They've gone crazy! (March 2018)
The anti-Masonic campaign in Senegal raises several questions:
- who has an interest in using anti-Masonry to stir up unrest?
- How can the Senegalese government condone so many delusional and Machiavellian remarks?
- what are the consequences for freedom of expression and the image of Senegal?
- What are the major Masonic obediences doing to protest against these calls to hatred?
Anyone who knows Senegal knows that anti-Masonry is a pretext that allows certain politicians to try to destabilize President Macky Sall. It's easier to talk about the devil than to openly support radical Islamism!
Human rights are nevertheless a reference for the Republic of Senegal, but today we don't talk about them anymore!
Obscurantism and radical Islamism threaten the country of Teranga!
Debate in the Senegalese press (October 2017)
For info: At the beginning, there was an article by Mr Amadou Tidiane Wone writer, former cabinet director of the former President of the Republic Abdoulaye Wade, former Minister of Culture of Senegal and former Ambassador of Senegal to Canada, then there was no answer and Mr Wone answered again; you will find below the different interventions! Anyway, even if it is difficult, this debate is a first because of its capacity to be free of invectives. Let's hope it will continue! (editor's note)
WORLD - Senegalese Freemasons: Rumour or Reality? - By Amadou Tidiane Wone
Published on 18/10/2017 at 16:06 - Updated on 18/10/2017 at 16:08 on https://www.senenews.com
Are there any Senegalese freemasons?
Persistent rumours suggest that most of the political and economic, and even cultural and artistic leaders of our country are Freemasons.
Personally, I only know of two people who have told me that they belong to a lodge! Out of the fourteen million Senegalese, I know two. And yet I know a lot of people!
So one of the questions I ask myself about Freemasons in Senegal is why are they hiding? Why don't people who believe in Masonic values take responsibility for themselves? We are no longer in the era of the inquisition. Nor are we in the age of religious wars. Individual liberties triumph everywhere. Minority rights are guaranteed beyond what one could have imagined a century earlier. The "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" proclaims the freedom and equality of all men. And, more and more, the Rights of women, children...and even gender(?) are institutionalized. Gender! No one of those who manipulate this new concept can explain in a simple way why it occurs in the public language... Some say that it would have come out of the work of workshops...masonic! Who to enlighten us?
The problem, indeed, is that you will not find anyone among the Senegalese freemasons, if there are more than the two I know, to publicly debate this subject. I conclude two things:
Either Senegalese masonry is a fiction.
Or it is a danger to democracy.
If, indeed, the "brothers" are as numerous as they say, and placed at such strategic levels without anyone knowing their identity, there is a serious problem! As much as the burka is forbidden, in principle to facilitate identification, the secrecy of belonging to Freemasonry is questionable from the point of view of ethics and transparency. I can understand the secrecy of the deliberations, but not the secrecy of membership. Let us imagine for a moment that, although militants in opposing political parties, several "brothers" belong to the same lodge. They would argue during the day and fraternize at night? This is a fundamental question!
So can we hope for some...coming out (!) to finally put names and faces on a nebula whose initiatives on the African Continent should be more readable? Indeed, several Heads of State and high officials are called Freemasons. Some of them take responsibility for themselves. Videos of their enthronement circulate abundantly. Notably two Heads of State from Central Africa. Given the state of their countries, one wonders what they learned in the workshops. By the way!
I look forward to in-depth debates on these social issues which, in Africa, are overshadowed by politics, its tricks and traps!
Amadou Tidiane WONE
woneamadoutidiane@gmail.com
Why, in my opinion, is no debate wise between "a Senegalese freemason" and Amadou Tidiane Wone?
On http://www.dakaractu.com
There is a public, it is customary to say, for whom Freemasonry is a real problem that can only be solved by becoming a Freemason himself. Former Minister Amadou Tidiane Wone would have been well beyond the fray of this category of public if he had taken an intellectually demanding step, distinguishing the reality of Freemasonry from the fantasies that his opponents feed against it.
Such a precaution would have enabled Amadou Tidiane Wone to back up his article-convocation with a constructive political approach worthy of eliciting a response from several "Senegalese Freemasons".
The Freemasons of Senegal have nothing to hide
Deeply committed to democratic values, including transparency in political life, the "Senegalese Freemasons" obviously have nothing to "hide" from their fellow citizens, contrary to Mr. Wone's allegations.
The article-convocation of Mr. Wone, "the Senegalese Freemasons" would have responded very willingly and as individuals, especially since they have always given in the pedagogical exteriorization around the humanistic commitments that concern them in their masonic work."
For all that, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a "Senegalese Freemason" going to a debate whose conclusions are drawn in advance, with the main lines dropped by means of implicit and accusatory insinuations. The latter being extracted from the depths of the double mud of identity tensions and the great classics of the culture of the scapegoat remixed to local sociology, and all of this being stuffed into a present conditional that has become saturated through repetition in the text. The repetition is an attempt at demonstration, and the repeated use of the present conditional does not take away anything from the arbitrary intention behind it.
There is no need to demonstrate that Freemasons, in Senegal or elsewhere, believe in the virtue of the discussion, no matter what the subject is. However, the taste for intellectual controversy and the culture of democratic debate, however real and lively it may be among Senegalese Freemasons, cannot incline them to respond to a summons whose motives, for political purposes, feed the most surrealist and cretinizing fantasies about them.
From my little Masonic memory, I do not remember an obedience responding to the malevolent insinuations of a kindly fantasist, even if he was a politician.
Nonetheless, Freemasons have a clear and permanent awareness of their membership of an organization which, by the very fact of its very nature as a community of spirit and values, is part of all the things over which anyone has the right to exercise their freedom of expression in Senegal. And it is on the basis of this freedom of expression that I am making a response, which does not commit either the Masonic obediences or their members, to Mr A.T.'s vitriolic article. Wone's vitriolic article.
Freemason, Senegalese, Mouride
and proud of my identities!
Senegalese by nationality, Muslim by faith, mouride by brotherhood, mandingo, soninké and peulh by ethnicity and culture, passionate about the philosophers of the Enlightenment, I am also a freemason. I live my multiple identities harmoniously and try to be worthy of them.
Freemasonry does not have only one identity, but many identities. It is composed of several Obediences. And these have orientations and identities as diverse as they are varied. If some of them deal with social issues, others are exclusively concerned with symbolism. Lodges, even of the same Obedience, do not necessarily have the same identity, even less the same orientations. However, no Freemasonry is political. And, it is well known. The common basis of all Freemasonries is the set of moral values that form the framework of the initiatory process. And, the men and women who are there come from all political, cultural and philosophical horizons.
Each mason lives and appreciates this diversity in his or her own way.
In the lodge to which I belong, political and religious discussions are forbidden! In this respect, it is astonishing, to say the least, that the whole of Freemasonry finds itself put in the same bag for any subject whatsoever. Especially for the sake of an insidious insinuation that Freemasonry, which does not exist, is concerned with making the history of nations in its lodges instead of peoples and rulers.
"They would quarrel by day and fraternize by night," writes Amadou Tidiane Wone. The curare arrow is shot, the idea of the Masonic conspiracy instilled, suggested, propagated. The poison is in the question, it mines it from top to bottom. No end is spared from the question, by which to take it. No debate is possible to deny it, except to take the obvious risk of passing for a plumitif in the service of the instance of the alleged conspiracy. For the logic of conspiracy has this in common with the paradox of the liar: it leaves no possibility for a version of the facts other than his own.
Tell Amadou Tidiane Wone that Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet were both Chileans and Freemasons, of the same Obedience and the same Lodge. He will tell you that their political adversity was feigned; that it was part of the conspiracy plan, until death! Yes, until death! Until Pinochet murdered Allende. Everything was feigned. Until death, the conspiracy will live on in the head of the one who sees it everywhere. There's only one way to put it there, to symbolically make the conspirator die and be reborn. But, the initiation will also seem like a piece of the puzzle...
Conspiracy is the eternal nothingness of thought...
Bamba TOURE
Notes from another Mason:
To want, to know, to dare... in public???
I know Mr. Wone, I've exchanged with him several times when the circumstances were right. I have always appreciated his poise, his coming out surprised me because this elder is a cultured man. A man who can read, who knows how to read and who should know "what talking means! ».
In short, the Freemason that I am shares with Mr. Wone and with the public, a fragment of a text that I wrote on October 20, 2017 after reading Mr. Wone's text. The entire text was shared among some Masons in Senegal. I also sent my text to several Senegalese Freemasons living abroad.
Following this sharing a Freemason wished to reply to the former Minister. After this Brother explained to me that he would have liked part of my text to be included in his reply, I chose not to modify his reply and to publish a tiny fragment of my text as an appendix below. The subtitle above is one of the original subtitles of my text.
About the secrecy of membership. It seems necessary to me to:
1-protect the SS (Sisters) and FF (Brothers) from family and/or professional reprisals.
Factually loving a person does not mean that he or she can understand Masonic spirituality. 20, 30 or 40 years of anti-FM rhetoric cannot be changed with a snap of the fingers.
I am one of those who believe (currently) that freedom of conscience is ALSO accepting that one's spouse refuses to hear about FM. One can try to explain, but all in all, our spouse is just expressing his freedom of conscience by refusing to listen.
As long as the spouse does not incite to physically attack SS or FF, I believe it is freedom of conscience.
2- avoid interminable debates which (especially) can only end badly!
Let's take a simple case, have you ever tried to explain the notion of Masonic Obediences to a person reluctant to FM? I have tried, a priori the person should have understood me or at least lifted the anti-FM barrier erected since his birth in Djimbering then in Islam and in his current religion, Catholic Christianity. Was I able to make myself understood?
No! Complete blockage, I was speaking Chinese! Impossible to erase more than three decades of conditioning in one or several hundred talks that became discussions then arguments! I am at the point where I feel that there is an initial disposition, an inner disposition, probably what all Obediences call "freedom".
An interior disposition which consists in accepting that we don't know (necessarily). Without this "preliminary liberation", it is difficult, if not impossible, to explain notions such as "Obediences", "Adogmatics/Dogmatic" and again, I am not even talking about RE, REAA, RF or RER!
Rightly or wrongly, I think that each person has a choice: to start a domestic/marital war or to preserve harmony? (for many the option "change of spouse" is excluded!).
3- avoid the inquisition which no longer exists theoretically, but ... in our societies, isn't "social death" worse than physical death?
Is it simpler to earn a living by being labeled "Freemason of Service"? Not so sure, but some professions are more "corset" than others!
Meetings where competitors or even rivals are frequenting each other, an FM specificity?
It is interesting to note that there are interprofessional groupings between competing companies. The idea of seeing each other in uniform and being opposed in the city would not necessarily be an FM specificity.
Another thing: to my knowledge, the whole membership of a Christian or Muslim association has never been published, but the principle is the same, apparently rival people can be found there. Why should what is allowed to other associations be forbidden only to masons?
Freemasonry: the debate is open! (by Amadou Tidiane Wone)
Sur http://www.dakaractu.com
There is therefore a point in asking: the debate on Freemasonry is open! Indeed, I have just learned about Dakaractu from a participation in the debate of a freemason who nevertheless defends himself from wanting to pursue it. That would be a pity!
I'm really not going to sulk my pleasure to have a speaker to answer the questions that I ask myself. Without any malice, by the way... Although the author lends me malicious intentions that are far removed from my concerns. Even if the tone remains courteous. And that's fortunate!
The debate is open and that was the purpose of my interpellation and not "convocation. »
I reread my text entitled: "Would there be Senegalese freemasons? "I don't see the trace, even allusive, of what could justify your subtitle in bold "the Freemasons of Senegal have nothing to hide".
By subtitling thus, and answering the question as it is not asked, you cleverly find the pirouette to make me look like an inquisitor who, under the cover of innuendoes and perfidious allusions, would be a follower of a conspiracy theory that would lend to Freemasonry malicious intentions. As for the vitriol... Too convenient, dear Sir!
To illustrate the process, you put in inverted commas a phrase: "They would quarrel by day and fraternize by night", which leads us to qualifications that take us away from the subject. The sentence put in context is the following: "Let us imagine for a moment that, although militants in opposing political parties, several "brothers" belong to the same lodge. They would argue during the day and fraternize at night? This is a fundamental question! »
I was wondering here about fairness and transparency in the public space. Answer the basic question, but do not duck the debate!
For the rest, your text and the addendum by one of your colleagues have taught me a great deal about constraints and the internal debate that is stirring every Freemason as to the fact of assuming responsibility as such, even between spouses. Answers to these questions would vary according to individuals, temperaments and obediences, if I understood correctly. So my questions are not without foundation!
This allows me to specify that I did not write, anywhere, that it was necessary to publish lists with surnames and first names. I even kept the identity of the only two people who trusted me to reveal their membership secret! I led passionate debates on social networks on this subject and I categorically refused to give in to the temptation of denunciation.
Allende and Pinochet brothers? So there would be room for hatred in the dressing room? That's the only question that comes to mind. You lend me so many others!
I have a feeling you haven't read me. Or that you had answers prepared for someone else. Unless it was a self-defense reflex that took precedence over discursive thinking.
By the way, I can tell you that I had a lot of direct answers from Masons on my e-mail. And my discussions continue with very interesting people, without passion or animosity. As it should be. Without conspiracy. No paranoia.
On the other hand, public debate has its demands. Putting a face to what I think is right and necessary. Anonymity is the path open to all excesses. Look at the damage it does to the internet. But individual choice is sacred. I respect them as long as they are made.
I, for one, am not in the habit of hiding my opinions. I expose them. Knowing full well that contrary opinions can erupt and totally dismantle my arguments. It is an exercise that suits me because it enriches me. I reject the sneakiness of modulating one's opinions according to short-term interests. So many friends have raised their arms in the air after reading me under the pretext that there are untouchable areas! I do not believe that. Far from "conspiracy", don't you think?
Thank you for taking the time to read me and react. I hope that our exchanges will continue for the pleasure and enrichment of our readers.
Amadou Tidiane WONE
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