"A Blot on the Conscience of the World" -- Soyinka

Soyinka appeal on the Darfur crisis and comment on vast ranging issues in Nigeria as well as on his recently published memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir in a 2 parts interview on Democracy Now

Part 1 and Part 2

Excerpt:

AMY GOODMAN: So what do you think has to happen right now?

WOLE SOYINKA: Well, first of all, there is another dimension. There’s another zone of responsibility, which nobody has said much about. Now, these crimes which are being committed, there’s a direct stated, quite overt and boastful purpose to it. The Janjaweed, when they kill, when they murder, burn and rape, they say clearly that they want to Arab-ize Darfur, that part of Africa. In other words, they’re acting on behalf of some very distorted notion of Arabism. Therefore, those on behalf of whom these crimes are being committed, I mean, in their name, so to speak, the Arab world, the Arab League, in particular, also has a primary responsibility to call their erring member to order.

Sudan, after all, wears two identities. It’s a member of the Africa Union, it’s a member of the Arab League. And it’s not enough to leave this task to the Africa Union. The Arab League has a clear responsibility, and I think that if a family member of the Arab world, you know, if a family member errs, then the entire family has a responsibility to say, “You cannot do this in our name. And if you do this, we expel you, we cut you off, we denounce you, and we proscribe you from our community.” I expect that kind of action of deep and profound moral integrity from the Arab world.

AMY GOODMAN: Wole Soyinka joined us in our studio yesterday. I began by asking him about the title of his book.

WOLE SOYINKA: Alright, I'll tell you the history of the title. My first working title was “Beyond the Word,” which is a literal explication of the contents of the book, of the nature of the events which are described in the book. But then one of my editors -- I went through three editors, by the way. All of them were on a very positive kind of direction. One of the editors ran into that poem of mine, which contains the lines “Traveler, you must set forth at dawn.” Title is “Death in the Dawn.” And she became very enamored of that title. When she proposed it, I said, “No, no, no.” And then I tried it out on some of my friends, and they said, “No, that's more lyrical, more poetic.” I said, “Yes, I know it is, but, you know, why? Why must –” So, I actually took a straw vote on that with some of my colleagues and so on -- “Beyond the Word,” “You Must Set Forth at Dawn.” And it came -- the voting came to about 60-40. And since I'm a true democrat, I decided to go with "You Must Set Forth at Dawn.

Nigeria, News, Soyinka, Democracy

Gluttons

The miser and the glutton are two facetious buzzards: one hides his store, and the other stores his hide.

Nigeria is never in short supply of professional underminers. Those whose sole duty as citizens is simply to retard the nation's progress. The likes of Arthur Nzeribe quickly come to mind. Nzeribe remains Nigeria's quintessential underminer-in-chief. His Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) played protagonist role in the prompt annulment of the freest and fairest election back in 1993 and served as the lunchpad for the nation's journey, with Abacha as ship captain, to the back of the beyond as one observer would later termed that whole period. Nzeribe nowadays, due to strength, is restricting his handiwork to local politics where he recently irked the temper of his constituents. As Nzeribe fade to background people like Chris Uba are coming out of internship to duly step into their undermining role lest the country begin to quickly find stability. But Uba still have lots undermining to do in the future.



In the meantime, gluttons like Ken Nnamani, Ibrahim Mantu and Ahmadu Ali swaddle the landscape. The first two are, respectively, the President and the Deputy President of the Senate while the third is the chairman of that political gang/party called PDP. While Nnamani has decided to keep his activity to stuffing his face and nothing else for now, the last two are "belle fools" looking for trouble. They are in the vanguard of the tenure elongation imbroglio threatning the nation's nascent democratic dispensation. Gluttons of course are known to consume immoderately to the point of waste and thereby dig their own graves with their teeth according to a french proverb.

Nigeria, News, Africa

Quick Sunday Postscript

From the Republic of Benin, there are a few things Obasanjo could learn about democracy. Also, Ghana's democracy is described as "strong" while Obasanjo's government is considers as "increasingly repressive". And from Jamaica a columnist from that little carribean nation thinks even Jamaicans would feel better about the state of their nation if they see Obasanjo's gigantic Nigeria.

Nigeria, News, Ghana, Jamaica, Africa

Nigeria's Stunted Democracy

According to democracy scholar Larry Diamond's maximalist criterion for democratic consolidation, democracy should "become so broadly and profoundly legitimate, and so habitually practiced and observed, that it is unlikely to break down." Needless to say Obasanjo has failed this criterion. Seven full years after the return to democracy we are still unsure how it work, if it work or when it work. Nigerians are being required in a democracy to get police permit before they can be allow to hold public meetings or demonstrations. Laws are being proposed without regard or consultations with those to be affected by their possible outcomes. Oppositions are being stiffled at every corner and is recently approaching the Abacha level. Courts' rulings are selectively and opportunistically executed. The list is endless.

Democracy entail adherence to the rule of law to work minimally and definitely tolerance of oppositions to maximally survive without fear of it breaking down. When oppositions are unsure of ballot box as the only effective route to power they become despair and won't care if democracy crashes or survive. At present Obasanjo is the number one threat to the survival of democracy in Nigeria poking hot rod at its very heart.

Nigeria, News, Africa, Democracy

Obasanjo's Score Card

The following graphic show the pains and gains of Obasanjo's regime over the past 6-7 years he is in office. As it clearly show we have more poor people, more unemployed, products cost more and the stress all these bring takes their toll first with the higher infant mortality and death rates and second with the general life expectancy declination. As for the gains more people can communicate on their mobiles, increase in literacy and of course the partial reduction/write-off of the country's external debt.



Nigeria, News, Democracy