Brother Ebou Jallow,
Well,a brilliant thought from your end but you have your own case to
answer.Remember that for you to be taken seriously,you have to prove
accountable.I hope you watch this out!Peace.
Jobs.
>From: Ebou Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Grappling with Reality-The Aftermath of October 18
>Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 19:56:57 -0700
>
>History is not a blind concatenation of events but a wholesome
>synthesis of meanings of value as human beings interact. Last
>Thursday's elections epitomises very significant theory of gambian
>politics that resonates some salient values; that the majority of
>Gambians is a "stoical populace" and the incumbency has a Leviathanic
>preponderance in our rudimendary democratic process. President
>Jammeh's legitimacy is well established in a supposedly fair
>elections as endorsed by the lead Opposition Candidate Mr. Darboe,
>and certified again by international observers. At this juncture, I
>believe it is unsophisticated for any one to dispute Jammeh's
>victory. The relentless pondering, amongst some G-Lers, on how
>Gambians can ever re-elect Jammeh is in my opinion a futile quest
>that can only bring forth a calenture of the brains. Winning
>elections is just one battle amonst many in the war for the COMMON
>GOOD of the Gambia. This I believe is the resounding message that
>the Gambian electorate is telling the "intelligentsia".
>
>This message even makes more sense if you observe the stoic's
>attitudinal disdain for justice and opulence as externals in the
>hands of chance and NOT ends in themselves. Therefore the Gambian
>appears to value SECURITY more than all those elaborate
>political/civil rights that we the L'ers have been articulating for
>years in cyberspace. Any political theorist will willingly concede
>that a Leviathan figure, ala President Jammeh or his predecessor
>Jawara perhaps, can best provide this political good in the Gambia.
>This fact is self-evident and indesputable in the Gambia's political
>history.
>
>Now if human rights and civil liberties are not ends in themselves,
>atleast according to the Gambian electorate, then we the
>"enlightened" need to revisit our strategy of engaging Jammeh
>regardless of whatsoever we think of him... Strategy is not a
>zero-sum game but a constant rational calculus of maximizing the
>good and minimizing the bad. Knowing Jammeh personally very well, I
>can assure you that the constant diatribes and insults towards him
>shall serve no purpose but to ensconce and fortify his intransigence,
>push him towards the extremes of much more fatal flaws. In the end
>only the poor Gambians will be the real losers. I therefore implore
>the G-L to cease the antagonisms. If war is the continuation of
>politics by other means, according to Clausewitz, then the
>counterfactual argument should also be valid, that politics is the
>termination of war by the peaceful means of dialogue. Sun Tzu, the
>ancient Chinese strategist, also advices that the acme of skill is
>winning a "war" without fighting.
>
>I will suggest that it is not naivete to accept Jammeh's Olive
>Branch...as long as the promotion of the common good of Gambians is
>concerned. We can corroborate our believes and principles of human
>rights as instrumental and constitutive MEANS to an end- The Common
>Good of The Gambia. In fact Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize economist,
>does make a very successful and convincing argument in his "human
>capabilities approach" in using these "Western Values" of human
>rights and civic liberties as mere MEANS towards the common good.
>This strategy, I believe amonsgt many others, may help help us
>grapple with the realities of the post-elections illusions and the
>mad euphoria of the APRC supporters.
>
>
>Ebou Jallow
>Georgetown University, WASH DC
>
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
>http://personals.yahoo.com
>
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