Thanks for responding as this provides me with the opportunity to know or perhaps discover what you thought about my own "analysis". Your interpretation of my sentence is not quite acurate in that I never implied that Mauritanians are more interested in Material things. I think that they are as interested as anyone on this planet in their material life. Both of us may have been out of the country for far too long but there are some fundamentals that look like interest in material things. In every single West to Central african capital, the "boutiquiers" are Mauritanians. The Soninkés, my ethnic group, have been migrating to France, Central, Southern and even Eastern Africa to accumulate wealth. Wealth accumulation, which sounds like an interest in material things, appears to me as something that has always been a huge part of mauritanian culture. I do not oppose or see any conflict or contradiction between being interested in material things and having strong moral beliefs. The prophets Mohamed's wife was a business woman which did not prevent her from being morally outstanding. The last time I was in Nouakchott, February and March 2004, I was bothered by the fact that life revolved around the constant search for material things. People did not take time to reflect about anything other than materialistic things. Everybody was talking about issues that revolved around materialism ( cars, houses, clothes, etc...). Nouakchott, home to close or more than half of the population living inside the country, provides, I think, a good picture of Mauritania. Perhaps both of us should go back to Mauritania and revisit our beliefs. By the way if you had continued your quote, you would have noticed that my next sentence stated that "Both my assertion, brother Cheikh, and your analysis remain subjective ... Mine is a dream and a cry for hope that mauritanians would, when asked, care about mauritanians first." I believe that this last sentece captured the essence of my view which is I think what brother Ngaide eluded to. I hope that mauritanians would care more about their day to day to life (both moral and material)than they would about some other country. "Love thy Neighbpour". How could we pretend to be muslims if we are not concerned FIRST about our neighbours?
Wishing you a great week end Mamadou Sakho Canada --- Dans [EMAIL PROTECTED], Cheikh Ahmed Ould Sidi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> a écrit : > > Sselamou 3aleikoum brother Mammadou Sakho, > > First, how are you and our fellow citizens in Canada? > I am happy to have read your response. I like your way of reasoning. You are definitely right when you said that my assertion was just an assumption in that there is no rigorous or, per say, reliable polling in Mauritania. Nonetheless, it was a generalization just like yours when talked about the average Mauritanian and so forth. One thing invited me to think that you are analyzing a Mauritanian phenomenon or trend through a Western set of mind. Perhaps, you have long lived in the West or outside the country. I drew this conclusion from your statement "The majority, however, will, when asked, affirm that > the Mauritanian future is much more relevant to their day to day > lives than the relations with Israel". When were Mauritanians ever concerned about their material life more than their moral life? I would say that that never happened. It is normal since such base is fundamental when differentiating between the West (Materialism) and the East (spiritualism). > Best wishes, > Cheikh Ahmed > > "M. Saaxo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> a écrit : > Brother Cheikh Ahmed, > If I understand you correctly, I should be more sceptical about > Mauritania's future. I sincerely hope that you are wrong in assuming > that the majority of Mauritanian voters would rather see Mauritania > end its political relations with Israel than put an end to the > suffering of oits own people. In the absence of a credible public > opinion survey to validate your point of view, I prefer to believe > that this is only an ASSUMPTION and hopefully a false one. > When one puts in perspective the relative importance of Mauritania's > opinion or stance regarding international issues, it is obvious that > on a scale of 1 to 10, our opinion counts for much less than 1. > The balance of power will not shift because we end or maintain our > relations with Israel nor will the cause of Palestine become more or > less important. So the fundemental question of brother Ngaido > remains. Why are our politicians inclined to care more about the > relations with Israel? I wish I knew the answer. My belief is that > the average Mauritanian, the majority of Mauritanians, from > Nouakchott to Nema and from Nouadhibou to Diaguily do care about > Palestinians. The majority, however, will, when asked, affirm that > the Mauritanian future is much more relevant to their day to day > lives than the relations with Israel. > Both my assertion, brother Cheikh, and your analysis remain > subjective. Mine, however, depicts a much better image of the > mauritanian. Mine is a dream and a cry for hope that mauritanians > would, when asked, care about mauritanians first. > Mamadou Sakho > Canada >
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