Rallies! [Monday-Thursday, August 6-9]
Monday
-went to HU for most of the day and began finishing up my work there.
Tuesday
-HU in the morning, then came to iEARN for a few hours. In the taxi back to town someone gave me a flyer proclaiming “No Election Violence!”
-went out to Kissy with Moses to photograph the MCW community center and then met with Victor from NYAF to discuss a few possible programs for the future. Had to walk through the PMDC rally. Saw Charles Margai, the PMDC candidate. Lots of shouting and screaming.
-ate dinner (well freshly grilled meat and Guinness) with Alfred, the MCW foreman, at a very relaxed restaurant in Kissy.
Wednesday
-APC rallies all day today. APC is the largest party in the Freetown area and had shut down many of the roads; the entire city seemed to be wearing red. Political rallies are about 1% politics and 99% screaming, yelling, drinking, smoking and dancing.
-had to walk back from HU due to the traffic from the rallies.
-Thousands of people, but quite peaceful.
-UNDP is out driving around blaring “no election violence” messages.
-met up with a friend from the States and went out to Aberdeen for dinner, after fighting our way through the APC rallies. First to Alex’s for some fantastic chips (fries in the US), cheese and chilli, and then walked down Lumley beach in search of grilled fish, finding whole grilled snapper for 20000. Harry picked us up and after dropping off my friend up near Signal Hill, we met Adam and a few of his friends at Lagoonda before returning to the YMCA.
Thursday
-went to the National Electoral Commission Press Conference at the British Coucnil…the international media is here in full force. Also saw various democracy “experts” who are here helping with the electoral process and ensuring all goes smoothly. NEC seems quite confident things will go smoothly on Saturday. Hopefully they’re right – these elections are “make or break for our country,” to quote NEC.
-attended the SLPP rally at the National stadium with a few of the boys from iEARN. I would say it’s more of a party than anything political, but it’s fantastic to see so many people (the stadium was packed, for the second day in a row with yesterday the APC filling the area) participating in the democratic process, even if that participation is dancing on top of a lorry swerving down the street and blaring songs for passerbys to dance to….it’s a bit different than the US.
The 3 major political parties have all held their rallies (PMDC/Tues, APC/Wed, SLPP/Thurs) and they were all relatively peaceful celebrations of each party w/o much confrontation between opposing sides. Tomorrow (Friday) is a rest day and I’m not sure exactly what will happen, but the polls will open on Saturday at 7 am. All indications are towards a peaceful polling day, although there are reports of violence and house burnings upcountry. The INGOS are all taking extra precautions and many have closed their offices for the next few days. Most people are more concerned the day results are announced. Both BBC (I think) and allafrica.com have fairly decent coverage of SL if you want to follow along. I’ll try to post a bit more frequently, as NEC has a media center with free internet at the British Council. Unfortunately with my computer out of commission pictures are looking a bit impossible, but I’ll see what I can do.
-went to HU for most of the day and began finishing up my work there.
Tuesday
-HU in the morning, then came to iEARN for a few hours. In the taxi back to town someone gave me a flyer proclaiming “No Election Violence!”
-went out to Kissy with Moses to photograph the MCW community center and then met with Victor from NYAF to discuss a few possible programs for the future. Had to walk through the PMDC rally. Saw Charles Margai, the PMDC candidate. Lots of shouting and screaming.
-ate dinner (well freshly grilled meat and Guinness) with Alfred, the MCW foreman, at a very relaxed restaurant in Kissy.
Wednesday
-APC rallies all day today. APC is the largest party in the Freetown area and had shut down many of the roads; the entire city seemed to be wearing red. Political rallies are about 1% politics and 99% screaming, yelling, drinking, smoking and dancing.
-had to walk back from HU due to the traffic from the rallies.
-Thousands of people, but quite peaceful.
-UNDP is out driving around blaring “no election violence” messages.
-met up with a friend from the States and went out to Aberdeen for dinner, after fighting our way through the APC rallies. First to Alex’s for some fantastic chips (fries in the US), cheese and chilli, and then walked down Lumley beach in search of grilled fish, finding whole grilled snapper for 20000. Harry picked us up and after dropping off my friend up near Signal Hill, we met Adam and a few of his friends at Lagoonda before returning to the YMCA.
Thursday
-went to the National Electoral Commission Press Conference at the British Coucnil…the international media is here in full force. Also saw various democracy “experts” who are here helping with the electoral process and ensuring all goes smoothly. NEC seems quite confident things will go smoothly on Saturday. Hopefully they’re right – these elections are “make or break for our country,” to quote NEC.
-attended the SLPP rally at the National stadium with a few of the boys from iEARN. I would say it’s more of a party than anything political, but it’s fantastic to see so many people (the stadium was packed, for the second day in a row with yesterday the APC filling the area) participating in the democratic process, even if that participation is dancing on top of a lorry swerving down the street and blaring songs for passerbys to dance to….it’s a bit different than the US.
The 3 major political parties have all held their rallies (PMDC/Tues, APC/Wed, SLPP/Thurs) and they were all relatively peaceful celebrations of each party w/o much confrontation between opposing sides. Tomorrow (Friday) is a rest day and I’m not sure exactly what will happen, but the polls will open on Saturday at 7 am. All indications are towards a peaceful polling day, although there are reports of violence and house burnings upcountry. The INGOS are all taking extra precautions and many have closed their offices for the next few days. Most people are more concerned the day results are announced. Both BBC (I think) and allafrica.com have fairly decent coverage of SL if you want to follow along. I’ll try to post a bit more frequently, as NEC has a media center with free internet at the British Council. Unfortunately with my computer out of commission pictures are looking a bit impossible, but I’ll see what I can do.
posted by Paul at
7:17 PM
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