Lettre ouverte aux responsables politiques sénégalais Après la mort du jeune Baba Abdoulaye Diop en France (Par Adama Sow)
The death of Baba Abdoulaye Diop is not a mere news item. It is a tipping point we feared yesterday during the discussions of the day organized by Alioune Tine's AfricaJom Center. Senegal is no longer at a crossroads; it has just tipped over. This tragedy is the direct continuation of what we have allowed to fester in Senegal for several years. Above all, it is the consequence of a climate that you, political actors, have helped to create.
A young Senegalese man died at the hands of another Senegalese man. Not for theft. Not for a personal quarrel. But because he was accused of being "the other." Because he was suspected of being Guinean. Because, in the eyes of his tormentor, he embodied an identity to be eradicated. This shift is staggering. It marks a moral turning point that we can no longer ignore.
The fact that this tragedy began during a TikTok live stream is not insignificant. It speaks volumes about our times. I emphasized this yesterday during my speech at the AfricaJom Center meeting, and I elaborated on it last Saturday at the EJICOM Media Gala: if nothing is done, hate speech, amplified by algorithmic polarization, will destroy our society. Yes, the murder of Baba Abdoulaye Diop illustrates how political discourse, relayed, amplified, and radicalized by algorithms, has penetrated the private lives of young people to the point of shaping their anger, fears, and hatreds. That day, it wasn't just a screen that was lit up. It was an ideology of rejection that was in action.
For years, certain discourses have targeted, singled out, and stigmatized. Entire communities are singled out, suspected, and dehumanized. The Guinean community has borne the brunt of this, under the guise of nationalism, authenticity, or the defense of identity. You know what these repeated, hammered-in, normalized words produce. They never remain symbolic. They always end up being embodied. Yesterday, a young man calling himself a “nationalist” acted on his impulses.
Since the tragic events of 2021-2024, Senegal has changed. Not just politically. Anthropologically. The tone has hardened. Verbal violence has become commonplace. Insults have become arguments. Threats have become strategies. Radicalism has become virtues. And in this shift, you have too often looked the other way, sometimes applauded, sometimes encouraged, sometimes exploited.
Some political actors have grasped how algorithms work. You've understood that anger mobilizes more than reason, that the enemy unites more than debate, that fear fosters loyalty more than nuance. You've turned this mechanism into a political tool. But what you call mobilization is becoming social disintegration.
Baba Abdoulaye Diop is dead, but behind his name lies a generation in turmoil. A youth overexposed, under-educated by the media, at the mercy of platforms that know neither Senegal, nor its history, nor its social fragility. A youth taught to hate before being taught to understand.
The Senegal we knew, admired, and respected—this country of dialogue, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence—is losing its identity. This moral capital, patiently built up, is being squandered in the turmoil of irresponsible rhetoric. And when a country loses its moral compass, violence ceases to be an exception. It becomes an option.
Make no mistake: verbal violence always precedes physical violence. Every word spoken without responsibility adds another brick to the edifice of brutality. Every complicit silence is tacit approval. The murder of Baba Abdoulaye Diop is not a break. It is a logical consequence.
You bear a historic responsibility today: to break with the politics of perpetual tension, to refuse the normalization of hatred, to understand that communication is not a game, and that words, especially in a young and connected country, can kill. Please, stop the rhetoric of hate!
This letter is not a partisan indictment. It is simply a call for clear thinking, restraint, and responsibility. Senegal cannot afford to become a country where people die for a political opinion, a perceived origin, or a fantasized identity.
The death of Baba Abdoulaye Diop is a responsibility to us all. But it is a responsibility to you first and foremost, you who shape public discourse. If you continue to fan the flames, don't feign surprise when the fire spreads.
Senegal deserves better than that.
Our youth deserve better than this.
And history will judge harshly those who chose anger over courage.
Commentaires (19)
C’est une boule de haine . Il va détruire ce pays
Témoignage de son frere après son décès
Le fait que le décès de mon petit frère soit réduit à une question politique me fend le cœur.
Mon frère a toujours dénoncé l’injustice.
Il partageait la plupart des valeurs du Pastef, mais cela ne l’empêchait pas de dénoncer ce parti lorsque cela lui semblait nécessaire.
Nous sommes des DIOP, descendants directs de Maba Diakhou Ba ; on peut donc dire que kene eupaler woul ñu Sénégal.
Mais il ne supportait pas le fait que certains Sénégalais stigmatisent constamment une ethnie, notamment les Guinéens. Il disait souvent que nous sommes tous Africains.
À cause de ses convictions, les nationalistes le harcelaient constamment. Il a porté plainte, mais avec le laxisme de la justice sénégalaise, rien n’a été fait.
Je n’ai pas la force d’expliquer tous les détails aujourd’hui, mais sachez simplement qu’il est parti en dénonçant l’injustice, fidèle à ses principes jusqu’au bout.
Repose en paix.
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