New Cameroon Views Blog: THE REVOLUTIONARY PATH OF THE CAMEROONIAN STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY, LIBERTY AND PROGRESS

The two maps below are for the years 1990-2007, and are based on the data obtained from the United Nations Statistics Division.

GDP growth (annualized)

GDP per capita growth (annualized)

Triple Agent, Double Cross

Revolutions are born when the evolutionary or reformatory process and the strive for change, progress, compromise and a just peace are halted, hindered and suppressed by an unscrupulous, self-centered, exploitative, detached, discriminatory and affluent minority; and finally gets a decisive, spontaneous, purposeful and united reaction from the oppressed, cheated and struggling masses for an immediate and radical change from the status quo that symbolizes the system. Humanity has seen revolutions in their different forms. Some have been ideological, religious, economic and social; whilst less broad-based ones such as the actions of trade unions and certain marginalized groups, have also had their impacts. Some have been violent, others have been peaceful.

The Cameroonian struggle today, which is in its third phase in the genuine liberation of the fatherland and the advancement of its children, is in a revolutionary junction. It is in a revolutionary junction after eight decades of evolutionary compromises, reformatory delusions and the treacherous legacies of failed or premature revolutionary struggles; and the recent past seven years of stirring an illusive reformatory path. This culminating path of political rhetoric, exposures, maneuvers, opposition and controversial reform plans has come to its enforced logical conclusion dictated by the system and the Biya regime. Yes, the evolutionary and reformatory aspects of the Cameroonian struggle have outlived their purposes. They have unveiled the diabolic, ethnocentric, nepotistic, corrupt, oppressive, repressive and anti-people nature not only of the Biya regime, but also of the system and its external backers. The struggle through historical evolution has finally been brought to the junction; where the only exit to democracy, freedom, liberty, genuine unity, prosperity, worth fullness and acceptance of Cameroonians in the community of nations is along the revolutionary path with its far-reaching economic, social, political and cultural dimensions.

Today, more than any time else in our history, Cameroonians who were predisposed to see, those who were not and had to be convinced by the visible signs, and those who had to be overwhelmed by the harsh reality, are now in a majority in accepting the fact that it is futile engaging in a struggle to change Cameroon along the path dictated by the anachronistic system under the Biya regime and backed by the conservative neo-colonialist French establishment. The struggling masses have come to realize that freedom, democracy, liberty, accountability, law, stability and progress can be achieved in Cameroon only through a revolution. But as it is the logic of reality, this moment of realisation, this dawn of a revolutionary situation is a moment of:

· Stock taking.

· Development of thought formulations.

· And the buildup of revolutionary enthusiasm within the revolutionary soldiers, the revolutionary class in all its strata and the friends of the revolution.

The fact that the Biya regime has discarded all forms of pretense and indicated its resolve to maintain power against the wish of the majority who constitute the struggling ,suffering ,exploited ,patriotic and dynamic masses; the fact that the Biya regime which is today the custodian of the out-dated French-imposed system has put a stop to democratic evolution and initiated an accelerated return to total ,complete and heartless repression, to the pre-independence state of autocracy and dictatorship; is an affront to the entire Cameroonian people, an affront that completely disregards their dignity, hopes and aspiration. This retrogression from the material and spiritual evolution of Cameroon draws open and unavoidable phase of conflict in our lives:

· Must we surrender to the decades of wrong of the system and the Biya regime and allow our hopes for democracy, progress and a future, to be buried, even our children born and unborn to be the victims?

· Alternatively, must we accept our responsibilities and confront the system and the Biya regime, bring it down once and for all and bury it so that the Cameroonian children shall not be haunted by its legacy?

To accept the first option is surrender or capitulation in its worst form. It is a surrender of our rights, dignity, freedom and ourselves to the dictatorship and autocracy of Paul Biya. It is an acceptance that we are prepared to be chained for eternity, that we are even prepared to sacrifice our children’s opportunities to a better Cameroon for whatever leftover the Biya regime may decide to give. In short, we shall be giving up hopes for a tomorrow in exchange for enslavement and no place in world civilization. We shall be betraying Cameroon.

Those who have accepted the second option have accepted the harsh reality that there is no democracy in Cameroon even though there is multiparty politics, that there cannot be any democratic change in a pseudo-democratic system. It is a rejection of the wrong system, the Biya regime and all forms of its existence. It is a rejection of its inhumanity; that man should not be oppressed, repressed, exploited, degraded, humiliated and discriminated upon by another. This rejection is a self- redemption of our freedom and potentials from the suffocating grip of another, an assertion of our right to access to our brains and hands in order to rise up to our potentials.

Adherents to the revolutionary option are the union-nationalists who in their advanced psychosocial development, place the general interest of the nation and society for the sake of progress, above their personal interest. These union nationalists judge other Cameroonians based on their patriotic nature in the manifestation of their Cameroonianness above religious, ethnic, linguistic, regional and clan identities as well as certain social ties. These duty conscious patriotic union nationalists in their revolutionary enthusiasm would not consider it a sacrifice to risk their lives for the liberation of

Cameroon

. They are to be found amongst the intelligentsia, functionaries, farmers, workers, traders, businesspersons, unemployed, students, those of the security and military, transporters and the good Samaritans. These are all patriots who have considered the alleviation of the well-being of the nation above individual or group alleviations. These are the new Cameroonian men, the union-nationalists who in their advanced psychosocial consciousness, have realized that the revolutionary path is the only course that can ensure the total, universal and complete liberation of Cameroon.

Yes, today more than any time before, even more than during the era of the unsuccessful UPC liberation struggle, we have come to accept that the revolutionary path is the only option left, that we should break with all the negative aspects of our past, which is an embodiment of the system Cameroonians never opted for. We have exhausted the political struggle. But then, we need to realize that the Cameroonian revolution can only be realized by a psycho-social evolution of Cameroonians into the new men, the union-nationalists who in their patriotism shall ensure organization, discipline, solidarity, cooperation, transparency, unity, a sense of a common purpose and dynamism to be part of our everyday lives above linguistic, ethnic, religious, group, ideological or personal interests. This is embodied in the century old Cameroonian idea of our union-nationalism, the only advanced and all-embracing psychosocial idea that transverses all social, political and cultural barriers. Only by accepting and implementing the ideals of our union nationalism, shall we fully determine the pace of the revolutionary struggle and ensure its realisation. And even after that, Cameroonians would have to make sure that the revolutionary objectives are in conformity with the Cameroonian reality.

It has been observed that only with that sense of direction can our potentially great nation take its merited place in Africa, and contribute to make our continent takes its rightful place in world civilization. It is our duty to ensure that by revolutionizing ourselves and pursuing the long delayed Cameroonian dream that calls for a total, complete and universal change of the system.

Janvier Tchouteu

June 1997

Cameroon Federation Political Integration in a Fragmentary Society

Radical Nationalism in Cameroon: Social Origins of the U.P.C.Rebellion (Oxford Studies in African Affairs)