Dakar, Nov 26 (APS) – The veil or silence placed on the massacre, on December 1, 1944, of Senegalese Tirailleurs by French soldiers in Thiaroye [une banlieue dakaroise] says a lot about the “contradiction” between the “France of human rights” and that which “exercises violent power” denounced by the first African intellectuals in particular Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Frantz Fanon, believes the Senegalese historian Mamadou Diouf.
On December 1, 1944, “Senegalese tirailleurs” demobilized and sent back to Africa after the Second World War, were killed by the French colonial army, while they were demanding payment of their compensation and the payment of the nest egg that had been promised to them since. months by the political and military authorities of France.
»It is the contradiction between what they call the France of human rights, the ideal France, philosophically and intellectually, and historical France, which is the France which has a colonial empire. A France which exercises, in fact, a power which is a violent power,” said the academic in particular during an interview given to the APS as a prelude to the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre.
If we do not understand that the massacre of Thiaroye was perpetrated at the same time as France celebrated the liberation after the occupation, the debacle of 1940, we will not understand why France did everything not to talk about it. , insisted Mamadou Diouf.
According to the teacher-researcher at Columbia University in the United States, it is the environment in which he [le massacre de Thiaroye] took place.
”And this environment is indeed the environment of the euphoria of liberation, in fact, and of the arrival in power of what De Gaulle will call the companions of liberation, those who fought for that France be liberated”, explained the historian adding that this is why ”this colonial massacre, like most colonial massacres, will generally be silenced” by France.
Professor Diouf, however, noted that the year of the massacre is present in the minds of African leaders.
He cites the contemporary poem by Léopold Sédar Senghor written in December 1944 where he laments the massacre of these former prisoner soldiers [la plupart d’entre eux, sinon la quasi-totalité, étaient en prison pendant 4 ans après la débâcle. Et quand ils ont été libérés, ils ont été rapatriés et cantonnés à Thiaroye].
”So Senghor’s first reaction is to effectively demonstrate his disapproval and condemnation. And in 1946, Senghor (then a deputy in the French National Assembly) will also ask for an amnesty,” he recalled.
The second major reaction which precedes that of Senghor, underlines Mamadou Diouf, is that of Lamine Guèye, deputy mayor of Dakar who requested, in 1944, the establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate what he called ”l ‘abominable atrocity and the killing of Thiaroye”.
The academic also highlights the contribution of the Guinean playwright and politician, Keita Fodéba, author of ”African Dawn”, written in 1948. This play will be performed next Sunday at the Grand Théâtre national in Dakar as part of the 80th anniversary of the massacre from Thiaroye.
The president of the committee for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the massacre of Senegalese riflemen in Thiaroye nevertheless noted “the complicit silence” of Senegalese politicians once in power.
”And it’s true, when Senghor became president, he didn’t talk about it. When he was replaced by Abdou Diouf, he chaired the premiere of Sembene’s film +Camp de Thiaroye+ [le film de Sembene Ousmane et de Thierno Faty Sow sorti en 1988]but he doesn’t talk about it. The film will be banned by France for 10 years,” the historian said.
He emphasizes that Abdoulaye Wade, on the other hand, was interested in the riflemen by initiating a day dedicated to them. “But for the date, according to rumor, the French demanded that they not take December 1st”, informs Professor Diouf, adding that it is because of all this that “the massacre of Thiaroye was ‘is dissipated’.
For Mamadou Diouf, “this story must be revealed in the full sense of the term. We will have to lift the veil, this veil which was effectively placed by France.
FKS/OID/SMD/ADL
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