Hi All,
Below is a review of Mandela's Other Children by Professor Abdoulaye Saine,
culled from The Gambia Echo. Dr. Saine, many thanks for this great review.
It illuminates the way forward for this yet evolving project. Godspeed.
Baba
Baba Jallow, Mandela’s Other Children: The Diary of An African
Journalist, Shelbyville, KY: Wasteland Press, April 2007, pp.101, $ 12.00
Mandela’s Other Children, as the sub-title indicates, is a diary of a
Gambian journalists who was a witness to the 1994 coup in The Gambia,and
thereafter caught in the tumultuous political events that followed.
It is a vivid chapter in the thirteen-year saga of a deeply authoritarian
military and quasi-military regime whose rule continues to be defined by
imprisonment, torture and killing of journalists and civilians.
The book is, therefore, a riveting narrative that takes the reader into the
torture chambers located in the National Intelligence Agency Headquarters
where operatives inflict harrowing and inhumane atrocities on journalists
whose only “crime” was to have reported the news.
Consequently, this is a bold, angry and defiant book that, in late
Orientalist Edward Said’s words, “speaks truth to power.” The reader is
treated to a nuanced and contextualized political commentary on military
dictators in which the author ably and appropriately draws important
parallels between The Gambia, and other African countries once under the
grip of military dictators. In the end, the author blends these themes
seamlessly to deliver a powerful message of resistance, hope and liberation
for The Gambia, Gambians and all those oppressed by autocratic rulers
elsewhere.
Mandela’s Other Children, ended much too soon, however.The reader is left
pondering why the author did not tell of his exit and self-imposed exile
from The Gambia and the circumstances surrounding it. Also, it would have
been useful if the author devoted time to telling his reader what his
relationship with The Independent Newspaper was and the journalists and
editors he left behind to manage it after his departure. This is because by
the year 2000 or shortly after, the book, it seems, ceased to be a diary of
a journalist within the country and shifted to commentary on events in The
Gambia from without. Just as important, some discussion of the author’s
struggles as well as his triumphs in his newly adopted country would have
added immensely to this rich and nuanced narrative.I hasten to add that we
have not heard the last of Baba just yet as I suspect these and many other
issues would be covered in his next book.
Mandela’s Other Children is worth taking the time to read. It is a quick and
an easy read, simultaneously gripping and interesting. At one level it is a
diary, a slice of Gambian political history, a defiant political commentary,
and at another level, it inspires hope and spells out a thoughtful and
progressive political-economy alternative for Africa and to The Gambia’s
current state of affairs of deepening authoritarianism, corruption and
misery. All these themes are beautifully wrapped in one effortless
narrative. Finally, Baba must be supported by reading this and other books
that he has so far written. He is making a significant contribution through
his varied writings to the growing literary and academic literature on The
Gambia and for this he deserves continued recognition and applause.
Abdoulaye Saine
Oxford, OH
Culled from The Gambia Echo (www.thegambiaecho.com)
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