Friends,

The first paragraph of the article below from the SG of the Pan African Movement reminds me of the debate among the people of Futa, in the Senegal River Valley, about whether or not to send their children to the 'foreign schools' introduced by the Europeans who were technologicaly strong enough to conquer and colonise them, a debate that Cheikh Hamidu Kane recounts in his nouvel 'Ambiguous Adventure', first published in seventies.

As the story goes, in the end, the Diallobé people of Futa decided that they needed their children to learn from the Europeans 'the art of winning without being right' (they won the battles, but were not right in conquering and dominating the Diallobe), and 'how to link wood to wood' ...

Best wishes for 2004 and beyond,

Ebrima.



From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask]
Cc: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask]
Sent: 24 December 2003 12:14 PM
Subject: TAJUDEEN's THURSDAY POSTCARD 25-12-2003


THURSDAY POSTCARD 25-12-2003

In the many years that this column has been running it has become customary that at Christmas it takes a religious tone. In all these years there has never been the happy coincidence of it actually falling on a Christmas day. Therefore it was only natural that I should consider writing today to wish my readers a very merry Xmas and a wonderful new year but also share in the Xmas story by telling a very Christian story of my own.
I had thought of putting on record my personal indebtedness and that of several generations of pupils at a Baptist Mission Primary School (now known as Shehu Primary School) in Funtua, Katsina State of Nigeria.   Funtua is a predominantly Muslim  town but our Muslim parents; despite non -fee-paying Local Education Authority Schools chose to send us to a fee-paying Christian Missionary School. However they were very clear in their minds that they were sending us to get ' their education and civilisation' but not the religion. Our largely illiterate parents were then remarkably capable of distinguishing between knowledge/ Education and ideology. We did and were required to participate in the religious activities of the school and the Baptist Church Missionary activities but there was no confusion in our hearts and minds that we were Muslim pupils in a Christian school. We needed the education they provided but not their God.  And the Baptists were so saintly in the discharge of their
 obligations to teach and 'civilise'; that they did not seek active conversion of their innocent charges but ensured that Muslim or non Muslim we got very decent education.

The untimely death, this week, of a very close friend and class mate from Primary School through University, also called Tajudeen (Lasisi), brought back my indebtedness to the   Missionaries and my desire to say thank you to them for giving us a good and solid foundation that inspired us to value education and sought it 'even if it was in China' as Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) enjoined believers in the Muslim faith to do.
That level of tolerance is sadly no longer common across this continent. People have retreated into various ethnic, religious, regional, racial and other sectarian laagers spouting all kinds of extremisms and intolerance that both Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Annabi Isa (Jesus Christ, SAW) will be scandalized and outraged were they to resurrect now and see all the kinds of hypocrisy, mass murders, torture, manipulation and ungodly activities perpetrated in their names and faith.

Whatever seasonal spiritual nostalgia I was feeling was not destined to last long. Brother-Leader Gaddafi's Christmas gift to the world in the form of owning up to and expressing an unambiguous desire to get rid of Weapons of Mass Destruction jolted me back from my spiritual reverie. My full homage to the missionaries will have to wait for another day. But let me say that you would not have been reading this without them. From one grateful Muslim I say thank you to the Church for all it has done in my life.

Gaddafi's surprise 'full disclosure' hit everybody unprepared. It even knocked out Saddam's capture off the airwaves. IN that the Brother Leader lived up to his reputation of being unpredictable. This is a man who was declared by Ronal Reagan (who cannot even remember he has ever been president of the USA) as a 'mad Dog' and only last year branded part of the troika of 'axis of evil' by no less a an erudite man than the brain-challenged President Bush being welcomed as global 'statesman' by both Bush and his British poodle, Blair! What the hell is going on many wondered! If Bush and Blair are saying someone / something is good shouldn't that be a warning to any sane person to steer clear?  Who will buy a used car from this amoral (yes amoral, as distinct from immoral) dealers?

Historical watchers of Tripoli speculated that this was yet another grand gesture from the eccentric Colonel while many Libya enthusiasts despaired that Tripoli has lost its 'revolutionary and internationalist ' anti imperialist postures and now cooperating with the West. Bush and Blair saw the offer as a post humus justification of their unjust war against Iraq. Somehow they skip the detail of explaining why they went to war over WMD in an Iraq that no longer had the capability and are negotiating with Libya that has admitted active development of it. They are even negotiating with a North Korea that admits to having one and ready to use it as a 'pre emptive' strike just as Bush has given himself the ignoble privilege of doing. Libya has yet again thrown spanner in the works of its adversaries. Who is the mad Dog now? The axis of Evil may not be running through Tripoli or Havana but at the heart of Washington and London.
The offer represents a different approach to Disarmament that is wholly peaceful, efficient and honest. Let all nations come to the table with their clean or tainted hands and pledge 'never again'. Then we shall know who the real rogue states are. Would Israel stand up to be counted? Would the US, Britain and other Western countries and their Defence industries follow this good practice?

For Libya itself I cannot help doubting whether all its strategic shifts will lead to any respite from the US. The Bush people and Western Hegemoniacs in general do not know the difference between compromise and submission. As soon as you compromise they shift the goal post. Now that Gaddafi is playing ball on the Security front watch out for  new 'concerns' and concerted effort about human rights, democracy and good governance in Libya.

Merry Xmas all the same.

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