Jabou, Amadou and the other folks:
I'll begin by acknowledging that Arab racism is unfortunately quite
prevalent. However, the recent events in Lybia, in my view, has little to do
with their despicable feelings of supremacy over black. This is part of a
wave of fast spreading xenophobia sweeping throughout the world. I'm not
joining the debate over the personality of Gadaffi, but I'll let you people
know that he is not my hero.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Recently, the Guinean Prime
Minister or President asked his people to "cleanse thier country of
foreigners." This led to the killing and maiming of a lot of Afrcans and,
including Sierra Leoneans whose embassy was attacked. In South Africa, both
citizens and cops are in a currently engaged in a spate of terror towards
foreigners. Even in our dear Gambia, we've seen how our brothers constantly
humiliate, stigmatize and rob foreigners, simply for being foreigners.
Folks, the list goes on and on. The fact of the matter is that, this
phenomenon is not unique in Lybia. Its unfortunately becoming common place.
I'll just cut this posting short and urge you all to put this matter to
rest; or atleast, be willing to discuss it in perspective. Thanks a lot for
taking the trouble to read this piece.
Ous Ngum
On Wed, 1 Nov 2000 20:55:30 EST, The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
wrote:
> Amadou,
>
> I don't think anyone can accuse me of condoning any form of racism, so
that
> is a waste of time to dwell upon.
> .Additionally, those who have clear and informative knowledge of Islam
know
> that it not a property of Arabs, or anyone for that matter, but is a
> revelation for any of God's creation to draw knowledge from, and practice
if
> they so choose.
>
> Prophet Muhammed (SAW) was sent to all mankind, not just to the Arabs,
and
> the fact that he was born in Arabia is not the point of the religion at
> all.It is only those who have limited knowledge about Islam who label it
a
> property of the Arabs, and it is the same people who also have this
senseless
> belief that if one is a devoted muslim, then anything the Arabs do is
fine.
> There has never been anything farther from the truth, or more reveling of
a
> lack of understanding of the religion. It is a demonstration of the
saying
> "not being able to see the forest because of the trees.
>
> Arab ignorance, racism and barbarism are some of the things that Prophet
> Muhammed spent his a lot of time challening and trying to undo. So let
us
> please put this notion to rest once and for all. If you need more
information
> about that, you can look in the Hadith books.
>
> Khaddafi may be a comrade in arms as you call him, but what has he done
for
> Africa other than provide arms for us to kill each other? If he is our
> salvation, then it is a sad day indeed.Mandela may have visited Tripoli,
but
> he did it to try to help them break the sanctions that had been levied
> against Khaddafi and Libya for a long time, and which was devastating to
> their economy. Mandela did not go to Libya to join the lineup of Africans
who
> seem to think that Moamar Khaddafi is their hero and saviour because he
is
> providing them with guns to kill each other.
>
> Whether it is the West that has labelled Khaddafi a terrorost or whether
he
> actually earned it by financing operations that blow up planeloads of
> innocent people, that is his problem, and even he realizes it and is
> clamoring to clean up his tarnished image . What is evident is that even
his
> fellow Arabs have him at arm's length.
>
> .No, not all of us have bought into this silly notion that Khaddafi's
> interest in Black Africa is because he sees Africans as his comrades in
arms.
> If that is the case, he can start by preventing his countrymen from
> humiliating and killing Black Africans in his country.
>
> Moammar has been the "strong man" in Libya for decades now, and how is
it
> that if he is our comrade in arms, he still has not managed to spread
this
> idealogy to the rest of his compatriots so that such a shameful occurence
as
> has just taken place would not have a place in that society? maybe he has
> been too busy providing guns for Africans until he forgot to impress upon
his
> people that we are supposed to be their brothers in the struggle.
>
> Jabou Joh
>
>
> In a message dated 11/1/00 8:59:30 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> << Jabou,
>
> As far as the West is concerned, all Arabs are either "terrorists" or
> "potential terrorists". If Ghaddafi has "found a pawn in these
> gullible African leaders" that must include Mandela who told off both
> Clinton and Blair and paid a much publicised visit to Tripoli. For in
his
> eyes and in the eyes of many other Africans who don't take their cue
from
> Western propaganda outlets and who don't let thier religious persuation
> blind them to reality, Ghaddafi is a comrade in arms. What you should be
> attacking is Arab racicism for that would not be gone even if Ghaddafi
were
> gone tomorrow.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kabir. >>
>
>
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