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Alagi Yorro Jallow.Fatoumatta: Gambians are a unique people. We have continued to mesmerize the world with our remarkable coolness and intolerance towards greed-inspired egotism. Our differences have never defined us, and neither have we ever cherished things or people that divide us or bring out the worst in us. In this regard, we need to commend ourselves as Gambians for defying the odds that have threatened the very foundations of our cherished values and unity of purpose. We have risen above our political differences and chosen to stay true to who we really are as a people amid a very heated political atmosphere that ended decades of brutal dictatorship.
We are simmering in this state, knowing that regardless of our political difference, the choices we make today and our actions will either inspire hope and different forms of life or reinforce despair, anarchy, and other forms of death. The fear is real. The unknown in a turbulent sea of incoherence and a fragmented and continually melting ‘glue’ that is supposed to hold a nation together have a way of gnawing at the very core of many-a-soul. The fear can be felt on a personal and collective level.
Fatoumatta: December 4 presidential election is a defining period for the Gambia. Every Gambian has a choice to make on many levels, through omission or commission. Our personal preferences directly impact the collective outcome. Every Gambian is responsible for determining what happens to the Gambia through our personal choices and actions. May we hold this responsibility with seriousness and stewardship of care to help influence the future Gambia that recognizes and knows all her children and their fundamental human needs and human rights. Freedom, relativism and tolerance, respect, and understanding are one of them—a right to life, liberty, and security of person and citizen security and human rights. There are many others. Our crucial solution is tolerance that everybody has the right to belong to any political party, belonging to ethnic, religious, and linguistic belonging. What we demand of our leaders and ourselves is sobriety. We want ecstasy as a way of life, not a poisonous liver. Whatever happens, we shall have to co-exist. We must find space to keep speaking to each other; talk with and not at each other; we acknowledged that we have ethnic, political, and religious differences, as Gambians. However, these are the differences that make us strong. These are the differences that make Gambia such a great country.
However, what scares me more is this: Some of our leaders maintain the hyperbole and rhetoric of their faction. Furthermore, their followers are entrenching themselves further and more intensely in rhetoric to become purveyors of exaggeration and propaganda ultimately.
Fatoumatta: We (Gambians) still worry that we could degenerate into aggression. It is partly a pavlovian response to tribal politics because in our 56-year history as a country, we have always been a restrained kind of people — even at that time when a dictator held the reigns of our nation for 22 long terrifying years. So we had never disintegrated into wanton aggression, as we did then.
Never again, right?
Our worries also stemmed from the way that we are — we seem to titter at the precipice of violence, as leaders and social media users make these brazen, aggressive comments that give rise to fear and anger. These statements of false bravado and warmongering increase consternation among those who want to see the peaceful Gambia. What is worse is that many party supporters who make reckless statements get away with them repeatedly — ostensibly because they support a specific influential political leader or support the President.
Meanwhile, middle-class Gambians remain oblivious of the real hurt and fear in some parts of the country. Instead, like others in the diaspora, they hide behind their keyboards — many of them to hurl unthinking tribal and divisive abuse at each other; recently, I was astounded to read a post by a middle-class fellow, suggesting that the Gambia is ready for a “maleviolent dictator” as if such a thing is possible.
Fatoumatta: Social media is not merely about negative energy; it can also be for positive energy. We need to use the power of talking/debating issues but not bulldozing things and problems since we are a democracy. First, of course, we will blame our leaders for where the country is today. However, wait a moment: How many of us now remember that we have a country to protect jealously (each according to ability)? How many of us have ever invited our colleagues in the opposing camp for a cup of tea to reason things out (at our level and for the interests that we share as members of the political class)? How many of us find it in ourselves to restrain ourselves from insulting our leaders, Halifa Sallah, Ousainou Darboe, Mama Kandeh, Hamat Bah, or fans who just posted something? We do not like/something against our leader. How many of us look beyond the failed leadership in both camps and see the need to contribute (however humbly) towards saving a lovely country that gave our mothers/parents space to bury our umbilical cords?
Fatoumatta: We must trash the general naivete here, debunk the myths, and once again stand on our two feet, move away from this political mentality of the dog-eat-dog-or-dog-eat-nothing world! Furthermore, with all that we have in the Gambia, we cannot be a dog-eat-nothing society.