WalfTV and Freedom of Speech

The Chariots of Fire theme song comes on the television, but this time its not images of a triumphant final race. Rather, its images of aggressors; pending violence. I had heard about it on the car rapide. I rode past an unusually large crowd along a public street, so I turned to the middle-aged and traditionally robed man beside me to inquire. It’s a TV/Radio station, he tells me. The journalists broadcasted something that “the youth” didn’t like, so they attacked the station. I peer over the heads of the grand crowd, imagining the wrecked computers and gashed faces that his explanations describe. And now I sit in the living room, peering at this curious sequence of images; youths standing in mid-motion, odd angles, the blatant middle fingers. WalfTV wants to make sure everyone knows what has happened to its journalists, to its facilities, and to their freedom of speech.

The controversy concerns local marabout, or religious leader, Serigne Aboo Sall whose brother shared some negative information about him with WalfTV (or Walfadjri). Serigne Aboo Sall then blamed the station for this blotch on his record, claiming that they invented the entire story about his corruption in the government, and so, he sent his disciples to attack the station. The brand of Islam in Senegal is unique, as it is in any other locale. The Sufi Islam here has formed an mélange with local traditions, creating a syncretism of animist and ‘fetishist’ beliefs and the Qua’ran that allows for a very flexible approach to Islamic Shari‘a law. More importantly for us, the Sufi tradition allows for multiple brotherhoods –such as the Maurides and the Tidjaan who are the most powerful and prevalent brotherhoods respectively- and a myriad of religious leaders, here called marabouts, within each of those. These marabouts are incredibly important to Senegalese culture, its history, and its contemporary political scene. Aside from being important spiritually, they also have a hand in directing political activity, as we see here. All that this defamed marabout had to do was say the word and his disciples took actions against the journalists. Uncovering the truth about governmental corruption associated with Serigne Aboo Sall wrought havoc on the lives and work of these journalists. To sum it up in one word: censorship. They are being silenced by this marabout through his disciples, and “the authorities” have no way of implementing retribution. The politicians and the police know who has the real power, and they’re not about to put at stake what little they have in order to punish these attackers.

Frankly, the politicians, and especially their darling President Wade, are carrying out their own implicit censorship. Theirs is a façade of democracy. When the president changes the constitution to extend his second term from five to seven years and then announces his intent to run for a third time in 2012, which is unconstitutional, you know there’s a real problem. Besides which, shouldn’t the president be taking care of his country when in it is in the worst period of power outages and flooding that it has seen in the last four years instead of off gallivanting through Europe on vacation? The people here are angry.

This country does value their freedom of speech and they recognize that it is being threatened. Thus, the people flooded the TV station in support the moment the news of the aggressors was spread. They are speaking out against the violence, showing their support for the news station that is always the first to tell them the most important news, always the one to criticize the government in spite of its intimidation tactics. The people love Walfadjri and weren’t about to stand by and see it harmed so. Thus the images on the TV; the only way for this station to stand up for itself and the freedom of speech that it stands for is by broadcasting how they have been wronged, to show the faces of the aggressors and let the general public recognize them and react to them on the streets in light of what they’ve done. If the government cannot punish this violence then it must be done through the people –because social relations are everything here and shame is a powerful tool. Power to the people. If only the government could match their valor. This is a country worthy of stability and flourishing.

Peace and love,

Jocelyn

A final note: When I asked, my host cousin Assane explained to me that the Chariots of Fire tune was also played when WalfTV first broke the news about 9/11. We may associate this song with awe-inspiring triumph, but here, it indicates a breathtaking tragedy.