Sister Jabou, Eventhough this is just a tiny opening into Dumo's life, I am immensely pleased that you found it informative. Many many thanks, Sidibeh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jabou Joh" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 4:29 AM Subject: Re: THE "DUMO TRIALl"/Sidibeh Sidibeh, Thank you so very much for thsi information about brother Dumo that some of us did not know about. Jabou Joh In a message dated 2/10/04 5:55:53 PM Central Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > > DEAR Annika and All, > > Having to hang on to timetables set by capricious and obviously unconcerned > judges is a nightmare of its own. To then hang hope on those timetables - > for one has no other recouse - just for the day to pass without as much as > the courtesy of a proper adjournment by the judge, is total tragedy, worst > than the Greek kind. One would have thought that throwing people in jail and > then abandonning them to the caprices of absent-minded judges, as if such a > hell-hole should be their natural habitat must be just as outrageous to > everyone. But obviously not. > > Even without checking my statistics, I know that there is no other Gambian > who has been driven through the gates of the Mile 2 prisons as numerously as > Momodou Dumo Sarho on account of his politcal activism. No other Gambian has > ever endured such intense and wicked assault on his psyche for the sheer > purpose of breaking his spirits; no one in our country has ever experienced > such persistent waves of physical abuse from the powers that be; and no > other Gambian family has had to live with the anguish of continuous terror > of uncertainty about the fate of a rebellious but quintessentially > progressive spirit; the fate of a son, a brother, and husband whose > banihsment from Saint Augustine's High since 1973, has been followed by an > endless crusade to teach, to organise, to support the youth and the poor, > and to organise, to militate against social decadence, reactionary politics > and cultural atavism. Dumo's entire life, up to now, has been completely > usurped by STRUGGLE, in all its concreteness and ambiguity, to such a depth > and purpose that he has ceased possession of the word itself. You cannot > imagine Dumo outside the meaning of the word "struggle". > > I canntot think of a single village in Gambia that Dumo does not know; no > Gambian politician whose biography he does not master; no department in the > Gambian state apparat whose head he does not know. Up to 1982, you could not > tell Dumo the registration number of a private car in Banjul and Sere-Kunda > whose owner he is ignorant of. Dumo knows Gambia and Gambians inside out. He > knows hustlers, bums, businessmen, poiticians, fake revolutionaries, the > intelligentsia, prison warders and jail birds, peasants and dope runners, > and all shades of red-eyed call-me-comrade radicals. He knows the police > informers, CID and Special Branch undercover(!) agents, policemen and their > most fearfully-guarded secrets. Gadding the streets of Sere-Kunda in Dumo's > company is tiresome business: he stands up for almost everyone and almost > everyone stands up for him; so you just wait and wait while he exchages > words with people; in Dumo's company you may reach your destination. But if > you do you always will be behind schedule. He is the type of person people > pretend to know well after hearing of him once. His verbal skills are > unmatched, eclipsing even those of Suslov - Leonid Bhreznev's propaganda > secretary. Dumo's sophistication in Gambia's cultural milieu is simply > amazing.... > (In 1995 we met in Gambia. After visiting my wife at Bakau NewTown, he > talked me into passing by an auntie of his. The old woman lives just behind > the Police Depot. As soon as the initual ritual of salutations were over, > the old woman and Dumo plunged into what was for me uncahrted seas. They > talked about the uncles in London and Leeds, the sisters still at Leman and > Perseverance streets, the nieces and nephews in different states in the U.S > and all the major and minor relations weaved together into this complex > lineage. It went on for hours. I was stupefied and I got hungry. The old > woman spoke like she never spoke before, enlivened by Dumo's soothing > evocation of old memories. She spoke of her children, her children's > children, her siblings and their spouses and offspring. She spoke of distant > cousins and aunts and how these were related to other families. She narrated > the matrilineal links with other families and their geographic origins. When > we finally had to leave, Dumo's aunt could only suppress tears with great > dificulty. She immensely enjoyed teaching us some oral history and practical > sociology, betraying a deep-seated emotional urge to narrate. In > restrospect, it was an extraordinary experience for me, one that illustrated > how Africa's "history of ordinary people" simply fades into memory, into > dissolved biographies, dismembering our modern notions of "knowing where one > comes from"; whole lives, and legends, and narratives imploding into > colourless "by-the-ways". > > While the rest of us have gone on building families and getting on with > mundane carreers, blunting, corrupting and compromising our instinct to > struggle, Dumo has remained staunch and unmalleable, breathing energy into > the very notion of long-term continous struggle; the struggle against > everything that is backward in our political culture and for everything that > means progress in our society. > > Three years ago there was much activity waged in his behalf and that of his > co-detainees. With time and repeated frustration over his fake trials > energies sapped in the process, as all of us grew helpless as we agonised > over his fate. But Dumo is unbreakable; partly because he is not just an > individual. Dumo has developed into an instituion, commanding the spirited > energy for a free Gambia. It is precisely his enormous zeal for a life > charged with meaning, for a better Gambia that must keep the rest of us > going on to struggle for our own sake and for his immediate release and the > release of his co-detainees from unjust imprisonment. > > FREE DUMO SARHO NOW!!! > > Sidibeh > > > From: "Annika Renberg" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 7:15 PM > Subject: The "Dumo trial" > > > For your information: > Today was the day scheduled for the long awaited ruling in the 3½ year old > treason case against the remaining detainees Ebrima Barrow, Dumo Sarho and > Ebrima Yarboe. > Nothing happened though - Justice Belghore seems to have travelled abroad on > un urgent mission for some (five?) weeks. He did not even have time to set a > new date before he left. > Annika Renberg > (Dumo's wife) > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=mbia-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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~