Buharry, I must begin by apologising for the intrusion. You have every right to continue your exchanges with Hamjatta. It is a healthy intellectual exercise. Moreover, Bamba Laye had cautioned me not to engage in such intrusions. Notwithstanding, PDOIS is a concern party and I had thought that my posture had clarified our position. Any person is free to examine our strategies and tactics and make a critical appraisal of what we claim against what we are doing. Hamjatta wants to give the impression that he is a critic and that we are not tolerant of his criticisms. This is not a fact. Hamjatta is not only a critic. He takes the posture of a prosecutor who indicts and a judge who passes judgment. And what is unfortunate about this is that his indictment of PDOIS is mostly based on fiction rather than facts. Consequently, his judgment is largely based not on evidence adduced but his mental creations. My fear is that if this is transformed into a pure intellectual exercise, we will miss the essence of the whole endeavour. The main point at issue is to work out strategies and tactics for the liberation and development of our people. PDOIS' strategic objectives are very clear and they have been posted for everyone to read. The various tactics we are willing to employ as dictated by time and circumstances have also been elaborated. Those who agree with this should be willing to devote their physical and mental energies, as well as their material resources to ensure that we achieve our tactical and strategic objectives. Those who disagree should proceed to devote their mental and physical energies, as well as their material resources to further other strategies and tactical objectives. The objective, therefore, should be clarify issues and not to win an argument. I have not read any posting yet in the L quoting what we have said regarding our strategic and tactical objectives and subjecting them to critical review. It is only Hamjatta who seems to have befogged the issues in his last posting. I wish I could have received your permission to address his posting in a short and concise manner so that the clarity of vision which we hope has been evinced in my last posting would be maintained so that what is to be done will be clear to all of us, at least from the perspective of PDOIS. It is, however, your prerogative to pursue your own design. If you subject Hamjatta's last posting into careful evaluation, all he is saying is that all members of society must be mobilised through agitation to remove Jammeh. To help him to understand that bringing people together is a quantitative process leading to a qualitative state. And to fully grasp that civil society is not only on the side of the opposition but also on the side of the ruling party, I posed two questions in my posting on strategy and tactics, that is, what led the students into the streets? What barred the tens of thousands of people who voted for Darboe from marching to Basse Police Station to ensure his release? Hamjatta does not explain how the civil society groups could all be brought together under the political movement. He naively believes that simple agitation by leaders of the political movement could ensure the unity he calls for to effect the change he dreams of. This is why I am becoming more and more amazed by Hamjatta's demagogy. I must conclude by adding that there is no need to try to convince Hamjatta that you are not programmed and that you are not a fanatic. I really do not know you personally. At least I cannot remember having a personal relationship with you, even if it happens that we have met. However, I know Hamjatta personally. He knows the type of people we are; that the type of intellectual tradition that we have promoted in The Gambia is to shatter all mystification of knowledge and knowledge givers. Many people who are now writing in the L have never had any direct relationship with us and we are hoping that through our website we will be able to engage people abroad in a more constructive and elaborate manner. It is rather strange that Hamjatta, who had once shown appreciation for the little work we are doing would, now accuses others who show appreciation of being programmed fanatics. We wonder who programmed them and how. We also wonder what he is trying to achieve by dwelling on such platitudes. Pardon me for any interruption of your own mental processes to deal with the issues posted to you. Greetings. Halifa. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface ----------------------------------------------------------------------------