Hello All,
Sorry for not being able sit down and make this update earlier.
As you know, on Friday June 2nd. the Oslo Action Group finally held its demonstration to condemn the criminal acts of April 10th and 11th. The venue was Youngstorget in Cental Oslo.
The number of patitcipants (my own count) was 27 (tewnty-seven), though some put it at about 40 (forty), counting the kids and Norwegians who stopped to listen, they argued.
The event took off at about five minutes past the appointed time of 13:00 CET, with our first speaker (with the help of a hand held PA system) welcoming the participants and then going on to give a background to the events of April 10th and 11th. After mentioning the torture and subsequent death of Ebrima Barry and the rape of Binta Manneh she went on to describe how the GAMSU had patiently waited for government to do something, first about the murder of Barry and later, also about the rape of Binta, a thirteen-year old school girl.
Our vocal sister then went on to reiterate the need and duty that Gambians all over the world have, to stand up to injustices perpetrated against other Gambians by the government. That one should not wait until one's own family member has fallen victim before seeing the need to do something about the wrongs that have become part and parcel of our daily existence through the past six years. She made particular mention of the "poor" attendance at the demo, noting that had we called for a party instead, it may have been difficult to find a comfortable standing space! She appealed to Gambians baroad not to allow their country to go the same way as Somalia, Liberia and Sierra Leone by not joining in the fight for freedom now, when disaster can be averted, instead of waiting until it's too late.
Two other member of the Action gave speeches, followed by an appeal from a guess speaker from Rød Valgallianse, calling on Gambians to protest and demand justice for the fallen students; that he himself is of immigrant origins and therefore understand most of our problems as immigrants but advised that we must link our struggle for more rights in Norway with the struggle of our people back home to free themselves from tyrany. He promised that RV shall assist in all ways possible (they printed our demo call and pamphlets and lent us their PA system) including granting us space in their (daily) newspaper whenever the need may arise. He was greeted with applause.
(Some of you may recall that we had two weeks earlier handed over our protest letter to the acting High Commissioner in the U.K., who happened to be on a visit here, so that he could send it to his Evil Boss).
We then continued to hand out the pamphlets, the inside of which contained Alpha Robinson's poem: Cry not Mama, though we are yet to notify Alpha. I say notify, because we reckoned he wouldn't mind the least.
There was a meeting scheduled for just after the demo, but due to various reasons it was postponed til later this week. A key member of the action who has been out of town would also attend. I'd put a rough estimate of the so far collected donations at 4000.00 (four thousand krones) but that will become clear when we meet this week and submit all forms. There are suggestions that the amount could be increased if we organise some form of fund raising activity but that has to be guaged against the need to have the funds on the ground as soon as possible, as much time has already elapsed since those brutal murders.
Red Cross and Amnesty could not be present, so we'll deliver the petition with the list of signatures to their offices tomorrow.
We all vow to keep on with the work to get rid of the Devil that's threatening our decent way of life. Jammeh Must Go to Hell!
Regards,
Kabir.
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