Paris, Belleville district. I walk down the street of the same name to visit an old friend. And suddenly the words of this old song by Alain Souchon, written in 1993, come to mind.
"I know that rue d'Belleville/ nothing is done for me/ but I'm in a beautiful city/ It's already that/ so far from my antelopes/ I'm walking very low/ walking in a European city is already that
Oh oh oh and I dream / that Sudan my country suddenly rises / Oh oh / dreaming is already that
…To want beautiful music / Sudan my Sudan / for a democratic air / one break your teeth / to want the spoken world / Sudan my Sudan / that of the words exchanged / one break your teeth ".
Thirty years already that the French singer and his accomplice Laurent Voulzy had written this text. At that time Omar El Bashir already held the reins of the country called Sudan. But the story of this Sudanese who walked and danced in the streets of Belleville is nothing other than that of all the victims of all the dictatorships of the whole world who had to seek asylum elsewhere in the world, far from their country. Alain Souchon's hero speaks of broken teeth for dreams of beautiful music, of democracy, and he dreams of uprising. In real life, in the real Sudan, one no longer break our teeth. One kill and break the lives of thousands of families. In the real Sudan, the people ended up rising up against their dictator, the one who was in place when the song was composed. This revolution had its heroes and heroines, its muses, its iconic images, its romanticism. And it was stolen from them. As were all the revolutions on our continent.
Thirty years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall led to many other falls on our continent. Many wanted to link this to François Mitterrand's La Baule speech. But the French President was only opportunistic, because the movement had already been launched by African youth themselves, and dictatorships had begun to fall or waver.
A dozen years ago, we talked about an Arab spring whose first flowers had the smell and color of Tunisian jasmine, a country that is very dear to me. They will hatch later in Libya, in Egypt, in Syria. What have these revolutions become today? In Sudan, it is no longer a revolution that is confiscated, but an entire country and its population that are taken hostage by highway robbers. Oh oh, dreaming of today's Sudan is already that.
In the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, one don't break our teeth for wanting beautiful music. The specialty of this country is in a way to produce beautiful music. And all the strategic minerals of this world. Over there, one don't break our teeth for a democratic air. No, there too, like in Sudan, millions of families are being killed and broken up. What are human lives worth, those of Black women, children and men in so many African countries? How many aborted, stolen, hijacked, confiscated revolutions!
Should we stop dreaming? Certainly not. Dreaming is already that. It's already that.
By Venance Konan
*This article has been translated from French into English by Marcus Boni Teiga
