Anyone who has spent time in Dakar knows how lively the Corniche, or coastal beaches and cliffs that make up the western limits of the Senegalese capital, become in the evenings. University students taking a break from their reading at nearby Cheikh Anta Diop University, women gesturing as they walk together, and young men getting off work all flock to the sidewalks and beaches there to run, lift weights, and stroll along the sidewalks as the ocean brings in some cool evening air. However, this public space is at risk from what activists are calling the “wall of shame”–an unfinished wall built to mark the construction of the new Turkish Embassy. The parallels between the campaigns of Senegalese activists against the wall in Dakar and the protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park cannot be ignored. Continue reading
The Africa Collective 