Is it worth celebrating wildly? Or just mildly? Should I add another rhetorical question?

Because, let's face it: celebrating too hard can lead to non-celebratory outcomes, like this old wreck at a small gare routiere (taxi/bus station).

At first glance, the answer is an emphatic yes. I’m basing my response not on a finely-crafted investigation, which involves a silly, time-consuming concept known as “doing research,” but on watching Cameroon’s national pastime, which I can do while having a beer. No people, I’m not talking about football. I’m talking about marching. And not just any marching, but aggressively militant marching that I am certain is banned in several countries and loved by fascists worldwide, and which Cameroonians take up from a very early age.

Crowds gathered in Pyongyang, err... I mean, Dschang, to watch the 50th anniversary National Day celebrations, and waiting for another round of often frightening, military-style marching.

Every holiday in Cameroon, be it Youth Day or Women’s Day or Labor Day, prominently features loads of people parading down a street in front of government officials, important elites, and crowds of mesmerized people. Oooh, people wearing matching uniforms and marching in step!

I'm certain that these derangeurs (troublemakers) at my school, who've been sent to fetch water from our nearby pond as punishment, would rather be marching.

These events are as patriotic as one could imagine. Cameroonian flags are everywhere, special choirs are chosen to sing the national anthem, and every speech is jam-packed with official protocol, consisting of praising the work of the local government, the ruling RDPC/CPDM party, and “son excellence” himself, Le President of 28 years, Paul Biya.

More marching, this time by primary school teachers-in-training on Women's Day about a "block" from my house. The only thing that makes Cameroonian protocol somewhat bearable is taking intrusive photos of it.

And coverage of these events is gobbled up by the Cameroonian media, which, though freer than it was in the past, is still explicitly and implicitly regulated by the government. Last week’s death in prison of Bibi Ngota, a Cameroonian journalist, shows you that free-thinking reporters aren’t exactly loved by the politicians in power.

But downtown Yaounde, the seat of the government, looks so free!

Further, a few days ago during an African development conference in Yaounde, I witnessed live on TV a top UN official lambasting the continent’s vote-rigging and constitution-amending tyrants. Paul Biya was seated a few meters away. News like this raises eyebrows in most countries, but not a line of this not-so-hidden censure has been mentioned in any Cameroonian media source.

Another important news item utterly neglected by the Cameroonian press: the theft of my beloved flip flops at this waterfall near Kribi! Put down the peace sign, buddy. It was probably you.

And, to make it even more clear, here’s a line that I heard on National Day from a TV commentator in Douala covering, you guessed it, festive marching: “We are celebrating this day with the CPDM. The ruling party has said that all its militants should come out in numbers to give this event the quality it deserves.” And this wasn’t even CRTV, the government media outlet, but Canal 2, a supposedly private, independent channel!

Here's a real story for the Cameroonian press to report: Why are efficient, domestic private sector operations in Cameroon, such as this large tea plantation just outside of Dschang (thanks Mom for posing) so hard to find?

If you think this only extends to media companies, check out a text that I received soon afterwards on my Camtel (the government telcom company) phone: “Camtel congratulates the Cameroonian people and their illustrious leader for the celebration of the 50^th anniversaries.” Cue in Imperial March music and North Korean salutes.

Illustrious Leader, along with Illustrious Wife, Chantal Biya, 38 years his junior. I would write more, but I'm still mesmerized by her hair, as was apparently Mr. Biya.

So, I must refine my answer as to whether Cameroonians feel like going super hyphy for their nation’s 50^th anniversary: maybe. Because behind the widely-participated, widely-watched, and wildly-broadcasted pro-Cameroon celebrations, which often devolve into pro-governing party celebrations, is a tinge of coercion.

Coercion at its finest - kids being (usually) forced to work instead of going to school, like this young meat-seller in Bangangte.

Each town’s political and economic bigwigs must be there to visibly display affection for their motherland (and often publicly donate significant amounts of money to a local organization) or they will lose face within their community, and often lose face in the eyes of the government.

Chiefs, such as this one surrounded by his courtiers, also aren't exempt from the politics that surround every official celebration.

Each town’s RDPC/CPDM members must be there in party regalia and ready to cheer, or it can have drastic effects on your professional mobility, especially in a country where the biggest official employer is the civil service.

They're smiling and being loud now, but unfortunately for my kids, if they want to have a decent-paying job after they finish their schooling, it will most likely have to be with the already-bloated civil service.

Each town’s CRTV affiliate, whether radio, print, or television, must be there to cover the festivities and disseminate it that evening, often at the expense of other more pressing news (like this small news topic virtually ignored by CRTV and other Cameroonian media outlets), or risk having its editorial staff cut, or its journalists transferred or removed.

As somewhat interesting as some of these celebrations are, such as our Peace Corps Model School commencement ceremony (dutifully covered by the regional CRTV affiliate, most likely after some financial "motivation," as is usually the case), there are more important national and international stories to cover.

However, with that being said, Cameroon is by no means a police state. The mere fact that I can write a meekly critical blog post like this or engage in stimulating political discourse with my acquaintances without fearing any backlash says a little about the relative security of personal freedoms in this country, to a certain extent.

There are some freedoms here that definitely aren't present in the West, such as the freedom to herd cattle on auto routes, which often has the humorous effect of inhibiting the freedom of drivers.

And, it would be wrong of me not to mention the scores of truly patriotic Cameroonians of all political affiliations, all ethnic groups, all languages, and all religions who are incredibly devoted to and appreciative of their nation. A nation which, all politics aside, has done a remarkable job of remaining comparatively stable and peaceful (albeit really corrupt). Just google any of Cameroon’s neighbors (i.e. Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea) and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

If this Yaounde market mama was living in Nigeria, she'd be even more unenthusiastic.

So here’s a toast to Cameroon. Well, a Cameroonian toast, which consists not of champagne, but beer, the undisputed national drink. Did I mention that Cameroonians have the second highest rate of alcoholism in the world? More on that in a later post, after I celebrate the cinquaintanaire avec mes bilingues Cameroonian friends.

C'est tout!