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Ken Saro-Wiwa's Final Statement
- Subject: Ken Saro-Wiwa's Final Statement
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 06:42:00
Received: (from strider) by igc4.igc.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.16 ) id GAA15742; Tue, 28 Nov 1995 06:42:39 -0800
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 06:42:39 -0800
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 10:36:51 +0100 (MET)
To: burmanet-1@xxxxxxxxxxx
The following statement was made by Ken Saro-Wiwa as he approached death
at the hands of the Nigerian Government a few weeks back. It is indeed
relevant to Burma, and the activities of the military junta and the oil
companies in exploiting the country and the people.
One is sadly reminded of George Orwell's "Burmese Days" published in the
1930's. In expaining British imperialism to Doctor Veraswami, Flory, the
book's main character, says: "How can you make out that we are in this
country for any purpose except to steal? It's so simple. The official
holds the Burman down while the businessman goes through his pockets.."
Today, it is not officers of the emipre who holds people down, but
indigenous military juntas with more arms, amunition, technology and
coercive methods than any old colonial officers ever had.
H K Kuløy
Norwegian Burma Council
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KEN SARO-WIWA'S CLOSING STATEMENT
TO THE MILITARY APPOINTED TRIBUNAL
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
November 1995
My lord,
We all stand before history. I am a man of peace, of ideas. Appalled by
the denigrating poverty of my people who live on a richly endowed land,
distressed by their political marginalization and economic strangulation,
angered by the devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage,
anxious to preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and
determined to usher to this country as a whole a fair and just democratic
system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a
valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted my intellectual and
material resources, my very life to a cause in which I have total belief
and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated. I have no doubt
at all about the ultimate success of my cause, no matter the trials and
tribulations which I and those who believe with me may encounter on our
journey. Nor imprisonment nor death can stop our ultimate victory.
I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not
the only ones on trial. Shell [Oil Co.] is here on trial 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 learnt here may prove useful to it
for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war that 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 those who
assist them. 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 who shy
away from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are
expected in 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 urine. We
all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our
Country and jeopardized the future of our children. As we subscribe to
the sub-normal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly,
as we protect injustice and oppression, we empty our classrooms,
denigrate our hospitals, fill our stomachs with hunger and elect to make
ourselves the slaves of those who ascribe to higher standards, pursue the
truth, and honour justice, freedom, and hard work. I predict that the
scene here will be played and replayed by generations yet unborn. Some
have already cast themselves the role of villains, some are tragic
victims, some still have a chance to redeem themselves. The choice is
for each individual.
I predict that the denouement of the riddle of the Niger delta will soon
come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways
I have favored will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what
signals it sends out to the waiting public.
In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter conviction,
I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the
oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight
fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side.
God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41: "All
those that fight when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish
the oppressor." Come the day.