Thanks Alpha. The proposals are good and i suspect that there are many Gambians who might have been brooding on the same things. When it comes to defending the interest of our people and to contribute positively  towards developmental activities reason and sense of love for our people should lead. Here, we need not to be divided because of loyalties as rightly mentioned, it should instead be a point of convergence to allow combination of efforts, experiences and resources. There is definitely a high need to coin new methods and approaches if we are to move forward.

We have all the good theories but plagued by a gross defficiency of practice. This needs to be cured in order to put words into action.

Those who are interested in a given area either by qualification or occupation, could begin to identify each other, network, draw plans, strategize their activities and resources and start putting words into action. All these could be done through consultation. This is one "HOW"?

However, it should be noted that this will be impossible or rather too difficult to pursue without a high degree of honesty and commitment. It will require some amount of organisational strength. To acquire that, we need to endeavour into forming units, groups, structures etc in our various countries of residence, so that responsible modes of coordination and operation could be assured. The idea is to resuscitate and maintain strong linkages and support lines to ensure effectivity and safeguard our interest. Just as GESO is functioning. To make things happen, people must take up responsibilities and willing to execute those responsibilities in the best of their abilities. That´s another "how"?

We here in Stockholm have formed a group called the Gambians In Solidarity Work since the beginning of 1997. The aim is to respond to disaster relief activities in the Gambia and to contribute both material and human resources in positive people oriented developmental programmes where feasible. At that very innitial inception of the group, we were faced with a fire disaster situation were a number of compounds were destroyed in Sutokoba and Foday Kunda in the Wuli district. The group engaged in mobilization and collection of clothes and curtains which were pressed and made into bales. The bales together with other materials donated by the Organisation of Gambians in Sweden (OGIS) were sent to the Gambia. It was the OGIS which financed the shipment of that container.

At another level, the Aid Committee of the OGIS has just completed its series of Fund Raising activities on the 19/11/99. The aim is to assist in sending a container that is ready for shipment to the Gambia for the Gambia Association of the Physically Disabled (GAPD). The collection and containerisation of the technical aids (wheelchairs, crutches, spare parts etc) were done by a Swedish NGO called EMMAUS. The GAPD has negotiated a five year Technical Aids Support Project (1997-2001) with Swedish based NGOs (SHIA, RBU and EMMAUS). The yearly shipment of a container is were the GAPD´s constraint lies and their appeal for assistance is genuine.

The committee also has it as an aim to contribute towards the flood disaster relief services should the resources collected from the Fund Raising activities be enough to cater for both.

As Alpha mentioned, in the case of the allegation that branded Gambians as the champions of drug peddling in Sweden could have been condemned from a broader platform should unified voices and actions were in place. Nevertheless, some actions have been taken locally here in Sweden to restore justice and human rights. Charges were put forward in the offices of the Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) and the Press Ombudsman(PO) against the police authorities and the DN a daily newspaper which published the unrefined and discriminatory report against Gambians.

African Viewpoint a bi-monthly newspaper publish by the Africa Research and Information Bureau in Sweden(ARIBIS) has been following the case and you can access some of the developments at http://www.aribis.home.se  

To conclude, i would like to reiterate the fact that there is a need to form units, groups, structures or whatever one would like to call it for effectivity. At every stage, the community must be involved for sustainability. Community participation is considered as the mainspring of social development, yet it is often stronger in rhetoric than in reality.
Surahata 



-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: alpha <[log in to unmask]>
Till: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Datum: den 20 november 1999 01:02
Ämne: Some proposals for Gambia-L


>Dear Gambia-L members,
>
>The proposals I am about to put forward have been in my mind for some
>time now. Privately I have discussed them with some members of the List
>and yet I had not come forth with it until now. The main reason behind
>the long hesitation is my resolve not to start anything which I cannot
>give full attention, time and energy to. I thought that once put forward
>the ideas will be embraced by at least some list members, leaving me
>with the option to either let it float around for some time and perhaps
>eventually sink into oblivion or to inject life into it and transform it
>into action. Even though I still do not feel ready for it, I am
>encouraged by recent discussions under the heading "It is time to Heal
>Self and Nation" to such an extent that I feel compelled to shared these
>thoughts with you.
>
>The driving force behind these proposals is first and foremost the
>desire to move beyond simply discussing, to a new stage of action;
>action which will realistically transform the essence of our concerns as
>reflected in our discussions from exchanges on the List to some form of
>collective action. I will illustrate the kind of action I am referring
>to later. Before doing so let me first start by identifying some common
>ground from which I believe common action can be launched. I will try to
>keep the list modest in an attempt not to draw up over-ambitious plans
>which will collect dust in the annals of Gambia-L archives. I am sure
>others will come up with realistic proposals too.
>
>As already observed by other List members, it would appear that many of
>us on the List, if not all, do share a common aspiration of a better
>Gambia. What a better Gambia means to each and everyone and how to
>achieve it may be different, but I believe we will all agree that if the
>People of the Gambia can freely decide who should rule the country
>without fear or uninformed hopes of gaining a few colanuts, in the
>interest of the country and further reserve the right to remove leaders
>who do not act in their interest, a good beginning would have been set
>for the country. This is therefore one area in which we can agree,
>despite our various believes, orientations and loyalties, and launch
>some common action.
>
>Another area where we can certainly find common ground is on national
>unity. The days before the last elections in 1994 were unfortunately
>characterised by dangerous ethnic political propaganda. It is no secret
>that some politicians tried to use their ethnic origin to muster support
>by propagating the idea that Gambia must be ruled by this or that ethnic
>group. Recent events have shown that this ugly demon is still with us.
>Ethnic politics as we know, looking back at experiences from Liberia,
>Sierra Leone, Burundi etc. can benefit no one. It amounts to a group of
>very unscrupulous people using the ignorance of the people to secure
>their own selfish interest only to run away and seek refuge when thing
>get out of control and especially when their own lives are threatened;
>indeed they run, scream and crawl to ask for pardon after bringing ruin
>to their own people including those from the same ethnic group. So here
>too we can identify a common ground. Any action by any group of people,
>be they a political grouping or not, be they the party ruling the
>country or not, should be unanimously condemned with a united
>uncompromising voice.
>
>Many members in this list are living abroad. As such we are subjected to
>certain common problems whose redress can only be enhanced by common
>action. For example, sometime ago the question of double citizenship was
>discussed in this forum. Some people it would appear were forced to
>abandon their Gambian citizenship not because their country of residence
>prohibits dual citizenship but rather because of some uncertainties on
>the Gambian side. Hence these people are forced to become foreigners in
>their country of origin when we all know that most Gambians abroad are
>proud of their Gambian heritage, but are sometimes forced by
>circumstances to seek the nationality of their country of residence as a
>matter of convenience.
>
>The behaviour of the Swedish police in Stockholm, whose chief for the
>Stockholm area officially criminalised all Gambians and threatened to
>take draconian action against all Gambians is another example. Whereas
>this case was in a way extreme, it is common knowledge that Gambians and
>Africans in general are vulnerable to such forms of institutional
>discrimination. Together we can at least take common action to condemn
>such acts and request those ruling the Gambia at that particular time to
>officially condemn such acts. In both of these cases one can easily find
>common ground for action in the interest of Gambians living abroad.
>
>As Gambians living abroad we can also think of ways in which we can make
>positive contributions to the situation at home. In fact some work is
>already going on in this area, for example, GESO and the Book Project.
>But perhaps we can also contribute to emergency relief in times of
>tragedy or disaster. The recent floods were a typical case where our
>contribution could have made a great difference for a number of affected
>people. A Relief funds could have been established to complement the
>efforts of other citizens and institutions who took up the task of
>organising relief work.
>
>Also, those who, by virtue of their qualifications, are in one way or
>the other able to offer their services to the country may think of
>forming expert groups to give advice and even participate directly in
>ongoing activities in their field of expertise. Such an act will under
>certain circumstances constitute a contribution to the betterment of the
>lives of the Gambian people. The so formed expert groups can get in
>touch with the ministries or institutions responsible for services in
>their fields and intervene positively where possible.
>
>Having highlighted some common grounds for common action I would now
>like to proceed to the question of who do we try to reach and what type
>of action may be considered. First of all The Gambia has its democratic
>institutions. By that I mean institutions which though imperfect, have
>been established either by our constitution or on its basis. To me
>therefore it is not only the Government of the day which should be
>addressed. Secondly, whether our democratic institutions are strong or
>weak, whether people in charge of running the affairs of the country do
>so satisfactorily or not is largely dependent on the level of awareness
>and involvement of the ordinary people in defending what is in their
>interest. Consequently it is my believe that we should enter into
>dialogue with institutions of Government, democratic institutions and
>last but most the Gambian people. But how?
>
>This brings us to the question of what action to consider. As far as
>contributing to disaster relief and in terms of knowledge I have already
>mentioned forming a relief fund and experts groups. In this regard, we
>can learn from the experiences of GESO. As far as offering our expertise
>is concerned, those who are qualified in their fields can even act as
>consultants. Rather than enriching other experts from elsewhere, The
>Gambia can even gain by offering fellow Gambians who are well qualified
>in their fields the chance to contribute and thereby divert at least
>part of the earnings into the home economy. Of course those with
>expertise to offer must clear for themselves all conflicts of interests
>concerning their present positions.
>
>As far as institutions are concerned, we may do well remembering that
>only the Gambian people can really bring about ultimate change by voting
>into office people who can manage the affairs of the country
>satisfactorily. The best way we can contribute to make those
>institutions effective, from a common stand as Gambia-L, is to try to
>identify some of the wrongs, shortcomings and mismanagement and propose
>ways to rectify these. But first we need to identify key institutions to
>address. The first one to come in mind is the executive. The president
>of The Gambia being the head of the executive will necessarily be one
>person we should address some of our concerns. Parliament is another
>institution to address our concerns to. The bar association and the
>ministry of justice are potential addressees of some concerns on the
>question of justice and human rights issues. The Independent Electoral
>Commission (IEC) should hear our concerns and proposals concerning a
>fair electoral system. Political parties should hear from us what kind
>of conduct we expect from them. Finally, through the media we should
>establish a forum to let our views known and exchange opinions with our
>fellow Gambians on the ground, who for one reason or the other are not
>members of
>Gambia-L.
>
>Let me give some examples. As said earlier, anything which promotes
>fairness in the electoral system and hence making it possible for
>Gambians to elect and if unsatisfied remove from office those who they
>so wish to, without fear will be a gain for all. As elections are due in
>about two years time, we can petition the IEC, members of parliament and
>the head of state to reduce the incredible deposit of five thousand
>Dalasis to be paid by election candidates. This will allow honest
>candidates who do not have wealth to display but sincere service to
>offer to the nation to contest elections. We can also petition all
>political parties and challenge parliamentarians to make laws to
>prohibit campaign based on ethnic origin. We can also petition the head
>of state and the IEC and challenge parliamentarians to make laws
>allowing all contending parties equal air time on radio and television.
>
>On the question of double citizenship for example, we can write to the
>head of state asking for clarification on the matter. At the same time,
>we can challenge parliamentarians to pass laws stating clearly that
>Gambians can have double citizenship under reasonable conditions.
>
>We can make our views known on the question of the increasingly
>difficult conditions which have to be met to register newspapers, on the
>kidnappings of the likes of Shyngle Nyassi etc. etc. should they recur.
>
>As far as the media is concerned, we have at least FOROYAA and GRTS
>through Tombong Saidy on board. I believe we can genuinely expect them
>to offer coverage to our views and concerns and if possible relay to us
>some of the views expressed by others outside of the list either in
>reaction to our actions or simply adding to the exchanges of views,
>which will only enrich the discussions.
>
>I have tried to restrict myself to common-ground issues, which can
>easily be accepted by most people irrespective of loyalties,
>affiliations etc. However, there will always be list members who may
>object to this or that case. This brings us to a question which was
>raised today; who is being referred to as we? As far as I am concerned
>"we" is being used to reflect the desire for collective action in the
>first place. Collective action will be the new stage I am advocating,
>just like others on the list. Yet we must be very clear on the fact that
>there will always be some who would not like to associate themselves
>with certain actions. We have to respect that. "We" should therefore be
>simply restricted to the signatories to any given document generated
>through collective action. It must be made clear that not everyone on
>the List endorses every collective action. On the other hand, we should
>take note of the fact that the more we try to be reasonable the more
>people we will have on the side of collective action and, yes, the more
>effective our common voice will be. This calls for responsibility and
>maturity on our side. After all everybody is free to express any view on
>the List as long as nobody is thereby insulted. Likewise anyone who
>wishes to go further can certainly look for other avenues to achieve
>their goals.
>
>I have done some thinking about how we may approach some of the "hows",
>but first I will listen to others. I am sure there are many unanswered
>questions.
>
>Alpha Robinson
>
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