SENEGAL: “Y’EN A MARRE” MOVEMENT
March 2026
Anatomy of a protest
DAKAR: ANGER IN EVERYDAY LIFE
In the early 2010s, Senegal was experiencing a very serious social crisis. Repeated power cuts, the high cost of living, youth unemployment, suspicions of corruption, and the sense of a state captured by clientelism and impunity gradually drove the population to exasperation.
In this context, frustration was no longer merely individual: it became a collective mood, a shared language – “The cup is full: we’ve had enough.”
“Y’EN A MARRE”: FROM A CRY TO A CIVIC ENGINE
“It is certainly a cry of exasperation, but it is also an organisation that awakens people and moves them forward”, summaries activist and journalist Fadel Barro, co‑founder of Y’en a Marre (YAM) alongside rappers Thiat and Kilifeu, as the movement became formally organised in January 2011.
YAM seeks to transform diffuse social anger into collective discipline, focusing on raising awareness, mobilising young people, and exerting public pressure. Its objectives are clear: democracy, good governance, and civic engagement in Senegal.
RAP AS A MEGAPHONE
YAM turned rap into an infrastructure for collective action: in 2011, anthems accompanied key moments of mobilisation, concerts were followed by debates, and the rappers’ speeches established an ongoing civic narrative. This strategy united people and made politics more comprehensible.
Following this period, on 25 March 2012, opposition leader Macky Sall was elected President of the Republic, marking a political transition in a context where citizen vigilance had been durably strengthened.
DEMOCRACY, TRANSPARENCY AND PARTICIPATION
Today, Y’en a Marre claims continuity with its manifesto, the Nouveau Type de Sénégalais (NTS), launched as a compass: to promote citizenship grounded in justice, equity, and social progress.
In line with this vision, the movement presents itself as an actor of civic engagement and good governance, organised around projects such as Dox ak Sa Gox (citizen participation and oversight), Citizen Mic (expression and leadership through urban cultures), La Télé Citoyenne (citizen media), and Karibu (welcoming and training spaces).
GEN-Z TAKES HOLD OF THE MOVEMENT
Fadel Barro analyses the 2025 Gen-Z movements as a resurgence of the early Y’en a Marre mobilisations. However, he cautions against the movement’s disorganised nature and urges Gen-Z to “appoint a leading group to carry the multiple demands of African youth.”
The movement must be embodied in order to foster new forms of leadership: without this, it cannot move forward, and the same nepotistic and clientelist practices keep resurfacing.
