Bamba Laye and Rene,
While I respect PDOIS's decision to chose civic education halls over 
asobee politics even though I find the decision very flawed.  I thought 
the primary goal of party politics in a  parliamentary democracy is to 
get votes.
The following PDOIS paragraph confirms point earlier point about lack of 
clearity. It is not enough for people in need to turn to PDOIS for  
"facts and figures regarding developments in the country".  That is 
Foroyaaa's job. PDOIS the party should have only one goal - be voted in 
power.  

            "This was our first strategy. We had to employ two tactics 
to attain our strategic objectives. First and foremost, we started to 
transform our rallies into civic education programmes in order to 
educate the                     average Gambian to know his or her 
sovereign right as tax payer and as a  sovereign citizen of the country 
who should determine who governs the country and how. This earned PDOIS 
respectability and                     legitimacy as the population 
contended that we were preachers and not politicians. Despite the votes 
of the other parties PDOIS’ rallies and symposia became the most 
authoritative source of facts and                     figures regarding 
developments in the country which were put in cassettes and disseminated 
without incurring legal problems. This gave credibility to the 
alternative voice.

Even if we agree to go by the said goals, what are the metrics with 
which to assess success of the adopted strategies? What is the impact of 
the "civic education program"  and Foroyaa on political climate in the 
Gambia? on PDOIS support?  More importantly do we think the adoption of 
asobee politics would have changed PDOIS leadership into the Jawaras and 
the Jammehs?

Malanding


[log in to unmask] wrote:
> Malanding,
>             The questions you raised are indeed quite 
> legitimate. There has been a lot of discussion centered on most of the 
> questions you raised, and I have been privilege to be a party to those 
> discussions. In as much as I would not claim to speak for PDOIS, or to 
> be a member of PDOIS, I would bring snippets of that discussion that 
> can partly answer some of your query. The discussion, or if you will 
> conversation, has been very extensive, and covers most of the areas of 
> your inquiry. Therefore, instead of speaking for PDOIS, I would let 
> their statements speak for themselves.    
>  
>  
>   "Hence it has been clear to us from the very inception that we could 
> not take over executive power in a democratic way without a mass base. 
> We had to develop a strategy on how to build a mass base. We had to 
> address the obstacles which lay in our path. We had to identify the 
> obstacles in order to work out the strategy to overcome them. What 
> then were the obstacles?
>
>  "The major obstacle was the absence of a democratic culture which 
> enables people to listen to divergent views and make informed choices. 
> Only one voice was authoritative and legitimate and that was the voice 
> of the executive.  All criticism of the state was seen as an act of 
> subversion against constituted authority. Supporters of the ruling 
> party were patronised while those who were opposed to it were 
> demonised, excluded from the mainstream of society and subjected to 
> intimidation just to convince others that being in the opposition 
> could only yield trouble, marginalization and misery. Our principal 
> task was to create an alternative voice which would be considered 
> authoritative and legitimate despite the fact that it is not that of 
> the government.
>  
>  "This was our first strategy. We had to employ two tactics to attain 
> our strategic objectives. First and foremost, we started to transform 
> our rallies into civic education programmes in order to educate the 
> average Gambian to know his or her sovereign right as tax payer and as 
> a  sovereign citizen of the country who should determine who governs 
> the country and how. This earned PDOIS respectability and legitimacy 
> as the population contended that we were preachers and not 
> politicians. Despite the votes of the other parties PDOIS’ rallies and 
> symposia became the most authoritative source of facts and figures 
> regarding developments in the country which were put in cassettes and 
> disseminated without incurring legal problems. This gave credibility 
> to the alternative voice.
>
> "Secondly, we decided to establish a newspaper which would give an 
> alternative view on developments in the country. This newspaper became 
> a source of credible information which is relied on as a source 
> information even by members of the executive. Hence between 1987 and 
> 1994 when the coup occurred PDOIS had become institutionalised as a 
> credible force which should be listened to and taken seriously.
>
> "The second task PDOIS had to address was the question of expanding 
> its mass base.We discovered that the mass base of the ruling party may 
> have reflected a popular will at the beginning but at the time of 
> PDOIS’ birth the support was based on patronage. The Commissioners, 
> Chiefs, Village heads, and all those in position of authority in 
> government or private sector had the primary aim of sustaining the 
> Government in power. The masses were generally controlled by their 
> social groups and the heads of those groups were mobilised by the 
> ruling party to build its own political base. Our review of the system 
> of patronage also revealed that the existing opposition parties were 
> just mimicking the system of patronage of the ruling party. They would 
> look at all the government and private structures and then promise the 
> rivals of those who occupy different positions that they would replace 
> the substantive holder of any office once change comes about. These 
> promises often motivate those who aspire to be ministers, heads of 
> departments and para-statals, ambassadors, commissioners, chiefs  and  
> Village heads to utilise their energy, time, resources and connections 
> to campaign for the opposition party. This created a two party system 
> based on patronage.
>  
> "When PDOIS appeared on the political scene it had the option of 
> establishing its own mass movement based on patronage or establish an 
> entirely different system of mobilisation and organisation of the masses.
>
> "It became clear to us that we could never rely on the politics of 
> patronage to establish the type of mass base necessary to effect 
> change. We had to build links directly with the masses that do not 
> benefit from the politics or patronage but are just used as tools by 
> political middle persons who batter the support of the masses, whom 
> they mobilise as opinion leaders, for privileges from political patrons.
>  
> "PDOIS could not make any head way unless it could succeed in 
> enlightening the people to liberate themselves from their opinion 
> leaders and support those who intend to address their needs and 
> aspirations. This required for PDOIS to have roots in each community. 
> This could not be possible until we had branches in each community. 
> The branches could not be established until we had members in each 
> community who are capable of earning the respect and trust of the 
> people. The primary task of the party as of the 1992 elections was to 
> build its branches all over the country. We started a country wide 
> tour in 1993 which should have been completed in 1994.The tour was 
> linked to the mobilization of PDOIS supporters throughout the country 
> so that they would serve as the building blocks of the branches of the 
> party..."
>  
>  Malanding, as you can see from the dilation in the above quoted 
> statements, PDOIS was quite conversant since from the beginning of the 
> obstacles they face and the challenges they have to overcome. Contrary 
> to what many may believe, PDOIS is very open to challenge and parts of 
> the discussions I have forwarded here were the results of a serious 
> and intensive query to some of PDOIS's methods and tactics. As the 
> conversation progress, I will highlight more relevant answers that is 
> germane to all the questions you raised.
>  
>    Rene     
>  
>    
>  
>
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