Hello, Jabou, et, al. I guess maybe my perspective on this is really
different! But suffice it to say that no matter where in the opposition you
are, or which party you support, it's easy to talk of being "for the people"
and then once you get elected, be something quite different!
So I'm not sure I trust *any* of the opposition! PDOIS can educate the
people all the want, and that's a good hting. However, when you're the
underdog, you can talk a good game and then once you actually get some kind
of power, then it goes to your head, and you forget about all of the stuff
you said before you get elected!
And none of the current opposition parties, to my knowledge, have been
put in a position to prove anything they've been talking these past few
years, so personally, you don't know how they'd act once elected!
Ignorant or not, it's up to the Gambian people to choose their destiny,
and whether they want a change or not. Whatever "criterion" they're using
to judge, personally speaking, if you believe in the people's right to
choose, and democracy, and all of htat, then it's up to the people to
choose! If these next elections are free, fair, no fraud, etc., and if the
people choose Jammeh, then they've made their choice, good or bad!
And I'm not saying that you, necessarily have made this statement but
this mantra of "The Gambian people are just too stupid to know hwat's good
for them", mantra championed by some of the PDOIS / NADD supporters that
I've spoken to personally, really bothers me! I, myself, and I'd venture to
say, most people, don't like to be told that they're stupid, and they don't
know what's good for htem, so PDOIS has to show them. How could this not
lead to some kind of dictatorial tendencies? "The people" don't know what
they're doing, so we have to help them. "The people" don't know what's good
for them so we have to tell them what to do, etc.
Whether UDP/NRP is full of "former PPP" people or not, or "disgruntled
businessmen" or not, does this matter? Couldn't PDOIS be full of the same
people who became "enlightened"? To me, the criterion is ideas, and that
the party proposes to do once elected.
I don't care who's in the party or their reasons for joining, that's
left to them. What I care about is how the party will govern once elected,
and if they'll be "for the people", once they actually get into power and
have the wherewithal to actually do something, instead of talking about
doing something.
I also think there was, or is, a fundamental disagreement about what
NADD actually was supposed to be, whether or not the goal was to get Jammeh
out, or actually try something new. What I mean, is was this an alliance of
opposition parites, or a new party altogether. And that's what got them
into trouble with the by-elections last year.
Anyway, there just was a fundamental difference about what NADD
actually wanted to be.
And I personally, am not going to call people power-hungry and selfish,
etc., until I see the evidence to prove otherwise, and I've not seen that
evidence.
I also wonder how much some really wanted a united opposition, as quick
as they are to spew such ugly things about the opposition party they *don't*
support. And they seem to have as much hatred for the other opposition
parties as they do for Jammeh. And yet we still say we want a united
opposition? Do we really?
I don't know. Anyway, at this point, all of this is rhetoric, water
under the bridge. The Gambian people have a choice to make on September
22nd, and assuming the elctions are free and fair, they will choose, and
they should be given that right, even if they choose someone that we may not
like. And especially if we want to talk about democracy and the will of the
people, etc.
Perhaps if the people beocme "politically mature", etc., then they will
choose something different for themselves, but people have to be allowed to
mature, and they have to be given the right to choose thier own destiny, and
not to have things hoisted on them by people who thing they are too stupid
to do it for themselves.
Ginny
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: THE ALLIANCE for REGIME CHANGE/Sidibeh
Brother Sidibeh,
You wrote:
" So for goodness' sake, why, after fifteen hard years on the tracks, is
PDOIS, boasting a leadership with impeccable integrity, perhaps the best
educated, the most down-to-earth, still trailing the voter statistics at
under 3%? Why?..."
The answer is because the education of our people to what the proper
criterion to use in selecting a leader is yet incomplete and we have people
who
although they recognize and extol the virtues of an organization like
PDOIS, will
at the same time turn around and make statements like you have made here.
The above alas! is the battle cry of the UDP/NRP of late. Because If the
people
are educated about their rights, they will naturally choose an organization
like PDOIS instead of letting themselves be used a pawns in the political
game by those who recognize the truth but choose to perpetuate the
ignorance of
the people for their own benefit.
You wrote:
"The elusiveness of the answer to this question, perhaps only a temporal
difficulty is one important reason why PDOIS itself saw the need to work
with other parties, parties that we may disapprove of for various reasons,
to build a coalition to remove the APRC from power."
Was the coalition the idea of PDOIS alone? Like the UDP/NRP misinformation
campaign, you make it appear as if PDOIS initiated the idea of a coalition
for
the sole purpose of having a chance at power and that is also the
simplistic
battle cry of the UDP but Gambians are not buying that fallacy anymore.
Does the reality on the ground not dictate to any sober thinking person
that
without a coalition of the opposition, none of them possesses the required
number of votes to beat the APRC? I believe you have said the same thing
many
times.
What use is the UDP/NRP's 46% if it is not enough to win the elections?
You are right, PDOIS saw a need to work with others in a coalition when the
idea was presented to them as did the UDP and NRP, or at least that is what
they made the people believe, and PDOIS, NDAM and the other players have
never
abandoned that ideal. They are not the ones who walked away. On the other
hand, the UDP/NRP's reasons for leaving the coalition is abundantly clear
to
everyone although they insist on trying to make us believe it is anything
other
than what is so obvious.
This supposedly paltry 3% is also needed by the UDP/NRP alliance because
obviously, their 46% is not enough to win the presidency, and this paltry 3%
symbolizes the sad state of our people as it evidences their ignorance to
what
qualifies good leadership and is a testament to the fact that others are
exploiting this ignorance and can therefore point to it as a weakness for a
party
that no sincere Gambian can honestly say does not have the interest of the
nation at heart. Anyone who dwells on the fact that PDOIS is able to draw
only
3% of the vote in a national election instead of mourning it as an
indication
of our people's lack of education as to their rights and what constitutes
good leadership choices cannot have the interest of our country and our
people
at heart and is clearly interested in preserving something other than what
is
best for all Gambians.
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 9/10/2006 2:25:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Sister Jabou,
For obvious reasons of principles (earlier stated) I would limit my
response to the following:
On Saturday, december 1, 2001, in a rejoinder to one Sister Mariatou and
Brother Yahya on Gambia-L, and in support of their view on the election
results, I asked the following question:
"...But in the mean time, here is my 1000 dalasi question? Yes, I too do
not
entirely agree with PDOIS economic thinking yet I am confident that it was
not on account of their econmics that most Gambians voted for other
parties.
So for goodness' sake, why, after fifteen hard years on the tracks, is
PDOIS, boasting a leadership with impeccable integrity, perhaps the best
educated, the most down-to-earth, still trailing the voter statistics at
under 3%? Why?..."
The elusiveness of the answer to this question, perhaps only a temporal
difficulty is one important reason why PDOIS itself saw the need to work
with other parties, parties that we may disapprove of for various reasons,
to build a coalition to remove the APRC from power.
Faced with an engine of tyranny like the APRC, I want to believe that
slamming the door on all future possibilities of a rapprochement I think is
simply futile.
Other matters you raised I would discuss after the elections not as a way
of apportioning blame, but as a way of pointing out serious tactical and
strategic errors that may perhaps help in a small way, in charting out a
viable path towards our common liberation. That, I believe, should be the
mission of criticism and self-criticism especially amongst progressives.
Many many thanks,
sidibeh
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