“I want to tell you about a brave man from Nigeria. Nigeria is a developing country on the west coast of Africa.
Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer, poet and activist, loved his people so much, he dedicated his life to helping their cause. He wanted them to have the basic things we all have.
Can you imagine not having a place to live, clothes to wear, or food to eat? Well, neither could he. So he decided to spend his life helping his people get these things. He went to the United Nations and the leaders of many countries for help. But when his life was in danger no one helped. Along with eight others, Saro-Wiwa was executed November 10, 1995 for demanding that his people’s rightful belongings be restored to them.
I learned about his situation because my dad, who’s Nigerian, has always tried to get the family involved in working for democracy in Nigeria. I’m the only one in the family who goes to most of the things he organizes. The only reason I went to these things was to make him happy. I mean, I would sit there and not understand what was going on. People would come by to say hi to my dad and act as if I weren’t even there. Someone on stage would be discussing Nigeria and I would be totally confused. No one else in my family—my mom, sister and two brothers—is really involved because they don’t think we can make a difference. My brothers are more interested in watching their football games or other “typical” American activities.
I realized I had to do something
One day my dad invited me to an event at UCLA. It was sponsored by Amnesty International and other human rights groups. Even though it was different from the other activities I usually attended, I understood what was going on. What I heard that night convinced me that I had to do something. The people in this country should care about things happening elsewhere. Nigeria is a big country, and people speak English there like we do. It is very important to realize that there are human beings in other countries who have serious problems. The people there have had bad luck with corrupt rulers, and we can make a difference by protesting the actions of these leaders.
A video presented by the Goldman Environmental Foun-dation showed Ogoniland. Ogoni-land used to be one of the most fertile parts of Nigeria. Now it’s covered with holes, gigantic fires, and muddy water. The Ogoni are a minority group who have lived for generations on this land. Since oil was discovered on this land in 1958, oil companies have started flooding in. When they want to mine oil, they ask the people to leave, giving them virtually no compensation.
Many of the farmers don’t know how to do anything except farm. But they can’t do that anymore because their land had been destroyed by oil spills. The film showed mothers crying as they watched their babies die of hunger. Fathers spoke in anger of their inability to feed their families or even house them.
How could this happen? The military government makes a huge profit off the oil. Ken Saro-Wiwa thought this was unfair. While thousands of people were living in poverty and being cheated of their livelihood, the military government and oil companies were making billions of dollars off their land. In 1990 he helped organize the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). The Ogoni peacefully protested the violent destruction of their land.
He took his message of protest to the streets
Shell Oil Co. stationed 3,000 troops in Ogoni land to keep the peace. They killed over 2,000 protesters. As a writer, Saro-Wiwa’s life had never been in danger because the military government knew most people couldn’t read. But when he dared take his message to the streets, they tried to shut him up. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa’s arrests began. He knew his life was in danger because he gave a “voice to the voiceless.”
In May of 1994 he was arrested for the murder of four people. His case was tried before a military tribunal. Saro-Wiwa and eight others were found guilty and sentenced to death. The military tribunal said that even though Saro-Wiwa was 300 miles away when the people were murdered, he was responsible for creating the situations that led to their deaths. On November 10, 1995 he was executed.
The final thing they did at the event I attended was read some of the letters Saro-Wiwa wrote while he was in jail. It made me sad that he spent time writing people letters for help and no one answered. Shell Oil representatives say they had nothing to do with his death. But Saro-Wiwa knew they were tracking him since 1990. Not only that, they were at his trial. How could they think their profits were more important than people’s lives?
The activist who helped organize the event, Wendy Belcher, said, “It is easy to focus on the evil in the world and hard to find one person who did his part. Ken Saro-Wiwa was in this terrible situation yet he was able to remain optimistic about his work.”
Facts about Nigeria
• 102 million people, the world’s 10th largest country
• English is the official language, but there are more than 250 tribes, each with its own language. The most widely used are Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
• Nigeria is one of the world’s leading exporters of petroleum.
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