« Devoir de colère » ! (Par Fatoumata Bernadette SONKO)
As women, the "duty to be angry" resides within us.
As a Senegalese woman, in addition to this duty of anger, there is indignation!
As a teacher-researcher, lost illusions.
A student loses his life. Abdoulaye Ba. 20 years old. Again. A shattered future. An inconsolable family and the carefully orchestrated charade to find a scapegoat. A pathetic scene from a tragicomedy that plays out under every political regime, a real dud.
How can one refuse to feel powerless in the face of this mournful litany? I must probe the wound to express a massive and profound anger. Because, speaking to my students, paralyzed by fear and broken by grief, I felt a rage that made me nauseous. Revolting stories of violence and intimidation.
We all know the social value of even a small scholarship.
Nothing justifies this senseless and gratuitous violence, except perhaps the guarantee of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators. They feel entitled to continue it. Therefore, it is no surprise that this downward spiral is accompanied by loss of life. Force, arrogance, and contempt never prevail.
Collective indifference, this social poison whose effects spread throughout our society, perched on a mirage, or rather, a crumbling common foundation. Friday afternoon, while walking home, a traumatic scene unfolded before my eyes. An elderly woman had fallen into the canal along the Corniche, next to the AUF building. An hour spent waiting for help. Paramedics, firefighters, nothing!
Assisted by passersby, she was "in respiratory distress with violent spasms," according to a veterinary student who had turned her scooter around to lend a hand, unlike the motorists who watched the scene unfold like extras. Strangely, all the ambulances from the clinics contacted were out of service. Had it not been for a police car returning from the courthouse, she would not have been able to be evacuated.
When I followed up the next morning, the receptionist at the clinic where the woman had been admitted informed me that she had left after receiving initial treatment. Her medical needs were deemed outside their area of expertise: she was "not in her right mind." Nevertheless, she was given money to pay for her transportation to the Fann Psychiatric Hospital. What follow-up was there? Was she even able to go? Had she left? How could I know? In any case, good riddance.
This cold, mechanical approach reveals a form of dehumanization, highlighting the disparity in social well-being between the wealthiest and the poorest segments of society, who are often without access to medical care and mired in extreme poverty. Their status determines the level of care they receive, which in turn impacts the healthcare pathway they are given.
With the erosion of our humanity, empathy has become a rare commodity. Beyond the immediate outrage, we look away. We plug our ears. We hurtle towards oblivion, further damaged by the theatrical display of oppressive violence—social, political, financial, and health-related. In short, a grim illustration of a society devouring itself.
By Fatoumata Bernadette SONKO
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