« Do not obey those who cry lies,

for they would have you compromise with them so that they might compromise with you. And do not obey any great swearer, despicable,

great slanderer, great peddler of calumny. »

The Holy Coran (68: 8-11)

I told a friend about my recent visit to Joal and then Fadiouth, on the land of my Serer slaves, who have all the faults but one quality: they are the blood and soil relatives of the illustrious Léopold Sédar Senghor. My interlocutor pointed out that the Serers of Fadiouth have another merit: they had the good taste to have given Senegal two cardinals. First, the late Monsignor Hyacinthe Thiandoum, Archbishop of Dakar for four decades. Then His Eminence Théodore-Adrien Sarr, made Cardinal by the Holy Church of Rome in 2007.

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Senegalese Christianity has always played a pioneering role despite its minority status. It was a fervent Christian, an attentive reader of the Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin, who founded our State. The Church accompanied the formulation of ambitious policies from the earliest days of independence. Father Lebret, a Dominican priest, drew up Senegal’s first four-year development plan with Mamadou Dia.  In an interview 15 years ago, Mgr Sarr recalled the Church’s concern to offer people « a global salvation » in accordance with Christ’s message to save man in his « total being ». Alongside the churches, dispensaries, schools and centres for the promotion and enhancement of human dignity have been set up. The Church has educated millions of children in Senegal. It has not offered them insults and slander on social networks as a permanent horizon.

I would like to mention the work of the Spiritans of Ngazobil, who opened up knowledge to a little child who became the Father of the Nation.

I am thinking of the various orders of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny, the Benedictines, the Carmelite Brothers, Caritas, Presence Christian, Clair Africa…

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All these orders, all these initiatives, all these personalities contribute to the formation of minds and the social and human development of the Senegalese people. Those who threaten them are no match for them in terms of quality and stature. Are they a continuation of the « Dahwa » project? It’s a wasted effort, because Senegal is a seamless people. What’s more, if the sensitive nature of the issue did not prevent us from laughing about it, it would have been amusing to see those who have torn the veil of modesty in Senegal and promoted insults against our religious leaders set themselves up as model Muslims, by presenting themselves as defenders of the headscarf.

As a nation steeped in faith, Senegal has always prided itself on being a non-denominational society, where there is no controversy between the various religious groups. Muslims and Christians « mix » to define themselves as Senegalese, in keeping with our national motto. In our homes, imams rub shoulders with priests in perfect harmony. From time to time, as at the moment, a few zealous people try to break the cycle of virtuous living together. They are the rentiers of obscurantism and disharmony. The courtyards and the responsible media have refused to hear and relay their remarks. Instead, they have taken to social networking sites, where insults and outrage grant fleeting fame and fortune. Despite the erring ways and transgressive impulses of politicians, we have been fortunate, from President Senghor to President Sall, to have leaders who are uncompromising on secularism, responsible and concerned about preserving what underpins our national pact: respect for different faiths, cultural diversity and, above all, the allegiance of the men and women who embody political power to the Republic. We have inherited the Republic from our founding fathers. It does not deny any socio-cultural component; it has no religion or political affiliation, but it is the common foundation on which we build a history, a common destiny and an economic and social ambition.

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Like schools, secularism is a cornerstone of our Republic. It enables Senegalese to live in harmony without judging or pitting one against the other. It guarantees balanced relations between the political centre and the centres of faith that radiate throughout Senegal and beyond. The choice to maintain secularism in the Constitution, despite the harangues of its enemies, is a credit to our country. For it alone guarantees the freedom to believe or not to believe without this being a matter of public debate.  The State respects all faiths, but remains equidistant in order to play its role as a bulwark and recourse in the democratic and social game. People’s faith should not be a subject of public debate or a source of calumnious talk.

Coming back to the sterile polemics and demagogic agitation that have no place in the time and place that are supposed to be celebrating excellence. I have to confess that when mediocrity is invited to celebrate excellence, a cognitive bias sets in. I’m thinking of the poor children who worked so hard for a year, hoping to be celebrated in front of their parents, families and friends. They were to be held up as examples of the future elite of the Republic.  Alas, an adult who is as incompetent as he is cumbersome has decided to spoil the party, to interfere with the celebration of the republican school and schoolchildren in order to make a spectacle of himself. Yet the best jokes are the shortest.

I am convinced, in the name of freedom, that we cannot accept a ban on the wearing of the veil in the schools of the Republic. And as far as I can see, the schools concerned do not want this. Worse still, the State of Senegal, in consultation with the Diocese, has settled this issue since 2019. So, what is the point of flippantly stirring up pointless controversy if not to show that the cult of work, in silence and solitude, is not one’s greatest quality. The suit of the State is decidedly too big for shoulders that are used to verbal excess and endless drivel.

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The threats made against denominational schools that are open to all Senegalese children are also a reflection of ignorance, incompetence and an inability to rise above. In his Memories from beyond the grave, Chateaubriand warned: “ambition without talent is a crime”.

I am hardly surprised by these crude threats, which are more akin to noise pollution than a general statement of policy for the next five years. They are outdated and inoperative, because we are a country of democracy and freedom, where the expression of citizens is guaranteed by fundamental texts.

For several years now, many compatriots who have not given in to verbal tyranny have been warning of the collapse of the Republic and the impulses of individuals driven by the need to create conflict in order to reap electoral dividends on the altar of the permanent face-off between the Senegalese.

Incompetent and uneducated leaders base their political rise on the use of verbal and physical violence. Sectarianism, regionalism and Islamism are tools in the service of a project whose DNA is populism.

I am reassured, because often a man who talks too much reads too little. But the refusal to learn, in accordance with the first word of the Koran, precipitates the fall. The high cost of living, the tragedies of migration, the insecurity on our roads, the war on our borders, all call for a return to the reading of Ecclesiastes: « There is a time to throw stones and a time to pick them up ». Let’s get to work! God knows how to recognise His own.

By Hamidou ANNE / hamidou.anne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH