A few days before the legislative elections, the Collective of Academics for Democracy (CUD) is prohibited from organizing citizen meetings even though they are supported by the General Directorate of Elections. A decision that the Collective describes as “revolting” and “liberticidal” through the following press release:
“STOP THE CENSORSHIP
The Collective of Academics for Democracy (CUD) regrets and denounces the ban by the Director of the Center for University Works of Dakar (COUD) on the holding of citizen meetings in view of the legislative elections scheduled for the period from November 11 to 15 in the social campus of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD). This ban is all the more revolting as it is based on the fallacious argument of security; the same rhetoric that was deployed in the recent dark period to censor all forms of expression within the university space.
The citizen meetings were designed by the CUD’s Rule of Law Observatory, in partnership with the General Directorate of Elections (DGE), to contribute to the dissemination of good information and hold discussions with students around electoral citizenship. Over the five days, this was to involve on the one hand the distribution of information materials provided by the DGE, in particular copies of the electoral code, on the other hand the holding of debates on themes decided at the advances such as those relating to voting methods (majority and proportional), the electoral campaign in the social campus, the low representation of students in the electoral register, etc. All this information was communicated to the COUD management through the authorization request which was submitted.
The CUD considers this ban as censorship of freedom of expression in a public space, as well as the right of access to information and recalls that this liberticidal attitude cannot prosper. The authorities should help establish a climate of trust that would help the Senegalese heal from their trauma rather than aggravate it.
The Steering Committee
Senegal
