Dear Saiks, Really enjoyed your piece. Brilliant submission. I hope that some members on the "L" can join in this brainstorming crusade. But, something I want us to do is to unshackle ourselves of any predilections of any kind. Otherwise, we shall have a dwarfish freedom of space only enough to swing a cat in to manouevre. I sincerely join you in saluting our people in their honour to live with and resist the myriad of hardship colonialism bestowed on them. That was matured and indeed concious of them to do. We share their plight and indeed those of others who still disown oppression of any kind. However, my focal point of analysis does not in any way touch them. I am looking into what factors might have led us into being colonized from an inner perspective. That is, what our people might have been really doing that could have indicated to have led them into been an easy prey to the West to catch. That will measure my defination of the level of Political Maturity. Not what happened after that when the colonizers came and our people resisted them. Surprisingly, we will realize that even today, Africans to a large extend can be classified as having a low level political maturity. So, what could be Political Maturity? This may arbitrarily be referred, at least in the context that I am using it, to as "Awareness of ones Political Environment both internal and external", and "How to maximise that environment". I shall avoid to quibble over definations as it may be seen by others as a futile exercise in semantic ambiguity. Now, lets closely look at the probable activities of the nature of institutions of administration of our societies during the pre-colonial period. I am quoting no body here be it African or Western, although, our conclusions can be similar. I am only drawing up my own picture. Yes, again one would say, it has no fundations, etc. But, that is where I am starting and that is one enough. The reality of the suitations I will portray will support the argument. I feel that the low level political maturity of our people then (remember I am concern with pre-colonial period) that denied them the foresight to visualize to adventure to a far land and to politically prepare their societies for any kind of aggression or eventualities from any corner of the World or even to take the initiative to explore inorder to acquire more resources (both human or natural)speaks about lack of effort to acquire the minimal knowledge about the outside world. We could have been pre-emptive. We could have been colonisers ourselves of farer lands for various reasons. Yes, European colonism got precipitated majorly as a result of the industrial revolution in Europe, amongst other factors, that necessitated their desire for newer markets. Couldn't such a revolution have occured in Africa? I believe we need to put our houses in order first before apportioning blame on outsiders whose only crime is to cruelly help us to aggravate our already non-creative and non-foreward looking outlook. You see, a wise physician would endeavor to look for symtoms to a disease first and then try to find a cure for it. We need to analysis ourselves inorder to correct our faults first then we can have the pleasure to condemn colonialism. The senario in most , if not all, African societies today are not much different from those days when they were easily conquered by colonialism. Most of our leaders have failed us. What are we doing to change the game? We have seen that neither through elections nor through our senseless coups has Africa improved in anything. What next can we do? Can't we device something else? Facts unnimously almost indicate Africa as the home of the first human being on earth. Studies also show the plenteous amount of natural resources harbored by Africa. What is our problem? One will quickly point to outsiders as responsible for the backwardness. But, why do we allow then to manipulate us in the first place? What effort are we making to manipulate them in turn to our advantage? You look around, you see all those International that, International this- all structured reflecting the wishes and interests of the West. Can't we evolve our own things for our benefit? Few examples like Nigeria and the former Zaire will epitomise the entire picture. Perhaps a lot of what I am saying here will not sound congenial to most of us. But, it is imperative that we do some soul-searching. When next I write, I will try to delineate the foundation of my ideal society. Its gonna come. Don't mind. What I will do then, to repeat, is to show how a balance can occur between the leader and the led in politics to their mutual benefit and interest. Lets stay together. We may even wish to apply it in the Gambian context. We shall make it clear. What is important as at now, which we have agreed on, is to have that ideal type of society. Thats a milestone. Thanks again for your most enligthening pieces. Blessings Alieu ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------