The English-speaking region of Cameroon are entering the third week of no Internet, after violent protests and multiple arrests led the government to suspended the services. This has caused vast distress as offices are empty, communications are largely cut off and access to cash has been stopped. With no resolutions on the horizons, the situation looks set to worsen for the foreseeable future.
Otto Akam, community manager of ActivApaces (a tech hub) has said this has come at the worst possible time: January is the time for big innovative startups, businesses wanting to employ ‘new strategies’, but instead in the current climate all prosperity is being ‘killed off’. To access the Internet, workers are having to make multiple hour commutes or pay out for hotels to live in the French speaking areas to get online. Currently ActivSpaces is playing a supportive, cooperative role by offering free office space and fundraising to cover hotel costs, but this is incredibly expensive and eating into the profits such that this generosity cannot continue much longer.
Cameroonian President, Paul Biya
“People have taken the last seven years to build the Silicon Mountain community with their bare hands and no government support,“ says Akam. He alludes to the fact that the world is becoming interconnected, globalized and, in some ways, shrinking, and yet certain governments are increasingly distant and lack an understanding of the people they are serving. In such a competitive climate, it is seriously worrying for Cameroon that leading entrepreneurs will soon be forced to leave the region, meaning a huge economic loss for the region overall, not to mention the loss of jobs and way of life for individual citizens.
The restriction of Internet access may seem ludicrous to many of us who take being online totally for granted – but this conflict is deep-rooted. Those inhabiting the 2 English-speaking regions have long standing grievances with the largely francophone government. Citizens fear they are being marginalized and homogenized by the imposition of a French based legal and education system, which goes against their own culture. The protests that arose were a result of people not wanting their children to be taught by French teachers, and in late 2016 protesters were killed when campaigns against the use of French courts resulted in grave conflicts with the Police.
As a result of the government’s action, the hashtag #BringBackourInternet spread vastly in Cameroon and further internationally, with some users sharing text messages from the Cameroonian government warning them of imprisonment for sharing misinformation.
This situation highlights an alternative angle of the debate surrounding whether the Internet is now a human right, and whether the government can legally deny us of this necessity. While the Internet can often be taken for granted and utilized for menial purposes, Cameroon’s current situation highlights its necessity for modern day trade, communications and economic prosperity. Therefore, the reality is that this limitation of the Internet could have serious long-term consequences on regional development; only encouraging a two-speed, segregated world between the connected and those isolated.