Hi brother Malanding and everyone else,
I pray you will notice that this is my re-resurrection! I was around a
little more than three months back with the hope that I would be able to
spare time to contribute to the ongoing debates on the L. Wishful thinking,
you could call it. My job condition dictated an immediate change of location
and I began to shuttle from Stockholm to the South of Sweden on a weekly
basis.
But for a couple of weeks now I've been back to Stockholm and have been
active in perusing an awesome backlog of mail. But even now my active
participation will be much constrained by my domestic circumstances. I doubt
if I have become any wiser but to avoid tearing you all down with by
frustration I'd like to venture an opinion or two about the survey the
list's Management Team conducted recently.
Eventhough I was informed about it, I managed to completely miss the
questionaire. It is perhaps the first time such a survey is conducted on
Gambia-L and I'll like to cease this opportunity to thank all of you for
using your time to carry it out. Finding out and publicising the opinion of
the membership on matters relating generally to the listserve is crucial if
it should be improved as a debate forum, a "bantaba", so to speak, and as a
source of information.
What immediately hits any newcomer to the Gambia-l is the complete
politicisation and polarization of all discourse. The political debate is
inevitable but because excessive focus on partisanship eventually militates
toward polarization, "neutral" issues are swiftly crowded out. (How much
sympathy and interest the call to join GESO, for instance, would generate
while the principal and ultimate issue remains Removing Jammeh from power,
is anyone's guess). It is not accidental that now and then active members on
the list would heed the admonition that a particular issue is desigend by
enemies to shift our attention from that ultimate goal. Accusing some list
managers for being instrumental functionaries of the Jammeh regime patiently
waiting in the wings for the next ambassadorial vacancy in Scandinavia or
that Saul Jawara is feared to have resorted to virus warfare, a pro-Jammeh
mercenary as he was, all testify to the destructive polarity of the
electrolytic soup that constitutes the "L".
Polarization as a matter of fact tends to induce certainty even in
circumstances desperately begging for scepticism. It erects barriers and
feeds on exclusivity and fixity instead of enhancing knowledge and
appreciation. Polarization effectively narrows down the scope of discourse
to at best a mere handful of choices. One must be either pro-Jammeh or
anti-Jammeh, is usually a rallying cry here. But do coins really have only
two sides? I tend to think that there are at least three! Well, the flat,
circular, common coins always have that thin edge that separates the two
flat faces, the heads and tails sides. That thin edge is also a side! Let me
attempt to be more precise:
Many of our compatriots both inside Gambia and on the list, like myself,
have come to the conclusion that the best thing for the Gambia at this point
in her history is for the APRC government to be swept away. But there is
reason also to suppose that there is a very significant number of Gambians
who believe the exact opposite of that prospect to be the best for our
beloved country. Even more importantly, within this latter group there are
large groups of individuals who without questions, are prepared to kill
other Gambians in order to have power to rule over the rest. For those of us
on this list, it is relevant here to refer to the question posed by both
Kebba Dampha and Hamjatta Kanteh, namely: besides the issue of a boycott of
the coming elections what other component(s) must an exit strategy consist
of.
One obvious point to note in this regard is to discuss the reasons why many
ordinary Gambians support the APRC. It seems to me that those of us who are
anti-APRC need to have a clear grasp of those socio-economic, political and
psychological forces that inspite of an appalling record of Human Rights
abuses, generate massive support for the APRC. The purpose of this is to
provide a basis for articulating a persuasive and sustainable campaign
against the autocracy.
For most ordinary Gambians, development consists of constructing roads (the
recently completed Brikama/Gunjur/Kartong/ highway is of firt class
quality - I have been told); building schools, clinics and hospitals;
extending the telecommunicatons infrastructure; putting in place a
respectable airport, watching gambian television, building market places,
and starting a university program, amongst other things. Throughout the
country, these visible and concrete structures are a significant departure
from that what obtained in the country throughout the thirty-year rule of
successive PPP governments. They affect the national consciousness in
significant ways, and infact constitute the backbone of all APRC propaganda.
It matters little whether the schools are well-equipped or whether there are
books in the university library. People register a willingness on the side
of the government to be "trying very hard" to develop the country; while the
government itself perceives those opposed to its rule as ungrateful and
unpatriotic elements who, for reasons known to them alone, fail to
appreciate the improvements it has brought about. Most Gambians regret the
last year massacre of the students and they hold the government responsible
for it but they will as quiskly tell you that the same government is
"trying" hard to develop the country.
Since what we do best on this list is to write to debate and argue issues,
our challenge is to persuade APRC supporters and that vast landscape with a
population of sceptics that the the APRC government, as Kebba Dampha
mentioned, could not only have done much better had they not been
unmitigated thieves, but that we should not accept such development at the
price of our freedom: to write and speak the contents of our hearts without
fear; to worship any gods our spirits choose, and to asscoiate with any herd
our minds approve of, and that at the end of the day inspite of
"development", we shall remain pathetic and sad creatures if we are unable
to live our individual lives purely as we wish. Given that the roots of
political violence in Africa is smeared in verbal violence, it is important
that any persuasive campaign be conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect
for our differing opinions. Making up our minds in order to choose sides is
a process and it is our collective engagement to influence that process
which constitutes the third side of the coin I spoke about. In this regard
it is indeed up to us to make the list an all-inclusive and tolerant forum
that helps to create, perhaps even pioneer, a progressive culture of
political dialog in Gambia.
It would be terribly naive to think that this is just a walk on a bed of
roses. Even before the callous masscare of Gambian youth last year, the APRC
regime deployed not only cyber insurgents but a host of agent provocateurs
whose purpose is not only to pretend violent opposition to the regime as a
way of attracting "solidarity" from those genuinely against Jammeh's rule.
Many others, including embassy staff in Gambian missions abroad, I susupect,
have registered under phoney names, and have helped to render responsible
discourse impossible by engaging in verbal assault against professed
anti-APRC writers. The list has been largely helped in weeding out such
moles by the vigilance of Ebrima Ceesay and others. It appears to me
however, that the Management needs to better coordinate it administrative
efforts and device a more rigorous way of registering subscribers. Since
most of us become aware of the list through other friends, can we not for
instance, demand that subscribers introduce themselves (where they come
from, schools they attended, curent location, and the name of any person
that introduced them to the list)? Nobody walks anonimously into any village
"bantabaa" in Gambia and starts hurling obscenities at those who express
opposing views. It seems to me that this is a small price to pay if we want
to maintain respectability on the "L". Perhaps someone has a better idea?
Besides it seem to me to be the most obvious thing in the world to request
that Mr. Ebrima Ceesay, his lack of time notwithstanding, to join the
management team.
In conclusion, I would like to highlight what I think is ironical about
APRC rule. By all means it should be encouraged to continue its work in
developing the country's infrastructure. We should demand that the
university be equipped and its standards raised. This is the institution
that should eventually become the repository of Gambian culture. It might be
a long walk to the future but I believe that a population that is better
educated, and whose consciousness is raised by a heightened sense of
expectation and anticipation is also a population that will gradually demand
its rights to basic freedoms. In other words, such a population is the best
investment against a dictatorship.
Momodou S Sidibeh
(Stockholm/Kartong)
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