What is the story of the "modernity" train in Senegal and the "bucket of rice" case?

While a worker named Asani Faye, 40, was on the train, a bucket of rice slipped out of his hand, and the passengers helped him collect the spill, but Faye - the worker at the commercial port in the Senegalese capital Dakar - did not know that an accident like this would be a cause in his arrest.

A report published by the French newspaper "Mediapart" touched on the case of the worker Asani Fay, who was arrested by the police from his home a few days after the "bucket of rice" incident, and took him handcuffed to the police station, where he spent several days in custody and was tried for "damage to property." the public".

In the end, Faye was fired and humiliated, as well as paying 100 euros as lawyers' fees, which is a lot compared to his income.

How did things get to this point?

The report considers that Asani Fay's arrest is only the latest link in a long chain of grievances and tragedies. If Asani Fay had not carried the "bucket of rice" on that day, he would not have ended up in the police station, and if his wages were not very low, he would not need to "transfer rice” in a bucket, and had Senegal not undergone structural adjustments in the 1990s, dockers’ wages would not have been low.

And if President Macky Sall had not made Dakar a symbol of the country's "modernization" program, he would not have needed to mobilize 260 policemen to monitor this new line. And if the "modernization" program was really directed at the poorest - as the authorities in Senegal and their foreign partners claim Including France - when people like Faye were arrested and their only guilt is that they are poor and want to get on the train."

The profession of port workers has long enjoyed a relatively privileged position in Senegal. After independence, trade unions and political parties managed to extract a number of social rights for this sector, but under the pressure of structural adjustment plans in 1994, the sector was liberalized;

As a result, the number of professional port workers decreased and were replaced by temporary workers who work for daily wages without the most basic rights such as social coverage.

 A day in the life of a worker

Asani Faye starts work at 4:45 am, takes a public transport minibus to the port of Dakar to be there before sunrise, unloads the ships' contents, and when he finishes work he takes the same bus back to his home.

Asani Fay began working in the port in 1998 on a "daily" basis, and earns 10.7 euros for 12 hours of work, but this wage is not enough to support himself and his children, the youngest of whom is 4 years old, so he thought of setting up a small business to raise 7 sheep and a number of ducks .

“I sell these animals before Eid al-Adha, and they give me a decent income,” Fay said, holding a bucket of yellowed rice from cooking and fermentation, leftover cabbage and carrots.

Senegalese worker Asani Fay in his small business brings him a bucket full of rice from a restaurant (Mediapart newspaper)

Asani Fay gets his leftovers for free at his lunchtime restaurant, and Fay usually puts the bucket full of rice under one of the seats of his daily bus, and it didn't bother anyone.

More than just a train

In Senegal, construction giant IFAGE has dubbed the highway project the "Highway of the Future".

As for the Senegalese regional express company, it simply promised the people of Dakar they would enter the "age of modernity".

For Faye, the regional express was an opportunity to save on a bus ticket, as the train was free for the first 15 days.

Faye got on the train and the bucket fell due to a "stampede," and "it wasn't him who brought it down," his son asserted.

"He put it on the ground and someone must have tripped over it," he said.

Policemen arrived at the scene of the "accident", and 260 of them were specially deployed on the train route to ensure the "protection" of the line and passengers.

The next day, the docker was surprised by the circulation of a video clip of the accident on the Internet, and radio stations, newspapers and even people on the street talked about it, and some accused Fei of being rude and insulted him, while others defended him.