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From:                   "MOMODOU BUHARRY GASSAMA" <[log in to unmask]>
To:                     <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                PLEASE FORWARD
Date sent:              Wed, 3 Oct 2001 11:21:20 +0200

Hi Momodou!
                How are you and the family? Fine, I hope. Could you please forward the following message to the L as I have been trying to send it since yesterday and I have not received any mail since then. Please check my subscription also. Thanks and have a good day.
                                                                                                            Buharry
____________________________________________________________________

Hi Hamjatta!

  You wrote:

"The multiplicative nature of the current programmed fanatic virus feeds from the manifestly manipulative tutelage of a host organism, which is stationed, of course, in Churchill's Town. This is not stuff lifted from a futuristic sci-fi flick or bestselling nevel; but a basic scientific truth."

What is this basic scientific truth? Please identify and dilate this basic scientific truth.

You also wrote:

"I once used to entertain the fantasy that caricaturing the earnest emptiness of the
so-called PDOIS/Foroyaa 'enligthenment' would help disarm its potentialities of turning young and old minds alike into unthinking robotic members of society."

Are you saying that those of us who support PDOIS' agenda are "unthinking robotic members of society?" How can you quantify such a blanket assertion? Based on what? It is truly an insult to our intelligence to insinuate that we cannot think for ourselves. I do not agree with everything PDOIS says
or does and I am the farthest from a "communist" as I am engaged in diverse ventures based on and inspired by profit. I cannot even remember the last time I read "Foroyaa". I have read the manifestos of the various parties and have followed political issues and developments in The Gambia for a
while and came to the conclusion that the position presented by PDOIS is in my opinion the best for my country. I chose that position based on an informed and calculated decision. Does that make me a part of the "unthinking robotic members of society?" Based on whose criteria? Yours, perhaps?

You have chosen to support and defend the alliance. That is your democratic right. No one can take that from you. Why can't you respect the fact that people also have a democratic right to support a party of their choice. You have chosen to defend the alliance with more vehemence than most of us
who support PDOIS but we are not calling you a programmed fanatic. BTW, can someone with an English dictionary please for the record look up the two words "programmed" and "fanatic"? I personally respect your right to practice your democratic right to do that and would never dream of belittling
that. Why can't you do the same? After all, you decry Yaya Jammeh's democratic record and yet cannot acknowledge the fact that we choose to support PDOIS based on our convictions and not any robotic inclination.

You also wrote:

"I'm not all alone in waxing perplex over the stubborn streak of bad ideas not to die forever and or never to re-emerge in the mainstream again"

Bad ideas according to who? Have you considered the fact that there is even the slightest possibility that some of us are consistent in our beliefs and pronouncements because they are based on principle rather than fad? What might seem to be bad ideas to you do not appear as such to equally
intelligent  people. Say therefore that you do not agree with them based on your philosophy.

You wrote:

"And, be it noted, most of the economic nonsense now being recycled anew has been dealt with comprehensively in an earlier essay on PDOIS' economic agenda; and one would assume then that they would at least have the decency to go back to the drawing board again to
reformulate and rethink policy. Rather, the party unabashedly brought to the fore again the same economic nonsense i have earlier debunked effectively."

This is truly amazing. I therefore ask you, should PDOIS as a party redesign its thinking and policies simply because you do not agree with them or think that you have "debunked" them?


You further wrote:

"For the purposes of clarity, let us revisit the central plank or thrust of PDOIS' economic agenda. According to them, they are committed to enhancing personal income through the agricultural economics of cooperative societies like the ones you find in Bakau where women have their horticultural
gardens. Well, that is it. I'm all ears."

I have several issues with the above statement.
1 - Where did they write that their co-operative societies will be "like the ones you find in Bakau where women have their horticultural gardens"? Do you know the model, structures and mechanisms of their proposed co-operative societies or are you just assuming that they will be like the ones in
Bakau? There are many profitable co-operative societies here in Sweden that are managed on sound business principles that yield profits and help to enhance members' economic, social etc. well-being. I personally do not know much about the Bakau co-operatives. Are they bad enough not to emulate?
Do they not realise their aims? Please enlighten me.

2. How did you arrive at your assertion that setting up co-operatives is the "central plank or thrust of PDOIS' economic agenda"? According to PDOIS' Agenda for Democracy And Development, "Self-reliance in food production will earn Gambian farmers over 1000 million dalasis a year. To ensure
marketing of agricultural produce PDOIS shall develop partnership with a genuine farmers co-operative which will be assisted with funds to purchase agricultural produce, provide storage facilities, market it and give farmers their legitimate income." According to this, a PDOIS government SHALL
DEVELOP A PARTNERSHIP with a co-operative to "ensure marketing of agricultural produce" and will be helped with funds to establish structures that will accord them the ability to purchase, store and market their produce. This is not even talking about creating a co-operative but developing a
relationship with a genuine one that might even have been created years ago if its structures are deemed genuine enough. What did you base your assertion on that this is the central plank of PDOIS' economic agenda on? What criteria did you use?

3. In trying to let us believe that what you perceive to be the central plank of PDOIS' economic agenda is what it is, you left out the remainder of the party's economic policy. What you didn't mention reads:

"Public and private initiatives will be relied on to engage in fishing, processing, construction and other services to generate employment, boost up trade and development."

Why didn't you mention the above? Was it an oversight or was it deliberate? How can you choose the issue of co-operatives which itself is but a part of the policy of self-reliance in food production and vehemently conclude that this is the central plank of PDOIS' economic policy? Did you note
where it said public and PRIVATE initiatives will be relied on to engage in "fishing, processing, construction and other services to generate employment, boost up trade and development"? Let us be fair when we criticise. Many have wrongfully hung the stigma of communism á la Stalin on PDOIS
because they advocate a socialist society. Have they genuinely stopped to ask and fully understand what type of socialism PDOIS is talking about? I live in a socialist country called Sweden but this country
 is nothing like the Russia of Stalin. You, Hamjatta, live in a country run by Labour yet you do not experience Stalinist Russia. Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries are socialist countries
yet they are among the most advanced countries in nearly all indices used to measure development. H
ow can you therefore conclude that PDOIS' socialism is akin to communism?

You also wrote:

"Perhaps,PDOIS takes its cue from the stubborn-ness of the North Korean dictatorship to continue wi
th the same economic nonsense that continues to register zero economic growth and abject poverty fo
r the masses they have literally forced against their wills into these State contrived cooperative
societies."

You comparison of PDOIS to the North Korean dictatorship is like comparing apples and oranges and i
s at best an affront to the senses of independent-thinking individuals. PDOIS is a party based on d
emocratic principles and has declared and demonstrated time and again that
 its programs and policies are based on the respect and participation of the people and anything sh
ort of that is something they want no part of. PDOIS has propagated, promoted and lived by democrat
ic principles longer than and more effectively than any other party currently in The Gambia yet you
 cannot even accord them that courtesy based on their record. Come on, be fair and give them their
due for you know that PDOIS is as far away in democratic principles from the North Korean dictators
hip as Oxford is from Churchill's Town.

You also wrote:

"Which brings me to a question i've always asked myself since i realised the absurdity of PDOIS' ec
onomic thinking: which trained economist helps formulate the party's
economic policy? Which professional economist with the appropriate credentials does policy thinking
 for them? I certainly don't know of any professional Gambian economist that is part of the PDOIS e
lites. On the contrary, what we have is mainly a trio assemblage of a sociologist, a linguist and a
 physics teacher. Physics + Sociology + Linguistics = Good
Economics? I don't think so."

Are you a trained economist? If you are not, should we discount your presentations on economic poli
cy here on the L no matter how sound they are simply because they do not originate from a trained e
conomist? Do you think that PDOIS cannot produce a sound economic policy based on the capitalist mo
del? If you do, I'll advise you to think again. We live in the information age. One can be trained
in something but be equally good in something else. I am formally trained in Business Management an
d Human Resource Management but I can open a computer, dismantle it and fix it right back up, do di
agnostics and all what not. I can wire up a video or music production studio from scratch, edit, pr
ogram and do more than many who are formally trained can do. I can create a whole website using onl
y HTML code and many other technical things even though I am not formally trained in some of them b
ut I am self-taught. I am proficient in subjects rather far away from what I am formally trained to
 do and would without hesitation propose or defend positions alongside those trained in those field
s.  This is not bragging but I am only giving you an example. There are many self-taught people who
 are more able and effective than those trained in their disciplines. It all depends on commitment
and ability. Do not belittle PDOIS economic policy simply because you assume they do not have a tra
ined economist who writes their economic policies. There is a wealth of information out there and a
ll it takes is research to produce whatever you want. I don't know whether PDOIS has trained econom
ists who draw up their economic programs but I know that PDOIS members such as Halifa have left gov
ernment representatives grappling for words to defend their economic policies designed by trained e
conomists. Even if PDOIS do not have trained economists as members of the party, are you sure that
they do not have consultations with such on economic issues?

You wrote:

"A palatable, well-measured and liberal economic alternative is on offer. The Alliance headed by Mr
 Darbo presents a policy thrust that in all essence represents a macro-economic framework that fact
ors greatly the current socio-economic realities of the Gambia."

When did you realise this?

I apologise for the long post. I think it is in the interest of democracy and what is good for our
country to respect each others' positions even where we do not agree with them. Give credit where c
redit is due. There are many things that PDOIS has done and these are concrete things that are seen
 and felt by people and can never be wished away. You might not agree with the policies used to ach
ieve those concrete things and that is your democratic prerogative. Respect PDOIS democratic prerog
ative to do things the way they see fit and not how you see them. Yet still, respect our democratic
 prerogative as supporters of PDOIS to support who we want without the constant insults and labelli
ng. Thanks and have a good evening.
                                                                          
                                   Buharry.


_

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