Comrade Bobby Peek, foremost South African Environmentalist making a presentation at Saro Wiwa seminar
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Proff. Kevin Winter of the University of Cape Town, focus on the scrreening of The Drilling Field a documentary that catelogues Shell's activities in Ogoniland.
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Ronald Wesso, Democracy Programme Coordinator, Bobby Peek, Director of groundowrk, a South African NGO, Dr. Austine Tam-George, UCT post doctoral fellow and Dennis Brutus of the CCS Durban, South Africa
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South African Women Composed a song in honor of Ken Saro Wiwa.
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Dennis Brutus, says he is still bitter with Shell for killing Ken Saro Wiwa.
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Patrick Naagbanton, prominent rights activist and AkpoBari Celestine Nigerian Administrator being led by an 8yr old kid, to lay wreath at Shell's grave in Yorla.
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Procession from main event venue to yorla for burial and laying of wreath on Shell's grave.
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Procession at the 2008 Ogoni Day
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Comrade Dorathy at protest in Cape Town
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Barry Wugale at a rally Int.Convention Centre Cape Town.
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A cross section of the delegates at the Memorial Seminar in honor of Saro Wiwa
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Activists singing solidarity song in honor of Ken Saro-Wiwa after the burial and wreath laying ceremony at Shell's graveside in Yorla-Ogoni, Nigeria.
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A Spokeperson for the Women at the 10th November 2007
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A cross section of Ogonis at Ogoni day
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Piercing the Giant with its own sword! by Barry Wugale |
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The judiciary or justice system all over the word is traditionally represented by the image of a female carrying a measuring scale in one hand, and a sword in another, the image which is sometimes blindfolded is known as Lady Justice or Justitia. The image has its root in a common belief in the Roman and Greek societies that Iutitia and Themis, which were goddesses, possessed the power to dispense justice. It was believed that these goddesses embodied divine order, law and custom, hence, their allegory personification of the judiciary to this day.
Custodians of law and the justice system in modern states are now Iutitia and Themis, the measuring scale in their hands representing burden and onus of proof, therefore, the sword symbolizes the power vested upon the judiciary to deal with whosoever that is found guilty. But unlike the Iutitia and Themis of the old Greek and Roman societies, the blindfold on the eyes of today’s custodians of law does not mean that they are always impartial and blind to the personality of whosoever that comes before them. Rather, the judiciary has proven to be blind to the guilt of the powerful and mighty of society, it always almost pretend to be blind to the rights of the poor, weak and minorities of society. In any modern nation-state, the judiciary is not a spiritual organ like it was in the days of Iutitia and Themis, women and men that make up the judiciary are appointed according to the interest of those that are in power. John Major, the former prime minister of Great Britain, knows that there is always a connection between the might of state interest as exercised by those that bear executive power and the bench of any state judiciary. It was that interwoven link that prompted him to describe the process leading to the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his comrades as a judicial murder. It makes perfect sense to allude that Major meant that the sword in the hand of the Nigerian Themis and Iutitia was manipulated by Sani Abacha to slaughter innocent men. But Abacha’s brutal power goes beyond his particular regime; it is a chapter that is tied to other chapters. Abacha was only an individual role player in a broad power cum interest game. He was connected to the overall cabal of Nigerian military politicians, their interests and appendages, which ultimately depend on the country’s oil and gas wealth. And through out the entire life span of Nigerian nationhood, $hell has been a major player in the intertwine network of Nigerian oil industry and its political fabrics – a system which is undoubtedly one of the most complicated economic webs of the world. Crystal as this connection is, $hell denied vigorously that it ever influenced the decision of Nigerian nation and Sani Abacha to kill the Ogoni 9 after a phantom trial. The mighty $hell, an international oil giant, the company that cut the shut in many other countries of the world, the conglomerate that determines who holds what position in Nigeria - on the basis of their own business interest. $hell posses political and economic clout with an attendant camaraderie that goes beyond several borders, and this extra-ordinary arsenal was employed for 14 years to arm twist and rape justice. But after trumpeting a self-purported piety, and shamelessly exulting in a macabre of its acclaimed innocuousness, it was like one of the seventh wonders of the world that $hell accepted responsibility over the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others. It was the received wisdom of the company to avoid appearance before the Themis and Iutitia of the Southern District New York. The oil giant opted to negotiate. The news of $hell’s proposal for an “out-of-court-settlement” which led to the payment of $15.5 million to ten Ogoni families brought the world to a sentry shock, because many people did not expect that $hell would give in so easily. $hell has a larger than life influence and by whatever means it is not a child’s play to get the company to condescend to the superiority of any other authority – the jury inclusive. The decision of $hell should tell any pessimist of this world that nothing is impossible, it reawaken the most despondent of Ogoni activists that the curtain has not fallen yet. That $hell of all entities could be named and shamed provides evidence and a practical lesson for those that does not believe in the faith element of life - that with the tiniest grain of faith even Kilimanjaro would be removed. Some have used the monetary value, which is like an inconsequential drop from an ocean when measured with the financial arsenal of $hell as a yardstick to criticize the negotiated settlement. Correct as these critics maybe, the same string used as the strength of their argument – “the lives of the Ogoni activists are beyond monetary compensation” is the same string that weakens their criticism. Because; as no amount of money is equal to the lives of Saro-Wiwa and others. The little paid by the company implies that $hell is guilty as charged, which is exactly the point that the Ogoni struggle has labored over the years to prove. The historic out-of-court-settlement reached between $hell and the ten plaintiffs, headed by Mr. Ken Wiwa, the son of late Ken Saro-Wiwa; was embarked upon to exhume the role that the oil giant played in the hanging of the Ogoni 9 on the 10th of November 1995, it was fourteen long years of adventure to bring $hell before Themis and Iutitia and to invoke the goddesses to use the same sword that the company manipulated against the Ogoni heroes to pierce their protruding tummy. Whether the out-of-court-settlement means victory or not has been a huge debate, a section of Ogoni activists wanted $hell’s nose to be thoroughly bloodied. If you are an Ogoni, you would understand while they believe that $15.5 million is nothing. Dissatisfied with the outcome of the settlement, okay, but to say that the son of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other plaintiffs have achieved nothing for the Ogoni struggle – NO. As activists, we must be careful to distinguish between one’s right to personal life and the obligation to serve the community. Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues are not properties of the Ogoni people; they are individuals that put their lives on the line for the liberation of their land. To lash unto their hanging for the liberation of the living would amount to either a heartless exploitation of their persons or sheer weakness on the part of those living to fight on. Those that are still critizing the settlement should not ignore the fact that a man that lay down his life for his people had paid the utmost prize, they should also remember an Ogoni cultural practice that the stump of a tree normally belong to he or she that planted it. They should not ignore to ask what have they individually done for their land since 10th November 1995, they should not fail to ask if Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa has not given enough for the sake of his land, and how much more do they want the man to give even from his grave? |
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Ogoni Gospel Collection
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