Hello, Jabou, et, al. I guess maybe my perspective on this is really different! But suffice it to say that no matter where in the opposition you are, or which party you support, it's easy to talk of being "for the people" and then once you get elected, be something quite different! So I'm not sure I trust *any* of the opposition! PDOIS can educate the people all the want, and that's a good hting. However, when you're the underdog, you can talk a good game and then once you actually get some kind of power, then it goes to your head, and you forget about all of the stuff you said before you get elected! And none of the current opposition parties, to my knowledge, have been put in a position to prove anything they've been talking these past few years, so personally, you don't know how they'd act once elected! Ignorant or not, it's up to the Gambian people to choose their destiny, and whether they want a change or not. Whatever "criterion" they're using to judge, personally speaking, if you believe in the people's right to choose, and democracy, and all of htat, then it's up to the people to choose! If these next elections are free, fair, no fraud, etc., and if the people choose Jammeh, then they've made their choice, good or bad! And I'm not saying that you, necessarily have made this statement but this mantra of "The Gambian people are just too stupid to know hwat's good for them", mantra championed by some of the PDOIS / NADD supporters that I've spoken to personally, really bothers me! I, myself, and I'd venture to say, most people, don't like to be told that they're stupid, and they don't know what's good for htem, so PDOIS has to show them. How could this not lead to some kind of dictatorial tendencies? "The people" don't know what they're doing, so we have to help them. "The people" don't know what's good for them so we have to tell them what to do, etc. Whether UDP/NRP is full of "former PPP" people or not, or "disgruntled businessmen" or not, does this matter? Couldn't PDOIS be full of the same people who became "enlightened"? To me, the criterion is ideas, and that the party proposes to do once elected. I don't care who's in the party or their reasons for joining, that's left to them. What I care about is how the party will govern once elected, and if they'll be "for the people", once they actually get into power and have the wherewithal to actually do something, instead of talking about doing something. I also think there was, or is, a fundamental disagreement about what NADD actually was supposed to be, whether or not the goal was to get Jammeh out, or actually try something new. What I mean, is was this an alliance of opposition parites, or a new party altogether. And that's what got them into trouble with the by-elections last year. Anyway, there just was a fundamental difference about what NADD actually wanted to be. And I personally, am not going to call people power-hungry and selfish, etc., until I see the evidence to prove otherwise, and I've not seen that evidence. I also wonder how much some really wanted a united opposition, as quick as they are to spew such ugly things about the opposition party they *don't* support. And they seem to have as much hatred for the other opposition parties as they do for Jammeh. And yet we still say we want a united opposition? Do we really? I don't know. Anyway, at this point, all of this is rhetoric, water under the bridge. The Gambian people have a choice to make on September 22nd, and assuming the elctions are free and fair, they will choose, and they should be given that right, even if they choose someone that we may not like. And especially if we want to talk about democracy and the will of the people, etc. Perhaps if the people beocme "politically mature", etc., then they will choose something different for themselves, but people have to be allowed to mature, and they have to be given the right to choose thier own destiny, and not to have things hoisted on them by people who thing they are too stupid to do it for themselves. Ginny ----- Original Message ----- From: <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 3:36 PM Subject: Re: THE ALLIANCE for REGIME CHANGE/Sidibeh Brother Sidibeh, You wrote: " So for goodness' sake, why, after fifteen hard years on the tracks, is PDOIS, boasting a leadership with impeccable integrity, perhaps the best educated, the most down-to-earth, still trailing the voter statistics at under 3%? Why?..." The answer is because the education of our people to what the proper criterion to use in selecting a leader is yet incomplete and we have people who although they recognize and extol the virtues of an organization like PDOIS, will at the same time turn around and make statements like you have made here. The above alas! is the battle cry of the UDP/NRP of late. Because If the people are educated about their rights, they will naturally choose an organization like PDOIS instead of letting themselves be used a pawns in the political game by those who recognize the truth but choose to perpetuate the ignorance of the people for their own benefit. You wrote: "The elusiveness of the answer to this question, perhaps only a temporal difficulty is one important reason why PDOIS itself saw the need to work with other parties, parties that we may disapprove of for various reasons, to build a coalition to remove the APRC from power." Was the coalition the idea of PDOIS alone? Like the UDP/NRP misinformation campaign, you make it appear as if PDOIS initiated the idea of a coalition for the sole purpose of having a chance at power and that is also the simplistic battle cry of the UDP but Gambians are not buying that fallacy anymore. Does the reality on the ground not dictate to any sober thinking person that without a coalition of the opposition, none of them possesses the required number of votes to beat the APRC? I believe you have said the same thing many times. What use is the UDP/NRP's 46% if it is not enough to win the elections? You are right, PDOIS saw a need to work with others in a coalition when the idea was presented to them as did the UDP and NRP, or at least that is what they made the people believe, and PDOIS, NDAM and the other players have never abandoned that ideal. They are not the ones who walked away. On the other hand, the UDP/NRP's reasons for leaving the coalition is abundantly clear to everyone although they insist on trying to make us believe it is anything other than what is so obvious. This supposedly paltry 3% is also needed by the UDP/NRP alliance because obviously, their 46% is not enough to win the presidency, and this paltry 3% symbolizes the sad state of our people as it evidences their ignorance to what qualifies good leadership and is a testament to the fact that others are exploiting this ignorance and can therefore point to it as a weakness for a party that no sincere Gambian can honestly say does not have the interest of the nation at heart. Anyone who dwells on the fact that PDOIS is able to draw only 3% of the vote in a national election instead of mourning it as an indication of our people's lack of education as to their rights and what constitutes good leadership choices cannot have the interest of our country and our people at heart and is clearly interested in preserving something other than what is best for all Gambians. Jabou Joh In a message dated 9/10/2006 2:25:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Sister Jabou, For obvious reasons of principles (earlier stated) I would limit my response to the following: On Saturday, december 1, 2001, in a rejoinder to one Sister Mariatou and Brother Yahya on Gambia-L, and in support of their view on the election results, I asked the following question: "...But in the mean time, here is my 1000 dalasi question? Yes, I too do not entirely agree with PDOIS economic thinking yet I am confident that it was not on account of their econmics that most Gambians voted for other parties. So for goodness' sake, why, after fifteen hard years on the tracks, is PDOIS, boasting a leadership with impeccable integrity, perhaps the best educated, the most down-to-earth, still trailing the voter statistics at under 3%? Why?..." The elusiveness of the answer to this question, perhaps only a temporal difficulty is one important reason why PDOIS itself saw the need to work with other parties, parties that we may disapprove of for various reasons, to build a coalition to remove the APRC from power. Faced with an engine of tyranny like the APRC, I want to believe that slamming the door on all future possibilities of a rapprochement I think is simply futile. Other matters you raised I would discuss after the elections not as a way of apportioning blame, but as a way of pointing out serious tactical and strategic errors that may perhaps help in a small way, in charting out a viable path towards our common liberation. That, I believe, should be the mission of criticism and self-criticism especially amongst progressives. Many many thanks, sidibeh いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい 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] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい 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] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい 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] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい