Sidebeh, wow! You really scripted the essence of Dumo. Yes, I second you contention that there is none that experienced detention in the Gambia than Dumo. I think this is a good window for both those who knew or just heard of Dumo. Thanks for your thoughts. Chi Jaama Joe Sambou >From: Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: THE "DUMO TRIALl" >Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 00:55:08 +0100 > >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) > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: >http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=mbia-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://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: >http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.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://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ Find great local high-speed Internet access value at the MSN High-Speed Marketplace. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200360ave/direct/01/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.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://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~