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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Jan 2012 : 20:00:56
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"A NEW YEAR AND A NEW FOROYAA What Is the Way Forward?
Launching the Great Debate On Foroyaa’s Future
By Halifa Sallah- Editorial Adviser
Foroyaa is about to evolve as a Newspaper to take on new features. It is necessary to map out the path it had trodden to be where it is today and further reflect on where we must go from henceforth.
When we established PDOIS in 1986 we wanted to issue a public notice over the state media and it was blocked. We went to Rafio Syd where we met the late Deyda Hydara and Pap Saine to request for the Press Release issued regarding the birth of PDOIS to be broadcast. They told us that they did not have the mandate to broadcast political messages. We put them under unbearable pressure and being the man of conscience he really was Deyda took the risk to issue the broadcast. It struck the nation like a thunderbolt from the blue. The reaction to the broadcast by the state was equally swift. Radio Syd was ordered by the relevant Ministry never to issue such political messages again. Faced with this dilemma of not having access to mass media to disseminate our ideas we decided to found one. This is how Foroyaa emerged as an alternative medium for the amplification of hitherto silent voices.
In short, in 1986 the vast majority of Gambians knew very little about how their country is governed. Over 99.9 percent had never seen the 1970 constitution not to mention the 1965 constitution. They did not understand how the country became a Republic and what it meant to be a sovereign person under a Republic. They did not know their fundamental rights or the history of the struggle for self determination and Independence. They did not know the role of the executive, the House of Representatives or the judiciary. Public office was deemed as a license to govern as a monarch. The state media was there to promote the official position of the government. The labourers, farmers, women and young people had no opportunity to be heard except through one newspaper, the Nation, published by W Dixon Colley. Very few people read his paper and there was no way of getting the information to the public. The paper had no grass roots base. Hence the ideas remained the property of the educated elite.
We became convinced that without the enlightenment of the citizenry the Gambia will forever remain a Sovereign Nation without a Sovereign People. It was equally realised that education was inconceivable without a medium that would capture all the concerns of the people and facilitate the formulation and dissemination of facts and enlightened fair opinions on all matters of National and international relevance. We had to utilise Foroyaa as a medium to access vital information in order to participate in this life long task of sharing information and knowledge with the people so that they could become the architects and guardians of their own destiny.
Foroyaa was designed to become the amplifier of the voices of the common man and woman in search of a common destiny. The media practitioners under Foroyaa did not see journalism as a career but as a vocation. Foroyaa to them was an instrument of liberation not one for profit making.
It had no employee and owner. It sought no profit. It carried no advertisement and attracted only volunteers who wrote without putting any by line to build up a career in journalism. People like Sam Sarr attended court cases. People like Pa Sambou conducted interviews up to the Casamance to know the views of Rev Diamacoune Senghore. Members of the editorial board comprising Sidia, Sam and Halifa did the editing, conducted the analysis and managed the various columns. We analysed every budget page by page and issued an alternative version. We issued New Year messages. We followed National events and those beyond our borders with keen interest. We produced books, pamphlets and cassettes to enlighten the people. Every butut that came from Foroyaa went back to the people in the dissemination of free books, pamphlets, leaflets and cassettes. The President’s meet the farmers tour was followed by PDOIS’ enlightened the farmers’ tour. We almost became a state within a state. We were able to transform little things in to big things. Within few years of operation no one could ignore Foroyaa, PDOIS and the institutions we operated like the Nyakoi nursery school.
Hence even though its founders sought political office the Foroyaa had never sank to the level of being the mouth piece that sang praise to this or that founding father or great leader as political organs are in many parts of the world. The founders featured only when they express opinions of national and International significance. Foroyaa added to Gambian Journalism what was not conceived to be the role of journalists. It made journalists to behave like scholars who investigate or conduct research to get the hard facts and reliable evidence to shape public opinion.
In classical journalism the only voice the paper or its editor has to express an opinion on all aspects of National life is the editorial. Foroyaa broadened the scope of the editors to express opinions on issues of National concern by publishing the unblemished facts and then attach an editor’s note to the story to broaden the scope of understanding of the reader or advocate for unalloyed or untrammeled justice. It produced civic education materials. It stood by people in their times of need. It mediated contradictions among the people. It offered counseling services to all manner of people. It solved labour disputes, land disputes, disputes over inheritance. We gave intellectual support to the opposition in parliament. We gave this intellectual support with absolute humility without pounding our chests as we do now or shouting our voices hoarse as we do now just to keep the values of Foroyaa alive.
Advocacy Journalism has been the important trademark of the Foroyaa newspaper which gives it distinct and innovative characteristics. Advocacy Journalism is knowledge based journalism. It focuses on both the first and second dictum of jurisprudence that Justice should be done and should be seen to be done.
Application Of Knowledge Base Journalism
We came to discover that dissemination of happenings without review could be as misleading as inventing the news by publishing opinions as facts. This is why Foroyaa started to include literature review as part of reports on happenings. This is how Foroyaa’s method of reporting on court proceedings became a matter of interest to the readers. This verbatim type of reporting which gives a drama like feature to court cases is now standard reporting adopted by many newspapers in the country. This developed in 1988 with the Sana Manneh case
To be continued"
RELATED BANTABA TOPIC;
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ALSO TODAY JOLLOF NEWS EDITORIAL;
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Edited by - kobo on 31 Jan 2012 07:04:33 |
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Momodou
Denmark
11684 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2012 : 18:46:04
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Burning Issues : A NEW YEAR AND A NEW FOROYAA
What Is the Way Forward?
Launching the Great Debate On Foroyaa’s Future
By Halifa Sallah- Editorial Adviser
Part 2
The Sanna Manneh case
Pioneering Role in Reporting of Court cases
Mr Sam Sarr who is now the Managing editor of Foroyaa was deployed to cover the most controversial court case that was held after the birth of Foroyaa in 1987. We will certainly be commemorating the Silver Jubilee of Foroyaa in 2012. When the case started Sanna Manneh was without a Counsel.
In order to promote a fair trial Foroyaa decided to produce the proceedings verbatim so that the prosecution and the magistrate would have their words and actions put in the public domain for scrutiny. We did not stop at that we also intimated to our readers the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code and explained the origins of the actions of the prosecutor and magistrate in terms of examination, cross examination and re-examination. Every section or authority quoted was made reference to and published.
Sam Sarr took the posture of a court scribe. Supplementary issues of Foroyaa were published to make the reports rich and current. The public followed the proceedings with keen interest and Magistrate Grante (of late) took the opportunity to showcase his knowledge of the law and his impartiality and fairness.
Despite the fact that the case was a politically sensitive one since it involved Cabinet Ministers and Sanna Manneh could not afford to hire a defence team he was acquitted and discharged on two counts and found guilty only on one count for which he was admonished. This land mark case was followed keenly by Foroyaa at all stages of the proceedings of the court thus giving vitality to the fundamental principle of jurisprudence that justice should not only be done but should also be seen to be done.
Monitoring the Executive
Foroyaa started to hold the members of the executive accountable by interviewing them on all allegations that come to our notice and publish their views along with any report if there is substantial evidence worth publishing. Behaviour of Political representatives and Public servants were weighed against the constitutional provisions, other laws and standards of good practice to promote the rule of law. Editor’s Notes conveyed observations that stood the test of truth good faith and the public interest. Policies of government were subjected to comprehensive evaluation. Open letters were written to the executive on a periodic basis to deal with matters of national concern. The public took interest in governance issues as Foroyaa held the government accountable to the people.
Monitoring The House of Representatives
The opposition hardly had its views covered on national Radio. Foroyaa started to cover the sittings of the House of Representatives and published what was said verbatim and weighed them against the provisions of the standing orders. This helped the national assembly members to have more understanding of their powers under the standing orders and helped the people to take more interest in the sittings of the House.
Monitoring the councils, the District Authorities and Divisional Administration
Foroyaa monitored the budgets of councils, the tribunals of district chiefs, the activities of divisional commissioners and the operation of central government institutions in the divisions. It reported on Chieftaincy and Alkaloship disputes and the strengths and weaknesses of Alkaloship elections. The people in the countryside began to see the importance of newspapers and they turned to Foroyaa to expose injustices perpetrated against them. They received counseling or publicity to address problems. The Foroyaa office therefore became a citizen advisory bureau, a social clinic where people turned to for information and guidance without paying any money. In fact the poor often beg for fares. Letters were also written and publication made of request for assistance.
What The Readers Say
The paper maintained a very vibrant column dubbed “What the Readers Say.” Keeping true to our adage that a Newspaper is an apparatus for the amplification of the voices of the people, Foroyaa provided service to all manner of people without fear or favour in accordance with the dictates of truth, good faith and the public interest. The letters from the readers served as the best tool for measuring the extent of the coverage or outreach of the paper and for determining its impact. It was an interactive mechanism which enabled readers to have a say in determining the type of issues that could be investigated and covered in subsequent editions. It also helped to identify shortcomings and strengths to know what to redress and what to expand on and consolidate.
To be continued
Source: Foroyaa
Continued 02-02-2012
Marriage and Family Life
Foroyaa sought to give a new perspective to the relation between man and woman that is mutually rewarding under a climate of genuine partnership. We did not only focus on problems we also sought to share solutions. We entertained letters from marital couples and provided answers. Letters ranged from wife inheritance, alcoholism, interference of in laws, impotency, lack of intimacy, alienation, frequency in separation or threats of divorce, fighting, battle over inheritance and custody of children, forced marriages, expensive dowries, postings of partners, problems of incompatibility, the pressures on finances because of ceremonies, pressures from mothers or fathers in law, conflicts in polygamous marriages, the impact of infertility on married couples, foreign travels of partners and so on and so forth. We put these experiences in the form of stories that could have been produced into countless number of novels and sold for huge sums of money. We produced them to help guide those who are entering marital life for the first time.
The Future Generation
We had a special column that dealt with the problems of the young people. We covered issues on how to raise children, the problems of broken homes, poverty requiring parents and children leaving in one room, the problem of homelessness, the street children, life in the ghettos, teenage pregnancy, drug use, juvenile crime, peer influences in shaping behaviour, the accomplished youth, attitude to material things and putting self esteem and self worth above properties.
Awakening of the peasantry (farmers)
We followed the various stages of the cropping season to identify and publish the problems of the farming community such as the high cost of fertilizer and farm inputs and the low prices of cash crops, credit buying, issues of production credits and subsistence credits, the impact of defaults in payment of cooperative loans such as threats to seize their corrugated iron sheets, horses, donkeys, etc by agents of the Cooperative Union without court action , etc. We followed land disputes which led to many fights among kabilos or extended families and kept a close watch at the land tenure system. We published that under the column “Awakening of the (farmers) peasantry”
Awakening of the Working Class
We followed the history of the trade union movement, documented the institutions established for labour disputes, explain the functions of the Joint Industrial Council, the Ports labour Board. We followed the privatization schemes and exposed the shrinking of both the public and private productive base thus throwing many workers and workers to be into the army of the unemployed.
The Traders of The Informal Sector
We followed the small traders to their weekly markets , monitored the cross border trade, the barter of goods at the border rather than the use of cash, the absence of border restrictions and the intermingling of the people at the border, the impact the duties collected from the markets could have had in improving services for the traders and the consumers in terms of access to clean drinking water, shelter from rain and sun, toilets, roads stalls or garages if there was a people centred state |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 09 Feb 2012 : 01:59:11
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Continued 03-02-2012
Women Affairs
Foroyaa placed the liberation of women high on its agenda. It followed the place that women occupy at the various phases of the development of the country. It covered the lives of the women farmers as they wake up before cockcrow to pound their coos to prepare pap for the family breakfast, draw water from wells with callous hands, carry the heavy water vessels on their heads to provide drinking water and to enable the family members to take bath, wash the clothes of the family, rush to the garden or farm, collect firewood, return to cook the meal, wash and look after the young ones, cook the dinner and then provide partnership to their men. These daily chores become so burdensome that they become old at their middle ages. They suffer from teeth loss, dry and shriveled skin with bodies reduced to sacks of bones. They rely only on prayers and meritorious services to their husbands as investment that would enable them to bring children into the world who would be prosperous and assure them a place in heaven in the hereafter.
Foroyaa raised questions why they have to live in drudgery from their teens to the grave. We explored the types of labour saving devices that could ease the drudgery at home and the backbreaking toil with hoes at the farms or gardens.
We looked at the land tenure system which is based on patriarchy and the movement of the woman to her husband’s extended family and inheriting the land belonging to the mother of the husband. We evaluated to show how the dowry system is designed to compensate the family of the woman for the loss of a labour hand in favour of the family of the husband.
We covered the ways of life of the women divorced from the land in urban and peri urban areas. We followed the lives of the women who woke up early in the morning to go to the market places in search of fruits and vegetables to sell. We covered their ordeals as they ran after incoming Lorries and vans with baskets of vegetables and bags of fruits to throw their scarves on a bag or basket to depict ownership and the right to be the one who would negotiate the price. We reported on how women stumbled and got injured in this battle for dear life. We reported on the glut in the markets when middle men and women transport the same type of fruits and vegetables to the markets which when bought by retailers would lead to stiff completions and erosion of prices because of over saturation of the markets. We show how women form thrift and credit societies and use their earnings to purchase fruits or vegetables only to have them got rotten for lack of a market.
We have followed the lives of the young girls who finish school or learn skills and trade only to join the army of the unemployed. We have exposed their trials and tribulation as they move about in search of husbands and jobs. We have covered the problems of teenage pregnancy, illegal abortions, early marriages, endless divorces because of the inability of young men to maintain wives and the exorbitant sums associated with never ending ceremonies that drain the finances of couples and strain their relationships.
We have followed the lives of the privilege few among the women who hold high posts in the public service or have risen in corporate establishments. We examined how many of them quickly retire on marital ground or put their businesses under trusteeship as the demand for partnership and stable homes contradict official duties or business schedules. Since in Gambian Society marriage is central in the lives of women in particular Foroyaa has always sought to help both men and women to understand its place in the battle to liberate mind and body. We have emphasised that marriage has an internal factor which is based on the lives of the couples and an external factor which is based on relation of the couples to relatives, friends, workmates and neighbours. We have always emphasised the need for marital cohesion among the couples in order to resist negative outside interferences and accommodate positive ones in order to reduce incompatibility and reinforce partnership.
We have shown the importance of the development of the productive base of the economy and the need to enlighten both man and woman in the spirit of partnership to enable women to realise their fullest potential in society.
Foroyaa had the vision and mission that aimed to play a part in shaping a new woman who would be mature and dignified and would put human values above acquisitive values and who would be treated as an equal partner by their male peers at all levels of social engagements. This mission is alive today as it ever was.
To be continued |
Edited by - kobo on 09 Feb 2012 02:02:31 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2012 : 01:22:37
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Continued 09-02-2012
What Is the Way Forward?
Foroyaa had a column devoted to politics, economics, Human Rights, the disabled and other social issues.
In the column ‘Focus on politics’ we indicated how Gambia as a National entity was forged from the subjugation of the various Independent states and Communal Societies by the colonialists. We traced the history of each of the ethno-linguistic groupings comprising the Gambia and showed how they were integrated into the colony and protectorate of the Gambia by the British colonial administration.
In fact, if some Gambians had read our past analysis they would have never tried to say during the inauguration of the President that the rituals performed by a particular cultural group depicted the way the Jola ethno linguistic group used to install their King. We have done scientific enquiry and had established that where ever one found a king one would find a caste system with society divided into nobility and the commoners who may be further divided into gradations. We had shown in our past publications that there is no caste system among the ethno-linguistic group now referred to as Jola. In the past, such people were referred to by their ethno-linguistic dialects such as buluff- buluff, chonkesil, etc. They lived in communal societies without kings and commoners. They had no caste system. They had families specialized in various trades needed by the community.
Foroyaa assisted for the people to appreciate the ethno-linguistic diversity of the Country and emphasised why we must go beyond our diversity to become sovereign citizens of a Republic which is a larger entity than the individual groups.
We traced the history of the Gambia and offered proof that it did not become a fully subjugated entity until 1902 and how the movement against colonial domination evolved to be part and parcel of the National Congress of British West Africa which pioneered the struggle for self determination and elected representation. We traced the earlier struggle for self determination and how newspapers, trade unions and farmers’ cooperatives were relied on by Edward Francis Small to empower the Gambian people. We emphasised that civil societies are not new in the Gambia but had been relied on to put pressure on the colonial administration to introduce councils and appoint the indigenes to handle advisory roles. We explain how political parties emerged; what they stood for and how they fared over the years.
We examined the various orders in council during the colonial era and the various constitutions which emerged so that Gambians could have a clear perspective of how the Country evolved from a colony, constitutional monarchy and a Republic in 1970. We followed the birth and collapse of the Senegambia Confederation, the origin of the war in Casamance, the Liberian crisis and the birth of ECOMOG , the Coup in the Gambia , the transition and the birth of the second Republic.
We follow elections without partisan bias and give free access to the IEC to transmit any message to the voters that would enhance their civic education. We published the provisions of the constitution to make every reader literate in constitutional matters.
Foroyaa has put the agenda forward that the first task of National liberation is to consolidate the right to self determination and Independence and the second phase is to consolidate the sovereignty of the people so that they take full charge of their destiny and elect their leaders on the basis of content and reserve their right to hold their leaders accountable and remove them without any hindrance.
Should the new Foroyaa abandon such a path?
To be continued |
Edited by - kobo on 10 Feb 2012 01:25:23 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2012 : 12:52:44
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Continued 11-02-2012
What Is the Way Forward? CONTINUATION
Foroyaa had a column dealing with Economics. While politics dealt with the science of the state economics dealt with its material endowments. We tried to bring economics to the door steps of the common person. We made people to understand why the pioneers from National Liberation adopted the slogan “no taxation without representation.” We told them that it simply means that one has a right to manage the wealth that he or she owns either directly or through a trustee. We emphasised that the tax paid by all belongs to all. Hence each should have a say on who should manage it.
We made it clear to people that states are managed like each farmer or employed worker manages his or her home, that one has to prepare income and expenditure budgets on a daily basis to feed a family. The family will enjoy welfare when income is equivalent to ideal budgets or exceeds it and would have to tighten its belts when income falls below ideal budgets. In the same vein, states have to get income in order to finance budgets. Their budgets could be balanced and move towards surplus or be in deficit. We said states with revenue that exceeds its ideal expenditures would have funds to develop infrastructure and promote general welfare. Those whose revenue falls below the ideal expenditure requirements will not be able to build infrastructure without being chronically indebted and fostering poverty.
We took our time to review budget speeches and estimates of government revenue and expenditure on an annual basis. We showed the people how revenue is derived from taxation and non tax sources. We showed them how custom duties are added to the prices of the commodities they consume daily such as sugar which they the poor finance daily. They are also shown how they contribute to National coffers by paying for ID Cards, Birth Certificates; Passports Drivers’ Licences and so on and so forth. We explained how they also patronize public enterprises like The Gambia Public Transport Corporation, GAMCEL , The Ferry Services, The Gambia Groundnut Corporation or former GPMB which buys their ground-nuts.
Contrary to the notion spread in the Diaspora that we taught ideas that were above the thinking of the people Foroyaa democratized knowledge by being the discourse of the intellectual elite to the fora of those who had never seen the four walls of a class room.
We explained that the Government of the Gambia has five sources of income, that is, taxation, payment for service, dividends from public enterprises, loans and grants/gifts.
We made simple analogies for the people to understand what financial discipline means.
We explained that a person who takes a loan to invest would be reduced into a pauper if he takes the loan of 2millions to build a Million dalasi house, buy a half a million dalasi transport and spend the other half a million on wining and dining. Once the time for the payment of the loan dawns both the compound and the car would be ceased and the debtor would sink into the abyss of poverty.
In the same vein we told them that a Government of the Gambia spends more than its income annually and is therefore permanently in deficit. That it issues treasury bills and borrows money to finance the deficits. That since it spends more than it earns it can only build infrastructure by taking loans. We explained that the public enterprises should have been managed in such a way that they would pay dividends to government annually. We explained that the government does not leave such corporations to be autonomous and require them only to pay dividends after balancing their books. We do report that the government makes such public enterprises to finance all sorts of programmes and thus render them incapacitated to pay dividends. The end result is to take debts that one could only pay by maintaining low salaries, low capacity to generate employment, imposition of high taxes which strangulate the small businesses that are Gambian owned and thus increase the number of bankruptcies and poverty. We have shown that Gambians are now surviving on remittances which amounts to over 1.7 Million dalasis almost one third of the annual budget of the Nation including loans and grants.
We have examined the state of the public, private, cooperative and informal sectors of the Gambian economy and have shown how a people centred government would encourage the development of all sectors and foster partnerships to ensure the type of growth that would enhance public welfare.
To be continued |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 15 Feb 2012 : 00:35:49
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Continued 14-02-2012
What Is the Way Forward? CONTINUATION
Human Rights –Theory and Practice
The Birth of a Social Clinic
Human Rights to Foroyaa is not just theory on paper. The value we put on the human being has made the paper not to bow down to sensationalism and informant journalism. In short, people come to the Foroyaa office with genuine desire to solve problems and not just to scandalize. Hence every report that comes meets a listening ear. Once the report is given and processed the editors do determine whether it is a case for publication or counseling and mediation. Once the nature of the case is determined the party is advised accordingly. Most of the cases that come to Foroyaa do not find their way in the pages of the paper.
Foroyaa utilises telephones, writes letters and sends envoys to address the problems of our clients. The poor are assisted with fares and the needy are referred to agencies and those who need legal representation are referred to lawyers.
This is the most important part of Foroyaa’s work which puts us into contact with every sector of Gambian society.
We take time to explain what should happen after one is arrested and how long one should be held before being either taken to court or released. We help families to trace family members who arrested without their knowledge to their places of detention, facilitate bail or release. We help them to distinguish civil from criminal cases where the police has jurisdiction. We cover the cases of people who are detained without trial. We console their family members; look for scholarship for their children, give them counseling not to see the incarceration their parents as stigma, give them solidarity to gain access to prisoners, call for the exercise of the prerogative of mercy to facilitate the release of detainees. We look for good Samaritans to support fire and accident victims.
We guide family members to resolve disputes over land ownership, inheritance, divorce and marital conflicts. We help protect property rights and help stakeholders to resolve property disputes instead of going to court.
Foroyaa guides the people who have been deprived of education to get enrolled into adult literacy programmes.
In short Foroyaa has become an institution that is linked with solidarity to ease the suffering of those who are in need of support.
In the area of Human Rights Theory Foroyaa has made it abundantly clear that rights have both internal and external manifestations and characteristics. That they are both personal and social just like the human being has both an individual and a social being at the same time.
We have indicated that rights are possessions which first became noticed when they were lost. That one cannot understand the history of the struggle for human rights without understanding the history of the struggle of those who lost their possession and have been struggling to regain it. The struggle for rights is older than written history. It became consummated with written history and the evolution of political order and constitutional and legal abstractions of such order.
To be continued |
Edited by - kobo on 15 Feb 2012 00:40:20 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2012 : 16:16:02
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Continued 17-02-2012
What Is the Way Forward? CONTINUATION
Human Rights –Theory and Practice
Foroyaa focuses on the linkage between human rights and political order. It wrote pamphlets to indicate how ethno-linguistic groups emerged and how they evolved into clans and dialects. How the clans developed confederacies called tribes which evolved states based on hierarchy of authority known as a caste system. Foroyaa showed how the states evolved out of the struggles for power by the elites who turned to those at the lower ranks for alliance because of their tendency to be rebellious against their oppression and exploitation.
It showed how rights became concessions to the demands of those who were deprived of liberty and property. Norms and laws emerged to protect state power and to reflect concession made by authority to the demands and declarations for rights sought as manifested in Plato’s Republic, the demands to abolish debtor slavery under calisthenics, the demands of the barons under the Magna Carta, the demand for the right to self determination under the American Declaration of Independence, the demands for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights under the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789.
Foroyaa has shown how tribal frontiers broke down and Nations emerged to build nation states with their class contradictions and nationalist contradictions with other nations thus leading to both internal conflicts for control of power and freedom from oppression and deprivation of property. Foroyaa indicated how the interactions whether through war or trade gave rise to a world system of politics leading to the domination of nations by other nations thus leading to new forms of oppression, domination and exploitation and new forms of struggles for freedom from oppression, domination and exploitation and the demand for a new form of state with a new form of citizen with new norms and laws to govern the operation of the state and the interaction of the citizenry.
These interactions between authorities from diverse nations gave rise to universal declarations which sought to encompass the aspirations of all peoples.
Foroyaa explains that while the power relations in the world remains until each people take their destiny into their own hands the universal principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other conventions are as good as preambles of how to live in prosperity in a state of larger liberty if state parties transform preambles into living statutes that are known, observed and enforced to serve the just interest of all natural persons in a state.
Foroyaa has emphasised that the journey towards a state that could safeguard the human rights of the citizenry starts with the struggle for self determination and Independence of peoples. In short, Foroyaa has made it abundantly clear that the struggle for Human rights on our continent could have meaning and direction if we conceive our struggle against colonialism as a battle to attain the self determination and Independence of the people and the attainment of their sovereignty and not simply to attain the self determination, Independence and sovereignty of states or countries. Foroyaa made it clear that the struggle for human rights cannot be won until we understand the type of multi ethno-linguistic states which have emerged from the womb of colonialism and which can no longer weave clans into tribal confederacies that emerged as Nation states in other parts of the world but which have to weave people with diverse ethno-linguistic characteristics into one people or one nation that would protect the rights of all.
To be continued |
Edited by - kobo on 18 Feb 2012 16:31:33 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2012 : 16:32:13
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Continued 18-02-2012
What Is the Way Forward? CONTINUATION
Human Rights –Theory and Practice
Foroyaa has emphasised that the journey towards a state that could safeguard the human rights of the citizenry starts with the struggle for self determination and Independence of peoples. In short, Foroyaa has made it abundantly clear that the struggle for Human rights on our continent could have meaning and direction if we conceive our struggle against colonialism as a battle to attain the self determination and Independence of the people and the attainment of their sovereignty and not simply to attain the self determination, Independence and sovereignty of states or countries. Foroyaa made it clear that the struggle for human rights cannot be won until we understand the type of multi ethno-lingiustic states which have emerged from the womb of colonialism and which can no longer weave clans into tribal confederacies that emerged as Nation states in other parts of the world but which have to weave people with diverse ethno-linguistic characteristics into one people or one nation that would protect the rights of all.
Foroyaa explained that a state cannot defend rights until its origin and nature is known and shaped to serve the public interest. We indicated that those who talk about tribalism in the Gambia have no understanding of its roots or the history of the Country. It was shown by Foroyaa that tribalism could only exist if there is a state established by a confederation of clans with the same ethno-linguistic origin or heritage occupying the same geo-political space and bound by the same rules under the same order. Every member of the group spoke the same language and respected the same traditions and displayed the same loyalty to the group. This constituted the basis of tribal sentiments or loyalty called tribalism.
Foroyaa has projected the different states and groups which existed before the territories they occupied were carved into colonies of the British and the French thus living people of the same ethno-linguistic origins on different sides of colonial borders.
Foroyaa showed how these dominated ethno-linguistic groups were brought under one colonial state which negated their old identities and created a new identity of being subjects of a colonial order.
Foroyaa explained that the first struggle for rights came with the demand for taxation to be linked to representation. This is the cornerstone of political rights. Newspapers were established to promote this political right of the tax payer to elect the person who should manage his or her public purse. The right to freedom to receive and disseminate information became evident to people in the colony. They also came to realise that it is such information that enables a people to know and pursue all other rights. Foroyaa made it clear that the people in the colonies came to realise that rights could be attained by writing about them and petitioning for them. They saw the need for organisations and associations to be built and for them to assemble periodically to discuss their goals and act as one body to pursue their goals. This is what gave rise to civil societies like trade unions, farmers’ cooperative union and rate payers associations which went beyond religious divides, ethno linguistic origins and gave birth to new national institutions. In short, Foroyaa had made it clear that it is these pressure groups which eventually exerted influence on the colonial administration to establish local councils, recognise political parties, enlarge freedom of speech, association, assembly, movement and even change of the colonial order to attain the right to self determination and Independence.
This exercise of the right to self determination and Independence was enlarged to give birth to the Republic which has the duty to enlarge the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the people.
Fooryaa emphasised that the state under a Republic should be an activist one which should make one people out of the different ethno-linguistic groups and enlarge the instruments, Institutions and practices that would ensure the fullest enjoyment of rights.
Foroyaa has therefore drawn the attention of the people to the fact that human rights cannot be enjoyed in full unless those entrusted in managing the affairs of a Republic are fully committed to the creation of the instruments, institutions and practices that uphold and defend such rights and further transform the observance of such rights by all natural persons.
This is precisely the reason why the paper has devoted itself to teaching the meaning of rights by following cases of violations and projecting the adequacy or inadequacy of what is in the constitution or the statute books to promote understanding and the need for compliance or statutory or institutional reform or reconstitution.
We have not only stopped at exposing human rights violations, we have taken concrete steps to advocate for an end to human rights violation by putting our own security, lives and freedom on the line such as the attempt to make witchcraft debacle history.
In our view, there is no Eastern, Western, Christian, Muslim, African, European, concept of Human Rights. The principles and practice of Human Rights are dynamic and any system that can guarantee the fullest civil, economic, political, social and cultural rights to guarantee the largest liberty and prosperity serves as the model for human civilisation.
Burning Issues : FOROYAA GOES DAILY |
Edited by - kobo on 18 Feb 2012 16:36:01 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 23 Feb 2012 : 07:39:28
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Continued 22-02-2012
What Is the Way Forward? CONTINUATION
Human Rights –Theory and Practice
We have not only stopped at exposing human rights violations we have taken concrete steps to advocate for an end to such violations by putting our own security, lives and freedom on the line such as the attempt to make the witchcraft debacle history.
In our view there is no Eastern, Western, Christian, Muslim, African, European concept of Human Rights. The principles and practice of .Human Rights are dynamic and any system that could guarantee the fullest civil, economic, political, social and cultural rights in order to ensure that people enjoy the largest liberty and prosperity should serve as a model for human civilisation.
Foroyaa therefore took the issue of human rights to a new plane by calling for the sovereign person to be the foundation of every social order on the face of the globe. It establishes the same yardstick for all human beings throughout the world. It puts a challenge at the door steps of every people on the face of the earth. It presents human rights as an organic whole comprising civil, political, economic, social, cultural and ecological rights.
It makes it the responsibility of the state and the people to ensure the enjoyment of these rights by all.
Foroyaa has argued that people could go into confrontation with states and among themselves if any of their rights, civil, political, economic, social, cultural or ecological, is violated.
Foroyaa has observed that the state is an instrument and that a special instrument is needed to be able to protect all rights. Foroyaa argued that there are many forms of state, such as one based on the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, etc, religion. There is the atheist state and the secular state. There is the absolute monarchy, The Constitutional Monarchy and the Republic.
Foroyaa has emphasised that the Democratic Secular Republic is what brings all humanity together irrespective of origin or belief and makes them co-exist in peace and equality before the law and safeguard all the peculiarities that are personal or social to individuals or groups, respectively, that makes them serve as greater assets to the human race. Foroyaa therefore holds that there should be indicators with universal application on how each state and people safeguard the civil, political, economic, social, cultural and ecological rights of the people as a whole. Foroyaa maintains that advocates of human rights should identify the type of state that could best defend those rights and work to bring it about. That wherever there is a crisis there is a right that is violated in one way or the other. Hence wherever there is crisis we should find out which rights are being violated and call for their observance.
Foroyaa maintains that if this is done the world will ultimately become a universal home where all peoples will enjoy liberty and prosperity.
Should Foroyaa abandon this paradigm on human rights as the paper evolves in this New Year or should it retain our current perception as the editorial direction of the paper? |
Edited by - kobo on 23 Feb 2012 07:40:35 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 26 Feb 2012 : 14:58:53
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Continued 25-02-2012
What Is the Way Forward? CONTINUATION
Amplifying the voices of Silence
The Foroyaa Newspaper emerged to amplify the voices of silence. These are the voices of those who speak through their body language as a result of their exclusion and marginalisation.
Foroyaa made it its primary duty to engage people living with disability as reporters to enable them to tell the stories of others who are sharing the same experiences because of the physical appearances.
We have tried to build confidence in those living with disability so that they would discover the ingenuity in themselves and the unlimited potentials they have as human beings like any other, to excel if they only have the insatiable zeal to struggle towards their better selves. A whole generation of well educated and cultured people has been trained who no longer see their physical differences as a fetter to the development of their potentials as a human being. They have been given the orientation to see that most of the disadvantages they are experiencing is created by society which is yet to be fully equipped to know how to build infrastructure, services and other gadgets that would make physical disability a mere physical characteristic rather than an economic, social and cultural disadvantage.
We have also made our task to raise the awareness of those not having the characteristics of those living with different disabilities to combat the myth that goes along with disability and other differences created by genetic factors which leads to different colour of skin, hair and eyes In the past myths used to be promoted that such children are by products of ghosts changing their children with that of humans.
Foroyaa has young people with such characteristics working for it to gain intellectual prominence and thus negate any inferiority complex that usually comes with lack of self knowledge and self confidence.
Foroyaa has published many analogies that enable those who walk on their feet to know how a person on wheel chair feels on land by asking them whether they could walk on water and help them to equate a wheel chair to a boat. Inability to walk does not signify that one is a lesser human being.
A person who wakes up with the lights off also experiences the life that a person living with visual disability is living. Loss of sight does not signify that one is la lesser human being.
This paper which arose 25 years ago has fulfill its mission of coming to the aid of all those who need a supportive hand to stand tall and reach out to the stars if one so desires. We the pioneers would like to keep it that until there is no longer any one on the face of the earth who needs a supportive hand.
We are reconciled to the fact that altruism is an advance state in human personality development that goes with self actualization. What is equally just is to demand for the product of one’s sweat. We will see how to balance the altruism of some and the principle of distribution according tot the work done of others so as to serve country, humanity, people and media practitioners.
This would require the following changes within the coming six months:
UPGRADING OF EQUIPMENT
TO BE CONTINUED |
Edited by - kobo on 26 Feb 2012 14:59:22 |
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