Hi Baba, thanks these observations. I am in possession the N On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 11:51 PM, Baba Galleh Jallow <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > *Jammeh and the Colonial Legacy* > > By Baba Galleh Jallow > > Once again Yahya Jammeh has been shown riding his favorite horse, with his > favorite whip in hand, whacking angrily away at colonialism and claiming > that colonialism did not bring anything to The Gambia. He fumes that > Britain did not build more than one school and one hospital in the country > over a period of 400 years of colonial rule. It is a known fact that if you > repeat a lie often enough, it becomes a truth in your own mind. I say this > because contrary to Jammeh’s frequent ranting about 400 years of > colonialism, British colonial rule in The Gambia lasted a mere 76 years. > While British and other Europeans had traded with Gambian merchants as > early as the 1580s, The Gambia became a British crown colony only in 1889, > and attained her independence in 1965 - exactly 76 years later. So it is > absolutely not true that Gambia was colonized for 400 years as Mr. Jammeh > would have us believe. Furthermore, anyone with the slightest sense of > history knows that colonialism was not in Africa to develop the continent > but to serve the selfish interests of the colonizers. It was an inherently > extractive and exploitative regime. So this is no news at all. Expecting > development from colonialism is foolish and Mr. Jammeh would be better > advised to stop beating a dead horse and blaming colonialism for the mess > that he and other so-called leaders of post-colonial Africa have created > and continue to create for their hostage peoples. Africans wanted > independence; they got it. It is their responsibility to develop their > countries and stop blaming the past. > > But before we proceed, it might be well to remind Mr. Jammeh that he does > owe a lot to colonialism. For one thing, if he must reject all things > colonial, he must start by refusing to speak or write the English language. > He must then repudiate the territorial boundaries of The Gambia and draw > new ones since these boundaries are totally a colonial creation. Then he > must abandon the institutions and structures that make up the state he > rules over – the Cabinet, the Legislature, the Judiciary – as all of these > are products of the colonial regime. He must then do away with the flag and > the coat of arms, both of which are typically colonial inventions. He must > abstain from his beloved practice of mounting the so-called guard of honor, > a very colonial spectacle that he loves so much that his cheeks literally > tremble with excitement as he stiffly marches and surveys the troops at the > airport and elsewhere. Then he must proceed further to abandon State House, > which is the former residence of the colonial governor, and disband the > police, also inventions of colonial rule. And then he must demolish the > Mile Two, Jeshwang, and Janjangbureh prisons because the prison as an > institution remains one of the most obnoxious legacies of colonial rule. > Pre-colonial Africa did not have walled prisons guarded over by prison > wardens and now so beloved of Mr. Jammeh because he uses them to eliminate > his opponents. When next he talks about what colonialism has done or not > done in Africa, he should not forget to thank them for what he calls his > own five-star hotel – Mile Two Prisons. He must also thank them for > bringing the uniformed army and the gun into Africa, the two pillars upon > which his tyrannical regime squarely rests. > > Perhaps more important than all of the above is Jammeh’s undying love > affair with the biggest and worst legacies of colonialism – tyranny, > oppression and financial exploitation. If we place his nonexistent 400 > years of British colonial oppression on one scale and 20 years of Jammeh > oppression on the other, Jammeh oppression will far outweigh colonial > oppression by vast margins. Jammeh has killed and tortured and jailed and > fired and disgraced and otherwise tormented more Gambians in 20 years than > the British colonial regime had done in 400 nonexistent years of colonial > rule. And since colonial rule made no pretense at upholding human rights > and the rule of law, Jammeh’s total disregard for the rights and dignities > of his own ostensibly decolonized and independent people is all the more > shameful. Does Jammeh know that in post 1994 Gambia, some elders have > demanded to know when all this independence would end? > > If Jammeh prides himself in doing for Gambia what colonialism had failed > to do, he must undertake to do the single most important thing colonialism > failed to do: that is, politically empower the entirety of the Gambian > population; eradicate mental poverty and political powerlessness by a > rigorous regime of political education that will place power firmly in the > hands of the people; cure the majority of Gambians’ erroneous perceptions > of rulers as God-ordained; turn the Gambian people into one large sea of > enlightened citizens who will vote for their leaders not based on tribal > affinities or ignorant presuppositions, but on the grounds of informed > choices and the potential for good, effective and ethical leadership; Find > words to replace Mansa Kunda because there is no such thing as Mansa Kunda > in today’s Gambia. Colonialism certainly was not interested in empowering > the people or teaching them what they need to know in order to make > informed choices. And since Jammeh pretends to be better than the colonial > rulers, that is the first thing he should do. The infrastructural > developments he likes to brag and pound his chest about are utterly > insignificant compared to the people they are supposed to serve. If he > truly cares for the Gambian people, he should build them instead, rather > than waste millions of dollars building white elephant projects. > > But of course, bad leaders and tyrants like Jammeh prefer to build > lifeless structures than to build living and intelligent beings. The > lifeless roads and schools and other structures he likes to brag about will > never question his authority or try to hold him accountable. But he perhaps > knows that an intelligent and politically conscious population will not > tolerate the kinds of utter nonsense he utters or the unethical activities > he engages in. That is why he has banned newspapers and killed journalists; > and that is why he cannot tolerate the idea of anyone talking about human > rights, the rule of law and democracy in The Gambia. And finally, Jammeh is > a personification of the oppressive legacy of colonial rule. His regime is > a form of internal colonialism that thrives on the oppression, tyranny and > the exploitation of Gambia’s resources – both human and material – for his > own selfish gratification. So when he engages in whipping the horse of > colonialism, he is actually engaged in earnest psychological > self-flagellation. > > > > > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the > List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask]¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤