Where did all the genuine African revolutionaries go? They were either assassinated; Patrice Lumumba, Eduardo Mondlane, Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral, Steve Biko, John Garang, Julius Nyerere, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Frank Fanon, Muammar Gadaffi or fell under siege from their own legacies. It has been decades since we saw a visionary leader who inspired the Pan African idealism of the revolutionary 60s.
Look around. Africa is facing a leadership crisis. From South Africa to Egypt, Gambia to Madagascar, there is a clear sense of ‘we deserve better’. As African men, stifling under the stereotype of rogue males in power, there are not many examples around to deliver a much-needed inspirational leadership wake up call. The only standard for leadership presently is wealth and influence. Simple men with solid characters, sincere intentions and grand visions are consigned to the pages of African history.
Thomas Sankara: A man with a mission, ahead of his time and a man without college education. He was brilliant, gifted revolutionary. A man who changed Burkina Faso. The man who gave the Burkinabe a sense of pride. The French could not handle him.
Thomas Sankara, a man without a college degree was bigger than Che Guevara. His intellect and wit challenged the “officialdom” which speeches were written and delivered. His wit stunned his peers at the UN and OAU. Many, including some African leaders blessed with several distinguished degrees and honors did not understand him.
His ideas, sometimes considered Marxist, were out of touch with the global elite but resonated well in villages in Burkina Faso. He re-baptized his country. The name “Upper Volta” had no meaning. It was a colonial tag. He called his country, Burkina Faso – the land of incorruptible people.
This man, at only 33 then with secondary school education, was bigger than most of the African leaders combined at the African Union. No African politician living, or dead can match the intellectual vibrancy of Captain Sankara. He still speaks to his people even in death. Read his speeches and you will appreciate why.
He was a military man. He came to power through a coup. But he was different. He was no Yahya Jammeh, Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni or Mobutu Seseseko. He loved his country and his people with passion. He travelled in cheap cars, encouraged people to work and played handball with his fellow civil servants after work.
He was not obsessed with Presidential toys – limousines, outriders and jets. Sankara was a simple man who wanted to transform his country. He was proud. For his people, for his country. He believed in intra African trade. During one of the OAU summits, he told other Presidents to encourage production and trading in Africa.
He wore cotton cloth fully woven and stitched in Burkina Faso using Burkinabe cotton. He could afford a suit from Saville Row in London, but he believed in the creativity of the Burkinabe. He was not an abstract compatriot, as many African Presidents were then and even now. He was a true embodiment of a real fellow countryman. He was in touch, with people and his country’s reality. A true son of the soil.
He was not the typical African President who betrayed the pride of Africans. He was a proud African. Even Francoise Mitterrand was confused. He once described him as “bright but not flexible.” France arranged for his best friend to murder him and bury him in a rudimentary grave. The murderer was Blaise Campaore.
He made himself President without college degree. Blaise Campaore sold Burkinabe minerals to the French. Twenty-three years later, a popular revolution largely driven by the ideas of the late Sankara drove Campaore into exile. The revolution often referred to as the “barefoot” revolution was driven by poor youths and music. The musicians even had a concert in the burnt down house of Parliament to celebrate.
France, a country whose interests Campaore served with passion could not protect him. Thomas Sankara was an African who lived ahead of his time. He is an example of selfless commitment to what Africa can be if only Africans believed in those possibilities. His spirit lives on…… He embodies that which is possible, if we escape mental slavery. Long live the Sankarist movement in Francophone Africa!
Thomas Sankara is all that and more. A true son of Africa. Alagi creative liberty implies balance and historical honesty. Why the deliberate omission of some of this great son’s shortcomings. He did trampled on freedom of speech and press. Did he not. He targeted his political enemies. Did he not. Not that any of these will taint his otherwise exemplary performance as a young head of state. Point is, as writers what is not revealed is often more powerful than what is. African history is replete with information that Thomas Sankara is an African Hero. Good and Bad. All of it.
God knows Africa needs REAL men such as he.
Thomas Sankara was nothing at all, it is an individual who came to Burkina Fasso in favor of a military coup like Yahya DJAME and left with a bloody coup without realizing anything . It is not the size of the great men of Africa who have marked its history.
Well, I am fascinated to know why you cite Gamal Abdel Nasser as your hero, when you fault Sankara for coming to power through a coup.
Do you know how Nasser came to power, Mr Sidiki MOHAMED?
Are you sure you know what you talking about when you claim that Sankara left “without realizing anything?” The sense of national pride alone that Sankara brought to Burkina Faso is beyond what any of his predecessors or successors has achieved to date.
You fault Sankara’s route to power as if his predecessor was a democratically elected leader. He (Maj Jean Baptiste Ouedraogo) was a MILITARY DICTATOR who succeeded another MILITARY DICTATOR. I don’t know why you are faulting Sankara for seizing power in a coup, under those circumstances?
I am equally fascinated to know why you would praise the achievements of Moktar Ouldada (Mauritania) but dismiss those of Sankara.
Isn’t it under Sankara, through his land reform programme, that an African country, perhaps for the first time, was set on the route to food self sufficiency without relying on outsiders or the sudden injection of massive wealth, as happens when a country discovers oil or other valuable mineral resources.
Sankara more than doubled wheat production in a very, very short time, from 1700 kg per hectare to 3800kg per hectare within 3 years, thus guaranteeing food self sufficiency for his people.
Don’t you know that Sankara arrested the advance of the desert by planting 10million trees within 4 years; or that he raised the national literacy rate to 73%, from a mere 13% within 3 years. Not to mention the revolutionary and “down to earth” leadership he introduced in Africa. (Thomassankara.net)
You dismiss all of this as nothing? You can’t be serious, Mr MOHAMED.
Indeed Nasser came to power as your Sankara in favor of a coup on another military Colonel Negib who instigated a coup d’état on King Farouk which as your Senghor was placed in power by Britain’s colonizing country. But you do not seem serious in what you say Sankara (captain), is not to compare with Nasser but rather with Samuel Do (captain) of Liberia or Djamé (lieutnant) of The Gambia. As for Nasser, who is the author of the Nasserist doctrine, you are not unaware that he was with Nehrou of India and Tito of Yugoslavia the main support for the liberation of the colonized countries. The Nasser who because of your racism you take the light has arrived in favor of a coup at a time when coups was the only way to free the yoke of colonialism. The grandiose achievements of Nasser, though not limiting, are the Nationalization of the Suez Canal, the creation of a strong army in Egypt which faced in 1956 the American-French-British tripartite attack, the setting up of Egypt on the path of industrialization, the implementation of an agrarian reform on the banks of the Nile, the development of an education for all and the deementment of the foreign bases installed in Egypt. Nasser turned Egypt into the most important part of the Arab world, which earned him the name of Rais. As for Daddah of Mauritania asking what he did, I deduce that you have no idea of the history of his country. Indeed, Daddah came to power as Modibo Keita of Mali, Senghor of Senegal, Houphouet of Cote d’Ivoire and many others in favor of independence granted by France in 1960. But Daddah was the only one who, in 1974, was disengaged from the French policy by revising all the agreements which bound him to France (exit of the zone Franc with creation of a national currency, the Nationalization of the iron mines and the return of the civil and military cooperants French, the Arabization of teaching with consequent change of statue of Mauritania from member of the Francophonie to observer. The development of agricultural land on the river bank and the encouragement of businessmen to invest in the practice of irrigated crops to ensure food self-sufficiency in the country, the creation of a deep water port to make the country independent of the port of Dakar (Senegal) for its imports and exports which was not the taste of France and the support without fail of the liberation movements in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau, Cape Town in Angola, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Palestine. All his revolutionary achievements and many others make Daddah of Mauritania one of the heroes known in Africa.
Quote: “The Nasser who because of your racism you take the light has arrived in favor of a coup at a time when coups was the only way to free the yoke of colonialism.”
OBSERVATION: I don’t really know what you are trying to say here, but it seems you are accusing me of racism, though I don’t know why and how this is the case.
Indeed, Gamal Abdel Nasser, is perhaps the most influential African Leader from the Northern part of the continent and I am not unaware of his struggles against colonialism, neo-colonialism and Zionism and the tremendous achievements he registered in his short stay in power. That is not an issue between us.
My query was to the fact that you faulted Sankara because he came to power through a coup, whilst you ignored the fact that Nasser also came to power through a coup. Sankara overthrew a military dictator and Nasser overthrew a neo-colonial monarchy, neither of which was removable by elections. I am not comparing Nasser to Sankara or vice viser. Just pointing out the irony of your position on the two leaders.
Moktar Ouldada, despite all your praises, presided over a country with the filthiest human rights records in the sub-region, keeping a culture that dehumanised Mauritanian citizens, with darker skin, as slaves who can be legally kept as properties by their fellow citizens. He (Ouldada) has done very little, if anything, to eradicate and end the practice of slavery in Mauritania during his rule. Mauritania, to our shame as Africans and home of the dark skinned, is keeping this barbaric, backward and shameful practice to this day and age.
If you are a Mauritanian, it would be worth your while to join your fellow Mauritanian Human Rights activists and advocates to fight and end this shameful culture and practice in your country, rather than fault Capt. Thomas Sankara, the most revolutionary of all African Leaders, for coming to power through a coup.
Sankara, on the other hand, created a country of absolute equals, empowering the Burkinabe women to a level never seen anywhere else on the continent or even the whole world, whilst seizing land from corrupt land owners and handing it to farmers, thus doubling food crop production with 3 years.
Sankara, amongst his women empowerment drive, was the only leader in the world, to my knowledge, who has introduced an official date on the national calendar, when men take over ALL the household chores, whilst women have a day off to themselves. Sankara is way above Ouldada in every conceivable progressive way, my friend and brother, Mr MOHAMED. He was a true revolutionary and a genuine people’s leader.
Mr. Bax, I see you very much appreciate Thomas Sankara. You may be part of the same ethnic group, which is not my case, because I think that the time he has spent in power does not bring much to his country. The transformations of nations can not be done in less than five years. On the other hand, I think that Compaoré, what you do not like, spent much more time in power and that he was able to launch Burkina on the path of development. As for NASSER, he led Egypt Pharaohs for over 14 years (1956, 1970) so his coming to power full of great achievements was not short as you thought. As far as Mauritania is concerned, as a black Malian who has a great kinship with people from the Hodh regions who were ceded to Mauritania in 1948, what you say about human rights only exists in your unhealthy spirit. This history of slavery that some black Africans in the service of France try to raise to create a split or a civil war is only a propaganda that does not succeed because the black Mauritanians have understood in their great majority the game advocated by France via neighboring Senegal. France did not condone Mauritania’s disengagement from its policy and Senegal is jealous of the total independence of decisions made in 1974 by Moctar O Daddah and his refusal to continue to depend economically on Senegal. I believe that as much as you ignore Nasser, you also ignore Daddah, who throughout his reign fought against racial segregation in southern Africa and supported the PAIGC under the authority of Amilcar CABRAL during his long struggle against Portugal. He also granted during the armed struggle air time on Mauritania radio and granted Mauritanian passports to combatants freedom in Africa and the Middle East. As for the so-called slavery, it has never been practiced as you thought in Mauritania and black Mauritanians who make propaganda with international organizations are dishonest seeking to extract money from its organizations for a problem they created from scratch but they begin to be unveiled outside and they isolate themselves more and more inside. So I will not join them because I am neither a mercenary of Senegal nor Bob Denard of France and I do not seek to enrich myself on the backs of Mauritanian citizens whose color is used for ignoble purposes. As for who thinks you are a Senegalese haalpoular, I ask you why you do not join a struggle against slavery that exists in Senegal black citizens who have enslaved other black citizens and who refuse to be buried with them in the same cemetery and do not pray in the same mosques or in America where your fellows imported from Africa as slaves to work in the production of sugar cane toil to have the same rights as Americans of white stock.
For what you consider as slavery in Mauritania, which is part of history is limited to individuals who suffered from famine in their country and who accepted with the consent of their family to come into what is now called the Mauritania with the caravaneers who traded salt and dates with the cotton fabrics and agricultural products of their country. Their arrival in Mauritania was the same as the current emigration of Africans to Europe. He worked in the oases with all due respect to a human being in return for their full care (food, shelter and clothing). when the country became independent under Moctar o Daddah, they joined the same schools as those with lighter complexions. At present those whom you consider as slaves have never had a separate treatment. They are present in all sectors of public life and occupy command posts everywhere to such an extent that at one point an African leader who wanted to fake publicity to Mauritania told Nelson MANDELA that in Mauritania the racism still rages, he asked her if blacks have separate schools, public transport separated from separate health centers or separate dwellings, he replied that no, he told him that in Mauritania there is no racism. Poverty is not the preserve of a given population, there are rich whites, rich blacks of all ethnicities, and poor whites and poor blacks of all ethnicities. So this propaganda of slavery according to which black non-Arab populations, the majority of whom are Senegalese want to create a division between white Arabs and black Arabs, is no longer profitable. the Arabs in Mauritania are indivisible to trigger a civil war in the country blacks who play the game of Senegal and France have only to seek other alibis.
Why do you always want to “spoil the broth”, sister (Dr I. Sarr)? Why isn’t Sankara’s story complete without mentioning his heavy handedness at times? How else could he have achieved his objectives, if he had allowed those neocolonial reactionaries to undermine the state and return to the status quo, which unfortunately happened after his assassination? Perhaps, he wasn’t hard enough!
And talking about the “whole story”, I want to know when last you heard the whole story about, say, Winston Churchill or George Washington or Thomas Jefferson?
You wouldn’t know these men had skeletons; very smelly skeletons for that matter, in very dark cupboards, from the heroic stories narrated about them, would you?
Sometimes, you leave me wondering………
Dr.Isatou Sarr,all past Great African leaders had their fashions and leadership styles that made them to be counted as African heroes.Africa as a Continent lags behind in both developmental and human resource index,therefore that subjects it to vulnerability to blackmail and manipulation by Powers that colonized her.Therefore the context of rating good leadership can only be perceived by acknowledgement of the intent of the leadership at the time.History has thought us that Democracy was fought for by the very powers that prescribe it for the African people,but before such powers gained their Democracies they where subjects that got reformed to stand for their rights.What I mean here is Thomas Sankara,Patrice Lumumba,Kwame Nkrumah Gamal Abudl Nasher and Col.Moumarr Gadafi all had visions that they wanted to accomplish for their people but faced strong sponsored oppositions and resistance that led to their down fall.
Africa does not lack developmental or Human Resources, Africans wasted our resources and failed to embrace our significant human capacity. We are vulnerable to manipulation and blackmail by our own sons and daughters like Yahya Jammeh, Biya of Cameroon and many others – ignorant despots, most you already know. This defensive false narrative of laying blame at the feet of some half educated unsophisticated white/ brown people whose only claim to fame is violence then and technology now is an African lie.
Problem is we lack the capacity to learn from history:
Why must a white guy just released from prison in Europe for rape suddenly become a respected business tycoon in Gambia.
Why does he suddenly become accepted as your in-law. Never mind he is not a muslim not even a Christian. But he has $100 from his parole officer.
I think you understand where this is going. Let me make a prediction. Africa will remain a developing continent. You know why? We as a people are not serious in work, truth and sacrifice.
Our so called leaders are nothing more than 5th grade bullies with poorly developed frontal lobe. Of course the likes of Thomas Sankara are special and thank God for his life. To respect his leadership and legacy is to tell his entire life story without omissions. It is a rich and proud history.
I did not know that Senghor, which was acquired by France from France, was a revolutionary. I think your text is revolutionary and reactionary. Besides, many of those you mentioned are not necessarily revolutionaries. Also, I ask you to edit the ranking of many great men in the history of Africa that you have not mentioned in your article: Mohamed V of Morocco that France has exiled to Madagascar, Gamal Abel Nasser from Egypt, who faced the British-Franco-American coalition alone in 1952, Moctar Ould Daddah of Mauritania who had the courage to revise in 1974 his policy with France by the nationalization of iron mines and the creation of ‘a currency peculiar to his country, the Algerian presidents Ben Bella and Houari Boumediane who pulled France out of their country by the armed struggle or Sékou Touré of Guinea who said no to France in its 1958 referendum.
Sidiki Mohamed
Your distorted elementary history of African revolutionaries ain’t enough to wash away the dirt, the injustices, the racism and the brutality that the black Africans endured in the hands of their white Arab neighbors in Mauritania and all the other Arab countries. If there is no racism in Mauritania, then it is fair to say there is no Boko Haram in Nigeria.
What about the human auction blocks in Libya, where Black Africans are sold openly. Money sold for more than its value. What is your motive of glorifying those Arab despots as revolutionaries, while inhibiting ignorance as to whether Senghor was a revolutionary, except the same covert racism that lies in all Arab capitals towards black africa.
Well, to answer you is to put me at the same level of ignorance as you; you do not want to understand that what the media spreads as false information intentionally going to Mauritania and Mauritanians do not need your support. you and your fellows deserve only what Boko haram does to you or to be sold as in the past as exclave. Sankara is nothing, look for heroes you will not find. The history did not give you heroes you only had individuals dedicated to Europe. Stay as before loudspeakers in the service of a Europe that exploits you and does not respect you, but your cacophony does not matter to us.
Nice article, Alagi, you won’t be able to please everybody, not even Jesus could, that’s why he ended up on the cross, if you go by the holy books.
On another subject this video is mind blowing,
A very articulate sister, she reminds me of sister Winnie Mandela.
https://youtu.be/0qGx901MawI
Absolutely right to say that “Africa is facing a leadership crisis”, but I will hasten to add that with one, or two exceptions. I believe two African Presidents, in the persons of President John Magufuli (Tanzania) and President Nana Akufo Dankwa Ado (Ghana) are a breed of leaders that Africa is yearning for.
President Nana Ado, in particular, is expounding the type of paradym shift that Africa requires to lay the economic foundations for AFRICA BEYOND AID, whilst Magufuli is demonstrating the admirable virtues in humble service. These two, in my view, are a class apart from the rest of Africa’s leadership.
I do not regard Paul Kagame (RWANDA), often presented as a model, as worthy to be mentioned, simply because his “success” is dependent on huge subsidies from the West in the form of foreign aid, accounting for about 20% of Rwanda’s budget. Of course, Paul Kagame is far better at managing those funds than many leaders in Africa, nonetheless, it’s still external dependence, which CANNOT be a model for sustainable development.
Bax,
“President Nana Akufo Dankwa Ado (Ghana) are a breed of leaders that Africa is yearning for.”
This man has joined, La Francophone,
What’s your take on that move?
Might that be a curve ball, giving him the benefit of doubt?
Also The Gambia, has also joined La Francophonie
Why?
My take is one of DISAPPOINTMENT. I don’t know why we are rushing into the Francophonie zone, but I suspect it has to do a lot with the anticipated “benefits” to be reaped.
Of course, there may be short term benefits of joining the Francophonie, but the long term effects will be disastrous for Africa, as export of French Language and Culture is a main mission of the Francophonie project.
I share the same sentiment, a major decision like that, should have been decided by the people of The Gambia, by way of a referendum in a so called “democratic” fashion, these closed door meetings are never positive buy nature, there is no way Dr Barrow can handle these heavy hitters especially behind closed doors, because anything goes(said)!
President Nana Akufo Dankwa Ado speaks better french than Emmanuel Macron!
Sidiki Mohamed
Well you don’t have anything to gloat about pal. Your white Arab history is nothing except lies, betrayal, bloodshed and intrigue. Look around you in the Arab world and tell me who dedicated themselves to Europe, the Black Africa, or the Arab despots and their masses of cowards like yourself who portray bravery but cowed under the yoke of exploitation, mass slaughter in the hands of your own despotic leaders, from Libya, Egypt to Saudi Arabia, Yemen etc.
We know what you white Arabs are all about. You don’t love yourselves, so how can you love others. You ain’t brave, hence you can’t emancipate yourselves from the grip of tyranny exerted by your own despotic, murderous leaders.
I remind you of Jamal Khassoggi……tortured, murdered, dismembered and God knows where his body parts are thrown, and guess who committed that atrocious, barbaric act…. his own countrymen sanctioned by the highest authority of the land. Lol
Don’t play his game, Babu Soli.. You know the old saying: that if you give a fool a long rope, he will eventually tie himself up. He is doing that here quite clearly.
To the apparently ignorant Sidiki Mohammed I ask: since when have Arabs been white? Here in the northern part of Europe where I live, they are labelled as blacks by the man in the streets, even though I disagree with that definition. In my opinion Arabs are neither black nor white. To borrow a south African terminology, Arabs are nothing but “coloureds”: I.e. present day Arabs are by and large of mixed Asiatic and negroid origin. They have the blood of millions of Harem black women slaves in their veins, even though present day Arabs hate confessing to this historical fact. My second question is: How can a black person be racist towards an Arab? Note, I have never met a black person who claims that the black race and culture are superior to others – and these are indispensable pre-requisites for being labelled a racist. I dare not say the same for whites and Arabs. Indeed history reminds us that the latter were by far the greatest merchants of black flesh and bones as slaves: They started this cruel form of trade more than one thousand years before the so-called whites: therein lies the genesis of Arabs’ persistent refusal to admit that the majority of them have negroid blood in them.
As for non black Mauritanians, these are all “half castes”- excuse the latter expression. They resemble 100% the offspring of mixed-race couples in the northern part of Europe. Hence, it is a great paradox that they still persist in taking their own dark-skinned brethrens as slaves.
Lastly, you must be a thoroughly brain-washed and stupid black person in our day and age for denying the continued existence of black slavery in Mauritania. The accumulated evidence over the years that has proven the existence of slavery in Mauritania and Yemen is indeed overwhelming. In light of this fact, may I ask: Is it yourself you are fooling in this regard or the world?
Lastly, shame on black traitors like you: instead defending your brethrens’ right to liberty, you have instead thrown your weight behind the slave master! Be mindful of the slave master’s toxic propaganda in this regard.
To answer you, I’m black like you, but I’m neither racist nor ignorant. What I see as Malians with strong family ties to the citizens of this country that I visit regularly is that black people enjoy a lot of respect. But the reality is that the inhabitants of the river valley native of Senegal, mostly Haalpoular like you, have certainly tried to oppose the recovery of the cultural identity of this country. They wanted the language that remains adopted by this country to remain that of Molière. These people helped by France tried to destabilize the country to continue to tow Culturally and economically to France and Senegal. To achieve their satanic aims, they tried everything:
1- attempted coup in 1987 against the ruling power, led by elements infiltrated in the army mostly Toucouleur strain;
2- trigger in 1989 of a bloody conflict in 1989 in Senegal help of these same toucouleurs and Mauritania. This conflict, which followed a fight in Mauritania between farmers Soninkes and Peulh farmers, was used by Senegal with the blessing of France to drive out Mauritanian merchants of Arab stock from Senegal after stripping them of their property. while the concerned were neither the origin of the fight nor stakeholder;
3- After the failure of the two previous attempts, the two countries that did not forgive Mauritania for its withdrawal from French politics and its refusal to accept French as an official language, found the problem of slavery to be do their work of battle. While this problem, if it existed at the moment of history in a form of paid and non-violent work, is not peculiar to Mauritania because it existed in a more violent form in certain African black countries whose Senegal where blacks enslave blacks. But this maneuver that some people use to get rich from the funds given to the fight against poverty by international organizations has also failed.
To answer you, I’m black like you, but I’m neither racist nor ignorant. What I see as Malians with strong family ties to the citizens of this country that I visit regularly is that black people enjoy a lot of respect. But the reality is that the inhabitants of the river valley native of Senegal, mostly Haalpoular like you, have certainly tried to oppose the recovery of the cultural identity of this country. They wanted the language that remains adopted by this country to remain that of Molière. These people helped by France tried to destabilize the country to continue to tow Culturally and economically to France and Senegal. To achieve their satanic aims, they tried everything:
1- attempted coup in 1987 against the ruling power, led by elements infiltrated in the army mostly Toucouleur strain;
2- trigger in 1989 of a bloody conflict in 1989 in Senegal help of these same toucouleurs and Mauritania. This conflict, which followed a fight in Mauritania between farmers Soninkes and Peulh farmers, was used by Senegal with the blessing of France to drive out Mauritanian merchants of Arab stock from Senegal after stripping them of their property. while the concerned were neither the origin of the fight nor stakeholder;
3- After the failure of the two previous attempts, the two countries that did not forgive Mauritania for its withdrawal from French politics and its refusal to accept French as an official language, found the problem of slavery to be do their work of battle. While this problem, if it existed at the moment of history in a form of paid and non-violent work, is not peculiar to Mauritania because it existed in a more violent form in certain African black countries whose Senegal where blacks enslave blacks. But this maneuver that some people use to get rich from the funds given to the fight against poverty by international organizations has also failed.
Mauritania will not be Sudan, and no attempt at division will succeed because the Mauritanian people are aware of the aims of all their sponsored attempts from the outside.
As for Sankara who is the cause of all this debate, to make him a hero for people thirsting for heroes, my point is that he did not have the material time to do anything. it is positive in Burkina and that from my point of view the title of hero is not granted to an individual by what his ethnic group wants it to be so.
As far as your judgment of the Arabs is concerned, I am writing a ballad written in the language that their intellectuals understand and they will answer you or not it is their problem, but do not hide behind a foreign language to pour your venom on this noble race which has marked the history of humanity.
Mr Sidiki MOHAMED, If the above aren’t enough evidence to show your hatred and dislike of dark skinned Mauritanians, I don’t know what will!
In your sick mind, not only are they foreigners and tools of French colonialism, they are also the achietects of failed coups and the civil strive that erupted between communities of Senegalese and Mauritanians in each other’s countries, that resulted to the death and displacement of many innocent people and huge lose of properties.
This approach, lacking any serious interrogation of the triggers of such conflicts, like the socio-economic factors, especially the competition for scarce resources, can no doubt, only be the product of a simple, unsophisticated mind.
Historical facts, though, showed that Ouldada, for example, was overthrown by Colonel Mustafa Ould Salek and he wasn’t a dark skinned (Black) Mauritanian, your culprits for previous coups attempts.
Your claim that you are also a “Black” person is utterly tasteless, as you have already made it known that you consider the fate of “Black” People at the hands of the slave masters, Boko Haram terrorists and the imperialist West, as deserving.
If you are indeed a “Black” person, I grieve for the society that has created the type of self hating “Black” person you have become.
Mr. Bax, this dialogue of the deaf makes me understand that whoever answers my writings with a borrowed name and is an individual who understands by his buttocks, I apologize of course the terms is someone who is part of the people who make a malicious propaganda and against country that I like very much, Mauritania. Now, I firmly believe that the one behind the keyboard to support slavery and displacement of poor citizens in Mauritania is none other than a member of the Peulh ethnic group that created a lot of problems in Africa. from the West, in Mauritania and lately in my own country Mali. This ethnic group is probably the one who wants to make Sankara the coup leader a hero.
I said that you understand by your buttocks because I advance you historical realities you answer me with nonsense:
– African Black Military coups in a country with Arab majority how do you explain it? if not an act of destabilization of the country sponsored by whom?, as you are an expert in Mauritanian affairs, I await your argument on the subject. But do not answer me that Ould Saleck made a salutary coup d’état on Ould Daddah whose if you ignore the causes it was to put in an absurd one in Western Sahara between brothers of the same blood. And in any case, the coup d’état of Ould Salek on Ould Daddah is not comparable to the African minority who blinds by its racism thought to take the country and set fire to blood and property and citizens of the ruling Majority.
– The outbreak of a conflict caused by a fight between two ethnic groups of the same race how do you explain that the victim in Senegal is the Arab who is not involved in this fight? Yes the displacements of Senegalese and African black Mauritanians, there was but it is a response to the referrals of Arabs and Senegalese of Senegal.
– Is slavery that is condemnable only in Mauritania? why its so-called human rights organization playing the game of black African racists do not make the same propaganda against Senegal or nowadays still exists in slavery worse.
As for saying I’m not black I must support a racism against the Arabs and swallow everything black racists say to be black. As for Boko Haram and slavery in Mauritania, I said that if blacks think the same way as you then they only deserve the spells you quoted
As for this MR.Bourne who comes to your rescue and qualifies Mauritania aparthaid, so do not answer him because what he writes on topics he does not control is far from understandable.
Enough of Sankara and his legacy.Now Doctors can you help us with our hero…..Mr Adama Barrow?So many commissions are being constituted but little or nothing has come out of them so far…Please help
There are other platforms/articles where we can talk about President Adama Barrow and his administration. This one, Nyancho, is for Sankara and his legacy. He deserves that respect and I guess that’s what the writer intended.
Dr. Isatou Sarr, did it occur to you that Alagie’s well written and accurate eulogy on Hon. Thomas Sankara is out to encourage military coups in the continent or, simply the common type of Gambian Praise Songs that would cause banknotes shower on the composer? How did Thomas Sankara trampled on free speech or whatever you call it ..? Can’t you at least elaborate with some facts and a bit of details how he did that? You sound a very terrible Dr. to me lately and I think there are no reasons you should feel that an attack on you @personality.
As far as @Mohamad Sidik is concerned, with apparent linkage to apartheid Mauritania, claiming, “I’m a black man like you”, no surprise at all that he’s a spellbound and fruitless man who is the perfect type of candidate to brew China Green Tea for Mauritanian elitists and washing intimate clothes of their wives as well.
Hon. Thomas Sankara, is the symbol of a major shift of Burkina Faso from a down trodden, sleeping, insignificant and broke background nation once called Upper Volta.
Dr. Sarr I hope you’ll come back in good shape as it don’t really look good with you.
Mohamad Sidik, I wish your soul is exorcized of that entraps it.
Oh sorry, it’s: Sidiki MOHAMED
A discourse on national heroism has turned into one of race and ethnicity. Without drawing distinction between those categories, it becomes nearly impossible to arrive at any objective understanding of the subject matter at hand.
Something I would however put across without aiming to hurt anyone’s sentiments, is that “Arab” is not a racial category.
In my mind, it’s also futile to compare past Afrikkan leaders who has sacrificed for their various nations to free their people from all forms of oppression and poverty. It should be our quest to learn from them and build upon their successes and remedy the errors they (might) have committed.
Yours in the service of Afrikka and the blakk nation, I remain.
Bax, I would advise you not taking a “bottomless” argument of bottomless people any further. Sidiki MOHAMED is bottomless with flapped seedless sacks. That’s what his likes are in apartheid Mauritania. It’s sad to say but if you want to see black people with minimum intelligence, go to Mauritania. It’s not their fault anyway but the oppression levelled at the blacks by those mischievous wrapped up idiots calling themselves an Arab majority. I had transit in that country once and the flight, perhaps less than a hundred meters to landing, i saw from the flight window, squatting figures under spread out gowns from where seems to be the immediate surroundings of the airport premises. Up till today, I’ve wondered how people could act so spooky and crooked in manners. Don’t even think that those of them who prospered in businesses around the neighboring countries have any respect for the natives. Not even those in the Gambia! Anyway, Sidiki said he’s a Malian by origin so don’t be surprised if he reasons that way because he could be one of those accomplices who led the way for uneducated and ignorant barbarians assasins to destroy the great Timbuktu museum. Barbarians who also robbed or vandalised invaluable historical artifacts. They also whipped innocent Malians in the name of Sharia as crooked, mischievous and ill mannered they are themselves.
May be Sidiki should write in French and publish his identity as well if he desires to be properly understood.
No comment, you do not deserve to be answered because you are short of ideas since you have no nieau. Otherwise what you want to justify with two new things that you introduce awkwardly into the debate Mauritanian traders in The Gambia and Nouakchott airport. And the traders, if you think to orient the Gambians to make them undergo the treatment that Senegal made you wrong, Mauritania knows how to defend its citizens, as for the airport of Nouakchott, nothing to say it is the largest airports in the subregion with a runway that can accommodate airbus A380 type airlifters and the air fleet serves all West African countries including Gambia in addition to Morocco, Tunisia and Spain and France.
Votre Sankara n’a pas le poids d’une mouche pour les pays Ouest Africains. Une seule ethnie, les Peulhs qui n’ont pas connu au cours de leur histoire un héros cherche a en faire un héros. C’est un individu qui n’a pas marqué l’histoire parcequ’il est venu par un coups d’État et en un cours laps de temps est réparti à la suite d’un coups d’État sanglant. Sa seule réalisation de mon point vue est d’avoir changé le nom du pays de haute volta par Burkina Faso.
Your Sankara does not have the weight of a fly for the West African countries. Only one ethnic group, the Peulhs who have not known in the course of their history a hero seeks to make a hero. It is an individual who has not made history because he has come through a coup and in a short time is spread as a result of a bloody coup d’etat. His only realization from my point of view is to have changed the name of the country of high volta by Burkina Faso.
Be rest assured that I’ve finished with this guy, Sidiki MOHAMED. It’s pointless to engage such people. Nothing beneficial for anyone from this fellow.
You’re darn right! Your No Comment is terribly a No Comment at all!
I’m not talking about how big and fabulous the Mauritanian airport is. Big or small, every airport in the subregion has gone somehow international now. What I am talking about is the human grade of people living around that airport. I’ve wondered what the hell those squatting figures were at, under their spread gowns on those barren surroundings of the airport. It’s my hobby peeping out from plane windows at landing in countries. Such quick glimpses will always tell something important about people a of country. In some countries during landing, I’ve seen farmlands and farmer at work. Marvelous sights! In some, you see only a fast moving city ..
Is isn’t it a backward Moorish mentality to be looking down low on others when they themselves amount up to nothing but throwing poo from second floor because they feel overly dignified renting out an upstairs flat to them. Of course the article in question here is not about Mauritania or its airport neither about its conflict with Senegal, of which I made no mention, but indeed about honoring Hon. Thomas Sankara a great man you think is a nobody. I know you would be happy if the author had praised Salman Mohammad or Baghdadi. Your types are the ones who got Mali in turmoil because you’ve had in your underdeveloped thinking capacities that Mali should have a “Northern Sudan” but not a “Southern Sudan” in Mauritania.
Long live the Sankara foundations in Burkina Faso and his inspirations granted on to his generation of Africans. He is the coupist that no soldier should ever try to imitate. Certain people or things come only once in a lifetime.
And shockingly too along your line of irrelevant and unfounded claims, you claim Nouakchott airport to be the biggest in the subregion. Are you really someone in his right senses?
Yes, Nouakchott airport is one of the largest airports in the sub-region, it is sized for 2 million passengers per year, it has two cross tracks that allow the landing of two aircraft at the same time. These two tracks of 3000 m and 6000 m are dimensinnees for the biggest European plane the Airbus A380 can thus receive all the types of wholesale. This aeroprt is four aircraft satellite and passenger treadmill, it has two lounges of honor including a presidential last generation. At the last summit of the African Union all the planes of the delagations were parked in the big carpark of this airport. The country’s air fleet is equipped with a dozen aircraft including 5 boars 737-700, 4 boars 737-800 and 1 boing 737-800 first. 5 boings of the first are bought out of the US factory boing
Sidiki MOHAMED, you said Sankara is nothing and has achieved nothing. Here is a few giveaways to you before I leave you:
1. Do you know Julius Malemo, the young, upcoming, South African firebrand politician? His trademark Red Beret and that of his party, the EFF, is inspired by non other than Capt. Thomas Sankara. That’s continental influence.
2. Many of Burkina Faso’s youths and political activists/ politicians today describe themselves as Sankarists, such that anytime there is a demonstration, you find 2 things as symbols of the demonstration:
(i) The broom, which symbolises Sankara’s national periodic cleansing exercises (and)
(ii) Placards bearing the beaming face of the great son of their land, Capt. Thomas Sankara.
3. One of the most prestigious film awards (If not the most prestigious one) of the biggest film festival in Africa, FESPACO, is named after non other than Capt Thomas Sankara, thus called “The Thomas Sankara Prize”. It is a coveted prize in the film industry which is received with great pride by its winners, since it was introduced in 2015. That’s international influence.
4. Amongst the most cited political statements around the world today, is a quote from who? You guessed it!!! The one and only Capt. Thomas Sankara, who famously said:
“A SOLDIER WITHOUT POLITICAL EDUCATION IS A VIRTUAL CRIMINAL.”
Here is a story that might give you a heart attack:
In or around 2006, an Australian communications specialist, Shantha Bloemen, had a son with a Zimbabwe man, and they named him after Sankara. (BBC)
In a BBC Documentary to mark Sankara’s legacy aired in 2014, Miss Bloemen is reported to have said this:
“I had read Sankara’s essay on the rights of African women,” she says.
“He understood why women are so critical to Africa’s transformation.
“He wanted a fairer, proud, independent Africa that was equipped to tackle its challenges,” she says.
“I can think of no better role model for my son.”
Mr. Bax, you find this a real accomplishment, a broom dance that materializes the cleaning, a prize given to FESPACO whose name of Sankara was given to him after his death, a woman who decided to give his son the name of Sankara etc. … if that’s what Samara’s achievements you convinced me, he must be a hero. What you quoted is not achievements of a statesman, it’s rather blah blah. The name of Sankara was given here, was given there in Zimbabwe, Australia, in a film festival. He made such a quote about the role of women, youth, nothing concrete as achievements that deserve such a din about a man who was swept away by a coup that did not give him time to prove his ability as a statesman if he has and I think that with his small rank in the army his level should not fly very high. What has just been mentioned can be considered posthumous achievements that have no positive effects on the daily life of Burkina and its citizens, it is his statuette that Burkina would like to erect in his memory.
You don’t get it, do you? A person’s name, especially a head of STATE, doesn’t attain national and international status unless he/she is an inspiration to many, and one doesn’t become an inspiration for nothing. This is just kindergarten stuff, but obviously, that’s too much for you to make the connection.
As for achievements of Sankara, these were REAL and RELEVANT to the Burkinabe, as they impacted their lives positively. These were registered in education, health, infrastructure, domestic (clothing) industry by patronising traditional fabric makers and encouraging fellow, especially government officials to wear/ use locally produced clothes or materials.
And you know what’s great about all of his achievements? It was achieved without aid and debt.
In one of his most passionate speeches, delivered at the OAU in 1987 in Addis Ababa, he said this:
“We think that debt has to be seen from the standpoint of its origins. Debt’s origins come from colonialism’s origins. Those who lend us money are those who had colonized us before.
Under its current form, that is imperialism-controlled; debt is a cleverly managed re-conquest of Africa, aiming at subjugating its growth and development through foreign rules.
Thus, each one of us becomes the financial slave, which is to say a true slave…”
Check how much debt Gamal amassed for Egypt, via the instruments of death (military equipments), from the former Soviet Union.
Sidiki MOHAMED, in English, “the biggest” and “one of the biggest” have different meanings. And, as a pat on your shoulder, software translation Apps serve no help to readers if you really want them to understand what you are saying.
In my opinion, Mauritania’s priority should have long since been focused on sanitation, for example, finding solutions for human waste strewn around in plastic bags among other unhygienic conditions of its shanty Nouakchott so-called capital. There are of course similar conditions in many African urban areas but none compares to Mauritania’s! Airports and big presidential palaces shouldn’t be priorities in certain African countries yet. I don’t exactly know what you exactly mean in your jumbled up writing but to tell you about one good fact: it is every country and her citizen’s pride to defend themselves by every means necessary. War, terror and violence however, has never had a winner, especially in this age. My advise to you please is; cut off your ethnic slur and hate propaganda here. If you don’t, you’ll proportionately get back the same. These are forums where very intelligent Africans with good ideas participate with the aim to help make Africa great and therefore, you won’t be let on your thoughtless way and will, to reduce the good quality of such debates to mediocrity. You’ll know what I’m trying to tell you if only you’ll have the urge to follow some of the articles and comments of forums. I disagree too with fellow participants here but that not to say I underrate their intelligence and diversity for one little bit. Sometimes I cannot help but just calm myself and follow the resourceful forums.
Mr.Bourne, I agree with you that this forum must be a means of positive exchange. If it was deviated from its objective, it is because you came to help this Bax who began to pour his venom on Mauritania by supporting a false propaganda against a fringe of the Mauritanian population. And all this because, I said and it is my full right that I do not consider Sankara as a hero by what I know, there are not left in his country great achievements that allowed to get Burkina out of underdevelopment, whereas and to the author of the article and not to Bax, that great personalities recognized by history were not mentioned. These prominent African personalities, including Daddah, were omitted while Senghor was serving us politically and culturally only as France colonized Africa. Bax’s racist reaction to Daddah made me angry because my writing was not intended for him because he is not the author of the article.
As for the content of your last writing, poop bags, I never noticed that in Nouakchott that I currently consider one of the African cities with very clean Grands Boulevards and extremely chic neighborhoods and this next neighborhoods as there are everywhere in Africa. In addition, the city is currently experiencing the realization of a large sanitation network that will benefit the entire city. So I do not agree with you about what you said about airports, palaces. Infrastructure is the most important lever for development. The vast Mauritania of 1million thirty thousand kilometers mostly desert has inherited from the colonizer no paved road km, no health infrastructure no water or electricity network, unlike other African countries that have cities. such as Dakar, Abidjan, Casablanca, Tunis, Algiers etc which inherited from the colonizer many road, port and airport. Nouakchott, which you are currently minimizing, has more than 200 km of urban roads, water and electricity are available 24/24 and 365 days a week, the country exports green electricity to Senegal and the beginning is flourishing. As far as the big or big word is concerned, I do not know what you mean by what I thought that by saying that the runways of the airport were sized for an Airbus A380 it was enough for that you understand that it is the largest carrier built by Europe, it is equivalent to the Boing 727 of America.
As for using the translation software, I am not an English-speaking culture and I find that if the software was designed it is to be used, the translation will distort certain ideas but will send the reader the idea that wanted to be expressed
Rect; I disagree too sometimes with fellow ……
Sidiki MOHAMED, the secluded immaculate boulevards you’re talking about is were Daddah and his clique of brown Moors inhabit. Mr. Sidiki is easy paying a blind eye to an existing hazardous predicament of a specific place or people but the fact remains the fact. Truth lies exactly there in every man’s heart but its a human ability to concede to those truths in order deal with them righteously in real life. If you live or visit only those boulevards in Mauritania, you’ll hardly know what mainstream Mauritania is about. My question to you is; what characterize those you call Arabs in Mauritania to come to your personal statistics that they are the majority? Probably too, you have the light to tell us how the Maghrib, definitely including Mauritania, came about. It is good news outlining all the developments that have taken place in Mauritania over time!
Of recent times, a lot has changed in certain African cities that seems unknown to you. Just as a heads up for you, please google “Abujah” as an example in the subregion. Nigeria’s overall development cannot however, be assessed by the skyline infrastructure of Abujah city alone. The living standard of the average Nigerian can in no way be ignored in any accurate assessment of Nigeria’s developments.
Coming back to Mauritania, I think most of the black people living in that country need to be mentally emancipated for the fact that most of them are subdued to slavery: 1. due to lack of proper education and, 2. due to terror and oppression level at them by those so-called Arabs. Mr. Sidiki, I know English is not your culture and God forbid it to be mine. We’re just using it as a means of communication exactly the same way we could have used French or Swahili. So, that fact should get some kind of a question ringing in your head: Are all those you might be calling Arabs in Mauritania Arabs because they speak Hassaniya or some Creole version of Abrabic? I think you get blindfolded all the time you visit Mauritania. Mr. Sidiki, I urge Mauritanians to be diverse and of course all their likes in the African continent.
Coming to Airports and aviation activities, I would say the size of airports need to be proportionate to a country’s air traffic needs. Certain investments by government can amount to serious liabilities instead of economic gains. That’s not to say the latter is true of Mauritania’s airport but expressing my scepticism towards certain infrastructures ventured into by governments, especially it dictatorship types in Africa. Education, health, Agriculture, specific important areas in trade & industries, communication and cultural diversity should be top most priorities of many African governments.
Man oh man, you have a right to refute Sankara’s legacy so do others have a right to be repulsive to anyone’s effort trying to make Daddah a hero.
Know one very good achievement of Thomas Sankara from many others! He laid out the the dual carriage systems that you see in today’s Ouagadougou. In a nutshell, I would say he is the honored architect behind today’s Ouagadougou landscape. He inspired it all in a very short period of time before the devil Blaise Compoare was briefed on his assasins mission. I would like to know from critics how Thomas Sankara was oppressive, anyway. Those highways, most of the reforestation and agricultural of today’s Burkina Faso, thanks to his initiatives. When he died, he has less than $1000 in his account if I have not overestimated .. His personal properties include a racing bike, a sofa, living room table, two sofa chairs, a refrigerator and perhaps a few normal insignificant belongings. How about Daddah? I can bet he hoarded millions in the Spanish canary Islands and France. If he didn’t, that because he has properties in the names of his families and close associates.
Africans in their certainties? They hate to see people who love standing clean. That’s why those types are capable of making saints out of devils and making devils out of saints.
Love Thomas Sankara or leave him a alone. He is laid on higher grounds in contrast to Daddah who in the first place, holds a mindset that makes him believe he is of a higher and much priviliged race than other identities of Mauritania.
I thought you were intelligent by reading what you wrote about the usefulness of using media forums, I find through your writing a racism that blinds you. I find through your writings that you try to defend a sectarian cause in Mauritania. So I conclude that you are one of those who are fighting for the split of black Africans in Mauritania, where you are Fulani who for a destabilizing cause as they do in Mali and Guinea or Senegalese among those who only want harm to Mauritania. As for discussing Arabite or not Hassane tribes and their language, I think you do not have enough baggage to discuss it and the tribes involved do not ask you if you have to be Arab or no. As for the slavery that you persist and sign that it is in Mauritania, it exists only in your head and in some black African countries that you defend. As for the clean boulevards, they now exist throughout the capital. In Mauritania, for your information, all sectors are experiencing vertiginous developments, I know that by your racism you do not want it to be this way. The paved roads now quadrille the entire territory. These tarred roads join Mali in five exits Gogui to Nioro, Selibaby to Kaye, Fassala to the border and Adel Bagrou to Nioro, Nouadhibou to Morocco and Ain Ben Tili to Tindouf in Algeria and Rosso to Senegal. Commercial deepwater ports in Nouadhibou and Nouakchott, fishing ports in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou in addition to a multi-functional military port of trade and fishing under construction in N’Diago on the Senegalese border. Health, education and tourism are making great strides. Ould Daddah that you played down was the policy of black Africans because of Saint-louis from Senegal that he took in a moment as the capital of Mauritania while waiting to building of Nouakchott, he returned to Mauritania thousands of Senegalese to use them as officials of the young republic. The sons of these Senegalese to whom he has issued Mauritanian Nationalities are those who are currently creating the greatest number of cohabitation problems in the country. This Ould Daddah that you minimize comparing to a young Burkinabé military is a monumental mistake. Although at the end of his reign he made great liberating decisions, he was not loved as you seem to believe by the Arab fringe of the population because of his policy of keeping the country in the group of black countries Africans. If I have mentioned it, it is a great man of great importance in Africa, and it is necessary to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. For your personal guidance Ould Daddah died, he had no bank account and owned only one house which was a foreign delegation home that was assigned to him upon his return from exile by the Taya government. So this President who was one of the founders of the OAU has nothing to reproach me from my point of view but free to who does not want to consider as a great personality to do so. I remember that during his presidency of the OAU, he was the only one who traveled the world to obtain support from the international community for the African struggles.
Me racist? That’s cooked out of your hobbyist writing. What would be the likely response of a pro-Mauritanian government to issues regarding the civil rights of black African citizen of Mauritania other than describing those oppressed with their own characteristics?
Who came up with Peuhl and later with Saint Louis Senegalese brought to Mauritania by Daddah?
Daddah however might be among the first signatories of the Organization of African Unity but the founding fathers were much more prominent figures I guess.
I am not taking this debate any further for the simple reason that your lines are very distorted for me to make any sense out of them. I wish your heart heals from the cankerous racism and ethnocentrism.
Bourne, what we are witnessing here, is a documented strategy of individuals and groups in Mauritania, who support the barbaric ways of Mauritanian society and government.
These people, like Sidiki MOHAMED (who is probably Mauritanian masquerading here as a Malian), carry out smear campaigns against those who question their ways and operate as activists.
Often, they are labelled as “traitors”, “foreigners”, “foreign stooges”, “racists”, etc. This is documented by Amnesty International. So, don’t be surprised if you are called a “racist” by this low life.
@ Bax and Tilli Bo: there are no short term benefits or long term disasters with Gambia joining the Francophonie-OIF. It is a disaster of gigantic proportions from the go and it will be like that until France completely owns us.
To buttress that point, here is an article I penned for The Gambia Times.
https://www.thegambiatimes.com/selling-the-gambia-to-europe-and-asia/
Very fitting reaction to the disastrous move of the Barrow-Darboe alliance to drag our country into another sneaky imperialist construct to feed off Africa and her people.
It is very frustrating to see how sons and daughters of our continent continually betray the aspirations of the people by continuing to open up to outsiders and outside interests, as if they are ignorant of our history.
We must, nevertheless, continue to raise our voices and objections to how our country is being managed, until the masses get the message and choose the right leaders.
Also of concern is the looming citizenship crisis, as the new ID cards scheme is rolled out.
One can only hope that the pursuit of stupid, narrow nationalist sentiments does not lead the country into catastrophe.
Mwalimu,
That’s a Buff article in The Gambia Times, easy to read with a good flow,
I love the illustrations/pictures, they paint a thousand words.
Keep that fire burning!
Tilli Bo my comrade in arms. Thank you for those words.
Indeed we can’t relent, because the enemy knows no sleep or taking a break from the battlefield.
But as the saying goes, this is not a battle for the swift. It’s for those who endure to the very bitter end.
Bax, i agree with you in your observations. Sidiki MOHAMED seems a very sneaky and cruel type. However, he seems to be not even aware of how much the world outside, are watching cruelties in Mauritania towards ethnic groups of indigenous African descent.
If Sidiki indeed is an indigenous African citizen of Mauritania, he could be the likes of those in the police and army used as instruments of oppression against their fellow indigenous African citizens of Mauritania. It is always a great sorrow and pain to come across such indigenous African citizens within the ranks of the country’s various apparatuses. It’s always hard to figure it out what might have happened to them, academically, mentally and morally. Sad! Those not within the army are toiling inside a self proclaimed elite’s residence or at his service somewhere. The rest are pushing or carrying some kind of a load going profusely and odorously sticky sweating. Sad to say but these are facts about the majority of black African citizens of Mauritania.
Bax, i agree with you in your observations. Sidiki MOHAMED seems a very sneaky and cruel type. However, he seems to be not even aware of how much the world outside, are watching cruelties in Mauritania towards ethnic groups of indigenous African descent.
If Sidiki indeed is an indigenous African citizen of Mauritania, he could be the likes of those in the police and army used as instruments of oppression against their fellow indigenous African citizens of Mauritania. It is always a great sorrow and pain to come across such indigenous African citizens within the ranks of that country’s various security apparatuses. It’s always hard to figure it out what might have happened to those sort of black African Mauritanians academically, mentally and morally. Sad! Those not within the army are toiling inside a self proclaimed elite’s residence or at his service somewhere. The rest are pushing or carrying some kind of a load going profusely and odorously sticky sweating. Sad to say but these are facts about the majority of indigenous black African citizens of Mauritania.
The voices that be, need to be amplified and of course the dispersal of the messages intensified.
Those of our people who stay on the fringes of the political discourse must recognize that their silence costs the nation and the future generation a life of dignity and prosperity.
But how do we go about such a monumental task of inspiring especially our youths, to be history makers, is the Billion Dalasi question.
Talking alone has equally never been enough to bring in the change necessary for a recalibration of the status quo. Well organized non-violent resistances such as strikes, civil disobedience, political agitations etc at every level of society do function to bring authorities back to earth, if you like.
Our times call for a combination of both.
Mwalimu,
“Well organized non-violent resistances such as strikes, civil disobedience, political agitations etc at every level of society do function to bring authorities back to earth, if you like.
Our times call for a combination of both”.
Too many self serving folks looking to ride on other people’s backs on their illusionary path to prosperity.
Let’s educate the populace to vote to make their voices heard.
I don’t believe that “authorities” in The Gambia it anywhere will ever think to come back to earth once they get to taste “the fruits of the office”!
Remember that it’s all about, DOMORR FODAY!!
Whilst sitting under the mango tree the other day, I wanted to ask someone what the VOTE means for us, Gambia and Gambians. I also wanted to ask what the process of VOTING (voicing) has come to symbolize for us. In my mind, it’s prudent and very necessary to critique the concept and the process (es) from a historical, economical and cultural perspectives. Andy, wouldn’t you like to do an opinion piece on that?