Friends, 
I have said it 4-5 times over the years and I will repeat myself.
Why hide under cover or alias on this Bantaba ? It is cowardice if you have
nothing to hide. I always ask myself, what is it the person has to hide, if
he/she can not come forward ? How should I ever come to respect that person,
when he is hiding ?

We need to meet here open minded no matter we are pro et contra,  we are
black or white, no matter we are good old friends from good old days from
the same village, highschool, or we have never meet before coming here.

We can come here share information, knowledge, opinions maybe even wisdom,
and do it orderly without foul language, personal abuses or harassment .

But I have to say that in my lifetime I have always dealt information from
"unknown" sources with less liability than information from a known source.
That should also be an argument for some of you to come forward. If you want
me to take information, opinion or debate seriously, it´s important for me
that there is a person behind and not an alias. Even I don´t know you
personally, but you are introduced, and recognized.

I can say that I came to the list with many of the same sentiments as Mr.
Gassama is  explaining below.  Even I don´t know you personally, I´m glad to
know there is a person - Mr. Pamodou Gassama giving himself here, his
opinion and information to share.

So,  I will now - as it was/is a custom on this Bantaba long time back, -
welcome you, now you have introduced yourself. And I will ask those who are
still hiding behind alias to come forward and introduce yourself.

Regards from Asbjørn Nordam

 



on 15/07/01 19:06, Pamodou Gassama at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> This is to inform the list that Kebba Jobe is bowing out and Pamodou Gassama
> is coming in. Hamajatta, the dubious character is being re-packaged. As they
> say, the same old wine in differrent bottles. As Kebba Jobe has done for me
> most of what I expected, he is retiring. Yes Mr. Makaveli, Pamodou Gassama
> is indeed Kebba Jobe. So neither jubilate nor despair.  You will still be
> dealing with the same old S***. Nothing more, nothing less.
> 
> When I first joined the list I was motivated by the range of topics being
> discussed and some of the personalities, whose writings I really enjoy
> reading. Shortly after however, some began to find my writings unagreeable
> and wanted to know my true identity. I made it plain that I was writing
> incognito and that I was only interested in the issues to be discussed and
> not the personalities involved. Some accepted this as fair others with
> reservations. However not long after, the unwritten rules began to surface.
> No, you cannot think independently, no you cannot see things this way, no
> you are looking at things differently because you are using the wrong
> criteria to look at the issues. It became more like you are either with us
> or you are against us. There is no middle ground. Here we live digitally.
> Everything is either good or bad, black or white, right or wrong, ones and
> zeros. This is madness to me. Therefore as time went by those would not
> accept my devine right to be different and to think different began to
> agitate and started calling me all sorts of names.
> 
> Another example of this digital forum (sorry list managers I am not
> referring to GL) is the reception given to "Kats" when he joined the list.
> No dis-respect to you Kats. The reception he got was to say "you guy you
> better watch out. Here you must think and see everything like us or we would
> be down on you like a "tonne of bricks". What rubbish is that? No sooner the
> guy informs the public that he is apolitical and wanted to discuss issues
> concerning our country, he was given the stack choice of either joining the
> club or risk being demolished. This was totally unacceptable to me. If I can
> express my views openly in both the Gambian media and in public, why
> shouldn't I enjoy the rights in cyber space? Yes guys, I do participate in
> the phone in programmes of Radio 1 FM and do write to the newspapers about
> my own opinions and under my own name. Saiks's friend was not kidding when
> he told him that I do attack the Government sometimes. I have these same
> arguements that I have on the L with people like Mohamed Sillah of Amnesty
> international Gambia, brother Emanuel Joof of the Africa centre for human
> rights, and many other progressive thinking Gambians every time. If anybody
> wishes you may ask them. For the record, I am not a fanatical supporter of
> the APRC to the extend that I will be blinded to see some of their
> shortcomings. I am not even a member of the party nor do I attend any of
> their meetings. It is not worth my time.
> 
> I will conclude by saying that no matter what our political differences are,
> no matter the disparity of our intellect, let us discuss Gambian issues from
> a Gambian perspective, with decorum and respect. None of us has a monopoly
> of ideas or solutions to our problems. Only, and only then, will we forge
> ahead and create a better Gambia. Narrow mindedness, arrogance and lack of
> tolerance will not do it for us. I wish to end this piece by quoting Stephen
> Spender. He wrote: "A SUBJECT thought: because he had a verb with several
> objects that he ruled a sentence. SUBJECT, the dictionary warned, means
> someone ruled by a person or thing! Was he not having's SLAVE?" (Subject,
> Object, Sentence). Let us not allow ourselves to be "KNOWING'S SLAVE".
> 
> Take care and have a good day, Pamodou.
> 
> PS. I have never denied Kebba Jobe being Pamodou Gassama, I just didn't
> acknowledge it. Ansumana, I just turned 40 this December so I have every
> reason to see Gambia attain higher hights in all that will benefit us all.
> _________________________________________________________________________
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> 
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