Saikou, I had so little to say because I do not believe in the Bush/neoconservative agenda. I think to any keen student of the relations between "The West" and the rest of the world, it merely represents a recycling of the imperialist pretense "The white man's burden". Even though to some there are benefits that forces working to remove dictatorships can gain from The Bush Agenda, it is not laudable because in essence it is undemocratic! Just the other day I was going through my papers and I came across a poem I wrote in 1991 in the aftermath of the death of ninety three Senegalese soldiers during The First Gulf War. This was my reaction then and it basically remains so to this day. I am convinced that in the majority of cases when a nation assists another to attain national liberation or freedom from a dictatorship, there are ulterior motives involved! YOUR WARS NOT OURS: WASTING BILLIONS Ninety three men of valour Reputed best defenders of a nation Selected from amongst the ranks Of a national army In a split second are gone Science and technology have advanced So that people can visit the moon And put satellites in space To do variable data collections Making earth a single village Defence budgets are the fattest No doubt generals are flamboyant Soldiers becoming most arrogant For with their deadly machines poised We are completely at their mercy As for the people in the streets Who pay all the taxes That they are always devicing To sponsor their fat budgets No respite, no peace, no security! You sent our grandfathers to Waterloo Our fathers to Burma And our brothers to the Gulf To face destructive machines of war For the expansion of your profit margins You waste billions in wars To defend some principles Yet in chile, Ethiopia and The Sudan Theres starvation of a generation You cant spend billions to save lives Have you not learnt your lessons That your wars and bloodshed Solve not your problems But only sow seeds of hatred Which germinate into revenge later Omar Joof. >From: samateh saikou <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [>-<] Spinning Liberty >Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 01:54:45 +0000 > >Omar, >But I agree with the many analysts who also argue that much of the speech >is >for internal consumption.With the economic difficulties America is >experiencing,the failure(defeat) in Iraq,it should not be difficult to >predict what lies ahead for the American moral.The Neo conservative >convinced with the believed that the Moral of the American is of >fundamental importance in sustaining the image America has and must >continue >to build for her self in the outside world.To burst that moral,Americans >should be told that they are responsible for fighting the "evil" and >"Spread >democracy" to the outside world.This make religious fanatics,like Bush,a >very useful "duff" for the noe -conservatives. > >For Freedom >Saiks > >>From: "omar joof" <[log in to unmask]> >>Reply-To: [log in to unmask] >>To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] >>Subject: RE: [>-<] Spinning Liberty >>Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:27:24 +0000 >> >>[ This e-mail is posted to Gambia|Post e-Gathering by "omar joof" >><[log in to unmask]> ] >> >> >>Ebou, >>I very ardently share your hopes in this regard! >>Omar Joof. >> >>>From: Ebou Jallow <[log in to unmask]> >>>Reply-To: [log in to unmask] >>>To: [log in to unmask] >>>Subject: [>-<] Spinning Liberty >>>Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:06:45 -0800 (PST) >>> >>> >>>I find myself on line with the idea argued by Jurgen Habermas that >>>modernity is an unfinished project and postmodernism is an offshoot if >>>not >>>a perversion of history after the Enlightenment. This sensation dawned >>>on >>>me yesterday whilst listening to Pres. Bush’s inaugural address at the >>>Mall. Americans love to believe in a Heavenly Father who endows mankind >>>with inalienable rights. A commendable act of faith indeed but the >>>foundation of that creed is misplaced. America is born during the >>>Enlightenment…an explosive epoch during the history of human that >>>reverses >>>the excesses of the religious clergy and reinstates humanism as >>>understood >>>from the ancient Greeks. >>> >>>The three spinning Goddesses of Fate, Moirae in white robes are ancient >>>deities that even the Zeus feared. I found myself entertaining the >>>notion >>>that even the White House is purposively painted white in sanctification >>>of the Goddesses of Destiny. Ever since the presidency of James Madison >>>there has been a national feeling of a moral crusade towards liberty as >>>John O’Sullivan in 1845, once wrote that "it was the nation's manifest >>>destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which >>>Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of >>>liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." The spinning of >>>liberty has been the business of America as Americans understand >>>themselves, and an ongoing project as President Bush eloquently >>>demonstrated yesterday before the world: >>> >>> >>> >>>“All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will >>>not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors,” President George >>>Walker Bush >>> >>> >>> >>>President Bush’s new found crusade against tyranny and for a world wide >>>experimental democracy is a reconciliation of noble American intentions >>>and interests…a synthesis that has never been before in modern human >>>history. Lady Liberty is on the march again, and hopefully she shall >>>tear >>>down all the garrisons of oppression around the globe. So the Yaya >>>Jammehs of this world beware because Uncle Sam has had enough. And for >>>the oppressed Gambian people, America has made a pledge: >>> >>> >>> >>>"When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you” Pres. Bush >>> >>> >>> >>>Almost half a century ago President Woodrow Wilson helped end colonialism >>>and European imperialism with his 14 point address at the League of >>>Nations. Let us also hope that President Bush’s second inaugural address >>>shall motivate heroic spirits and freedom fighters to end autocracy, >>>tyranny and all types of oppression. President Bush has promised to spin >>>the thread of liberty, and I pray it reaches all dark corners of the >>>globe. >>> >>> >>> >>>Ebou Jallow >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>__________________________________________________ >>>Do You Yahoo!? >>>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >>>http://mail.yahoo.com >> >> >> >> >> >>----------------------------gambiapost.NET------------------------------ >>------LATEST NEWS FROM THE GAMBIA, NOW AT:>>------- >>http://www.gambiapost.net/newspaper >>-------------ACCESS TO OUR ARCHIVE AT:>>----------- >>http://www.gambiapost.net/signon.php >>(password is : freedumo ) >>--------CHAT WITH FELLOW GAMBIA POSTERS>>---------- >>http://65.18.147.105/chat/index.php >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>Be sure to contact List Management for (un)subscription requests by e-mail >>addressed to: [log in to unmask] or simply follow our DIY directions >>at: http://www.gambiapost.net/unsubscribe.htm >>------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>©2002 Our Guiding Principle : "Va, pensiero", "Let thought(s) fly forth" >>------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >_________________________________________________________________ >Express yourself with cool new emoticons >http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/myemo > >¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ >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 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] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤