LJD, I chuckled when i read Mathew's piece on Maafanta earlier. I thought this is good but why the omission of his friends. Anyway, no need to apologise to me. Just wondering what caused this latest epiphany . Best, Mboge On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 2:34 AM, Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > All > > I'm not in the habit of forwarding material by Mathew K Jallow, but I > proudly make an exception on this occasion. Even with his stark omissions, > this is a brilliant piece, and please feel free to insert the names that > are shouting for inclusion in this Professor Jammeh luminaries list > including "... Sarjo Jallow, Nene Macdolle, Fatoumata Tambajang, Nana > Grey-Johnson, Bala Garba-Jahumpa and Mbemba Tambedou ..." > > Will our good brother now do the honorable thing and apologize to M O > Mboge, Joe Sambou, and myself for saying the very same thing only months > ago, and in the process needlessly incurring his substantial wrath. Mathew > has come of age, and I am now willing to consider him for President of the > Third Republic. > > > LJDarbo > > > * > * > * > * > * > * > *The Gambia: The new mind of a people and the color of betrayal***** > * * > *By Mathew K Jallow***** > ** ** > To digress from the nastiness of politics for a moment, this focus, > instead, on human nature in Gambia, is a fundamental component of the > changes in our cultural landscape. This plunge into the complexity of human > nature attempts to contextualize the enormous lapses in judgment to which > many Gambians have become willing victims. And, this is not in reference to > theoretical psychology, but on the facts of our lives that respond to our > moral groundings. It is our lived experience, groomed by society’s norms, > and distinguish our capacity to rationalize from the other forces in > nature; animals. At one critical level, our countrymen and womens’ fickle > minds lend themselves to fall into the dreadful entrapment of the promises > of power and prestige, but perhaps the most significant motivating factor > is the power of economics; the bottom-line. In short, it is purely an issue > of self-preservation dictated by a need for political power and economic > self-protection, and over the past eighteen years, it has devalued our > concepts of society, but even more importantly, our perception of our > fellow countrymen and women is hopelessly entangled between the clearly > opposing contradictions of moral obligation and our Darwinian primordial > instincts for survival. The most recent intense public castigation campaign > and moral marginalization of Nana Grey-Johnson, typify the stark division > among Gambians; a division explainable primarily by simple environmental > factors. I was tongue-tied, of course, during Nana’s ordeal, not because of > an innate desire to protect a friend, but rather because of the awareness > of how economic conditions at home provide a powerful force for > malleability and utter indifference to moral rationality.**** > ** ** > Clearly, Nana Grey-Johnson deserved the loud criticisms too, for failing > the moral test, but, with that story now behind us, Nana Grey is not > unmindful that he is wedged between the dangerous company of Imperial King, > Yahya Jammeh and the unforgiving indignation of the vocal Gambian minority. > Today, Gambia is in the grip of an intellectual degradation unlike anything > Africa has experienced since the seventies, and the customariness with > which many Gambians have fallen victims to Imperial King, Yahya Jammeh’s > power and the lure of political status is an object of ongoing debate among > Gambians. The long list of Gambians deserving case studies to provide > empirical evidence in understanding the cruelty of Gambian politics under > Imperial King, Yahya Jammeh, include, but is not limited only to; Sarjo > Jallow, Nene Macdolle, Fatoumata Tambajang, Nana Grey-Johnson, Bala > Garba-Jahumpa and Mbemba Tambedou, all relatives and close friends, among > the other eighty cabinet appointments under Yahya Jammeh. But, this failure > of moral obligation to Gambians has a religious dimension, further > complicating the enormous challenges of moral uprightness. The fact that so > many Gambians choose to disregard the failure of leadership under Imperial > King, Yahya Jammeh, is itself stunning, but that so many of them can endure > the indignities of arrests, tortures and recycleing back into the system, > is mind-blowing and absurd. But, what obsesses the Gambian mind most is the > calculations of accepting temporary appointment in any position under Yahya > Jammeh even while Gambians continue to be murdered, to disappear and to be > reduced in their aspirations and limited in their freedoms.**** > ** ** > Intellectual uprightness dictates the assumption of moral superiority in > our patriotic obligations to our fellow citizens, but the utter failure to > live up to that ideal, will compel my friend Nana Grey-Johnson and all the > others to endure the cloud of bitterness and indignant distaste likely to > hang over their heads in the coming years. That said, the complete collapse > of the moral moorings of fellow citizens back home; from the senior cabinet > positions, to civil servants and to other levels of society, more than > being tantalizing, is slowly reconfiguring the psyche of our people and > changing the values inherited for our noble past. And for now, Gambians > still disappear; the murders still escalate; prison once an anathema, is > now almost a rite of passage; executions still concealed by the darkness of > night, and the terror of a people speaks loudly in its silent eloquence. > Still, Gambians, from cabinet appointees to senior civil servants and > political activists, remain unbothered by the tremendous criminality of the > regime, but most specifically, of Imperial King, Yahya Jammeh. The > unflattering nature of the regime typify a loss of credibility that borders > on illegitimacy and the reduction of an entire society into a permanent > underclass signals the saturation our endurance and the inevitable need for > political change. But, whether Imperial King, Yahya Jammeh will move out by > his own freewill or by the devastating force of cold lead through his > brain, is another matter altogether. The suffering people of the Gambia > have time on their side. For, even the longest nightmare has its day of > freedom, and the Gambia is no different. As it is, the new Gambian mindset > lacks the basic tenets of morality, and Nana Grey-Johnson, like other who > serve Yahya Jammeh, speaks to that moral deficit and that color of betrayal. > **** > ** ** > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 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] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤