A Revolutionary time by Africans for Africans

Protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square during the Million March protest on Tuesday 01 February 2011.
Image courtesy of Al Jazeera. net  

For the last one and half weeks, i have sat on my couch and flipped through every news channel on satellite TV yearning for more news about the revolution that is taking place in North Africa. As a person who is highly interested in current affairs and politics, it has been quite fascinating to have real time updates on the situation. First it was Tunisia, then Egypt and now the Jordanian monarch has fired the government before any more rioting takes place.

All this time, I have been asking myself whether other Africans especially in sub-Saharan Africa are following the situation in North Africa and the lessons we can learn from this experience. It has been a point of discussion at work and in my political circles (I mean with friends that are politically minded too). For me, some of the lessons learnt are:

• There is power in social media. It has been amazing to follow what’s happening on twitter and face book and especially the campaigns that galvanised people in these countries to start the protesters using social media
• African leaders cannot continue to believe in the ‘President for life fantasy.’ Over the last few years, we have continually seen an increased civil society awareness on the importance of  good governance in the continent, and its critical that a strong civil society movement
• African leaders must remember that the military is composed of people that were once civilians, who live in the same economy as people that are protesting, and people who also want a better country and better continent. Leaders can only overuse their military powers to a certain extent
• Solutions about African problems can only be solved using African methods and by Africans. When a country’s people are tired of being ruled by dictators and non-visionaries, they will wake up and do something about it. 

I can only hope that the revolution will not end in North Africa but will rub onto people and civil society groups in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. We have leaders (who shall not be named here), who need a wake-up call on the will of the people.

And I look forward to one day switch on to a news channel and seeing an uprising that leads to Presidents’ fleeing the countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 

I found this article quiet interesting, Popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and lessons about democracy in Africa Popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and lessons about democracy in Africa and maybe you will too.

What lessons have you learned from this uprising in North Africa? 

Your avid conversationalist