Senegal’s culture war against France’s colonial legacy

Senegal President Bassirou Diyomaye Faye has set up a government agency to rename Senegalese street names, a sign of the cultural war against France now raging in most of West Africa which was once colonised by France.

Most people are supporting the programme because they feel there is no justification to commemorate French names which hold no meaning for Senegalese, and in other cases the French names are of those who have been tyrannical in their treatment of the local people. Meat seller Matar Seck in Dakar argues: “I’ve lived in Europe. I’ve been to Barcelona, Rome and Milan, but I’ve never seen white people give the names of their most prestigious historical monuments and buildings to a Senegalese. We have no shortage of people to name our most important streets [after]. I want to see a Youssou Ndour Street for example.” Ndour is a popular Senegalese singer.

Some of the French names of the Senegalese streets include Boulevard du General de Gaulle, a celebrated national hero in France, or Rue de Jules Ferry, a French politician who had argued that colonialism was necessary, or Avenue Faidherbe, a cruel French governor.

Urban planner Rakhiat Diallo told Al Jazeera that the mission of changing names is necessary. He said, “Memory passes through toponymy (study of place names). Seeing streets named after people we don’t know, people who have mistreated us is a disgrace.”

Kryzstof Gorny, urban planning researcher with the University of Poland who has studied the phenomenon of Senegalese streets with French names, explains the background when Dakar became of the capital of colonial west Africa in 1902. He says, “Generally, the idea was for the new city to remind everyone that it was in French possession. Such names were common in mainly those districts designated for French settlers. In the district designated for Africans, where the streets were narrower and the buildings denser, a numerical naming system was introduced.” Those streets with designations like Rue 34 and Rue ME 30 still exist.

The cultural backlash is part of the political backlash that France is facing from the west African countries including Niger and Male. But there are dissident voices. While supporting the need to change the French names of streets, they think that there are other important issues which the leaders and governments have to address.

For example, the economy. Many young educated and unemployed Senegalese are fleeing to Europe, risking their lives to cross the sea to Spain’s Canary Islands. Souleymane Gueye, member of the Front for Anti-Imperialist, Popular and Pan-African Revolution (FRAPP), said that in 2022 when a representation was made to Dakar’s mayor that the name Avenue Faidherbe be changed, the representative was assaulted and his dreadlocks cut off. And in 2023 it was renamed Avenue Macky Sall, after the then president.

He said, “It was simply a political decision guided by partisan interests. It would have been fairer to ask Senegalese citizens to suggest names rather than impose on them.” Mouhamadou, a young Senegalese who had failed to cross the Atlantic to get to Europe, said, “For me changing street names is not a priority at all. The priority should be lowering the cost of living. The prices of rice and cooking oil have risen again.”

It is easier for political leaders to change the street names rather than take control of the economy. But the mood of the people shows that they are watching their leaders rather closely and they are not beguiled by gestures of cultural populism. They want real changes which will improve the condition of their lives. The colonial legacy is something to be shed because of its brutal and humiliating nature. But that may not be enough to make Senegal truly independent.