----- Original Message ----- From: "Momodou Drammeh" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 7:20 PM Subject: AN APPEAL TO ALL GAMBIA L SUBSCRIBERS > Dear members, > I am hereby writing to you to appeal to all of you if > we can stop personal attacks and tribal remarks. > I was really scared when I read about some comments > which were tribal in nature. > We all join The Gambia L as an intellectual forum > where economic, political, religious and other > important issues are discussed.The Gambia L is not is > gossip centre, it is and should be an educational > forum, let us not get carried away by sentiments and > be very careful as to what we do or say. > Whatever we say on the net or any other forum will be > in the records and sooner or later we will be judge by > what we say or do. > we have two options either to let history take a > disastrous path or shape the course of history towards > the right path. > In AD1700 it was normal for white people to be racist > even though they will not not do it publicly, today > there children are so ashamed and their ancestors part > in slavery. > The purpose of history is to learn the lessons of > the past and we let history repeat itself in vice then > we might be very sorry for ourself. We will then let > both ourself and our future children down. > The Gambia is country of tolerance and is not divided > by tribal demarcations and tribal values or allegiance > have no place in The Gambia. > None of belong to any tribe. We only speak these > languages as a means of communication and nothing els > e. > Now let us look at Sierra Leone, there are people > with the same surnames as Gambians and none of them > belong to to tribes found in The Gambia. So in > consequence there is no place for tribal remarks, it > never had, and has no place and will never have a > place in The Gambia. > We do not all have to support the same ideology, but > it should not be on the basis of tribes which do not > exist in the first place > Let me give examples, The Late Alh Momodou Musa Njie > is considered to be a Fula, The Late Pierre Njie is > considered a wollof and Alh Musa Njie A sarahule. All > these shared the same surname this means they may have > some connection. The reason all these people speak > different languages may be because of different > geographical settlements. > Now where do we go from here. Are tribal statements > necessary for a country of just one million people. I > hope not. > People like E F Small could have been anything they > wanted under the colonialist but he gave up all that > for a common voice of all Gambians, such a man will > not be resting in peace if He is aware that Gambians > even though this is very few are making tribal > comments. > It does not matter what we call our selves we are > all related in The Gambia. > What I would to see The government outlawing names > like Boy Pullo, Musa Sarahulay, etc. > There is a need in the curriculum of all Gambian > Schools to learn all local languages up to high school > level. Teachers should be encourage to let pupils know > that they are Gambians and belong to to no tribe. > Gambians, I once again appeal to all of you let us > trade in knowledge and stop trading in insults. > I am very optimistic that we can all learn from each > other and argue in an intellectual way without > resorting to inflammatory languages. > I know very well that the best way to earn the > respect and love of others is to demonstrate > intellectual maturity and complete honesty and not the > anger and fist that we show. > Most of the time we shoe our anger and frustration > the desired ambition always boomerangs > While I am optimistic that this request will be > highly regarded by all of you, I am very much sure > that this is honourable path to follow > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway > http://promotions.yahoo.com/design_giveaway/ > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > 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 > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~