The Ogoni people
When I wrote about the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO), on March 16, I said that I would cover some of its members. I have already written about Taiwan and today I would like to say something about the Ogoni People. They consist of about 2,000,000 people who live in a 1,000 km2 area of the Niger Delta in Nigeria. In October 1990 they presented The Ogoni Bill of Rights to the Nigerian government in the hope of limited autonomy. This was because they were victims of serious exploitation from the government, in collaboration with Royal Dutch /Shell.
Ken Sara-Wiwa their hero
Their champion was one of their own, Ken Sara-Wiwa, an environmental activist. He was also a talented author and well-known television producer. He dedicated much of his life to the Ogoni cause. This was linked to the depletion of arable lands and livelihoods that resulted from the oil industry. Moves to extract oil began in under British rule in 1956 and continued after Nigeria became an independent federation in 1960. Drilling resulted in thousands of oil-spills that devastated much of the Niger Delta region, including the Ogoni homeland. Despite the wealth that the industry produced, the locals were actually left worse off.
Sara-Wiwa and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) were equally committed to their cause as they were to non-violence. This, however, just made it easier for the military dictatorship of Sani Abacha to try to silence them through brutal repression. Sara-Wiwa knew what he was up against from the beginning. After his final arrest, he wrote in a letter to his Irish friend and ally, Sister Majella McCarron:
I'm not worried for myself. When I undertook to confront Shell & the Nigerian establishment, I signed my death warrant, so to speak. At 52, I think I've lived a charmed life. A few more books, maybe, & the opportunity to assist others would would have been welcome. But it's okay.
Suppression will not silence them
What he was worried about was his people; although he always believed that justice would triumph in the end. He was arrested in May 1994 on trumped-up charges and sentenced in a rigged trial with eight other activists (Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine) They were hanged in November 1995 and became renowned as the Ogoni Nine. After the execution, in a rare display of principle, the Commonwealth of Nations stripped Nigeria of its membership. The struggle continues and as Sara-Wiwa pointed out, when he realised that he would not be allowed to attend a ceremony in his honour:
There or not, my words will ring through all the places...
I will share some of Sara-Wiwa's poems in the Scrapbook section of the site at a later date. Now I would like to conclude with a most touching one by his friend Sister Majella:
A Dying Village
No piercing siren to rise you,
No flaring light to guide you,
No nearby neighbour's love to reach you,
Dying village.
No caring friend to conceal you,
No towering soldier to defend you,
No rushing firemen to quench you,
Dying village.
No speeding ambulance to ferry you,
No humble priest to bury you,
No Red Cross pennant to fly for you,
Dying village.
No urgent phone to ring for you,
No loud-pitched radio to plead for you,
News is blocked in fear of you,
Dying village.
No strong one comes to hold you,
As children are torn from you,
A stranger's voice to wail for you,
Dying village.
Dawn comes late for you,
Vultures chuckle over you,
Our deepest human shame is you,
Dying village.
Too few prophets spoke for you,
Years of scribes and Pharisees denied you,
Evil powers abandoned and beggared you,
Dying village.
The world turned its back on you,
May God himself be good to you,
And hope renew in you,
Dying village.
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