It will be a waist of keystrokes to continue responding to someone who chooses not to get it. Since dahinne is a cereal explains why Gassa ,with all due respect , finds it difficult to think reasonably when the sun rises in the jungle. Hopefully ,by sunset , reasonable thinking will follow. Beran >From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Of goats and politics >Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 13:54:24 +0000 > >Inspired by one of the songs of the Senegambian superstar, Yousou Ndure, I >would like to share a few tales with you. The reason for wanting to share >my >opinion of this particular song with you is because of its relation to many >an incident that sometimes goes un-noticed while very easy to see. Please >allow me to explain a few things for people to understand how these >seemingly unconnected things are actually an integral part of the whole >story. Let’s start with a few definitions first. > >BEIYE (GOAT): small, active horned domestic animal; get one’s goat (sl) - >irritate or annoy one; play/act the giddy goat - play the fool/behave in a >foolish and excited way; separate the sheep from the goats – separate the >good from the bad. > >Those familiar with West Africa know that goats play a very significant >role >in our lives. They are highly resistant to diseases and reproduce very >quickly and very rarely give birth to single babies. We often rear them for >their meat, milk, horns for jujus and hide for our drums. > >CHERREH: West African cereal meal usually made from sorghum or corn; very >nice with goat meat. > >DAHINNE: A very thick cereal meal that is also very nice when prepared with >goat’s meat. There is a Wollof saying that goes like this: “Dahinne Baku >lenye ko yengalleh”. Meaning you steer Dahinne with a wooden spoon and not >the conventional spoons, as they will break. > >In this particular song, Yousou Ndure advises that let the goats go with >the >goats or they may go with the “Cherreh” or the “Dahinne”. For all intents >and purposes, we all know that the goat is better off being within other >goats than within the “Cherreh” or “Dahinne”. This reminded me of a joke I >was told a couple of years ago. > >THE JOKE >A wealthy domineering father, his hardworking wife, his sons of about ten >and three and their mate lived in a big house. The dad always wanted to >talk >about politics to the ten year old kid who would rather not have anything >to >do with politics. However, out of respect and fear, he tried to get >interested in his dad’s drivel about politics. He decided to ask his dad, >while having dinner one day, what politics was all about. His dad, who was >very excited by his kid’s interest in politics, explained politics thus: > >You see son, I have all the money and everything in this house belongs to >me. So I am “the capitalist”. Your mother here runs the house and she is >therefore “the government”. You see the mate there doing all the dirty work >there? She is “the masses”. And we are all doing this for you, “the people” >and your brother, “the future”. The boy was very confused but pretended to >understand. Unfortunately that night, his younger brother did it in bed and >the whole room was smelly. He went to inform the mum but found her in such >a >deep sleep that he could not wake her up and his father was not around. He >decided to go wake the mate. However, the mate’s door was locked and she >did >not answer his knocking even though there were some noises coming from >within. He decided to peep through the keyhole to see what was the matter. >To his surprise, he saw his dad and the mate doing it with such passion and >vigor that they did not even hear him knocking the door. Discouraged, he >went back to the smelly room and tried as best as he could to clean up his >younger brother and then went to sleep. The next day he was the last to get >to the breakfast table were everyone else was already having their >breakfast. After saying good morning to them, he told his dad that he >really >understood politics now. His father was naturally very excited and asked >him >to explain what he understood about politics. He told his dad that politics >is when “the capitalists” SCREW “the masses”, “the government” IGNORES “the >people” and “the future” is FULL OF SHIT. > >Now to those who are yet to get my drift, I will like to share my views of >Gambian politics and our concept of it. For over thirty years we had a >government that made absolutely no attempt to free its people from >ignorance >but instead built an oligarchy of very corrupt people who were very >insensitive to the plight of the ordinary people. For more than three >decades we had a government that did everything that the colonialists did >to >subdue and control our people. For more than three decades we had one of >the >most corrupt governments that subdued its citizens like slaves, mystified >the role of our leadership and mesmerized the whole population. They used >us >to weep up nationalist sentiments and hypnotized us into believing that >anything other than the status quo was detrimental to the state and our >people. We followed them wherever they went and did everything they wanted >us to do. We were just like zombies. This government consolidated >everything >bad that the colonialists did. They created and nurtured various clans that >co-existed in “peace and harmony” and enjoyed all sorts of rights (both >human and animal rights). We had a clan that ruled, a clan that produced >doctors and high ranking officials, a clan that produced lawyers, a clan >that tilled the soil, a clan that sang praises and the rest who comprised >the clan of the hopeless. > >The clan that tilled the soil did so honestly and with dedication. Some of >them managed to send some of their kids to school, some of whom became low >paid policemen, teachers, dispensers, health workers, agricultural workers >etc., etc. They also produced some very daring individuals who, while they >could not continue their education due to poverty and lack of opportunity, >had the brains to understand that something was seriously wrong somewhere. >Some of these instead of researching how to improve our subsistence farming >methods or some other worthwhile things figured out how to join what has >become an oligarchy of privileged people. These soon perfected the art of >stealing massive sums of money from our poor folks. Some of them, when >found >out were promoted or transferred to more secure positions were they can >plunder our meager resources without the rest of society knowing about it. >This was done in return for them not revealing to the rest of the destitute >Gambians how they became rich over night and gained the respect of the >Mafiosi. This new breed of thieves ganged up together and plundered all the >aid that came into this country. While their kids enjoyed the best >education >available here and abroad, led the most flamboyant of lifestyles, the rest >of society looked on with utter disbelieve. While we had the honest griots >telling the stories of our gallant past, the dishonest ones sang the >praises >of the Mafiosi. For this, this latter group was rewarded with lots and lots >of money and other privileges. This was the order of the day until one >fateful July day a group of young army officers rudely invited themselves >to >the party sending most on their way to exile. > >To be continued. > >Have a good day, Gassa. > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >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 and remember to write your >full name and e-mail address. >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------