Aji,
I think the Imam need to understand that trying to control ones body as you
rightly stated has been in Africa for ages and that has nothing to do with
Western World. To even called it Western is an insult,. Why is it that every
goodthing that we do is called Western. I bet the colonial control of the
minds is still deep in us that all the good things we know is called
Western. Let the Imam do his job as an Iman and leave the politics to the
politicians, leave the women to the women activist and he will get the
respect he deserves. We no longer allow any one to speak for us, we speak
for our selves, express our concerns and find solutions to our own problems.
I believe he will do the Women a very good favour if he just preaches what
he knows and not things he does not know. At the same time be truthful to
the religion he is preaching as well.
Family planning is not about wome prostituting their bodies the Iman forget
that prostitution is involves both women and men. Women don't prostitute
themselves but together with the men. ANd i would have been very glad if he
also address the men who use them too. You don't need family planning for
prostitution to expand. He would have also do us a great favour if he
address the root cause of prostitution and social disorder and stop denying
the fact. Or I forget he would not know that cause he belong to a certain
class and priviledge. Is that what Religion means to him?
Aji, you are right to say that our grand parents/parents has being using
family planning in their own ways. They even use to use certain herbs to
protect themselves from pregnancies. As well as the spacing you've
mentioned. It is important for Imam Fatty to understand that what he is
calling Western is actually not Western is part and parcel of our tradition
and culture. He should do a little bit of reading and research before making
fun of himself in public.
Those days are gone when we engaged in a discourse with gutter-press
rhetoric or even religious hypocrits. We will no longer engaged in
discussions where our personal experiences are turned into vicious missiles
against our person, but where our lived experience as human beings striving
to make this a better life are treated with respect and considered important
elements of our collective social knowledged.
People like Imam Fatty just engaged in chauvinistic ranting and raving that
are inspired by fear and ignorance. Imam Fatty and Co who cannot stand
"independent minded women" are just wasting their time ravings. The facts
speak for themselves, and delusions about banishing women activist or
feminist and keeping/returning all Gambian women to the status of perpetual
oppression simply will not happen. The best Imam Fatty can do is wake up and
smell the coffee, because as we enter the 21st century, men like him will
become like the dinosaur, doomed to extinction.
Excellence is only possible when one has choices, to do what one is best at.
Women cannot be"good" mothers if mothering is compulsory, mostly pain,
fatigue, anger and deprivation with few moments of joy now and then.
Motherhood is a life long relationship one that binds someone to another in
a way that no other relationship ever could. A woman can divorce a partner,
but she cannot divorce someone she has birthed. It is that basic. Why then
should women not choose how and when or whether to have this kind of
relationship with someone?
When it made as a choice, such a relationship can be beautiful, fulfilling
and whoelsome is the stuff that human society is made off. But when it is
something that women are forced into, treated as an obligation that women
must fulfilled often without dignity and joy, then women resist.
Family planning is not about morality is about control of ones body and
sexuality. It is not about Western ideology is about reclaiming our bodies
as women, as human beings, as citizens. It is about rights and choices that
only women must make and can make. And although some of us live with men in
one way or another, the right to reproductive choice is a woman's right,
and nobody could ever be more qualified to make that choice.
The STruggle Continues!!!1
Ndey Jobarteh
-----Original Message-----
From: Aji Joof <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 18 August 1999 19:37
Subject: Re: Imam Fatty Condemns 'Fankanta'
>Hi folks,
>
>I don't know about you guys but Imam Fatty with all due respect sounds like
>he is afraid of loosing control as a man if women activists succeed. As an
>Imam but above all, as a human being he should not call a fellow human
being
>or a fellow muslim for that matter "ignorant and hypocritical" just because
>he does not approve of what they are supporting.
>
>I am not a feminist neither am I qualified to be called a female activists
>but call me a womanist. I believe in the advancement, protection and
>development of the woman. The fight is for rights of women not to the
>extreme though but really to be given enough rights to make decisions for
>our selves.
>
>For your information Sir, birth control pills cannot encourage
prostitution.
>It is like saying that Female Genital Mutilation will prevent promiscuity.
>'The pill' as he puts encourages women to space their child bearing periods
>and in the process help them heal after giving birth. It helps plan
families
>as the name 'family planning' suggests. In effect, it is more to do with
>health reasons than sexuality.
>
>Family Planning is not a western concept. In fact, it is universal. Our
>'mams' used to exercise contraception or family planning by way of
>abstaining from any sexual activity with their partners ( please feel free
>to correct me where you feel I am wrong). However, the effects of that is
>that one partner is deprived from satisfying such conjugal needs and at the
>same time puts strain on marriages, relationships etc.
>
>Fighting for woman's right is not and should not in any way shape or form
>'subvert Islam'. We as women want to take control of our lives, bodies and
>of course, our future.
>
>Until later
>aji
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Amadou Kabir Njie <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 02:00
>Subject: Imam Fatty Condemns 'Fankanta'
>
>
>The Daily Observer Published at 12:00pm G.M.T 08/17/99
>
> Imam Fatty Condemns 'Fankanta'
>
>
> The imam of State House Mosque, Alhaji Abdoulie Fatty, has told the
>women of Bakau to distance themselves from the practice of family planning
>and not to listen to those campaigning for it as it is "unIslamic and a
>threat to Islam.".
>
>
> Imam Fatty was addressing a large congregation at an Islamic
conference
>organised in Bakau, by Ibadu rahman, an Islamic association.
>
> Imam Fatty said the West introduced 'Fankanta', the localised concept
>of family planning, to fight Islam. "Family planning is the idea of the
>British scholar, Malthus, an unconscious philosopher who was theorising on
>how to avoid over population in the world." The imam added that Allah has
>promised in the Muslim holy book, Qur'an, to feed every mouth He created.
>
> He cautioned women practising family planning, to seek forgiveness
>from Allah. "Fankanta destroys our societies and is responsible for so
many
>diseases in women because of the poisonous drugs they are issued," the
>strident imam said.
>
> He said the term, family planning, has now been changed to Fankanta
to
>fool people. "They issue pills to women and even school girls to practise
>prostitution."
>
> He condemned the "so-called religious leaders who have been bribed"
to
>speak in favour of Fankanta as "ignorant and hypocritical."
>
> Imam Fatty also spoke out against "so-called women activists"
fighting
>for the rights of women, calling them "infidels" who are subverting Islam.
>
> He advised the gathering not to be fooled by the Ahmaddiyans "who are
>a threat to Islam.".
>
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