His messages come from the heart! He makes his point clear without indulging
in garbage throwing. In a humble way he expresses his frustrations without
sticking out a war-chest. An optimist! When he writes people like myself get
this cascading soothing effect that all is not lost. My respect to the
gentleman who makes me feel very proud to call myself a Gambian!
Ladies and gentlemen; an abridged version of Réne Badjan's reply to: 'A
rejoinder to Mr. Halifa Sallah'(Wednesday, August 9th, 2000)
"It is indeed a defining moment in our political struggles. Our attitudes to
politics, therefore, is either driven by interest or is selflessly
motivated. This is where we identify with each other. This is also where we
struggle against each other. The struggle for change in the Gambia, I
believe, is motivated by interest. Some aspire to change the present
leadership, only to replace it with one that is not different, if not worst.
Others aspire to change the political environment to perpetuate the
realization of an ideal: the establishment of a genuine democracy where
civil liberties are respected, and power truly resides with the people who
owns it.
I think we also need to acknowledge that there is a lot of frustration,
anger, hopelessness and powerlessness, and understandly so, with the
governing situation in the country. The reports of abductions, repressions,
summary dismissals, the deteriorating economic situation, intimidations,
corrupt activities and other civil and human rights violations, necessitated
the reaction of citizens, particularly those outside the Gambia, whose
voices have found expression through the medium of Gambia-l. Gambia-l,
therefore, has assumed a very important role as the vehicle of expression
for our dissent, conscience, optimism and opposition, that has
constructively and passionately engaged the political developments in the
Gambia wishing to make an impact; wishing to create a difference.
The government, unfortunately, should have been more receptive to these
voices. The Gambia-L is providing them with a unique opportunity to reassess
and reevaluate their position on the issues of governance, power, human
rights, the economic situation, tolerance and a host of other issues that it
is continually bringing to their attention. Their positive reactions to
these issues, and others ......will only engender a stable political
climate. The government should express concern, and do everything to allay
people's fears and win back their trust, particularly the cloud looming over
the coming elections.
"However, if the collective actions of the people, through civil
disobedience, the engendering of an ungovernable situation, mass
demonstrations and strikes, could cause a government to surrender its
illegitimate authority to govern by resigning, and return the authority to
govern back to the people, if "by all means necessary" is within this
context, it is a right that the people not only possessed but can exercise".
I wrote these words sometime ago.
By writing these words, I was making the following statements: a) that the
people choose those whom they have empowered to government them (through
elections), and also maintain the right to revoke this empowerment to govern
(through elections), whenever a government doesn't serve their interest. b)
That when the people make a determination to revoke a government's authority
to govern (through elections), and the government blatantly refuse to
surrender power, then the people not only possessed the right but can
exercise the above quoted remarks to take back their power.
The main thrust of this argument, however, was to remove other elements of
force (by all means necessary) outside the collective will, to remove a
government, and put it back squarely on the shoulders of the people. In this
way, nobody can act outside the collective will on behalf of the people
without their consent, and assume to be their saviors as is the case in coup
d'etats etc. This is the reasoning that was behind that remark.
Others may contend, that if the people cannot remove a government through
elections, neither can they force them to resign through their collective
actions of civil disobedience and demostrations to surrender their
illegitimate power, then it is right, proper or whatever for others to do
that for them without their consent, through coup d'etats. This eventually
is what we are desperately trying to avoid.
My sincere regards.
Rene
_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
