Subject: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Mohamed A. Jalloh
To: All
Date Posted: 12:00:04 12/29/05 ()
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As you know, I have been trying to impress upon our politicians in SL since 1979 that the IMF is NOT a charitable organization that responds to a country’s plea for help.
Therefore, when my article, “Foreign Aid: A Curse or Blessing?” published in the “We Yone” newspaper in Freetown in 1979, prompted that newspaper to shifts its editorial policy from blaring news of the latest foreign loan on its front page, to relegating such news to its back page, I had some hope that my message was ever so slowly getting through. How wrong I was!
More than a quarter of a century later, a week ago, no less an authority than the President of SL, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, was heard boasting of the latest foreign “aid” in the form of the $800 million pledge from an assorted of foreign entities as a stellar achievement for his SLPP government.
Read additional details at the URL indicated below
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Guma valley boy
To: All
Date Posted: 13:50:48 12/29/05 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Message:
Mohm,
IMF is a product of external logic and like colonialism it reflects the agenda of foreign special interests rather than the realities of African People.
Colonial rule was accompanied by a systematic introduction of economic changes in Africa. Our Sierra Leone like other colonies were bought into the world
economy and then methodically subordinated to the needs of the MASTER’S MARKET.
This experience rendered the country’s economy particularly open to the many external shocks(conditionalities) we now complain about.
We all must understand that our political independence in 1961 did not alleviate the external reliance or influence which began with colonialism.
April 1961 only marked the termination of foreign responsibility for the day to day affairs of our country.
It by no means implied the cessation of foreign influence and control of our fertile economy.
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: K.L
To: All
Date Posted: 14:10:21 12/29/05 ()
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Whatever happened to the foreign education and religions that were introduced to us, were they also meant to exploit us or to prepare us for what we now call a global village?
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Guma valley boy
To: All
Date Posted: 16:17:23 12/29/05 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Message:
Colonialism came to Africa together with christianity and formal education.
EACH COLONIAL POWER IN IT’S OWN WAY DEVELOPED A LOCAL STRATUM THAT COULD PROVIDE THE PERSONEL NESCESSARY TO CARRY OUT THE IMPERATIVES OF COLONIAL RULE.
(This should explain how your Grammar school,Bo school,Harford School,FBC etc. came into being)
I think that,People conditioned to believe in “LEARNING IS BETTER THAN SILVER AND GOLD”AND”OBEY AND COMPLAIN” cannot make a forceful impact in challenging the wrongdoings of global institutions inorder to undertake a significant transformation of their own environment.
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Mohamed A. Jalloh
To: All
Date Posted: 04:11:21 12/30/05 ()
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Guma valley boy wrote on December 29, 2005:
“I think that,People conditioned to believe in “LEARNING IS BETTER THAN SILVER AND GOLD”AND”OBEY AND COMPLAIN” cannot make a forceful impact in challenging the wrongdoings of global institutions inorder to undertake a significant transformation of their own environment.”
Guma:
Congratulations! You have put your finger on the key to solving the corrosive problem of Colonial Mentality among far too many of our people. In order to see this, it is sufficient to recall from my earlier writings that I defined that malaise as “a belief by an African in the inherent superiority of anyone and everything foreign over anyone and everything African, for no other reason than the difference in their respective racial origins.”
So, clearly, Colonial Mentality is the result of the conditioning of the afflicted individual’s mind to believe in his/her own inferiority vis-a-vis other races. Thus, the cure for Colonial Mentality lies, quite simply, in reversing that conditioning process. The question, of course, is how?
I intend to address that crucial question in Part 2 of my writing on the subject of eradicating Colonial Mentality in SL, which I hope to find time to post here soon.
I agree with your that FBC, Grammar School, Harford, and the other institutions that you mentioned yesterday were largely deployed by the British colonialists and their cohorts as instruments for the conditioning of our people into embracing Colonial Mentality. Fortunately, reversing that conditioning does not necessarily mean demolishing the historic edifices of those institutions. This is because, in my humble opinion, a building — for indeed that is merely what each of those edifices is — does not condition the mind of anyone. In particular, it does not produce the supportive layer of unwitting neo-colonialists, even after the nominal departure of the original colonialists — as you correctly credited the ex-colonialists with doing in SL. It is the people who taught in those buildings who actually did the conditioning. Therefore, it is not necessary to demolish the buildings — it is sufficient to replace what has been taught inside their walls with Colonial Mentality-free teachings.
So, for instance, instead of teaching the old Colonial saw that “learning is better than silver and gold,” our teachers can start teaching our children that “Learning is better WITH silver and gold!” Similarly, in place of the “obey and complain” mantra, our children can be taught to “obey and complain AND ACT IF NECESSARY, THEREAFTER!” I believe that such a re-conditioning of the minds of our people away from Colonial Mentality would enable them to “make a forceful impact in challenging the wrongdoings of global institutions inorder to undertake a significant transformation of their own environment.”
This “adaptation-instead-of-adoption” approach is consonant with Chez winnakabs’ “proactive” approach, wherein SL would not disengage from the rest of the world, but would continue to work within the existing — and admittedly unfair — framework of relationships with other countries in order to remedy the ills that have been visited upon us by our former colonial — and current actual — oppressors.
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: K.L
To: All
Date Posted: 05:46:13 12/30/05 ()
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Are western-trained professionals of African descent who refuse to return home guilty of “colonial mentality”?
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Mohamed A. Jalloh
To: All
Date Posted: 06:33:40 12/30/05 ()
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K.L writes on December 30, 2005 at 05:46:13:
“Are western-trained professionals of African descent who refuse to return home guilty of “colonial mentality”?
K.L.:
The short answer is: No.
Such professionals are not afflicted with Colonial Mentality any nore than “western-trained professionals of [American/British] descent [enjoying the good life in Africa] who refuse to return home [are] guilty of “colonial mentality!”
This is because Colonial Mentality is not defined by the geograpical locat1on of an African, but by his mental locat1on, i.e., what he/she thinks. As I wrote on Leonenet about five years ago, the mere embrace of Western values by an African, including his/her residence in a Western country, does NOT, by itself, constitute Colonial Mentality.
In order for such an African emigre to be considered a victim of Colonial Mentality, he/she must subscribe to the belief that any foreigner, and all things foreign, are inherently superior to anyone and all things African for no other reason than the difference in their racial origins. Absent the concurrent presence of that belief, the mere residence of an African in a western country is NOT evidence of his/her affliction with Colonial Mentality.
I have provided below a link to my 5-year old posting that addresses in much greater detail the exact question you raised and which is quoted above.
I hope the above response adequately answers your very important question.
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: K.L
To: All
Date Posted: 17:45:18 12/30/05 ()
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Moh’m J, do you believe in the adage, “ole cow na worreh no go change”? Or “monkey nor go lef ihm black han”?
The point I am trying to make here is related to the following statement:
“Colonial Mentality is not defined by the geograpical locat1on of an African, but by his mental locat1on, i.e., what he/she thinks.”
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: K.L
To: All
Date Posted: 16:28:26 12/29/05 ()
Email Address:
Message:
I think that,People conditioned to believe in “LEARNING IS BETTER THAN SILVER AND GOLD”AND”OBEY AND COMPLAIN” cannot make a forceful impact in challenging the wrongdoings of global institutions inorder to undertake a significant transformation of their own environment.
(Guma valley boy)
———————————-
AND SO IT GOES!
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Mohamed A. Jalloh
To: All
Date Posted: 12:05:21 12/29/05 ()
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The text of my comments on the “Financial Times” article about the IMF’s current dilemma can be accessed via the link below.
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Chez
To: All
Date Posted: 19:43:23 12/29/05 ()
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Hi
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Bambay Lans Kamara
To: All
Date Posted: 11:41:39 12/30/05 ()
Email Address: [email protected]
Message:
A message in link bellow:
Subject: Re: THE END OF THE IMF AS WE KNOW IT?
From: Mohamed A. Jalloh
To: All
Date Posted: 10:16:25 12/31/05 ()
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Bambay Lans Kamara wrote on December 30, 2005:
“The transformation of the many beliefs we hold can serve as a remedy. Not in what the Whiteman or the Colonialist instilled in us but some traditional beliefs that we hold must be re-evaluated because of most of them are nothing but putting us against one another and making us disbelieve in us and believe more in others. This is in no way refuting the idea of Colonial Mentality but a house is built on a foundation.”
Bambay Lans Kamara:
Thanks for the extraordinary effort you made yesterday to deliver your sound comments to me regarding the catalyst for many of our societal ills — Colonial Mentality.
I agree with the general thrust of your comments, namely: That the complicity of our own African ancestors in the vile Atlantic slave trade can be inferred from the fact that its European instigators did not put guns to the heads of Africans to make them sell their own brothers and sisters into slavery.
However, in my humble opinion, the primary blame continues to rest upon those who instigated the large scale trafficking in human beings — the European slave traders. To see a modern parallel to this principle, consider the case of drug trafficking here in the U.S. The focus of federal law enforcement efforts is properly on those who instigated the trade in illegal drugs, namely, the drug dealers, and less on the drug users who respond to such instigation by buying the drugs from the pushers.
Yet, as with the slave traders of old, the modern day drug dealers do not put guns to the head of a junky to make him/her buy their drugs. However, as the U.S. government correctly recognizes, the junkies would not be buying those drugs on the streets of America if the drug dealers did not put them there in the first place. Similarly, our African ancestors would not have been selling their own compatriots to European slave traders if the latter had not created a market for slaves by going to Africa and setting up shop to buy human beings. The truth of this statement is attested to by a well-known historical fact, namely:
The Atlantic slave trade stopped once the British and American governments stopped their citizens from buying therir fellow human beings in Africa. That should conclusively settle the argument as to whether it is Westerners or Africans who are responsible for the slave trade in Africa!
You suggest that some traditional African beliefs — you mentioned those that pit us against one another — need re-evaluation. To the extent that our African beliefs facilitated our receptiveness to Colonial Mentality, I think it is valid to re-examine them.
Thanks for your characteristically insightful contribution to this important discussion.
Happy New Year to you and all here!
Subject: TODAY’S QUOTE
From: WISE ONE
To: All
Date Posted: 10:43:08 12/29/05 ()
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Message:
12/29/05
Faith is that quality or power by which the things that are desired become the things possessed
Kathryn Kuhlman
I believe in the sun even if it isn’t shining. I believe in love even when I am alone. I believe in God even when he is silent.
World war 11 refugee
