100 ans : Wade, « dernier des anciens et premier des modernes » (par Dr Yoro Dia)
Throughout history, there have been great men, but Alexander was a "Colossus," as Ptolemy said of Alexander the Great's glorious historical campaign from Greece to Persia. In our history, Wade is also a colossus, having been, among other things, the last of the ancients and the first of the moderns, but also and above all, the second pillar of Senegal's exceptionalism, alongside another "colossus," Léopold Sédar Senghor. Beyond the concrete (Abdoulaye Wade Stadium), Wade must also be honored in our minds because without him, there would be no Senegalese democratic exception, which is our pride and the most defining characteristic of our national identity. The two pillars of Senegal's exceptionalism are two great intellectuals, two statesmen with a profound sense of history, and therefore of Senegal's standing in Africa and the world. There would be no Senegalese exception if Senghor, like his contemporaries (Bokassa, Idi Amin Dada, Sékou Touré, Houphouët-Boigny), had abolished multiparty politics and democratic processes in favor of single-party systems, which were the norm. Senghor's desire to trust democracy would not have succeeded had he not had the good fortune to face a man of his caliber like Wade, who agreed to play by the rules of legitimate opposition at a time when guerrilla warfare and subversive opposition movements, financed from abroad during the Cold War, were the norm.
The linguist Pathe Diagne is right when he says that "Wade closes the Senghorian cycle" because he belongs to the generation of the independence struggles, the building of nations and states in Africa, but he also opens another cycle: that of the end of the colonial complex and the "African debates" on colonization and borders, in order to embark on the economic race toward emergence like China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Therefore, in our history, Wade is the last of the old guard but above all the first of the moderns, because political modernity is a great battle for emergence, not anachronistic and outdated sovereignty or the Sisyphean democracy of institutional reforms, which are a waste of time because Senegal does not have an institutional or electoral problem, but an economic one. Wade, who has a great sense of history, opened Pandora's box of excess and the gates of hubris in 2000. What would Dakar be today without the toll highway? What would Dakar be without the African Renaissance Monument, which has become the calling card of our capital, like the Eiffel Tower for Paris and the Statue of Liberty for New York? In our history, Senghor forged the nation and laid the foundations of a state that Diouf strengthened, while Wade, by opening the floodgates of hubris, laid the groundwork that was supposed to allow us to move from an impoverished Senegal to an emerging one. Emergence has an elective affinity with excess and grandeur, qualities sorely lacking in Diomaye-Sonko. Every time I go through the tollbooth, I can't help but think that Wade's secondary road (the one we take when we don't pay the toll) is twice as long as the main road we had under Diouf. There's something profoundly Napoleonic about Wade, who, like the Corsican, believes that "the impossible is the refuge of cowards, and everything grand is beautiful." Diouf honored Senghor, Wade historically resurrected Blaise Diagne, Macky Sall rehabilitated Mamadou Dia and yesterday honored Diouf and Wade. This is the Senegalese exception in the political sphere on a continent where the place of a former head of state is often either exile, prison, or the grave. Today, as we take stock, Wade's excesses during his two terms seem quite insignificant compared to what he brought to our democracy, of which he was a pillar as an opposition leader, a centrist when he was President, and an undeniable force since he left office. Wade's life is a political novel. From 1974 to the present day, nothing has happened politically without him. "At the beginning of this century, France was a magnificent spectacle for the nations. One man (Napoleon) filled it then and made it so great that it filled Europe." Thus spoke Victoire Hugo in her acceptance speech at the French Academy. During the African independence movements, Senghor's Senegal was the magnificent spectacle Hugo described, filling the continent culturally and symbolically. In 2000, Wade, who always believed himself to be Senghor's rightful heir, also sought to fill the continent, just as his successor and heir, Macky Sall, would do at the head of the African Union. Political modernity is the struggle for emergence because it allows Senegal to move from the "democracy of the old guard" (issues of participation, rules of the game like the Independent National Electoral Commission - CENI) to the "democracy of the moderns" (economic issues). Having been the democratic exception, Senegal must aspire to be the economic exception by becoming the first emerging country in sub-Saharan Africa. While our neighbors stagnate from one political transition to another, Senegal must move forward, alternation after alternation, generation after generation, benefiting from the comparative advantage of stability. Unfortunately, Diomaye and Sonko, who have no sense of history or of Senegal's greatness, will plunge us back into the political regression of the old democracy with pointless, intentional reforms and an electoral commission (CENI) that was already anachronistic for Senegal in the 1990s. From Senghor-Wade to Diomaye-Sonko, Senegal has gone from giants to dwarfs. Wade's centenary is a magnificent sunrise because, like the Parthenon on the hill of Athens, it will remind us of our greatness before the interlude of Pastef-era decadence, with its trivialization and denial of the values that made Senegal great. But since greatness is inherent to our history, we will find our way back to greatness after this period of decadence.
Dr. Yoro Dia, Political Scientist, Former Minister
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