Several thousand join Senegal media protest

Though a few days old, this is an inspirational development. After experiencing intimidation and threats from members of the country’s government, news outlets in the West African nation of Senegal have banded together to form a campaigning organization to defend their freedom.

Against the deeply authoritarian opinion (expressed by the Transport Minister) that “There is no difference between verbal violence, written violence and physical violence,” the Committee for the Defence and Protection of Journalists has demanded “an end to the campaign of demonization, intimidation and the destruction of goods against the media which is only doing its job of informing public opinion.”

Senegal is described by USAID as “the United States’ most influential ally in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa and a bulwark of stability in a region marked by conflict and humanitarian crises.” It’s also run by authoritarian swine, but its public sphere seems to be developing OK.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 demonstrators rallied in Senegal’s capital Dakar on Saturday to demand an end to a “campaign of demonization and intimidation” against the media.

Many were dressed in black as a sign of protest, and carried signs that said: “Stop the violence” and “No to police aggression”.

The protest was organised by the Committee for the Defence and Protection of Journalists (CDPJ) set up by several media outlets.

“Today the Senegalese media united here (...) demand an end to the campaign of demonization, intimidation and the destruction of goods against the media which is only doing its job of informing public opinion,” Ibrahima Khaliloullah Ndiaye, who contributes to the government newspaper Le Soleil, told the crowd.

Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.