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Anti-colonial Resistance, Academic Freedom, and Political Dissent in Cameroon
1 April @ 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
This event will take place in person, with an option to attend remotely. If you would like to join remotely, please register using the hyperlink below.
Attend via Zoom: Register Here
In this discussion, Barrister Caroline Mbinkar examines the “Nera 10” case as a window into the criminalization of political dissent and the shrinking space for academic and civic freedoms amid the Anglophone conflict in Cameroon. In 2018, ten professionals, including academics, associated with the Anglophone struggle were arrested in Nigeria and deported to Cameroon. Despite being civilians, they were tried before a military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of terrorism and secession. The story of the Nera 10 is part of a longer struggle in which minority Anglophone peoples have sought equality and freedom in Cameroon. Longstanding grievances about political exclusion, linguistic domination, and the erosion of legal and other public institutions, led lawyers and teachers to protest in 2016, which sparked an ongoing civil conflict – one of the most overlooked in the world. In this context, the prosecution of the Nera 10 illustrates a broader shift toward the securitization of political grievances and the repression of intellectuals, professionals, and civic actors whose work and words challenge the prevailing order. At stake is not only the fate of ten individuals, but the meaning of justice itself. In this discussion. Barrister Mbinkar explores the freedom dreams that continue to drive the Anglophone struggle and broader aspirations for peace and self-determination in Cameroon and beyond.
Speaker: Barrister Caroline Mbinkar is a distinguished lawyer from Cameroon and a Visiting Senior Fellow in Practice at LSE. She co-founded a pro bono law chambers, ALL for Cameroon, which provides free legal assistance for those unable to otherwise afford it. Prior to being sworn into the Bar, Caroline was a committed human rights defender in Cameroon. In 2017, when violent conflict broke out in the anglophone regions of Cameroon, Caroline co-established the Cameroon Conflict Research Group at the University of Oxford.
Chair: Dr Roxana Willis
This event will operate on a first-come, first-served basis.