Mr. Sidibe,

I am not in anyway questioning the motive behind your demand for me to
clear the air about my political neutrality, although I don't owe it to
anybody. However, I will buy into your argurements to some extent. The fact
that we are thousands of miles away from home does not mean that our impact
cannot be felt by those on the ground and hence should not be use as a
pretext to dodging away from the national debate.

As for what my take is on what ought to be done about the current economic
and political situation in the Gambia, I am currently working on a paper
that would address many of those issues. I will be sure to post it on the -
L and Gambiapost whenever it is ready. Bu
t for now, I challenge concerned
citizens like you to come up with sound options other than violence or
unfounded accusations and name callings. Gambia is ours for good or for bad.

Have a good day everybody - Abdoulie A. Jallow





On Thu, 28 Nov 2002 08:13:03 +0100, Momodou S Sidibeh
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Brother Abdoulie Jallow,
>
>Many thanks for quickly responding to the enquiries I made. Judging from
your earlier posting, which I find quite useful and inspiring, I should say
that you and I are perhaps fellow travellers. That fact not withstanding,
the very Gambian conditions that animate debate here may be  better treated
when individuals advocating for change are understood as clearly as is
possible. I felt that your declaration of neutrality need not necessarily
refer to partisanship.
>
>In fact, your two responses clearly indic
ate the relevance of my requests
(not challenges). Since you are politically non-partisan, one should assume
that you would subscribe to a creed whose political objectives, in the
main, are not to be found in known Gambian political parties. So one is
justified in requesting that you suggest what could be done; and in as much
as you maintain that changes can be brought about only by a collective -
which I naturally agree with - it still remains a fact that we cannot, as a
collective, produce an idea simultaneoulsy on a relevant course of action.
Someone has to think, or at least say it first? But there is another
important and highly relevant twist to this question of what can be done:
>
>I am of the opinion that Gambians are, generally speaking,  not at home in
the field of action. We say so much but we do little; and so the
consequences of our activities are only that much effective. At a personal

level, that narrows down my choice of activity. Thus my enthusiam for ideas
about what can be done from concerned citizens like yourself.
>Once again, thank you for your time and I'm wishing you all the best.
>
>Momodou S Sidibeh
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Abdoulie Jallow" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 8:26 PM
>Subject: Re: What Can be done to revive our dear country?/ Mr. Momodou
Sidibe
>
>
>> Mr. Sidibe,
>>
>> I don't think it takes a genius to understand what I meant when I declare
>> myself as "neutral" when it comes to Gambian politics. Nevertheless, I
will
>> give you a scope into it. By saying that I am politically neutral in
terms
>> of gambian politics, I mean that I do not lean on any political party in

>> The Gambia. As far as I am concern, politicians in The Gambia with the
>> exception of a few, are not guided by a desire to move the country
forward.
>> Recent occurrences in The Gambia can prove me right. If you have people
>> quitting their parties to join the other side that they've spent the
>> majority of their lives lambasting against can be quite disturbing.
>>
>> Reading through some of
>>  the postings on this list, one can easily identify
>> what political party some of the contributors lean on. There is no
problem
>> with leaning towards one political movement as opposed to another, but
>> there is something wrong when one applies double standards as a means to
>> judge a party or a leader. That is one of the reason why my interest in
>> Gambian politics died out over the past years. A very dangerous
perception
>> exist in Gambian and african polit
ics as a whole, that loyalty to a
>> poltical movement means standing by all their policies even if your gut-
>> feeling tell you that it is wrong. That can be dangerous and we all need
to
>> watch out against for it.
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-
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>>
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>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface
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