Tribute to Comrade Sillah By Tone Cisse. 20th February 2006 Here is my tribute.... a poem: Tribute to Comrade Bright heat and shaft of blinding sunlight Strikes from a new sheet of corrugated roofing Midday Banjul heat Friday I turn off Otto Road into New Perseverance Through a dusty compound, under lines of drying washing, multicoloured like an exhibition of art against the shade less sky The air heavy with the sweet smell of ‘sasa’ or maybe ‘lobito’ (1) A small room in a line of ‘boys’ quarters’ Inside Ebou, Comrade Sillah Shirtless and sweating Pencil working on a sketchpad, Holds forth on dialectical materialism and Pan-africanism As, ignored, the muezzin calls the faithful to Friday prayer… Comrade Sillah is gone An ‘elder brother’ lost No more heated polemical debates No more inspired visionary paintings providing realistic windows on the prevailing social conditions In shock at the news I remember Raging debates on Marxism, The application of theory to practice, The role of the intelligencia, Peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie, Comrade, Sitting behind a chessboard, Astride a sewage gully thick with green crust, Holding forth on the intricacies of the revolution in Iran, armed struggle in South Africa, snowy wastes of past Bolshevik struggles, the Kronstadt, the Paris Commune, and Amilcar Cabral (3) Mixed in with the ‘Doumma’ of a slammed down checkmate. Giants of history and political action brought to life verbatim in the afternoon and Attaya of a Banjul ‘vous’, (4) Debates staged with others also now gone…E.O.Njie, Jallow Union… Comrade, Aficionado of jazz and ‘soupa kandia’, (5) His small bachelor room piled high with books, paintings flowing ashtrays Became our seminar room, our corrugated iron university A giant of the intellect, theoretician, historian, philosopher and educator Communist, Marxist, Pan Africanist…Artist Artist, Nobel prize nominee for the work called ‘Pater Nostra’ A deep social realism…as sharp with irony and accuracy as his polemical tongue in a heated debate. Comrade, My mentor, my teacher, It is only now with his passing that it starts to dawn on me how great an influence he was, I see it in my own drawings, the power of pen and ink, the techniques of batik, and the maths in sign writing… the long afternoons of writing ‘No Unauthorised Personnel’ by the dozen for a contract thanks to the US Embassy… *(but wait…did we ever get paid for that?) ‘Sama rakk bul yabatey’ (6) I can hear Comrade’s comment… Comrade Ebou Sillah Flawed hero who taught us humanity And educated a generation You will always be with us Rest in peace Tony Cisse February 2006 Notes (1) Sasa Lobito – strong varieties of marijuana (2) 1921 rebellion of Russian sailors against the Bolsheviks (3) leader of the national independence struggle in Guinea Bissau (4) Gambian expression - ‘Vous’ short for ‘rendezvous’ or informal club (5) Gambian dish made with palm oil (6) ‘Don’t be rude younger brother’ Tony Cisse Visit my websites, http://groups.msn.com/TonyCisse - personal site with links to areasof interest http://groups.msn.com/GuuySipiProject - website of my project in Senegal offering small goup programmes combining a fusion of cultural exploration, personal development, self-awareness, and coaching. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤