{"id":969,"date":"2010-03-15T15:01:37","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T20:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomathon.com\/mphp\/?p=969"},"modified":"2011-03-12T19:54:15","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T00:54:15","slug":"togo-the-political-class-fails-its-people-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/togo-the-political-class-fails-its-people-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Togo: the political class fails its people, again."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Faure<\/a>

Faure Gnassingb\u00e9, understandably pleased.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jeune Afrique<\/a> editor Fran\u00e7ois Soudan has a biting new piece on the recent Togolese election<\/a>. Noting defeated opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre’s neologism “Africaneries” (for “African Inherited rule”, presumably) Soudan turns the tables of blame deftly.<\/p>\n

“For African oppositions, some of whom, in Guinea and Niger, have been reduced to military coups to break political deadlocks – which says a lot about their disarray – the lesson of Lom\u00e9<\/a> is a cruel one. As long as opposition leaders contest polls without program, and act without strategy or self-criticism, the powers that be will sleep soundly. Resigned, disillusioned and unwilling to serve as canon fodder for the powerful, the voters will more and more the “exit option” of abstention. As for Faure Gnassingb\u00e9<\/a>, he received on March 4 that which he sought. A brand new legitimacy, given neither to his party nor to his family nor to his surname, but to him. Without doubt he would do well in his next speech, to thank Mr. Olympio [the historic leader of the opposition] for the assistance he has so kindly provided … “<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeune Afrique editor Fran\u00e7ois Soudan has a biting new piece on the recent Togolese election. Noting defeated opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre’s neologism “Africaneries” (for “African Inherited rule”, presumably) Soudan turns the tables of blame deftly. “For African oppositions, some of…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[75,107,106],"tags":[377,337,343,327],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/300px-Faure_Gnassingb\u00e9_29112006.jpg?fit=300%2C400","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":880,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/togoa-foregone-conclusion\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":0},"title":"Togo:A foregone conclusion","date":"March 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Togo is holding a presidential election today. Success, according to the international community, will be if the army does not butcher voters and soldiers are not photographed running from polling stations with voting boxes under their arms. While these may seem low standards, that was the 2005 election, in which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Afrique"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":912,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/togo-oppostion-promises-popular-uprising\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":1},"title":"Togo: Oppostion promises “popular uprising”","date":"March 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The headlines from Lome, Togo are tension inducing. For Togolese or those with family there, it must be excruciating. It appears that President and dictator's son Faur\u00e9 Gnassingb\u00e9 has been elected, while the main opposition leader vowed struggle: \u201cWe will launch a popular uprising until victory is ours.\u201d More ...","rel":"","context":"In "Afrique"","img":{"alt_text":"Protestors confront police in Lome, Togo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Lome_20100308.jpg?fit=433%2C286&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":968,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/should-the-car-fold-up-shop\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":2},"title":"Should the CAR fold up shop?","date":"March 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the argument Louisa Lombard, an Anthropologist doing fieldwork in the Central African Republic, toys with. And she makes some very good points: the state there helps no one outside Bangui: \"Life expectancy in CAR drops by six months each year\"; \"Everything [inducing most foodstuffs] is imported\"; \"residents complain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Afrique"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1651,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2012\/01\/french-papers-mali-mig-evidence-is-photo-of-a-truck\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":3},"title":"Mali: French papers’ Mali MIG evidence is photo of a truck","date":"January 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Malian rebels and French press like Le Monde have claimed MNLA fighters shot down a Malian jet. Here's evidence it was a hoax.","rel":"","context":"In "Afrique"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Capturelemonde1.png?fit=376%2C371&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":98,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2008\/12\/pepe-kalles-tribute-to-roger-milla\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":4},"title":"Pepe Kalle’s tribute to Roger Milla","date":"December 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Pepe Kalle's musical tribute to \"the greatest African footballer of the century\", Roger Milla, with the little needed\u00a0 but very enjoyable video evidence.","rel":"","context":"In "Afrique"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1282,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2013\/10\/african-commemorative-cloths-a-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":5},"title":"African Commemorative Cloth: A Series","date":"October 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to my collection of commemorative African printed textiles. I love them not just because of their colors or designs, or because of the history they bring to life, but also because they represent a true multicultural tradition, by which African communities mixed, chose, and formed objects drawing on Asian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pagnes"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mYFK-fD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1277,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969\/revisions\/1277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}