Ginny and Chris
  I am with you. Your zeal and dynamism in the Gambian struggle will makes you the most honourable citizens. Jammeh think he is untouchable but it is history that will be the judge. One day all this illegal arrest and detention without trial will end. No turning back the struggle will continue. Some will killed other arrested because there is no easy walk to freedom. There are lot of women in the struggle back home it is only that their voice are not echoed. Ginny belief me there are many more Ginny, Chris, Jabou,Ndey Jobarteh. Yasoffie at al. Some are not even hiding in the cloud of state of fear. Remember the late Sarjokuja Sanneh UDP woman who have experience all form of physical and pyschological torture just like what Fatoujaw Manneh is undergoing at the moment.

Ginny Quick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  *sigh* here we go again, every time I see one of these alerts or hears/read 
of someone else who is arrested, detained, deared dead, or some other such 
thing, I always get this awful sinking feeling, and I ownder when it will 
all end, and I feel powerless to stop it or do anything. Except speak out, 
and to my mind, speaking out seems less and less effective, especially when 
change, at least on the Gambian government's side, is not going to happen, 
it seems.

And of course let's not forget Fatou Jaw Manneh, I beleive it was Chris 
Sukuna who asked why more women didn't speak out. I really can't answer 
that question. In a perfect world, everyone would speak up against 
something like this. But perhaps why more women won't speak up is probably 
the same reason why many men aren't speaking up (how many people have you 
seen say anything except the same vocal few who don't seem afraid to speak 
up?) Perhaps because they want to go back to The Gambia, because they're 
afraid they don't want to be next. Perhaps it's culture (yes, I was given 
this answer myself, when I asked a similar question as to why more Gambian 
women don't seem to be as involved in working to bring about change in The 
Gambia, that and the "Gambian women are involved you just don't see it" 
answer).

Farbeit for me to give any answer on that. However my silence on things 
like this is due mostly to fatigue and just being plain old tired of the 
drama that can come from "standing up and speaking out". Funny how some of 
the same people who beg for others to "come forward and speak out", are the 
first ones to try to shut you down once you open your mouth. Perhaps the 
reason why many don't speak out is not so much because of Yahya Jammeh and 
people supportive and aphiliated with him, but also the way that many who 
oppose him treat those who don't hold the same opinions as they do, either 
regarding Jammeh or the way forward for The Gambia now and once Jammeh is 
gone.

Personally, I'm tired of all of the drama and am sorry I even spoke out in 
the first place. Because not only was it most likely not helpful to The 
gambian people, themselves, it sure didn't get me anywhere.


Perhaps as a non-Gambian Chris has been given permission to "chat about 
Gambian issues", but that permission seems to have been revoked for me, 
which also partly explains my silence.


However, as they say, it ain't about me! Perhaps others are speaking out, 
but they are not choosing to use the Gambia Post, the Gambia-l, or any other 
online medium to do so. Perhaps they are speaking out and doing what little 
they can to and with friends, family, their colleagues, their acquaintances, 
whoever they can reach. Just because it ain't happening here on the G-Post 
or somewhere else online, don't mean it ain't happening. Perhaps people are 
speaking out at picnics, meetings, religious gatherings, work, school, etc. 
Perhaps a lot is being done behind-the-scenes and off-line, it's just not 
happening right in front of everyone where we can all see it.


Just some thoughts. But personally, I've become disillusionsd with 
"speaking out", becuase to me, it's not all that it's cracked up to be. 
Sure, it feels good and you feel like you're doing something when you're 
talking or your'e typing those words out or writing them down, however, the 
figurative crack inthe head by others who don't like what you have to say, 
the making of your words into irrelevancy by people who would say "oh you're 
non-Gambian, you're not allowed to say anything, well, of course unless you 
agree with us of course", the accusations of mental instability, drug use, 
that you are actually notposting as you but as someone else, the hatemail 
threatening to find out hwere you live and harm you, etc., is just not worth 
it for me! Thank you very much.


If I thought speaking out would free everybody illegally detained, console 
the family memebers who have lost loved ones under this regime, would even 
do something to try to make a peaceful, nonviolent change in The Gambia, I'd 
be yelling and screaming as loud as I could, but you know what. I've found 
that there is really nothing I can do. I have tried the best that I can, 
given my limited resources, abilities and understanding of the situation, 
but you know what, I've had the door slammed in my face, and have been told 
that I'm no longer welcome. So perhaps Chris and ohters will get the 
answers they are looking for. Perhaps their approach is not as off-putting 
as mine was, perhaps they are better about these sorts of things than I am. 
Because clearly I'm not.


So perhaps people do care and people want to speak up, but perhaps they 
don't want to be accused of come from an illigitimate birth, or perhaps they 
don't want to have themor their family/parents called hoes, etc., simply 
becuase the other person doesn't agree with them. Perhaps they don't want 
to be accused of being drug addicts and other things, even by people that 
are claiming to be on the same side as them. Isn't that funny? The same 
people who say we should all do the right hting and speak out, some of the 
same people who claim to want Jammeh gone, will completely try to cut down 
others who say they want the same thing, simply because they don't agree 
with them! I don't know aobut you, but in a climate like that, who would 
want to say anything!? Better to save their comments and feelings for blogs 
and gatherings, among friends and family, among people who they know will 
give them honest advice, instead of come online and risk having themselves 
belittled and all sorts of mental abuse heaped on them. Even if you've got 
the thick skin of a tortoise shell, it's just not worth all of that!


And I sure wish I'd have known all of this a year or so ago, or at least, I 
wish I'd not been so stubborn and listened to more wiser, cool-headed, 
people.


Anyway, just to end this, just because I don't post every time an article or 
message is posted about someone else bieng detained, about Jammeh's next big 
scheme, his next "public holiday", his next "big thing", the next "press 
alert", the next human rights violation, etc., etc., it most certainly 
doesn't mean I don't care! It doesn't mean that I don't have an opinion on 
it, it doesn't mean that I may not *want* to say something. But just like 
Jammeh's Gambia, I've become careful, perhaps, fearful of what I say on 
here! I find myself treading carefully, I find myself wondering what 
someone is going to say and hwere the "next attack" is going to come from, 
and funny since the motto of this list is "let thoughts fly forth".


But every time Iv'e started to write something, I think, "is a non-Gambian 
allowed to comment about htis?" "Is a white person allowed to talk about 
this?" And if it's soemthing like Paris Hilton, Iraq, terrorism, Islam, 
Akon, music, etc., I think, "yes it's OK". But if it's soemthing even 
remotely bordering on Gambian politics, culture, etc., I find myself 
figureatively putting a hand over my mouth and hitting the delete button and 
sending whatever I wrote to the dust bin. Not just because of "fear", but 
because I don't just want to send a message and then not look at the rest of 
the postings in response to it, because of what they will most certainly 
contain. Or, as of late, there won't be much of a response at all! When 
what I really actually wanted was a good discussion darn it? Something like 
"hey I don't agree with you, but I udnerstand your point, this is how I 
feel", or "yeah, I agree wit you, but here is something else you maybe 
didn't think of", as just a few examples. not "what's wrong with you, you 
metal unstable person you, and what's wrong with you, and oh by the way, 
your mama was a hoe and so are you", etc., you think mature and busy people 
want to come on here and have a discussion like that!?


And some of the same people who sit and wonder "why don't more people speak 
up", who want to wax on and on about "what's wrong with Gambians", turn 
right around and perhaps answer some of their own questions by stiffling 
others who don't whold the same opinions as they do?


If the Gambia-Post is a figurative representation of what The Gambia should 
be, is this the kind of Gambia we want, where only certain people are 
allowed to speak, and those who don't agree with them are silenced and 
stifled, not so much by delisted but by being shouted down and otherwise 
"humiliated" into silence. And if this place is not reprsentative of what 
we say we want in The gambia,shouldn't it be? A place where everyone, 
Gambian or not, can come and speak their mind, no matter how many people 
agree with them?


I mean, what are we fighting for in The Gambia anyway. A place where the 
rule of law prevails and everyone is free to speak their mind and contribute 
to the building of a better Gambia, or a plce where only a selected few are 
allowed to have a voice.


That is what I want to know, and I'll leave it to others to sort this out. 
In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers are with Fatou Jaw Manneh and her 
friends and family, as well as with everyone else affected by this regime!

Ginny




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