Sidibeh you wrote:
"The irony in his current situation is that Dumo left exile in Sweden to
return home believing the "political opening" ushered in by the '94 coup was
sufficient to allow him to carry out his work of supporting unemployed youth
through projects sponsored by Boka Loha."
Ironic indeed that the "revolutionaries" who came to usher in transparency
and acountability and uplift us have turned into our worse nightmare far worse
than anything we have ever known, and they prey on those who stand for what
they promised but never delivered.It is easy to see how they see Dumo as a threat
because he represents what they cannot and will not deliver.
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 2/12/04 2:28:34 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
> Sister Jabou,
>
> You are quite right. I have also believed that it is largely for Dumo's
> knowledge, his reputation as a self-styled revolutionary, his outspokenness
> that makes him a natural target of those bent on silencing voices of reason.
> There are historical records of these. But one that comes to mind more
> readily is his arrest and subsequent detention at Mile 2 following the Kukoi
> uprising of 1981.
> He was MOJA, right. But here was a MOJA militant who during that
> bloodletting went around Serre-Kunda and Kmbo St. Mary for days doing his
> best to disarm inexperienced angry youth, warning them of the fatality of
> the AK47s they were toting, advising them to instead lay down their arms and
> help the wounded or stay indoors.
>
> Yet as soon as the Senegalese stabilised the situation and the waves of
> arrests began, the police went for him! At the police depot in Bakau, they
> tied him down on a desk and bared his back. Then they whipped him with
> twisted wire and rubber cords cut from tractor wheels. His skin was opened
> up and torn into shreds exposing the white of his backbones; the ghastly
> crisscrossings of a child's colour pencil screeched randomly on a poster. It
> was an harrowing sigth. (Reminds me of the "tree" carved into back of Sele
> by some slave driver, in Toni Morrisson's Beloved).
>
> S.I King (nick-name) and I eventually took turns helping to nurse his wounds
> when he was finally dumped with the rest of us at Mile 2. Many detained
> young people from Sere-Kunda, who refer to Dumo as "Master" were shocked to
> find that the man who probably saved their lives had been himself severely
> tortured and detained!
>
> The irony in his current situation is that Dumo left exile in Sweden to
> return home believing the "political opening" ushered in by the '94 coup was
> sufficient to allow him to carry out his work of supporting unemployed youth
> through projects sponsored by Boka Loha.
>
> The Dumo story is a huge and honourable one.
>
> Sidibeh
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jabou Joh" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 2:20 AM
> Subject: Re: THE "DUMO TRIALl"/Sidibeh
>
>
> Sidibeh,
>
> I found it very informative indeed. My absence from the country with only
> annual visits which I have not done lately did not allow me to know this
> brother
> or be familiar with his work until his illegal incarveration, and even then,
> I
> only had limited information.
> In Africa, those who truely fight for the people are always the ones they
> find threatening. Interesting, isn't it?
>
> Jabou Joh
>
> In a message dated 2/11/04 1:19:18 PM Central Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
> >
> > Sister Jabou,
> >
> > Eventhough this is just a tiny opening into Dumo's life, I am immensely
> > pleased that you found it informative.
> >
> > Many many thanks,
> >
> > Sidibeh
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jabou Joh" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 4:29 AM
> > Subject: Re: THE "DUMO TRIALl"/Sidibeh
> >
> >
> > Sidibeh,
> >
> > Thank you so very much for thsi information about brother Dumo that some
> of
> > us did not know about.
> >
> > Jabou Joh
> >
> > In a message dated 2/10/04 5:55:53 PM Central Standard Time,
> > [log in to unmask] writes:
> > >
> > > DEAR Annika and All,
> > >
> > > Having to hang on to timetables set by capricious and obviously
> > unconcerned
> > > judges is a nightmare of its own. To then hang hope on those
> timetables -
> > > for one has no other recouse - just for the day to pass without as much
> as
> > > the courtesy of a proper adjournment by the judge, is total tragedy,
> worst
> > > than the Greek kind. One would have thought that throwing people in jail
> > and
> > > then abandonning them to the caprices of absent-minded judges, as if
> such
> > a
> > > hell-hole should be their natural habitat must be just as outrageous to
> > > everyone. But obviously not.
> > >
> > > Even without checking my statistics, I know that there is no other
> Gambian
> > > who has been driven through the gates of the Mile 2 prisons as
> numerously
> > as
> > > Momodou Dumo Sarho on account of his politcal activism. No other Gambian
> > has
> > > ever endured such intense and wicked assault on his psyche for the sheer
> > > purpose of breaking his spirits; no one in our country has ever
> > experienced
> > > such persistent waves of physical abuse from the powers that be; and no
> > > other Gambian family has had to live with the anguish of continuous
> terror
> > > of uncertainty about the fate of a rebellious but quintessentially
> > > progressive spirit; the fate of a son, a brother, and husband whose
> > > banihsment from Saint Augustine's High since 1973, has been followed by
> an
> > > endless crusade to teach, to organise, to support the youth and the
> poor,
> > > and to organise, to militate against social decadence, reactionary
> > politics
> > > and cultural atavism. Dumo's entire life, up to now, has been completely
> > > usurped by STRUGGLE, in all its concreteness and ambiguity, to such a
> > depth
> > > and purpose that he has ceased possession of the word itself. You cannot
> > > imagine Dumo outside the meaning of the word "struggle".
> > >
> > > I canntot think of a single village in Gambia that Dumo does not know;
> no
> > > Gambian politician whose biography he does not master; no department in
> > the
> > > Gambian state apparat whose head he does not know. Up to 1982, you could
> > not
> > > tell Dumo the registration number of a private car in Banjul and
> > Sere-Kunda
> > > whose owner he is ignorant of. Dumo knows Gambia and Gambians inside
> out.
> > He
> > > knows hustlers, bums, businessmen, poiticians, fake revolutionaries,
> the
> > > intelligentsia, prison warders and jail birds, peasants and dope
> runners,
> > > and all shades of red-eyed call-me-comrade radicals. He knows the police
> > > informers, CID and Special Branch undercover(!) agents, policemen and
> > their
> > > most fearfully-guarded secrets. Gadding the streets of Sere-Kunda in
> > Dumo's
> > > company is tiresome business: he stands up for almost everyone and
> almost
> > > everyone stands up for him; so you just wait and wait while he exchages
> > > words with people; in Dumo's company you may reach your destination. But
> > if
> > > you do you always will be behind schedule. He is the type of person
> people
> > > pretend to know well after hearing of him once. His verbal skills are
> > > unmatched, eclipsing even those of Suslov - Leonid Bhreznev's propaganda
> > > secretary. Dumo's sophistication in Gambia's cultural milieu is simply
> > > amazing....
> > > (In 1995 we met in Gambia. After visiting my wife at Bakau NewTown, he
> > > talked me into passing by an auntie of his. The old woman lives just
> > behind
> > > the Police Depot. As soon as the initual ritual of salutations were
> over,
> > > the old woman and Dumo plunged into what was for me uncahrted seas. They
> > > talked about the uncles in London and Leeds, the sisters still at Leman
> > and
> > > Perseverance streets, the nieces and nephews in different states in the
> > U.S
> > > and all the major and minor relations weaved together into this complex
> > > lineage. It went on for hours. I was stupefied and I got hungry. The old
> > > woman spoke like she never spoke before, enlivened by Dumo's soothing
> > > evocation of old memories. She spoke of her children, her children's
> > > children, her siblings and their spouses and offspring. She spoke of
> > distant
> > > cousins and aunts and how these were related to other families. She
> > narrated
> > > the matrilineal links with other families and their geographic origins.
> > When
> > > we finally had to leave, Dumo's aunt could only suppress tears with
> great
> > > dificulty. She immensely enjoyed teaching us some oral history and
> > practical
> > > sociology, betraying a deep-seated emotional urge to narrate. In
> > > restrospect, it was an extraordinary experience for me, one that
> > illustrated
> > > how Africa's "history of ordinary people" simply fades into memory, into
> > > dissolved biographies, dismembering our modern notions of "knowing where
> > one
> > > comes from"; whole lives, and legends, and narratives imploding into
> > > colourless "by-the-ways".
> > >
> > > While the rest of us have gone on building families and getting on with
> > > mundane carreers, blunting, corrupting and compromising our instinct to
> > > struggle, Dumo has remained staunch and unmalleable, breathing energy
> into
> > > the very notion of long-term continous struggle; the struggle against
> > > everything that is backward in our political culture and for everything
> > that
> > > means progress in our society.
> > >
> > > Three years ago there was much activity waged in his behalf and that of
> > his
> > > co-detainees. With time and repeated frustration over his fake trials
> > > energies sapped in the process, as all of us grew helpless as we
> agonised
> > > over his fate. But Dumo is unbreakable; partly because he is not just an
> > > individual. Dumo has developed into an instituion, commanding the
> spirited
> > > energy for a free Gambia. It is precisely his enormous zeal for a life
> > > charged with meaning, for a better Gambia that must keep the rest of us
> > > going on to struggle for our own sake and for his immediate release and
> > the
> > > release of his co-detainees from unjust imprisonment.
> > >
> > > FREE DUMO SARHO NOW!!!
> > >
> > > Sidibeh
> > >
> > >
> > > From: "Annika Renberg" <[log in to unmask]>
> > > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > > Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 7:15 PM
> > > Subject: The "Dumo trial"
> > >
> > >
> > > For your information:
> > > Today was the day scheduled for the long awaited ruling in the 3½ year
> old
> > > treason case against the remaining detainees Ebrima Barrow, Dumo Sarho
> and
> > > Ebrima Yarboe.
> > > Nothing happened though - Justice Belghore seems to have travelled
> abroad
> > on
> > > un urgent mission for some (five?) weeks. He did not even have time to
> set
> > a
> > > new date before he left.
> > > Annika Renberg
> > > (Dumo's wife)
> > >
> >
> >
>
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