My good friend JDAM,
 
I I commend you for this sincere and amicus of our other friend Kabir. I do  
have high regard for both your opinions and those of Karim and Dr. Jaiteh. As 
I  was reading through the notes, one thing struck me; that is that the four  
honourable coleagues are not as far apart in conviction as it might seem to 
the  untrained eye. It is degree of convictions and erstwhile impertinence that  
threatens to widen the presumptive divide. Allow me to explain using your 
notes.  For in a note to Dr. Jaiteh, you remind him of the topic of discourse and 
I am  confident you meant no sleight of that because you had veered from that 
topic if  only to yield more global comprehension. Atfaddal: 
 
"Kabir: Yours is a critically educative and interesting perspective."  JDAM.
 
I join you in appreciation of Kabir's informative and interesting  
perspective and you must have comfort that Dr. Jaiteh and Karim do infact  appreciate 
Kabir's disposition si bien to varying degrees. I think Karim's  reaction was a 
bit unwarranted because our friend Kabir expressed his opinions  attached to 
the article about Gordon Brown's position vis-a-vis Mugabe. Even if  he 
disagrees with Kabir's position Karim could have handled it differently,  afterall, 
Kabir did not misrepresent facts. He merely forwards his opinions  which by the 
way I happen to agree with in the culprit article. I think Gordon  Brown's 
position is indefensible and ill-advised. That is not to say he is not  right in 
his position or that he is not entitled to boycot the culprit summit.  I 
agree with his decision in as much as the people of Great Britain are  concerned. 
We must understand that Gordon Brown has as much responsibility for  British 
Zimbabweans as Mugabe has responsibility for Rhodesian Zimbabweans. By  the 
way, Mugabe or Gordon brown obviously do not speak for me or  all Gambians and 
British respectively. No matter allegories to such. I  think Gordon Brown was 
disingenuous and he wasted enormous political capital on  the disdainful Mugabe.

" I continue to celebrate  Mugabe's role in the fight against, and defeat of, 
white minority rule in  Zimbabwe. He is the last of the great southern 
African liberators, that  generation of fighters who made it to the very top in 
their various countries.  Some of the others included Mandela of South Africa, 
Machel of Mozambique,  Nujuma of South West Africa (Namibia), terrorists one and 
all, according to  Thatcher and a succession of American presidents." JDAM.
 
I join you in requiem of good riddance and the acknowledgement of  
disingenuity. Perhaps ignorance is to blame or a paucity of ethical  considerations. You 
and I have the good fortune to endeavour more adroite  considerations. I am 
sure Kabir, Dr. Jaiteh, and Karim join us too on that  score. 
 
"In a book on Africa's fifty years of independence, I read about Mugabe  
going to his mother and saying his goodbyes, telling her that he resolved to  join 
the fighters in Mozambique, and that although he was not sure about  
surviving, he refused to live under white minority rule in Rhodesia."  JDAM.
 
This is touching. I am sure Gallantry abound. If you read about  Thatcher's 
life or Jimmy Carter's life, or for that matter Yahya's life, I am  confident 
you will come across gallantry of equal or overwhelming proportion.  How about 
Mandela's life story. It probably dwarfs the rest in magnanimity and  
gallantry. The devil is the detail of gallantries. I share your nirvana. Now we  must 
train on the evidently missing bliss.
 
"Unless we vainly search for purity in our political leaders, the man  
deserves celebration for helping end the tyranny of the minority in his  homeland!" 
JDAM.
 
I think it is well within reason to celebrate Mugabe's achievements  and he 
deserves high commendation for his selfless disposition when he  sacrificed for 
the liberation of Rhodesia along with many equally gallant  Zimbabweans. As 
luck and consideration would have it, he was accorded the  privilege of the 
Presidency in Bulawayo. Celebration nonetheless. I don't  imagine vanity in the 
quest of purity in other is valuable.
 
"The alternative was Bishop Musorewa and his ilk!" JDAM.
 
I wonder why you believe Musorewa and his ilk are or were the  alternatives. 
I wonder who were Musorewa's ilk? Lamin, you must err on  precision when human 
characters and their ware are concerned. Such blanket  disdain is unlike you.

"Although currently of the view  that he overstayed his useful years," JDAM.
 
This is where the quintet comes together in perspective. Gentlemen all.  
Afflicted with erstwhile extreme convictions.
 
"I do not understand this to constitute any disagreement with your  
perspective." JDAM.
 
I agree within the limits of Gordon Brown's disingenuity. Dr. Jaiteh  and 
Karim also recognize Kabir's perspective am sure in that regard..
 
"Even here, the dilemma must be whether any successor of Mugabe could  muster 
the requisite clout in credibly resolving the land dispute that is  
interwoven with municipal white  brutality of epic proportions."  JDAM.
 
I acknowledge and share your anxieties Lamin. You will however agree with  me 
that sooner or later, we must embark on the search for such a successor  
unless you have resigned Zimbabwe's fate to Mugabe's fate.
 
"For the educated Zimbabwe watcher, the critical question is whether any  
credibility should be accorded the leaders of key anti-Mugabe countries like the  
USA, the UK, and Australia." JDAM.
 
The educated Zimbabwe watcher must therefore train on the non-key anti  
Mugabe Zimbabwean citizens.
 
[In light of their own defacto domestic policies on race relations and  equal 
opportunity, the answer has got to be negative. As their most testing  
assignment must be their individual and collective abilities to navigate the  global 
scene, Africa's future leaders must open their eyes to the realities of  
international politics and its intersection with domestic race relations in  
so-called "key democracies"]. JDAM.
 
You have veered away from topic here and you seem to discredit the opinion  
of citizens of other countries. I understand your angst but oftentimes, we can  
blur our purpose and personal shortcomings by dwelling on the obvious and or 
the  shortcomings of others. I have learned that there is more merit in 
comparative  values than comparative non-value.
 
"On Zimbabwe, I do not think Africans should take lectures from the  
Anglo-Saxon tripartite of the USA, the UK, and Australia. This is not to say I  do not 
wonder at the fantastic magic of the "rule of law" in these countries  
regarding matters touching on the white majority." JDAM.
 
I agree Lamin, and I add that on any matter for any country, no one must  
take lectures from another in the affairs of your administration. Be the  
lecturers anglo-saxons, caucasians, or negroes.
 
"We are simply incidental beneficiaries of the protection of the law, and  
even here the system routinely malfunctions with tragic consequences as in the  
case of  the "Jena Six". And in the area of mainstream economic  opportunity, 
the non-Caucasian is generally excluded." JDAM.
 
You veer away from the topic here again. That is not to say that the new  
topic is irrelevant. A new topic nonetheless. I am confident these inadvertent  
diversions afflicted Malanding.
 
[In a 2006 speech I gave on comparative "Rule of Law" to a Gambian group in  
the UK, please refer to the excerpt below:

"For a  dramatic demonstration of the rule of law in recent times, I suggest 
we foray  into a systemic challenge to, and vindication of, the concept in the 
United  States, that trail blazer jurisdiction of the all-encompassing 
principle of the  sanctity of the human person. For the discernible student of 
modern  international affairs - and we have many in this immediate audience and 
beyond -  the United States stands for carnage and abuse. I accept the partial 
validity of  any such observation, and for good measure, I readily concede that 
like our host  nation, the United States stands legitimately accused of 
pervasive institutional  racism against its non-Caucasian peoples. I am willing, at 
some future date, to  discuss the institutional racism clearly prevalent in 
the United States, and the  United Kingdom, in particular, and western liberal 
democracies, in general, but  for present purposes, I am happy to confine my 
excitement to dilating on the  critical significance of  the rule
of law  in public life."]  JDAM.
 
I have always regarded you as intelligent, circumspect in the main, and  
potentially amalgamating. I commend you for sharing your views with your  fellow 
citizens. I do disagree with your assertion that the US stands for  carnage and 
abuse in international affairs. I agree there is institutional  racism in the 
US and that is sometimes extended to international  policy and we the 
non-caucasians are well aware of it as we make strides to  change that order. I will 
share with you that there is institutional bias in  most African and indeed 
global administrations. You are probably not aware of  institutional bias in 
India, the Sudan, Algeria, France, Senegal, Mauritania,  Gambia, Guinea Bissau, 
Uganda, Angola, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden,  Malaysia, and Myanmar. The 
bias manifests in various cultural inclinations. It  would be the height of 
vanity to consider that the Arab nations view blacks  as good for nothing other 
than slavery. The question though is whether that  gives Mugabe License to 
maim and murder his fellow citizens when they  challenge his rule, even when they 
are aided and abetted by the west? You must  remember that Mugabe has his own 
aiders and abettors, the majority of whom are  not African, not that that 
makes a significant difference. We must therefore  train on justice and fair-play 
across the board without regard to race, gender,  creed, or social status.
I think what I sense is that even though you want to train on commoner  good, 
there is this nagging sensation that your fellow citizen does not know how  
much you know about cause and effect and you find it difficult to leave them  
behind in the information arena. You will take comfort in the recognition that  
when you train on commoner good, you embark on massive education by proxy.
 
"I urge you to relentlessly continue your crusade for Pan African  
consciousness in that  political Gambia must be educated about its  salvation not 
residing in the British gathering of the Commonwealth of Nations,  or the global 
gathering at the imperialist instrumentality of the United  Nations, not to 
mention the Arab gathering at the Islamic Conference."  JDAM.
 
I'm sure by now you have noticed what I share with you. Pan African  
consciousness, whether that is what Kabir is trained on or not, is not education  
about anyone's salvation. You have intimated yourself that there are plenty of  
dictators, despots, nincompoops in Africa itself but that your disdain is with  
Western disingenuities. Why, pray tell, would you wish to substitute one  
nincompoop with another???
 
"I agree that we must unshackle our minds, and thank you for your  
perspective!" JDAM.
 
Lamin and my coleagues, Let us rise above insignificant and onerous  
considerations in national enterprise. Look at the far side of vengeful  admonition on 
foolhardy pursuits and train on commoner life and its fortunes.  Admonish we 
must where appropriate. But we must resist the temptations of  replacing evil 
with evil. The worth of a man is not measured by the joules in  reaction but 
by les mots adequats, measured innoculation, and considrations.  Otherwise the 
human race will have been extinct prior to our arrival here.
 
Haroun Al Khairawan. MQDT Darbo




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