Hello Pasamba/Folks, Thank you very much for your thought provoking posting . It is about time that we start addressing our people in general and those who call themselves intellectuals in particular about the urgency of the need to do something pragmatic about the decaying Socio economic situation in the Gambia.Indeed if the Gambia sinks as a result of the ineptitude, incompetence and corruption of the APRC regime, it would represent irreparable damage to all of us .Whether one is an intellectual living in the affluent suburbs of Banjul, a dispossessed farmer living in the harsh realialities of rural Nyanga-bantang, or wallowing in Urban poverty around the dump site at Bakoteh,we all stand to suffer the same fate.Humane persons cannot sleep,or enjoy life's great benefits when the lot of their kin is characterised by suffering.In the same vein, a people who profess to be believers in justice cannot have a clear conscience when the very people whose resources have rendered them all the opportunities they have been enjoying, are the victims of acts of barbarity and injustice.One has to be real opportunist in order to be abled to condone the situation in the Gambia. Many a time in the Gambia,when one is critical about the Socio economic situation in the country,soneone would ask you whether you are the only one going through the hard times.At this juncture, I am tempted to recount the story of the fight between the lizards:once upon a time, two lizards were fihgting and there was nobody to separate them.But Kuti the dog who saw them decided to spread the news around. She first went to uncle hen and told him about the fight but he excused himself from taking action by insisting that he had nothing to do with a fight between two lizards.Aunty dog proceeded to the herd of cattle behind the village and extended news of the episode unfolding in the village to uncle bull.Confident that his security was amply assured and no mishap could emanate from the lizards' fight of negative consequences to him, uncle bull refused to even contemplate taking action.Thus the fight between the lizards continued without any of the other villagers intervening to stop it.As they fought on the thatched roof of the house whose walls were made of elephant grass,an old man was taking his mid-day nap in the hut,while fire made from huge logs was graciously burning infront of his bed.The lizards fought on and on until they fell into the almost extinguished fire.The impact of their fall and their efforts to scamper into safety,scattered bits of burning wood from the fire.And as they took different directions to nurse the burns they sustained, fire gradually spread from the bits of burning wood to the walls of the hut. While the old man was still sleeping, the fire grew and eventually engolved the entire hut and the old man lost dear life in the conflagration. A process of mourning immediately started. And as mourners from the neighbourhood started to congregate in the compound, it was thought necessary to cook some food.Uncle hen was immediately caught and slaughtered to be part of the food.About fourty days later,when people were preparing to congregate for another ceremony,uncle bull was slaughtered to go towards the feeding of the mourners. In that manner both uncles hen and bull lost their lives after the death of the old man who was the sole depository of ancient wisdom in the village. I need not go into the teachings of this story,but rather allow us all to reflect on it individually.But it is pertinent to remember that because of the horrendous barbarities committed against the people of the Gambia by the APRC regime,the whole world is waiting to see what persons of conscience of Gambian nationality will do to redress the terrible situation in our dear motherland.As a people we are not known to be selfish and wicked.But our current political leadership's performance over the years has shown it to be selfish and wicked.There is only one way now in which we can prove to humanity that we are a just society and that is by replacing the current inept and brutal dictatorship in our country with a just one.The onus is on all of us, but more so those who claim to be "educated" and of the "intellectual" class. Omar Joof, Ex-GAMSU prexy. >From: Pasamba Jow <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: TIME TO PUT THE GAMBIA FIRST >Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 00:06:08 +0000 > _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~