Mr Manjang, Whilst i agree in principle that attempts to lower the political temperature of the country is vital for a conducive election milieu, i doubt very much if it will ever reach fruition if it remains decoupled from emphatically stating the underlying fundamental factors that make the country's political temperature to reach all-time highs. Any attempts to lower the current political temperature of the body politic ought to factor fundamentally the extent to which the heigthening of current political tensions are as a direct result of an ever belligerent bully of a gov't that intolerantly pursues an Opposition that lacks the wherewithal to respond in kind. In lieu of the aforesaid, organisers of talk shops aimed at lowering political temperatures should be bold enough to tell the bullies that those they are bullying have the right to existence and that right, amongst others, includes political, social and economic social liberties which CANNOT be arbitrarily infringed upon by the absurd whims and caprices of the APRC. Herein, organisers of such talk shops must highlight the fact that imprisoning the likes of Mr Dumo Sarho illegally doesn't augur well for any gov't that parrots unity incessantly whilst bullying its citizenry. Organisers of such talk shops should bluntly condemn gross violations of Human Rights like that of Dumo's. They should never let themselves be hoodwinked by APRC's attendance of such talk shops on time as signs that that party is interested in political moderation and by extension the existence of inviolable and non-negotiable liberties that CANNOT be arbitrarily infringed upon by anyone's whims and caprices. The APRC has shown that it only cares about political moderation insofar as it strengthens the hands of the devil that created that party. As was evinced in your last correspondence, once the APRC realises that political moderation means death to them, they will refuse to be willing participants in such moderation. Political moderation as a tool for narrowing down political differennces and create an environment conducive enough for social, political and economic cooperation, was never meant to sweep under the carpet the abuses of belligerent political bullies or try to intellectually rationalise them. Political moderation means we highlight abuses that has the propensity create animosities that make social, political and economic cooperation impossible. Political moderation was never meant to short-cut such abuses by rationalising such flagrant abuses in a manner which unwittingly serves or attempts to strike fear in the hearts of those who are at the brunt of the flagrant abuses and decided to have no more of it. Therein, there is no middle ground: social, political and economic cooperation is impossible where freedoms are exclusively the property of one individual to give and take at his own discretion. For the efforts of the organisers to bear fruition they must firmly state the fundamental underlying factors that has precipitated the current political violences and the likelyhood of total breakdown of the system as a whole. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the organisers to always make the case that things have degenerated to this level and have the propensity to degenerate further if the powers that be do not understand the inviolability and non-negotiable nature of the freedoms they continue to flagrantly abuse. All the best, Hamjatta Kanteh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------