Momodou,

Here’s a home-grown Sierra Leone story by Karamoh Kabba

http://www.szirine.com/2004/04/18/half-a-pot-full/#more-65

Nyamko herself  is a symbol of that progress which she wishes for all of us.

Mauricio Rojas may have given a misnomer to a phenomena that is perhaps not confined to immigrants and I have myself observed that immigrants and minorities are often critical of those who come from the same compound embracing human values  that diverge from practices back home – as you pointed out paragraphs 1, 2 and the first sentence of paragraph 3. ( I haven’t got further than that)  and I know that FGM concerns follow that……..

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/search?q=FGM&search.x=11&search.y=9

By the way,  I’m no signifying monkey  and can not imagine  not using literary terminology – certainly not Roland Barthes to express what I intuit is your predicament.  We can be profound about that sort of Multicultural  thing all day long and not really get anywhere.

I mention Colin Powell - or Alexander Hamilton for that matter or if you prefer Condoleezza Rice or even Kofi Annan, Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow - there's no great hullabaloo  about them  or Paul Boateng – and your rejoinder will be that Sweden is not the United States, UK  or the UN. Hon Joe Frans could have been appointed minister of Integration without so much fuss, and  I’m not trying to be profound when I say that this is not Apartheid South Africa – this is immigrant Sweden  - we are in another country Swedish Country.

This would be a significant sign signifying progress if like  Tanzania ( Ms Johansson) you will soon have Swedish MPs and anti-FGM, integration and Gender –Equality  ministers in the Gambia , who are not on a tourist holiday – and who might also feel – like liberated women , that they sincerely would not like their sisters to be deprived of their God given essential body parts – against their better understanding …..

This is not 1950s or 60’s USA- this is Sweden in 2006 and we’ve come a long way don’t you think?
Nyamko Sabuni  has been appointed to help the process  of (our) and outsider Swedes  integration and  we don’t have to start shaking the ramparts like Malcolm X etc what barricades do you want to bring down by any force other than legislation,  and the kind that is not easily legislated into Swedish consciousness which may be permeated by the thought that all our women have been deprived of their clitoris  –( OK and we agree with Ginny about a more cautious approach – as the Pope was saying – mutual respect – for arguments sake  -  even of dubious human rights violations performed on the female human species of whatever colour or culture ?

Now what are you griping about? WHO would you like to be  Minister of INTEGRATION and Gender Equality:?

Please come up with a suggestion and a programme of diversity management. I have ideas  about such a programme which is designed to get  appropriate jobs to diverse minorities . I’m going to communicate this to Nyamko personally and Nyamko yes, it seems that  to you  it ‘s almost immaterial that she’s  the same colour as you ( except in a very symbolic way  with that which your skin colour can identify with her ) and  it really doesn’t matter if it’s Sir Gordon Guggisberg’s grandson ( if he has one)  or  a true blue Swede who implements policy.

With Nyamko, I take it for granted that there is an element of positive self-interest and when she gave us ( members of African Groups some good advice about how to go about things  – I was self-appointed and representing the Nigeria Union) she gave me the impression of sakkunnig competence, sincerity and drive …….

NB: Nyamko Sabuni is NOT a coconut ( brown outside  and white  inside – the name 
( COCONUT) that some extreme blacks have given to their own kind who are in the London Metropolitan Police….

I have some reading  of the HOLY BOOK to do now……have a good evening…..dear Momodou……and of course you know the sign of the covenant…..


>

> 
> From: Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 2006/11/29 on PM 08:10:15 CET
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Ämne: Re: Sabuni and FGM ( slightly corrected)
> 
> Right,
> 
> something I forgot about, of significance. Emphasising the blackness of 
> Nyamko ends in recognising the importance of her appointment. You and I 
> might never get in Spy bar at Stureplan yet a black lady is minister for 
> integration. Tell me, what then is dysfunctional in mother svea? The silence 
> about Nyamko's race in the media can be intrpreted in many ways. 
> Sophisticated hypocrisy is one plausible interpretation, and it has 
> everything to do with the whiteness of others. We are the ones most often 
> denied decent jobs. Well, blame our blackness, if that pleases you, and pick 
> up signifying signifyers from either Roland Barthes or Michel Foucault.
> 
> momodou
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cornelius Edward Hamelberg" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 7:50 PM
> Subject: Re: Sabuni and FGM ( slightly corrected)
> 
> 
> > Momodou ( or St. Sidibeh if you prefer)
> >
> > Please permit me to respond to the first two paragraphs of your epistle 
> > plus the first sentence of your third paragraph, ending with the words " 
> > no tangible results"
> >
> > I'll attend to the serious matter of your other verses later - just for 
> > the record.
> >
> > About first names, I was only joking - and being slightly sarcastic/ironic 
> > about Mauricio...didn't you notice?
> > Everyone says Saddam, Yahya, the Honourable this and the Honourable that 
> > until you are tempted to say that honourable Mo-Fu..YOU KNOW THE KIND I 
> > MEAN...Mo..
> >
> > In one of his last interviews as head of State in South Africa , F. W. de 
> > Klerk ( you may call him Frederik or Fred if you like) was asked how he 
> > felt  about  being the last White man to be president of South Africa.
> > Mr. de Klerk said that now that Apartheid had been dismantled - by law, 
> > colour was consequently of little importance in the New South Africa and 
> > the possibility still existed that he ( or his) could be coming back...( 
> > and I though to myself, maybe he is thinking of swimming back,  all the 
> > way up  North..
> >
> > But in Sweden we live in another situation:
> >
> > http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_TABLE_2007_v3.pdf
> >
> > If you overemphasise the blackness of Nyamko you are also signifying the 
> > otherness, the whiteness of the others - whereas this is not so so 
> > significant. I think that she actually wants the Trade portfolio followed 
> > by the post of prime minister. If she will deserve that in the near future 
> > remains to be seen.  What would Baffour Ankomah not say! At such a time  - 
> > he'd have to say, "the country was ripe for that kind of change."
> >
> > When it was suggested many years ago that Colin Powell might possibly be 
> > the  very next president of the United States, David Frost asked him in 
> > that interview ( Breakfast With Frost)  " Sir,  how would you like to be 
> > remembered ?" - as if he was going to  be assassinated by the KKK shortly 
> > after taking the oath of office/ swearing-in ceremony , or any other time 
> > shortly thereafter...
> >
> > When I first read the news about the termination of funds to "the 
> > Anti-racism Campaign office" in which a relative of Nyamko was active - I 
> > thought that this was to kill at source, any rumours - that  might arise - 
> > that could be promoted by her political enemies in the near future..about 
> > any kind of ne-po-ti-sm. And as to the effectiveness - how effective has 
> > it been?  We are to suppose that, in time, a similar type of organisation 
> > will eventually replace it - and that someone in that organisation could 
> > win the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King prize that Hon. Joe Frans created.
> >
> > About first names, well I say Joe, but not George, or Fredrick , and 
> > Mauricio would be friendly, Mr. Rojas would be formal, like Sheik 
> > Momodou - but thanks for the social analysis, it sounded Dickensian in a 
> > post-colonial and assimilated kinda way.
> > Going a little further back ( Sweden has changed so much that it's no 
> > longer the same country that I came to in 1971- and as the saying goes you 
> > can't take a dip in the same river twice - but I'm talking about 
> > significant changes, so  that Tage Erlander would have difficulties 
> > estimating the number of years that have elapsed since he was last here, 
> > and even recently there was a time when even in the telephone directories 
> > people's professions were part of their social identities  and so in 
> > "Swedish For Foreigners"  our textbook said " There is Engineer Svensson. 
> > In the evenings he plays in an orchestra." I used to see him on my way to 
> > Tempo -old blue eyes,  the guy with the neatly trimmed moustache, 
> > Ingenjör Svensson.
> >
> > So far for first names..
> >
> > There's nothing diversionary about Swedish issues or  EU issues like  the 
> > Pope's visit and Turkey's entry into membership of  the resurrected  old 
> > Roman Empire could be side issues that you deign to look at and indulge 
> > some petty opinions or take more seriously, or forever hold your peace 
> > about that and other matters which most directly affect your welfare and 
> > wellbeing  in this country where we live ( I'm still not sure if you are 
> > in Sweden or the Gambia)...
> >
> > Later Ali-G -ator
> > On the banks of the river Gambia...
> >
> > Ok?
> >
> >>
> >> From: Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Date: 2006/11/29 on PM 02:59:22 CET
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Ämne: Re: Sabuni and FGM
> >>
> >> C. Edward Hamelberg
> >>
> >> Keeping the discussion rolling on these matters is no easy task for me at
> >> present, draining from my tissues the energy required to continually 
> >> justify
> >> why the talk must go on, barring recognition that these "Sweden" issues 
> >> are
> >> perhaps a stimulating diversion. But I do not find much disagreement
> >> anywhere. Except, well in re: the matter of me being in first name terms
> >> with Nyamko Sabuni and Mauricio Rojas. Swedish tradition has done away 
> >> with
> >> such mystification of identities as is supplied by useless titles: Mr.,
> >> Mrs., Sir, Dr, Your Highness, Chief, Alhaji, and so on..., perhaps not 
> >> quite
> >> tolerable for the post-colonial mind still soaked in the science of 
> >> social
> >> stratification? The prime minister is just Fredrik Reinfeldt, not Your
> >> Excellency Fredrik Reinfeldt. The idea of being on first name terms is to
> >> remain down to earth without invading the other's integrity. Just listen 
> >> to
> >> yourself say: His Excellency, Dr. Alhaji Yaya A.J.J Jammeh, and then 
> >> imagine
> >> the cruelty he represents. What a waste?
> >>
> >> So Nyamko Sabuni can be called Nyamko, even on tv! Your attempt to 
> >> write-off
> >> Mauricio I hope, was purely for practical reasons. The man is no longer
> >> politically interesting, I agree. But let us at least recognise the two 
> >> have
> >> shared the podium on very significant issues in the past: language skills
> >> testing for Swedish wannabes, deportation of "hardened" criminals
> >> (irrespective of social links to the country, such as children and 
> >> spouses);
> >> reformation of public funding of private religious oriented schools, and 
> >> the
> >> implementation of more aggressive control mechanisms to "smoke" out 
> >> social
> >> welfare crooks, and so on. Thus, your writing off one, while lauding the
> >> other as a "saint who treads where angels fear" deliberately bends the 
> >> rules
> >> of logical inference. In a country where even the BertIan double (Bert
> >> Karlsson and Ian Wachmeister) recognise that immigrants and people of
> >> immigrant ancestry receive stiffer sentences than ethnic Swedes for
> >> similar(!) crimes, to call for the deportation of "grova kriminella" 
> >> (severe
> >> criminals) even if that should mean their leaving behind children and
> >> spouses, is simple, callous cruelty. If all that is just the cake, let us
> >> look att the icing that crowned it!
> >> One of the very first "ministerial" assignments she executed without 
> >> delay
> >> was to stifle funding for the Anti-racism Campaign office on the grounds
> >> that its work brought no tangible results! When about a month ago, 
> >> Veckans
> >> Affärer (Sweden's version of Business Week, so to speak), the most 
> >> bourgeois
> >> of the right-wing press asked her for comments on the immigrant brain 
> >> drain,
> >> she said she had no time! [Hundreds of well educated immigrants remain
> >> unemployed and/or underemployed for years in Sweden only to find suitable
> >> lucrative positions as soon as they arrive in Britain or Canada. Nyamko
> >> finally commented on the issue last night]!  All of this, plus more
> >> discursive soup served by a very eloquent black lady minister.
> >>
> >> Let us recapitulate on what Sweden means to me, and hopefully us. Rampant
> >> discrimination and racism, certainly. Night clubs that refuse blacks and
> >> dark-haired immigrants are plenty, and employers will tell you all sorts 
> >> of
> >> lies for not offering you a job. These days if you are called Abdirizak
> >> Mohammad, or Ali Baba, or Abdurahman Omar, your chance of becoming 
> >> gainfully
> >> employed might lie in altering your name to Magnus Lindkvist or Ingrid
> >> Johansson or some other blue and blond name. Forces of cultural 
> >> alienation
> >> are sending a lot of immigrants, both young men and women to plastic
> >> surgeons. Persian and Arab youth alter their facial features, nose and 
> >> chin,
> >> so as to look more caucasian! Others, having lost their souls in 
> >> tentative
> >> integration into a society that eventually rejects even those with good
> >> grades, take to violent crime. (Have you read "Snabba Cash"?).
> >> But their is as well, a noble history of genuine solidarity and 
> >> progressive
> >> politics. Sweden offered the most help to the ANC and liberation 
> >> movements
> >> on the African continent. It still pours millions in aid to Ethiopia,
> >> Tanzania, Mozambique, and Vietnam, significantly subsidising the budgets 
> >> of
> >> these countries. That Nelson Mandela's first trip outside Africa after 
> >> his
> >> release from prison in 1990 was to Stockholm was not simply incidental.
> >> Swedes risked their lives running underground support systems that helped
> >> sustain the families of victims, killed or jailed, of the apartheid 
> >> regime.
> >> My friend it is in these complexes of contexts we must place and weigh
> >> Nyamko Sabunis performance as minister. Perhaps she is no Uncle Tom, but 
> >> she
> >> is an Auntie Igrid to me! and even if she deserves a honeymoon on account 
> >> of
> >> her historic appointment, I am sure she will be colliding with many
> >> activists, including me. I know that I am travelling to an entirely
> >> different destination. The question is whether you are just taking a
> >> different bus to the same destination as Nyamko. Tell me, please.
> >>
> >> I am holding on to Ginny's position on female genital cutting. As she
> >> rightly opined, some Africans have already gone underground, secretly 
> >> taking
> >> their daughters to their home countries where they are cut, and then 
> >> brought
> >> back to Scandinavia. It is a horrifying practice to all of us, i.e those
> >> convinced that they know better, and we should work to abolish it. Yet, I
> >> cannot think of any country where education and information have been 
> >> more
> >> effectively used as instruments of social engineering, as a way of 
> >> altering
> >> attitudes, as a consistently proven method of implememting even socially
> >> unpopular reforms. It has been the cornerstone of social democratic 
> >> politics
> >> for decades since the pre war years.
> >> Subjecting African girls to examination to determine the state of their
> >> genitalia is not just an abominablel invasion of their privacy. Even if
> >> Nyamko says her suggestion was to provoke debate, that such a suggestion
> >> came from her is a reflection of the general climate of antagonistic
> >> cultural encounter immigrants experience here. Because female genetical
> >> cutting is demonised, its practitioners are equated, perhaps not 
> >> explicitly,
> >> as savages whose brutal impulses towards their own wives and daughters 
> >> must
> >> be aggressively checked. Why, a trip to the gynaecologist must be taken 
> >> as a
> >> most ordinary and compassionate samaritan act. Behold, even Cornelius
> >> Hamelberg thinks FGC has its historical roots buried in the primordial
> >> cruelty of men bent on depriving women of their divine right to a life
> >> endowed with sexual bliss. But don't we know better? Are there no 
> >> medicinal
> >> roots to FGC, even if ill informed? And like the circumcision of males, 
> >> is
> >> that of girls not largely a crucial aspect of initiation rites into
> >> womanhood? But besides, whence does all this anti-FGC hail?
> >>
> >> Anti-FGC militantism is hardly older than the rise of feminist activism 
> >> in
> >> the West. It is this political project of gender liberation that has 
> >> largely
> >> defined FGC as an incredible act of widespread cruelty. Yet as genuine as
> >> the concerns of westerners are, the brutality of the application of 
> >> "rusty
> >> knives" on female flesh in the African bush, is hardly more severe than 
> >> the
> >> tortuous lives of women in societies steeped in violent misogyny. Sex
> >> reassignment surgery - never mind the clinically decent name, nothing
> >> brutish here you see - is in many instances, more horrifying than many 
> >> forms
> >> of FGC including infibulation. Male to female surgery involves cutting 
> >> off
> >> the testicles completely, apart from other complicated procedures 
> >> required
> >> for making a man sexually female. There are "clit" clinics in L.A where
> >> women go to be operated upon to alter the look of their genitals. If you 
> >> can
> >> imagine an old grandmother using crude knives in the African bush to 
> >> slice
> >> open the  breasts of young girls and stuff them with different kinds of
> >> silicon implants you would come closer to understanding why words,
> >> professional training, money, clinical environments are all brought to 
> >> bear
> >> to create a mental projection defined by a dominat culture that sees one
> >> practice as "barbaric" and the other as qualified aesthetic surgery. It 
> >> is
> >> all about the exercise of power.
> >>
> >> Unless their is genuine respect for other people inspite of their
> >> traditional practices, attempts to alter attitudes may prove more painful
> >> than necessary. That is a message we need to convey to Nyamko Sabuni.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> sidibeh
> >>
> >> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
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