Thank you Mr. ceesay for the advise. However, like I said at the end of the
article, I shall give my own take on the issue once I regain my breath.
Believe me I don't even know the writer. I really like the article and
admire his "bravery" for taking the stance he has taken in the light of what
"I" consider contempory thinking. I must also confess that my knowledge of
history, particularly modern history, leaves a lot to be desired. However I
strongly believe in the following:

"Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future and time
future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present, all time is
unredeemable". (T.S.Eliot : Burn't Norton).

Have a good day, Gassa.

>From: pa ali ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: pa ali to jungle sunrise.
>Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 21:43:47 +0000
>
>>From: Jungle Sunrise
>
>>Subject: Some food for thought.
>
>Is this really some food for thought or food for sleep? As the struggle of
>the african peoples enters another critical stage globally ideological
>agents of the enemy are sent to the theoretical front line to spread ideas
>that disarmed the unseasoned students.
>
>
>"jungle sunrise",we are are wide awake, read the massage of Ancestor
>Malcome
>X on the impotance of history,pass it on to your "friend".
>
>hope you will repent and find the correct road to home of Pan-Africanism,
>the spirit of the Ancestors will embrace you into the African family.the
>alternative road you are taking is ideologically risky
>
>"When you deal with the past, you`re dealing with history, you`re dealing
>actually with the origin of a thing. When you know the origin, you know the
>cause....Its impossible for you and me to have a balanced mind in this
>society without going into the past, because in this particular society, as
>we function and fit into it right now, we`re such an underdog, we are
>trampled upon, we`re looked upon as almost nothing.
>Now if we don`t go into the past and find out how we got this way, we will
>think that we were always this way. And if you think that you were always
>in
>the condition that you`re in right now, it`s impossible for you to have too
>much confidence in yourself, you become worthless, almost nothing.
>
>But when you go back into the past and find out where you once were, then
>you will know that you once had attained a higher level, had made great
>achievements, contributions to society, civilization, science, and so
>forth.
>And you know that if you once did it you can do it again; you automatically
>get the incentive, the inspiration and the energy necessary to duplicate
>what our forefathers did."
>
>Malcolm X
>
>
>
>
>>The following article, from the Viewpoint of the Daily Observer newspaper
>>by
>>Baba Mohammed, had to be re-typed by me. As a result, all typos are mine
>>and
>>are deeply regretted.
>>
>>
>>PAN AFRICANISM TODAY – by Baba Mohammed – 23/11/01.
>>
>>When slave labour was no longer very profitable on American plantations as
>>a
>>result of the invention of machines, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was
>>abolished. This led to serious social problems, as ex-soldiers could not
>>fend for themselves. They were homeless, jobless and hungry. They became
>>vagabonds, outcasts and thus an inferior social class. This sorry state of
>>affairs necessitated the emergence of black radicals such as Marcus Garvey
>>who organized blacks into the Universal Negro Improvement Association
>>(UNIA). There was also WEB Dubois, George Padmore of blessed memory, and
>>later came others like James Brown (who sang “Say it loud, I’m black and
>>proud”). In fact, several groups of Black Consciousness Movement sprang up
>>in the 50s and 60s.
>>
>>This wind of consciousness, protest and defiance that was blowing across
>>America, naturally had some influence on the black students from the
>>African
>>continent who had gone to the US and Europe to study. Prominent among them
>>were Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Leopold Sedar Senghore, etc. These
>>were
>>later to become not the first group of leaders of the independent African
>>states but they also became the precursors of the Pan-African movement,
>>which was also referred to, in Francophone literature “Negritude”.
>>
>>It can be seen from the above that Pan-Africanism is a concept that is
>>limited primarily to the black race – those on the continent as well as
>>those in the Diaspora. In this regard, one may liken Pan-Africanism to
>>other
>>race based groups like Zionism, Pax Romana, the Arab league etc. They are
>>concepts or groups dedicated to the interests of only their members.
>>
>>THE COLOUR SMOKESCREEN.
>>
>>As has already made explained above, the roots of Pan Africanism is traced
>>to the condition of the newly freed slaves in the Americas. Let us assume,
>>for the moment, that they faced all those hardship because of their
>>colour.
>>The snag however is whether today we can say it is the same scenario. Is
>>the
>>cause of our problems today fundamentally “colour”? I think not. Let us
>>consider just a few cases. In the DR Congo (formerly Zaire), Mobutu
>>unleashed untold suffering on the citizenry by embezzling all their money.
>>In fact, he was said to be richer than Zaire. There was also Bokassa of
>>the
>>Central African Republic who spent millions of Dollars from state coffers
>>on
>>his coronation as emperor and yet the ordinary people of his country could
>>not afford a decent meal a day.
>>
>>When Jerry Rawlings and his NDC party came to power in the 80s, they sold
>>off all state property to their friends in Europe and the US at give away
>>prices. As expected, it was the Ghanaian populace who bore and continues
>>to
>>bear the brunt of such deliberate mismanagement of public wealth. Last but
>>surely the least, is the current debacle of the ANC and the “honorable”
>>Tony
>>Yengeni in particular. Yengeni, the chief whip of the South African
>>Parliament had to resign because of the role he played in a multi-billion
>>dollar arms deal. Millions of South Africans do not have access to clean
>>drinking water, electricity and other basic necessities yet the government
>>is wasting billions of dollars to purchase submarines, fighter jets etc,
>>when the country is not at war!!!
>>
>>The problem remains the same with many of those blacks in the Diaspora.
>>Can
>>you imagine the current US secretary of state, Collin Powell (a black),
>>ordering the US delegates at the Durban conference in South Africa to walk
>>out just because Africans were for reparations for the brutalities of the
>>Atlantic slave trade?
>>
>>Whereas there are blacks who mostly for economic reasons inflict suffering
>>on other blacks, there are ‘Toubabs’ (Caucasians) who use their wealth to
>>cater for the needs of blacks. Here, there are many youths who would not
>>be
>>in school if they were not having white sponsors. In fact there are even
>>whole families who are being taken care of by ‘Toubabs’.
>>
>>Can we therefore be justified be blaming our woes of today on colour?
>>Colour
>>is used as a smokescreen to camouflage, conceal and confuse the real cause
>>of suffering in general. There is a deeper cause than the black/white
>>ruse.
>>
>>THE WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER
>>
>>It was not by accident that the Europeans came to Africa. They were
>>looking
>>for trade routes to the East as well as Markets. It was business. It was
>>also not by mistake that they started the slave trade. They needed free
>>labour for their plantations. It was business. It was also not out of
>>humanitarian considerations that they stopped the slave trade and freed
>>the
>>blacks. Slave labour had become obsolete and a fetter on production. The
>>industrial revolution had made it possible for machines to be used in the
>>production process so slaves were no longer needed. Therefore, the real
>>and
>>fundamental cause of the freed slaves (which, as we have seen above, led
>>to
>>the rise of Garvey, Dubois, etc and Pan Africanism) was the world economic
>>system.
>>
>>Interestingly, the problems that newly freed black slaves are still the
>>same
>>problems confronting us (not only blacks but other races too) today. These
>>are hunger, poverty, disease, illiteracy, joblessness, homelessness,
>>insecurity, etc. If we consider that these same problems are afflicting
>>many
>>non-blacks in Asia, Latin America and even Europe and the US, then we can
>>understand why it is not a matter of colour. They are a direct result of
>>the
>>economic system in operation in the world. This economic system is based
>>on
>>private ownership. This means that the means of production and
>>distribution
>>of wealth (lands, factories, transportation, etc) are owned by an
>>insignificant minority whilst the majority of humankind owns nothing. The
>>majority is therefore forced to work for the rich minority under un-human
>>conditions.
>>
>>These few rich owners of the means of production determine what to
>>produce.
>>Since their primary objective is to make profits, they readily prefer the
>>production of commodities, which are not necessarily needed by the masses.
>>For instance armaments and weapons of mass destruction, land mines,
>>cigarettes, hard drugs and pornographic materials, etc are produced
>>because
>>they bring in huge returns. Yet food, medicines, textbooks, housing are
>>always in short supply because though they are necessities, they are not
>>profit-yielding as weapons, drugs, etc. This type of economic system (call
>>it the money-system, the profit-system or the capitalist system) was
>>responsible for the coming of the Europeans; the slave trade; colonialism;
>>and for today’s unjust world of crushing poverty, disease, insecurity,
>>war,
>>etc.
>>
>>With the majority of people having nothing and constantly under pressure,
>>tension is built and can, at the least provocation, explode into real
>>violence such as is happening in many countries today including those in
>>Europe and the American continent.
>>
>>THE RELEVANCE OF PAN AFRICANISM.
>>
>>From the above, one can see clearly that Pan Africanism can only remain
>>relevant if it seeks to address issues from a much wider perspective. Pan
>>Africanists have transcended the narrow scope of seeing things from the
>>point of view of colour or black people. Take The Gambia as an example:
>>there are Lebanese-Gambians who only a few months ago met President Yahya
>>Jammeh at State House; there are German-Gambians like Samba, hero of that
>>prize winning documentary on Gambian Tourism; we even have
>>British-Gambians
>>etc. Also check out the Cuban (white) doctors who are rendering invaluable
>>services in our healthcare domain. In fact many countries in Africa are
>>multi-racial and Luck Dube’s “One people different colours” sums it all
>>up.
>>Therefore Pan Africanism can only worth a concept if it acknowledges the
>>universality of humankind and the global nature of its problems. To
>>continue
>>to harp on the black race is tantamount to tackling the symptom of the
>>disease instead of the cause.
>>
>>A conscious Pan Africanist must understand the profit-system and analyze
>>the
>>issues from the angle of the haves and have-nots. The whole world is
>>everywhere divided into two antagonistic groups: the owners of capital and
>>the exploited majority.
>>
>>WHAT IS TO BE DONE.
>>
>>To conclude, I would like to answer a question that will be on the lips of
>>any genuine Pan Africanist after reading this piece – “what do we do
>>then?”.
>>The answer is simple and short – “acquire knowledge and practice it”. This
>>is the letter and spirit of the socialist adage that “theory without
>>practice is empty and practice without theory is blind”.
>>
>>Acquiring knowledge means raising our consciousness and consciousness has
>>a
>>number of stages. The lowest form of consciousness is self-centeredness or
>>egoism. Immediate it is the familiar type where a person only considers
>>family members as the focal point. Next come the tribalists who see
>>everything from the tribal perspective. Many people have developed past
>>these stages of consciousness. They love their national flags. These are
>>the
>>nationalists or patriots. Above these groups are the ones who think their
>>race is superior to all other races or at least they discriminate against
>>others. These are the racists to which belong Pan Africanists, Zionists,
>>the
>>supporters of apartheid (in former South Africa, Europe and the Americas).
>>
>>But the highest stage of consciousness is the type which views people as
>>being the same regardless of tribe, race, nationality, religion etc. This
>>is
>>internationalism. The artificial boundaries separating nation-states from
>>each other mean nothing to an internationalist. Wherever they are they
>>consider it their home.
>>
>>However it is not enough to declare oneself internationalist or to use a
>>better word a socialist. It is important to understand the theory and how
>>to
>>usher in socialism. This fundamentally involves grasping the fact that the
>>international community is divided into two camps today. On the one hand
>>there are the few privileged owners of all means of lively-hood whilst on
>>the other hand there are the property-less majority who fail to ensure the
>>comfort of the propertied few.
>>
>>Secondly, one must understand that a socialist must strive for the
>>establishment of a socialist society in which there will be common
>>ownership
>>of the means of production and distribution of wealth. Such a society
>>ensures the free access by all to the products of labour and as such the
>>concept and use of money will cease to exist.
>>
>>(For further debate on the issue please contact [log in to unmask],
>>preferably copied to [log in to unmask]).
>>
>>
>>I apologies for the long post and also for any typos. As it is a long
>>post,
>>I have exhausted myself, especially my fingers. I shall however be giving
>>my
>>take on some of the issues raised.
>>
>>Have a good day, Gassa.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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