listserv.icors.org -----Original Message----- From: Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Fri, Aug 12, 2011 6:34 pm Subject: Re: [G_L] Rene / [>-<] Mathew K on Coalition and the Point Newspaper Brother Rene, "Please do not compound your problems. Just apologize and we move on so I can wring your small neck. I'm waiting for you on the other side of the apology." Haruna, why do you want me to apologize for an observation that I made. I made a general statement, and you should try to understand that statement within the context that I made it. I made a distinction between opposition to a political dispensation that is characterized by principle and purpose; and opposition to a political dispensation that is not characterize by principle and purpose, but merely by a desire to change the present leadership because it is in the wrong hands. In the hands of a person who is in the minority. "Yahya's hands is the wrong hands. NOT THE JOLA MINORITY. Every Gambian understand who is the wrong hands in Gambia. Why would you unduly extrapolate that to mean The JOLA MINORITY's hands should not be entrusted with the governance of Gambia???? Can you trust the hands of the other minorities?????? Can you trust the hands of the majorities???????? " Well, you are making that determination and that distinction. There are others who are not making that determination and that distinction. I do not unduly make the extrapolation, it has already been extrapolated. Some of our opinions and political commentaries are littered in such extrapolations. With the kind of political dispensation that I support, all minority and majority groups would be entrusted with the governance of Gambia. In fact, minority or majority groupings would be so insignificant in the process, it would not be discernible who is minority or majority. It would all be about issues. Issues, Issues and Issues. The politics of issues. "Please don't compound the misspeak. Instead of make "the wrong hands" more explicit, you introduced, inadvertently I believe, the ire of odious tribalism Rene. Take it from a brother. Please." Well, Haruna, I believe the smell of tribalism was already there. I didn't introduced it. I only observed it. "We all misspeak once in a while. The gravitas of a man is in the recognition and correction of misspeak. You are better than this. And plus, your problem is not with me. You can handle me very well as you have demonstrated in the past. The problem is with the JOLA MINORITY of GAMBIA to whom you owe apology." Haruna, we can agree to disagree on this. You know that I have no compunction to apologize for something done wrong; neither if I say something untoward. But I believe I can express an observation. You can disagree with me. And I take your disagreement in good faith. Don't extend your misgivings to the Jola Minority. I did not do them any wrong nor do I owe them any apology. I hold them in the same esteem and regard as all other ethnic groupings. Haruna. Even if you and I try to massage this to become benign, the perception you will have left in the minds of most Gambians will have been one of an unapologetic tribalist. Please consider carefully. I don't know why you want to manage an observation that you may consider tribalist. Let the statement stand for what it is, and it can leave in the minds of most Gambians who the unapologetic tribalists really are. I have considered it carefully. Rene Re: [>-<] Mathew K on Coalition and the Point Newspaper From: [log in to unmask] Reply-To: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:06:10 -0400 Haruna, "When opposition to a political dispensation is not characterizedby a sense of principle and purpose; when such opposition is merely thedesire to change the leadership of the country, because it has falleninto the wrong hands (into the hands of the JOLA minority), thepolitical narrative becomes an intensive campaign of vilification,demagoguery against the status quo, and criticisms just about anythingand anyone who stands in the way of bringing down such a leadership." The above statement in quotes is a general statement, an observation if you will. It can also represent a political constituency that exhibits such tendencies. I wrote it as an observation which stands independent of the other remarks I have made. I presume it attracted the attention it did because of the remarks I put in brackets. But without the remarks in brackets the connotation " it has fallen into the wrong hands" wouldn't be quite explicit. It could mean falling into the wrong hands of anyone. However, putting those remarks in brackets, I admit tends to make the statement "it has fallen into the wrong hands" more explicit. Into the hands of the JOLA minority. But is the statement true? Do some people tend to see it that way? Rene -----Original Message----- From: thegdproject <[log in to unmask]> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Fri, Aug 12, 2011 12:25 am Subject: Re: [G_L] [>-<] Mathew K on Coalition and the Point Newspaper With all due respect brother Rene, how can you glean the following conclusion from any or all of the body of material Mathew has written?; ".... because it (the govt) has fallen into the wrong hands (into the hands of the JOLA minority)..." Rene It is inexcusable. Just apologize and we move forward. Frankly I think it is unlike you. Perhaps your disdain of Mathew got the better of you temporarily. I have been and I continue to read Mathew. Even I take him to be a rebel of all and any, including, no cause. But that he obviates Jolas from governing Gambia?????????????? That is too extreme even for Mathew. Just apologize and let's go. You have bigger problems than this misspeak of yours. Haruna. -----Original Message----- From: rebadjan <[log in to unmask]> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thu, Aug 11, 2011 6:25 pm Subject: Re: [G_L] [>-<] Mathew K on Coalition and the Point Newspaper I wish to acknowledge that mails are coming to me in a filter, and I am not getting the response of people until I opened another mail that bears the same headline. Now, to come to the contention that Ansu raised, I am not making any fabrications against Mathew. This is how he comes across to me through the many articles and opinions he has shared, that I have read. I am the least interested about tribal politics or its insinuations, but I can identify one when I see it. My approach and my orientation to Gambian political issues, may be completely different from the one that you profess; and given that now I may be willing to respond to some of these political issues, we can argue and debate the merits and demerits of these issues without being acrimonious. I await your contentions and I will respond to them. Rene -----Original Message----- From: Malanding Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thu, Aug 11, 2011 2:43 pm Subject: Re: [G_L] [>-<] Mathew K on Coalition and the Point Newspaper Ansu, Please let every G-Ler argue his/her case without being disagreeable. It makes us a better community. Malanding Jaiteh On 8/11/2011 4:52 PM, Ansumana Bojang wrote: > Rene, > > ".... because it (the govt) has fallen into the wrong hands (into the hands of the JOLA minority)..." Rene > > Please spare us with your tribal insinuations and stick to the facts and realities in Gambia and not your fantasies. If do not know Matthew Jallow is no fan of UDP and Darboe. Go back to the archives and apprise yourself of this. So, please read his article with some objectivity and perhaps you could learn something; however little. > > I am sick of some of you guy's tribalism here. And you consider yourselves the learned bunch. I wonder what your education has benefited you if you preoccupy yourself with such ignorance and chicanery. I have tried to ignore the many gibes that people have taken at the Mandinkas here both directly and some subtlely. Enough is Enough! > > Ansu > > > Rene said: > > It looks like Mathews take on PDOIS is not govern by any sense of rational inquiry, but by a desire to malign and castigate as is always the case when he writes about PDOIS. > > > It also looks like Mathew does not have a through grasp of the dynamics that surrounds the political reality in Gambia, if so, he would not have been making statements that runs contrary to what is actually happening on the ground. > > > When opposition to a political dispensation is not characterized by a sense of principle and purpose; when such opposition is merely the desire to change the leadership of the country, because it has fallen into the wrong hands (into the hands of the JOLA minority), the political narrative becomes an intensive campaign of vilification, demagoguery against the status quo, and criticisms just about anything and anyone who stands in the way of bringing down such a leadership. > > > PDOIS bears the brunt of these criticisms because of its principle stand on issues of governance; and the mission and vision it has articulated so profusely that does not favor the "lets get rid of them by any means possible" or "lets get rid of them now, then decide the fate of the country later," that is being propagated by our political pundits and diaspora intellectuals who will rationalize any argument as a justification for their position. > > > Because Mathew is so critical about anything PDOIS, he will jump at every opportunity to make scathing statements about PDOIS or its leadership, even if such statements are not grounded on facts or reality. > > > For how else can Mathew infer that the fate of PDOIS is inextricably tied to the success or failure of the United Democratic Party. This is the most lamentable statement I have ever read as a political commentary in Gambian politics. It is neither grounded on fact or reality. The fate of PDOIS has never been tied to the success or failure of the UDP, and never will. > > > The simple reason for this is that, the vision, mission, principles and policies that guide the existence and survival of PDOIS as a political party for more than three decades, just cannot be equated with the UDP that has a different vision and mission. And If Mathew tends to make this summation based on electoral gains, let him be reminded that it took almost a century for the ANC to succeed in South Africa. > > > And no matter how big a political party or its following, without a strong foundation it will come tumbling down like Humpty dumpty. What happens to the P.P.P.? Whats happens to the N.C.P? They were the largest and biggest political party and opposition political party in the country prior to 1994. > > > Who drives the opposition political agenda? Mathew may not agree, but certainly it is PDOIS. They are the ones who are making the public statements; writing the political blueprints and objective standpoints that seek to guide the evolution of a process, that will help eventually to bring about a change of government. What irks people like Mathew is that they don't want a process; they want PDOIS to fall behind the UDP and help to hand over the government to them. This is not going to happen. All the name calling is not going to do the trick. > "In my singular opinion, PDOIS owes it highest loyalty to itself, and its storybook in The Gambia’s political > landscape has been solely a marketing strategy whose aim is to articulate by word and actions, the brilliance of the ideal; its own > ideal, with the hope of attaining political power by whatever means through a highly suspect and superficial political brinkmanship. > PDOIS’s trite approach to the formation of a coalition is predicated on its nebulous, if not Ad Nauseum subliminal references to the leadership > of the United Democratic Party. But the UDP does not answer to PDOIS’s agenda nor is it obliged to fulfill what the PDOIS leadership seems to > characterize as the precondition to a coalition formation. For a coalition to come into fruition, PDOIS must subordinate its authority > to UDP without attempting to dictate the agenda, for only then will its hope for an eventual elevation to national and international prominence > ever come close to becoming reality" > > > Arguably the above statement is devoid of intellectual inquiry, that has the basis to argue any of the points that enumerated. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interfaceat: 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-lTo 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://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] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤