Letters
Ghanaian Times condemns Amnesty
I read about the above topic in your "EVENTS PEOPLE PLACES" column of October 29 with surprise. I don't know whether The Ghanaian Times has ever received any report on Ghana released by the Amnesty International apart from the recent one "The public tribunals in Ghana" of July 1984.It is no secret that the "Ghanaian Times" is a revolutionary newspaper as suggested in many quarters.
I was really surprised to know from the said "Times" report that Amnesty International was being accused of "asking for fair trial or clemency for only selected people and invariably these are high class people, and that it "never expresses concern for the ordinary people among the accused."
The Amnesty International has, on several occasions, expressed concern about the arbitrary killings and inhuman or degrading treatment of all, high and low. The inhuman treatment meted out to the same has never been left out in its reports. A clear example of this could be found in the July 1983 report on Ghana.
Again, it is wrong to say that the Amnesty International is only opposing peoples revolutions (if they are really for the people) throughout the world. The Amnesty International expresses concern about human rights violations by even America, Britain, France or West Germany.
I am sure the Amnesty International will not see any merit in the bogus process or operations by the so-called revolutionaries until the revolutions are seen to be for the people.
The claimed popularity of the public tribunals is only because of the fact that the traditional courts are virtually not existing.
Abubakar Akumfi-Ameyaw
Düsseldorf, West Germany
A counterblast to biopolitics
That 'penis envy' explains the motivation of woman is something which I am most grateful to have learned from Freud.'Bio-politics' has opened my eyes to many things in a similar manner. I was happy to learn that most ancient African scripts (of which the author suggests Arabic as an example) are read from right to left because of the inherent dominance of the right brain in Africans.
I conclude that what the author calls the heavily-pigmented Japanese must have an inherently dominant top-half of their brain as they read from top to bottom. One sees why they produce the top students.
Mr Winters so rightly notes that "in the West, Europeans blindly obey their leaders." One sees immediately that settlement of the Irish question and the coal miners's strike merely await a command from Mrs Thatcher.
'Bio-politics' has explained the nature of military government to those willing to do their homework. The extended drill required of soldiers involves repeated pressure of guns (real or imitation) against the right shoulder. In fact, small children may often be seen, unknowingly, practicing thus with toy guns made of wood.
It is widely known in medical circles that extended, repeated pressure upon the right shoulder blade is transmitted through the cortex with the medulla oblongata as fulcrum. In fact, this is precisely why it is called oblongata.
Such transmission, electro-psychological in nature, is intensified in humans with melanin. This is made clear by Mr Winters when he describes melanin as a super-conducting plasma.
The physical effect is the rigid, straight back posture for which soldiers are noted. The psychological effect is the expansion of the nodes Mars which control arbitrary and capricious behaviour. One sees immediately the cause and effect chain determining the arbitrary actions of military leaders.
As further proof, it is widely known that repeated mechanical pressure is the common way to induce a shrinkage of the nodes. Phrenologists have determined that the nodes are located slightly behind and above the ears in those Mr Winters refers to as "dark eyes and skinned people and animals."
Clearly those who wear eye-glasses will have a corresponding reduction in the size of the nodes of Mars. The consequent change in behaviour explains why so few African leaders who wear eye-glasses remain in power. I thank your magazine for bringing these enlightening theories to my attention.
Kwame Boakye Yonkers, New York
Ghana's 'revolution'
As a Ghanaian living abroad, reading the article "Ghana's Socialists" makes me laugh to the point of distraction. To me all that it shows is that Rawlings has won us (those not interested in socialism) enough supporters. What this means is that Ghana will be spared the noise of these so-called "radicals". The Universities used to be their hiding spot. There, Kwesi Botchway, the Tsikatas, and the newly appointed Chancellor of the University of Ghana spent their time fighting Professor Folson, lambasting 'imperialism'. They even formed a movement, The New Democratic Movement, to spread their gospel.Thanks to Rawlings, Ghanaians have been told that all that noise was nothing short of envy. So they now call themselves pragmatists. It means they now see sense in what Afrifa, Busia, Kutu Acheampong, and Limann tried to do. It is interesting to see how power makes people abandon their ideologies and begin to distance themselves from what they used to hold very dear.
I have not been in Ghana since November 1981, but when I hear some "socialists" calling their other "socialists" names like "anarchist", "ultra-left" and so on then it is clear that the hour of reality has come. The reality is that Rawlings is no socialist, and so only those who are like him or are prepared to abandon socialist rhetoric can still be with him. That is why people like those former NUGS leaders have risen to a position of prominence and those who still preach socialist revolution have been shown the exit.
Don't let us be bothered about the Tsikatas at all. They have never really meant what they preach. Perhaps we should advise our "socialist" brothers who have left the bandwagon to go back and join their friends. They can learn a lot about how to survive from those who remained behind and are now enjoying the fruits of their toil. They should learn that the era of "we no go sit down" is gone. No more sloganeering.
Rawlings can complete the process by transforming his newly converted capitalists and their party, the new Democratic Movement into a capitalist party like Mengistu has done in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, we say welcome to our capitalist revolutionaries, they will see how good capitalism is. What we have to worry about are the anarchists, but since many of them now live in London I hope they will also be converted.
Kofi Asiedu,
Berlin, West Germany
