Mawdo Demba, Great points. I think you as a politician, you are reading too much into Mai's piece. (LOL). You may be right about the time line, but one thing is clear, and that is things happen by
coincidence. I honestly believe this is just a story of inspiration and Mai is open up a little over his past. I have learnt that as bad as this Jammeh regime is, the former PPP regime wasn't a Saint at all. You know my favorite name for these governments, "legal gansters." By all indications, the PPP regime gave birth to this "cursed" baby called Jammeh. They gave birth to him when they didn't establish term limits, engaged in lots of corruption and other things. When they gave birth to this baby, the baby learnt the art, mastered and even exceeded in limits. By all fairness, I am not comparing the two. I will choose PPP over this criminal regime even on my death bed. Best, YeroDate: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:12:23 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [G_L] [>-<] INTRESTING READ-----MAI FATTY
To: [log in to unmask]
Yero,
I agree with you it is always good to hear such stories as if people did not tell their story we will not know. However, the only problem about the timing of the story is that many of us believed that the situation during the Jawara days were better and that we did not witness the level of torture the Jammeh regime is putting on our people. So while we all join hands to condemn and commemorate the student killings by Jammeh's forces on April 10 & 1th we are being reminded that similar things did happen during the Jawara regime thus lessening the grave crime committed by Jammeh and his forces. May be it was unintentional. Do you see any contradictions or conflict there about the timing? ... oh may be not.. it is just the way I see things. Thanks though
Thanks
Demba
On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Yero Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Demba & Yuse,
Many years ago, a close comrade of mine shared Mai's activities then as a student voice. I do not doubt this story and I don't believe it is done for political gains either. What I honestly think is that at certain point in life, people open up a little and begin to share some of what they encountered in life. With the advent of the internet and activism of inspiration, I for one expect many such stories to suffice. For example, as you all may know I am a CNN fan and people like Anderson Cooper are people I admire. It was quite surprising recently when my star Anderson announced that he was gay. Most recently in the basket ring, we have seen people sharing stories about them being gay....and they just couldn't share.
I think Mai's story might be that of a reflection intended to inspire others and by coincidence he is sharing this at a time when we are remembering April 10th and 11th, where its similitude was repeated of student torture as recent as 2000.
To question Mai as a politician is spot on, but truly would be unfair if we use our lack of knowledge to cast doubt into his story. That applies to every other situation we may be dealing with.
Best,
Yero
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:23:44 -0700
Subject: Re: [>-<] INTRESTING READ-----MAI FATTY
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Yus, the story sounds familiar to many Gambians thus the torture line especially during the Jammeh regime. However, these appears to have occurred during the Jawara days.. And the timing of releasing the story now is quite interesting! I wonder why the story was not narrated as part of the author's biography when he declared the formation of a political party.. Oh did I missed it somewhere???? Just curious and love to ask these questions directly to Mr. Fatty when we have our impending 1:1. I hope it happens soon and will bring it to you live when it happens.
Thanks
Demba
On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 8:21 AM, Yusupha Jow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I wonder if Mai Fatty is making this up to enhance his credentials? This is news to me
Thanks
Yusupha
On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 4:56 AM, malik kah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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DISTORTING HISTORY
MAI AHMAD FATTY
« Many will call me an adventurer – and that I am, only one of different sort ; one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes. » Che Guevara
History is a controversy. Historians often differ in their narrative of a historical event, albeit in doing so, they may all barricade themselves with what each of those historians may term 'historical facts.' That is because 'facts' in themselves may constitute controversies. A historian is not simply one who dabbles in the past in the conventional sense as it is understood. A participant could be a veritable historian, and in this regard, certain narrations by participants on their lives render autobiographies veritable historical documents. Invariably, persons of prudence never lose sight of the element of bias and prejudice, and in many instances pure conjecture. Historical facts in issue are hardly resolved or reconciled either way , and that is because they are often left at the mercy of perspective. Perspective is a human phenomenon – there shall never be absolute uniformity. To surmise, as opposed to a hypothesis betrays a disturbing weakness in the narration or evaluation of historical 'facts'. We find this often in the realm of self-pity or an attempt at personal glorification.
In counter-revolutionay warfare, the focus is on psychology, and for this reason, psychological warefare has been a potent instrument deployed by counter-intelligence forces to destablise cohesion and neutralise the enemy's capabilities. It is a tactic intelligence agents utilise with precision dexterity. A revolutionary who educates himself in the modus operandi of counter-intelligence would remain turgidly circumspect in an encounter with law enforcement in every interrogative technique. The job of law enforcemnet is not only to uncover you, more importantly to neutralise and uproot your entire elements. It is a strategy this regime plays with asounding failure; instead it plays people against each other, and watch them decimate themselves in a progressive war of attrition. I learnt recently that one you may have regarded intrepid and immune from mundane susceptibilities at the time of growing up, was nothing but a myth.
It would constitute an operational success for counter-intelligence if a revolutionary were to rely on her tormentor as 'a credible source of information' against her comrades. It is even more vile not to confront the person at the time with 'facts' obtained from the 'credible sources' within the enemy's camp and remained mute for decades, meanwhile without terminating clandestine contacts for a while. It is disingenuous. To swallow such 'credible' information without affirmative processes within the revolutinary ranks may betray naivety. A just affirmation would be a process that permitted consulting the individual of inquiry, without which its conclusions would remain fatally flawed. Validating frudulent information may be infantile if the subject of the alleged sources of disclosure had no access to strategic information such as the composition of the organisation's brain, its resources, organisational strength, cell network, etc. It would also constitute operational success for the counter-revolutionary forces to have comrades tear history at each other. At such times, there is great virtue in the dictum of Che Guevara that 'silence is argument carried by other means'. This is nonetheless a neccessary departure from such norm.
After decades of reverence for a comrade, its not leisurely to alter one's outlook of one deemed a true revolutoinary for decades, for relying upon the enemy as 'a credible source' to constitute a basis for action against her comrades. I will not alter my high esteem of the one I used to call comrade.
Looking back at history, I can never forget that fateful afternoon when I was picked up at school by the late Daba Marena, Commander Sainy Mbye and Ebou John of the defunct Special Branch (SB). It was only few days earlier when these same Intelligence officers had arrested Alpha Robinson, a teacher at my school. I was driven to James Senegal Street in Banjul.
My room was turned upside down, and every item construed subversive were collected by the Police. At the time as a member of the ORS (Organ of Revolutinary Students), my activity was exclusively limited to the clandestine distribution of the Paper. I was never a contributor, and I had no idea who the authors were. I had no idea where it was published or how it was produced. I was never introduced to its editors or how it was governed. I knew only Jainaba Bah, a teacher in my school who recruited me into distribution. ORS was like a military establishment. It was a disciplined unit, and one was often confined to your level, and everything was on a 'need to know basis'. I knew this, and ofcourse I was very disciplined. Therefore, I knew nobody of substance, made no inquiries of such, and worked with no such material except Jainaba Bah, my teacher at the time. Equally, I had no access to strategic information outside of my mandate, to distribute the clandestine materials which culminated in my arrest. MOJA-G on the other hand, I had a wider contact, having established my own 'cell' after being 'trained' by Alpha Robinson. I also recruited people like Abdoukarim Sanneh - the most dedicated student revolutionary I have known, Abba Hydara, etc.
My arrest was preceded by that of Alpha Robinson, and Jainaba Bah. In other words, I was arrested during classes at high school AFTER Alpha Robinson and Jainaba Bah had been picked up. At the time I was sixteen and very vulnerable. I was placed in a tiny cell with violent criminals, and had to pee in the same cell troughout my illegal detention. I can never forget the night I was removed out of the cells around 3am by the late Daba Marena and Ebou John, driven to Bond Road where I was administered electric shocks for an extended period. My fragile frame could not resist the excruciating pain, and I fainted. When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on a mat in the open air at the back of the Police Station. I cannot describe the pain I felt or how my body ached afterwards. It feels like this minute. I had no medical attention and no access to the outside world.
During the killing interrogation, I was shown photos, and told of 'facts' that I knew were true and informed were disclosed by persons I considered true comrades. I never believed those tales then, and still don't. I believed that my comrades would never give me in for pleasure. However, I remained disapponted that I had been in jail for a long time without a visit from a single comrade including Jainaba Bah , the person who recruited me into the ORS, and no form of legal help reached me there. My parents were not even informed of my arrest, although Jainaba Bah and other comrades knew about my incaceration and I had no food or water from any source. I was left for the wolves to feed upon. I was released only pursuant to the efforts of my French Teacher, the late Musa Sillah of Bakau who spared no moment for Sidney Riley, then Officer Commanding Special Branch. After my release, not a single comrade bothered to inquire how I fared. At sixteen, I felt betrayed, and were it not for God's help, I would have been expelled from high school.
My greatest strength came from my fellow students at high school, all of whom were neither members of ORGS or MOJA-G, except Abdoukarim Sanneh and two others. It was those students whose interests I served, and who had prior to my arrest elected me to head the student government. They stormed Banjul Police Station demanding to see me. I was subsequently removed by the school administration upon the orders of the government, and for the remainder of my years at high school, I was subjected to all forms of ill-treatment by the authorities. I have no regrets for those days, and certainly nothing to apologise for.
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