While in Senegal, people generally express their discontent with red bands tied to their arms or head– as advised by former President Abdoulaye Wade (2000-2012)–, in the Republic of Guinea, protesters show their moods by wearing a ‘Cabral’ cap.
This is particularly the case for opponents and members of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), who totally reject incumbent President, Alpha Conde’s attempt to seek a third term of office.
Under the terms of the Constitution, the latter in power since December 21, 2010 has one year left for the end of his second and last term as president.
Suspecting that Alpha Conde is willing to change the Constitution in order to extend his tenure, the Guinean opposition, gathered under the umbrella of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), initially staged public demonstrations, but face with the ban on such protests, it chose the wearing of the so-called “Cabral” cap. To give more weight to this style, the opposition named it “A moulanfee (this will not take place, in soussou local language).
According to the leader of the ‘Sekoutoureisme’ movement (from late President Sekou Toure) and a member of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), Oumar Sylla, also known as “Fonike Mengue”, also one of the initiators of the “Cabral” hat style, wearing this cap symbolizes the fight against injustice in all its forms. “The type of cap, once wore by the great Amilcal Cabral is a symbol of the revolution, of fighting against all forms of injustice and confiscation of freedoms,” he insisted.
Founder of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the late Amilcar Cabral is the hero of independence in these two countries that were under Portuguese rule. Before his assassination sponsored by the colonial power in January 1973, he had led part of the struggle for independence, from Guinea where he had been hosted by President Sekou Toure.
Banding on the image of this hero, who was seen on almost all his photos with a cap, these Guineans adopted this hat to be the symbol of their resolve to protest. Wearing it “shows that people are gathered around something that is the fight against a new mandate of the current President of the Republic,” says Ibrahima Barry, an activist of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), met in the Cosa district, in the heart of Conakry.
“What is important, the activist of the main opposition party in Guinea insists, is to wear the cap to show one’s opposition to a Constitutional amendment that would pave the way for a new term for Mr. Alpha Cond.”
To wear it as recommended by Barry, you still have to buy it, and to do this, you have to go to Conakry markets, such as the Madina market where you can get it at about 10,000 Guinean francs (700 to 800 CFA francs).
Mamadou Sow, like many other traders, has a shop where you can find “Cabral” hats of all colors. However, on Saturday, a day traditionally reserved for the political parties’ rallies, Mamadou closes his shop and join demonstrators, carrying a bunch of caps for one-site sales.
This Saturday, the APA reporter fell head-on on the trader going to meetings convened by the UFDG, UFR and PADES parties where, he said with great optimism “I will sell all my goods,” Wearing a “Cabral” cap himself, he had on each hand a bag filled with hats.
In the neighborhoods considered as strongholds of the ruling party, the inhabitants certainly do not very much appreciate this profusion of “Cabral” hats, but they laughed at it anyway. “Sometimes, when you go to the Madina area, with this hat, you’ll sometimes hear things like ‘A lan-mane’ (this will happen, in soussou language),” Mamadou the merchant says.
There is no problem, as long as things stay at the level of sarcasms and do not degenerate into violence. Before the opposition changed its mind by adopting the “Cabral” caps, its series of demonstrations against a third term for Conde had left two people dead and several others wounded.
SD/cat/fss/abj/APA