More from the survey.
Malanding

Respondent: "So far topics are mostly political or private. Whatever is
discussed will turn into political discussion. Other topics like
economics, health, development are rather ignored. That is why also some
people are not too much interested in the list any more. A lot of
Gambians are reluctand to be involved in politics. Non Gambians are more
interested in economics and other topics and feel rather disturbed by
too much private political discussions or sometimes insulting.
Especially as a Non Gambian I feel my postings are rather ignored. I
also heared this from other non Gambian List members as well. That is
why we probably feel discouraged to post at all. I also know quite some
Gambians, who fear to post or register with the Gambia-L because of the
political aspect. Even if they are engaged in politics. They would
rather prefer to write with a false id. They suspect problems with the
political forces when comming back to Gambia, or for their families. I
think that Gambia-L is a great work and a very important step towards
freedom of speech and democracy. It produces a security to the people in
the Gambia, that any governmental violence or power abuse will not
remain uncovered but will be revealed to an international audience of 60
million possible viewers. This is a great step towards the transparency
so urgently needed. The founders of this list have done a geat thing and
the list managers as well. It is also amazing, that so many people
registered and regularly contribute to the list. It is an outstanding
tool of democracy and resistance. My best wishes for the List managers
you are doing a great job."

Respondent: The list can be improved if subscribers can be encouraged to
discuss other aspects of the socio-economic dynamics of the Gambian
situation besides just the political. We can dilate on the social and
economic formations that obtains presently and their ramifications, and
formulate alternative blueprints in which the situation can be changed
or redressed. Secondly, subscribers should be encouraged to discuss
other issues besides political issues, which presently is the main
thrust of debates and arguments on the L. There is no doubt that there
are a lot of subscribers who necessarily do not want to engage in the
political debates, but want to contribute something else. Given the
nature of the discussions on the L, such subscribers would not want to
bring in something that is outside the general purview of the political
discussions at hand. Besides forwarded messages which do have a lot of
informative and educative content, subscribers should be encouraged to
share their knowledge and experience in the various diciplines that can
shaped a body of information that others can learn from. For those who
are literary inclined, they can be encouraged to share their work under
a special title, for example, Literary corner. All postings under that
title will obviously have to deal with literary issues. Other titles can
be formulated also for other issues; in this way we can bring out a
divergent view of opinions covering a vast array of diciplines and
subjects, without affecting much the general discussions which are
usually political.

Respondent:  "Moderators should be established on Key Areas of The
Gambia's development (party politics, national development
projects/sectoral policy issues, what the Gambian Papers say, diplomatic
news/The Gambia's Foreign policy issues,  gender equity in The Gambia,
decentralization and local government issues.  These Moderators should
help in directing the discussions, and encourage us all to participate."

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