"Malanding, please allow me to address just one point of your response to
Mose and for you and Mose to follow the rest." Joe Sambou.
Joe, sorry for my taking a crack at this. Kukeh am sure understands that it
is for Ellen your hypocrisy notwithstanding. You don't get to decide who
speaks on what here, otherwise you would send it to private mailboxes.
"Also this thing on tribal politics in today's Gambia is a little overblown.
The APRC by its composition is not based on tribe. Infact I would venture to
say that the the APRC support base is broader than either NRP or UDP. Yes,
they exploit tribal issues just like the other two I mentioned." Malanding.
I tend to agree with you here Kukeh perhaps with a different understanding.
I think what Joe and PDOIS mistake for tribalism is ethnic pride. Am sure you
will agree with me that Gambia has far too many tribes to share a singular
heritage. Each of these tribes are well within reason to be proud of their
ethnicity and to make life decisions based on culture among other non-cultural
considerations.
You can go to Russia, Saudia, America, Scandinavia, Zimbabwe, Ireland,
Jordan, Ethiopia, etcetera, and you will find the same or similar permutations of
people. The trick is the capacity to harness the diversity of peoples who
come under a common constitution. There are people whose depth of knowledge and
or appreciation of life is found wanting in this area and should such people
train their own lives on ruling over the ethnically proud, it becomes
difficult to fathom the gravitasse of human decision variables and arrange them into
more mouldable constructs. They will then begin a futile journey into
mind-engineering.
The first mistake Halifa made, in my opinion, is to declare non-belonging to
any of Gambia's constitutive tribes. That was a fatal mistake. The reason why
that is is because that can only be interpreted as "None of the tribes in
Gambia offers a culture that Halifa likes". It is usually important for a
politician to take variety of tribes and experiences into account when seeking
public office. Never in my experience and travels have I heard a more conceited
declaration. From Gandhi to Luther King to the Imam to the Pope. Never does
a human being among humans so abhor a single culture or ethnicity as to form
a political platform based on derision of cultures. SInce Halifa is PDOIS and
PDOIS is Halifa, the lieutenants had no choice but to adopt that as their
mantra. Bear with me. I hear that is changing now in PDOIS and I think they are
on the right track. They have some more work to do. For now, the only way
PDOIS can lord over Gambians is either by original coup or chance coup and by
default that is if they don't adapt and grow from within. We will talk about
the ominous prospects of that later. Besides, PDOIS already has members drawn
from some of the tribes of Gambia.
PDOIS is a communist party but they understood communism wrongly. Soviet
communism and North Korean communism preached egalitarian concepts in the
framework of diverse peoples. PDOIS wanted to do it in the absence of diversity.
The people they wish to govern and some of their own members will not and
should not abandon their tribes and cultures just at the risk of being labelled
tribalist. So PDOIS will have an internal war of conscience from whence will
sprout a healthier PDOIS. It is possible to be egalitarian and diverse. Allah
made that possible. You may not tamper with peoples' inherent rights.
Now as the lieutenants find themselves trapped in this backward way of
thinking, they cannot break free of the mental shackles. In effect, they must view
the Gambian people as the problem. You notice that a Gambian youth who is
educated outside of the PDOIS barracks and is capable of distinctions hardly
ever trains on PDOIS. That robs PDOIS of the leverages for growth because their
own resources are limited. That is they cannot indoctrinate all Gambia's
youth. That is why you hear them talk about Youth consciousness groups,
militants, PDOIS central committee. How much more can you snuff the life out of an
otherwise living entity but to deliberate around carcasses and wish for the
death of tribes and cultures. No matter they portray it as the eradication of
tribalism. If there is any single idea for PDOIS, it would be the idea of
honesty to self and train on commoner good. The era of communist propaganda is
gone and good riddance.
It is worth noting that PDOIS never takes an inward look at themselves for
enhancement. A question as simple as "Why after 20 years of yearning for
governance of Gambia have Gambians not warmed up to PDOIS?" ought not have been
asked of a political party in the first place. Furthermore, PDOIS militants and
lieutenants almost always assume a bellicose posture at the mere query of
values. It is easier to charge a fellow citizen of tribalism than to appreciate
him. PDOIS looks down on their fellow citizens that is why they are welcome
at my house in their present state. If you read further down into Joe's
diatribe and frustration, you notice he has shared PDOIS' quandry. There is not a
single Gambian who is not a problem because of his or her tribe, except for
those who are PDOIS. How do you attract appreciation in this environment? They
feed the hungry they say but they chastise them for not voting for them. They
educate the illiterate, but they charge the illiterates are the colaborators
of Yahya and PPP. They educate for PDOIS, yet they abhor the otherwise
educated.
I thank you for your audience. 1/2 of my family was PDOIS, now a 1/4 is. By
next month, and with the extant conditions, I hope to make that figure
nought, except my uncles Jattas and Tourays. I am following PDOIS' progress in
enhancements for further review.
Haruna Masoud Darbo. MQDT.
To the contrary, Tribal Politics is very underestimated. You cannot use the
incumbent party to measure its destruction and this is why. The incumbent
has both a carrot and a big stick and both would be used across the ethnic
spectrum. It will always work any where in the world as it did for both Jawara
and Yaya. As you rightly stated, thus, the reason why both Yaya and Jawara
had support willingly or unwillingly across the board. Without those three
things, Fulas would not have voted for Yaya, nor would Mandingoes.
Now, without the power of incumbency, deep pocket, and the barrel of the
gun, tribal politics takes center stage and is lethal against the opposition,
especially those that hail from minority groups. It is a fact that the who is
who in the UDP as I write will only support a Mandinka candidate and no
other, for president? I hope they surprise me me by putting up a non-mandinka
candidate for President. You also hear Jolas, Wolofs, Fulas, etc. say they will
not vote for a Mandinka. It is a fact that UDP mistakenly (1996, 2001, and
2006) believed that most Mandinkas will vote for them, and to their detriment
discounted the deep pocket of the incumbent and the barrel of the gun. All
of Hamat Bah's politics is tribal and he also relied solely on the Fula vote,
the very reliance that made him and Darboe to make the mistake of believing
that their ethnic percentages of the population will translate into similar
percentages at the polls. Henry Gomez was also factored in their skewed
outlook for the same ethnic reason. Where they mainly relied on tribal
affiliation, Yaya Jammeh bought or clobbered the reluctant either physically or by
threatening to deny public service to the unwilling community. Tribal politics
will work against NADD, PDOIS, PPP (under OJ), because they neither have
power, money, or a big stick to swing. We cannot continue to bury our head in the
sand and as long as that is the trump card for the UDP and the NRP they will
continue to damage the opposition to the benefit of Yaya and the APRC.
Most of the opposition on-line complain about Yaya's tribalism. Just
because Yaya has a sprinkle of non-Jolas in his cabinet does not mean he is not a
tribalist. For one, even if he wanted to hire just Jolas that will not be
possible, for the capacity is not there, just like Jawara could not have just
hired Mandingos for the same reason. Yaya's tribalism is called out because
he puts Jolas mostly close to him and where most power and influence reside.
This tribalism is the big elephant sitting in the Opposition room and we
cannot pretend that it does not exist. The sooner the UDP and NRP realize that
elementary fact, the better for the opposition as a whole. It is that
posture that has hindered the opposition for thirteen years. The opposition almost
got it right leading to the last elections, but alas for that tribal
monster. It is a fact that Gambians were energized and encouraged to stand up when
they saw Ousainou, OJ, Hamat, Waa, and Halifa together and that is why they
won more elections over the APRC during that period. When the wise guys
decided they can go it alone and with just a few other groups, did we fall on our
face. I will be on the record to state here that we can perform the same
stunt for the next thirty years and we shall fall flat on our face for that
duration or more.
Transitioning to the on-line community, we have similar set-up with the UDP.
No sooner did UDP bolted from NADD, the majority of the communities that
supported the break away of UDP bolted and it was clearly on tribal basis and
the gang tackle that followed was also tribal with the exception of a minority
that were more interested in a liberated Gambia over ethnicity bearings.
Don't take my word for it, just observe and stick around. As I write, that
monster is in operation and I alluded to it earlier and other Gambians that are
aware of this fact are here to be my witness. I am not picking on
Mandingoes, for I would call out any, equally, had they be Jola, Wolof, or Fula. So,
no, tribalism in our politics is the one munster we need to kill. The other
lesser evil is the so-called intellectuals and their sole interest of a fat
wallet no matter what the detriment.
Chi Jaama
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