Brother Habib its been some time i did not enter the ring on the L however,because of the interesting part of this productive debate i think i can throw in my two bututs.There are different paradigms and methods of approach when it comes to production  development and then finally roll on progress.Some societies prefer imitation; that i think is dangerous if one does not fully understand the implications and the methods  being copied or at best imitated,some prefer innovation;that i think can help please refer to the old adage:NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION.There is also a common saying:INNOVATE AND DO NOT IMITATE.
Well when one imitates that means one is encouraging dependence per se.Comparisons may help and then get to adopt what suits the situation (consumers,producers and the larger market).
Capitalism and communism have always been at loggerheads but lets try and revisit history and or rediscover where those terminologies are from in the first place.

Are they originally African? Not at all! Shouldn't Africans adopt some of these idealogies..? well thats left to what we find suitable or not suitable.
In simplistic terms in a capitalist set up one should have enough capital or be last on the line of that rough rat race.In a communist field one should be ready to understand the lietrature and the philosophy behind or be a blind follower and a liability to the working force.
In certain parts of the world theologies are used to rule.Usually what is fair does not mean equal shares or what the french call 'donnant-donnant' fairness means giving out what should be given out regardless of who the recipient is.

Food self suffeciency knows no ideology it only knows hard work and dynamic redistributive policies period.A communist needs food! a capitalist needs food! a preacher needs food.Food knows no race,theory or region it only knows the human being or the animal that has an empty stomach.

So lets take Taiwan's case as an exmple:
FORMOSA-the island started its development process under Chang Kai Shek and others.Back in the ealry days of the island's existence as a province(or a country until 1971-when they went out of the UN).These people were working in the fields,they produced plantains,bananas and other types of fruits,which they exported to other areas and then created a growing economy.
The base of that economy was the SMES or the small,medium emterprices.
To date those SMES are a force to reckon with.Big companies are the members of that   body. Companies like the Imei-a food company that produces milk from peanuts is one of them, they have returns equivalent to three hundred million dollars a year! These rich tycoons started as poor farmers today they make noice all over the world and they are a force to reckon with.
Now what we lack back home is what physicians call the FORCE OF THRUST.
ACTION-REACTION.
If a farmer produces he needs a market-where is the market?
Mechanised agriculture calls for good machines-where are they?
So the list goes on and on...
The legacy of colonialism has caused a lot of side effects in Africa,no doubt colonialism is bad as Nkrumah said:"THERE ARE NO PROS AND CONS IN COLONIALISM SO NO NEED FOR A DEBATE ON IT" That i strongly believe.However,when we start from independence to now are all the probs in Africa left overs or...? Many were inherited but as Drammeh said neo colonialism is another cancer.Now who are the neo colonialists?! Indeed African leaders who were groomed and then inherited the indirect rule or the assimilitaion! Then here we have to accept that not every thing back home has been caused by the colonialists. We are independent nations etc so why not learn from the past and then wal towards the future with dynamic policies?
Politics is so complex that no single leader is the star.The only star in democracy is concensus or the voice of the people!
Therefore our best bet is to encourage a process thats free from all those ideologies and theories lets see what suits us best by conducting researches and
then adapt our findings to the culture back home.
Understanding one's culture is fundamental part of development,sometimes many of us Africans think of drums,koras and other musical instruments when a cultural show is mentioned-is that accurate well the debate is open.
I believe that music and other forms of expression are good conductors of cultural values and one can revolutionise a whole society through music,however the contents to  be wrapped within that music is what i think culture as a whole should teach us.
All the activities taking place within a given community is what formulates culture.Culture is made by human beings and then human beings are expected to represent that image they built within.Culture is the high way of development and it derives its colour or form from the environment.That can be noticed if one takes a close look vis a vis farming tools,a farmer that operates in the swamps cannot use the tools that are being used in a sandy area.
These different approaches and methods are what we shoud synchronise and then yearn for bumper harvests.
Next time we will talk on how to conserve the products and then search for a market.Our farmers must have markets that can buy what they produce.After eating and drinking one needs beds,clothes and so on to survive.Now that barter trade is rare effective marketing strategies have to be put in place.
Our first target should be the subregion so the need for good neighbourliness arises.Politics and business are like the two sides of a colanut.

Essa Bokarr Sey.
A farmer in



Think before you sink!
"Pessimists see difficulty in every opportunity and optimists see an opportunity in every challenge"
"Suits cannot be made without scissors and niddles,so decent minds disagree to agree"

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~