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Two years ago, on November 10, 1995, environmentalist
and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged by the Nigerian government, along
with eight other activists seeking to protect the Ogoni people and their
environment from the ravages of oil production by Shell. Royal Dutch/Shell,
the second largest oil corporation in the world (after Exxon), is the
prime extractor of oil in the Ogoni region of Nigeria; its operations
provide 40 percent of the Nigerian government's revenues from oil. Shell
did not criticize the trial, universally regarded as a sham, that convicted
Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. Two days before the executions, Shell
urged that the sentences be commuted on "humanitarian grounds." They
were not. To commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of the "Ogoni
Nine", a series of events was held in New York, including a public meeting
in Harlem, a church service and a protest on November 10, 1997 at the
New York headquarters of Shell.--M.M.
"Lord, take my soul but the struggle continues."--Ken Saro-Wiwa, November 10, 1995 It is clear to me, and perhaps to some other people
that, in the fullness of time, when this case is reconsidered, those
who will be in the dock will be several of Saro-Wiwa's primary accusers--individuals
and corporate bodies.... Saro-Wiwa was opposed to violence in principle
and was unarmed in practice. He was thus doubly defenseless. Here then
is the tragedy of this prophet without arms: that he was involved in
a campaign which, by challenging the structure of the Nigerian society,
with its hierarchy of powers and privileges, could only invite organized
violence on himself, his compatriots and his people, but he was himself
opposed to violence. Such people, according to Machiavelli, will be
destroyed...the possibility of violence became an actuality in the case
of Saro-Wiwa because of the seriousness and immediacy of the threat
which the Nigerian hegemonic political blocs perceived in his campaigns....
[W]ith time, monuments will rise in his memory...the monuments will then be our atonement, first, for helplessly watching Saro-Wiwa and his compatriots being slowly dragged to the gallows in a process lasting 18 months, and secondly, for allowing some of us to 'demonstrate' in support of the destruction of one of the beacons of our freedom. The above piece was excerpted with permission from
"A Prophet Without Arms", a 1996 essay by Edwin Madunagu, a Nigerian
writer and educator who knew Ken Saro-Wiwa well.
Resources To find out more about, receive materials on and
take action in support of the struggle for democracy in Nigeria, the
campaign for the Ogoni region and the Ogoni 20, the ongoing work of
Ken Saro-Wiwa and other human rights and environmental activists, contact:
* The Africa Fund/American Committee on Africa,
17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10038; tel.: 212-962-1210.
Fax: 212- 964-8570. acoa@igc.apc.org
* Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People
(MOSOP), New York, NY, tel.: 212-369-6821.
* Kudirat Institute for Nigerian Democracy:
www.igc.apc.org/kind
* Amnesty International, 304 Pennsylvania Avenue,
SE, Washington, DC 20003; tel.: 202-544-0200, ext. 251. Fax: 202-546-7142.
* African Services Committee, 28 E. 35th Street,
New York, NY 10016; tel.: 212-683-5019. Fax: 212-779-2862.
* The Sierra Club, 408 C Street, NE, Washington,
DC 20002, tel.: 202-675-6691. Fax: 202-547-6009. www.sierraclub.org
* Center for Constitutional Rights, New York,
NY, tel.: 212-614-6464. Fax: 212-614-6499.
* Pen-America Center, New York, NY, tel.: 212-334-1660.
Fax: 212-334-2181.
* Project Underground, San Francisco Bay Area,
tel.: 510-705-8981. Fax: 510-705-8983. www.moles.org
* Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization,
Washington, DC, tel.: 202-637-0475. Fax: 202-637-0585. --M.M.
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