User talk:JamesCastro 1

Topic Paragraph
I chose this topic because:

I am intrigued to learn about the different education systems in Africa.

I am interested to find out the long/short term effects of the student protests in Senegal from 1968 onwards.

I am interested to know why there were protests in the first place. To know what was flawed with the education system in Senegal for there to be protests.

Draft
Article Topic: Student Protests from 1968 onwards in Senegal

Intro explaining topic & context: Senegal has been subject to many student protests from 1968 onwards. Brutal demonstrations & lootings & riots were caused by nationwide student unrest due to the Sengegalese government’s lack of aid for students. On May 15 1968, Mohamed Fallou Sene, at Gaston Berger University was killed as police broke up a protest. This university protest was caused by a late payment of student loans. Mohamed’s death sparked more protests outside Dakar's Cheikh Anta Diop University. Government implemented police forces upon the protests. The recession and social dissent fuelled the student protest to lead to a violent full-scale protest movement nationwide which resulted in many deaths and casualties.

Themes to cover: - Student Unrest/struggles in Senegal - Class struggle - Recession/Economic downturn in Senegal in relation to student protests.

Structure of Article:  Intro/Paragraph 1 - Topic: Student unrest - ‘Trigger’ of the Student Protests leading to the violent large-scale demonstrations. Context & background of the socio-economic situation in Senegal in 1968. - Students furious over Senegalese government over the lack of aid provided for them. - Late payment of student grants - More recent unrest includes anger over tuition fees, authorities cutting financial aid and raising tuition fees, students accusing politicians of cutting the education budget instead of reducing their own expenses.

Paragraph 2 - Topic: Class struggle - Student protests turned into an anti-ruling class protest movement that led to a full-scale protest movement nationwide and large-scale violence and chaotic scenes in popular demonstrations, Looting and Riots was witnessed during national protests and civil disobedience movements across the nation. - meetings of the Student Union of Dakar (UED) attracted a considerable number of students, pupils, teachers, unemployed youths, political activists indicating the size of these protests. Each meeting was a sort of gathering of the Sengalese opposition. -The brutality of the government's reaction led to an outburst of solidarity and sympathy for the student movement. There was strong disapproval throughout the capital of the regime’s brutal behaviour. (deaths and injuries) - Tension between workers and ruling class over the student protests - Workers’ general strike as a result of martial measures and continued police brutality against the youth. The revolt intensified as the salaried working class became involved and joined the demonstrations.

Paragraph 3 - Recession/Economic Downturn - Economic context → student political activism as deteriorating conditions including declining educational standards. - Conditions in Africa have progressively deteriorated since the early 1970s as a result of internal and external factors: worsening terms of trade with western industrialized countries, increased oil prices and rising debt burdens. -The movement of May 1968 was initially sparked off by the decision by the government of President Senghor to cut the number of monthly instalments of student grants from 12 to 10 per year → reduced gov spending on education.

Paragraph 4: Later forms of student activism in Senegal (Presently) - Y'en a Marre → a group of Senegalese rappers and journalists, created in January 2011, to protest ineffective government and advocate for the youth to register to vote. - On 14 August 2014, Bassirou Faye, a Senegalese student from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, was shot dead during a demonstration by some university students to demand payment of scholarship arrears for the 2013-2014 academic year. (https://ifex.org/student-shot-dead-others-injured-and-arrested-during-university-protest-in-senegal/)

Readings to use in article:

1. 'Echoes of 1968 unrest in Senegal Student Protests' - https://www.france24.com/en/20180603-echoes-1968-unrest-senegal-student-protests → Student protests 1968

2. 'Student Protests in Sub-Saharan Africa' - https://www.jstor.org/stable/3447250 →Socio-economic context in Senegal

3.'May 1968 in Senegal' - Omar Guèye - https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3880-may-1968-in-senegal → An interview with Omar Guèye, Professor at the Department of History, Université Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar.

4. 'The workers' movement in Africa: May 1968 in Senegal' - Vicent https://libcom.org/library/may-1968-senegal → Class struggle

5.The 1968 years: revolutionary politics in Senegal' - Pascal Bianchini https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03056244.2019.1631150 → Student protests/street fighting years 6. 'Political Protest in Contemporary Africa' - Lisa Mueller - https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/political-protest-in-contemporary-africa/BF397537A3CF5CA13037CFF4A8DFB1E2 → Figures and Statistics on the protests

7. Senegal's street fighting years' - Pascal Bianchini https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3953-senegal-s-street-fighting-years →Long term effects of 1968 protests.

8. Y’en a Marre - https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Y%27en_a_Marre →later forms of student activism in Senegal.

Peer Review
Lead section Good introductory sentence - clarifies what the article is about Context - gives a wide overview of the topic which helps gain an understanding before the rest of the article. Not 100% sure if the info of May 15th 1968 are needed in the very beginning, you could say he was slain to break up the protest without explaining the full story, then people who want to know more about that can see it later in the article. From ‘the recession’ to the end of the paragraph, I think this is very good and informative about the topic.

Article Clear headings for the most part. Maybe a more descriptive one for the first paragraph on student unrest. You could make the title the whole topic - ‘student unrest - trigger of student protests’. This would make it easier for people to navigate the article. Could include ways that the government are trying to deal with/ mitigate the protests Paragraph 2 should have more indication to the different class’s if that’s going to be the title of the paragraph. If there’s no more relating to the classes possible, you could change the title of the paragraph to ‘the scale of the protests’ or ‘how the involvement spread’ Looks as though it will be short, easy to read sentences which is good - written for an audience Very neutral language not portraying a point of view - which is perfect when talking about a controversial matter like protests Addition of a few images in the real article would be good, maybe some pictures of the protests to see what they looked like

References 8 sources- if these are used throughout the text to support your points then they will be very useful Should add a further reading/ external links section so readers can enrich their knowledge if they want to References look completed References seem to be good quality and from a range of sources

peer review 2: I think this is an interesting topic and the points you have chosen to highlight are a good start. I think you need to expand on the student protests because it's a very important issue and I would have liked to learn more about it. The structure you have chosen flows well, just could do with more information on the topic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Elesaturner (talk • contribs) 17:52, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Peer review assignment: 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Toko0411 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Huang_sun_choi

Response to peer assessment
From the peer feedback I will be more clearer and concise with what I'm writing to help the reader understand the article better thus a change in structure will make the article easier to read. I will try to use images to provide a visual source for the article. I will also try to include more information on the topics that are lacking of content such as my paragraph on 'class. Overall, include more information in each paragraph.

Abz123m (talk) 17:25, 26 November 2021 (UTC)

Student protests from 1968 onwards in Senegal
Senegal has been subject to many student protests from 1968 onwards. Violent protests, lootings and riots were caused by the widespread student unrest due to the Senegalese government’s lack of aid for students. The student protests escalated to become a nationwide social and political protest movement supported by varying demographics in society. The students grew angry towards the government as they were disadvantaged by the education policies in Senegal. The recession in Senegal and mass social discontent fuelled student protests to lead to violent full-scale protest movements nationwide which resulted in many deaths and casualties in 1968. Consequently, these events have led to long term social movements and uprisings that are even prevalent in Senegalese society currently.

Student Unrest
The trigger for the student protest in May 1968 was the killing of Mohamed Fallou Sene. This casualty took place during Gaston Berger University protest on May 15th which was driven by the delayed payment of student grants. The death of Mohamamed fuelled student unrest following the implementation of a scholarship law set to reduce the scholarship amount and monthly payments. Consequently, protests at Dakar University later that month preceded. These protests escalated to become large-scale violent riots and rallies where looting and bloodshed occurred to the point where the army was imposed and mass arrests took place. The violent demonstrations resulted in many deaths and a large number of Senegalese students being interned in military camps whilst foreign African students were expelled. Ultimately, the protests were quelled by force and the death of Lamine Guèye, National Assembly President, on 10 June rallied the nation together at the funeral and the ending of the movement was declared 3 days later after negotiations with the unions. Socioeconomically, economic decline led to worsening: living conditions, education standards and lack of government aid for basic needs resulting in social unrest. Student frustration grew from the government cutting back on subsidies directly leading to worser quality of education in Senegal as student and teacher allowances were reduced. Presently, student unrest in Senegal is caused by: anger over tuition fees, authorities cutting financial aid and raising tuition fees, students accusing politicians of cutting the education budget instead of reducing their own expenses.

Class conflict
The student protests that took place in Senegal from 1968 onwards brought different classes in the Senegalese society together. Widespread anti-ruling class protests occurred across the nation as a result of the student protests. The scale of the protests massively increased due to the meetings held by the Student Union of Dakar (UED). These meetings garnered support from: pupils, unemployed youth, political activists and teachers. The protests were met with violent suppression from anti-riot squads imposed by the government where batons, tear gas and truncheons were used. The mistreatment of workers became worse during this time. Brutality proceeded as pregnant women were abused as well as married women and children being beaten in their homes. This violent response by the government led to widespread support from citizens for the student protests and as a result the riots intensified with the involvement of the salaried working class joining the demonstrations. Also, solidarity demonstrations became organised by teachers and workers as a result of the brutal response to the student protests. Due to a decree imposed by the government where all public building access would be closed, general workers and the National Union of Workers in Senegal orchestrated riots in response rallying with the students. On June 12th 1968, an agreement was settled between President Senghor and unions to end the strikes with a 15% increase in wages. This settlement however did not resolve the social unrest caused by the Senegalese government as social and political movements continued in the 1970s.

Recession
The economic downturn of Senegal from 1960-1980 resulted in social dissent from students as this led to inadequate financial aid given to them as a result. Economic issues such as: oil inflation, rising debt burdens and declining financial aid for education development infuriated students thus leading to protests. The growing population in Africa worsened government expenditure on the education sector. The government's inability to fund basic necessities in education such as: teaching materials, classroom space and equipment worsened student unrest. Also, the rising prices of many essentials for schooling such as: books, paper and stationary angered students. These concerns only grew with the increasing number of students enrolling in universities. In addition to this, the number of qualified teachers to keep up with the expanding number of students was insufficient. The decision in 1968 by President Senghor to cut scholarships and the number of monthly instalments of student grants from 12 to 10 per year provoked student political activism. The lack of funding in the education sector in Senegal resulted in a deterioration in education standards which fuelled student unrest towards the government and was the main cause of student protests in Senegal from 1968 onwards.

Later forms of student activism in Senegal
Forms of student activism in Senegal in recent years include the movement led by Y'en a Marre from 2011 onwards. They are a group consisting of Senegalese journalists and rappers who advocate for the youth to vote and to protest ineffective government. The group released a number of songs including "Faux! Pas Forcé" and "Doggali" which voiced the youths' anger for President Wade and his son. Y'en a Marre took part in much activism such as: organising protests, rallies and campaigning door to door to register youth to vote. This activism continued till the election which resulted in unseating Wade. On 14 August 2014, Bassirou Faye, a Senegalese student from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, was shot dead during a demonstration by some university students to demand payment of scholarship arrears for the 2013-2014 academic year. In 2014, authorities also wanted to cut student financial aid and raise tuition fees which outraged students as it was unaffordable for many and dozens were injured in protests that followed. Protests stemmed from economic inequalities and lack of government aid in the education sector is still prevalent.

Reference List
24, F. (2018). Echoes of 1968 unrest in Senegal student protests. [online] France 24. Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/20180603-echoes-1968-unrest-senegal-student-protests [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

Jstor.org. (2022). Student Protests in Sub-Saharan Africa on JSTOR. [online] Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3447250?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

‌Versobooks.com. (2018). May 1968 in Senegal. [online] Available at: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3880-may-1968-in-senegal [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

‌Libcom.org. (2016). May 1968 in Senegal. [online] Available at: https://libcom.org/library/may-1968-senegal [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

‌Review of African Political Economy. (2019). The 1968 years: revolutionary politics in Senegal. [online] Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2019.1631150?journalCode=crea20 [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

‌Versobooks.com. (2018). Senegal’s Street Fighting Years. [online] Available at: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3953-senegal-s-street-fighting-years [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

‌Wikiwand. (2022). Y’en a Marre | Wikiwand. [online] Available at: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Y%27en_a_Marre [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

Eternal Links
Al Jazeera English (2014). Senegal students protest against rising costs. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bqJW1RQnC4 [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

IFEX. (2014). Student shot dead, others injured and arrested during university protest in Senegal - IFEX. [online] Available at: https://ifex.org/student-shot-dead-others-injured-and-arrested-during-university-protest-in-senegal/ [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

News, B. (2021). Senegal protests: The country is “on the verge of an apocalypse.” [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-56311673 [Accessed 12 Jan. 2022].

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