Ditto! We have to free ourselves from these textbook jargons, like free
trade, absolute/comparative advantages, Structural Adjustment Programs, etc.,
etc. Even though, there's SOME sense in these, in reality and practically,
they don't work for the masses or common folks in LDC's, oops! 'Unfortunate
Countries'. As Vandan Asheeba puts it: DO AS WE SAY AND NOT AS WE DO. Take
the case of the Nigeria or Middle Eastern Oil Producing Countries [oil] and
the recent hoopla on South Africa's production of an alternative drug for
Aids. It's Globalization and Corporate mercantilism, Stupid! APRC's concept
of development and Trade is, filling up of the Port Of Banjul with foreign
ships and imported containers and instead of returning these ships and
containers back to its original destination or other ports of call with
Gambian produce, these ships return empty and containers become storage
facilities and environmental mayhem.
The creeping appearance in the early 80's and explosion of Diabetes and
cardiovascular diseases amongst the population could be trace to the steps of
food importation and rapid change in lifestyles, instead of home grown,
organic. Tears come to eyes, whenever I hear the colloquial, self reliance in
food production and supply. What a joke? We can keep dreaming and cling on to
our dreams of self-sufficiency until we die, but it will never happen unless
and unless, we changed our lifestyles and attitudes toward our consumption
patterns and patronizing our local producers as an alternate to imports.
What would happen, if one day next month, Yahya Jammeh wakes up and banned or
restricts the importation of Rice, flour, sugar, tobacco and alcohol
products? How many of us will take it coolly, calmly and collectively and
look for alternates, such as honey, "findi," Ruuy, Chereh, etc.? Sometimes,
we are not honest to ourselves, when we address our poor farmers as
unproductive and not competitive. It's subsidies, stupid! If someone out
there can show me a single nation that developed and advanced its industries
one way or the other, I will humbly delist myself from the L. MDC's
understands and utilizes, mythic and specialize meaning of words such as
subsidies, instead uses comparative terms such as security or, R & D.
Take a walk around the vicinities of the World Bank, IMF, UN, Citibank and
University Campuses, the number of African minds, maximizing its productive
capacities for these institutions and deemed suspects by African governments,
is mind boggling.
What's so wrong about the Gambian government, honestly and seriously, tapping
into these languishing brains abroad, with that of those already present, for
the better good and ultimate salvation of our nation?
Just an inquiring thought of mind.
Ams
If your education is not about gaining real power, not jobs, because your
jobs do not represent real power; not getting elected to office; fine
clothes; cars; or houses. If it is not about representing real power, you're
being miseducated & mislead, hence, you will die educated and mislead. If
your analysis of African issues is merely an exercise of feeling good about
yourself and your immediate surrounding, then you will die feeling good. AMOS
WILSON
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
