Dictators Cannot Liberate, Mr. President 

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda) 
EDITORIAL
23 May 2007 
Posted to the web 23 May 2007 

  When the President visited Venezuela, he delivered a speech when he was a guest of the mayor of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. GRTS television broadcast the speech on 22 May. 
  In his speech, the President indicated that he would rather be a dictator that would liberate his people than a democrat who would sell his country to the west. 
  It goes without saying that a dictator cannot lead a people to liberation. A dictator can only oppress and exploit a people; a dictator can only stifle the minds of a people; a dictator can only jail political opponents without observing the due process of law; a dictator can only torture, maim and kill his/her people. 
  Liberation is an act of the people, not an act of a leader. A leader guides his people to liberation. By their exemplary deeds and moving words a conscious movement emerges and the people become liberated. 
  The liberation of a people starts with the liberation of their minds. The people must be awakened from their slumber. They must know themselves, their country and the world in order to become the architects of their own destiny. 
  Take Gambia, for example, if the people continue to vote on the basis of who gave them a few coins, or on blood, ethnic, religious or other sectionalist sentiments they will be vulnerable to the manipulations of demagogic politicians who will continue to mislead them. 
  In short, without enlightenment a people cannot make informed choice. They will not be in a position to free themselves from one tyrant or another, or one dictator or another. 
  Power lies in the people. An individual is powerless without the support of the people. When a people are determined and united no dictator can stand on their path. The sophisticated weapons of the Shah of Iran and his notorious Shavak (secret police) could not save him from falling from grace. Where are the Idi Amins, the Mobutus, etc? 
  To conclude, we must emphasize that the issue we are faced with, in this 21st century, is not colonialism. The strife now is for the liberation of the people, their economic prosperity and their human dignity. And you cannot talk about human dignity if you crinch and crawl before a dictator. 
  The point is that liberation cannot be divorced from democracy. What is "western" about people being free to carve their destiny by voting in free and fair periodic elections, participating in public affairs, freely expressing themselves and enjoying the protection of law and fundamental rights? 
        
  
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  Copyright © 2007 FOROYAA Newspaper. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).   
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"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 	 
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