My dear brother. I cannot agree with you more on the question of noneviolence, You are not alone in your pursuit.The key is how?; Not why?; Who not what? Now not when! Karl >From: MOMODOU BUHARRY GASSAMA <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: A challenge to those advocating violent change in The Gambia >Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 15:45:49 +0200 > >Hi! > I have read a lot of messages propagating violence as the only >available >means of bringing about a change of government in The Gambia. I have also >read how those who propagate other means especially peaceful ones are >deemed >to be living fantasies. I would like to suggest that those propagating >violence from the comfort of homes in Europe and America are living a >fantasy as much as those advocating peaceful means. One can be anyone one >wants to be behind a computer keyboard. One can be Rambo, one can be >Malcolm >X, and one can be Bin Laden. One can even be Ghaddafi if one wishes. That >is >the beauty of the cyber identity. Then comes reality! The reality is that >one may not be as tough as one portrays from a keyboard. One can be the >greatest coward and the weakest "lefe lefe" there is yet the implications >of >their macho messages can be far-reaching and even devastating. > > If the ones preaching violence as the only available means of bringing >about change are comfortably sitting in Europe and America, who is going to >bring about that violent change for them? I would be more convinced if >those >people were on the ground in The Gambia living what they are preaching. I >would pay more attention to their message if it were Halifa Sallah, Lawyer >Darboe, Shyngle Nyassi or any Samba or Demba living in The Gambia who was >preaching what they are preaching. I would be more convinced, perhaps even >converted if they truly believed in what they are preaching and pack up and >go back home to be in the midst of the violence they are preaching. Apart >from that I just say, "Practise what you preach". > > The repercussions of the violent prescriptions these people are >prescribing >won't take place in a vacuum. The Gambia is not an empty space. Look at the >results of violent confrontations in our sub-region. Look at Casamance, >Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is very easy as stated earlier to sit >thousands >of miles away and prescribe violence knowing fully well that one is far >removed from its effects. In other words, it is not their hands, feet or >tongues that are going to be cut off. Yes, it might be their parents', >children's etc. but it is still not the same. One can walk even if one's >brother's legs are cut off. I would be more convinced if these people go >back home and put their feet, tongues, hands etc. at the risk of being cut >and still preach what they are preaching. > There have been many cases in the recent past that have outraged many of >us >not only in their brutality but also even in their deliberate assumption of >Gambians' stupidity. The answer to those acts cannot only be violence. >Measures have been taken that have yielded results. Why do you think Yaya >didn't react in his normal way after the student massacres? Why do you >think >all the arrested students were released? Pressure, man, pressure! Pressure >that has had some effect no matter how much one wishes to downplay those >effects. > > To those advocating violence I ask: do you have any organised means of >bringing about a violent change? Do you have the finance to support a >violent movement? Do you have a network somewhere to co-ordinate the >activities of your movement? In short, what do you have in place apart from >empty rhetoric? I say empty rhetoric because to propagate violence and >dismiss the diplomatic approach as fantasy really smacks of a lack of >understanding of how wars are fought. Ask the Arabs. When Israel was >declared a state, the Arabs went bonkers and showed their absolute fury by >attacking Israel. Yes, Israel had the military capability with the help of >the West to defend itself. It however invested in a more important >ingredient of war: propaganda and diplomacy. Because of the Jews' presence >in broadcasting and publishing, they succeeded in transforming world >opinion >in their favour. That is why Israel gets away with basically anything today >whilst the Iraqs, Yugoslavias etc. are bombed to smithereens for lesser >sins. The importance of propaganda makes it imperative for guerrilla >movements to have political organs that put a diplomatic face on the >bombings and other atrocities perpetrated by their armed movements. To >underestimate the importance of the non-violent aspect of the machinery of >change displays a gross lack of understanding of the mechanisms of change. > > To cut a long story short, those who are advocating a violent change in >The >Gambia need to come up with action plans. They need to show us how they are >going to bring about that change and if possible with the least loss of >life >and suffering possible. To lack an action plan yet instigate unarmed people >to have violent confrontations with armed-to-the-teeth security personnel >is >irresponsible to say the least especially when one is sheltered some >thousands of miles away. Self-defence is a natural right but instigating >the >UDP to form vigilante groups knowing fully well that they would not be >granted firearms licences when they would be pitched against armed police >and soldiers seems like a recipe for disaster. Maybe those advocating a >non-violent response to the activities of the government do not have a >panacea to all Gambia's ill but neither do those advocating a violent >response. The issue therefore should be meet at the crossroads and maybe >work out something that would be in the interests of The Gambia for surely >violent confrontation, war and civil strife are not in our country's >interests. Thanks. > >Buharry. > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------