On Thursday 20th of October, the Caribbean and African Students Association (CASA) hosted a vigil for the Victims of Hurricane Matthew and Political Violence in Africa on the Red Square. The recent increase in waves of violence and instability in various countries in Africa has been an alarming development and one that concerns the African population on campus. While the violence is widespread, we decided to focus on 4 main African countries - Zimbabwe, South Africa, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia.
(Photography by Kaiomi Inniss)
In Zimbabwe, the popular movement called #ThisFlag begun by Pastor Evans Mawarire lead to a series of protests in the country throughout the summer. These varied from demonstrations in the streets to stay aways from work, and culminated in the arrest of the pastor. After being freed following a large protest demonstration at his court hearing, he has since fled to the USA. The protests however continued with regular street demonstrations that begun to turn violent as riot police were released on the demonstrators. The 92 year old president who has all but ignored calls for him to step down is currently in the process of asking Parliament to pass a bill that will increase internet monitoring as well as increase sentences for crimes deemed to be carried out to destabilize the government. It is also now illegal to own or publicly display the country flag as it was used as a symbol of protest this summer.
In South Africa, the past 2 years have been characterized by the popular Student movement known as Fees Must Fall. These protests and university shutdowns began after State universities announced that they would be increasing already high tuition fees. This led to massive student protests that have intermittently shut down schools and lead to delayed graduation of students last year. This year, however, the protests have gotten worse with students looting and vandalizing school property and in the case of University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Durban, the burning of a cafeteria. Coupled with this has come increased violence at demonstrations and the decision by the government to have permanent police presence on university campuses. The current shut down of the major university, University of Cape Town, has raised fears that students may not graduate this year.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, incumbent President Joseph Kabila who has ruled since 2002 has refused to step down as President and initially delayed but has ultimately cancelled Presidential elections that were to take place in November. This led to massive street protests that turned violent when police shot at and used tear gas on the protestors. While the President has agreed on a deal with the Constitutional Court as well as the opposition that he will remain in power until 2018, with the opposition taking the role of Prime Minister, violence and protests have not stopped and are getting increasingly violent.
The Ethiopian case is one of ethnic divisions. Ethiopians - mostly from the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups - are angry about what they describe as decades of marginalisation by the ruing but smaller proportion of Tigray. Protests have resulted in hundreds dead as protesters have been shot and mowed down by police and military elements. The worst of these cases was at the Oromia Festival, where during a stampede after tear gas was used on a crowd, at least 52 people were killed. This lead to increasing protests and the declaration of a state of emergency in the country. Additionally a ban on all social media and the limitation of internet use has been implemented by the government.
Many will be familiar with the Hurricane that recently ripped through the Caribbean and Eastern USA. While many countries were affected by the high winds and torrential rain, the worst hit by all accounts has been Haiti. The country still in recovery from the 2010 earthquake that shook the small island nation was severely impacted by Hurricane Mathew. The country, which is by far the poorest of the Caribbean Islands, has been struggling to handle the deaths, floodings, and displacements in Southern Haiti. In addition to the vigil, CASA was collecting donations for the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund which works to provide monetary aid to organisations working on the ground in Haiti. More Information on their work can be found here. In collaboration with all the Clarkies that attended the vigil, CASA managed to raise $167.22 and we would like to sincerely thank all those who donated.
(Photography by Demetry Belfort)
This vigil, however, was about more than just acknowledging the violence and suffering highlighted, but also to realise that even as people from Africa and the Caribbean we are in a privileged position to be able to learn in a relatively peaceful environment and to not face the constant threat of violence on a day to day basis. Additionally we hoped to educate the Clark community about what is happening in the places we call home. Often the focus is on Europe, North America and the Middle East and we forget to look further and learn about more than just where we are or are from.
We hope that more people take the time to learn from us as CASA and engage with us as we host our various events. For more information about our events please follow our Facebook page.
*Ashleigh is also the Vice President of CASA.
