I hope people are beginning to see why some of us said that Sidibeh is NOT fit to be a List Manager. A responsible person would have done like Joe, Buhary, Mr. Ghanim and Ya Soffie did yesterday. Without pointing fingers and engaging in hypocrisy, they spoke the truth and offered amicable (and workable) solutions to a ‘problem’ brought to us by one person, Malanding Jaiteh. I certainly do NOT agree with all the solutions they proffered, BUT I am convinced it was given evenhandedly and in good faith. Now, here comes Sidibeh, the person that is supposed to speak for List Management and behave more responsibly than other ‘subscribers’. Right from the get go he started calling people names. He called people ‘tellitubbies’ and wasps (insects). Did we see any ‘moralizer’ telling Sidibeh off and asking him to grow up and stop watching too much cartoons (tellitubbies)? In what Bantaba in Gambia are people described as insects? This is the kind of nauseating pretence and condescension I CANNOT stand. This is the same Sidibeh that was calling people ‘scavengers’ (an animal feeding on dead and decaying matter). This too ‘escaped’ our ‘moralizers’ on this List. But they are quick to ‘detect’ bad words such as moron, sycophant, mental midget, vermin, etc. At the Bantabas I know, truth-telling and consistency is more important than being overly sensitive to some of the words used here. For the Management Team to have been taken seriously, they need to tell Malanding Jaiteh in no uncertain terms that he was WRONG to ‘delist’ Manneh and Mboge summarily while tolerating worse language from other subscribers. That is the bottom-line here. Then List Management should have gone ahead and reinstated people. If List Management then decides to adopt certain CENSORSHIP standards, then they need to spell those out CLEARLY and be prepared to enforce those standards EQUITABLY. This is NOT an easy business. If List Management wants to go that route, some of them (like Jaiteh) would need a dictionary; and a very powerful one for that matter. The dictionary will assist him to make sound decisions and quit jumping at shadows. To respond to one of the points Sidibeh made in his attempt to rationalize the dictatorial tendencies of List Management, I will say to him that no one is asking for the List to be ruled by referendum. Saying that the List cannot be managed democratically because it is impractical ‘to schedule a show of hands on every single administrative issue’, is rubbish. This is what we are talking about. They should even be ashamed to say that public mailing lists are ‘NEVER managed democratically’. This is the arrogance, ineptitude and dictatorial tendencies we were complaining about. Need I tell Sidibeh that democracy does NOT mean ALL decisions have to taken through a referendum? That is why Democracies have leaders (List Management in this case). This List can be run in a democratic fashion. At the very least, disputes regarding the words people use here can be adjudicated in a more democratic fashion. Just yesterday Buhary posted something that can be looked into by List Management and fine-tuned to their liking. That system is certainly better than ONE List Manager waking up from the wrong side of the bed and ‘delisting’ people without consulting other List Managers because he does not like their choice of words. If List Management does NOT have the wherewithal to rein in renegade managers (by mapping out a coherent system of taking care of disputes), my advise to them is to forget about CENSORSHIP. To say that ‘subscribers’ cannot demand democratic behavior from List Management because the former do NOT pay taxes, is absurd. What we are demanding is for people to be FAIR. FAIRNESS here means that decisions are NOT taken by renegade managers. These decisions are statements about people. The ‘tax’ people ‘pay’ is contributing to the life-line of this List by sending postings. Without postings, there would be no List, just like without taxpayers there would be no functioning government. Ergo, List Managers should take ‘subscribers’ as seriously as Democratic nations take their taxpayers. Forget Gambian culture for a minute. Commonsense demands that ‘subscribers’ be treated in a democratic manner. But what should we expect from a List Management that thinks that it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to be democratic; a management that thinks that because ‘subscribers’ are NOT ‘paying’ them, ‘subscribers’ do NOT deserve to be treated in a democratic manner? This is just pathetic. Some of us will NEVER be enslaved. We would NOT tolerate ANYONE to treat us otherwise than in a ‘democratic’ (FAIR) manner. A ‘politically correct’ Management is NOT unrealistic. A ‘politically correct’ management would be one that would allow ALL voices to be heard and be treated FAIRLY. Do NOT ‘delist’ AFPRC/APRC opponents in circumstances where you would NOT ‘delist’ AFPRC/APRC supporters. That is what is meant by political correctness, in my humble opinion. Darn right people have ‘good reason’ to suspect that Management is NOT taking collective (equitable) decisions. Who would not suspect that when you see Jaiteh ‘delisting’ people willy-nilly without consultation or authorization? Apart from ‘delisting’ people, Jaiteh has the annoying habit of picking on certain people to publicly humiliate them by querying their words in public while ignoring more vulgar language from other people. List Managers should stop Jaiteh from doing that too. Any decision to reprimand ‘subscribers’ in public has to be a collective (management) decision. Or else, Jaiteh should take off his management hat and get into the fray and tell people that he is the custodian of morality in Gambian society (Bantaba) and he is the one that knows what English words are appropriate to be used in Baddibu Bantabas. Nobody on this List can ‘elevate’ the word ‘insult’ to a level where it tantamount to committing a physical act of violence. Some of the words that have been queried here as insults do NOT even raise to the level of exposing people to criminal or civil liability. Calling a stupid person a mental midget is NOT a crime, neither does it expose someone to a libel suit. I will tell you what is actionable. What is actionable is Malanding Jaiteh threatening me with violence. Did we hear any of the ‘moralizers’ reprimand Jaiteh for that? On the contrary, it was me (the ‘hater’) that diffused the situation and told Jaiteh that I am going to treat him as a joker. We are sick and tired of the hypocrisy on this forum. What Manneh and Mboge said can NEVER cause a war. It would NOT even cause two people to fight a physical battle. But if I took Jaiteh at face value, I would meet him in DC and be beaten up by him to ‘settle’ scores. Is this the Gambian (cultural) way? I tell the man a simple truth, after he attempted to misinform this forum, and he wants to fight with me? Is it the Gambian (cultural) way for people to see this and ignore Jaiteh’s blatant threats, and pounce on people like Mboge? I will grant Sidibeh something. At least he has the decency to realize that what Manneh said was no cause for ‘delisting’ the man and ‘delisting’ Mboge. I hope Jaiteh reads the message. He is WRONG and he needs to apologize for causing the trouble on the List. I hope as List Management deliberate, they would tell Jaiteh the honest truth. There is nothing rude or ‘un-Gambian’ about telling people the truth. Bantabas back home that want to be taken seriously and want to last long (in harmony), encourage truth-telling. We will patiently await the outcome of management deliberation. From my vantage point, there are conflicting reports about whether Manneh was ‘delisted’ or not. I would rather go with Manneh’s report because Sidibeh does NOT appear to know what the renegade (Jaiteh) is doing. In any case, I am glad that Manneh appears to be back. I also noticed that George Sarr’s ‘removal’ was reported, but nothing was said about Yusupha Jow’s ‘removal’. Do I take it that this is further proof of the activities of the renegade manager? One manager is going berserk ‘delisting’ people without the knowledge of others. Finally, I would say that some of us do NOT have a problem with people exercising ‘power’ over us. All we ask is for the ‘power’ to be exercise FAIRLY. We will NEVER accept DICTATORSHIP from Yaya or anyone else ‘playing’ Yaya. KB >From: Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: CRISES MANAGEMENT >Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 14:00:49 +0200 > >Hi Everyone, > >For the past one week or so active readers must have noticed a barrage of >clunkers sometimes explicit otherwise coated in innuendoes salvoed against >my person and other list managers, initially for the mere purpose of being >invited to join Gambia-L's Management Team, but very recently because a >couple of members were delisted by Messrs. Jaiteh and Camara of the >Management team. Ayatollahs, dictators, mullahs, mealy-mouthed creeps, they >charged like frothing tellitubbies; and very few offered the mildest >excoriation of such waspish venom. But on what grounds? _________________________________________________________________ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~