Ebrima,
    i can't keep back the laughter that i snorted out when i read you want me
to contribute more than a million bucks to the slain school kids Memorial
Fund. these slain kids deserve better and more and we mustn't fail them. i
wish i could do all that you joked of mate. the problem is that i happen to
be a penniless Capitalist student struggling. but be content in the knowledge
that i shall not fail to contribute what little i could muster. and i will
inform as many as i  possibly can of this noble venture.
    on my political views and convictions, i think you made the same great
mistake that most people on the Left make of Liberals and Capitalist; that
they are on the Right and hold reactionary views. I happen to be a Liberal
Universalist and an independent one at that. i do lean occasionally on the
Left especially on justice and i do identify with a lot of  Left wing causes.
i just happen to believe that there is nothing morally wrong with getting
stinking rich. there is however something wrong morally with getting stinking
rich whilst you walk past a wretched soul each day to work and do nothing
about it.
    generally i tend to stay away from these ideological buzz phrases/words
since in today's world especially in the post-modern and post-ideological era
we are supposed to be in and the fact that everything is seemingly relative
and contextual, these buzz words can be misleading and obscure things at
best. i have enormous respect for Marxists of all shades and their well
meaning but misguided ideals. in fact the best books i read this year so far
are two books on Marx. One is on his intellectual life by Isaiah Berlin which
is perhaps the best still around and another on his rather state of
conflicting and high spirited life in exile by Francis Wheen. Most of my
favourite writers on the Left. I don't think a man like Marx who made such
insightful critique of Capitalism and society can be made irrelevant by
history whatever the quarrels happen to be.
    notwithstanding all that, this bloke is a Capitalist without an apology.
And will do all that happens to be in his powers to see a Liberal social,
economic and political order for 21st century Africa. What I stand for
doesn't promise anything tidy, painless and Utopian but will be the best we
can hope for to see the creation of a meritocratic society that embraces
social mobility, rewards talent, individuality as an institution just as it
will collectivise with compassion. With these ideals I'm supremely confident
Africa will rise again from ashes. The election of Liberal Wade in Senegal
tells me that one can be Liberal and a Pan Africanist secured in your
African-ness without any internal conflict whatsoever. Wade has proofed that
for me. And the African electorate are beginning to embrace this Liberal Pan
Africanism.
    On the July debate, we'll see. But even if I get lucky and attend I would
only be part of the audience learning from the distinguished men and women
who always grace such occasions. I happen to be a small fry remember.
    on that Matarr Njie, just this morning he sent/forwarded a mail he had
earlier written to you I believe using explicit abusive language that no
truly groomed African male would use against another's mother. As you saw in
my mails i was trying to poke him with a stick so i could separate the
seemingly aesthetic excellence that exudes from his prose from his level of
intellectual maturity and incisiveness, turns out for a PhD student he can't
even read or his limits and barrenness in text, logic and meaning were laid
bare. i wish him luck but the guy is just sick in the brain. just the type to
obstinately support a child murderer like Jammeh. it seemed [anyway according
to him] that he has a long standing grudge against some individuals on the
List who purportedly blocked his fellowship and these individuals are in the
anti-Jammeh camp. so in essence his grievances are dictating his conscience.
typical African problem. your enemy's enemy should just be your friend. let
him keep chewing the chicken feed of a stipend the murderer might be sending
him but Gambians won't forget and forgive such traitors.
many thanks and i hope to get feedback's on the contribution issue.
Hamjatta Kanteh


hkanteh

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