Halifa, allow me to extend my gratitude to you and your colleagues for transmitting what at best represents what transpired on the 10th. April when Yaya Jammeh's loutish trigger-happy philistines massacred school kids whose crime happened to be to show solidarity with a slain colleague and a raped sister. your postings did help alot in pushing to the back burners the disinformations and pantomime nonsenses we have constantly been fed by Jammeh lickspittles who have no shred of decency or scruple. However, I was somewhat dismayed that you have now joined the few online who have so far taken this gov't's latest bait in declaring it's intent on the fair dispensation of justice. By this I mean your greeting of the Attorney General's Press Release as a "consolation" after what had transpired on the 10th. April, 2000. Calling that Press Release a "consolation" shifts attention with what is really wrong with our country today; that of leadership. I wouldn't waste your time here by publishing here this gov't's catalogue of gross negligence and Josey Wales attitude towards social justice and as such societal coexistence. From the victims of November 11 to Koro Ceesay to the countless and forgotten and marginalised victims of Jammeh, this gov't has shown it's tastelessness, ineptitude and insensitivity towards the dispensation of social justice. Must it take the slaying of school kids for this gov't to really learn an inherent principle of social and political order; that of the rule of law and the need to see to it justice is blind to political or social inclination? As you very well know, without these principles, society whatever we perceive it to be, ceases to exist. For the absence of these principles in a body polity or social collectivity, calls for radical individualism where each is out for him/herself and social Darwinianism takes set; a society where only the fittest and the strongest survives. Society in it's classical form ceases to exist. With respect to the realities of the Gambia, I might be exaggerating, at any rate, with this moralising but we are not far from it when school kids can offer themselves for martyrdom in order for a gov't/state to take up it's inherent responsibilities very seriously. Must school kids be sacrificed before natural justice takes it course or a gov't learn to respect it's tax payer? what makes you so sure that we need to take up this gov't's declared intent of pursuing all avenues of justice in this case when history teaches us that this is a gov't notorious for breaking it's convenant with the people? what makes you confident this time round different from the last time it was challenged to translate words/promises into deeds on social justice, the gov't would live up to expectation? what......? because we have a new SOS for justice who is glib enough to catch our attention with flashy merry-go-around jargons that wouldn't be translated into actions or if they did would only be half-hearted and wouldn't go to the core of what is currently wrong with the Gambia today. the fact that in their inept press liaisons senior members of this gov't could utter prejudicial statements that seek to exonerate them of any wrong doing tells you that nothing has changed but the slogans and the endless spins that are added to the story. for this gov't, the wrong doers are already filling their cells. innocent Gambians languishing behind bars and the real criminals prowling the corridors of society, whilst the gov't claim justice will be dispense swiftly and fairly. in short this is a gov't that has lost it's right to be trusted on virtually everything save the extent it will go in entrenching the status-quo. the Jammeh administration is not to be trusted with anything. it has lost that right. what needs to be done at this stage is to intensify the pressure of the non-partisan universal alliance of "Jammeh Must G". we must harden our resolves and refuse any form of co-operation with this administration. save until it is really ready to return power back to the Gambian people and in the creation of that milieu. that is the only way to save the country. anything sort of this would be akin to covering a festering wound with sand expecting it to heal with luck. for the festering wound would doggedly come to the fore when inevitable social collision grazes it again. what is expected of local political forces on the ground is to reach out to each other, leaving all moral and ideological conflicts on the respite agenda, whilst the common enemy, Jammehism takes the fore. I know you have your disagreements with most of the political players [especially the UDP] but it is essentially there is a big umbrella opposition alliance to battle the forces of Fascism that Jammeh represents. Fascism in whatever shape or form it takes anywhere will never let the peaceful cohabitation of opposing political philosophies or proclivities prevail. The system that prevails in the Gambia is insidiously being supplanted by a vicious form of neo-Fascism. it must be fought and not appeased. it must be fought now. there is no room for procrastination and moral hagglings. reach out to the other political players and form a grand "Sopi" alliance [to mimic our Senegalese cousins] and start the battle against Jammeh's Fascism. start speaking in one voice and you would see the difference it would make on our political landscape. the unity of purpose of the Diaspora needs to be matched equally with a unified political alliance that sees Jammeh's Fascism as the chief enemy. anything short of this would only lengthen our peoples silent but now reverberating traumas. if liberals, socialists, nationalists and pan africanists of all shades and at best ennemis freres, could stitch together a grand coalition to defeat Joof's reactionary and decadent regime, technocratic politics suggests that nothing can hold our determination to see to it that history does repeat itself in the Gambia in a grand manner. it is one thing for the Diaspora to arrange demos and fundraisers but it will amount to zilch if it is not reciprocated with a local grand opposition alliance that works with this universal movement in unison to dislodge peacefully Jammeh's Fascism. and another thing, it is all very well for you to continue to write this endless letters to a gov't that has no sense of political or social discourse. the tragedy however, is that it only goes to show how smart and bright fellow you are and how you could shine anywhere you so desire to be. it is time you show us you are more than a smart pen pusher and a brilliant essayist. it is time you show to your critics you are more of pragmatic problem solver than a mere smart fellow whose only forte is pen pushing and loquaciousness. I hope you rise up to this challenge and see it as something transcending personality spats or disagreement you might have with other political players. Young people of my generation are beginning to have faith that the political process might be worthy of embrace after all and that Africa will rise again from the ashes. Jammeh's Fascism must never be allowed the delight of scuppering that faith from our grasp. we have a duty in defying the odds and collectively wrestle the decadence that has engulfed the Gambia. As you once memorably wrote, "LEADERSHIP MEANS FORESIGHT." Could I add here that without flexibility such foresight would be meaningless? Halifa show your flexibility and reach out to the other players in the Gambia's political arena. Strike whilst the iron is still hot! Anticipating your usual warm response. Hamjatta Kanteh hkanteh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------