Saiks/Ndey,
Thanks for your reply with regard to March 8 greetings. For Ndey, many do
ask why I have not been contributing to the Gambian L. I will.

For Saiks, I think you are missing the point in your arguments with regard
to women question in the Gambia or Africa in genral. I shall come back to
you on this issue soon and provide some hitorical backgrounds. I hope it
will be a major contribution to the discussions on the Gambian L. The
problem is that I will soon be travelling to Africa for a conference.

Keep the discussion on for the interest of our long suffering peoples'.


>From: saikss <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: March 8 Greetings
>Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2002 16:56:57 +0100
>
>Sir Fatty,
>
>I do agree with you that I should make my self-clear in this issue. I do
>agree
>with much of what is been said except for minor differences. Sentiments;
>this
>is not what I was dealing with, if you get to see my point of departure. In
>the first place my reasoning was that the form of struggle that our women
>did
>apply in the fight for a better society must not be taken to be sentimental
>but has existed as a very important weapon for them. That they have used
>songs
>and story telling instead of the modern form of women organisation and demo
>is
>an effort to trace the historical development of the struggle of Gambian
>women. They are better organised now than before, but this should not mean
>we
>don't recognised that such form of struggle did exist
>
>Secondly I could still remember that we have had a discussion on this name
>issue sometime back and I still remember my position on this issue. I am of
>the opinion that Lang Binta Samateh is not significant to the status of
>women.
>Such naming of people have been used and still been used for Identification
>issues. This has been very common in the Badibus.In a family household or
>within the Klan the possibility of many people having identical names is
>very
>common and to know who is who they refer to the mother. In certain cases
>they
>could be the daughter or son of the same man.
>You have a more interesting example in the Wulli between the Singateh and
>the
>Jamba.when a Jamba is married to a singateh, the daughter adopt the mothers
>family name, that is to say Jamba and the boy Singateh.It seems (I am not
>sure) that women from this area were very influential.
>But the irony is that; when a singateh do marry with a woman from other
>families/Klan, still follow the same Patten. This is to say; if Momodou
>singateh get marry to Binta cassama and if they happen to have a daughter,
>the
>family name of the baby girl will not be Cassama but Jamba.This makes it
>very
>confusing for me. I am of the opinion that this has developed more to be
>cultural/traditional than as an example to follow. We might find out more
>about this late. But for the time, can you imagine what it will be if we
>have
>a Ceesayding Dibba instead of Ceesayding  Fatty ?
>
>Lastly, I believed that we have a very different opinion as to what it
>means
>when our wives maintain their family names instead of adopting that of the
>husband compared to women of the Western World. I am of the opinion that
>changing family names after marriage is a European traditional way of doing
>things. It is an evidence of the European patriarch. That this is not
>practice
>in our part of the world should be seen as a difference in practice and not
>a
>difference of objectives. A Gambian woman maintaining her family name could
>be
>as oppressed as the Western Woman who has adopted that of her husband. You
>can
>even see that some of us find comfort in such practice and find our wives
>adopting our family names instead of keeping their own,even though we are
>not
>European.Do you call this cultural imperialism ?
>
>For Freedom
>Saiks
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >===== Original Message From The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]> =====
> >Saiks,
> >Your sent
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>iments RE: March 8 greetings is a sincere one and I commend you for
> >it. However, we need to move beyond sentiments as Africans in order to
>move
> >forward.
> >The point I want put across is: What does the oppressed women of
>palestine
> >share in common with the oppressor women of Israel? In fact, what does
>the
> >oppressed women of the oppressed nations share in common with the
>oppressor
> >women of the oppressor nations? What I want all of us to be cleared about
>is
> >the fact that new imperialism,like the old one is still causing more harm
>to
> >the women of the oppressed nations than the so called "oppressed men" of
>the
> >oppressed nations. I am not denying that there is no oppression of women
>in
> >our part of the world. There is. But why to day we are talking about the
> >oppression of women in Africa?
> >The reason is clear.Through out the history of the African struggle for
> >independence from colonialism, the contribution of women have been denied
>by
> >men. In Afircan history however, women always have a historical role and
>in
> >most cases, more important than the role of African men. For us to do
> >justice, the condition of our women as well as our peoples', must be put
>in
> >its proper historical perspective. Otherwise, we will follow other
>peoples'
> >agendas for our own enslavement. For the super-exploitation of Africa
>today
> >is benefiting every child, man, woman of the oppressor nations. Our
>strength
> >must lie in our historical experience in comparison to others. There is a
> >diffrence. To understand what I am saying, please look at historical
> >evolution of women in Europe and compare it with the historical evolution
>of
> >women in Africa. You will see the difference. Otherwise read "male
>daughters
> >female husbands," by a Ngerian sister. You will see why male children in
>The
> >Gambia have their mother's first names as second names even before the
> >father's surname,i.e. "modou Binta ceesay."
> >Or why African women do not disappear in marriage like western women, for
> >abandoning their family names for their husbands' surnames. The struggle
>of
> >our women must also be part of the struggle against all forms of
> >exploitation and backwardness of our continent.
> >
> >
> >>From: saikss <[log in to unmask]>
> >>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> >><[log in to unmask]>
> >>To: [log in to unmask]
> >>Subject: March 8 Greetings
> >>Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 12:24:48 +0100
> >>
> >>Marc 8 is been observed through out the world as an International
> >>solidarity
> >>day with women. The long battle for equality by Gambian women   still
> >>remains
> >>a history in the making. Since Independent their contribution to the
> >>political
> >>life of the country have been cornered to that of "Fan Clubs" and YAYI
> >>KOMPINS
> >>and the semi feudal nature of the Gambian society continue to strangle
>them
> >>in
> >>the corner of motherhood, bearing children, finding food and house
>wives.
> >>The
> >>majority of Gambian women live in acute poverty whiles they remain the
> >>touch
> >>bearers of hope in the society.
> >>But this has never led to any surrendering of their wish and desire of a
> >>better society. Their love songs are full of protest and the stories
>they
> >>tell
> >>their children in the night portray the inhuman conditions they are
> >>subjected
> >>to live .I grew up with one of these stories; A woman who when to pay
>her
> >>tax
> >>to the king never returned back home, she was murdered for reasons
>beyond
> >>reason. There are plenty of such stories, perhaps one day we will come
>to
> >>recognise that these are also forms of struggle.
> >>After Independence, it took us even long to arrive at Louis Njie and it
> >>took
> >>time to go beyond that level. The women's Bureau emerged as the talking
> >>drum
> >>of the establishment and today we have plenty of women gender activist
>who
> >>dear to go further than the limits set by men domination. One would
>recall
> >>the
> >>great efforts of sisters like Satang Jobarteh during the last elections;
> >>they
> >>struggled to put on the political agenda very important issues that have
> >>for
> >>years not been recognised in the political life of our country. These
>are
> >>sisters who have and are sacrificing a lot to make women struggle for
> >>equality
> >>in our society to become an uncompromising political issue in the
>country.
> >>They are running institutions, programmes etc all in the efforts of
> >>empowering
> >>women. Perhaps it is time for some of us to start thinking of ways of
> >>contributing to theses struggles too, perhaps the next donation
> >>contribution
> >>collections should go to them. Happy   March 8 sisters.
> >>
> >>For Freedom
> >>Saiks
> >>
> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >>
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