July 24, 2006
There are more signs up around Yaoundé, but two stick out.
Before I tell you those, another correction. In my last post, I translated a sign to say, “The RPDC says no to corruption and misuse of funds.” Actually, a better translation is, “The RPDC says no to corruption and embezzlement.” Methinks thou dost protest too much.
Yesterday, Rebecca and I went with our friend Matteo to the French sports club. Matteo and I played tennis and Rebecca went for a swim. I know, I know. I thought the same thing too. I drink lattes and have tennis dates. Next thing you know I’ll be tying sweaters around my neck. Yes, friends, I am a yuppie.
Matteo is the West Africa regional director of the Publish What You Pay Coalition, which works at getting international companies to clearly state what they pay to governments in the region to make sure that no money is skimmed off the top. As he drove us, I saw a sign that said, “Paul Biya: Notre President Hier, Aujourd’hui, Demain.” That I can translate. “Paul Biya: Our President Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” All the three of us could do was laugh at the sign, which was a white banner spread across one of the main roads in Yaoundé. There was another one on the other side of the roundabout. So much for democracy.
The other sign we saw, which is up all the time, really is a problem. It is an anti-AIDS billboard that is designed badly. The intent is to say the country needs healthy people, so men and women should make good choices. Fine. Except that they way they designed it, the sign actually reads “The Nation Needs AIDS” etc., etc. To top it off AIDS is in massive red letters that dwarf the other smaller, white letters on the board.
But anyway, back to Big Paul. Last week I made him sound like the big power here, the man in control. He may well be. He’s been in power for well over 20 years. They’re going to have to wheel his stiff corpse out of the presidential palace, which looks like something out of Star Wars.
But is he Don Corleone? Or is he actually a simpleton being propped up as a convenient figurehead by powerful interests who only care about their own power, like George W. Bush? Is there a Biyaism? Or is Cameroon simply Mobutu-light? Mobutu was the famously corrupt ruler of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among other things, he was famous for pink champagne and leopard-skin hats. There’s no word on whether he had a thing for Cadillacs and high-heeled boots with fish tanks in the heels. Biya, it must be said, is a better dresser. He goes for French-tailored suits.
I felt a little sheepish about asking Matteo, who grew up outside Rome, whether Biya was Don Corleone….
One of Biya’s strongest opponents was an author called Mongo Beti. I say called rather than named because he was not given the name Mongo Beti at birth. You’ve got me what the French name was, but I will find out.
Beti was a world-renowned author and social critic who emigrated from Cameroon in the 60s and returned in the 1990s. He became a thorn in Biya’s side until he died in 2001. One of the things he did upon his return to Cameroon was open a book shop in Yaoundé that was intended to distribute the kinds of literature Biya didn’t want sold. Beti was so well known that Biya couldn’t touch him. And he still can’t. I went to the bookstore, “La librairie des peoples noirs” (The Black People’s Bookstore) today. I had a nice conversation with the proprietor, Chantal, and she is working on finding me the phone numbers of the major authors living in Cameroon.
Maybe they’ll be able to answer just who is Paul Biya.
There are more signs up around Yaoundé, but two stick out.
Before I tell you those, another correction. In my last post, I translated a sign to say, “The RPDC says no to corruption and misuse of funds.” Actually, a better translation is, “The RPDC says no to corruption and embezzlement.” Methinks thou dost protest too much.
Yesterday, Rebecca and I went with our friend Matteo to the French sports club. Matteo and I played tennis and Rebecca went for a swim. I know, I know. I thought the same thing too. I drink lattes and have tennis dates. Next thing you know I’ll be tying sweaters around my neck. Yes, friends, I am a yuppie.
Matteo is the West Africa regional director of the Publish What You Pay Coalition, which works at getting international companies to clearly state what they pay to governments in the region to make sure that no money is skimmed off the top. As he drove us, I saw a sign that said, “Paul Biya: Notre President Hier, Aujourd’hui, Demain.” That I can translate. “Paul Biya: Our President Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” All the three of us could do was laugh at the sign, which was a white banner spread across one of the main roads in Yaoundé. There was another one on the other side of the roundabout. So much for democracy.
The other sign we saw, which is up all the time, really is a problem. It is an anti-AIDS billboard that is designed badly. The intent is to say the country needs healthy people, so men and women should make good choices. Fine. Except that they way they designed it, the sign actually reads “The Nation Needs AIDS” etc., etc. To top it off AIDS is in massive red letters that dwarf the other smaller, white letters on the board.
But anyway, back to Big Paul. Last week I made him sound like the big power here, the man in control. He may well be. He’s been in power for well over 20 years. They’re going to have to wheel his stiff corpse out of the presidential palace, which looks like something out of Star Wars.
But is he Don Corleone? Or is he actually a simpleton being propped up as a convenient figurehead by powerful interests who only care about their own power, like George W. Bush? Is there a Biyaism? Or is Cameroon simply Mobutu-light? Mobutu was the famously corrupt ruler of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among other things, he was famous for pink champagne and leopard-skin hats. There’s no word on whether he had a thing for Cadillacs and high-heeled boots with fish tanks in the heels. Biya, it must be said, is a better dresser. He goes for French-tailored suits.
I felt a little sheepish about asking Matteo, who grew up outside Rome, whether Biya was Don Corleone….
One of Biya’s strongest opponents was an author called Mongo Beti. I say called rather than named because he was not given the name Mongo Beti at birth. You’ve got me what the French name was, but I will find out.
Beti was a world-renowned author and social critic who emigrated from Cameroon in the 60s and returned in the 1990s. He became a thorn in Biya’s side until he died in 2001. One of the things he did upon his return to Cameroon was open a book shop in Yaoundé that was intended to distribute the kinds of literature Biya didn’t want sold. Beti was so well known that Biya couldn’t touch him. And he still can’t. I went to the bookstore, “La librairie des peoples noirs” (The Black People’s Bookstore) today. I had a nice conversation with the proprietor, Chantal, and she is working on finding me the phone numbers of the major authors living in Cameroon.
Maybe they’ll be able to answer just who is Paul Biya.
posted by Evan Weinberger at 8:02 AM
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