Modou,
Thanks for this excellent piece on Sweden, the assassination of foreign minister Anna Lindh and the Euro referandum. The picture you give is very accurate. The debate on the Euro was very mature, and there is no post-referandum agitation of any sort: people have accepted the outcome and are just trying to understand the full implications of the decision they have democratically taken, i.e. to stay out of the Euro zone. The policymakers are examining different ways of managing the situation, and negotiating the best deals for their country. So, as you rightly say, there is indeed a lot in this experience that we could learn from.
For instance, we are not so well informed and certainly not encouraged to debate publicy on issues of great importance to all of us, in calm and tolerance of one another's views. Take the issue of a common currency for West Africa. There is very little information about it given out to the public: what difference would a common currency make for ordinary Gambians, Nigerians, and other West Africans? what would it take to create a common currency, and how would that affect our economies, our societies, our institutions? Yet the many extremely highly qualified Gambians working in the most highly respected International financial institutions in Africa and in the world could, if they were asked or encouraged to do so, help in clarifying issues, and help in crafting the policies we need. The ordinary people have their own views and great wisdom that should be cherished and encouraged to express themselves. But let's keep hoping for the best...
Cheers and good wishes,
Ebrima.
Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Sister Jabou Joh, brothers Sheikh, Fye and Ebrima...
It has truely been a depressing week here in Sweden. Many of us had not been active in the campaign running up to the Euro vote last Sunday. Yet it was impossible to escape the sometimes heated debates by the opposing camps. I am sure both Ebrima Sall and myself must have noticed the remarkable calm of Swedes simply advancing their varying positions during the campaign and then quietly going to cast their votes as a matter of course - just like buying bread and butter at the Mauretanian's shop at the street corner.
[My wife and her friend who is visiting us, could not help comparing the exercise here with what obtains at home: there are no queues; we walked just 25 metres to our voting station, a school just opposite us (your voting card arrives by mail and on it is indicated the address you should go to cast your vote. You place your choice in an envelope behind a polling booth then you hand it over to a registrar who ticks your name from a list produced by a computer. There are no such mistakes of a Bakary Sanneh from Kartong voting as Yahya Janneh in Kanilai. Then you go home or go to work and glue your eyes to the tv screen in the evening].
But by Swedish standards this campaign had been, at times, very ugly and the Social Democratic party constructed tactical alliances that helped incense the tone of debate during the last two weeks. (Unfortunately, Anna Lindh, the darling of both right and left within the party went public together with the CEO of Ericcsson, Michael Treschow, openly declaring the alliance between industry and government for the Euro). It had been clear from the very beginning that the project to join the euro zone lay closest to the heart of both the political and business elite, whose interests it would undoubtedly serve; and that the Swedish left together with the greens had clearly illustrated the undemocratic nature of subscribing to a single currency. Abandoning the Swedish krona for the euro meant abolishing the Riksbank, the Swedish central bank, for the European central bank, ECB, housed in Frankfurt, Germany. The ECB, has a governing council that is comprised of the governors of the central
banks of EU member states. The ECB is not answerable to any political authority; the minutes of meetings and deliberations of the governing council are secret and classified and remain so for thirty years; no member of the governing council can be replaced by any authority and they are not supposed to represent the interest of their various governments; their major taks is not to fight unemployment but to check inflation. The ECB is just a thoroughly european version of the IMF. Its undemocratic nature itself is unacceptable to the Swedish psyche. The yes campaign's counter argument that their own central bank is free of political interferance could not convince Swedes that their own central bank would remain callous to the horrors of unemployment, when cutting interest rates could stimulate domestic consumption and thereby put more people to work. The policy of full employment has always been the most important guiding light of Swedish social democracy since its founding in 1889.
As sad as Anna Lindh's death had been, the final day of campaigning for the referendum was a very rewarding discussion on the basis of Swedish democracy. All seven party leaders declared they would respect the outcome of the vote, come what may. But more interestingly, they reiterated their believe in people to people politics: refusal to ride in limousines when meeting the people; insisting on their RIGHT to live as ordinary citizens; to continue with face to face chats with voters preferably without the omnispresence of bodyguards; to address even political opponents with respect; parting together for a cup of coffee even after a heated debate in the tv studio; and to seperate the person from his/her ideas.
I truely hope that all of us, including our leaders in Gambia, learn one thing or another from what happened here.
Best wishes from Stockholm,
Momodou S Sidibeh
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jabou Joh"
To:
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 3:03 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Swedish Foreign minister Anna Lindh Dies
> Modou Sidibeh,
>
> I heard about this horrible news this morning on the radio. A question was
> asked whether it had anything to do with her support of Sweden adopting the
> Euro, and the person being questioned said they have no idea until the attacker is
> caught. This lady was a likely candidate to be the next Prime Minister of
> Sweden. Very senseless, and a big loss for Sweden and the Swedish people.
>
> Jabou Joh
>
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