Ajaarama Drammeh. Baba On Oct 15, 2017 6:07 PM, "Muhammed Drammeh" < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Mawdo Ajarama > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > <https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/mobile/?.src=Android> > > On Fri, 6 Oct 2017 at 15:33, Baba Jallow > <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Thank you Mr. Ndure. It certainly takes more than ending dictatorship to > create a democratic culture. Yes I do remember you very well from your days > as Headmaster of Farafenni Senior Secondary School. Sorry we didn't get to > meet this past summer but now that the way is open I hope to visit home > regularly. I look forward to seeing you again after so long. > > Warm regards, > Baba > > On Oct 6, 2017 10:02 AM, "Omar Ndure" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Thank you Baba. This piece is well articulated. There is indeed > expressions of intolerance and disrespect in the country among supporters > of political parties. As you rightly said if one has the comfort to > criticize , one must be ready to also accept criticism in the same vein. > But it seems this is not the case. This is not the type of democracy we > fought and yearned for. Personally at some point I feel I am cheated simply > because of what we are experiencing in the current manifestation of so > called ' democracy' > Baba, I would have loved to meet you if you have not already returned. You > remember me @ Farafenni school? Mr. Ndure. > ------------------------------ -------------- > On Thu, 10/5/17, Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Subject: Easier said than done > To: "Community of Gambianist Scholars" <COMMUNITYOFGAMBIANISTSCHOLARS > @listserv.miamioh.edu <[log in to unmask]>>, > "wagmembers" <[log in to unmask]>, "The Gambia and Related Issues > Mailing List" <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Thursday, October 5, 2017, 12:29 AM > > > > > > Easier said than > done > > By Baba Galleh > Jallow > > Almost ten months > after the fall of the Jammeh dictatorship, > Gambians are beginning to learn, among other things, that > struggling for > democracy does not necessarily mean being democratic in > spirit. We are seeing > ample evidence that it is one thing to clamor for the > freedom of expression for > everyone, but quite another thing to respect freedom of > expression for everyone. > We challenged the Jammeh dictatorship and shouted it down at > every turn for > being intolerant of our dissenting opinion; but we now > display unbelievable intolerance > for other people’s dissenting opinion. All this points to > the difficulty of > tolerance and the human propensity to protect our opinions > against opposition by > others which, incidentally, is the very stuff dictatorship > is made of. > > Yet, democracy is > indivisible and irreducible. If we struggled > for our right to express opinion contrary to the > dictator’s, we must further struggle > to make sure that people enjoy their right to express > opinion contrary to ours. > We cannot all belong to or support the same political party, > but we all belong > to the same nation and we must all support and nurture the > democracy we fought > so hard for over so many years. It is strange that the kind > of political > intolerance we now notice among and between Gambian > supporters of our different > national parties is the same and even often worse than the > kind of fanatical > jingoism and intolerance we fought against for over two > decades. Blind and > uncritical support for the AFPRC/APRC was what enabled the > fallen despot to oppress, > throttle and exploit us and our country for twenty-two > years. Ironically, we > are practicing a level of blind and uncritical support for > our political > leaders and parties today that is almost a carbon copy of > the blind and uncritical > support we opposed in Jammeh supporters. The > level of vehemence with which we shout > down all opinion critical of our parties of choice is > sometimes even more > vitriolic than we ever saw under the Jammeh despotism. This > is true of the > supporters of all political parties inside or outside of > government, whether > these are part of the coalition government or not. On all > sides of the > political divide, we display levels of intolerance and > needless hostility towards > contrary political opinion that are truly unworthy of our > new democratic > dispensation and our democratic aspirations as a > nation. > > It is a cruel paradox > that as a people we crave and cherish political > pluralism and civility but are not able to tolerate > political pluralism and > civility. We want others to tolerate our criticism and > respect our right to criticize > them; but we are not able to tolerate their criticism or > respect their right to > criticize us. We want people to respect our right to freedom > of expression on > all matters political in our country; but we cannot respect > people’s right to > express their opinions on all matters political in our > country. Even as we > continue to decry the kind of blind support and uncritical > obeisance that > distorted Gambian politics and society during the dark days > of the Jammeh > despotism, we are engaged in the same kind of blind support > and critical > obeisance to our parties and leaders in the new Gambia. The > roots and complexity > of this damaging syndrome lies in the fact that without > critical > self-evaluation, an without an unusual level of > introspection and a strong > capacity for humility, we human beings are very likely to > always maintain the > most favorable opinion of ourselves, which often translates > into a narcissistic > tendency to consider our ourselves, our views and opinions > beyond reproach and > near-infallible. > > Do we ever stop to > consider that no human being ever admits that > they are a bad person? Even the worst tyrants in human > history, such as the one > we just kicked out of Gambia genuinely believe that they are > good people. The > worst tyrants in human history will never admit that they > are evil. Self-love > and self-preservation, which are key defining > characteristics of human nature, > do not readily allow us to admit our mistakes or recognize > our errors of > judgment. The capacity to do that requires deliberate effort > on our part. It > requires us to swallow our pride, even if we are sometimes > right, in order to > accept or at least tolerate other people’s assumption of > right in their positions > and opinions that are different or even hostile to ours. We > should consider > that the persons we are communicating with feel the same > level of entitlement > to respect and tolerance of their views that we feel > entitled to. We should > consider that the persons we are addressing want to be > respected as much as we > want to be respected. > > As we struggle to > move our dear little country away from the > malignant and debilitating culture of intolerance and > oppression of the past > twenty-two years and towards a culture of kindness, mutual > respect and tolerance, > we must expend deliberate effort to recognize, respect, > enhance and uphold the > humanity of our critics and political opponents. We should > always remember the > ancient golden rule of human behavior – to only do and say > unto others as we > would like others to say or do unto us. Or, put another way, > never to do or say > anything to others that we would not like them to say or do > to us. This is > particularly important in the arena of national politics, in > conversations about > the direction in which we want our country to move. > Considering that we all belong > to the same nation, that we all love our country equally, > and that we all have > equal rights to ownership of our country, it is foolhardy > and self-defeating for > anyone to lay claim to sole ownership of anything in the > nation-state space. Governments come and go, > parties come and go, > leaders come and go, and individual citizens come and go. > The only constant is > the nation-state space itself which, like a precious garden, > needs to be tended > and attended to with the utmost care by all its owners, > which to say all its citizens. > Those who try to claim a monopoly over ownership of the > nation-state (like > Yahya Jammeh did) will face the justified rage of all good > citizens of the > nation and will eventually fall into eternal historical > infamy, a fate as > dreadful as it is worth avoiding by all means necessary. We > fought for > democracy and tolerance. Let us practice democracy and > tolerance, however > difficult it is to do so. We know it is easier said than > done. But we know we > can do it. And we will do it if we embrace both the power > and the limitations > of our humanity. > > > > > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 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] > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 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] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤