Great commentary Baba On Oct 25, 2011 6:09 AM, "Y Jallow" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Mawdo Baba, > > > > Unfortunately dictators don’t learn, so there Jammeh too will wait for his > turn, for his skull to be smashed to pieces. What is really funny, just look > at the shameful endings. Saddam was found in a hole and the same as > Ghaddafi. What is it worth after all, being in power for 42 years, and to > only end in the scenarios observed? > > > > I equally believe that Jammeh just like Toure are just like father like > son. The death of prominent Guineans like the OAU’s first Secretary General > Telli Diallo is all you need to grasp to conclude that Toure was just > another monstrous devil dressed in a grandbuba. Their breeds have > shamefully succeeded in defaulting by historical accident to the human > species. With the North African spring flaking white snow everywhere, it is > without a doubt we conclude that God is ready to conquer them one by one. > > The so-called development is mere white elephants projects. Jammeh has > failed woefully. The free education for girls was nothing but a political > propaganda. The hospitals and some the schools are empty. > > > > Thank you for continually enlightening us Baba. I think your discuss with > dictator Jammeh sums what Gandhi said, and to paraphrase that there will > always be dictators and tyrants in this world but their ending is shameful. > > > > > Keep them coming … > > > > Kind Regards, > > Yero > > > *There is no god but Allah (SWT) and Muhammad (SAW) is His messenger. Fear > and Worship only Allah alone!* > > > ------------------------------ > Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:38:17 -0500 > Subject: [>-<] Discourse with Dr. Jammeh: Nation Body and Nation Mind > From: [log in to unmask] > To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; > [log in to unmask] > > *Discourse with Dr. Jammeh: Nation Body and Nation Mind* > > > > By Baba Galleh Jallow > > > > Dear Dr. Jammeh, let us first start by asking you to accept our condolences > on the death of your erstwhile friend and mentor, Muammar Gaddafi. Who would > have thought that just about a decade after he conferred upon you the > glorious titles of Grand Commander of the Order of Al-Fatah, the Grand Order > of Bravery, and The African Medal, he would meet with such an inglorious > end? Well, as the adage goes, he who lives by the sword dies by the sword; > he who specializes in inflicting violence on his fellow humans will have > violence inflicted upon him. So it has been in the past; so is it in the > present; so shall it be in the future. It is an immutable law of nature that > humans reap what they sow, a lesson that unfortunately for them and their > victims, dictators and tyrants never learn. > > > > Talking of dictators, you have loudly declared to us that you are a > dictator for development. What exactly did you mean dictator for > development? What development? Whose development? Are you a dictator for > development because Gambians are stupid and you are the only Gambian clever > enough to know what development means and the only one capable of bringing > it for Gambians? Or are you a dictator concerned primarily about the > development of your own personal interests? Since Gambians are not stupid > and incapable of bringing about their own development, we can only imagine > that you are a dictator for your own personal development. And so you > proclaim that you are a dictator for development – your own personal > development hiding behind the façade of national development – a concept we > are certain you do not fully understand and to which we will return shortly. > > > > > You see Dr. Jammeh, you are not the first African dictator to proclaim that > you a dictator for development. Guinea’s late dictator Sekou Toure comes > readily to mind. To rebuff claims that his regime was a dictatorship, Toure > argued that all governments were by nature dictatorships. Dictatorship, he > claimed, “is the concentration of powers exercised by a man or group of men > over the whole. . . . If the dictatorship exercised by the governmental > apparatus emanates directly from the whole of the people, this dictatorship > is popular in nature and the state is a democratic state - democracy being > the exercise of national sovereignty by the people.” It was in this sense > that Sekou Toure espoused his paradoxical concept of “democratic > dictatorship” which was a clear contradiction in terms. Having imposed a > dictatorship and assumed a position of infallibility and omnipotence, Sekou > Toure was condemned to live in a world of conspiracies, real and imagined. > Paranoia born of despotism led him into a constant tirade against > imperialism and neocolonialism and “fifth column” elements out to kill him. > Indeed, his voice could daily be heard over Radio Conakry railing against > perceived enemies of the revolution and chanting down imperialism and > neocolonialism. Like all dictators, Sekou Toure routinely “unveiled” alleged > plots against his life which he then used to imprison, kill or exile his > opponents – real or perceived. In the end, he left a country pregnant with > the kind of mayhem and chaos we have seen through the reigns of Lansana > Conteh and Musa Dadis Camara. His dictatorship brought zero development to > Guinea and set the country on a tortuous path to destruction after his > death. Sadly, the saying that history’s greatest lesson is that man never > learns from history has a lot to commend it. > > > > The position of Gambianism is that The Gambia’s one and only legitimate > dictator is the Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia. As two bulls > cannot drink from the same calabash, the lesser and weaker of the two has to > withdraw its horns before they get broken by the stronger force. In our > particular case, you, Dr. Jammeh, are the lesser of the two bulls because > you are a mere mortal, a human being and a fellow citizen like all the rest > of the Gambian community. You can only be a dictator over a country > inhabited by unimaginative nitwits or one that has no constitution and > therefore one in which the rule of law is out of the question. In a country > such as ours where people are intelligent and the Constitution is the > supreme law of the land, there is no room for a personal dictator – of > development or otherwise. > > > > Now Dr. Jammeh, let us turn to the question of development? What exactly is > development? Because of the elusive nature of this concept, Gambianism > believes that it is more profitable to focus on what is there to be > developed rather than what development is. In our conception of what needs > to be developed, we think in terms of two major components of our national > entity: the Nation Body and the Nation Mind. The two complement each other > and neither can develop in a healthy manner without the other. > > > > The Nation Body refers to the economic and physical structures of our > country – the roads, hospitals, banks, schools, hotels, parks, and other > physical infrastructure and financial institutions that facilitates physical > and bureaucratic mobility. The Nation Body would include all the trappings > of modernity, all our documentary institutions, our constitution, our laws, > the media, and that collective Gambian voice that lays legitimate claim to > ownership of the country. Obviously, there is no denying the fact that the > Nation Body needs to be healthy and beautiful – that infrastructure needs to > be built and maintained, that the economy needs to be carefully tended, that > the constitution and laws of the land need to be given supreme respect and > that the collective voice of the nation needs to be given the space it > requires to make itself heard and to contribute its quota to the task of > national wellbeing. We know, Dr. Jammeh, that you have made some progress in > developing some aspects of the Gambian Nation Body. You have built schools > and hospitals and roads. But you have miserably failed to attend to those > facets of the Gambian Nation Body whose blossoming threatens to question > your right to impose yourself as a dictator on the Gambian people. That > needs to be corrected. > > > > The Nation Mind is that which nurtures or drives the healthy development of > the Nation Body. It is manifested in the collective intellectual energies of > the Gambian people. It is expressed in the varied, conflicting or > complimentary views and opinions of the Gambian people. It is the spirit > that animates and is animated by love of country and that sense of true > patriotism which causes people to sacrifice their personal security and even > their lives for the betterment of the whole. It is that most important > aspect of the Gambian Nation that must be given unchallenged priority if we > are ever to rise above the petty obstacles and bottlenecks that hold us back > as a people. Whoever wishes for genuine human progress must selflessly > nurture the Nation Mind, a task that demands more humanity and more honesty > and integrity than could be found in a human dictatorship. This is because > by definition, human dictatorship is always inspired by a selfish desire to > preclude opinions, views and practices that run counter to its own personal > interests. > > > > Now Dr. Jammeh, we would concede that at least one Gambian body has indeed > seen some rather remarkable development since 1994 mostly to the exclusion > of others. We note that this particular Gambian body has been transformed > from a slender structure with a rugged face and cracked lips to a large > structure with a rotund and oily face that shines even in the darkest of > nights. We note that it now dons neat white caps and flowing robes with > bulging chest pockets, and habitually clutches a tool in one hand and a > weapon in the other ostensibly for security and mystification purposes. We > note that it owns an increasing number of hotels and banks and businesses > and houses and large plots of land – and many other distorted symbols of > Gambian modernity. Unfortunately, we note that its development has been > warped, distorted and one-sided, feeding as it were on a very unhealthy diet > of the blood and sweat of innocent persons and their God-given rights. In > any case, Dr. Jammeh, it is with the development of the Nation Mind – a Mind > that you stand accused of starving – that we are especially concerned about. > God willing, we will elaborate on this theme in our next conversation. > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 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]¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 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] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤