This case centers Citizen Cells in Senegal’s Y'en a Marre movement, examining their bottom-up democratic resistance to President Abdoulaye Wade’s attempt to overextend his term via constitutional overreach.
Problems and Purpose
The Y’en a Marre (YAM) case is presented as a democratic spark that flew from a specific political breakdown and grew into a long-term mission to rebuild civic life. The immediate crisis was President Abdoulaye Wade’s attempt to stay in power by manipulating the constitution, which triggered massive citizen protest and turned YAM into a leading voice in Senegal’s heated debate over term limits (Dimé, 2022; Sajnani, 2015). According to Dimé, the movement’s success didn't just rely on crowd sizes. Instead, it used a "grammar of indocility," which is a collection of slogans and local slang that translated dry legal issues into powerful messages that resonated with the public (Dimé, 2022).
At the same time, the movement responded to deeper frustrations regarding poor governance and the way young people in Dakar’s outer neighborhoods felt ignored. In these areas, youth cultural leaders were already stepping up to fill holes left by the government and providing services that the city failed to deliver (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019; Poleykett, 2022). Therefore, the purpose of the movement was twofold. It aimed to challenge elite power plays at the top while simultaneously strengthening democracy "Galsen style" by using hip hop to educate the community, organize neighborhoods, and turn being a citizen into a daily practice (Dimé, 2022; Sajnani, 2015).
Background History and Context
Researchers place YAM within a much longer history of youth activism and the unique cultural scene of Dakar. Sajnani frames YAM as part of a "hip hop politics" connection in Senegal where making art and participating in democracy are inseparable, and where democratic life happens through informal cultural networks as much as through official institutions (Sajnani, 2015). Dimé also sees the movement as part of a larger trend across Africa where citizens rise up against leaders who try to secure third terms in office, emphasizing that political openness and a strong media environment helped the protest succeed (Dimé, 2022).
A vital piece of this background is the tradition of "Set Setal," which involves collective neighborhood cleaning days. Poleykett shows that these acts of cleaning streets or painting murals are actually deeply political acts of "emergence." They allow residents to claim moral authority over their city and criticize the state for its neglect (Poleykett, 2022). Mbaye and Dinardi also describe Dakar’s "cultural polis" as a space where informal cultural leaders and institutions overlap to re-imagine the city and perform citizenship (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019). These layers of history help explain how YAM’s work was both culturally rooted and politically powerful.
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
Who are the organizers and why are they involved?
The organizers are described as young cultural and civic leaders, many of whom are deeply involved in the hip hop scene. They first came together to stop Wade’s third term, but they stayed active to build a lasting culture of democratic education (Dimé, 2022; Sajnani, 2015). Dimé notes that the leaders didn't just react to events; they carefully built a new political language and a disciplined approach to protest that gave them real leverage over political elites (Dimé, 2022). Sajnani adds that their involvement is rooted in a belief that artists act as civic educators who translate grievances into forms of participation that urban youth find compelling (Sajnani, 2015).
Supporting Entities and Their Roles
Dakar’s "cultural polis" acted as a massive support system for the movement. Mbaye and Dinardi identify this as an environment where organizations provide the training, festivals, and neighborhood projects that allow youth to engage with the government through culture rather than through the narrow, formal channels that usually ignore them (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019). Poleykett’s analysis adds that these supporting groups are essential because they keep the movement's actions meaningful. They ensure that community practices like cleaning days stay powerful civic statements rather than being watered down into simple technocratic events or government publicity stunts (Poleykett, 2022).
Participant Recruitment and Selection
While participation was technically open to everyone, it tended to follow certain patterns in practice. Instead of using formal sign-up lists, the movement grew through existing social circles and neighborhood groups, especially those linked to hip hop and cultural programs that felt authentic to young people (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019; Sajnani, 2015). Because of this, the movement was most visible among young city residents in the peripheral neighborhoods where these cultural networks are strongest (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019; Poleykett, 2022).
In terms of what motivated people to join, it was rarely about money. Mbaye and Dinardi highlight a "moral economy" where people are driven by a desire for recognition and respect (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019). Poleykett similarly shows that practices like cleaning the streets carry moral weight. Joining in was a way for participants to claim civic dignity and show they were the true stewards of their city, which is why the movement was able to recruit so effectively through emotional and symbolic registers (Poleykett, 2022).
Methods and Tools Used
Dimé provides a clear look at the movement’s strategic toolkit. Beyond holding marches, YAM used a "grammar of indocility" to speak to the public. They combined slogans with local Wolof terms to turn a complicated constitutional crisis into a clear call for action (Dimé, 2022). Dimé also stresses that these tools worked because they took advantage of "political opportunity structures" like media visibility and Senegal’s long tradition of youth protest (Dimé, 2022).
Mbaye and Dinardi describe a second method: using hip hop as a form of political education within the cultural polis, where informal initiatives serve as places for civic learning (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019). Sajnani reinforces this by treating hip hop as a form of democratic pedagogy. In this view, music and performance are the mechanisms through which young people learn democratic skills and political awareness (Sajnani, 2015). Finally, Poleykett adds that aesthetic tools like cleaning days acted as visible civic interventions, though they often became points of conflict when the state tried to take credit for them (Poleykett, 2022).
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
The whole process can be described as a mix of loud protest and quiet infrastructure. During big political moments, YAM acted as a high-profile movement fighting against the third-term presidency. They used their unique language and slogans to coordinate thousands of people and make the conflict easy for everyone to understand (Dimé, 2022). In this phase, participation was all about demonstrations and spreading a shared message.
In the quieter times between protests, the movement was sustained by its cultural roots. Informal networks provided spaces for leadership training and neighborhood projects that kept people engaged in their everyday lives (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019; Sajnani, 2015). Poleykett’s account shows how participation also happened through visible acts of care for the city. When people gathered for cleaning days, they were negotiating the moral order of Dakar and showing who really cared for the city (Poleykett, 2022). Across all these areas, being involved was less about sitting in formal meetings and more about building civic capacity and exerting pressure through collective presence (Dimé, 2022; Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019).
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
YAM is a perfect example of how popular protest can create real change when it uses the right timing and the right message. Dimé argues that the movement's influence came from its ability to take widespread frustration and turn it into a focused, public "indocility grammar" that altered the political environment (Dimé, 2022). Sajnani highlights that the effects went beyond just winning a political battle; they also shifted democratic practice by helping youth enter public debates and build their own civic identities (Sajnani, 2015).
Mbaye and Dinardi extend this to look at how the city is run. They show that cultural groups became recognized as important players, and local governments had to start negotiating with them more seriously (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019). However, Poleykett adds a cautionary side to this success. The same creative methods that made the movement strong can lead to conflict when politicians try to instrumentalize or take over the movement's ideas, leading to battles over who truly owns these civic spaces (Poleykett, 2022).
Analysis and Lessons Learned
The central lesson is that for democracy to have an impact, it needs to connect the right context with the right tools. Dimé suggests that movements are more likely to succeed when they understand the political landscape and develop a language that makes ordinary people feel like competent political actors (Dimé, 2022). This shows the importance of "strategic vernacularization," or making high-stakes politics speakable in the local language.
A second lesson is that cultural infrastructure is not a luxury. Mbaye and Dinardi show that the cultural polis provides a durable way for people to stay involved over the long term, especially in neighborhoods that are usually left out of policymaking (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019). Sajnani reinforces this by treating hip hop as a form of democratic pedagogy and a way to organize civil society (Sajnani, 2015).
Finally, there is a lesson about the risks of becoming "too official." Mbaye and Dinardi caution that when informal actors move "inside" government arrangements, they can face new power imbalances (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019). Poleykett similarly warns that civic practices can become volatile when they are used by political actors for their own gain (Poleykett, 2022). Together, these lessons show that YAM’s success was built on a mix of protest and cultural roots, but it remains a constant struggle to avoid co-optation and stay true to its local origins (Dimé, 2022; Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019; Poleykett, 2022; Sajnani, 2015).
See Also
References
Dimé, M. (2022). Y’en a Marre: Catalyst for an indocility grammar in Senegal. In E. R. Sanches (Ed.), Popular protest, political opportunities, and change in Africa (pp. 56–72). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003177371-4
Mbaye, J. F., & Dinardi, C. (2019). Ins and outs of the cultural polis: Informality, culture and governance in the global South. Urban Studies, 56(3), 578–593. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017744168
Poleykett, B. (2022). A broom to the head: “Cleaning Day” and the aesthetics of emergence in Dakar. Urban Studies, 59(2), 381–396. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098021993357
Sajnani, D. C. (2015). Deepening democracy Galsen style: Y’en a Marre, hip hop and politics in Senegal (Publication No. 3741438) [Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
