DECLARATION (September 22th, 2020)

The People of Change has once again scored an important point in the struggle for freedom and change in Cameroon.

It is constant, unless one is of blatant bad faith or has a deeply irrational mind, that the objective of the peaceful demonstrations observed today was not to immediately overthrow Mr. BIya's regime this very day. No one has ever claimed that a single demonstration could overthrow Mr. BIya's more than 30-year-old regime. The goal was to keep the initiative of actions on the ground, to make the regime panic and retreat. Every time Mr. BIya's regime panics - and this is what happens with every announcement of peaceful demonstrations - it is already a victory for the progressive forces. This September 22, 2020 is a good step in the right direction. On this point, the Mrc behind this slogan is to be congratulated.

Cameroonians have discovered today that they can and must overcome fear despite the climate of terror established by the regime. The people of change have demonstrated to the world that they can brave and overcome fear and take their destiny into their own hands. This is already a clear victory.

The rhythm must be sustained. The Cameroonians have regained confidence. The peaceful demonstrations of the type of September 22, 2020 will certainly grow in size over time because it is now appropriate to adopt the always victorious strategy of the mongoose against the royal cobra. In February 2008, more precisely on January 6, 2008, immediately after a meeting of the regional executive committee of the SDF in Bepanda, about a hundred SDF activists took to the streets to say "No to the modification of the Constitution". A month later, hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians were on the streets all over Cameroon, especially in the big cities, including a few hundred meters from the Etoudi Palace.

Any raison d'être of the forces of progress is to put maximum pressure on the conservative and dictatorial forces that have blocked all the mechanisms of system change at the top of the state. As the peaceful marches progress, the entire people always end up waking up. And this is how the chains of the conservatism of the one-track thinking that feeds the dictatorship will be broken!

Despite the deployment of massive military forces that have transformed the country's main cities into a state of siege, September 22, 2020 is a success for the progressive forces and a heavy defeat inflicted on the scattered conservatives who are recruiting even outside the governing apparatus. The Cameroonians came out to show their frustration. The sense of fear was overcome. It is a psychological victory against Mr. BIya's regime. It was a major blow. And this is what is to be remembered.

The salvation of Cameroon depends on the constitution of a broad front of struggle. The forces of change must come together because, contrary to certain misleading appearances, the dictatorial and corrupt regime of Yaoundé is dying. Together, let us mobilize to carry the stunt!

Hon. Jean Michel NINTCHEU
Member of Parliament

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