One of the biggest challenges that the people of Togo have faced in their struggle is the perception that Togo is a small and irrelevant country in West Africa, and therefore what goes on there is of little importance. Farida Nabourema, who is a Togolese activist and the co-founder of the Faure Must Go Movement, complained about the lack of support for the Togolese people among those on the African continent, some of whom teased that Togo was just the 37 state of Nigeria or that Kwame Nkrumah should have annexed Togo when he had the chance.
Togo is even more neglected in the Western media. The current uprising in Togo has been going on for more than a year, yet this uprising has received very little mainstream media attention at all in the United States. By contrast, the current protests in France have been receiving ample media coverage. So the question is why does the uprising in Togo matter? Why does Togo matter?
The regime in Togo is one of the prototypical neo-colonial military regimes in Africa. Togo became independent from France in 1960 under the leadership of Sylvanus Olympio. By 1963, Olympio was assassinated in a French supported coup. The 1963 coup in Togo was one of the earliest coups in Africa and the first coup in a former French controlled territory. The French government supported this coup because Olympio was attempting to make Togo more independent of France. The man who was behind this coup was Eyadema Gnassingbe, who would organize a second coup in 1967 which brought him into power. Eyadema was a soldier in the French army and he retained his loyalty to France throughout the 38 years that he was in power in Togo. The current regime in Togo is also the oldest military regime in Africa, having been in power since 1967.
Given all of this information, we have to understand that the struggle being fought in Togo is a struggle for the liberation of Africa. It is a struggle against dictatorships, against oppressive military rule, against corruption, and against neo-colonialism. This is why Togo's struggle matters. Togo's victory will be Africa's victory.