This mail is from Buharr Gassama and I send it from the WWW interface.
The server manager wrote "It appears that some experimentation by our
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------- Forwarded message follows -------
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. How
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 with the same economic nonsense that continues to
register zero economic growth and abject poverty for 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 is at best an affront to the senses of independent-
thinking individuals. PDOIS is a party based on democratic 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 short of that is something they want no part of.
PDOIS has propagated, promoted and lived by democratic 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 dictatorship 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' economic 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 elites. 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 policy here on the L no matter how sound they are
simply because they do not originate from a trained economist? Do you think
that PDOIS cannot produce a sound economic policy based on the capitalist
model? 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 and Human
Resource Management but I can open a computer, dismantle it and fix it
right back up, do diagnostics and all what not. I can wire up a video or
music production studio from scratch, edit, program and do more than many
who are formally trained can do. I can create a whole website using only
HTML code and many other technical things even though I am not formally
trained in some of them but 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
fields. 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 trained economist who writes their economic policies. There is a
wealth of information out there and all it takes is research to produce
whatever you want. I don't know whether PDOIS has trained economists who
draw up their economic programs but I know that PDOIS members such as
Halifa have left government representatives grappling for words to defend
their economic policies designed by trained economists. 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 factors 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 credit 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 achieve those concrete things and that is your
democratic prerogative. Respect PDOIS democratic prerogative 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 labelling. Thanks and have a good evening.
Buharry.
_
------- End of forwarded message -------
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