THESE DISCUSSIONS WERE TAKEN FROM THE COCORIOKO FORUM
Subject: Tribalism dissipates in Sierra Leone
From: Freetown boy
To: All
Date Posted: 04:12:17 07/26/06 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: at 88.159.67.240
Message:
The idea that our Mende compatriots are tribalistic has started to prove wrong by the establishment of the PMDC.Every town and village in the South East has started to embrace this new political outfit. The people in that parts of the Country have come to realise that nobody has a monopoly over their lifes.
Those of us who have travel/live in the South East believe that the inhabitants are the most hospitable people in the whole of the Country.
Countles of Mende people are God fearing and they are overly loyal. This is not to be misconstrued as a leeway for politicians.
Whether mende haters like it or not the PMDC is a force to reckon with as it will help bring back sanity in Sierra Leone’s politics.The mendes are not at all a bad group of people. They are loyal to a fault that is why we see a large number of aliens are settled in the South East. A Mende man will not mind to give his daughter to a stranger and he will go at great length to provide a space to build new home or give a land for farming.
If the Mendes are not nice they will not allow any stranger in their midst and some West African tribes will not have been integrated in Sierra Leone.
Those that are casting the Mende people as tribalistic need to go back to the drawing borad and assess their conscience.My sentiment is to dampen the mood of Mende bashers on this forum. If someone says that I am a Mende, it is not true. I just want to be objective and honest in my estimation of one of Sierra Leone’s progressive tribes.
Subject: Re: Tribalism dissipates in Sierra Leone
From: Kateneh
To: All
Date Posted: 21:58:08 07/26/06 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-mtc-ae04.proxy.aol.com at 64.12.117.8
Message:
I am not interested in casting judgement on Mende peolpe but to highlight the author’s false logic when he said that because Mendes are embracing PMDC it proves wrong the theory that Mendes are tribalistic. On the contrary by embracing PMDC it demonstrates that Mendes are no longer blind followers of the SLPP or that the SLPP is no longer the monolithic party of the Mendes.
For sure, a division has been created amongst the Mendes by the ascendancy of the PMDC which cuts into the political base of the SLPP and could be the cancer that brings the formidable SLPP to it’s knees.
The division amongst the Mendes is ideologically based and lasting. As the PMDC gathers more and more steam so does the chance of the SLPP become slimmer and slimmer for winning the next general elections.
The SLPP hopes it would fare well enough against PMDC to have a showdown with the APC in a runoff election, at which time the SLPP would hope Margai would blink and side with them. But would Margai want to desert the PMDC it painstakingly created? I think not. Would Margai want to see his foe, Berewa, at the helm of government? The answer is unequivocally no. Remember it is Berewa who wanted to put Margai away permanently by concocting treason charges against him. Berewa has proven to be a rattle snake that would stop at nothing short of injecting venom unto his enemies.
ubject: ALIEU ON TRIBALISM
From: Joe Luawa
To: All
Date Posted: 12:43:56 07/25/06 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: ool-4570f446.dyn.optonline.net at 69.112.244.70
Message:
“In 1999, when I was trying to file asylum for some mende people who were in California and were refugees from the war, One mende person gladly walked up to me and said how happy she was that “all dem krio dem bod ose dem dae burn nar freetown”.”
Why didn’t you mention the numerous creoles who called the war a mende war? Or all those who laughed when their brethren perished up country. Man, when it comes to the issue of tribalism, you have a one-track mind. You resent mendes for being mendes, period. Those who know you in cyberspace will agree with me. Why are your fights always with mendes – Sengbe, Sam-Foray, Patrick Muana, etc., etc? We are not going to change just because Alieu Iscandari is uncomfortable with our behavior as a cultural block. Tegloma, which you have been very critical of remains very formidable without your membership, my friend. There are various Salone Ethnic organizations in North America. I attended a big mandingo dance in a big US city last year and I had no problem with my mandingo brothers and their organization. In fact I even donated $100.00 toward the organization’s fund raising efforts. I look forward to attend this year’s fundraising dance. Just because you do not feel that you belong to a particular ethnic group in Sierra Leone does not mean that we all should feel the same way.
Further, being Sierra Leoneans does not mean we are a homogenous quantity. Sierra Leone is composed of different ethnic groups. This is a basic sociological fact that we have to accept. Within the context of Sierra Leone, we are Sierra Leoneans by nationality and not by ethnicity as you always blindly argue. Generally speaking, there is a great deal of inter-ethnic unity and goodwill in Sierra Leone. In fact although my observation may be unscientific, there is a rise in inter-ethnic marriages among sierra Leoneans. So your unhealthy habit of pointing fingers at mendes for tribalism without any concrete evidence to substantiate your bogus allegations is nothing but blatant bigotry on part, my friend.
Subject: Re: ALIEU ON TRIBALISM
From: SIMPLE ENGLISH
To: All
Date Posted: 13:02:52 07/25/06 ()
Email Address:
Entered From: cache-ntc-ad04.proxy.aol.com at 207.200.116.198
Message:
“Why didn’t you mention the numerous creoles who called the war a mende war? Or all those who laughed when their brethren perished up country. Man, when it comes to the issue of tribalism, you have a one-track mind.”
The man was not talking about what creoles said to him he was talking about what mendes said to him. Understand.
“are your fights always with mendes – Sengbe, Sam-Foray, Patrick Muana, etc., etc?”
You obviously were not around the forums when the first shots were fired by these people you named against Alieu, or are you just as similarly “one track minded” when it comes to Alieu, who by the way has a lot of people in cyberspace that read and appreciate his writings right here in freetown.
“In fact I even donated $100.00 toward the organization’s fund raising efforts.”
So what does that have to do with the issue on the ground. Wow you donated a whole one hundred dollars, you must be RICH. Out here in sa lone man dem daer suck ear bra dat nar two month pay bra.
Bottom line is whenever Alieu iscandari is attacked in a gutter manner, its always by a mende guy like you. So who is the tribalist?
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