800 Days of Protesting Paul Biya's Thirty-One-Year Dictatorship in Cameroon

In a recent post I wondered why protests seem to dislodge dictators and corrupt governments in places such as Ukraine or Egypt or Tunisia but not in a place such as Cameroon or Zimbabwe. At the time of writing the president of Ukraine had just fled the capital city, Kiev, as a result of massive pressures from demonstrators. He unleashed brutal force on the demonstrators and many of them died, as was the case in Egypt under Mubarak. Yet, the demonstrators stood their ground. Eureka! Perhaps one of the reasons protests succeed in places such as Ukraine or Egypt and not in Cameroon is that protesters often stand their ground in places where protests succeed. A second reason is possibly that in places where protests succeed, the police and soldiers often begin to switch their support from the dictator to the people. Without strong police and military backing, the dictator cannot survive. This dynamic played out in Ukraine and Egypt. A third possible reason for the success of protests in dislodging a dictator is that politicians often begin to switch sides from the dictator to the protesters when they see the writing on the wall. Politicians are fickle people who often do not stand anywhere as a matter of principle but rather as a matter of convenience. This happened as the parliament in Ukraine started voting down dictatorial laws the president had put in place. When politicians start switching sides, the days of the dictator is numbered. None of these things have happened in Cameroon or Zimbabwe, for example. Thus, we have dictators who have been there for decades.

Today marks 800 days since flourishingafrica started protesting the eternal presence of Paul Biya's dictatorship in Cameroon. This protest is going to continue until Paul Biya is no longer there. We see no scenario where it is necessary for one person to be the president of a country for over three decades, even as they destroy the economy and the vision of the country. It is sickening.