MArtin Luther King befriending his brother Luis Farakhan a new era
in u.s.a UNITED STATES OF AFRICA? I have a DReam?you right? Your call
>From: saul khan <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: A challenge to those advocating violent change in The Gambia
>Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 04:58:18 GMT
>
>Dampha,
>
>I concur with you totally. This whole "challenge" stuff is very Buharry,
>and absolute cobblers (to borrow from the great Hamjatta.) I'm surprise he
>hasn't gone into his rainbow family background this time. Any time someone
>takes on an ugly Gambian reality, this man has to put on this ridiculous
>patriotism show. Somehow, some of us are people with "agendas" who are
>bent
>on tearing the Gambia apart, and him and his likes are the true patriots
>who
>are keeping us together. Nothing could be further from the truth! None of
>us
>asking the opposition to stand up and fight back are any less patriotic
>than
>Buharry and co. But, if people like him are the best the Gambia has to rely
>on, then God help that nation, because this guy has a problem dealing with
>ugly reality. No one on this list "advocating violence" has ever committed
>any such thing. It's the govt. in power back home that is doing so. And
>just
>for the record, unless I've missed something, no one has said anything
>about
>the UDP forming a "vigilante" group. What I said is for the UDP to train
>some of their cadres as a security contingent, and that these people will
>keep vigilance anywhere their party leaders/members congregate. I was
>thinking along the lines of the Nation of Islam. Louis Farrakhan is alive
>today not because thousands of assassins don't attempt to kill him every
>year, but because of the dedication of his UNARMED security contingent who
>keep vigilance at ALL times and ALL places where Farrakhan goes. There have
>actually been cases where the Fruit Of Islam (the NOI security) have
>confronted and disarmed potential assassins! So, there is a real-life
>example of what I'm exhorting the UDP people to do here. There is a world
>of difference between that and forming a "vigilante" group. If I meant to
>say the UDP should form a vigilante group, or even an army, I'll say
>exactly
>that, because unlike people like Buharry who use semantics, I say exactly
>what I mean, irrespective of how unpopular that opinion may be. But,
>somehow
>it's "irresponsible" to tell these law-abiding gentlemen to defend their
>god-given rights. What does the Great Buharry suggest instead? Rely on
>"pressure" because it's bearing fruits!
>
>The reality on the ground however is different. The senior echelon of both
>the army and police are openly antagonistic to the UDP people. Gambians
>don't come any gentler than Ousainou Darbo, Amadu Sanneh, or Yaya Jallow
>among others. Imagine these gentlemen turning in to the police a group of
>thugs who had just made a serious attempt on their lives, but instead of
>the
>criminals being booked, the victims are the ones dumped in jail. What a
>travesty of justice! So, who will protect these people when the police
>clearly have no intention of doing so? Why should they obey any law that is
>criminal in the first place? Because as far as I am concern, ANY law that
>treats equals unequally renders itself null and void. To drive home my
>point, if a law allows Musa Njie, private citizen, and APRC supporter to
>carry a pistol, but the same law bans Yusu Jobe, private citizen, and NRP
>supporter to do the same, am saying Yusu Jobe and people like him have no
>obligation -moral or otherwise- to obey that law. For any type of law,
>statute or ordinance to have legitimacy, it has to treat all subjects
>equally. If it doesn't do that, then any responsible citizen would be
>foolhardy to obey such a law. What we have in The Gambia is a big joke,
>cause the jailers are the real criminals. If one cannot count on the
>regular
>law-enforcement officials to protect one, then one has a god-given right to
>do what one must to save one's life. That is my advice to all the
>opposition
>groups.
>
>And talking about not wanting a war, this Buharry better wake up and smell
>the coffee, because we may not be Liberia, or Sierra-Leone, but there is an
>un-declared war going on in The Gambia. When a cabinet minister is
>butchered in cold blood, and the govt. refuses to launch an independent
>inquiry, a war is on; when people who have served in the public service for
>over thirty years are fired on the spot for no reason, a war is on; when
>it's govt. policy to fire anyone who is "suspected" of being an opposition
>sympathizer, a war is on; when people who have never had a problem feeding
>their families for decades are all of a sudden forced by circumstances to
>beg for a living because of govt. policy, a war is on; when otherwise very
>decent and religious people are forced to turn a blind eye on their
>daughters' prostitution because their entire family relies on such illicit
>income to survive, a war is on; when totally unqualified/incompetent people
>are promoted to senior positions over more qualified candidates because of
>their creed, or where they hail from, a war is on; when a woman gets beaten
>in public for merely TRYING to pass through the "wrong" gate, and nothing
>comes out of it, a war is on; when a Head of State dishes out public money
>to whoever he likes as a "personal gift," a war is on; when very decent
>gentlemen are thrown in jail when punks are allowed to walk in and
>taunt/insult them, a war is on; and just to make it short, when a Head of
>State orders the mowing down of little kids for standing up and saying
>"enough to all the madness going on in our country," a war is on! So, you
>better wake up Buharry. Every single value that we cherish as Gambians is
>being destroyed by these savages. And it's "irresponsible" telling Gambians
>to say "enough is enough." Why don't you Buharry tell us how you hope to
>keep the peace in a country that has so much obvious injustice. I'd love to
>hear you explain how one can sustain any type of peace based on blatant
>lies
>like we have in Gambia. So, you tell us Mr. Cool-headed, No-Agenda, No. 1
>patriot, Responsible man. You tell us.
>
>The Apartheid army was stronger than the army of the rest of Africa
>combined, but that did not stop Mandela and his people from taking it on.
>Just because I'm dog-tired after a hectic weekend, I'll cut this here, but
>this whole challenge shows how naïve, and idealistic this Buharry guy is.
>And he's clearly seeing himself in others by assuming that if a real war
>breaks out, most/all of us will be in Europe/America while our
>parents/people's hands are being chopped off. I hope Buharry will stick to
>speaking for himself next time. He Buharry will stay, but not all of us
>will. It just goes to show how non-monolithic we are as Gambians, because
>this Buharry types might as well come from a totally different planet as
>far
>as I'm concern.
>
>Saul.
>
>
>
>>Buharry, are you really serious when you ask us to come to Gambia_L
>
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