Africa Trending (24) Cameroon, Blacked Out

[Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso]

Blacked Out in Cameroon

I simply share today a new documentary about the complete internet shutdown in Cameroon, which, by the way, is not completely over yet. This documentary does an outstanding job of giving the background to the recent crisis in Cameroon, dissecting the period of total blackout and the consequences, and more importantly, spectacularly shows how the blackout relates to the bigger issues plaguing the country, and how it became a watershed for metastasizing the Anglophone resistance. My only problem with the documentary was hearing Donald Trump's voice in the first few seconds of the video.

Let us, however, not forget the Anglophone Cameroonian struggle, which remains vital and urgent.

In peace,

Jumoke.

https://qz.com/africa/1349108/cameroons-internet-shutdown-in-blacked-out-documentary/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVmiSL4rQU

BLACKED OUT

This documentary tells the story of Africa’s longest internet shutdown

By Abdi Latif DahirAugust 6, 2018

The internet, slow and sketchy as it might be, is back in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.

Yet since Jan. 2017, connection in the two Southwest and Northwest regions has either been completely off or slowed down for extended periods of time. Following protests against linguistic, political, and economic discrimination, the Francophone-dominated government blocked the internet or stopped access to certain social media platforms in a bid to stifle dissent and even calls for secession.

The country shut down the internet in the region for 230 days between January 2017 and March 2018 and it has hurt Cameroon’s burgeoning tech ecosystem in Buea, known as “Silicon Mountain”. The longest of those blocks lasted 93 days: stoking regional unrest, brewing frustrations, and crippling a vibrant digital sector.

The story of those days is now the subject of a new documentary from Blacked Out Africa, a collective that says it aims to make more documentaries about shutdowns in Africa. Blacked Out: The Shutdownrecounts the details of the longest total internet blackout in Africa. Starting from Jan. 17 until April 20, officials in Cameroon cut off the internet without prior notice, while pressuring mobile operators to flick the switch off on their customers. Through interviews with journalists, activists, innovators, and government officials, the 43-minute film also highlights how president Paul Biya’s government came to view the internet and social media as a “new form of terrorism.”

The documentary lays bare both the “humiliation” experienced by Anglophone Cameroonians as they shuttled back and forth to French-speaking regions to access the internet and communicate with clients. But it also showcases the moments of defiance and the counterproductive nature of the policy.

As covered by Quartz before, the blackout pushed techies to create an “internet refugee camp,” inspired an SMS car-tracking app, and didn’t stop 17-year-old Nji Collins Gbah from emerging winner at the Google Code-in competition. Local and global digital rights advocates also came together, launching global campaigns to stop the disruption besides filing legal cases against the government for violating its citizen’s rights.

Throughout the documentary, as authorities profess the threats and harm posed by the internet, citizens in the two regions reaffirm its importance not just for economic growth but also helping plug the information void during turbulent times. “To live without the internet is like no life,” says Binfon Edwin, an entrepreneur in Kumbo city in the Northwest.

Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, PhD

Department of Political Science and Public Administration,

Babcock University,

Ogun State, Nigeria.

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"Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

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[Biko Agozino]

I read somewhere that a Camerounian developed an App that transgresses the shutdown. But why call it a blackout when it is more like a whiteout? They should always acknowledge their 1959 blunder in voting to leave Eastern Nigeria and join French Cameroun due to the fear of Igbo domination planted by the British and fanned by ethnic warlords from other regions in Nigeria.

Biko

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[Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso]

Correct, about the techie who developed an app that uses sms to track cars and does not need the internet. His app has exploded in the market and is set to move across Africa. https://qz.com/africa/1347834/cameroon-innovator-beats-internet-shutdown-with-sms-app/

As for the purported error of 1959, there is no evidence to indicate that union with Nigeria would have produced different results for the people of Southern Cameroon as currently experienced with Francophone Cameroon. Nigeria’s own Biafra issue remains unresolved.

[Biko Agozino]

Dem ah tire fe see we face, cyaa get we out of de race. Woman you said I'm in you place and then you draw bad card. 

I think that Southern Cameroon would have been much better under the National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon. Up till today, the mothers still sing lullabies that praise 'Azikiwe banker, our our banker'. Part of the solution remains the Pan African vision of Zik for the reunification of Africa. No way will two men only be the Presidents over South Cameroon for more than 50 years with nothing to show for it had they voted in 1959 to remain with Southeast Nigeria. Bad bad mistake.

Biko

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[Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso]

Prof, you forget there was a third option at independence apart from the either/or of joining Nigeria or French Cameroun. Also on the table in 1961 (not 1959) was the option of independence for the Southern Cameroons. The British and the UN unilaterally deleted that option and did not include it in the plebiscite. My point is, Union with southeast Nigeria cannot be seen as the glorious and sole missed opportunity for Peace and prosperity of the Southern Cameroons. Beyond the plebiscite of 1961, there were many other missed opportunities over the years too, as well as long years of tireless struggle to regain their autonomy lost.