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From:
kalilu camara <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 5 Sep 2000 05:36:48 GMT
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (194 lines)
Halifa,
The way i started my memoranda indicates very clearly,at least to me that i
respect the intelligence of the person iam talking to.
But prior to lowering myself,knowingly so, to get your attention;I had
mailed a letter suggesting a union dialogue among all opposition leaders and
prominant civil society members in an outside state with
Mr jammeh. So that each could freely and fairly voice their position before
all Gambians.There will be no more educating the people that way than any
other.I have had no response.
    Halifa i want to commend you very much.I heard from people that you have
a good heart. I have very little knowledge of the political scene in the
Gambia. But in my humble opinion this matter is not politics anymore.This is
about what we believe we owe mankind and much more so our own flesh and
blood relatives.
    I believe that when the leaders meet and expose their sincerity
to the Gambian people they will together gain the Gambian peoples trust
and they will command enough spiritual force to instill courage in to the
masses. I believe that once that civil courage is instilled we can resolve
our national human right needs by massive civil diobedience to
human right violations,and recapture our national spirit for oneness.
     In Banjul market if someone steal a loaf of bread they usually get a
bad meeting from the masses; why then can one single leader like
Mr. Jammeh take the country hostage? I know your point that people need to
be educated but the methods of civil education adopted now is too too slow
to counter our national pain.We need some real serious collarboration  among
people like you with some form of national and international statue.
    At this critical juncture we need to put aside interparty opposition and
restore desency into our political arena.Because we all know that without
real democracy and some power sharing mechanism in place, no political party
stand much of a chance if any at all.
   Sometimes we compromise our positions that some form of progress could be
forged towards the ideal.

   Finally i want to thank you for your kind words.
                    Sincerely kalilu camara
>From: foroyaa <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: (Kalilu Camara) To Halifa Re: Exactly what?
>Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2000 16:20:35 +0100
>
>Kalilu,
>
>The way you started your memorandum indicates very clearly that you are a
>very intelligent person. You wrote: "I am almost sure based on past
>experience you will not respond to intellectually inferior subjects such as
>myself, but I dare ask you regardless."
>
>I know that you know that you are not a subject to anyone. I am quite sure
>that you know that you are not intellectually inferior. However, both of us
>know that not all of us are fully aware of what it means to be a sovereign
>person. That is exactly the message that should be put across. No one needs
>to teach an oppressed person that he or she is oppressed. The fundamental
>lesson that is common knowledge to our people is what poverty means. What
>needs to be taught is how to get rid of oppression and poverty.
>
>You have acknowledged that there is nothing to teach Gambians about Yahya's
>activities. What then is the problem? You wrote: "Many Gambians will
>testify
>that they are disgusted with Yaya but that they are terrified what he may
>do
>to them should they use their constitutional rights to try to remove him
>from their highest office."
>
>According to you, fear is the problem. How then does one deal with fear?
>Our
>position is that, once the people know that power belongs to them; once
>they
>are enlightened and organised, no one can subjugate them under any form of
>despotism. No mature and dignified person can cower before his or her
>fellow
>human being.
>
>The lesson, therefore, is to give more enlightenment and bring the people
>together all the more so that they can overcome fear. This is exactly what
>should be done. This is what we are proposing. Now, what is your own
>solution?
>
>According to you, "What Gambians need is a leader who commands enough
>attention to lead an all out boycott and civil disobedience massive enough
>to overwhelm and suffocate Yaya's activities. That's what they lack!"
>
>Kalilu, it is obvious that what is much easier for a people whom you
>classify as terrified is to give enough attention to leaders who call upon
>them to exercise their constitutional rights to remove Jammeh from office
>than to follow such leaders to engage in all out boycott and civil
>disobedience.
>
>In fact, what is more common is for the people to engage in all out boycott
>and civil disobedience when they exercise their constitutional rights to
>vote for leaders of their choice only to be confronted by losers who try to
>use the might of the State to retain power.
>
>Clearly, Kalilu, boycotts, civil disobediences, riots do not automatically
>lead to change of leaders. If your theory is that it is leaders who make
>people brave to engage in civil disobedience, what about when those leaders
>are arrested during civil disobediences? Would the people become terrified
>and sank back to their condescension?
>
>What should become clear is that boycotts, civil disobediences and other
>forms of struggle are usually dictated by circumstances, and they can even
>take place without agitation from those who are usually identified as
>leaders. What is also abundantly clear is that such methods do not
>automatically determine who should govern society if a leader finds it
>difficult to govern. In many cases, leaders who are confronted by such
>massive disobedience either open up democratically, accept national
>conferences and make certain adjustments such as seen in Togo and many
>other
>countries, in order to create the base for more political accommodation, as
>well as prolonging their stay in power.
>
>In other cases, they become more fascistic, like the Samuel Doe's and
>Menghistus, until a guerrilla force or a coup d'etat comes by to remove
>them, and when that happens the new saviours also see the masses as weak
>and
>terrified and they the so-called saviours as the heroes who sacrificed
>their
>lives to save them.
>
>Are we not tired of these, Kalilu? Is this not the moment that we should
>seize to teach our people that they are the architects of their own
>destiny;
>that power belongs to them; that they can exercise this power to liberate
>themselves only if they overcome their divisions and become one people? Is
>it not necessary to have precisely that leadership which can inspire that
>confidence in the people and foster their unity?
>
>I agree with you that we cannot say that we have created a sovereign people
>who are fully conscious of their authority as masters and mistresses of
>their country. We still have a leadership which is trying to prove that it
>is capable of winning the support of the vast majority of our sovereign
>people by playing a part in all aspects of their lives, and proving to the
>people, through practice, that they deserve their confidence. However, no
>one can deny that the process is on. All are doing it in the way they best
>know how. The future will tell how committed each leadership is to the
>affairs of the people. The country is facing more and more challenges
>demanding greater initiative from its leadership.
>
>As far as we are concerned, Gambia, Africa can never ever be free from
>oppression and poverty unless the people are enlightened and organised.
>Each
>one of us must become a sovereign person; a person who is conscious of
>one's
>power and one's inherent right to have a say in how the affairs of each
>country is to be managed. We must all become so conscious of this that we
>refuse to surrender that power to anyone because of inducement or
>intimidation. That is the education that is required.
>
>If you claim that this education has already been conducted and everyone is
>enlightened, then I must ask again, why then are the people terrified,
>according to you, to the point of surrendering their constitutional rights?
>
>Greetings.
>
>Halifa.
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: kalilu camara <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 5:02 AM
>Subject: Re: To Halifa Re: Exactly what?
>
>
> > Dear Halifa,
> > Iam almost sure based on past experience you will not respond to
> > intelectually inferior subjects such as myself,but i dare ask you
> > regardless
>
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