Gambia-L,
I sent Saul Khan's message to the list so that people can scrutinise it.
I was particularly interested in knowing whether there were others on
the list who felt the same as Saul. Indeed people on this list have
demonstrated that they can distinguish between what is genuine and what
is not.
If Saul had simply written to say that Gambian society is not
homogeneous and raise issues which can potentially divide us, he could
have started an interesting debate which could have stimulated us to
discuss along those lines with a view to map a way to contribute towards
abating such negative influences. Unfortunately Saul did not do that.
Instead, he started by asking me a question and even without hearing my
answer he went on to conclude that I was directly referring to the UDP
group, as he calls it, and in particular Ousainou Darboe. How he arrived
at this conclusion is still a mystery to me. What suggested that I was
only referring to one group is still not clear to me, since I wrote in
black and white that "ANY ACTION BY ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE, BE THEY A
POLITICAL GROUPING OR NOT, BE THEY THE PARTY RULING THE COUNTRY OR NOT,
SHOULD BE UNANIMOUSLY CONDEMNED WITH A UNITED UNCOMPROMISING VOICE." But
Saul even went further to accuse me of holding all Madinkas responsible
for ethnic bias or "tribalism".
When people who are somewhat different, by virtue of belief, ethnic
difference, colour, caste, rural/urban origin etc. come together there
is a tendency for those who "belong" together to come closer. However,
past experiences have shown that under certain circumstances like
economic hardship, unclear political atmosphere etc. elements from one
group or the other do sometimes exploit these differences to instil
uncertainty, fear, or hatred in their kind and push them to feel that
they have to act as a group against the other group or groups, even
where the actual problem lies elsewhere.
The issues which can potentially divide us are not only restricted to
ethnicity. Until recently people from one caste could hardly marry into
another cast, even today this problem has not completely disappeared.
How many marriages have failed to take place because the family of one
party considered the other party to be from a poor background? How many
marriages were foiled by religious differences? So even the ethnic
groups are not homogeneous.
So no one is denying that there are things which can potentially divide
us and ethnicity is one of them. In fact it is in recognition of this
fact that I proposed that we should promote an agenda of National unity.
Why did I not mention race; black and white for example? That would have
been absurd because black and white is hardly an issue in The Gambia.
But because Gambia is composed of different ethnic groups and because
there are signs of people trying to use this to achieve personal gains,
I thought we should be concerned. Saying nothing about it, not raising
any concerns at all would have actually constituted sweeping things
under the carpet.
Saul challenged me to name the people who "..were campaigning on
ethnicity in 1996? And more importantly, what ethnic group are they
saying should/must rule the Gambia?".The reason why I did not answer
these questions is that they bear no relevance to the matter in hand. I
tried as much as I could not to be personal in my mail. I did not see
the need to be personal. The point I wanted to make was driven home and
that was my only intention at this juncture. When the time comes to name
names, names will be named without fear or favour. The simple point here
was that people who want to represent the Gambian people, people who
will, before assuming office, swear to defend the laws of the Gambia and
serve the Gambian people cannot use ethnicity or any other divisive vice
to assume power. Not only will that divide us, it contradicts the
supreme laws of the Gambia, according to which any Gambian can assume
any public office to serve the interests of all Gambians. This in my
opinion is counterproductive and does not contribute to providing
enlightenment, rice and peace to our people.
Extrapolating beyond the imaginable Saul wrote "So, I get really pissed
when people throw this tribalist crap out against Mandingo people". Even
if one assumes that I was referring to the UDP group, how could this be
equated with throwing this tribalist crap against Mandinkas?. If Saul
can write "I have as much contempt for most Mandingo politicians as you
may have, but to hold a whole group of people responsible for our
nation's decay is criminal", then it means that he also sees something
wrong with some Mandinka politicians. So why extend what might be an
attack on some Mandinka politicians, according to him, to holding "a
whole group responsible for our nation's decay"? So using Saul's flawed
reasoning, does it mean that when non-Mandinkas accuse some Mandinka
politicians they are automatically indicting all Mandinkas?
Saul went on to draw parallels by stating "What you said in your piece
is identical to what some lawyer (Caryol?) said in an interview w/ the
Observer just before the elections - only he was more direct. And
Grey-Johnson, the former ambassador to the US said the same thing in an
advertisement in the Washington Times early last year: "during Jawara's
era, it was the dominant tribe against everybody else." I still have a
copy if you want to read it. So I'm not jumping at shadows". And yet he
states "I have vowed not to let anyone get away with perpetuating such
stereotypes - however subtly they put it" Let me ask, who is
perpetuating stereotypes? Why can we not judge each according to his or
her own record? I was waiting for Saul to quote statements from me or
actions indicting me to back his allegations, but alas Saul decided to
stick his head in the sand.
To state that I have had friends across the whole ethnic spectrum is so
trivial that I will refrain from doing so.
In his final onslaught, he wrote to Yeks Drammeh " What do you know
about Alpha other than the fact that he was supposed to be the firebrand
Head Boy of GHS who caused a raucous at that school in the mid-80s? Or
the equally controversial fracas he was involved in China in '89". Since
not everyone in this forum knows about these incidents I will say a few
words to straighten the records.
Sitting in my cell with temperatures below zero in a Chinese prison in
December 1988 my shivering hands managed to scribble the following:
" Write Alpha write! Write! Write...what do I write? Where do I start
from? The best thing would have been to tear my chest apart and pull out
that beating organ. It knows it all, it feels it all, it is my witness,
my only witness it is. Where is the barrel of the pen? Where are the
words? I do remember thinking of Steve Biko, Mandela, Ngugi, Gandhi and
all those people who stood resolutely in defence of humanity and
justice. I remember thinking and visualising my whole life in a state of
half-coma and my hungry brain searching for words and the most basic
sense of justice, while that organ kept pounding in my chest, its anger
raging and ebbing at intervals, sometimes feeling as if it has missed
its normal rhythm. Those were the moments when only your heart wants to
accept that your skin is pigmented in that natural way that makes it
black, the simple biological phenomenon of which causes the wrongful
incrimination of your body and soul....".
The reason why I was sitting in that cell was simple. I was the
secretary general of the General Union of African Students
(GUASC)-Nanjing branch. GUASC challenged the Chinese authorities to
treat Africans as human beings who deserve dignity. The drama which led
to my arrest together with five other people involved Africans from more
than twenty African countries, speaking more than thirty different
African languages. On that unforgettable day of December 25th all
African students in the city of Nanjing left their universities to meet
at the train station in order to finally leave for Beijing where the
African Embassies were located, hoping that once we get there the wrongs
done to us will finally be redressed.
The Chinese students of Nanjing university surrounded the foreign
students' dormitories throwing whatever they could lay their hands on;
stones, bottles, logs of wood, bricks, you name it, shouting: "kill,
kill, kill". As every situation creates its leaders, I rose to assume
leadership together with other students, at that critical juncture.
Anyone who knows how brutal Chinese authorities can be, especially when
their authority is challenged, will not find it difficult to see that
this was no dinner party. It was a struggle of life and death.
That all African students in the city of Nanjing were involved bears
testimony to the fact that we were not engaged in any adventure or
controversial fracas, to borrow from Saul. There were also Europeans,
Americans and Asians who joined us in solidarity to the extent of
surrendering their freedom for a while just to support our course.
Honestly speaking, no one knew what was to follow next. We could have
been poisoned while in jail, anything could have happened.
What complicated matters was that contrary to what the Chinese
authorities wanted the world to believe; that the problem was caused by
Africans seducing Chinese women, we knew that what was happening to us
was an extension of what was happening in Chinese society at large. The
Chinese people, especially the young ones, were yearning for freedom in
a new China which was beginning to discard all security hitherto enjoyed
by them, leaving them with an uncertain future while the few, whose
parents were established Party functionaries, were riding high in
luxury.
We were the scapegoats. We were in their eyes the darlings of the
authorities and they knew that since they could not hit those who wield
power directly, hitting us would have nonetheless make them feel the
pinch. Having felt the heat of the Chinese side the authorities had to
look for someone to blame in order to keep the Chinese out of the
streets and who were better scapegoats than those who spoke truth into
their faces; those who according to them were the agitators? So it was
that the Nanjing six were victimised. The events at Tiannamen the
following year bore testimony to this theory. This is not the place to
elaborate on details, I only wanted to shed a bit of light on this since
Saul mentioned it in a manner which could be easily misunderstood. I was
not acting to be a progressive, a hero or a martyr! I was simply acting
according to the demands of the situation, ready to face whatever it
would take to stand dignified. Looking back, I am proud to have stood up
against repression on behalf of all Africans.
The speech I gave in 1983 as the Head boy of Gambia High school should
likewise neither be tainted nor mystified. My main contention was that
our curriculum was not designed to suit our needs. I asked the question,
among other things, why we should learn about European and American
History without learning about Gambian history? Why should we know by
heart the types of soils in different parts of the world when the soil
composition less than a kilometre away was still a mystery to geography
students? Why was the number of young school girls getting pregnant
increasing and yet we failed to discuss these things as part of our
curriculum? Why was it that we could not even repair a fused meter, even
though the theory of Physics was dripping from our fingertips? These
were the types of questions I asked. It was my aim to contribute towards
the demystification of knowledge and the status of being a sixth-former;
to bring to the school and the public the discussions we held in our
"Attaya Vous" and other gatherings, as young people searching for
answers to many questions. I will leave it to those who witnessed those
times to judge whether I have made any contribution to that effect or
not.
Let us work towards the enlightenment of our people and towards a future
Gambia worth living in for all Gambians. Let us try to be part of the
solution rather than adding to the confusion. Every enlightened Gambian
is a gain for our nation, so let's stop slandering without reason. Our
energies should be channelled where they are most needed. With that I
close this chapter.
Alpha Robinson
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