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--- mathew jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 15:28:08 -0700 (PDT)
> From: mathew jallow <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: WAZUNGU  ON  OUR  LANDS
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Aggo,
> Your observation about the Fulani migration speaks
> to changing way of life of Normadic peoples in
> Africa. Increased populations and their claim on
> lands that once belonged to no one, is squeezing
> Normads across West Africa too. There is a greater
> tendency to migrate to surrounding areas rather than
> the migrating across three, four or even five
> countries.
> Although transporting livestock to market by trucks
> is gaining in fashion, some Fulanis still travel
> 200-400 miles to bring their cattle, sheep or goats
> to markety; say Banjul.
> My Songolo is right on the money about the Mzumbus.
> They came to stay, and not to go away some day. The
> always feel entitled to the best of everything. What
> a breed of grreedy people. For them, everything is
> about self-interest.Lord have Mercy.
>
> ALIKO SONGOLO <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ** Please visit our website:
> http://www.africanassociation.org **
> A small footnote on colonial practice. We often talk
> about the difference between French and British
> colonialism: Assimilation vs. Indirect Rule. There
> is another difference between types of colonies we
> seldom hear about: settlement vs. exploitation
> colonies. Algeria, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe
> (and perhaps a few others I don't know about) were
> settlement colonies, i.e., the Wazungu came to stay
> forever--mosquitoes notwithstanding. (In other parts
> of the world, Australia, most of Latin America, and
> North America were settlement colonies) Whence these
> outrageously long land tenure deals. They simply
> never expected to be uprooted by our freedom
> fighters, although the struggle rages on in
> different locales and different forms. It is
> believed that the former UN Secretary General, Dag
> Hammarskjöld lost his life in a mysterious plane
> crash during the Congo crisis of the 60's because he
> opposed a diabolical scheme to establish a
> continuous settlement colony from the mineral-rich
> Katanga
>  province to the Cape of Good Hope. At the time, of
> course, Zambia and Zimbabwe were still British
> colonies, and South Africa was Boer country. Think
> of it!
>
> AS
>
> Aliko SONGOLO <[log in to unmask]>
> Professor
> *****************************
> - Dept. of French & Italian
> - Dept. of African Languages & Literature
> Van Hise Hall
> University of Wisconsin
> 1220 Linden Drive
> Madison, WI 53706
> Fr&It 608-262-5937,-3941,265-3892(fax)
> AL&L 608-263-3891,2-2487,265-4151(fax)
> ***************************
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: Aggo Akyea <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Date: Thursday, September 23, 2004 2:45 pm
>
> Subject: Re: WAZUNGU ON OUR LANDS
>
>
>
> > Thank God for the mosquito, the Wazungu could not
> settle in West
> > Africa and spared us these contentious matters.
> Although we have
> > to deal with malaria everyday.
> >
> > Take your pick - "Na so da world be" - Cheers.
> >
> >
> > "Amakobe, Peter" <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> > For many years land ownership has been a very
> contentious issue.
> > Many in Kenya have always had deep seated hatred
> for the Wazungu
> > (mzungu is one) who grabbed much of the fertile
> land (Eastern and
> > Western slopes of the Rift Valley, Mt. Kenya and
> Mt. Elgon). They
> > distributed the land and deeded it out to
> themselves. After
> > independence, some Wazungu left for fear of
> persecution. It never
> > happened. Those leaving were paid for the land
> they owned. The
> > problem is, the African owned land but never
> required a piece of
> > paper showing property limits. So we are caught
> with tradition
> > challenging westernization. Which one should
> prevail? You can't
> > apply the logic to one situation without affecting
> the whole
> > system. I'm not a scholar of jurisprudence but
> this is an issue
> > that challenges the duality of our very own
> establishment. It
> > spills into every country that was colonized.
> Western laws
> > superimposed on long established traditional laws.
> In Kenya the
> > two laws have been tested many a time before.
> >
> > The Masai like the fulanis are a nomadic tribe. I
> don't think the
> > Wazungu understood that concept at the time. They
> would have
> > realized they were entering an agreement they
> would soon loose.
> > Our culture is one continuum unlike the western
> culture which is
> > based on specific blocks of time.
> >
> > Just a thought.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Aggo Akyea [[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 1:18 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: MZUNGUS ON OUR LANDS
> >
> >
> >
> > So why was whole world so upset when Mugabe asked
> Mzungus to give
> > up their land to the indigenous people? Just
> wondering. Is it the
> > way he did it - in a civil way by the book and the
> law, then
> > coercion and then by force? The result I think is
> the same. Just
> > give us our land back!!! The same issue is brewing
> in South Africa
> > itself and will soon come to the head.
> >
> > By the way as far as the Fulanis, I remember the
> tall, elegant and
> > handsome looking people as herders. Whether they
> were nomadic I do
> > not know. But when we were young I remember, about
> twice a month
> > you'd wake up one morning and see hundreds,
> perhaps thousands of
> > unusually tall, big and furry sheep (or goats)
> that we were not
> > used to seeing in our part of the country, being
> herded through
> > town. The story was that our short little goats
> and sheep's meat
> > was "sweeter." I think I thought so too at the
> time.
> >
> > Anyway, it was always a mysterious sight and my
> mother always
> > reminded us the herders, in their white Taureg
> like turbans and
> > long robes were called Fulanis. And that they were
> coming way with
> > their flock from the north, ostensibly from as far
> away as Upper
> > Volta (Bukina Faso), Mali or Niger. Apparently,
> the goats were
> > headed for sale in the big cities along the coast.
> Today the sheep
> > are transported in unusually big Mercedes-Benz
> wooden trucks from
> > the somewhere in the north. So I doubt if the
> young people will
> > ever get to see any Fulanis.
> >
> > Cheers.
> >
> >
> > mathew jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > I agree with you entirely on the "Settler Land
> Deal".I think it is
> > unfair,unethical and therefore does not deserve to
> be honored. The
> > Kenyan government must renegotiate these land
> leases to something
> > within the bounds of reason. 999 years in terms of
> human life
> > seems like forever.
> > With regards to the Fulanis in Liberia, I do
> agree. Those Fulas as
> > we normally call ourselves are mostly the
> Islamized Fulas, and
> > they are found across West Africa. Most of them
> came originally
> > from the Futa Jalloh region of Guinea.
> > The largely Animist Fulas from whom I am from,
> still have the
> > normadic tradition. The major difference is that
> many now live in
> > village settlements, but younger males or females
> are assigned the
> > tasks of caring for the cattle,and these do a lot
> migration;
> > follow the pastures. They do not recognize
> national borders and in
> > my region we cross into Senegal and Casamance at
> will. Border
> > guards? Who cares (laugh) It is a European
> invention.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Aggo Akyea
> > http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/akyea
> > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
>
> > "Instead of studying how to make it worth men's
> while to buy my
> > baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the
> necessity of selling them."
> > WALDEN
> > by Henry David Thoreau ? 1854
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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