liberation day

Here in Togo, the 13th of January is Liberation Day, or Journée de la Liberation. Unlike what you think though, the “liberation” celebrated by Togolese has nothing to do with proper liberation but rather to celebrate the attempted assassination on who I recall as either the current President, or his father. Ironically, most Togolese don’t really understand the history behind the day and look at the holiday the same way an elementary school child views Labour Day: an excuse to take the day off. Regardless of the history surrounding the day, Liberation Day has become a celebration in honour of the Army and the local gendarmerie (a mix between military and police officials) since apparently it is the day that the President gives everyone in the military their annual bonus. The marking feature of this holiday is centered around a march, in honour of the military and President Faure, which occurs in most large towns and cities. Starting around 8 or 9 in the morning, a pathway is roped off on both sides and several groups from the gendarmerie to school children to the union of fish sellers march in formation along the path as they are cheered on by spectators. Marcus and I walked down to the Route to observe the demonstration where we were selected by a Togolese woman who dragged us to sit under the tent reserved for the Chief of the Prefecture and other “notables” of Sotouboua. It was a little reminiscent of Pre-World War II Germany to see “educated” children, from kindergarten to high school marching in formation in honour of the president, but the use of the U.S. Marine Corps song on a repeating loop as the marching music just added to the ridiculousness of the event. In true Togolese fashion, there was a lot of singing and dancing which added to the festiveness of the parade and I took several videos that I hope to post on this blog soon. One of the cool parts of the march however were exhibitions by some of the local school clubs and groupements (associations) during the parade such as the martial arts club (yes, kung fu has made it all the way to central Togo), the gymnastics club, the groupement for tchouk mamas and the motorcycle-taxi syndicate (where several drivers attempted pop-a-wheelies).