Baba, Splendid, beautiful! Simply brilliant. As Bailo, i shall be avidly waiting for the rest of the series. ' Thanks, Mboge On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 9:21 PM, Bailo Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Baba, > > Brilliant!. Looking forward to B Section. > > Bailo > > ------------------------------ > From: [log in to unmask] > To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; > [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask] > Subject: [>-<] The Real July 22nd Revolution - A Section > Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:48:37 +0000 > > > The Real July 22nd Revolution – A Section > > By Baba Galleh Jallow > > Traditionally, as July 22nd approaches, our minds are exercised by matters > of grave national import occasioned by the military overthrow of the > thirty-year-old civilian regime of Sir Dawda Jawara. A conspiracy theory has > it that some malignant distant power seems to have grown tired of old Sir > Dawda or perceived him, rightly or wrongly, as representing some form of > threat to its sacred interests. Whatever its motive, the malignant power > seems to have found ready and willing weapons in the hands of a few soldiers > of the Gambia National Army with which they chased Sir Dawda out of town and > then carried him to safety. The condition and reward for the willing weapons > was merely that no weapon must be discharged and they would all live happily > ever after. A second, more mundane theory, one that was espoused by soldiers > of the Gambia National Army in the aftermath of the July 22nd, 1994 coup, > has it that Sir Dawda Jawara presided over an inefficient and corrupt > system, that had been in power for far too long, and that the loyal national > army had intervened to rectify. > > Whether our conspiracy theorists are right or wrong, the soldiers have > lived happily ever after, some of them becoming millionaires in the process > and bagging honorary doctorates both fundamental and ordinary universities > around the world. Every year, they celebrate July 22nd in grand style. They > declare it a national holiday, a day on which the Gambian people are invited > to join in commemorating the day the weapons killed without discharging. It > is always a magic day for them. A day on which they proclaim their legendary > bravery against a small group of unarmed and terrified old men suffering > from chronic paranoia born of perennial fear of a military coup. A day on > which they enumerate their great victories over pitifully unequal opponents > and tout their great achievements, evidenced by heavily armed convoys of > fierce looking soldiers, the glittering lines of flashy expensive cars they > own, the magnificent flowing robes they wear, the visible shine of the > creamy fat oozing out of their formerly hollow cheeks. On that day, Opulence > itself is bedecked with gold and glory and made to strut and wildly dance in > the streets, making funny faces at the National Conscience; making the > hungry stomachs of the teeming poor churn with sorrow, and making them > wonder why some people are so filthy wealthy, while they are so dryly poor. > This disturbing thought conjures up the solid myth of divine favor, which > appeases their baffled spirits. Yes, it is God’s will that Yahya Jammeh > becomes president. It is God’s will that he could rise from a poor, > malnourished lieutenant to a fat multi-millionaire, if not billionaire, > within the space of a few years, while they have been poor and hungry all > their lives, even before Yahya Jammeh was born. > > Deaf and blind to the sorry plight of these hungry poor, the conspiratorial > weapons of the malignant power quietly insist that they are indeed the > blessed recipients of divine favor, the praiseworthy saviors of the wretched > masses. They quietly insist, and often selectively proclaim, that they are > the blessed ones who had brought national glory and happiness to the utterly > stupefied masses. It does not matter that most families hardly afford only > one meal per day; or that the streets are so full of beggars that the police > had to round them up and drag them before a so-called court of justice, > accused of being a public nuisance. Because they are poor, these innocent > beings are publicly humiliated and told that they represent an undesirable > element, a less than human nuisance to their fellow beings. What cruel and > unjust order will stab the souls of people who spend their daily lives > suffering the excruciatingly painful humiliation of begging for a living? > The real July 22nd revolution recognizes that an alliance of soldiers that > claimed to have intervened to rescue the poor people from the clutches of a > corrupt order has morphed into a strange disorder that is not only filthy > rich and corrupt, but that also labels poor beggars a nuisance. It must be a > very small mind that thinks such thoughts and that can justify such > mind-boggling cruelty. > > This year again, the now exceedingly wealthy conspiratorial weapons of the > malignant distant power gleefully look forward to July 22, 2010, another > potentially ridiculously wasteful episode of nauseating extravagance, yet > another occasion to once again remind the Gambian people how extremely > grateful they should be to His Excellency the President, Retired Colonel > Sheikh Professor Doctor Alhaji Yahya Abdul Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh; > Exemplary Muslim Extraordinaire; Charitable Soul; Legendary Discover of the > first cure for Aids – the Breakthrough! Possessor of Mystical Powers; Owner > of Escaped Demons; Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Second > Republic of The Gambia! This year again, His Profellency of Aids > Breakthrough fame is looking forward to another celebration, another > occasion to display to the common people just what an uncommon superman he > is. He will enumerate the multiple achievements of his government; he will > reaffirm his iron commitment to the advancement of the Gambian people; he > will warm his ministers and all members of his government that nothing less > that perfect loyalty and perfect service will be tolerated; he will call on > all patriotic Gambians to join him in the noble task of nation-building; he > will swear by the Holy Quran that only over his death body will he allow > anyone to pose a threat to the our national security; he will chastise and > threaten his opponents and critics; and he will deftly demonstrate to the > national public why all his opponents and critics are unpatriotic Gambians > who deserve the worst that his government can offer –imprisonment or even > death! > > The real July 22nd revolution refuses to recognize Yahya Jammeh as a true > revolutionary. His record as a leader of the Gambian people is much less > than deserving of that honorific title of revolutionary. A true > revolutionary cannot be drowned in a sea of names. A true revolutionary > cannot bear the sight of massive posters of his grinning image posted on > every street corner, every park and square, every nook and cranny of the > city. The mind of a true revolutionary cannot possibly be preoccupied with > grandiose and undeserved religious and academic titles; or with flowing > robes and sentence names, and large grinning posters of himself. These will > be a nuisance to his conscience, a distracter to his spare attention, a > shame, an embarrassment to his sensibilities. The real July 22ndrevolution affirms that he who wears large and heavy clothes whether it’s > hot or cold stands in urgent need of a mind revolution. The real July 22ndrevolution recognizes that our so-called former soldiers with a difference, > whose mantra back in 1994 was “we are not here to stay”, do not realize the > enormity of their historical predicament. These men choose to believe what > they want to believe. They merely take life for granted and feel too good to > admit that they are sometimes cruel or unjust, or that they could sometimes > be wrong. Because they are incapable of admitting their human fallibility, > men like Yahya Jammeh are condemned to a tragic state of mental blindness – > much worse than physical blindness; the kind that could mistake poor beggars > for a public nuisance under a self-proclaimed revolutionary and redemptive > order. > > The real July 22nd revolution insists that the military coup that brought > Yahya Jammeh to power was not a revolution at all. It was merely an > archetypical African military coup, one of more than two dozens that have > happened on the continent since 1960. The behavior pattern of Yahya Jammeh > and his henchmen in the military have been no different from that of the > Mobutu Sese Sekos, the Idi Amins, the Sani Abachas, the Mengistu Haile > Mariams, the Samuel Does, and the Gnassingbe Eyademas of Africa. Each has > seized power citing corruption and inefficiency; each had become even more > corrupt and inefficient than its predecessor; and each had unleashed bloody > brutality on sections of its population in the name of national security. > > The real July 22nd revolution knows that a true revolution is not > expressed through flowing robes and extravagant displays of wealth in a > country with so many beggars that they are declared a public nuisance. A > true revolution is not expressed through the adoption of grandiose titles > and ridiculously high-sounding sentence names. A true revolution is not > expressed through the erection of buildings, the building of roads, > electrification, a growing GDP when at the same time, the jails are full of > innocent inmates like Femi Peters, forcibly snatched from his family and > friends, criminalized, and condemned to waste and drown in a sea of > frustration and powerlessness at Mile Two Prison merely for offending Yahya > Jammeh by holding a legitimate and peaceful political rally without a permit > the police repeatedly refused to grant; when the families of men like Chief > Ebrima Manneh, Kanyiba Kanyi, and Daba Marena live in burning agony worrying > about their disappeared loved ones; when the family and friends of a gentle > and promising soul like Ousman Koro Ceesay are condemned to perpetual > agonizing over just how or why Koro was burnt to ashes in his government > issued vehicle; when mild-mannered government critics like Deyda Hydara are > brutally gunned down in nocturnal drive-by shootings, when the hard-earned > printing presses of struggling media houses are doused with petrol and set > on fire, when - and this must be the crowning evil of this regime - when the > president wallows in a nauseatingly creamy sea of wealth while poor and > hungry beggars are arrested by police and charged with being a public > nuisance. The order that presides over these states of affair cannot by any > stretch of the rational imagination be a true revolutionary order. Such an > order desecrates the sacred spirit of Revolution and represents a rude > assault on decent human sensibility. > > A real revolution is always born of extreme oppression. The true > revolutionary spirit is awakened only under conditions of persistent and > brutal oppression. And whatever crimes the regime of Sir Dawda Jawara might > have been guilty of, it was certainly not guilty of the extreme brutality > and oppression, the kind capable of triggering the onset of a real > revolution. That dishonor is rightfully claimed by the regime of President > Yahya Jammeh. The relentless pattern of injustice and brutality the Jammeh > regime continues to mindlessly inflict on Gambian nationals is what has led > to the birth of the revolutionary spirit of the real July 22nd revolution, > which manifests itself in the evolution of a sharp Nation Mind and the > flowering of progressive institutions within the Gambian Nation, which is > much more than merely a geographical expression on the coast of West Africa. > The real July 22nd revolution is an emergent critical mass of politically > conscious Gambians who have bonded across time and across space, and who > recognize Yahya Jammeh for what he truly is – an unfortunate episode in the > history of our country. The real July 22nd revolution knows that Jammeh is > a mere historical actor who, sooner or later, will have to pass on to the > realm of nonbeing. The real July 22nd revolution is a spirit, an essence > that, by its very nature, is beyond mortality and temporality. It has > evolved into a thoughtful Nation Mind that projects itself beyond time and > beyond space; that refuses to recognize man’s right to indulge in willful > and naked acts of injustice against his fellow man merely because he is in a > position to do so. For this Nation Mind, Yahya Jammeh occupies nothing more > and nothing less than his rightful place in the larger scheme of things. > > The real July 22nd revolution also expresses itself in the flowering of > vibrant Gambian civic institutions, despite all of Jammeh’s futile attempts > to stop such a fortunate eventuality. It expresses itself in the spirits of > the Gambia L and the Gambia Post; in the spirits of the Freedom Newspaper, > Gainako, Maafanta, Jollof News, The Gambia Echo, Senegambia News, the Gambia > Journal, Raaki Radio and TV, Baati Rewmi, and other new and vibrant online > media that refuse to recognize Jammeh’s claims to revolutionary stature. It > expresses itself in the spirits of Gambian civic organizations such as the > STGDP and the GPU-USA, among others. This year, as we approach that fateful > date in our nation’s history, it is this Real July 22nd Revolution that > exercises our minds, not the other, fake one which is both illusory and > transitory. > > *Caution:* The real July 22nd revolution is not merely a grammatical > expression to be lightly dismissed out of hand. God willing, in B Section of > this series, we shall demonstrate why this is so. > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. Get it now.<https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969> > ------------------------------ > Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. Sign-up now.<http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/> > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 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] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤