6/15/2011: UO Matters’s foreign correspondents have been hard at work on the UO Gabon partnership. Turns out the US Ambassador Eric Benjaminson is a UO alum and football fan – pretty sure he’s not talking soccer.
Finalement, c’est un réel plaisir de vous présenter le Dr. Dennis Galvan et John Manotti, nos deux visiteurs de l’Université de l’Orégon, dans le nord ouest des Etats-Unis. C’est une satisfaction personnelle parce que l’Université de l’Orégon apporte avec eux des projets importants. Cette Université a été ma maison pendant quatre ans en tant qu’étudiant, elle a presque gagné le championnat universitaire de football cette année, et elle abrite également des initiatives d’études mondiales qui touchent aujourd’hui toutes les tranches de la société civile Gabonaise.
Unsurprisingly, our State Department’s support for President Ali Bongo, son of the previous President for Life, is controversial:
Dear Madam Secretary of State:
The Gabonese Community residing in the United States is asking for the immediate sacking of Eric Benjaminson, currently serving as U.S. Ambassador to Gabon. We are also asking that the United States stands with the Gabonese people to reject the Bongo regime as illegitimate, and demands the resignation of Ali Bongo Ondimba. For these reasons, we will be demonstrating at the State Department on Feb. 8, 2011, at 9:30am.
The Gabonese Community residing in the Unites States, many of whom are Gabonese-Americans, is stunned and perplexed by the January 28 statement by Eric Benjaminson asserting that the United States are officially and fully recognizing Ali Bongo Ondimba as the legitimate president of the Republic of Gabon. We are also shocked by his recommendation that the Gabonese people should abide by the Gabonese law and constitution.
The first question that comes to mind is: what law and what constitution are the Gabonese people supposed to really abide by? Does the Ambassador really mean the law and constitution that have allowed the Bongo family to rule by dictate over the Gabonese republic for more than 43 years, and which have presided over, and comforted, the unconstitutional practice of rigged and unfair elections in Gabon while confiscating the Gabonese presidency for the same family for 43 years?
And why should the Gabonese people be urged to abide by such abusive and dehumanizing laws when the United States’ own Declaration of Independence, which enshrines the right for oppressed people to overthrow their government, stipulates that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. …
From Professor Daniel Mengara of the opposition group “Bongo doit partir”.
It’s never good when it takes other people to remind us of our principles. What do you think the chances are we will have a real debate about this on campus before cashing President Bongo’s check? Will Professor Galvan use the funds from this new partnership to invite members of the opposition such as Professor Mengara to come to UO and speak?
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