It looked promising. A face to face debate between the two candidates days before the second round of elections featured set two minute response times to each question to curtail any cutting off or interruptions and ended in a handshake and gentle embrace between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara. They laughed and joked with each other, even telling of friendly phone conversations between them over the past years, and calling for an end to some escalating violent tones within street campaigning. Onlookers might think they were old friends and not longstanding political rivals who had previously battled each other in civil war. I watched while the days progressed as people who had repeatedly talked of peace and patience quickly turned to spread hype-filled rumours, enhancing cultural violence and tensions. Today, we know a new coup was born and democracy was again denied for the people of Cote D’Ivoire.

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by Lindsay Broadfield

As I work with my high school chapters on a day to day basis, we generally focus on the normal things – planning events, booking speakers, fundraising, etc. While this all sounds part and parcel with what we do here at Stand on the chapter level, I occasionally like to highlight to the chapter reps what they are actually learning. Life skills. Yeah, life skills. These are the things that are written on resumes, mentioned in interviews, and listed on application forms. They seem annoying at the time when you are writing them all down to sell yourself off for a job, but they are required. Eventually, there is an appreciation for them.

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Earlier this week, Laurie Drake, Stand’s University Chapter Director, wrote a very profound piece on the difference between “leadership” and “management,” and related it to why Stand has continued to exist for as long as it has. Laurie pointed out that Stand exists because it is a leader in its own field which seeks to define the future for itself, proactively thinking ahead how to combat genocide instead of being bogged down by the organizational difficulties of managing an extensive network of individuals. Although Stand defies the organizational and structural norms of most NGOs, the organization moves ahead and continues to be successful.

Reading this entry, I realized that many people are surprised by our continued success, and do not know what kind of accomplishments we have had over the years.  Thus, in this entry, I would like to highlight some of the impact we have had as an organization and in closing, I will attempt to provide an analysis of why we continue to be successful.

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The vote came and went without major incident. Each party had an observer at every polling station to ensure their ballots were being counted properly. International observers were also present in many places, and indicated their satisfaction at the calm, patient and generally fair manner in which the election proceeded, barring a few minor logistical hiccups. And then we waited. The streets became ghost towns. The shops were all closed. People stowed themselves quietly in their homes, glued to their television sets and radios awaiting the results. The government announced the closure of land borders and the suspension of all SMS text messages to prevent violent uprisings from forming. The army General was repeatedly flashed on the tv screen calling for calm and patience.

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It will be hard to overcome the violence of the past. Many who I have spoke to within the city have expressed their desire to have new leaders entirely and finally be able to move on in peace after these elections. All three main candidates have had a previous political role in Cote D’Ivoire and have also been embroiled in its past violence.

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