One hundred years after William Edward Burghardt's classical work was published, there is still a part of the world where people live in paranoid, because a generalissimo, who is both an unforgettable lesson in totalitarianism and a compelling portrait of jingoism, is handed a destiny of 1.8 million people.
In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx writes that a spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of communism. If comrade Marx was alive to witness the events that are currently shaping 21st century totalitarianism, he would write that a 'spectre is haunting totalitarian governments' around the world - 'the spectre of Diaspora unity'.
The recent conflux of events that has added impetus to our gleeing national history is akin to what Du Bois referred to as "a feeling of revolt and revenge… an attempt to adjust all thought... and a determined effort at self-realisation".
The New York protests that witnessed the humiliation of president Jammeh and his cronies, demonstrated how important and powerful a force Gambian Diaspora has become. This force is not borne out of identity crises (as many Gambians abroad do not vouch for any political party), rather out of the actions of a single man, who has mustered so much power that he thinks subjugation of national politics is a way of suppressing civil resistance or maintaining civil obedience - though the latter has reached the pinnacle of its decadence.
However, these events can also be viewed as premonitions; thus, laying the foundation for an assertion to the fact that no government can ignore the importance of its diasporas in running the day-to-day affairs of a country - this is quite an argumentum ad populum.
The September 25 historical protests that pundits speculate leads to Banjul's withdrawal from the Common Wealth, is a litmus taste to the State House that its three third of graduates - including all Gambians abroad for any reason - now living or studying abroad, is the new political binary and redemptive force of freedom, whose demands and calls cannot be ignored. This was not only a lesson for the current government, but any future government, that those in the helm of affairs must consider this force as a revolutionary vanguard, armed with resources (the ability to mobilise and lobby) that can bring down a government to its knee.
In the meantime, any attempt to humiliate the APRC-led regime will come as a huge relief, especially to those who have been targets of its sinister activities: political activists, journalists and anyone not fitting into the perverted dogmatism 'I will defend this country' Jammeh paradoxically represents.
Consequently, when 'brute' is added to the current status quo that Gambians are enduring, the result becomes obvious: a desperate citizenry, tired of being 'imprisoned' in a catch-22, and ready to take actions 'despite environing opinion'. This, however, will constitute an escalating probability of disaster, because the opposing power will respond with brutality.
Gambians are the definition of non-violence, but, despite the moral dilemma (many of us are torn between the need for a revolution and the sanctity of human life - which is certainly a moral dilemma); you can smell the excitement of a revolution in the air that blows in mainland Africa's smallest country. People's quests for a free society and emancipation from intellectual slavery are reaching all time high and this shows no signs of nose-diving.
For almost two decades, a good number (I spare the cronies) of Gambians are still enduring seemingly insurmountable challenges, ranging from freedom to liberty. The country is in turmoil and families are unable to keep their heads above water, because the cost of daily life is skyrocketing. If this continues, it will create a cataclysmic state of affairs, which will eventually plunge the country into some sort of domestic tense.
President Jammeh can burry his head in the rubbles whenever he hears about citizens being desperate, but my advice is: Don't ignore the demands made by your citizens in the Diaspora; especially those keyboard warriors that spur on Facebook every evening.
A lesson: the recent branding of the UDP as a 'Mandinka' political party brings more and stronger unity among Gambians abroad and thankfully makes many APRC Mandinka supporters to defect unofficially or otherwise. This unity plays host to the fact that Gambian Diaspora believe in justice, and more importantly are blind to race and unfettered by prejudice.
What distinguishes president Jammeh from comrade Mugabe and Idi Amin is not his demagoguery, but the fact that he projects himself as 'the-god-chosen-one' and for many, except a dedicated ideologue, he portraits the symbol of a pizza - pizza represents the oppression on the proletariats, with a few pepperoni (Jammeh and his cronies) on top, controlling most of the cheese, while the dough (the working class) supports the entire infrastructure and receives nothing in return - a pure intellectual exploitation borne out of authoritarianism.
Despite the West and human rights advocates regarding Jammeh as an authoritarian ruler and blaming him for the country's descent into isolations and poverty, a handful of Gambians still regard him as a champion of the hapless people.
However, I want to point out to those ardent supporters that the onus is now on them to know that their destiny is in their hands; that already every political analyst can see the chain reaction, the political prognoses that signal the end of Jammehism (Note: the end of Jammehism doesn’t necessarily mean the end of Jammeh’s rule, rather it can mean the end of his use of power. Jammehism is a term I first used in 2012 to refer to Jammeh’s use of power and suppression to advance his political agenda).
Long live Diaspora unity!
By Amat JENG
