Fatoumatta: It is necessary to ask what activities are planned by Gambian Workers on May Day and whether it is going to be another day of empty political rhetoric; travel to visit relatives and friends; mass sports, or whether it will be celebrated as a day of the workers and for the workers?
Fatoumatta: As Gambian workers join their compatriots the world over to celebrate May Day, their miserable daily existence and political betrayals over the past year are evident. Although the workers of this country have continued to create billion of Dalasi of wealth over the past two decades, the wage rate and standard of living of workers continues to deteriorate.
The income distribution is shameful. The huge multinational corporations operating in the country are benefiting most from the wealth created.The Gambian workers must know that this is their day, but most workers don’t know how it came about, why it came about and the significance it has for any working in the country.
Fatoumatta: I think the labor unions in the country should be taken to task for their failure to educate, sensitize workers and to organize May Day rallies, demonstrations and testimonies of the many unfair labor practices still prevalent in the country.
Fatoumatta: May Day therefore serves as a day for sober reflections on the plight of the Gambian workers. Today, it is extremely hard for the Gambian worker to put food on the table for his or her family. Stunting, wasting and underweight characterise the condition of the worker’s children.
Fatoumatta: The Gambia is amongst the world leaders in child malnutrition. The Gambian worker is unable to afford children access to decent education and health services. The quality of public education that the worker’s child is subjected to is one of the worst in the world.
The global comparisons are revealing as to how much havoc the senseless capitalist system has caused on the public education system. The worker’s child in country today gets inferior education compared to 30 years ago.
Fatoumatta: The Gambian workers’ housing situation is also catastrophic. Lack of social housing, high cost of construction materials, corruption in allocation of residential plots and the presence of a wealthy elite buying off land surrounding the urban areas are all worsening the situation.
Fatoumatta: The Gambian worker ought to have a say and demand that this country attains food sovereignty that would increase domestic food production and lower the price of essential food items. The Gambian worker stands to gain by fighting for increased public spending and efficiencies in resource utilisation for education, health, housing, public transport and other critical utilities.
The Gambian worker has a lot to gain by fighting against the corruption of the ruling elite and its parasitic existence on the state. In other words, the Gambian worker must commit to fighting a socio-political and economic system of capitalism that exploits and oppresses the working masses. It is a broader fight for a more humane and equitable society where the dignity of workers will be restored.
However, workers cannot be liberated by anyone. They can only do it themselves. This is possible with the appropriate tools, organisation and commitment.
Gambian workers must fight for a society under which they become the true owners of the wealth of this country. They must break away the capitalist chains that continue to enslave them. The socialist principles of equity, honesty, humility and solidarity will guide them to victory. The time to fight back has come.
74% of Gambia labor force is in agriculture, over 40% are entirely on subsistence farming. We do not have any manufacturing to speak of. The majority in the service sector are nepotised by the State. I have said this so many times. We do not have a labor force, nor do we have a sustainable economy. What we have is a welfare system. What we as a people must work on is how do we stop this cycle of dependence and second generation slavery. Our young people are fleeing and our elders are waiting for a call from money gram. Labor Day should be reflective not celebratory.
That’s why many are disappointed with the trajectory “new Gambia” is taking. This was an opportunity to reshape society and develop, through education and Frank discussions, a new culture of “independence” and “self reliance”; away from perpetual dependence on the few.
Unless the nation is weaned from this culture of dependence, the citizenry will be slow to make the connection between their miserable situation and the policies of their governments, thus allowing politicians to continue getting away with murder. The new sheriffs in town seem to be quite happy to continue the status quo, reinforcing the dependency culture by splashing out free cash at every given opportunity.
The struggle for a new Gambia must continue.
Dr. Sarr, you nailed it.
We don’t have Karl Marx’s “revolutionary industrial proletariat” who should “rise against the factory owner” (the Capitalist). What we have, as you point out, is an agricultural peasantry of independent (unorganized) individual farmers. Thus Yorro’s exultation to revolution (Major in Animal Farm) must remain pie-in-the sky!
But I love this from Yorro (makes me chuckle): “Gambian workers must fight for a society under which they become the true owners of the wealth of this country. They must break away the capitalist chains that continue to enslave them. The socialist principles of equity, honesty, humility and solidarity will guide them to victory. The time to fight back has come.” HAPPY FARMERS DAY!