Putsch et politique de la rue au Burkina Faso
Résumé
Putsch and Street Politics in Burkina Faso. When Students Debate about the Régiment de sécurité présidentielle
In September 2015, the transition in Burkina Faso which had started after the fall of Blaise Compaoré eleven months earlier was brutally interrupted by a putsch led by soldiers of the Régiment de sécurité présidentielle (RSP), the armed wing of the old regime. The whole country was hit by wave of civic mobilisation demanding their ousting as well as respect for the “sovereignty of the people” expressed on the street. Within less than a week, external and internal pressures – especially from the loyalist army – brought down what demonstrators called the “world’s most stupid coup”. A few months earlier, on the campus of the University of Ouagadougou, students organised an open air debate about the very same RSP which threatened the democratic process. What follows is the verbatim reproduction of part of these debates. These public speaking are not just premonitory. They also express a form of civic vigilantism which is being voiced together with a subaltern hermeneutics of History.
In September 2015, the transition in Burkina Faso which had started after the fall of Blaise Compaoré eleven months earlier was brutally interrupted by a putsch led by soldiers of the Régiment de sécurité présidentielle (RSP), the armed wing of the old regime. The whole country was hit by wave of civic mobilisation demanding their ousting as well as respect for the “sovereignty of the people” expressed on the street. Within less than a week, external and internal pressures – especially from the loyalist army – brought down what demonstrators called the “world’s most stupid coup”. A few months earlier, on the campus of the University of Ouagadougou, students organised an open air debate about the very same RSP which threatened the democratic process. What follows is the verbatim reproduction of part of these debates. These public speaking are not just premonitory. They also express a form of civic vigilantism which is being voiced together with a subaltern hermeneutics of History.
En septembre 2015, un putsch perpétré par les soldats du Régiment de sécurité présidentielle, bras armé de l’ancien régime, interrompt brutalement la transition engagée onze mois plus tôt après la chute de Blaise Compaoré. Une vague de mobilisations citoyennes se lève alors dans le pays pour exiger leur départ et le respect de la « souveraineté du peuple » qui s’exprime dans la rue. En moins d’une semaine, la conjugaison des pressions externes et internes – notamment de l’armée loyaliste – fait échouer ce que les manifestants qualifient de « coup d’État le plus bête du monde ». Quelques mois plus tôt, sur le campus de l’université de Ouagadougou, les étudiants organisaient un débat en plein air sur ce RSP qui menaçait le processus démocratique. Leurs propos sont restitués ici, verbatim. Ces prises de parole publiques ne sont pas seulement prémonitoires ; elles expriment aussi une forme de vigilantisme civique qui s’affirme de pair avec une herméneutique subalterne de l’Histoire.