Croquemort: ‘Je voudrais porter un casque’

‘There is a lot more hidden behind the helmets!’,  I tweeted on 9 March. Indeed there is. The student manifestation in N’Djamena at the beginning of March and the way it was turned down provoked a lot of discussion in society, of which some was posted on Facebook. Discussions that do not only reveal anger, but that also request change. It discloses a discussion about change that competes with our (academic) theories of (social and political) movements. Let the population in Africa first decide what this change should be. Africa is the world and we need to solve problems together, but together means foremost that we listen.

The students have started following lectures again since 1 April, although their demands have not been met.

Slammeur Croquemort composed a song that analyses what is behind the helmets. He introduced it on Facebook as follows:

“My contribution to help advance my beloved country Chad that I adore so much. The title is: ‘Je voudrais porter un casque’.”

Translation of the song text (the original French text is below):

I would like to wear a helmet

I would like to wear a helmet
One that protects me against traffic accidents
To avoid head wounds
Or to be completely crushed
To avoid blowing up my cherished  brain

I would like to wear a helmet
That protects me against the electricity cuts
Of the grimy streets in my neighbourhood
To be able to watch TV
One that protects against our discharged computers
And our closed petty trades

I would like a helmet
One that fights against the police atrocities
And the violence at schools
All the students who were beaten
While writing their exams at the faculty
Who will end up traumatized
The emergency rooms overcrowded

I would like to wear a helmet
Not just a kind of mask

I would like to wear a helmet
One that lowers the market prices
The emptiness felt in the shopping baskets
And the expensiveness of a bag of cement
The trouble caused by the scarcity of fuel

I would like to wear a helmet
One that protects us against insecurity
That will save our robbed motorcyclists
Killed in our non-illuminated streets
By free running assassins

I would like to wear a helmet
One that gives drinking water to our cities
That protects our children against diarrhea,
Malnourishment, fever and headaches
The pupils that sit on the cold soil
In their classrooms made of Seko (dried grass),
ignorant of their rights

I would like to wear a helmet
That prohibits the shooting on children in Doba
Sarh, Moundou or N’Djamena
Unpunished blows of rubber sticks
On innocent children’s bodies

I would like to wear a helmet
That protects us against the lies
The realities that are washed away
The faked autopsies
And the broken Hippocrates oath

I would like to wear a helmet
Not just a kind of mask

I would like to wear a helmet
One that punishes the embezzlement of public funds
By the potbellied who steal our money
And who never worry
Because they have never been in jail
One that cries over the emptied treasure
That holds the free thieves accountable

I would like to wear a helmet
One steering the dialogues between those in power and the population
That confronts our problems and their solutions
That responds to the cry of the youth
With real promises
And not with shooting of teargas
The killing, the detentions with no shame

I would like to wear a helmet
One that fights against unemployment
One that punishes the unjust bargaining
In the coulisses of the public service
Or in the police quarters.

I would like to wear a helmet
One that guarantees freedom of expression
That allows us to speak of pain and deception
That does not silence our convictions
That allows the population a voice.

I would like to wear a real helmet
Not just a kind of mask

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Original French text:

Je voudrais porter un casque

Je voudrais porter un casque
Celui qui me protège contre les accidents de circulation
Pour m’éviter sur la tête des lésions
Ou d’être complètement broyé
Eviter d’éclater mon cerveau tant prisé.

Je voudrais porter un casque
Qui me protège contre les coupures d’électricité
Des rues lugubres de mon quartier
Pour qu’on puisse regarder la télé,
Qui protège contre nos ordis décharges
Et nos petits commerces fermés.

Je voudrais d’un casque
Celui qui lutte contre les exactions policières
Et les violences en milieu scolaire,
Tous ces étudiants recevant la raclée
En plein examen dans leur faculté
Et qui finissent traumatises,
Les urgences bondées

Je voudrais porter un casque
Pas juste une sorte de masque

Je voudrais porter un casque
Celui qui baisse les prix sur le marché
Le vide ressenti dans les paniers
Et la cherté du sac de ciment
Le tort causé par la pénurie du carburant

Je voudrais porter un casque,
Celui qui nous protège de l’insécurité
Qui sauve nos motards braqués,
Assassinés dans nos rues non illuminées
Et surtout des assassins jamais retrouvés

Je voudrais porter un casque
Celui qui donne de l’eau potable à nos cités
Qui protège nos enfants des diarrhées,
De malnutrition, de fièvre et des céphalées,
Des élevés assis à même le sol froid
Dans des salles en Seko et ignorant leur droit.

Je voudrais porter un casque
Qui protège des tirs sur les gosses à Doba,
A Sarh, à Moundou ou à Ndjamena,
Des coups de matraque assenés impunément
Sur des corps d’enfants innocents

Je voudrais porter un casque,
Celui qui protège des mensonges,
Des réalités qu’on éponge
Des autopsies falsifiées
Et du serment d’Hippocrate violé

Je voudrais porter un vrai casque,
Pas juste une sorte de masque.

Je voudrais porter un casque,
Celui qui châtie le détournement du denier public,
Des ventrus qui volent notre fric
Et qui ne sont jamais inquiètes
Parce que jamais emprisonnés,
Celui qui pleure sur le trésor vidé,
Qui demande des comptes aux voleurs en liberté

Je voudrais porter un casque
Celui du dialogue entre le pouvoir et la population
Qui met face à face nos problèmes et leurs solutions,
Qui répond au cri de la jeunesse
Par de vraies promesses
Et non par des tirs de lacrymogènes,
Des assassinats, des arrestations sans gène.

Je voudrais porter un casque
Celui qui lutte contre le chômage
Qui châtie le marchandage
Dans les couloirs de la fonction publique
Ou dans les bureaux des flics.

Je voudrais porter un casque
Celui qui assure la liberté d’expression
Qui nous laisse parler de douleur, de déception
Qui n’étouffe pas nos convictions,
Qui fait entendre la voix de la population.

Je voudrais porter un vrai casque,
Pas juste une sorte de masque.