Hamjatta,
Another excellent and timely piece. Your observations strongly echo my
sentiments too. Be rest assured that there are people like you out there who
also have a conscience that is not letting them sleep at night because of
the knowledge that any day Yaya remains in power, there could be a potential
April 10 & 11 massacre. Like I said on the list some time back, I will
always remind everyone (including myself) that WE MUST GET RID OF YAYA BY
ANY MEANS NECESSARY in order to avoid another April 10 & 11 massacre.
Like you, I also knew that this recording has been around for a while. So as
soon as I saw the posting pushing the tape, I deleted it from my machine and
hoped that no one else of substance will comment on it and give it more
publicity. So frankly, I was a bit disappointed when I saw your comments on
the posting; albeit you catagorically denounced the ploy that should have
been visible to all eyes. I must admit that this was your only posting that
I have deleted so far.
You are exactly right about Dr. Touray. I was extremely disappointed to see
his posting and wanted to send a counter posting but decided against it
because I saw the same posting you saw from Ifang. Although that posting did
not totally echo my sentiments about Dr. Touray's posting, I still decided
to refrain myself because  (just like you) I did not want to be seen as
picking on Dr. Touray; especially on an issue
which in my humble opinion does not directly relate to the massacre of April
10 & 11. But your posting prompted me to write because it contains more
substantial issues that are close to my heart. If nothing else, I hope this
will give people an opportunity to read your piece again and do a self
assessment. One should ask oneself whether one is doing enough to get to the
bottom of the April 10 and 11 massacre. We must always remember that these
children lost their lives trying to make Gambia a better place for all of
us. What is more noble than calling the authorities to dispense justice and
punish the murderers of one of their own? Maybe calling the authorities to
dispense justice and punish the murderers of 15 or more children? The least
we can do for them is to ensure that they did not die in vain. No one is
asking any one to sacrifice his/her life (like the brave children did on
April 10 & 11). But I do not think it is too much to ask to tell people to
make sure that the perpetrators of these heinous acts and many more face
justice and pay for their actions.
Hamjatta, we are doing everything we can to make sure that Yaya and his
cohorts pay for their crimes. Gambia-L is just one of the instruments we
use. So we can assure you and others that even if you do not hear from us
through this medium, we are tirelessly working towards a Gambia free from
tyranny.
Since I finally decided to comment on Dr. Touray's posting, I would just
want to point out to him a classic illustration why sanctions do not work.
He tried to justify the peddling of those tapes and even sent a veiled offer
to help sell those tapes by stating that he knew people who might be
interested in the tapes and gave his personal email address for contact. His
justification was that this has nothing to do with politics. Well all
sanction busters have justifications too. Some more original than Dr.
Touray's; as demonstrated by the Ifang posting. So there you have Dr. Touray
violating the spirit of his proposals for sanctions. Before he made that
statement, I wonder whether he verified where the proceeds (both in terms of
cash  and good will) of the sale were going. This was the observation I
wanted to make as soon as I saw Dr. Touray's posting. I hope this is not
seen as a personal attack. This is attacking the sanctions proposal Dr.
Touray made in an earlier posting to which I replied and told Dr. Touray
that sanctions do not work. We have to come up with better means of getting
rid of Yaya. And we should go further and draw a road map that will lead us
to a much better Gambia after Yaya.
KB

>From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The Complacency That Is Becoming The L
>Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 02:54:44 EDT
>
>     Complacency like failure has a stench to it. For those with a good
>enough
>nose, the whiff of the stench of complacency is getting stronger as each
>day
>passes since Jammeh was stupid enough to order the shooting of innocent
>school kids who happened to be showing their disgust against the tyranny he
>had managed to wrought on the Gambian People.
>     For me the catalogue of recent complacency came to a complete pattern
>with yesteryears complacency, when Tombong forwarded an announcement that
>CDs
>or whatever of KAIRO [a word he has helped debased by merely invoking it],
>a
>recording of Gambian artists that his gov't/GRTS had helped produce on
>behalf
>of Gambian artists is now available for sale. But reading between the
>lines,
>and from the bits and pieces I stitched together, I knew this was another
>tacky but supersubtle gimmickry by Tombong to paint his master in the light
>of benevolence and patriotism who could not be culpable of wrong doing
>especially against innocent school children. [I have seen a copy of that
>KAIRO tape way back in 1999 which by Gambian standards is good enough and
>please don't get me wrong I do buy Gambian artists recording even though I
>know most of them only play weedy stuff I would rather not listen to. I
>only
>buy their tapes to show solidarity. No disrespect to the artists who are
>doing their utmost to live up to expectations when the chips are so heavily
>stacked against them. I hope I'm excused for this blasé declaration.] Upon
>reading between the lines and knowing Tombong for his spins, I rose to the
>challenge and relentlessly made foolish his announcement by satirizing his
>tacky ploy.
>     Into the picture emerges our own very Katim. He congratulates Tombong
>and
>by extension Jammeh for their good work. For any pat on the back that
>Tombong
>gets from us reaches Jammeh by extension. This he declared is beyond
>politics
>and one must delineate politics from social life. What a load of cobblers!
>I
>might even add COR BLIMEY! to mimic the old lady who used to live near me
>in
>Burnham. To be very honest, I was totally speechless and disappointed that
>Katim with all his worldly experience could fall for this sort of school
>boy
>ploy designed and timed to show how much Jammeh is doing for the Gambia.
>For
>all that it is worth, a lady came to the rescue. Someone forwarded a mail
>from an Irene who on the face of it seemed to me to be a non Gambian. And
>as
>she cogently put it to Katim, music in modern African politics, is one of
>the
>booby traps that brutal dictators use to whip up emotions of solidarity in
>order to cover up their inadequacies and the tyrannical nature of their
>power.
>     If an outsider like Irene could read through Jammeh like this and an
>insider and big player/leader in the JAMMEH MUST GO camp could be fall such
>cobblers, then we are ready to journey backwards. Welcome to the age of
>complacency. After all the hooha, is this what we could manage? Is this
>what
>we owe the slain school kids? I should just add that it just sent alarm
>bells
>pealing in my head. That the zeal is fast ebbing out of us after we all
>agreed that the situation back home can no longer be tolerated
>     I might have shrugged this off as a one off if there weren't
>forerunners.
>However, there is more to the story. But the first person to give Tombong a
>pat on the back for supplying twisted facts from Jammeh's office was Katim.
>He infact used the word 'candour' to describe Tombong's attitude and
>self-serving gestures. And full of exultation for the SOS for Justice for
>his
>empty rhetoric on the dispensation of justice for the families of slain
>school kids.
>     As if this lack of ingenuity and foresight wasn't enough, he together
>with other List Managers introduced Neanderthal rules on the list to the
>effect that it is simply a pain to send postings on the L. When criticised
>by
>Prince O'Brien Coker for this new rule, arrogantly he said this new rule is
>non negotiable so we might as well put up with it. Even as more and more
>who
>care enough came out to whine about it, but to the self righteous Managers,
>its case closed. Classic African leadership psyche at work for you. And we
>are really serious about developing Africa and turning things around?
>     Then cometh the Framework For Change he penned. For an academic that
>he
>is supposed to be, I have never read anything as bland and uninspiring as
>that paper. That paper was a gross understatement of the tragedy of the
>Gambia under Jammeh. Anyway I came to such conclusions when I first read
>it.
>To confirm my judgements, I gave it to one of my tutors to read it as a
>petition which he might be interested in supporting. Guess what he had to
>say? Simply put, the gentleman merely put it to me that compared to what he
>has heard and hears of African regimes, this one [Jammeh's represented in
>Katim's Framework For Change] is kind of mild and relatively pales in front
>of the others. Is this the sort of message we want send out to people out
>there? With such a message who would he even listen to us? Who would take
>us
>seriously with such a petition as Katim's Framework For Change?
>     And in all this, Katim believes he had taken "the moral high ground"
>in
>the name of tolerance. Tolerance...... a word I adore. As I always keep
>saying, the Jammeh regime is Fascism reincarnate. And a by-line of Fascism
>is
>intolerance to anything that is progressive. I might add here that most of
>my
>convictions on tolerance comes from Karl Popper's landmark book Open
>Society
>and its Enemies. This book has enormous influence on my idea of tolerance
>and
>society. This was a book written when Fascist Europe was at its worst. It
>is
>the most definitive statement so far I have across on tolerance and the
>ideals of an "Open Society." As Popper himself put it in the book on the
>case
>of tolerating Fascism as people like Neville Chamberlain were doing then,
>"we
>should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate
>the intolerant" [see Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), Ch. 7 by Karl
>Popper].
>     As things are, Jammeh happens to be the most intolerant thing to
>happen
>to the Gambia. Therefore it is foolhardy to expect of us tolerance when he
>is
>not ready to tolerate us or live and let live. The day he refused
>tolerating
>us, he ceased the right to expect of us tolerance. This is the central
>conceit of my argument that Jammeh must never be tolerated notwithstanding
>all the seemingly well meaning gestures that might emanate from him save
>only
>if he is ready to unconditionally relinquish power. This is why I do not
>tolerate his sidekicks like Tombong. Simply cos they represent Fascism
>online
>and defend it consciously. They must not be tolerated even if it means
>breaking age old links. This should be our stance. I will not commit myself
>to nothing less. Any flaccid attempts to look tolerant to the intolerant
>will
>only prolongate our struggles. If young school children can say enough is
>enough and refuse to be bullied by this thickos who are we adults to listen
>to the self-serving gestures and postures of Jammeh? We CAN and MUST do
>better. It is the least we could do for the memories of these school
>children
>who did what most of us wouldn't dare do.
>     My criticism is therefore not personal but aims at bringing back zeal
>into the mission which is beginning to be hard hit at by the usual Gambian
>culture of complacency. My singling out Katim is nothing personal but born
>out of his tendency to accept the bait anytime it is thrown. If we are
>GONNA
>achieve a different society after Jammeh, it helps for us all to accept
>constructive criticism and start thinking differently or else it will
>always
>be a sense of déjà vu with each regime. Attitudes and mentalities have to
>change. That's the long and short of it. It is the first and foremost
>solution to the African mess. It just doesn't help our cause if we
>criticise
>Jammeh for the same things we allow to flourish amongst ourselves. The we
>are
>supposedly working for must be beyond getting of Jammeh alone. It must go
>further than that. It must go as far as attacking our attitudes which are
>part and parcel of the problem.
>     This weekend Africans would gather to celebrate African Liberation
>Day.
>What is there to celebrate in Africa? That we have given birth to more
>Hitlers and Mussolinis in the 20th century? That come the dawning of the
>21st
>century we are still held hostage by hoodlums and monsters? And Pan African
>cafe intellectuals would invoke the usual Nkrumah crannies that are not
>rooted in today's realities. It is time the rhetoric changes. It is time
>this
>socialist Pan Africanist consensus is challenged and laid to rest. It is
>time
>we realise that there is more to the African story and units of analysis
>than
>slavery and colonialism. These two horrors must not and cannot solely
>redefine the conscience of the modern African and Africa. Africans must
>look
>inwardly for the root causes of our problems and stop pointing outwardly
>for
>what is increasingly pointing towards the opposite direction. We simply
>cannot have it both ways. This is the message that should be coming from
>all
>the gatherings this weekend. Anything short of these is a mere chafing of
>the
>surface of our problems and giving allure to the likes of Jammeh.
>     I know it is and could be a pain to have a conscience. Some of just
>can't
>shut it when we feel something is going amiss somewhere. I hope my thoughts
>expressed herein wouldn't delist me here. But I'm equally ready for that.
>There is nothing far more rewarding than clearing your conscience of all
>the
>shadows of doubt that especially lingered in my whole being the last two
>days.
>Hamjatta Kanteh
>
>
>hkanteh
>
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