Hi folks,

I am writing to bring you up to speed on some leg work I've been doing about the
reported visit by President Jammeh, and also ask if anyone can help with
information about whether the trip is indeed confirmed.

As you might recall, we received information that President Jammeh was going to
visit Chicago State Univ. (CSU - http://www.csu.edu) later this month.  However,
to the best of my knowledge, we are yet to receive any confirmation of the trip.
Be that as it may, I thought I should see what I could find on the Web, and
using the plain old phone.

I visited the CSU a number of times in the past few days, and found that they
have the first in the Adulsalami A. Abubakar Distinguished Lecture Series
(http://www.csu.edu/SpEvents/) coming up next week, Fri. Feb. 23.  The series is
in honor of  the former President of Nigeria, and the Keynote Speaker for this
first lecture will be Prof. Ali A. Mazrui, the well-known Kenyan, and presently
teaching at the State University of New York, Binghamton, NY
(http://africana.binghamton.edu/).  Prof. Mazrui's lecture is entitled
""Pan-African, Democracy and Leadership in Africa: The Continuing Legacy for the
New Millennium.", and will be free and open to the public.  The lecture will be
followed in the evening by a dinner later in the evening.

I called CSU last Fri (Feb. 9) to find out if President Jammeh's attendance was
confirmed, and also to inform them of plans to protest his presence there in the
event he shows up.  I called their Public Affairs office, but was transferred to
their Office of International Programs (OIP).  I could not get the person I was
supposed to talk to, and left a message.  My call was returned by Dr. Hassan
Wahab, who incidentally is from Ghana.  He asked me what I wanted, and I started
telling him the background to my call:  namely information sent to Gambia-L that
Jammeh was going to be visiting their school.

I must say our conversation started a bit rocky, and rough given that, in my
mind, he was talking to me in the  rather condescending manner that God gave
only to Africans with Ph.Ds.  At any rate, this settled down a bit, after I
informed him that I, too, have a Ph.D.  And we then went on to have a nice
conversation, and ended with no feelings bruised.

In essence, our conversation went thus: I explained to him that many Gambians
are upset at President Jammeh's rule, and would not appreciate his being a guest
at CSU.  For this reason, I wanted information about whether Jammeh's attendance
was confirmed or not, and if so, if it would be possible for CSU to consider
cancelling the invitation.    Dr. Wahab explained to me that they would not know
whether or not President Jammeh would be coming at all because of the sheer
number of invitations they sent out.   Furthermore, he said, they had a right to
invite whoever they wanted to their school, especially given all the rights that
people have in this country (something along those lines).

I told him that I totally agreed with all that.  However, what I was trying to
point out that in the event they were going to have Jammeh as their guest, that
we wanted to provide them with information about what kind of a President they
are inviting to attend a lecture that honors a champion of democracy, and will
be discussing democracy and leadership in Africa.  I made it clear to him that
as far as I am concerned, no one was planning to, or had the right to deny them
their rights of association, we just wanted to make sure that President Jammeh
was exposed for the person his record shows that he is:  an undemocratic,
autocratic, and corrupt leader.  Precisely the kind that sets Africa back,
rather than forward.  We ended our conversation in an agreable manner.  I
thanked him for his time, and wished him well.

My next call was to Binghamton, NY, to Prof. Mazrui's office.  I called their
last year, and indeed exchanged e-mail with their Secretary about interviewing
Prof. Mazrui (along with Prof. Henry Louis Gates of Harvard Univ.) on my call-in
talk radio program I hosted then.  The interview never materialized (they were
travelling or in meetings all the time), but at least the exchange of e-mail
made it much easier for me to find what I was looking for.

It was their Secretary, Barbara I talked with again, and explained to her why I
called, namely, to contact Prof. Mazrui about the lecture he will be giving next
week in Chicago.  She told me that he was not in, but she would be happy to pass
on any information I send to Prof. Mazrui.  I told her that essentially, the
idea was to inform Prof. Mazrui about President Jammeh's record, especially so
he can bear that in mind as he prepares his lecture, and also if President
Jammeh is going to be at the lecture.  I told her that I was not sure whether or
not President Jammeh would attend the lecture, but if he did, I would send her
an e-mail on the matter.

I called CSU again today, again the Public Affairs Office, to find out if they
had received any word on President Jammeh's visit.  Again, I was transferred to
their OIP because the lady at Public Affairs told me that her list of attendants
might not be up-to-date.  I was again transferred to Dr. Wahab at OIP, and I
identified myself as the one who called him last week.  I asked him if he had
any update on whether or not President Jammeh was going to attend, but he told
me that he would not know.  He told me that my best bet would be the Gambian
embassy in DC.

I also asked him about the dinner later that evening following the lecture, and
he told me that the ticket for that would be $150.00 (one hundred and fifty
dollars per person).  The dinner by the way will be held at the Hyatt Regency
Hotel (a hotel I stayed in when I first visited Chicago way back in 1985).
While that might be a bit expensive for many I know (including myself), I would
recommend it for those who can afford it because it's all for a good cause
(check out more information on that at http://www.csu.edu/SpEvents/page4.htm)

In light of the above information, here's what I suggest we do:

1.  Get someone to get us a confirmation on whether or not President Jammeh will
attend the lecture and dinner.

2.  If he will attend, then I suggest we proceed thus:

a) draft a one page flier on President Jammeh's record, and distribute this
without any fanfare at both the lecture and the dinner. The idea would be that
those who attend both functions should know exactly what The Gambia has suffered
under Jammeh's rule.

b) prepare an e-mail petition to Prof. Mazrui to brief him about President
Jammeh's rule, and express our wish that he in his lecture and/or thoughts
consider the plight of Gambians who have suffered under Jammeh, and how
detrimental the Jammeh years have been to democracry and good governance in The
Gambia.

c) copy the e-mail to the CSU President, the Public Affairs Office, and also
OIP.

d) if possible, send a press release to Chicago area media outlets (we can work
on drafting the PR once we have confirmed that President Jammeh will be coming
to Chicago.

3) If President Jammeh would not attend, I contact Barbara at Prof. Mazrui's
office, and tell her that we are calling off the e-mail I said I was going to
send her.  I had told her that I would draft a petition and have people sign it
before I send it out, but if President Jammeh is not going to attend, then there
is no need to spend our capital now.  We can always contact Prof. Mazrui at some
other time.

Please note that nowhere in the above e-mail do I suggest that we have a massive
demonstration or protest in Chicago.  This time I think we can be just as
effective with a few strategically placed messages.  I suggest we try speaking
up smart, by which I mean that we try to be heard not by screaming, but by
choosing to speak when people are listening.  For this reason, we will probably
need no more than 3 or so people to hand out fliers at both the lecture and the
dinner (if at all Jammeh makes it to town).

The plan would be to have a few people at the door to the lecture hall, and/or
hotel handing out the fliers to attendants as they walk in.  This way, we would
excercise our basic rights to free speech, and at the same time respect other
people's rights to assembly.  And we would not ruin their lecture or dinner for
them.

I will try to contact CSU again to enquire about rules they have for people who
want to hand out fliers at public meetings.  In addition, I will contact Hyatt
Regency to find out if they have any rules for people being at or near their
premises handing out fliers.  By the way, if we have any one in the Chicago area
and/or at CSU who would like to contact Hyatt and CSU, please let me know.

I will leave it at that for now.  Please let's hear what other ideas and
opinions there are about how to handle the Jammeh trip, if indeed it happens.
Also, I would like to endorse the posting from Saul Mbenga or whoever it was
that sent the MRDG posting, as well as what Jabou Joh and others have said:
let's stay focused and not get distracted. I realize this Alieu Keita thing is
becoming very irritating, and have been thinking maybe we should try other
alternatives, but for now, I think we should work on these more time-sensitive
issues.

Have a great week, and best wishes.

Sincerely,

Katim

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