Disenchanted African youth turns to past

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AA) - A group of youngsters barely in their twenties piled into an old car and headed to the village of Shilantembo, about 50 kilometers from Lubumbashi, the capital of the Upper-Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In this poor forsaken village in the Congolese savannah are dozens of huts and a health center. "The murder site is surprisingly dry. There grow no trees, no grass, due to the sulfuric acid in which the body was dissolved," says Crispin Mende, slipping around the site where Patrice Emery Lumumba, the first prime minister of the DRC (then known as simply Congo), was killed 55 years ago.

In 2001, Belgium recognized a moral responsibility to Lumumba's murder. "An open secret revealed," said Mende.

Like him, many other young people have visited Shilantembo in recent years. Several tours have been organized by the Circle of Reflection for Young People (CRJ), an association of young Congolese based in Lubumbashi. A movement that inspired Jean-Claude Kazembe, the governor of Upper-Katanga, to spearhead construction of a mausoleum dedicated to the father of Congolese independence.

“I do not need to have known Lumumba to say that he is our hero,” said Patrick Mwenze, a student in Lubumbashi.

Meanwhile the Central African country is now facing a serious political crisis. The opposition accuses President Joseph Kabila of wanting to stay in power beyond his last constitutional mandate, due to expire by the end of the year.

-Mandates and power

Issues of mandate renewal and maintaining a grip on power are common to a number of African countries.

In Burundi, which is no better off than its neighbors, it is very common to hear the songs of Saidi Brazza, especially in the streets of Mutakura, known for its protests of the government.

Brazza is now in exile due to the political and security crisis in Burundi which began in April 2015.

"In one of his songs, Brazza sings about Prince Louis Rwagasore, the hero of Burundian independence in 1962 -- his qualities, his actions," said Onesphore Butoyi, 27.

Burikukiye (meaning “independent” in the national tongue Kirundi) is the title of Brazza’s signature song. It talks about Prince Louis Rwagasore as "the eldest of Burundians," but also as "an example, a model, a hero." Burikukiye also quotes one of Rwagasore’s oldest sayings: "You will judge us on our actions, and your satisfaction will be our pride."

"Rwagasore dared to thwart the [Belgian] colonizers and cared about the people's misery. Melchior Ndadaye [Burundi’s fourth president, July-October 1993] was also a hero of democracy. He was murdered because he was a revolutionary and he had come with innovative ideas,” said Onesphore Ndabashinze, a student at a private university in Bujumbura, wearing a T-shirt bearing Ndadaye’s image.

-Che in Africa

Thomas Sankara remains perhaps the most famous. Also called the "African Che Guevara," the late president of Burkina Faso, murdered in a coup in 1987, is a source of inspiration for many young Africans who did not know him. He also inspired the second Burkinabe revolution of October 2014 and took post-mortem revenge on his successor, Blaise Compaore.

"Sankara wanted to pull Africa out of subjugation," Valentin Compaore, a Burkinabe journalist, told Anadolu Agency. “As a leader, he was on the side of the people. He gives me the strength to be free, never be subjected.”

Compaore called the current political class "very disappointing".

"What they do does not indicate a bright future. During election campaigns, they promise wonders. After the elections, they cover themselves in luxury, and corruption for some of them," said Compaore, also lamenting that "the opposition is not united and only seems to be interested in reaching power without any project at present."

In Ivory Coast, it has a name: Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Ivory Coast’s first president (1960-1993). It also has a structure: the Houphouetist Rally for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) a party claiming the legacy and work of the founding father of Ivory Coast. Many young people adhere to the party even if it is, moreover, in the ruling coalition.

"The work of the founding father of the Ivory Coast is an action that centralizes all the commitment of youth," said Gina Herrman, a young Ivorian political activist.

“It is thanks to his work that Ivory Coast is a haven of peace, a staging ground where all the secular values ​​are found."

But "the generation of the current leadership is still influenced by the actions of Houphouet, and do they cite him out of reference, hypocrisy, or conviction?" asked Andre Konan, an Ivorian political scientist.

“A great friend of Houphouet, President Habib Bourguiba has never been so popular in his country Tunisia. A fringe of those who took part in the 2011 revolution that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power also wanted to sweep away the legacy of the regime [Bourguiba] who inspired it.

"More than ever, even more than our grandparents who knew him, we now realize that Bourguiba was a precursor and was right about many things! Decisive social choices which we get today, despite the difficulties, benefits, and international positions concerning the Palestinian cause, for example," Nesrine Meddeb, a corporate executive, told Anadolu Agency

-New political order

Similarly, 30 years after his death, Cheikh Anta Diop, the father of Pan-Africanism, still has a great reputation in Senegal among the younger generation. After founding the National Democratic Rally (RND) in 1976, Diop then shifted its work to a cultural level.

For one who gave his name to Senegal’s largest university, political action must be based on principles, ideas, and convictions, a project for the present and the future. "We cannot claim to speak of black Africa, the thinking, the question, or push to get it out of its cultural and economic mire," said Fary Ndao, speaking about Diop.

Mere infatuation, passing nostalgia, a return to sources, or traditionalism? For Adjimael Ibrahim Halidi, a sociologist from the tiny island-state of Comoros, this trend stems from a new political order in a highly complex international environment, different from the one that presided over the rise of these people to the rank of mythical figures.

"Lumumba, Sankara, or Bourguiba [Nelson] Mandela were primarily personalities grappling with the political realities of a time when the global economy was consistent with well-defined political issues. The struggle for political and economic independence was a mobilizing myth, and they fell short of expectations,” said Halidi, the author of several books.

"The new situation requires a struggle for the socioeconomic welfare of the populations. African leaders are no longer expected to fight against imperialism but rather to work to boost the economic development of their countries and achieve social justice. Internationally, the stakes have become unclear, but locally, people yearn for socioeconomic welfare, so we no longer evaluate leaders in terms of integrity, but in terms of concepts such as human development indicators, good governance, and democracy," he concluded.