Dear Yus,
I did promised to come to this topic.Perhaps I should just make a short
comment on the Mumias case and then move on but reading from your posting it
is not even necessary for me to continue more on this issue.You insisted
that Mumia is guilty,which in contrary to the views of many and the evidence
gathered,but there are many reason why Mumia is one of the most hated
journalist by the Philadelphia police,among others his politics and his
constant critic of Police racism,thus the frame up charges.
On this same point you insisted that Mumia is guilty and he deserved to be
hang,what of those sex police who shot that little African man with 46
bullets and work away to freedom.The judiciary is not only the back bone of
a democratic nation but very important in drawing a balance sheet..The
American judicial system,especially in cases of civil liberty is a mockery
to democracy.One is not only having the O.J.Simson case in mind and the
above named cases,recently it was shown that in most of the cases involving
murder charges,the accused are represented by either in- experience lawyers
or lawyers who have by one way or another relationship with the actors.Allow
me to say that I could not recalled those who did this investigation,but I
could remember that these were law students.What those this show,you have to
be rich or influential to get a fair trial in USA and good representation in
such cases.In a true democratic state this should not be the case,every
individual should equally be protected by the law.
Parliamentary democracy is what reveals best the undemocratic nature of the
USA.Recently,the Russian Chairman of the electoral commission was saying
that the Russian electoral system is more democratic than that of the USA
and that he hopes this recent crisis will open up new discussion of the
electoral system in the USA .Who can disagree with him on this case.In
Russia and in the Gambia and in Senegal etc the winner of the election is
the person with the majority of votes.This is the opposite in the USA,the
majority of voters can vote for you to become their president but yet still
you become the lose.
Why is it that millions are spent on elections in the US,is this to advance
Democracy or to corrupt it ?and who are those pumping these millions into
these election,is the money from membership dues or from the coffers of
"big Business".These millions are what makes the American society
undemocratic,they are from the coffers of "Big Business" and these are what
dictates politics and the judiciary in the US any other thing is sweet
talks.Even the CIA that at one time of US history was the dominant force in
deciding the fate of American politics have now lose to the "Big
Business".When a nation operates this way,the interest of her citizens are
not what becomes the immediate.The American government can invest in
researches,with billions,in the name of science,whiles millions of Americans
continue to make up the soup lines.And not only that a great part of this
research monies end up in cooperates coffers,but the end result of these
research do not go to advance the living standard of the ordinary American
but to open up new avenues for "Big Business".Simple,if Yusufa Samba invest
in the election campaign of the AFPRC,as he is known to be doing,he does
this not out of a love relationship with the AFPRC,but he expect in turn to
be granted State contracts.
In a statement made by Hamjatta and Sidi,that democracy and development are
inseparable,my understanding of this statement is that democracy leads to
development and that without development democracy would not be able to
develop further.If my interpretations are correct this is very true.But
what reality has also teaches us is that this is not always the case,that is
to say the two could be opposites also.Because in our generation we have
seen "Big Business" cooperates investing in politics and buying big medias
and offcourse what is expected here is also to see to it that the interest
of the "Big Business" cooperates are represented.This was the very reason
why some of us were saying that Yusufa Samba buying the Observer was a very
big blow to the advancement of democracy in the Gambia.We are seeing how the
Observer is degenerating.This is the same things in the US.The big Media are
at the service of the "Big Business" cooperates than that of the ordinary
people.In all the talk shows during the president race,who would have
believed that there are other presidential candidates than that of the
democrats and the Conservative.With the development of the mass media,the
role it should have played in giving equal opportunity to all the
presidential candidates to present their politics might have save America
from having only two main stream politics,this will give chance to the
ordinary Americans to identify themselves with the politics that represent
their interest and advance more participation from the ordinary people.But
the role of the mass media has been to present these two as the only
alternative,a healthy democracy would have discourage such behaviour from
the mass media.The media as we know, is very conscious as to role it plays
and can play in controlling the minds of the people,when the media takes it
upon itself to narrow the minds of people,it is doing it consciously.Why is
it that in an advance country like the USA,poor turn out to the polling
stations has still not become a things of the past.My view point in this
case,is that for the majority it does not make any difference who comes to
power,it would not change their day to day struggle for survival or do
something with their yearning for justice.It took 10 times double more
people to get to the streets of New York and LA to protest against injustice
in the case of Jallow and King respectively than the number of people who
came out to protest for re-vote or no -vote.It took more people in Abidjan
into the street to defend their victory than in the streets of Florida.The
point in case here is not because there is more democracy in Florida than
it is in Abidjan,the fact is that,the two people have a different
relationship to politics.For the people of Abijan it was a way out of
military dictatorship and in Florida,it is a matter of "and who wins what
?".When the PPP was ruling the Gambia,no one was ever killed or charged for
murder in connection with election campaigned,because for the people it was
a question of ,it was either Jawara or Dibba and What.But now we have a
different political situation and thus all these detentions ,the killings
etc.
The Us Democracy would never ,under this circumstances,advance in the
interest of the ordinary people of the USA.This is the very fear that is
ranging in many European countries.This is why in many European countries
sponsorship/contribution from private cooperates to a political party is
seen as corruption and in Germany the consequences were too great for the
CDP.There is no doubt about the fact that this undermines democracy,it makes
it a laughing thing,it corrupts the whole system,from law marking to simple
science research.As said above it is not always in the interest of ordinary
American that Scientist are sent to space to look at the moon whiles the
soup lines on earth (In America)continues to crow.
You will see that there are many big talks in American democracy than what
the realities are,and when one looks at the international polices of this
country one sees more of what in reality democracy in this country is all
about.
For Freedom
Saiks
----- Original Message -----
From: Yusupha Jow <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: US Election Card
> Saiks:
> No system is perfect and the American democratic system is no exception.
In
> fact, this country might not even be the best model for democracy. No one
> doubts this.
>
> As for Mumia Abu Jamal, the guy is guilty as sin and therefore deserves to
> meet his maker. Yes, Abu Jamal was politically active but he killed a
family
> man in cold blood. He is in jail for this crime and not his political
> activities.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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