Saiks/Ndey, Thanks for your reply with regard to March 8 greetings. For Ndey, many do ask why I have not been contributing to the Gambian L. I will. For Saiks, I think you are missing the point in your arguments with regard to women question in the Gambia or Africa in genral. I shall come back to you on this issue soon and provide some hitorical backgrounds. I hope it will be a major contribution to the discussions on the Gambian L. The problem is that I will soon be travelling to Africa for a conference. Keep the discussion on for the interest of our long suffering peoples'. >From: saikss <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: March 8 Greetings >Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2002 16:56:57 +0100 > >Sir Fatty, > >I do agree with you that I should make my self-clear in this issue. I do >agree >with much of what is been said except for minor differences. Sentiments; >this >is not what I was dealing with, if you get to see my point of departure. In >the first place my reasoning was that the form of struggle that our women >did >apply in the fight for a better society must not be taken to be sentimental >but has existed as a very important weapon for them. That they have used >songs >and story telling instead of the modern form of women organisation and demo >is >an effort to trace the historical development of the struggle of Gambian >women. They are better organised now than before, but this should not mean >we >don't recognised that such form of struggle did exist > >Secondly I could still remember that we have had a discussion on this name >issue sometime back and I still remember my position on this issue. I am of >the opinion that Lang Binta Samateh is not significant to the status of >women. >Such naming of people have been used and still been used for Identification >issues. This has been very common in the Badibus.In a family household or >within the Klan the possibility of many people having identical names is >very >common and to know who is who they refer to the mother. In certain cases >they >could be the daughter or son of the same man. >You have a more interesting example in the Wulli between the Singateh and >the >Jamba.when a Jamba is married to a singateh, the daughter adopt the mothers >family name, that is to say Jamba and the boy Singateh.It seems (I am not >sure) that women from this area were very influential. >But the irony is that; when a singateh do marry with a woman from other >families/Klan, still follow the same Patten. This is to say; if Momodou >singateh get marry to Binta cassama and if they happen to have a daughter, >the >family name of the baby girl will not be Cassama but Jamba.This makes it >very >confusing for me. I am of the opinion that this has developed more to be >cultural/traditional than as an example to follow. We might find out more >about this late. But for the time, can you imagine what it will be if we >have >a Ceesayding Dibba instead of Ceesayding Fatty ? > >Lastly, I believed that we have a very different opinion as to what it >means >when our wives maintain their family names instead of adopting that of the >husband compared to women of the Western World. I am of the opinion that >changing family names after marriage is a European traditional way of doing >things. It is an evidence of the European patriarch. That this is not >practice >in our part of the world should be seen as a difference in practice and not >a >difference of objectives. A Gambian woman maintaining her family name could >be >as oppressed as the Western Woman who has adopted that of her husband. You >can >even see that some of us find comfort in such practice and find our wives >adopting our family names instead of keeping their own,even though we are >not >European.Do you call this cultural imperialism ? > >For Freedom >Saiks > > > > > > > > > > > > > >===== Original Message From The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> ===== > >Saiks, > >Your sent > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >iments RE: March 8 greetings is a sincere one and I commend you for > >it. However, we need to move beyond sentiments as Africans in order to >move > >forward. > >The point I want put across is: What does the oppressed women of >palestine > >share in common with the oppressor women of Israel? In fact, what does >the > >oppressed women of the oppressed nations share in common with the >oppressor > >women of the oppressor nations? What I want all of us to be cleared about >is > >the fact that new imperialism,like the old one is still causing more harm >to > >the women of the oppressed nations than the so called "oppressed men" of >the > >oppressed nations. I am not denying that there is no oppression of women >in > >our part of the world. There is. But why to day we are talking about the > >oppression of women in Africa? > >The reason is clear.Through out the history of the African struggle for > >independence from colonialism, the contribution of women have been denied >by > >men. In Afircan history however, women always have a historical role and >in > >most cases, more important than the role of African men. For us to do > >justice, the condition of our women as well as our peoples', must be put >in > >its proper historical perspective. Otherwise, we will follow other >peoples' > >agendas for our own enslavement. For the super-exploitation of Africa >today > >is benefiting every child, man, woman of the oppressor nations. Our >strength > >must lie in our historical experience in comparison to others. There is a > >diffrence. To understand what I am saying, please look at historical > >evolution of women in Europe and compare it with the historical evolution >of > >women in Africa. You will see the difference. Otherwise read "male >daughters > >female husbands," by a Ngerian sister. You will see why male children in >The > >Gambia have their mother's first names as second names even before the > >father's surname,i.e. "modou Binta ceesay." > >Or why African women do not disappear in marriage like western women, for > >abandoning their family names for their husbands' surnames. The struggle >of > >our women must also be part of the struggle against all forms of > >exploitation and backwardness of our continent. > > > > > >>From: saikss <[log in to unmask]> > >>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list > >><[log in to unmask]> > >>To: [log in to unmask] > >>Subject: March 8 Greetings > >>Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 12:24:48 +0100 > >> > >>Marc 8 is been observed through out the world as an International > >>solidarity > >>day with women. The long battle for equality by Gambian women still > >>remains > >>a history in the making. Since Independent their contribution to the > >>political > >>life of the country have been cornered to that of "Fan Clubs" and YAYI > >>KOMPINS > >>and the semi feudal nature of the Gambian society continue to strangle >them > >>in > >>the corner of motherhood, bearing children, finding food and house >wives. > >>The > >>majority of Gambian women live in acute poverty whiles they remain the > >>touch > >>bearers of hope in the society. > >>But this has never led to any surrendering of their wish and desire of a > >>better society. Their love songs are full of protest and the stories >they > >>tell > >>their children in the night portray the inhuman conditions they are > >>subjected > >>to live .I grew up with one of these stories; A woman who when to pay >her > >>tax > >>to the king never returned back home, she was murdered for reasons >beyond > >>reason. There are plenty of such stories, perhaps one day we will come >to > >>recognise that these are also forms of struggle. > >>After Independence, it took us even long to arrive at Louis Njie and it > >>took > >>time to go beyond that level. The women's Bureau emerged as the talking > >>drum > >>of the establishment and today we have plenty of women gender activist >who > >>dear to go further than the limits set by men domination. One would >recall > >>the > >>great efforts of sisters like Satang Jobarteh during the last elections; > >>they > >>struggled to put on the political agenda very important issues that have > >>for > >>years not been recognised in the political life of our country. These >are > >>sisters who have and are sacrificing a lot to make women struggle for > >>equality > >>in our society to become an uncompromising political issue in the >country. > >>They are running institutions, programmes etc all in the efforts of > >>empowering > >>women. Perhaps it is time for some of us to start thinking of ways of > >>contributing to theses struggles too, perhaps the next donation > >>contribution > >>collections should go to them. Happy March 8 sisters. > >> > >>For Freedom > >>Saiks > >> > >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >> > >>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the >Gambia-L > >>Web interface > >>at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >>To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: > >>[log in to unmask] > >> > >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ > >Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. > >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 > >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: > >[log in to unmask] > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.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 To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~