Senegal was a French colony until it became independent in 1960. It contains about 20 distinct ethnic groups in its population of 8 million.
The country has been facing a huge economic and social crisis that has its roots in the increase in debt and a structural adjustment program launched in the early 1980s. Between 1980 and 1990, 70% of the population were living in poverty. In 1990-1991, the education and health budgets were reduced by 40%. In 1994, 300,000 people living in Dakar, the capital, could not earn 1 French franc per day during one month.
Politically, the structural adjustment program required the government to open "democratic windows" through the legalisation of different political parties and unions. In 1988, after fraudulent elections, the governing Socialist Party (PS) felt compelled to create a coalition government including the liberal Senegalese Democratic Party and the former Stalinists of the Party for the Independence of Senegal.
BADU NJAAY is member of the Political Executive Secretariat of AND JEF/PADS (African Party for Democracy and Socialism). He was interviewed for Green Left Weekly by FRED SPENCER.
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Could you tell us about your party and the last elections?
The local, municipal and regional elections of November 1996 were the first ones where the left participated as a mass party, with its own list.
AND JEF/PADS is a result of a unification of four revolutionary organisations, Maoist and Trotskyist. The party has a relationship of solidarity with the Fourth International but we belong to no political international organisations. "AND JEF" means "together for action" in a national language.
Our major contribution during the elections was the popularising of alternative ways of managing the elected structures, a strategy based on the satisfaction of people's basic needs and dignity, the struggle against corruption and the promotion of democratic approaches.
We ran the campaign with our own scarce financial resources, and the PS organised the most massive frauds in our history in order not to be defeated.
Despite the frauds, we have close to 500 representatives in regional, municipal and rural elected bodies. After the elections of November 1996, we are the third political party after the PS and PDS.
In the southern part of the country, called Casamance, where there's a guerilla war, our party in fact won the elections but the PS denied it.
Our party refuses to be part of the coalition government. In a context of massive corruption of the political elite, for the Senegalese people AND JEF/PADS is the only credible alternative.
The only way is the creation of a new concept of citizenship based on dignity, social justice, solidarity and socialist pan-Africanism. Now the people are saying, "You are our hope".
We are very conscious that power is not a ripe fruit to be easily taken. That's why we say to all the members of the party — there are now about 30 000 — "Let's reinforce the political capacity of the people simultaneously with our positions in the unions, women and youth movements and in rural areas so that everybody is aware of the requirements and consequences of our political objectives".
In that way the "cadreisation" of the party and the training of the masses play a key role in a context where 70% of the population is illiterate.
As French imperialism has several factories in the country, it's important for us to discuss the economic consequences of their presence and also the environmental questions in order to propose alternatives to the technologies that they use.
This a new dimension in our strategy: not only the ideological problems but also the technical ones. For example, we have solar energy that could reduce the costs of electricity and ensure a high level of coverage in the rural areas too.
The question here is how to combine reforms, transitional claims and the strategic conception of socialism. Fighting for reforms in order to mobilise people is getting more emphasis if we want to rebuild a new revolutionary consciousness.
If the state-party uses violence against the population, it's legitimate to resist and defend oneself with all means necessary. Look at what's going on in Zaire. It's an important lesson for the African revolutionaries.
What would you do if you come to power in such a context?
In my opinion, we'll face several problems, among which money and the CFA currency guaranteed by France are the most crucial ones besides imperialist hostility.
We must prepare that possibility by being more radical in the following aspects:
• refusal to privatise the electricity, health and education sectors;
• reduction of the prices of basic food;
• campaign against corruption
• debt cancellation and return of the money stolen by friends of the powerful from deposits in the western banks;
• satisfaction of people's basic needs instead of the exports policy;
• respect of unions' rights to strike and negotiate the conditions of employment;
• renegotiation of the strategic agreements with France.
On that basis, we'll be able to develop greater capacity to resist. International solidarity is very important to avoid imperialist attacks. We also call for a pan-African solidarity of workers, youth, women and peasants.
The imperialists know that we're getting more important and we may be a danger for them. That's why they tried to make us join the Second International officially to get more money and other facilities so that we become a "smart and responsible" party.
The party refused. Money is not an economic question; it's a political one. However, a very weak minority in the central committee was favourable to being in the Second International as observers.
So, if we're elected, the imperialists will try to strangle us.
The World Bank and the IMF will try to stifle us if we do not respect the agreements signed by the government. They will intervene on the grounds of humanitarian causes to stop us.
Our objective will be to modify the strategies of competition, because it's not possible to compete against France, the USA, Belgium or Australia in the world market. The IMF and World Bank strategies are absurd.
Why are there many union and youth strikes in Senegal?
The world Bank and IMF policies are absurd, and they create massive poverty and unemployment.
The government wanted to introduce flexibility in the public sector in January 1997. Thanks to a big mobilisation, they withdrew it. That was a big success for the workers and the people.
Then, the government refused to apply the agreement they signed with teachers in 1995. Moreover, the government had cut wages 3% "to avoid devaluation of the currency". But the currency has been devalued and the government is still maintaining the 3% wage reduction.
Another threat of a strike with more impact is scheduled by the electricity unions in case the government takes the decision to privatise the factory. On May 1, the electricity union even said that if the government does not satisfy the teachers, then they will cut electricity at the national level.