Professor Biko Agozino launches our new academic journal Decolonization of Criminology and Justice

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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

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The sister of the tortoise is a tortoise. Read the links to determine the Asian geography. There is a lot of evidence of prejudice against Africans from the Asian lumpen intellectuarates, exceptions to the rule not withstanding.

Biko

On Tue, Dec 25, 2018 at 4:36 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Dec 27, 2018, 8:53:59 AM12/27/18

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Biko.

The claim that you are a victim of genocide needs be substantiated. Where were you when the genocide was perpetrated? By whom? I was born before the first Nigerian Civil War and witnessed the horror of South westerners killed by Ogbunigwes in the East. I reserve the right to claim I'm a victim of genocide by Biafrans. With regards to the Blitzkreig of London during the second World War Londoners who survived could claim at the Nuremberg trials they were victims of genocide by Hitler and the German state. They made no such claim because they accepted that is not the normal interpretation of genocide.

You hate genocide; so do I. But let us not make claims that are generally not true.

OAA

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From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Date: 27/12/2018 03:09 (GMT+00:00)

The Booker prize-winning author and activist Arundhati Roy goes deep inside Central India's Dandkaranya Fore...

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

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Brer Rabbit, the Rabbi wanna be,

Sleep well, though you may cry in your sleep, not the genocide patch, not the Biafra patch, to subconsciously wish that your possessors would actually cast you there as your favorite turf where you enjoy to nibble on juicy ideas.

You are mistaken in the assumption that hatred is at the back every critique. Internal criticism is a veritable African institution, according to Fanon. Mao also defended the value of internal criticism given that an unwashed face becomes dirty. Similarly, Achebe welcomed the critique from visitors who may see what the household took for granted but he cautioned the visiting critic not to assume superiority over the household members ethnocentrically.

Those of us who are critical of genocide are not motivated by hatred but by the love of human life. Those who are opposed to the critique of genocide cannot say that they love genocide but only try to justify the unjustifiable or to deny that it took place. When I spoke to an audience of Indigenous People who survived genocide in New Zealand and I shared with them that I too survived genocide in Biafra, you seem irritated but they understood perfectly why I interpreted the play, Death and the King's Horseman in the original way that I did. Many of them urged me to write up that interpretation and I did so while we debated the novel interpretation on this USADialogue series during my trip to New Zealand and Australia. Ken Harrow has cautioned us that the list is 'monitored' but without saying who is monitoring the list and in whose interest? In any case, we are not hiding anything and we are not afraid of criticism.

If you read my work, you will find that I do not obsess about genocide nor about Biafra although opposition to genocide cannot be over-emphasized for it is an ongoing crime against the whole of humanity and not just against the Igbo in Biafra. You may have your reasons why any mention of such huge crimes seems to rile you up and make you suspect, wrongly, that the speaker is motivated by hate. An Asian woman, Arundhati Roy, makes reference to starving Biafra children too but I bet that you will not accuse her of hating you or your lords. I believe that she is motivated by the love of human freedom.

Arundhati Roy | Gandhi, but with guns | Part Four

By Arundhati Roy

I could have said 'Two Asian Women Attack Adichie Unfairly' to avoid the surprising over-generalization that you appear to read into the clear opinion about two Asian women who did attack Adichie unfairly. My intervention was not motivated by hatred of Asian women but by a call for more voices to join the condemnation of the genocidal crimes that Adichie condemns in her work. I could have qualified that private communication with you by inserting a comma before 'everything she has written', I could have added 'virtually' to 'everything'. But as I told you, the long sentence should not be read out of context.

Nevertheless, even when Adichie does not use the word genocide, her work almost always goes against mass violence such as femicide which the WHO recognizes to be of genocidal proportions worldwide. The two Asian women who attacked her could have applied her thoughts to combat the epidemic of femicide and genocide that is going on in Asia and around the world. If Asians were being executed in Africa for drugs offences at the rate that Asian countries are executing Africans, you would have heard African writers advocating for penal abolitionism in the interest of all. Mamdani condemned genocide in Uganda and Museveni invited the Asians who were expelled by Idi Amin to return, but he is yet to invite the descendants of enslaved Africans to return.

I write as someone who has also been very critical of aspects of the work of Adichie but without rubbishing her valuable contributions to the defense of human dignity worldwide. Africans have shown the willingness to adopt ideas from Asian writers without unfairly dismissing them as not being committed to human rights. Ghanaian students successfully protested against the statue of Gandhi on their campus partly because of his prejudiced opinions against Africans in his younger years before he was reeducated by the Zulu about nonviolence, according to Gandhi himself in his autobiography. Is there any statue of Nkrumah in India and if not why not? The critique of Gandhi is shared by Indians too and they and Africans embrace some ideas of Gandhi nevertheless.

The Asian writers who attack Adichie unfairly have not attacked white feminist writers and African women have not attacked Asian feminist writers, to the best of my knowledge. I have questioned the condescending approach to African writers by the likes of Naipaul and Spivak elsewhere without hating all their works and without generalizing their flaws to all Asians. Cultural criticism is not powered by hatred but by the love of culture defined by Ngugi and by Cabral as the struggle for and against domination, not as a way of life.

Do not campaign for Adichie to be awarded the Nobel Prize because, prize or no prize, she will remain an important voice for the whole world to listen to, not just a voice for her generation as you suggested. No matter how her scripted interviews with US First Ladies is perceived, no matter how much two Asian women wish that she would become the mouthpiece for their political slogans, Adichie is not the enemy of the people to be despised. As your Iyawo demonstrates to you, the young bard deserves all the admiration that she can get in her passion for social justice that she narrates with a compelling voice that is hard to ignore. Those who are jealous of her success should go ahead and write the type of books that they wished that she should write for them.

Happy Kwanzaa. Happy Umoja.

Biko

On Wednesday, 26 December 2018, 16:43, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

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Biko Agozino

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Dec 27, 2018, 10:12:20 AM12/27/18

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It is the season of rhetorical questions with implicit answers. Those who still do not get it should read the interventions of my teacher, Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, which you can find on his Rethinking Africa blog or in his Pamvazuka News columns if you have no access to his paradigmatic books. If your eyes are failing you, turn off the Nollywood movies and get someone to read to you. Here is a sample:

What the Igbo genocide is and what it isn’t | Pambazuka News

Biko

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Dec 27, 2018, 7:54:34 PM12/27/18

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Biko Agozino,

Really!

That was some awesome & charismatic Igbo oratory delivered by you to the folks over there in New Zealand. Congratulations ! N.B. You being a criminologist doesn't make me a criminal, not even your genocidal criminal.

I say this because I notice that you want to extend your confused and confounded Igbo dialectics to me , this time speaking in a tongues that's difficult for me to decipher. You use the word “hate” and its affiliates more than six times and the word “genocide” and adjacent vocabulary numberless times in this your short epistle. To what purpose? Who do you imagine you are talking to and what are you actually saying here :

“ Sleep well, though you may cry in your sleep, not the genocide patch, not the Biafra patch, to subconsciously wish that your possessors would actually cast you there as your favorite turf where you enjoy to nibble on juicy ideas.”

“You are mistaken in the assumption that hatred is at the back (of?) every critique”

Me? I made such an assumption? Where? When?

“ When I spoke to an audience of Indigenous People who survived genocide in New Zealand and I shared with them that I too survived genocide in Biafra, you seem irritated"

Me? I seemed irritated? Where? When? Why should I seem irritated? I wasn't even there! You can talk about “Biafra Genocide” all day and all night, for the rest of your life, for all I care. Don't stop! Why should you stop ? Last book I read on the subject genocide was this one : The Holocaust : A Reader - edited by Simone Gigliotti and Berel Lang

Here you go again, talking to me: : “ You may have your reasons why any mention of such huge crimes seems to rile you up and make you suspect, wrongly, that the speaker is motivated by hate. “

My late friend and part-time mentor ( a disciple of Jabotinsky) once made this universal announcement as we took our seats at the Victoria Restaurant : “ All Germans are Nazis! “ I told him, “ I thank Hashem that I'm not one of them ! “

So, as you can well understand, that's why I'm getting sick and tired of this your endless and sometimes meaning-less little tittle-tattle. Really. Some Asian philosopher or other went as far as to say that there was a time when nothing existed. No Igbo, no Ojukwu , no Biafra, and that there will come a time when nothing will exist. No Igbo, no Ojukwu, no Biko, no Biafra and no genocide. Really.

At this point, I'm not so interested in any compulsive neurotic obsessions. Should I be? I know that you would also like to presume that you should be the one to teach me how to read or what to read or how to appreciate poetry, poetics, literature etc. , so let me tell you this : I have my own favourites. Teju Cole is one. I have others. Adichie's “works” don't mean that much to me. Not Achebe either. Not my cup of tea. Really. I am a connoisseur of the feminine mystique. My taste also extends to music, perfume and whisky...

To avoid any future misunderstandings , please permit me be clear about the following :

I am not Igbo
I am not Nigerian.
You are not strong enough to bully me – in any way whatsoever, so, don't even try. You must be stronger than your persecutor , even if it's the devil. There is no other way. I am not your persecutor.

As far as the history of the short-lived Biafra adventure is concerned I abide by Michael Crowder and pages 272 – 277 of his “The Story of Nigeria” That and a book by Guy Arnold is all I read about Nigeria before arriving there for the first time, early in 1981. As you may or may not know, there are many facts that you will not find in any history books

These two paragraphs from pages 273 – 276 of Crowder's “The Story of Nigeria “ may interest you ( map of Federal Nigeria and International boundaries occupies pages 274-275) :

“The Igbo heartland , however , held out for another twenty-one months after the loss of their major port and airport. There is no space here to detail the long-drawn-out battles on the three fronts which were fought with great bravery and under appalling conditions on both sides. A number of factors account for the length of the resistance by the secessionist forces. In the first place they firmly believed the propaganda so effectively disseminated by the Biafra government , and spread by overseas sympathisers, that the Federal troops were intent on genocide. They had, of course , the bitter experience of the massacres in the North to give conviction to them, so that they fought to the last ditch and with people starving for want of food supplies rather than come under Federal control. In the second place the Biafran army had a skilful core leadership from the deserters from the Federal army. Thirdly, Biafran propaganda overseas was highly effective in obtaining support in the form of arms, money, foodstuffs from overseas. In America , Britain, France and Germany many people firmly believed that Biafra was a victim of a Federal government bent on genocide and that the war was one between Northern Muslims and Biafran Christians, despite the fact that the Federal leader was, himself, a Christian. Fourthly, a number of countries that wished independent Africa no good fished in the troubled waters of the Nigerian Civil War : South Africa, Portugal and Rhodesia. France, still piqued at the Federal government's unilateral rupture of diplomatic relations in 1961, and eyeing the oil resources of the secessionist state, gave all but open support to Ojukwu.. Finally, four members of the O.A.U., which tried on several occasions to mediate between the two sides, split the organisation by recognising Biafra as a sovereign state. These were Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Gabon, the latter two of which acted as staging posts for arms and mercenaries for Biafra.

By mid-1969 it had become clear that it was only a matter of time before Biafra would fall to the Federal forces. But Ojukwu refused to concede defeat despite the vert considerable suffering continued resistance was inflicting on his people. Only as the Federal troops closed in on his last strongholds in late December did Ojukwu begin to consider abandoning the fight. Finally on 11^th January 1970 Ojukwu and his top advisers fled to the Ivory Coast., leaving the head of the secessionist army , Lt. Col. Philip Effiong , to broadcast the end of secession.”

Other humble beginnings:

Julio Gutierrez :

Theme on Mambo

Willie Colon : La Murga

Cornelius Hamelberg

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Dec 27, 2018, 7:54:34 PM12/27/18

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Biko Agozino,

If you are optimistic and forward-looking then work hard for the day when Nigerians will elect an Igboman as their President because there's a good chance that he will put the kind of reparations and repetenace that you have in mind, at the top of his agenda.

Joe Pass

Salimonu Kadiri

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Dec 29, 2018, 5:21:13 PM12/29/18

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Biko Agozino has finally submitted evidence of genocide against the *IBO* in Nigeria, and authored by his teacher, Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, on 25 May 2017. One of his evidence of genocide against the *IBO* in Nigeria was an alleged statement credited to the then Colonel Benjamin Adekunle in The Economist, London, of 24 August 1968. As at August 1968, Adekunle's troops were still consolidating their grips on the Rivers and South East States captured from Biafra where military Governors with civilian administrations were newly set up. Rivers and South East States were mostly populated by the Ibibio and Ijaw people. The *IBO* in those areas had already fled with the retreating Biafran soldiers. It was not until September 1968 that Adekunle's forces captured Aba and Owerri which were real *IBO* territories. The civilian population of the two *IBO* towns had forcibly been evacuated by the retreating Biafran soldiers when the federal forces entered Aba and Owerri. Therefore, there were no civilian *IBO* left in Aba and Owerri to be shot as Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe made Adekunle to do in The Economist of 24 August 1968, a clear one month before entering *IBO* territories of Aba and Owerri. Quoting from the Economist of 24 August 1968, Ekwe-Ekwe claimed that Adekunle had said, "We shoot at everything that moves, and when our forces enter into the centre of *IBO* territory, we shoot at everything, even at things that don't move." At best the statement attributed to Adekunle can be rated as statement of intention but the intention was not carried out since the two *IBO* territories were evacuated before the arrival of his soldiers. The statement credited to Adekunle in the Economist of 24 August 1968 implied that his forces were shooting everything that moved in the *IBO* territories they had captured whereas, no *IBO* territory was captured by his forces until the end of September 1968. Ekwe-Ekwe and his student, Biko Agozino, should submit evidence that Adekunle and his troops killed civilians in the *IBO* territories they occupied during the civil war to substantiate their allegation of genocide against the *IBO* people. And since, the *IBO* was annihilated in the civil war it seems to have resurrected, stronger than before, into what is today known as *IGBO.*

The second evidence of genocide against the *IBO* submitted by Ekwe-Ekwe reads, "On 5 June 1969, ….. Gbadamosi King, of the Nigeria genocidist air force, shot down a clearly marked, incoming relief-carrying International Committee of the Red Cross DC-7 plane near Eket, South Biafra, with the loss of its 3-person crew."

Despite the fact that the Federal Military government agreed to daylight relief flights to Biafra provided that the planes were checked by the government and followed routes of its choice, according to Geneva Conventions, federal troops at the war front were instructed to turn blind eyes to the illegal night-flying into Biafra for fifteen months, until 5 June 1969. Carl Gustav von Rosen had procured 'minicon' air planes for Biafra with which he started, in May 1969, to bomb Nigerian troops in Calabar, Uyo, Pot Harcourt and Ughelli. It was no longer possible for the soldiers at the war front to turn blind eyes to the illegal flights into Biafra. Thus, towards nightfall on 5 June 1969, Captain Gbadamosi King observed a DC-7 plane marked with ICRC heading towards Biafra and ordered the Pilot to land either in Port Harcourt or Calabar for inspection before flying further. Despite repeated orders to the Red Cross plane to land for inspection, the pilot refused and the plane was shot down. The Geneva Convention of which Nigeria was a signatory did not permit ICRC to fly relief supplies direct into Biafra without prior inspection by Nigeria. The three crew in the Red Cross plane had nothing to lose by landing in Nigeria for inspection. The Red Cross plane was caught flying in unapproved corridor and at unapproved time. When the plane was shot down, it was exposed for ferrying weapons and ammunition and not relief supplies to civilians in Biafra which was the main reason why the crew refused to land in Nigeria for inspection before flying further to its destination. No normal person would regard shooting down of the ICRC's DC-7 plane under the afore-stated condition as genocide.

The third evidence submitted by Ekwe-Ekwe for genocide against the *IBO* reads, ".....//….. the genocidist air force's carpet bombings of Igbo population centres (especially refugee establishments, churches, shrines, schools, hospitals, markets, homes, farmlands and playgrounds) ….."

In the history of warfare, it was unique that Nigeria permitted International Observer Team, drawn from Britain, Canada, Poland, Sweden, United Nations and the then OAU (Organisation of African Unity) to observe the behaviours of its troops at the war front against the rebels. The International Team of Observer wrote reports collectively and individually. The Swedish Observer in the Team, Major-General Arthur Raab, had the following to say about federal side bombing civilian targets in Biafra, "After seven months, we have still not seen any signs of the mass annihilation which Ojukwu claims is threatened by the Federal side. It looked as though Ojukwu is deliberately transferring military headquarters to schools, hospitals, churches and so on. In which case can one call these civilian targets." (p.90, The World and Nigeria by Suzanne Cronje). Using civilians as shields to attack federal forces as observed by Major-General Arthur Raab was confirmed by Chinua Achebe thus, "We have all gone to bed on one particular night - my family, Augustine and his family, and Frank and his family. We did not realize that Biafran soldiers had set up their armoury outside my father's house, on the veranda, the porch, and outside in the yard. ..//.. On this particular night we were oblivious of what was going on outside our father's house. While we were sleeping the Biafran army was turning our ancestral home into a military base of sorts. No one asked us for permission. They did not knock to ask or to inform. ….//…. We all were awakened violently from sleep by a loud ka-boom!, followed by the rattling of the house foundation and walls, indeed of the entire house. A number of people who were asleep fell off their beds, violently ushered back into reality by the vibrations, the shock, and the noise of the artillery fire outside. it was awful. The men in the house went outside to find out what was going on. A colonel who was in charge of this exercise explained that they had decided to use our home as a tactical base because it provided them a logistical and strategic advantage as they shelled the encroaching federal troops." (p.172-173, There Was a Country, by Chinua Achebe). The federal forces reserved the right to return fire to anywhere from which they were being shelled and only a fool would have regarded Achebe's ancestral home as a civilian target that should not be bombed by the federal army and would have concluded that shooting at, or bombing, similar targets in Biafra constituted genocide.

S. Kadiri

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Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

kwame zulu shabazz

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Dec 30, 2018, 3:46:27 AM12/30/18

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Sister Gloria,

Here is a definition of genocide from the UN:

"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."

http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.html

If we accept this definition, then the test would be proving that a specific racial, ethnic, religious or national group was targeted.

Biafra and South Sudan would be candidates because, arguably, Igbos were targeted in Nigeria and non-Muslims were targeted in South Sudan. I say "arguably" because it would be up to the respective groups to support their case with evidence.

Syria, Iraq, Yemen are all horrific, but they dont seem to fit the UN definition. A specific group like the Kurds fit the UN criteria.

In New Zealand, the Māori were virtually wiped out (reduced to about 14% of population) and replaced by whites. This is a clear case of genocide.

African Americans made an official charge of genocide against the US govt in 1951. Signatories to the document included W.E.B. Du Bois, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, and Claudia Jones. You can read the entire document here:

"We Charge Genocide"

https://archive.org/details/We-Charge-Genocide-1970/page/n1

Some of us believe the US govt plotted to assassinate Malcolm X because of his potential as a pan-Africanist, his growing influence in the Muslim world, and his plan to take our (African American) case to the UN.

All Black Lives Matter,

brother shabazz
Pronouns: African

Harrow, Kenneth

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Dec 30, 2018, 6:07:44 PM12/30/18

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dear kwame, et al

the un defn of genocide could be applied when a very small number of people are involved, if they are targeted because of their ethnicity, etc. that seems a weakness in the defn.

i also think we all have an intuitive sense of genocide, which occurs when "they" are trying to wipe "us" out. i am happier with this simple way of thinking about it.

in the case of german history, in africa, we could argue that real genocide was intended and carried out against the herroros. for arendt, that was the first genocide in history, but maybe she was wrong.

the cherokees were targets, among many other native peoples, in the u.s. long before the herroros. think about the slaughter of buffalos, intended to starve the indians! what brutality.

and i know all of us could cite many other cases.

i must say it saddens me to see such deepseated dissension still today about whether the case of biafra was one of genocide when so many people died under tragic conditions. it was an historical crime and tragedy. i won't enter into the debate about who was at fault--i've read the comments and see no clear path to convince one side or the other to join together in condemning the deaths. in a sense until that happens we won't have true reconciliation.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.un.org_en_genocideprevention_genocide.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=Zy8I_UX8z9DLbmf5YJ0EIg&m=RQ4CYBr6uh9Wi9RnfVWqtwimLgc80jBm_rI3nqMPp8w&s=yLUcr1JU8lBmRFWeVri7sRK7bQmKi1JKVhUMAFQ7Ztw&e=

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of kwame zulu shabazz <kwames...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2018 2:04:27 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Sister Gloria,

Here is a definition of genocide from the UN:

"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."

If we accept this definition, then the test would be proving that a specific racial, ethnic, religious or national group was targeted.

Biafra and South Sudan would be candidates because, arguably, Igbos were targeted in Nigeria and non-Muslims were targeted in South Sudan. I say "arguably" because it would be up to the respective groups to support their case with evidence.

Syria, Iraq, Yemen are all horrific, but they dont seem to fit the UN definition. A specific group like the Kurds fit the UN criteria.

In New Zealand, the Māori were virtually wiped out (reduced to about 14% of population) and replaced by whites. This is a clear case of genocide.

African Americans made an official charge of genocide against the US govt in 1951. Signatories to the document included W.E.B. Du Bois, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, and Claudia Jones. You can read the entire document here:

"We Charge Genocide"

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_We-2DCharge-2DGenocide-2D1970_page_n1&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=Zy8I_UX8z9DLbmf5YJ0EIg&m=RQ4CYBr6uh9Wi9RnfVWqtwimLgc80jBm_rI3nqMPp8w&s=5A57lLQeDksJUNPEFCcJhDgrcMxCMI3c66KORLdw9YA&e=

Some of us believe the US govt plotted to assassinate Malcolm X because of his potential as a pan-Africanist, his growing influence in the Muslim world, and his plan to take our (African American) case to the UN.

All Black Lives Matter,

brother shabazz
Pronouns: African

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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Dec 30, 2018, 7:04:41 PM12/30/18

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Thank you for this information. Food for thought.

GE

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of kwame zulu shabazz <kwames...@gmail.com>

Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2018 2:04 AM

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Sister Gloria,

Here is a definition of genocide from the UN:

"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fen%2Fgenocideprevention%2Fgenocide.html&data=01%7C01%7Cemeagwali%40ccsu.edu%7C4660947bc0c14548450808d66e33489b%7C2329c570b5804223803b427d800e81b6%7C0&sdata=cpvzjg%2FApcSzJnepQ8enK5K14KwPAjAZs2mEkOLnA1M%3D&reserved=0

If we accept this definition, then the test would be proving that a specific racial, ethnic, religious or national group was targeted.

Biafra and South Sudan would be candidates because, arguably, Igbos were targeted in Nigeria and non-Muslims were targeted in South Sudan. I say "arguably" because it would be up to the respective groups to support their case with evidence.

Syria, Iraq, Yemen are all horrific, but they dont seem to fit the UN definition. A specific group like the Kurds fit the UN criteria.

In New Zealand, the Māori were virtually wiped out (reduced to about 14% of population) and replaced by whites. This is a clear case of genocide.

African Americans made an official charge of genocide against the US govt in 1951. Signatories to the document included W.E.B. Du Bois, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, and Claudia Jones. You can read the entire document here:

"We Charge Genocide"

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2FWe-Charge-Genocide-1970%2Fpage%2Fn1&data=01%7C01%7Cemeagwali%40ccsu.edu%7C4660947bc0c14548450808d66e33489b%7C2329c570b5804223803b427d800e81b6%7C0&sdata=b1WIWthbj7%2BJ7beCHJn0JJBVf%2Fh1uTLt8BzW1RjmEAk%3D&reserved=0

Some of us believe the US govt plotted to assassinate Malcolm X because of his potential as a pan-Africanist, his growing influence in the Muslim world, and his plan to take our (African American) case to the UN.

All Black Lives Matter,

brother shabazz
Pronouns: African

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kwame zulu shabazz

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Dec 30, 2018, 7:46:23 PM12/30/18

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Hi Ken,

The UN definition is important if one is to build a legal case on the charge of genocide. Agree that many folks have some intuitive sense of genocide. In fact I invoked it in the Māori example. The Māori were wiped out. Likewise, here in the USA, the indigenous people were slaughtered and reduced to less than 3% of the population (We could complicate this a bit if we count Mexicans of other Latinos as indigenous. But I won't get into that here). I dont think anyone needs to look up the UN to figure out that the indigenous people of the Americas were victims of genocide. I think it this is a crucial issue. I devote the first day of my Intro to Africana Studies course to the genocide of Native Americans. From there I make connections between Native American and Black/African struggle.

I differ slightly on what you call intuitive ideas about genocide. My sense of it is that people tend to think of genocide as not just a plan or attempt to wipe out a group, but also the *actual fact of being wiped out.* The Navajo Indians of California were targeted and wiped out. The Igbo of Nigeria were targeted but not wiped out. I think we all agree that would happened to Igbo citizens was horrific. But I could imagine someone leaning on the intuitive idea of genocide and wondering how there could be so many Igbo in Nigeria today if there were victims of genocide. The Navajo, by comparison, were decimated to such a degree that they are invisible today.

All Black Lives Matter,

Brother Shabazz

Pronoun: African

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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Dec 31, 2018, 9:48:13 PM12/31/18

to usa

"i must say it saddens me to see such deepseated dissension still today about whether the case of biafra

was one of genocide when so many people died under tragic conditions."harrow

Does Yemen not fit the above definition? Many died and are dying under tragic conditions.
The "Houtis" constitute a sectarian religious group with Shiite leanings, opposed to
the Sunni government faction and the Saudi camp..

If genocide   is defined by a large body count in tragic conditions, Iraq in terms of the two Gulf
wars will make the list, too, especially given the difference in ethnicity of the belligerents - and the huge body count.

Was Biafra a target because of the ethnic identity of the people, therein, or because of its secessionist declaration - or both? Given the huge body count does this matter?

Kwame, Should we disqualify Biafra because there was no major reduction in the Igbo population, will that disqualify African American claims, too?

Scenario One
A   small population of 1,000 people loses 800 members in the course of open warfare with people of the same religion and ethnicity. Let us say that this one was a border war, and that the other side may have lost as many. Does this qualify as genocide?

Scenario Two
A population of 1,000 people loses 800 members while fighting people of a different race, ethnicity or religion over a border dispute with no planned intention to exterminate on either side. Does this qualify as genocide?

Scenario Three
A population of 1,000 people loses 800 members while fighting people of a different race, ethnicity or religion over a border dispute with the intention to exterminate. Does this qualify as genocide?

This may seem to be an exercise in semantics by some but I believe we need to identify the variables
associated with the concept before using it. The other option, of course, is to declare all wars as genocide, given the fact that countless numbers of   people die in the process.

GE

kwame zulu shabazz

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Dec 31, 2018, 11:17:28 PM12/31/18

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Gloria,

That wasnt exactly my point. In my initial post regarding Biafra, I said that it seems to fit the UN definition of genocide. As a legal matter, one would need to produce evidence that Igbos were targeted for elimination. I then replied to Ken and suggested that a commonsense idea of genocide, as distinct from the formal UN definition, seems to have as it criteria the targeting *and actual elimination* of a people (This is speculative on my part. I cant say with any certainty how people understand genocide). As an example, I cited the indigenous people of the southwestern US who were targeted and wiped out.

All Black Lives Matter,

brother shabazz

Pronouns: African

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Kissi, Edward

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Jan 1, 2019, 9:19:52 AM1/1/19

to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, Kissi, Edward

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!!!

Glad to be back. But while away, I followed the interesting conversation on various issues here including the ongoing discussion on Biafra and genocide. I recall that this issue has come up in this Forum before. I remember my contribution to it and Kenneth Harrow’s as well. I have resisted the urge to offer a thought until I read Gloria's scenarios, and her instructive counsel that we fully understand the concept of genocide (and I would add its genealogy) before we conflate it with war crimes and other crimes against humanity.

I tend to agree with Gloria because “conceptual conflation”--- the appropriation of the word “genocide” as a descriptor of all forms of mass killing, without any careful distinctions, because of the word’s emotive force and the moral and legal claims it grants victims----continues to undermine the study and understanding of genocide.

Gloria’s scenarios warrant reflection. They imply, accurately in my view, that not all mass murders rise to the conceptual threshold of a genocide. Not least is that war crimes and genocide are not the same, conceptually, although they have the same outcome. They lead to death and cause suffering and trauma to the direct victims and their descendants. Medical doctors do not conflate two or more different diseases that cause suffering and call all of them by one name that grabs public attention. And the study of genocide should not be reduced to an intellectual exercise in mortality statistics. It is not a body count concept. Thus, Gloria’s scenarios and advice are consistent with the many issues Martin Shaw discusses in his book What is Genocide?

Finally, let me add that the 1948 UN definition of genocide was the result of a political compromise between the United States, France, and Britain on one side, and the Soviet Union, Poland and Iran on the other. For students of genocide studies, the UN Genocide Convention is not the sole authority on what constitutes genocide. Even in recent cases of adjudication of the crime of genocide, criminal tribunals drew upon other social science concepts of genocide. In fact Ethiopia, the first nation to sign the UN Convention, redefined Article 2 of the Genocide Convention in its Penal Code of 1951. The Ethiopian concept of genocide is, therefore, much broader, and includes protection of political groups, than the UN Convention that does not protect or criminalize the destruction of an armed political or secessionist group. The Soviet delegation insisted on the exclusion of protection for political groups in the UN Genocide Convention. But, can a state or non-state group convert real ethnic or religious groups into political enemies to be destroyed? Yes, but as Gloria suggests we need to “identify the variables.”

Gloria’s scenarios also underscore two critical features of genocide studies. One, genocides are not committed solely by states or national governments as Raphael Lemkin originally thought. Two, non-state entities such as armed rebel or secessionist groups can commit a genocide too. So we need to get a fine grasp of the concept of genocide before we use it.

One way to get that grasp is to look at the three major ways in which genocide is studied and understood.

1. Raphael Lemkin’s original definition of genocide in his only book: Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. In it, the creator of the word “genocide” suggests that the crime can actually occur without a single individual killed or physically destroyed. He did not emphasize a body count (outcome) but rather process---a “coordinated plan of several actions” undertaken by a state to undermine “the essential foundations of the life” of a target group. Lemkin meant acts that included the destruction of a group’s culture and the replacement of it with the colonizers’ language and ways of life. This is Lemkin’s original concept of genocide that the US, France and Britain feared and opposed and, thus, advocated for a legalistic concept of genocide based on specific and provable intent in a court of law. See the work of Leo Kuper for a grasp of how the international law of genocide evolved.

2. The idea of genocide in the UN Genocide Convention of 1948 and its narrow and strict focus on “the intent to destroy a group in whole or in part.”

3. The many definitions of genocide proposed by scholars of genocide studies (including my own in “Obligation to Prevent,” African Security Review, 2016). Although social science definitions of genocide such as Shaw’s, Charny’s, Chalk’s and Jonassohn’s, Stanton’s, Stotten’s, Kissi’s, etc, do not have the force of law, they reveal the limits of the existing law of genocide as the site for the retrieval of adequate knowledge about genocide and the genocidal process.

Edward Kissi

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kwame zulu shabazz
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2018 11:03 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Gloria,

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Salimonu Kadiri

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Jan 1, 2019, 9:29:54 AM1/1/19

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Dear Kwame Zulu Shabazz,

The greatest weapon of mass deception in Nigeria, which has always been deployed by the minority educated elites, is ethnicity. Whenever educated and competing exploiters of the masses share the same faith, they turn to ethnicity to out-compete one another. Therefore, and starting from the Presidency downwards, ethnic origin is presented to the majority illiterate citizens as a very important qualification for election, selection, appointment or employment into any office in Nigeria and not the competence and ability to produce what the office is designed for, to produce for all Nigerians. In reality, those who occupy offices on behalf of their ethnic groups never exempt their own ethnic groups from non-delivery of goods and services to all citizens as required by law from their offices. The minority literate elites only exploit ethnicity to advance their personal political and commercial interests. Whereas individual office holder should be held responsible for failure in office, it is not so in Nigeria. Rather, his /her entire ethnic group is automatically associated with, and blamed for, his/her failure even when it is obvious that his/her ethnic group is also suffering from the failure of the official. As we all know there was no plebiscite among the Igbo requesting the revolutionary Majors strike on January 15, 1966 and certainly, the approval of all Igbo people was not sought when the ethnic supremacists and reactionaries stole the coup from the revolutionary Majors. When the casualties of the military putsch that catapulted an Igbo person to the head of government became known, all Igbo were associated with, and blamed for the coup d'état. It is from this angle one has to understand the events that led to the secession war in Nigeria between 1967 and 1970.

An indisputable facts of history is that 99.9% of the January 15, 1966 coup executors were of Igbo ethnic origin and 99.9% of the military officers, as well as 100% of civilians/politicians murdered in the coup were non-Igbo. If we accept your United Nations Convention's definition of genocide to imply intent to destroy in whole or in part an ethnic group, should we not also accept that the coup d'état of 15 January 1966, was targeted against non-Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria and, therefore, a genocidal act was committed?

Consequent to the coup d'état, an Igbo man took the reign of office from a non-Igbo Nigerian which made the majority illiterate Nigerians, including the Igbo themselves, to believe that the Igbo have taken over Nigeria. An Igbo military man was the head of government of Nigeria when riots broke out all over Northern Nigeria from where most of the victims of the genocidal coup of 15 January 1966 came, and directed against the Igbo, on 29 May 1966. Can one reasonably classify the riots that started in the North on 29 May 1966 as genocide against the Igbo when the head of government at the time was an Igbo? After he was overthrown on 29 July 1966, the riots continued in the North because Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon who succeeded him was not recognized by the military Governor of the Eastern Region, Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Ojukwu's opposition undermined and weakened the ability of Gowon to gain control over the entire country. Towards the end of September 1966, a broadcast by radio Cotonou in Benin Republic announced that northerners in Eastern Region were being slaughtered and when that broadcast was relayed by Radio Kaduna, it generated retaliatory actions against the Igbo in the North. By the third of October 1966, riots had subsided and lives had returned to normal. You seem to regard riots in the North between May and October 1966 as a partial genocide and, therefore, you wrote, "The Igbo of Nigeria were targeted but not wiped out." I disagree with you. Igbo were targeted for revenge for what happened in January 1966 and the September 1966 Radio broadcast from Cotonou, even though the revenge was out of proportion, but it was not genocide. The history of the subsequent war of secession never revealed any intent of the federal forces to wipe out the Igbo. Horrible things happened before and during the war on both sides of the divide, but they would never be classified as genocide.

S. Kadiri

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Biko Agozino

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Jan 1, 2019, 4:25:58 PM1/1/19

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The discussion going on in this forum about genocide against the Igbo in Biafra has never been held by the leftwing nor by the rightwing of the Cockroach despite calls from the likes of Soyinka, Ekwe-Ekwe, Achebe, Nzimiro, Madunagu, and scores of foreign writers. There is no other society in which 3.1 million people would be killed in 30 months of state-sponsored mass violence without thorough historical debates by intellectuals to take positionds beyond academic exercises around definitions and the clarification of concepts. When murderous African intellectuals mention Biafra and the genocide against the Igbo, it is often to deny that it took place, or to suggest that the Igbo asked for it, or to warn that such a discussion is against national interests. No one has boldly claimed that genocide is a good thing that should be visited on his or her own national group.

In the summer of 2013, five political parties from Nigeria held a town hall meeting in London. A presidential aspirant from one of the parties asked the audience to identify the major problems facing Nigeria and the possible solutions. One problem identified was that Nigeria killed 3.1 million Igbo people during the 30 months of the Nigeria-Biafra conflict but that the state and the politicians have not expressed any apology or offered any atonement to the survivors. Was any of the political parties present ready to commit to offer such a national apology and offer reparative justice to the survivors if elected into office?

Incredibly, a governor who was representing his party at the town hall while aspiring to run for the presidency answered that the killing of the Igbo was in retaliation for the killing of the leaders of other regions by military officers of Igbo descent during the January 1966 coup. He went on to say that other military coups by military officers have killed or overthrown leaders from other regions and yet no genocide has been visited against their ethnic groups as retaliation. He concluded that the Igbo had been punished enough for their foolishness but he did not offer any apology or promise any atonement to be offered to the survivors should he be elected president.

The main problem with this ideological support for genocidism is that it is widespread among literate elites in Nigeria. So long as the elites try to justify the unjustifiable killing of 3.1 million innocent Nigerians because of their ethnicity, for so long would the conscience of Nigerians be brutalized to the extent that mass violence would be seen as normal. Genocide is a crime against humanity because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The violent seeds sowed against the Igbo are being reaped in mass killings across the country. When the rain falls, it will not fall on one man's housetop.

The rationalization of genocide as justifiable because there was a coup led by Igbo officers has been denied by a Yoruba leader of the coup, Ademoyega, in his book, Why We Struck. There, he revealed that the coup was motivated by the need to stop the mass violence that plagued the Western Region. Their plan was to seize power, release Awolowo from prison, and impose him as the Prime Minister. Most of the coup leaders came from the old Western Region where Awolowo was the Premier and where his policy of free education was popular.

The Igbo officers who were involved in leading the coup were also mainly from the old Western Region but the coup involved officers from all over the country. Moreover, the coup was foiled by Igbo officers who arrested the coup plotters. Finally, the mass killing of the Igbo started in Jos in 1945 and continued in Kano in 1957 long before the coup of 1966 due to what British officials fabricated as the fear of Igbo domination just because the Igbo led the struggle for the restoration of independence. No other ethnic group matches the Igbo in their support for a united Nigeria given the way the Igbo migrate to other parts of the country and given the fact that the Igbo have voted for Northerners, Westerners and South-Southerners for president in large numbers even against Igbo candidates but no other region in Nigeria has reciprocated by voting for an Igbo presidential candidate in large numbers.

The legal definition of genocide by the UN has its uses as a deterrent to dictators, fascists and terrorists. Charges of crimes against humanity can be brought against leaders of genocidal regimes. However, even when such leaders are successfully prosecuted and punished, such legal interventions are merely symbolic because there is no punishment that could fit the crimes of genocide. It is not possible to jail or execute everybody who is implicated in acts of genocide. The vast majority of the perpetrators will always be forgiven such crimes against humanity. That was why Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu preferred the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to punitive justice.

The Justice Oputa Commission in Nigeria tried to approximate the TRC but President Olusegun Obnasanjo underfunded the commission and refused to publish the recommendations. An official version is available online. In it, there is evidence of the demand for reparations to be offered to the survivors of the Igbo genocide. The same Oputa Panel on Human Rights Violations in Nigeria contained documentation of mass violence against other communities in Nigeria and those other communities have been offered billions of naira worth of compensation while amnesties have been offered to militant groups in different parts of the country. Although no evil should be compared with other evils to see which one is the biggest evil, there is no reason why the Nigerian state would offer reparations to communities that have suffered mass violence at the hands of state officials but refuse to do so to the Igbo who suffered the foundational genocide in postcolonial Africa.

Oputa Panel Report

In other words, one resolution that would bring everyone together on this issue is to demand that the Nigerian government allocate funding for the study of the genocide against the Igbo and for atonement to be offered to the survivors in the interest of all Nigerians. Such reparative justice may not satisfy everyone but it is more likely to help to heal some of the wounds while serving as a teaching moment for the rest of the country to emphasize that all African lives matter all the time. No one would lose any personal privileges when Nigeria finally admits that what was done to the Igbo was evil and takes steps to end the marginalization of the Igbo since the end of the war.

If Yakubu Gowon had committed a fraction of what was spent to wage the genocidal war towards the rehabilitation of the survivors after the initial stage of the genocide, there may have been no civil war. A percentage of what the corrupt politicians steal every year from the public purse could meet the budget for a symbolic admission of wrong-doing and cover atonement for the Igbo who do not obsess about revenge or anger but have relied on their own efforts to rebuild their communities in record time. It is the ones who committed the genocide against the Igbo who still preach Igbophobia and issue expulsion threats against the Igbo, deport them from other parts of the country, or ask why they themselves are now being targeted for mass killings by their allies with whom they committed genocide against the Igbo?

Intellectuals do not have to wait for the genocidal state to take action before initiating a body of work on conceptual clarifications, theory building and scholar-activism so that we can convincingly say, never again would millions of fellow Africans by killed or targeted for elimination by state-sponsored forces while the murderous intellectuals riding on the leftwing or the rightwing of the Cockroach maintain what Soyinka condemned as the 'awful silence.'

Biko

On Tuesday, 1 January 2019, 9:19, "Kissi, Edward" <eki...@usf.edu> wrote:

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!!!

Glad to be back. But while away, I followed the interesting conversation on various issues here including the ongoing discussion on Biafra and genocide. I recall that this issue has come up in this Forum before. I remember my contribution to it and Kenneth Harrow’s as well. I have resisted the urge to offer a thought until I read Gloria's scenarios, and her instructive counsel that we fully understand the concept of genocide (and I would add its genealogy) before we conflate it with war crimes and other crimes against humanity.

I tend to agree with Gloria because “conceptual conflation”--- the appropriation of the word “genocide” as a descriptor of all forms of mass killing, without any careful distinctions, because of the word’s emotive force and the moral and legal claims it grants victims----continues to undermine the study and understanding of genocide.

Gloria’s scenarios warrant reflection. They imply, accurately in my view, that not all mass murders rise to the conceptual threshold of a genocide. Not least is that war crimes and genocide are not the same, conceptually, although they have the same outcome. They lead to death and cause suffering and trauma to the direct victims and their descendants. Medical doctors do not conflate two or more different diseases that cause suffering and call all of them by one name that grabs public attention. And the study of genocide should not be reduced to an intellectual exercise in mortality statistics. It is not a body count concept. Thus, Gloria’s scenarios and advice are consistent with the many issues Martin Shaw discusses in his book What is Genocide?

Finally, let me add that the 1948 UN definition of genocide was the result of a political compromise between the United States, France, and Britain on one side, and the Soviet Union, Poland and Iran on the other. For students of genocide studies, the UN Genocide Convention is not the sole authority on what constitutes genocide. Even in recent cases of adjudication of the crime of genocide, criminal tribunals drew upon other social science concepts of genocide. In fact Ethiopia, the first nation to sign the UN Convention, redefined Article 2 of the Genocide Convention in its Penal Code of 1951. The Ethiopian concept of genocide is, therefore, much broader, and includes protection of political groups, than the UN Convention that does not protect or criminalize the destruction of an armed political or secessionist group. The Soviet delegation insisted on the exclusion of protection for political groups in the UN Genocide Convention. But, can a state or non-state group convert real ethnic or religious groups into political enemies to be destroyed? Yes, but as Gloria suggests we need to “identify the variables.”

Gloria’s scenarios also underscore two critical features of genocide studies. One, genocides are not committed solely by states or national governments as Raphael Lemkin originally thought. Two, non-state entities such as armed rebel or secessionist groups can commit a genocide too. So we need to get a fine grasp of the concept of genocide before we use it.

One way to get that grasp is to look at the three major ways in which genocide is studied and understood.

1. Raphael Lemkin’s original definition of genocide in his only book: Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. In it, the creator of the word “genocide” suggests that the crime can actually occur without a single individual killed or physically destroyed. He did not emphasize a body count (outcome) but rather process---a “coordinated plan of several actions” undertaken by a state to undermine “the essential foundations of the life” of a target group. Lemkin meant acts that included the destruction of a group’s culture and the replacement of it with the colonizers’ language and ways of life. This is Lemkin’s original concept of genocide that the US, France and Britain feared and opposed and, thus, advocated for a legalistic concept of genocide based on specific and provable intent in a court of law. See the work of Leo Kuper for a grasp of how the international law of genocide evolved.

2. The idea of genocide in the UN Genocide Convention of 1948 and its narrow and strict focus on “the intent to destroy a group in whole or in part.”

3. The many definitions of genocide proposed by scholars of genocide studies (including my own in “Obligation to Prevent,” African Security Review, 2016). Although social science definitions of genocide such as Shaw’s, Charny’s, Chalk’s and Jonassohn’s, Stanton’s, Stotten’s, Kissi’s, etc, do not have the force of law, they reveal the limits of the existing law of genocide as the site for the retrieval of adequate knowledge about genocide and the genocidal process.

Edward Kissi

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kwame zulu shabazz

Sent: Monday, December 31, 2018 11:03 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Gloria,

That wasnt exactly my point. In my initial post regarding Biafra, I said that it seems to fit the UN definition of genocide. As a legal matter, one would need to produce evidence that Igbos were targeted for elimination. I then replied to Ken and suggested that a commonsense idea of genocide, as distinct from the formal UN definition, seems to have as it criteria the targeting *and actual elimination* of a people (This is speculative on my part. I cant say with any certainty how people understand genocide). As an example, I cited the indigenous people of the southwestern US who were targeted and wiped out.

All Black Lives Matter,

brother shabazz

Pronouns: African

On Dec 31, 2018 6:48 PM, "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emea...@ccsu.edu> wrote:

"i must say it saddens me to see such deepseated dissension still today about whether the case of biafra

was one of genocide when so many people died under tragic conditions."harrow

Does Yemen not fit the above definition? Many died and are dying under tragic conditions.
The "Houtis" constitute a sectarian religious group with Shiite leanings, opposed to
the Sunni government faction and the Saudi camp..

If genocide   is defined by a large body count in tragic conditions, Iraq in terms of the two Gulf
wars will make the list, too, especially given the difference in ethnicity of the belligerents - and the huge body count.

Was Biafra a target because of the ethnic identity of the people, therein, or because of its secessionist declaration - or both? Given the huge body count does this matter?

Kwame, Should we disqualify Biafra because there was no major reduction in the Igbo population, will that disqualify African American claims, too?

Scenario One
A   small population of 1,000 people loses 800 members in the course of open warfare with people of the same religion and ethnicity. Let us say that this one was a border war, and that the other side may have lost as many. Does this qualify as genocide?

Scenario Two
A population of 1,000 people loses 800 members while fighting people of a different race, ethnicity or religion over a border dispute with no planned intention to exterminate on either side. Does this qualify as genocide?

Scenario Three
A population of 1,000 people loses 800 members while fighting people of a different race, ethnicity or religion over a border dispute with the intention to exterminate. Does this qualify as genocide?

This may seem to be an exercise in semantics by some but I believe we need to identify the variables
associated with the concept before using it. The other option, of course, is to declare all wars as genocide, given the fact that countless numbers of   people die in the process.

GE

Ogedi Ohajekwe

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Jan 1, 2019, 9:18:57 PM1/1/19

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Major Ademoyega was one of the five majors involved in the coup.

In his book(why we struck) he actually said that he was one of the core three that began the planning and then involved others.

He is not Igbo.

He is Yoruba.

Awolowo, the Yoruba leader at the time was in prison in Calabar(within easy reach of the coup plotters) and he was not targeted.

Nigeria should be able to commission a group to look into the immediate and remote causes of the coups and the eventual war, if they are interested in dealing with reality.

We can then discuss facts instead of half truths and the unrelenting attempt to drown us in DEDUCTIONS.

Igbo man, Ojukwu foiled the coup in the North.

Igbo man, Ironsi foiled the coup in Lagos.

The battalion that carried out the coup in the north was headed by an Igbo but the rest of his men were not Igbo- Nzeogwu said that his men could have easily shot him(Nzeogwu) if they did not believe in the mission.

Again your 99.99999% must be another deduction?

Harrow, Kenneth

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Jan 1, 2019, 10:18:00 PM1/1/19

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dear all,

a question.

is it totally necessary to frame the biafran conflict just in terms of ethnicity? were the igbos who were targeted biafrans. were those targeting them nigerian nationalists? was it the east of nigeria, and where the conflict also involved other non-igbos who fought on both sides.

it is a question that occurred to me because especially with the last postings, it is being framed entirely around ethnicity, and major ethnicities at that. i have a friend who survived the holocaust of world war II. his mother was jewish, but both parents were german, and he is careful now to specify that those who carried out the holocaust--that is, planned it, executed it--were nazis, not germans. after all, he and his parents were germans. does that qualification apply to the biafran genocide?

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2019 8:54:05 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Jan 1, 2019, 11:10:58 PM1/1/19

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It seems that being the plaintiff, the judge and the jury, at the same time , is inescapable when you are directly affected.

BTW I don’t know what cockroach means here.I know that one side called the other by that name in the case of the Rwanda conflict but I doubt that is the context here. It shouldn’t be.

Kissi, your literature review is very illuminating. Thank you. I was not aware of some of it.

Gloria Emeagwali

From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2019 4:13:11 PM

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jan 2, 2019, 7:56:34 AM1/2/19

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Ken

There is agreement on all sides contrary to your suggestion that the deaths I of civilians in Biafra is condemnable. The disagreement has always been who should take responsibility.

Those who think the Biafran leaders and military high command are responsible cite cases of food drops by the Nigerian fed govt being diverted to feed Biafran soldiers in order to prolong the war.

It is the surviving Biafran soldiers and leaders who should stand trial on charges of war crimes and NOT genocide.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <har...@msu.edu>

Date: 30/12/2018 23:11 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

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dear kwame, et al

the un defn of genocide could be applied when a very small number of people are involved, if they are targeted because of their ethnicity, etc. that seems a weakness in the defn.

i also think we all have an intuitive sense of genocide, which occurs when "they" are trying to wipe "us" out. i am happier with this simple way of thinking about it.

in the case of german history, in africa, we could argue that real genocide was intended and carried out against the herroros. for arendt, that was the first genocide in history, but maybe she was wrong.

the cherokees were targets, among many other native peoples, in the u.s. long before the herroros. think about the slaughter of buffalos, intended to starve the indians! what brutality.

and i know all of us could cite many other cases.

i must say it saddens me to see such deepseated dissension still today about whether the case of biafra was one of genocide when so many people died under tragic conditions. it was an historical crime and tragedy. i won't enter into the debate about who was at fault--i've read the comments and see no clear path to convince one side or the other to join together in condemning the deaths. in a sense until that happens we won't have true reconciliation.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.un.org_en_genocideprevention_genocide.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=Zy8I_UX8z9DLbmf5YJ0EIg&m=RQ4CYBr6uh9Wi9RnfVWqtwimLgc80jBm_rI3nqMPp8w&s=yLUcr1JU8lBmRFWeVri7sRK7bQmKi1JKVhUMAFQ7Ztw&e=

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of kwame zulu shabazz <kwames...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2018 2:04:27 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Sister Gloria,

Here is a definition of genocide from the UN:

"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."

If we accept this definition, then the test would be proving that a specific racial, ethnic, religious or national group was targeted.

Biafra and South Sudan would be candidates because, arguably, Igbos were targeted in Nigeria and non-Muslims were targeted in South Sudan. I say "arguably" because it would be up to the respective groups to support their case with evidence.

Syria, Iraq, Yemen are all horrific, but they dont seem to fit the UN definition. A specific group like the Kurds fit the UN criteria.

In New Zealand, the Māori were virtually wiped out (reduced to about 14% of population) and replaced by whites. This is a clear case of genocide.

African Americans made an official charge of genocide against the US govt in 1951. Signatories to the document included W.E.B. Du Bois, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, and Claudia Jones. You can read the entire document here:

"We Charge Genocide"

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_We-2DCharge-2DGenocide-2D1970_page_n1&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=Zy8I_UX8z9DLbmf5YJ0EIg&m=RQ4CYBr6uh9Wi9RnfVWqtwimLgc80jBm_rI3nqMPp8w&s=5A57lLQeDksJUNPEFCcJhDgrcMxCMI3c66KORLdw9YA&e=

Some of us believe the US govt plotted to assassinate Malcolm X because of his potential as a pan-Africanist, his growing influence in the Muslim world, and his plan to take our (African American) case to the UN.

All Black Lives Matter,

brother shabazz
Pronouns: African

--
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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jan 2, 2019, 7:56:34 AM1/2/19

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IKen.

I have always còndemned the killings of Easterners in the North before the Biafran war to avenge the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello and other politicians and northern military officers. It was criminal and genocidal in intent. I have said the files of murder investigations are never closed and if culprits can be identified they MUST be brought forward to face trial.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <har...@msu.edu>

Date: 30/12/2018 23:11 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

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dear kwame, et al

the un defn of genocide could be applied when a very small number of people are involved, if they are targeted because of their ethnicity, etc. that seems a weakness in the defn.

i also think we all have an intuitive sense of genocide, which occurs when "they" are trying to wipe "us" out. i am happier with this simple way of thinking about it.

in the case of german history, in africa, we could argue that real genocide was intended and carried out against the herroros. for arendt, that was the first genocide in history, but maybe she was wrong.

the cherokees were targets, among many other native peoples, in the u.s. long before the herroros. think about the slaughter of buffalos, intended to starve the indians! what brutality.

and i know all of us could cite many other cases.

i must say it saddens me to see such deepseated dissension still today about whether the case of biafra was one of genocide when so many people died under tragic conditions. it was an historical crime and tragedy. i won't enter into the debate about who was at fault--i've read the comments and see no clear path to convince one side or the other to join together in condemning the deaths. in a sense until that happens we won't have true reconciliation.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.un.org_en_genocideprevention_genocide.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=Zy8I_UX8z9DLbmf5YJ0EIg&m=RQ4CYBr6uh9Wi9RnfVWqtwimLgc80jBm_rI3nqMPp8w&s=yLUcr1JU8lBmRFWeVri7sRK7bQmKi1JKVhUMAFQ7Ztw&e=

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of kwame zulu shabazz <kwames...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2018 2:04:27 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Sister Gloria,

Here is a definition of genocide from the UN:

"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."

If we accept this definition, then the test would be proving that a specific racial, ethnic, religious or national group was targeted.

Biafra and South Sudan would be candidates because, arguably, Igbos were targeted in Nigeria and non-Muslims were targeted in South Sudan. I say "arguably" because it would be up to the respective groups to support their case with evidence.

Syria, Iraq, Yemen are all horrific, but they dont seem to fit the UN definition. A specific group like the Kurds fit the UN criteria.

In New Zealand, the Māori were virtually wiped out (reduced to about 14% of population) and replaced by whites. This is a clear case of genocide.

African Americans made an official charge of genocide against the US govt in 1951. Signatories to the document included W.E.B. Du Bois, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, and Claudia Jones. You can read the entire document here:

"We Charge Genocide"

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_We-2DCharge-2DGenocide-2D1970_page_n1&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=Zy8I_UX8z9DLbmf5YJ0EIg&m=RQ4CYBr6uh9Wi9RnfVWqtwimLgc80jBm_rI3nqMPp8w&s=5A57lLQeDksJUNPEFCcJhDgrcMxCMI3c66KORLdw9YA&e=

Some of us believe the US govt plotted to assassinate Malcolm X because of his potential as a pan-Africanist, his growing influence in the Muslim world, and his plan to take our (African American) case to the UN.

All Black Lives Matter,

brother shabazz
Pronouns: African

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
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Early archives at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.utexas.edu_conferences_africa_ads_index.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=Zy8I_UX8z9DLbmf5YJ0EIg&m=RQ4CYBr6uh9Wi9RnfVWqtwimLgc80jBm_rI3nqMPp8w&s=KIVDXtTmDOywaC_zMe_Mpc6Fqkkabc0_nAffZ51pq8M&e=

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jan 2, 2019, 3:07:24 PM1/2/19

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Goes.

You cannot argue factually against the statistic given below. I have myself argued that the first coup in 1966 was the first compound genocide by a group against their others.

The fact that non Igbo like Ademoyega were lied to using specious Marxist rhetoric to give them a false sense if belonging does not alter the facts. Its about who should be in control at the centre.

If Ironsi did not bow to the ethnic jingoist surrounding him but on assumption of office handed piwer to Nwazor Orizu or the most senior northern politician immediately the coup was 'foiled and pledged loyalty of the military to the new dispensation he would have lived till ripe old age and conferred with several highest national honours.

Instead he missed the opportunity for the most laudory verdict of history. Its similar to Ibrahim Babangida in an interview with Akeredolu- Ale stating that people blame him for annuling the election without giving him credit for organizing the fairest election in Nigerian history. Of course he went through the self serving gesture knowing he would annul it if it did not produce the northern leader he and the northern political hegemony wanted.

And to also respond to Baba Kadari although ethnicity is not what matters Nigerian leaders always play to this gallery and fill sensitive posts with people from their region when better candidates can be found from other regions. Their reasoning is that they are only the political leadership who can be trusted and other ethnicities can do the donkey work.

The problem with this reasoning is that political heads with inadequate intellectual resources do not know what it means to set advancement goals and monitor achievements adequately

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com>

Date: 02/01/2019 02:38 (GMT+00:00)

Subject: Re: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

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Major Ademoyega was one of the five majors involved in the coup.

In his book(why we struck) he actually said that he was one of the core three that began the planning and then involved others.

He is not Igbo.

He is Yoruba.

Awolowo, the Yoruba leader at the time was in prison in Calabar(within easy reach of the coup plotters) and he was not targeted.

Nigeria should be able to commission a group to look into the immediate and remote causes of the coups and the eventual war, if they are interested in dealing with reality.

We can then discuss facts instead of half truths and the unrelenting attempt to drown us in DEDUCTIONS.

Igbo man, Ojukwu foiled the coup in the North.

Igbo man, Ironsi foiled the coup in Lagos.

The battalion that carried out the coup in the north was headed by an Igbo but the rest of his men were not Igbo- Nzeogwu said that his men could have easily shot him(Nzeogwu) if they did not believe in the mission.

Again your 99.99999% must be another deduction?

On Jan 1, 2019, at 9:27 AM, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunl...@hotmail.com> wrote:

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jan 2, 2019, 3:07:28 PM1/2/19

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Ken.

Your clarifications is at the very heart of current interpretations of the first Nigerian Civil War.

Most pro- Biafran activists are now Igbo those I call Biafranists ( more than 99%). The real Biafra had other ethnicities in it who have now moved on and are now proudly Nigerians.

Biafranists are now claiming that such former Biafrans around present day South South region ( Por-tHarcourt) are in part Igbo as if there are no Igbo- Yoruba even within my own family). It's all about the politics of control of the oil region around Port Harcourt so that the stage is being set for demand of common patrimony if the fantasy demands of restructuring leads to semi autonomous Nigerian units these Igbo activists can lay claim to joint patrimony of the oil regions to the exclusion of other Nigerians. They know the core Igbo regions are land locked and might not be economically feasible on their own in a dismembered Nigeria.

They make the same claims about the Yoruba- Igbo melting pot of Nigeria s Mid- West again because it's an oil rich area.

Those who fell to federal bullets and who were victims of the starvation caused by food diversion ploy of Biafran soldiers were not exclusively Igbo any more than claiming that federal troops annihilated by Ogbunigwe local Biafran bombs were exclusively northern Moslems. Yoruba federal troops as well as Tiv and Batoonu troops were equally victims.

Biafranists are fictionalusing the first Nigerian Civil War as exclusively a genocide war against the Igbo and denied the human agency of minority South East and sou South when it suits them to regard these territories and ethnicities as perpetual conquered Igbo territories and ethnicities even till today.

The federal govt recognized this propaganda during the war and this was why they referred to the ' cash cow' territories and non-Igbo ethnicities as liberated once they were captured from Biafran control. Without them the future of Biafra asa a nation was bleak.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <har...@msu.edu>

Date: 02/01/2019 03:33 (GMT+00:00)

Subject: Re: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

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dear all,

a question.

is it totally necessary to frame the biafran conflict just in terms of ethnicity? were the igbos who were targeted biafrans. were those targeting them nigerian nationalists? was it the east of nigeria, and where the conflict also involved other non-igbos who fought on both sides.

it is a question that occurred to me because especially with the last postings, it is being framed entirely around ethnicity, and major ethnicities at that. i have a friend who survived the holocaust of world war II. his mother was jewish, but both parents were german, and he is careful now to specify that those who carried out the holocaust--that is, planned it, executed it--were nazis, not germans. after all, he and his parents were germans. does that qualification apply to the biafran genocide?

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ogedi Ohajekwe <ged...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2019 8:54:05 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

Harrow, Kenneth

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Jan 2, 2019, 5:39:10 PM1/2/19

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olayinka

it is rare in history for a deadly conflict with many deaths to occur without a significant piece of the resources, the money, the oil, etc., being at stake. not the whole story, but a significant part of it. in any event, with some trepidation i made an intervention here, on our list, because i felt so much of the rhetoric turned to yoruba vs igbo, with occasionally muslims or northerners or hausas thrown in for good measure.

when wars occur, ethnic appeals become grounds for mobilization. so that isn't surprising, but biafra ended almost 50 years ago, and peacemaking efforts have to tamp down ethnic identity appeals to lead to reconciliation.

i mentioned not all biafra was igbo not just because it is common knowledge, (which is only what i claim having here; not expertise whatsoever), but prompted by the role of ken saro-wiwa in the war. like many of us i taught Sojaboy more than once, and anyone teaching such a novel reads up on the war. In the States, and especially on my campus at MSU, there was great sympathy and support for the biafran cause and for its victims. so you can imagine my surprise at learning that a hero, for us, saro-wiwa, had become a political leader of port harcourt appointed by the federal govt. To those naively informed like myself, he was on the "wrong side", which certainly complicated any simplistic reading of that novel, and which was further complicated by my learning about the position of the ogoni during the war.

years later saro-wiwa was given an award at the ala conference in accra, and he returned under the threat of the abacha govt, whereas he could have stayed alive in exile. he was a hero in his opposition to that govt and to the oil interests. but still, he made it impossible to read the biafran war as a simple ethnic war as we in the west mostly thought.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 2, 2019 11:12:33 AM

Salimonu Kadiri

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Jan 4, 2019, 4:11:24 AM1/4/19

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For reason(s) yet to be communicated to me, my recent comments have not been posted on this list serve rather, they have been kept in the dialogue's net site. However, I am not discouraged and I will continue to challenge falsehood whenever I find one.

To cynical psychopaths, murder is not horrible if it is not committed in large quantity or in millions whereas normal people will be horrified at a murder of only one person. Biko Agozino asserted, "..... Nigeria killed 3.1 million Igbo people during the 30 months of the Nigeria-Biafra conflict …." As far as we know, there has not been any body counts of how many Igbo were killed during the 30 months of Nigeria-Biafra war (6 July 1967-15 January 1970). From where did Biko Agozino get his figure of 3.1 million Igbo killed in the Nigeria-Biafra war which is now reduced by Biko to conflict? Not even Chinua Achebe was definite on the number of dead Biafrans in the war when he wrote, "At the end of the thirty-month war Biafra was a vast smouldering rubble. The head count at the end of the war was PERHAPS THREE MILLION DEAD, which was approximately 20 percent of the population. This high proportion was mostly children." (p.227, There Was a Country, by Chinua Achebe). I have emboldened in capital letters Achebe's guess of *perhaps three million dead biafrans to emphasize and draw attention to the fact that the figure was uncertain and not verifiable. In a special number 6 note on page 312, Achebe wrote, "Various estimates place the number killed at over two million people." Thereby, Achebe himself admitted to inflating the figure of Biafrans killed during the war by one million. Unlike Biko Agozino who, perhaps, was an infant during the war, Achebe worked closely with the Biafran war leaders and if he could not get actual Biafran war casualties, how then could Biko Agozino get them? Remarkably, Achebe did not restrict his 3 million deaths to the Igbo alone since he was conscious of the fact that Biafra contained even the Ijaw, Ibibio and other minorities forcibly incorporated into Biafra by Ojukwu and that they also died in the war. Therefore, he offered an estimate of perhaps 3 million dead Biafrans and not just the Igbo. It is noteworthy that Achebe said that high proportion of his estimated dead Biafrans were mostly children. That implied that the children were not killed by the federal forces and that they died of starvation because Ojukwu, under whose authority the children lived, could not feed them and he refused to accept food supplies through internationally supervised land routes from Nigeria to Biafra. Therefore, Ojukwu should be held responsible for allowing the children to die of starvation. However, in Biko Agozino's 419 history, Biafra was a homogeneous Igbo country and as such 3.1 million Igbo were killed during the Nigerian-Biafran war. I am yet to discern why Biko Agozino is inventing history and manufacturing figures of Igbo victims of Nigeria-Biafra war and what he wants to achieve with his efforts.

The rationalization of genocide as justifiable because there was a coup by Igbo officers has been denied by A Yoruba leader of the coup, Ademoyega, in his book, Why We Struck. There, he revealed that the coup was motivated by the need to stop the mass violence that plagued the Western Region. Their plan was to seize power, release Awolowo from prison, and impose him as the Prime Minister. Most of the coup leaders came from the old Western Region where Awolowo was the Premier and where his policy of free education was popular.

The Igbo officers who were involved in leading the coup were also mainly from the old Western Region but the coup involved officers from all over the country. Moreover, the coup was foiled by Igbo officers who arrested the coup plotters - Biko Agozino in year 2019.

To begin with, was Major Adewale Ademoyega the leader of the coup of January 15, 1966? The answer is no if one has read Captain Ben Gbulie's book, NIGERIA'S FIVE MAJORS, an inside account of how the coup was organized and executed. The coup plotters divided the country into Northern and Southern zones. The Northern zone was assigned to Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu and he was to be assisted by Major Tim Onwuatuegwu. Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna was to coordinate all activities in the Southern zone and he was to be assisted by Majors Adewale Ademoyega, Humphrey Chukwuka and Don Okafor. Major John Obienu was to deploy his armoured vehicles in support of the officers and men operating in the Southern zone. Ademoyega's role was confined to placing troops to guard key buildings in and around Lagos. Captain Ben Gbulie was together with Majors Nzeogwu and Onwuatuegwu in Kaduna and he took active part in planning and executing the coup. He fought on the side of Biafra during the war as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Biko Agozino claimed that ''most of the coup leaders came from the old Western Region … and concluded that *the Igbo officers who were involved in leading the coup were mainly from the old Western Region .." What does Biko Agozino mean by old Western Region in this context? Employing Biko Agozino's ethnic and political language, it is a fact of history that the Hausa and Igbo controlled federal government declared a six-month State of Emergency in the Western Region on May 29, 1962 and thereby overthrew the Action Group controlled government of the Region. The Igbo Governor General of the federation signed all the 13 Acts of Emergency into law. The Emergency was used as a cover by the federal government to create Midwest Region out of the Western Region without a simultaneous creation of regions for the minorities in the Northern and Eastern Regions. The Yoruba leader of opposition at the federal Parliament was charged and jailed for alleged plan to overthrow the Hausa and Igbo controlled federal government. The new region created out of Western Region in 1963 by the Hausa and Igbo controlled federal coalition government is what Biko Agozino is now mischievously and wrongly referring to as the old Western Region because it contained Igbo speaking people of Asaba and Agbor in the present day Delta State. Forty-five officers ranging in ranks from Majors to sub-Lieutenants took part in the 15 January 1966 coup but I will only concentrate on the ethnic origins of the main executors of the coup here. Beginning with Major Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu, his father, James Okafor Nzeogwu, was an indigene of Obodogwu village, Okpanam in the Old Asaba division while his mother, Elizabeth Mgbeke Okafor was an indigene of Ugbolu village near Okpanam. Although Major Nzeogwu was born, grew up and schooled in Kaduna, he was according to our tradition in Nigeria an Asaba son and person. Nzeogwu killed the Premier of the North, Ahmadu Bello, two of his wives and a security guard. Asaba being the paternal origin of Major Nzeogwu, qualified him to be regarded as hailing from Old Western Region in accordance with Biko Agozino's geography of Nigeria.

Major Chris Anuforo who was known to have killed Featus Oktieboh and Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe, in Lagos, was an Igbo indigene of the Eastern Region stock.

Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, who killed Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Lieutenant Arbogo Largema and Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, in Lagos, was a native of Onitsha.

Major Adewale Ademoyega who detailed troops to guard P&T headquarters in Lagos was a Yoruba man.

Major Humphrey Chukwuka was an Igbo and indigene of Nnobi, in the Eastern Region. He killed Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Pam and Colonel Kuru Mohammed in Lagos.

Major Don Okafor was a native of Umuokpu-Awka in the Eastern Region. He killed two guards attached to the House of Brigadier Maimalari but Maimalari seized the opportunity to escape. He was later caught and killed by Ifeajuna.

Major Tim Onwuatuegwu was an indigene of Nnewi in Eastern Region. He killed Colonel R. A. Sodeinde, wounded his wife seriously, killed Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun and his eight-month pregnant wife, all in Kaduna .

Major John Obienu was a native of Oba in Eastern Region, He betrayed the coup plotters to Ironsi.

Major Chude Sokei was an Igbo from Eastern Region, he was assigned to kill the Premier of the East, Michael Okpara, in Enugu, and the Premier of the Midwest Region, Denis Osadebey, in Benin. He suddenly turned to a pacifist who did not want blood-shed even when he knew his colleagues in the North, Lagos and West were already shedding blood of non-Igbo Nigerians.

Captain Emmanuel Nwora Nwobosi was a native of Obosi in Eastern Region. He killed the Premier of the West, Samuel Ladoke Akintola in Ibadan but spared the life of Remi Fani-Kayode who led him to Akintola's hideout in Ibadan. With the above narratives, it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that Major Adewale Ademoyega did not lead the 15 January 1966 coup, contrary to the assertion of Biko Agozino, although he was part of it. Furthermore, Biko Agozino lied when he asserted that most of the coup leaders and Igbo officers who were involved in the coup were mainly from Midwest Region, which he mischievously renamed Old Western Region. Out of the forty-five officers that took part in the coup, four were from Midwest Region (old Western Region) and only one, Major Nzeogwu played a leading role. The rest three were 2nd Lieutenants, C. Azubuogo, R. Egbikor and H. E. Eghagha, whose roles in the coup were very subordinate. If being a Midwest Igbo disqualified Nzeogwu and others to claim being ethnic Igbo, what then qualified Joe 'Hannibal' Achuzia an Asaba Igbo to fight on behalf of Biafra? Wasn't not Igbo ethnic affinity that made Colonel Conrad Nwawo and others to give Biafran Army free passage to invade Midwest on their way to Lagos?

Biko Agozino asserted that Igbo officers foiled the coup and arrested the coup plotters which is untrue. The coup plotters were infiltrated by the reactionary Diala Igbo led by Johnson Thompson Aguiyi Ironsi. Ben Gbulie narrated how Major Don Okafor and Captain Ogbo Oji had taken measure to prevent any step that might embody killing Ironsi. That was why when Major Humphrey Chukwuka arrived at the home of General Ironsi to kill him, Ironsi was already at Ikeja Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hilary Njoku to mobilize them to steal the coup of the Majors. Major John Obienu, who was supposed to support the Majors with armoured vehicles, joined Ironsi there to steal the steal the successful coup of the Majors. (p. 125-126, Nigeria's Five Majors by Ben Gbulie). The rifle men at Ikeja Battalion were mostly from the Middle-belt and Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon was used to convince the rifle men of the Battalion to help steal the successful coup of the Majors for Ironsi. If the coup was foiled by Igbo officers, as Biko Agozino want us to believe, the civilian regime should have continued and a military government led by an Igbo would not have emerged. Ironsi knew that the Prime Minister, Balewa, had been killed and since he claimed to have foiled the coup, the appropriate constitutional step for him to take must have been to provide security for the Parliament to meet and appoint a new Prime Minister among themselves. A police chief cannot become the owner of a property which he claims he has prevented a thief from stealing. An Igbo soldier claimed to have foiled a coup against an Hausa led federal government and, as a result, an Igbo soldier became the leader of the federal government. That was not foiling a coup but seizing a successful coup by force. Major Nzeogwu and his revolutionary comrades apparently never planned an Igbo coup, it was the way the Diala Igbo stole their revolution that turned it into an Igbo coup.

The 15 January 1966 aborted revolution and seizure of government by ethnic supremacists led to a counter reactionary coup from which the civil war emanated. Many innocent lives were lost on both sides. Since the civil war ended, almost 49 years ago, the political developments in Nigeria have advanced beyond what happened before and during the war. Before his death, Ojukwu contested presidential elections in Nigeria twice (in 2007 and 2011 under the platform of his political party APGA), a country he had sought to fragment into pieces by force. People of ethnic Igbo have held various important positions in the country, except that of the President. For those of us who do not care about the ethnic origin of the President but his/her competence and ability to perform to the satisfaction of all citizens, we do not think it is marginalization that an Igbo person has not been a president after the war, taken into account that we have around 300 ethnic groups and many have never even been Vice President as the Igbo. Biko Agozino wrote, "No other ethnic group matches the Igbo in their support for a united Nigeria given the way the Igbo migrate to other parts of the country..." Are all migrations in the world supports for a united world? Migration internally or externally by any individual is for personal interest. Achebe, on page 75 of his book, There Is a Country, narrates the cause of Igbo migration to other parts of Nigeria thus, "The population density in Igbo land created a *land hunger* - a pressure on their low-fertility, laterite-laden soil for cultivation, housing, and other purposes, factors that led ultimately to migration to other parts of the nation..." In fact, the Igbo have always been welcomed with open hands in every part of Nigeria they choose to live, but problems have always arisen whenever Diala Igbo wanted to ride roughshod over the people of their host communities with the intent to make OHU, slaves, out of them. To call a resistance against being enslaved hatred of the enslaver is, to me, somehow inconsiderate and insensitive.

Biko Agozino is claiming that Nigeria committed genocide against the Igbo during the 30-month civil war that he dubbed 'conflict.' The leading actor of the war from Biafra side never saw any genocide committed against the Igbo. Addressing his Consultative Assembly at the end of September 1968, Biafran leader,Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu said, "Our real victories lies in our ability to prevent the extermination of our people by a heartless enemy. In so far as these aims are concerned, we have not failed." (p.353, Biafra: Ojukwu's Selected Speeches, Volume 1). When Ojukwu was asked by Barnaby Philips in a BBC interview of 13 January 2000 if he felt any responsibility for the war, he retorted, "Responsibility for what went on - how could I feel responsible in a situation in which I put myself out and saved the people from genocide? No I don't feel responsible at all. I did my best." I don't know from where Biko Agozino has obtained his evidence of genocide against the Igbo but I am inclined to believe that, like Hitler who repudiated the Versailles treaty of 1919 and therefore, planned the 2nd World War, Biko Agozino is repudiating the no victor no vanquish end of the Nigeria-Biafra war and intends to start a new war among Nigerians.

S. Kadiri

Från: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Skickat: den 1 januari 2019 22:13
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Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Unfair Asian Critiques of Adichie

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jan 4, 2019, 9:10:47 AM1/4/19

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Alagba Kadiri:

Two questions requiring clarifications:

What is the significance of Dials Igbo in the Igbo nation?

Second, If the original 5 revolutionary majors did not plan an Igbo coup but intended a national revolution inspired by the Bolshevik model how many northerners were recruited and involved in the coup? The North is not an insignificant minor province of Nigeria is it?

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Salimonu Kadiri <ogunl...@hotmail.com>

Date: 04/01/2019 09:26 (GMT+00:00)