By Dr. Elycheikh Bah Ahmedtolba
By Dr. Elycheikh Bah Ahmedtolba
Morocco World News
Washington D.C, November 19, 2012
One month ago, the President Ould Abdelaziz was shot incognito, showing that the situation in Mauritania remains still enigmatic and gloomy. Regarding this critical situation, we need to envisage the future political change in the country. It is our duty as the young generation to, at least, discuss and share ideas about the deployment of the “Old Political Guardians” based on the French negotiation with the military junta about the possibilities of keeping the disappeared Aziz as head of state or to push forward another accomplice for the looming war in Northern Mali.
It’s been 52 years since we gained the so-called independence from France. In fact, we are still politically, economically, strategically, educationally, culturally and militarily dependent on France. This dependence is a real obstacle for any development in Mauritania. Thus, as an upcoming generation of Mauritania, we aspire for equal relations with France based on mutual respect and balanced opportunities.
The first step towards this so-called independence is cultural; we are still unable to carry out our proper identity mainly due to economic exigencies. However, it is good to think over this issue; even though we are still weak.
Mentioning Aziz is not an attempt to personalize the political issue in Mauritania. I would rather use Aziz as an incarnation for the current military regime which has always been intimately affiliated to France and who are educationally and culturally orientated.
The question of French-dependency has existed since the advent of colonization and reached its peak during the so-presumed “independence”, of which ever since there has been a generation living on its rewards. Therefore, a rational approach should go further in eradicating the sources of this political cancer.
We are no longer going through the age of outright colonization since the process of colonizing the territories is nowadays over-coated by the indoctrination of minds. Mauritania is lost between the French colonization of both spirits and minds.
Renewing the Old Generation:
I do hold as an absolute truth that the source of our political cancer is the still-alive-generation. This generation has been existing and monopolizing politics in Mauritania even before the so-called independence, if not the existence of the country. If you look around you, it will not be difficult for anyone to count the young people in the government on the fingers of one hand.
This rotten generation still considers that Mauritania is for them and they belong willingly or unwillingly to France. They are unable to think beyond their French mindset they were imbued with since their childhood. “Childhood education is as engraved as the sculptures on stones”, as the saying goes. What we are requesting now is the fact that we want to be truly independent and gain the power to decide for our own future.
There is absolutely a blatantly-intentional marginalization of the youth from politics. We are left out to perish on the margins while these old mentally-out-of-context people still preside over the past, present, and possibly the future. We are undoubtedly able to surmount this political dilemma if we are united and fight for our future. They have over-consumed their past and they want to extend their reach over our dreams for a better future.
It is undeniable that Mauritania is under the tight grip of the military junta since 1978 even though the previous regime was French-dependent par excellence.
Reconsidering the French Guardianship:
I think that the problem is not the relationship with France. The problem is the relationship between the members of our government and their, French, politics. France has the entire right to manipulate the government of Mauritania but the question is why our government lets that happen.
Mauritania has been ruled with the same mentality since independence so how come it is the Mauritanians’ fault? They do not change the way the institutions are being run by eliminating these dinosaurs. Moreover, trying to put independent leaders in the decision-making positions is nearly impossible because the majority choose between capitalism and communism.
A few days ago, the leaders of the youth movement in Mauritania, which is named the “Movement of 25 February,” declared a virtual campaign against the French guardianship over Mauritania since the independence 1960.
These young people made it clear that “the independence of the country remained incomplete due to internal factors, relating to the youth of the new state and its weak structures, and external factors arising from the guardianship of France that is still imposed on its former colonies.”
“Accordingly, in the output of 25 February 2011, the Mauritanian youth inaugurated a new era in the modern history of the country, characterized by sustained growth in popular demand for real change in the governance.”
It is needless to say that Mauritania is going through a turning point at all levels. The country will survive or perish. It will survive if the current government or the one to come show a sincere determination to build the country and declare a clear-break with the authoritarian military regimes in order to begin a new promising era of freedom, democracy and prosperity.
Otherwise, the country will perish as long as the military junta still refuses to open any room for new blood to be injected in the heart of the country while continuing to rely on the old generation of intellectuals who are out of touch and unable to cope with the increasingly evolving changes around them in the new technological world. There are two ways and Mauritanians need to make a prompt decision.
Either we edify a civil country based on respect of human rights or we vanish in the plain desert.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
