Following the disappointing and indeed, disgraceful decision of the British gov’t to resume military assistance and or co-operation with the crackpot Gambia gov’t, many on the List and elsewhere have expressed their concern over such a retrogressive move on the part of a UK gov’t that makes such hitherto unheard of foreign policy philosophy like the swill "ethical foreign policy". However, though the protests were in the spirit of a fed-up opposition, it was not sustained and maintained and if anything has petered out. It seems that that malignant Gambian tumour, Complacency with a capital C, is creeping to the fore again. Some two weeks ago, following one of Ebrima’s sources forwarding of a petition he/she had written to Robin Cook, the British Foreign Secretary, Dr. Saine brilliantly suggested we use the premise and indeed, the specimen of that protest note and petition the UK gov’t. Dr. Saine’s commendable proposal that we petition the Labour gov’t seems to have fell on deaf ears as the idea became buried in the molehill of trivia, banality and boredom Gambia-L is recently lumpened with. Here is an issue which if effectively lobbied and followed to its logical conclusion would most certainly bear fruit that us in the opposition desperately need to whip up much-needed enthusiasm that seems to be depleting from the core of the anti Jammeh brigade online.
In fact, research I have done during the weekend on lobbying the UK gov’t policy showed that a minimum of 250 valid signatures on a petition guarantees a response from Downing Street and even a personal one from Mr. Blair himself. And another thing: the 10 Downing Street web-site does host/accept e-petitions [to view please go to
http://www.number-10.gov.uk/default.asp?pageid=7], the type we sent when the April Massacres happened. Unlike the fiasco that maimed the April e-petition, the Downing Street web-site can effectively handle the implosion of signatures associated with that and any such campaign. The way I see it, we could mount a multi-pronged strategy here by lobbying both gov’t and opposition especially the Liberals who have and indeed, proven to be more progressive than Labour. Being the opportunistic party that it recently is, even the Conservatives, in my view can be lobbied. For there is a dynamite in exposing the inconsistency in the foreign policy of a gov’t that parrots a swill like "ethical foreign policy", yet resumes military co-operation with a crackpot regime that cold bloodily murdered innocent children as young as three and unrepentantly unleashes terror on the civilian populace of that country on a daily basis. Friends, sons and daughters of the Gambia, lets seize this opportune moment to embarrass the Jammeh gov’t by mounting a Campaign to expose the falsity in the UK gov’t view that Jammeh is worthy of any conceivable co-operation be it military or otherwise. The grand narrative of the Gambian plight has not been effectively sold internationally especially in the UK. At any rate, the US seems more informed partly because of an activist Gambian Diaspora there in contrast to a largely lethargic and inactive one here in the UK.We mustn’t let an issue like this to go unreported and even unprotested at the highest level in the British political establishment. Let us for the sake of those children who bravely faced Jammeh’s trigger-happy loutish philistines and martyred, galvanise our Campaign against the reactionaries and Fascists in the Gambia by rallying once again behind this issue and pursuing it to its logical conclusion. Below are some important addresses we would need in our lobbying.
CABINET OFFICE
[Type of enquiry]
Public Enquiry
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS
Email:
[log in to unmask] [that is Marjorie Mowlam’s, the Cabinet Office Minister, email address]DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
94 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 5JL
UK Tel: [0845] 3004100
Int’l Tel: +44 [0] 1355 843132
Fax: +44 [0] 1355 843632
Email:
[log in to unmask] [public enquiries] [log in to unmask] [ that is Clare Short, the Secretary for International Development, email address] [log in to unmask] [the email address for the DFID in Banjul].FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
King Charles Street
London
Tel: +44 [0] 207 2384586
[log in to unmask] [the email address of the British High Commission in Banjul].DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE
The Ministerial Correspondence Unit,
Room 6140
Main Building
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2HB
Email:
[log in to unmask] [for all public enquiries].Tel: 0870 6074455
HOUSE OF COMMONS SELECT COMMITTEES
Defence Committee
Defence Committee
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Tel: 02072195745
Fax: 0207 2196952
Email:
[log in to unmask]Chairman: Mr George Bruce [Labour]
Clerk: Mr Paul Evans & Mrs Oxborough
Foreign Affairs Committee
Committee Office
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Tel: 0207 2196106
Fax: 0207 2196864
Chairman: Mr Donald Anderson [Labour]
Clerk: Mr Paul Silk & Mrs Brufal
International Development Committee
House of Commons
7 Millbank,
London SW1P 3JA
Tel: 0207 2191223
Fax: 0207 2196606
Chairman: Mr Bowen Wells [Conservative]
Clerk: Mr Yusef Azad & Ms Hughes
HER MAJESTY’S OPPOSITION
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
CONSERVATIVES
Defence: Iain Duncan Smith
Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs: Francis Maude
Int’l Development: Gary Streeter
Party Leader: William Hague, email:
[log in to unmask]Snail Mail at:
Conservative Central Office
32 Smith Square London
SW1P 3HH
Tel: 0207 2229000
Fax: 0207 2221135
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
Foreign & Defence Affairs: Menzies Campbell, Mark Oaten, and Paul Ketch
Int’l Development: Dr Jenny Toge
Party Leader: Charles Kennedy [you can visit Charlie Kennedy’s web-site, which has an email form to send him a private message at
http://www.charleskennedy.org.uk/contact.html]Snail Mail at:
Liberal Democrats
4 Cowley Street
London
SW1P 3NB
Tel: 0207 2227999
I hope for the sake of those martyred kids and for the love of the only "home" we all really know and have, we will all join in the fray and take this as far feasible.
Hamjatta - Kanteh
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