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From:
Y Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:46:30 -0500
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Hello Galleh!

I was going to openly protest this forward of yours, especially the
timing. Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I am looking for some more petition signers so I can get your mail
spammed to the brim. (Jokes!!)



Angry Laughter like its name sounds is a jaw breaker. I must add that
I was never a ppp (Infact too young to be one), but the teachings in
the piece below, true to its historic moment. I heard when Sir Dawda
announced in Mansakonto that he was leaving, people cried openly. The
satiric piece very well captures the event I heard people narate about
the Mansakonko rally.

On a side note, DK's reign was way more peaceful. In comparison to
Jammeh, I hold the opinion that a Jawara Gov't compared to Jammeh is
like day and night.

Thanks always,
yj









Dear Friends,

Below is a chapter from my small book, Angry Laughter. It is a parody
of Sir Dawda's announcement at a PPP Congress in Mansa Konko at one
point that he was planning on retirement from government. Loony the
fox had barely started sneaking a greedy glance at the throne when
this episode took place.

Baba


What Talkmuch Dolittle failed to see and how he administered a
historic test of loyalty

Meanwhile, Talkmuch Dolittle nonchalantly ruled on. As the years
dragged by, the aging king got increasingly divorced from the
realities of the ordinary animals of Smiling Forest. A thick wall of
sycophants surrounded and shielded him from the realities on the
ground and fed him with multi-colored layers of convenient truths
about the state of the common animals. Everything, they told him, was
fine and dandy and that in fact, all the animals were ecstatic about
the qualities of his great leadership. Some animals, they reported,
had gone so far as to erect monuments in his honor to which they paid
daily homage. He was now a god, ever right, above error.

The reality on the ground, however, was far from rosy. Living
standards were falling at an alarming rate and government corruption
and redundancy were rocketing at breakneck speed. Discontent over his
apparent condoning of corruption among top government officials bred
ever-increasing bitterness among the lower animals. Even traditionally
quiet and apolitical animals like Toothy the boar, Samo the elephant
and Momba the tortoise became disenchanted with the
corruption-condoning policies of Talkmuch Dolittle. The fact that top
officials that stole and were found guilty of public theft were simply
re-deployed to other lucrative posts within the Smiling administration
greatly angered the animals. A thick cloud of resentment shrouded the
bright landscape of Smiling Forest.

Also, Talkmuch Dolittle had grown old and increasingly senile. He had
been in power for far too long. The animals wanted a change of
leadership and loudly gossiped about the fabled king who developed a
sweet tooth for power and forgot his duties. And in spite of the fact
that Talkmuch Dolittle became aware of talk about change of
leadership, thanks to the likes of Cheku the parrot and Chokie the
bush fowl, he never-the-less turned a blind eye and blind ear to all
such noises and convinced himself that he knew what he was doing and
that all the animals could do anyway was simply talk.

One year, to test the loyalty of the senior members of his government,
Talkmuch Dolittle declared in one of his state of the forest addresses
that he was going to step down in a few months. He had, he said,
served Smiling Forest long enough and it was time to pass the baton of
leadership on to a new younger generation of leaders. He had no doubt,
he declared, that Smiling Forest had great animals who could take on
the heavy mantle of leadership from his tired shoulders.

While this historic announcement was greeted with applause from the
majority of common animals and a few top government officials, the
greatest show was put up by a number of animals who declared that they
were totally opposed to any such thing as retirement for the glorious
leader. This pack, led by Chokie the bush fowl, loudly wept and wailed
and pulled their hair and begged the great leader never to say such a
thing again. Taking the stage, Chokie the bush fowl loudly wept and
called Talkmuch Dolittle father. He dropped on his knees and begged
the Great God Yallah to please change the great king's mind.

Saa the snake frantically hissed and wiggled and twisted and turned
and loudly wept and cried "my lord, my lord, please lord don't go!"
Jumbo the peacock, generally quiet on account of his slow mind and
overly preoccupied with oiling and brushing his beautiful feathers,
plunged into a stinking pool of dirt and loudly wailed and dragged
himself around, eventually falling into a frightening swoon that could
not fail to catch the attention of the great king himself.

Cheku the parrot wept so hard that he also swooned and had to be
carried off the grounds for urgent medical attention. Tan the vulture,
Barr the alligator, Njogi the owl, Bahi the crow and Sinbad the lizard
all loudly wept and blew their noses and pulled their hair to
demonstrate their grief at the monstrous prospect of the great king's
planned retirement. The myth that only Talkmuch Dolittle was capable
of ruling Smiling Forest had long been propagated in the land, but
that was the first time it was so strongly expressed. It was clear
that many of the animals feared change.

In the light of such an outburst of passion, Talkmuch Dolittle
announced that well, he had no choice but to succumb to the wishes of
the patriotic animals of Smiling Forest to stay on and lead them unto
more power and glory. A few days later, most of the animals who wept
and begged him to stay on, including Chokie the bush fowl, Saa the
snake and Jumbo the peacock were given big promotions while those
animals that did not cry or that applauded his planned exit were
demoted, marginalized or listed in the fabled Black Book, as opponents
of the great king's infallible philosophy of Sweaty-Sweaty.

--
yj

There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.

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