Philosopher, novelist and essayist Abdoulaye Elimane Kane has just published a remarkable work on the life of Senegal’s Socialist Party. As fate would have it, this book has been published just before a presidential election that will wipe the Socialist camp off Senegal’s electoral map. The Savana conclave: a brief history of the Socialist Party (L’Harmattan-Sénégal, 2024) offers a panoramic view of more than fifty years of a movement that has shaped Senegal’s political history. From the split resulting from the Sfio to the Ps, via the Bds, the Bps and the Ups, this now « great overturned corpse » has come a long way! The Ps led our country to independence under the leadership of a charismatic leader. It built a Nation, a State and conceived the Republic as a synthesis of diverse aspirations and influences before going into opposition on 19 March 2000 after 40 years of unshared rule.

Read the column – Facing Up

Abdoulaye Elimane Kane’s book is essential in this context of confusion and blurring of ideological lines and tracks, and at a time of electoral fervour following the vote on 24 March. It allows us to take a step back, to invest our political history in the long term and in a broader, more complex timeframe.

We’re talking alternance concerning about what’s happening at the moment. The author deconstructs the myth of the 2000 changeover and uses references and specific examples that there had already been alternations before Wade’s arrival in power. He cites, among other things, the end of Sfio’s hegemony in favour of the Bds in 1951 and the change of course in 1981 with the advent of Diouf under article 35 of the Constitution.

A minister in Abdou Diouf’s last government, Abdoulaye Elimane Kane looks back on that period and especially on the days afterwards, when the PS, defeated and groggy, had to lick its wounds in the pain of the aftermath of defeat. He recalls with modesty and distance the phenomenon of transhumance, the internal quarrels, the settling of scores and, above all, the designation of Ousmane Tanor Dieng as being responsible for the debacle. This tense period lends its name to the book, as the Savana conclave was the first act of a reconciliation (facade?) to salvage the furniture in a defeated party forced to get back on its feet and on the move.

Read the column – This 24 March, democracy will dictate its law

While recognising the limits of the action and the responsibility of the former First Secretary of the Socialist Party, Professor Kane devotes long and beautiful pages to the notion of republican opposition as the choice of the Socialist Party in 2000, which combined demanding principles with a responsible approach.

In retrospect, this choice is to be welcomed, given the turn of events more than two decades later. Despite twelve difficult years out of power, the PS has remained a party of government, even in the face of the scurrilous methods of the ruling PDS and the injunctions of radical young cadres and activists.

A key player in the life of the Socialist Party, which he joined in 1990, Abdoulaye Elimane Kane has held a number of positions within the party: coordinator of the study and reflection group, member of the Political Bureau, national secretary, spokesman, and so on. He tells us about the history of this political grouping during and after its time in power, from the inside, without ever getting into the details or settling scores.

Read the column – Senegal at the GECF: Continuing the Story

This book comes at just the right time, when the entire left has suddenly been thrust into opposition. It helps to explain some of the difficulties it faced in forming a united front between 2000 and 2024, in action units such as Front Siggil Senegaal and then Benno bokk yaakaar. The author explains these differences, which remain tenacious despite the arrival in power of the liberals, within the historic left – from the socialists to the communists – with great analytical finesse.

He offers the keys to collective action and to forging new links in order to face up to the complex and major challenges that lie ahead in the new configuration of the political field.

Professor Kane tells us that another conclave is possible. The current tipping point makes this even more relevant and urgent. This book already offers food for thought for those who are thinking about getting back on their feet, thinking and acting on what comes next.

Democratic socialism offers an intuition and a framework for thinking about the reunion of the entire progressive family.

Finally, Abdoulaye Elimane Kane devotes sublime pages to mysticism, which necessarily brings to mind Jean Jaurès and the theoreticians of socialism. He borrows from socialist mysticism to heal the PS and, beyond that, the whole left, following the example of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repair that he quotes on numerous occasions.

Abdoulaye Elimane Kane dedicates this major essay to the late Aboubacry Kane and to the Wise Men of the PS who acted to calm hearts and minds during a difficult period. It’s a dedication that touched me personally for reasons that the author, if he were to read me, would know how to decipher, because from generation to generation, we have all drunk from the same source of eternal maayo.

By Hamidou ANNE / hamidou.anne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE