Niger Delta Black Gold Blues: Can Writers Bring About Environmental Justice Where Slow Violence Has Proven So Devastating? or A Cautionary Tale for Environmental Sacrifice Zones Worldwide

Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995): Environmental Warrior and Voice of the Ogoni

By: Ashley Oberg and Madison Little

Silence Would Be Treason; Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa

"I have great faith in God, in the justness of my cause & in the belief in eventual VICTORY"  (Saro-Wiwa, Silence 54).

Ken Saro-Wiwa's last writings are found in this compilation of letters and poems. By reading his letters that were sent to Sister Majella McCarron, readers are able to get a strong sense of the passion Saro-Wiwa had in his cause and for the justice of the Ogoni people. The letters consist of information explaining what the current situation is involving his detention, where the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (otherwise known as MOSOP) is at going up against officials, as well as giving insight on his personal life and beliefs. While he was in detention he writes of his living conditions. Although he was not allowed to have visitors or the right to speak to his lawyer or doctor, Saro-Wiwa managed to remain in high spirits. 

He spent a lot of time reading news articles on a laptop that he smuggled into detention. This way he had a sense of connection to his people and was aware of happenings of the outside world. During his time in detention, Saro-Wiwa wrote many short books and poems. Some of his poems resemble chants such as the poem titled MOSOP. 

"Mosop is marching on
Ogoni must survive
Mosop will never stop
Till Ogoni is free" (Silence 144)

Ken Saro-Wiwa was not only a motivator for his cause, but he also spoke in such a way that was encouraging for those going through other hard times. As Nigerian poet and environmental advocate Nnimmo Bassey brings out in the foreword to this collection, Saro-Wiwa's last speech was a letter to the world. This letter is for readers to listen to with the question in mind, "Will I raise a voice or stay silent?" Saro-Wiwa wanted the world to know that even though different forms of ecocide and oppression threaten different parts of the world, all of our struggles against such oppression are important and each are part of the same struggle for justice: "We are all Ogoni" (Silence xvi-xvii). In his final speech, Saro-Wiwa stands for his people as well as bringing awareness to the treatment of people elsewhere and how it is not acceptable. 

"Any nation which can do to the weak and disadvantaged what the Nigerian nation has done to the Ogoni loses a claim to independence and to freedom from outside influence. I am not one of  those to shy away  from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are expected in a military regime" (Silence xvi).

Ken Saro-Wiwa is a model of optimism, strength, and compassion. Although he is deceased, because of his works of literature and letters, he continues to be this head figure for his cause, as well as an example for other groups that are facing injustices. 

A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary                                             

Along with the poems and letters, Saro-Wiwa's detention diary gives an in-depth look towards the thoughts of the leader during his detainment. By experiencing first hand the motions of imprisonment for the cause of justice for the Ogoni people, readers are given the chance to place themselves within the movement. Each daily account of Saro-Wiwa contains traces of courage laced with confidence in the cause. This hopeful demeanor heeds towards the importance of perseverance through adversity and the promise of a better future.

While the attitude of Saro-Wiwa is both inspirational and important for readers to understand in the effectiveness of environmental journalism, it is the connections Saro-Wiwa practices that makes this diary relevant. Throughout the chapters, Saro-Wiwa demonstrates that even while being detained he is the full-fledged force pushing along the movement. In chapter five, Saro-Wiwa gives an account of a particular Ogoni man whom he had befriended:

"A wise man, he had a thorough knowledge of Nigerian politics and had met and interviewed some of the best known Nigerian politicians, including Obafemi Awolowo" (Saro-Wiwa, A Month and a Day 118).

This passage demonstrates Saro-Wiwa's ability to make connections with the Ogoni people and truly understand their cause. This focus on the people of the infested area challenges the belief that it is egocentric to care about an environmental issue because such concerns often leave people out of consideration. A Month and a Day throughout is spattered with Saro-Wiwa's philosophies on the effects of colonized Nigeria. Saro-Wiwa writes,

"Applied to the Ogoni, we should say British imperialism imposed on them oil exploitation and the Nigerian nation-state, both powerful and dangerous forces which together spelt omnicide in the Ogoni" (A Month and a Day 190).

This depiction of the Ogoni as a mico-minority to both Nigeria and the British connects towards the writings of Rob Nixon in his "Pipedreams" chapter of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Nixon goes into depth about the dynamic of groups within the Nigeria state and their partnerships with European powers, which in turn harms the homeland of those same Nigerian groups. The most shocking part of these partnerships is that it is not simply the foreign influence of Shell and Chevron, etc. reaping the Niger River Delta bare. Nixon stresses the example of slow violence spreading, seeping into the Nigeria-based regimes that have joined the oil game. It is this concept that if the locals were not to step in on the oil distribution, they simply would have their homeland's resources ripped away from their grasp without a drop to spare for themselves. "Pipedreams" represents Saro-Wiwa's ferocity for justice for the Ogoni by connecting the slippery-slope Nigerians face when trying to get a grasp on their depleting resources. Nixon calls attention to Saro-Wiwa's conviction that his writings will prevail in calling out injustice, as can be seen in Saro-Wiwa's statement shortly before his execution:
“The men who ordained and supervised this show of shame, this tragic charade, are frightened by the word, the power of ideas, the power of the pen....They are so scared of the word that they do not read. And that will be their funeral"  (Saro-Wiwa qtd. in Nixon 104)
Along with Nixon, the writings of Sanya Osha turn a critical lens on the works of Saro-Wiwa. Reading into the scholarly work of Osha, readers are able to draw connections to Saro-Wiwa's movement. Osha’s article,“Birth of the Ogoni Protest Movement," draws important revelations from Saro-Wiwa’s work with the Ogoni people as a tool of disposal from European influences, as well as a factual history of the effects of postcolonialism in the Niger River Delta area. Osha refers to Saro-Wiwa’s identification of the postcolonial mentalities existing specifically within the Niger River Delta. The term ‘‘ethnic hegemonism’’ in particular exists as an expression Saro-Wiwa uses to classify the “northern Nigerian domination of the federal governmental structure” (Osha 16). This ethnic hegemonism heeds towards the corruption involved within the Nigerian government because of alliances with external oil companies. Before the economic footprints of the oil boom made its mark on the Niger River Delta, the Ogoni people had once thrived on an economy based on palm oil (Osha 16).

This passage is important for it brings light towards the revered way of life before colonization. The spiritual connection made towards physical resources lasts as a crucial part of culture for the Ogoni. Destruction of this part of the culture in turn destroys a fundamental aspect of the Ogoni way of life in turn. Saro-Wiwa stepped in as an advocate at this point in order to make the Ogoni case known to the world: destruction of land and lives at the hands of the colonizers.

Works Cited

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