the ghost of Ken Saro-Wiwa

For some reason, Nigerian militants are upset about multi-nationals looting their oil:

"We have decided not to limit our attacks to Shell oil as our ultimate aim is to prevent Nigeria from exporting oil," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an email statement to Reuters.

"We will attack all oil companies including Chevron facilities."

"Pipelines, loading points, export tankers, tank farms, refined petroleum depots, landing strips and residences of employees of these companies can expect to be attacked. We know where they live, shop and where the children go to school."

Americans have absolutely no idea how the people and land of Nigeria have been held captive and ruthlessly exploited by companies like Chevron and Shell; multi-national oil conglomerates we charge with doing the dirty work necessary to deliver all that we have come to expect.

Ken Saro-Wiwa knew from experience. A Nigerian writer of Ogoni ethnicity, Saro-Wiwa led a successful nonviolent campaign to bring Shell Oil’s horrific ecological record in Nigeria to national and international attention. For his service to humanity, he was executed on November 10, 1993, by the Nigerian government, a military dictatorship which served as the long, bloody arm of the oil conglomerates.

Not much has changed since then.

Ken Saro-Wiwa's story isn't widely known in the United States. It wounds us, shames us for our brutal indifference to the suffering we cause without so much as a thought. And it begs us to do more, to be more. What happened to Ken Saro-Wiwa - and what is happening still in Nigeria - shatters the narrative concocted by the Great American Elite. It scares the living piss out of 'em, and with good reason: Powerful stories change who we are. Truth transform us.

Before he was hanged, Ken Saro-Wiwa had this to say:

I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is on trial here, and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief. The company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learned here may prove useful to it, for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war the company has waged in the delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the company's dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.

On trial also is the Nigerian nation, its present rulers and all those who assist them. I am not one of those who shy away from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are expected of a military regime. The military do not act alone. They are supported by a gaggle of politicians, lawyers, judges, academics and businessmen, all of them hiding under the claim that they are only doing their duty, men and women too afraid to wash their pants of their urine.

We all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our country and jeopardised the future of our children. As we subscribe to the subnormal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly, as we protect injustice and oppression, we empty our classrooms, degrade our hospitals, and make ourselves the slaves of those who subscribe to higher standards, who pursue the truth, and honour justice, freedom and hard work.

Ken Saro-Wiwa

A few weeks earlier, in a letter penned from a military hospital, Saro-Wiwa wrote:

Whether I live or die is immaterial. It is enough to know that there are people who commit time, money and energy to fight this one evil among so many others predominating worldwide. If they do not succeed today, they will succeed tomorrow. We must keep on striving to make the world a better place for all of mankind - each one contributing his bit, in his or her own way.

I salute you all.