My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers Of New Biafra”
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Chidi Anthony Opara
Jan 5, 2012, 2:02:33 PM1/5/12
to USA Dialogue Series
The bright beautiful rising sun
From behind the hills
Beckons on battle ready
Soldiers of new Biafra.
Balancing on the bright morning sky,
Her beautiful smiles
Beam on brand new Biafra,
Bringing a balm
For our broken freedom.
As our eyes
Are gazed skywards
O' mother Sun,
Minister to the wish
Of our mangled spirits,
That we may again
March on merchandize
Of merchants of servitude,
And vanquish our victors.
This is our supplication,
O' mother Sun,
Supplication of soldiers
Of new Biafra.
From behind the hills
Beckons on battle ready
Soldiers of new Biafra.
Balancing on the bright morning sky,
Her beautiful smiles
Beam on brand new Biafra,
Bringing a balm
For our broken freedom.
As our eyes
Are gazed skywards
O' mother Sun,
Minister to the wish
Of our mangled spirits,
That we may again
March on merchandize
Of merchants of servitude,
And vanquish our victors.
This is our supplication,
O' mother Sun,
Supplication of soldiers
Of new Biafra.
JIBRIN IBRAHIM
Jan 5, 2012, 5:03:31 PM1/5/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
See attached
--
Jibrin Ibrahim PhD
Director
Centre for Democracy and Development
4, Kikuyu Close,
Off Nairobi Street, Off Parakou Crescent
Off Aminu Kano Crescent
Wuse ll
P.O.Box 14345, Wuse
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel- + 234 (0) 9 6716454
Fax- +234 (0) 9 4619687
--
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Jibrin Ibrahim PhD
Director
Centre for Democracy and Development
4, Kikuyu Close,
Off Nairobi Street, Off Parakou Crescent
Off Aminu Kano Crescent
Wuse ll
P.O.Box 14345, Wuse
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel- + 234 (0) 9 6716454
Fax- +234 (0) 9 4619687
toyin adepoju
Jan 5, 2012, 11:01:41 PM1/5/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for this, Chidi.
Would you like to outline what you mean by 'New Biafra'?
Biafra is often described in monolithic terms that suggest it has the same geographical, political and economic meaning for everyone, when in fact, one of the fundamental challenges of Biafra as it existed in 1967 to 1970 was that it meant different things to various actors of the time.
What Biafra meant to the average Biafran might not be identical to what it meant to the Biafran leadership.
Biafra might not have had identical meanings for members of the Biafran leadership, either, as indicated by the sharp differences of opinion about Biafra expressed by various Biafran leaders and elite.
One may describe the problems or failure in addressing those contradictions as to what led to the fall of Biafra.
I would think that for the Biafran dream to demonstrate a realistic contemporary validity, even if primarily as a mental vision or ideal, the concept of Biafra needs to be reexamined.
I realise that my responses to Biafra make people think I am anti-Biafra and anti-Igbo, but if the Biafran leadership had been adequately sensitive to the dissenting, marginalised voices within in its camp, or to those outside its camp who counseled a more reflective approach, the Biafran tragedy is not likely to have occured.
thanks
toyin
Would you like to outline what you mean by 'New Biafra'?
Biafra is often described in monolithic terms that suggest it has the same geographical, political and economic meaning for everyone, when in fact, one of the fundamental challenges of Biafra as it existed in 1967 to 1970 was that it meant different things to various actors of the time.
What Biafra meant to the average Biafran might not be identical to what it meant to the Biafran leadership.
Biafra might not have had identical meanings for members of the Biafran leadership, either, as indicated by the sharp differences of opinion about Biafra expressed by various Biafran leaders and elite.
One may describe the problems or failure in addressing those contradictions as to what led to the fall of Biafra.
I would think that for the Biafran dream to demonstrate a realistic contemporary validity, even if primarily as a mental vision or ideal, the concept of Biafra needs to be reexamined.
I realise that my responses to Biafra make people think I am anti-Biafra and anti-Igbo, but if the Biafran leadership had been adequately sensitive to the dissenting, marginalised voices within in its camp, or to those outside its camp who counseled a more reflective approach, the Biafran tragedy is not likely to have occured.
thanks
toyin
--
Chidi Anthony Opara
Jan 6, 2012, 5:23:44 AM1/6/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
"Would you like to outline what you mean by 'New Biafra'?"
-----Toyin Adepoju,
Toyin,
I will not, that is for critics.Be well,
Chidi.
From: toyin adepoju <toyin....@googlemail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2012 5:01 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers Of New Biafra”
Cornelius Hamelberg
Jan 6, 2012, 7:49:56 AM1/6/12
to USA Africa Dialogue Series
What would have been your beef with Chidi if he had written “Old
Biafra”?
You don't have to feel a lump in your throat to have to read aloud,
New Biafra.
After all there's New Caledonia, New Delhi, New York, New Orleans, New
Zealand, New Mexico, Papua New Guinea, and the witnesses even talk
about a New Heaven and a New Earth.....
Why get worried, politically thrilled or distraught and devastated
just because poet Chidi adds
“new” to the dream of his ancestral homeland? Please give his
imagination, his hope and faith, some poetic license – after all if he
wanted to write a new prophetic or revolutionary essay or book
entitled “The New Biafra” for his political science professor, he
could do that and then to delve into his meanings, you’d have to
purchase the book... more money to Chidi instead of wanting to consult
his radical political ideas about freedom, for free....just because
you would like to disembowel the idea of a New Biafra?
Nota Bene: This is the power of poetry, of mind over matter. Biafra is
new because Chidi says so – New Biafra cannot mean anything else....
Like old wine in a new bottle:
http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&cp=10&gs_id=7&xhr=t&q=New+Biafra&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&site=&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=New+Biafra&aq=0v&aqi=g-v4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=440660d03c957758&biw=1280&bih=861
On Jan 6, 11:23 am, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> "Would you like to outline what you mean by 'New Biafra'?"
>
> -----Toyin Adepoju,
>
> Toyin,I will not, that is for critics.
> >>For current archives, visithttp://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Biafra”?
You don't have to feel a lump in your throat to have to read aloud,
New Biafra.
After all there's New Caledonia, New Delhi, New York, New Orleans, New
Zealand, New Mexico, Papua New Guinea, and the witnesses even talk
about a New Heaven and a New Earth.....
Why get worried, politically thrilled or distraught and devastated
just because poet Chidi adds
“new” to the dream of his ancestral homeland? Please give his
imagination, his hope and faith, some poetic license – after all if he
wanted to write a new prophetic or revolutionary essay or book
entitled “The New Biafra” for his political science professor, he
could do that and then to delve into his meanings, you’d have to
purchase the book... more money to Chidi instead of wanting to consult
his radical political ideas about freedom, for free....just because
you would like to disembowel the idea of a New Biafra?
Nota Bene: This is the power of poetry, of mind over matter. Biafra is
new because Chidi says so – New Biafra cannot mean anything else....
Like old wine in a new bottle:
http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&cp=10&gs_id=7&xhr=t&q=New+Biafra&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&site=&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=New+Biafra&aq=0v&aqi=g-v4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=440660d03c957758&biw=1280&bih=861
On Jan 6, 11:23 am, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> "Would you like to outline what you mean by 'New Biafra'?"
>
> -----Toyin Adepoju,
>
>
> Be well,
> Chidi.
>
> About Me
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >________________________________
> > From: toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
> Be well,
> Chidi.
>
> About Me
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >________________________________
> >To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> >Sent: Friday, January 6, 2012 5:01 AM
> >Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers Of New Biafra”
>
> >Thanks for this, Chidi.
>
> >Would you like to outline what you mean by 'New Biafra'?
>
> >Biafra is often described in monolithic terms that suggest it has the same geographical, political and economic meaning for everyone, when in fact, one of the fundamental challenges of Biafra as it existed in 1967 to 1970 was that it meant different things to various actors of the time.
>
> >What Biafra meant to the average Biafran might not be identical to what it meant to the Biafran leadership.
>
> >Biafra might not have had identical meanings for members of the Biafran leadership, either, as indicated by the sharp differences of opinion about Biafra expressed by various Biafran leaders and elite.
>
> >One may describe the problems or failure in addressing those contradictions as to what led to the fall of Biafra.
>
> >I would think that for the Biafran dream to demonstrate a realistic contemporary validity, even if primarily as a mental vision or ideal, the concept of Biafra needs to be reexamined.
>
> >I realise that my responses to Biafra make people think I am anti-Biafra and anti-Igbo, but if the Biafran leadership had been adequately sensitive to the dissenting, marginalised voices within in its camp, or to those outside its camp who counseled a more reflective approach, the Biafran tragedy is not likely to have occured.
>
> >thanks
>
> >toyin
>
> >Sent: Friday, January 6, 2012 5:01 AM
> >Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers Of New Biafra”
>
> >Thanks for this, Chidi.
>
> >Would you like to outline what you mean by 'New Biafra'?
>
> >Biafra is often described in monolithic terms that suggest it has the same geographical, political and economic meaning for everyone, when in fact, one of the fundamental challenges of Biafra as it existed in 1967 to 1970 was that it meant different things to various actors of the time.
>
> >What Biafra meant to the average Biafran might not be identical to what it meant to the Biafran leadership.
>
> >Biafra might not have had identical meanings for members of the Biafran leadership, either, as indicated by the sharp differences of opinion about Biafra expressed by various Biafran leaders and elite.
>
> >One may describe the problems or failure in addressing those contradictions as to what led to the fall of Biafra.
>
> >I would think that for the Biafran dream to demonstrate a realistic contemporary validity, even if primarily as a mental vision or ideal, the concept of Biafra needs to be reexamined.
>
> >I realise that my responses to Biafra make people think I am anti-Biafra and anti-Igbo, but if the Biafran leadership had been adequately sensitive to the dissenting, marginalised voices within in its camp, or to those outside its camp who counseled a more reflective approach, the Biafran tragedy is not likely to have occured.
>
> >thanks
>
> >toyin
>
> >>For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
> >>To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
> >>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
> >>unsub...@googlegroups.com
> >--
> >You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
> >For current archives, visithttp://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
> >For previous archives, visithttp://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
> >>To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
> >>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
> >>unsub...@googlegroups.com
> >--
> >You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
> >For current archives, visithttp://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Nkolika Ebele
Jan 6, 2012, 10:48:38 AM1/6/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin.
Nkolika
From: JIBRIN IBRAHIM <jib...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2012 10:03 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers Of New Biafra”
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2012 10:03 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers Of New Biafra”
Chidi Anthony Opara
Jan 6, 2012, 1:45:29 PM1/6/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
"This
is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the subsidy
oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise and
shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin".
.........Nkolika
Madam,
If you are referring to the poem, it was written by me not Jubrin.
Chidi.
Madam,
If you are referring to the poem, it was written by me not Jubrin.
Chidi.
From: Nkolika Ebele <nkol...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2012 4:48 PM
toyin adepoju
Jan 6, 2012, 4:10:15 PM1/6/12
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Get real, Cornelius.
You are playing the same old game that a person asking another person to clarify his position must be that person's enemy.
There is no progress when people insist that 'if you dont agree with me 100 percent you are my enemy.'
And please do get off language like 'disembowel the idea of a New Biafra'. How can you justify that violent language with reference to my carefully stated descriptions of the contradictions represented by the Biafra of 1967 to 1970?
It is also helpful to hesitate before making unjustified correlations as you do between the 'New Biafra' concept and the list of 'News' you draw up.
This is not a game of wit.
Biafra is a live issue in current Nigerian political discourse and needs to be carefully examined.
Its not something for knee jerk reactions.
You would have been more helpful to yourself and others if you had asked me to explain what I meant by the multiple and contradictory conceptions entertained about the original Biafran vision and why those contradictions need to be addressed in the present.
Chidi has every right to his imaginative vision but that vision cannot be divorced from the political context within which it operates, which is that, according to some Biafra enthusiasts, the idea of Biafra remains an idea awaiting actualisation.
Chidi might be making a mistake in choosing not to take the opportunity to expound his vision about a new Biafra. There is a difference between critical study of the structure, content and implications of a poem and the poet's exposition of their own ideological vision.
I wonder if the content of the poem is enough to justify his response that such exposition should be left to the critics. Critics have to have a basis for drawing conclusions. Unless Chidi has written other poems where he has developed his Biafra vision in greater detail, the critics might not have much to go on.
thanks
toyin
You are playing the same old game that a person asking another person to clarify his position must be that person's enemy.
There is no progress when people insist that 'if you dont agree with me 100 percent you are my enemy.'
And please do get off language like 'disembowel the idea of a New Biafra'. How can you justify that violent language with reference to my carefully stated descriptions of the contradictions represented by the Biafra of 1967 to 1970?
It is also helpful to hesitate before making unjustified correlations as you do between the 'New Biafra' concept and the list of 'News' you draw up.
This is not a game of wit.
Biafra is a live issue in current Nigerian political discourse and needs to be carefully examined.
Its not something for knee jerk reactions.
You would have been more helpful to yourself and others if you had asked me to explain what I meant by the multiple and contradictory conceptions entertained about the original Biafran vision and why those contradictions need to be addressed in the present.
Chidi has every right to his imaginative vision but that vision cannot be divorced from the political context within which it operates, which is that, according to some Biafra enthusiasts, the idea of Biafra remains an idea awaiting actualisation.
Chidi might be making a mistake in choosing not to take the opportunity to expound his vision about a new Biafra. There is a difference between critical study of the structure, content and implications of a poem and the poet's exposition of their own ideological vision.
I wonder if the content of the poem is enough to justify his response that such exposition should be left to the critics. Critics have to have a basis for drawing conclusions. Unless Chidi has written other poems where he has developed his Biafra vision in greater detail, the critics might not have much to go on.
thanks
toyin
Cornelius Hamelberg
Jan 6, 2012, 7:25:09 PM1/6/12
to USA Africa Dialogue Series
Get real, Toyin Adepoju;
This not a game of wit/s or a time for poetic conceits or the
witchdoctor either. Give me the word and I'll churn out a new long
poem called "New Biafra" Just say it and I'll do it for you and for
fun.
Yeah, violence in thought via violence in language often leads to
violence in action, Hutu versus Tutsi style. Don’t we all know it?
Enemies are not fantasies. By what extrasensory perception do you
intuit that that I'm the sort of simpleton who believes that “a person
If it's poetry that we're talking about, you don't have to agree with
me about anything. Please feel free.
I am as familiar with the Biafra saga and as concerned as you about
the present situation in Nigeria. Don't you ever mistake, exaggerate
or downgrade that.
The recent passing away of the Biafra leader has once more brought
the Biafra of history to the forefront – and as you must be aware,
some of the causes for the Biafra adventure have still not gone away
- with your Boko people in full battledress array bombing churches,
terrorising innocent people and battling it out with the Christians
who they say must leave the Muslim Northern enclaves. Déjà vu ?
Now you want to deny that should Chidi say e.g. “ Yes Biafra must
ride again” you are not all lined up and eager - to “disembowel the
idea of a New Biafra”?
It seems to me that there in Wittgenstein's Cambridge, you are
experiencing some problem with the English language – disembowelling
an idea or a proposition is not such “violent language” after all -
not even surgically speaking, so please try to distinguish the word
( moon) from the reality, the scared image (Christ on the cross/ the
crucifix) from the pain of the actual crucifixion. Start jiving around
with metaphors without getting into hermeneutic hysteria about even
plain, innocuous manners of speaking. For that reason alone, I never
comment or interfere with your usual hermeneutic drift. I do not have
any uncontrollable urge to “teach”
You started the same kind of tittle-tattle when Chidi joked or
iconoclastically wrote his tongue-in-cheek piece (“Who Is This
Professor Toyin Falola? “) -soon after Professor Falola had been
awarded yet again another prestigious academic acknowledgement and
you felt called upon to “protect” La Vonda ( who needs no protection)
as a misunderstood Lady-in-distress and you as her cultural ambassador
to explain where she’s' coming from. That in her culture, meritocracy
( in academia) occupies a supreme place in the hierarchy of values and
deserves a lot of respect – as if I ever said that it doesn’t.
Professor Falola is after all one of my icons - so you must know -
if you didn't, that I didn't and don't share that kind of
misunderstanding, nor did I need your explanations - the African-
American and his/ her multiple perceptions - language – music, even
the dozens are no stranger to me. There is no cultural foreignness -
I do not feel alienated or feel any kind of distance to Africa-
America. I am not an other – I am also one of them. All of them.
Nor do I need to ask you “ to explain what ( you) meant by the
updated with all the discussions that have been raging about Biafra
since before the Biafra war and up to now? You should take that
understanding as fore-granted.
I am fully aware of all that. And more. Of course, for many people “
the idea of Biafra remains an idea awaiting actualisation.”
I should also like to tell you that I followed the discussions about
Sharia Law, very closely around the time that of Zamfara was going
Sharia....
I sense that Chidi does not want to engage with you in another
interminably drawn-out and quite foreseeable pedestrian discussion in
which even as spectators we know all the well worn pros and cons of
Biafra in a “ things fall apart” disembowelment-of -Nigeria. Scenario
… the disembowelment of da Lugardist experiment of 1914 , etc
etc.....such a discussion would not be meaningless but could, as
always have its fair share of acrimony & recriminations.
He who feels it knows.
This has been most helpful in understanding the on-going crises:
http://books.google.se/books?id=4X4oYdPpXGQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
On Jan 6, 10:10 pm, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
>
> > ------------------------------
> > *From:* Nkolika Ebele <nkoli...@yahoo.com>
> > *To:* "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <
> > usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
> > *Sent:* Friday, January 6, 2012 4:48 PM
>
> > *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers
> > *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> > *Sent:* Thursday, January 5, 2012 10:03 PM
> > *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers
This not a game of wit/s or a time for poetic conceits or the
witchdoctor either. Give me the word and I'll churn out a new long
poem called "New Biafra" Just say it and I'll do it for you and for
fun.
Yeah, violence in thought via violence in language often leads to
violence in action, Hutu versus Tutsi style. Don’t we all know it?
Enemies are not fantasies. By what extrasensory perception do you
intuit that that I'm the sort of simpleton who believes that “a person
asking another person to clarify his position must be that person's
enemy.”? I am not that sort of Nigerian.
If it's poetry that we're talking about, you don't have to agree with
me about anything. Please feel free.
I am as familiar with the Biafra saga and as concerned as you about
the present situation in Nigeria. Don't you ever mistake, exaggerate
or downgrade that.
The recent passing away of the Biafra leader has once more brought
the Biafra of history to the forefront – and as you must be aware,
some of the causes for the Biafra adventure have still not gone away
- with your Boko people in full battledress array bombing churches,
terrorising innocent people and battling it out with the Christians
who they say must leave the Muslim Northern enclaves. Déjà vu ?
Now you want to deny that should Chidi say e.g. “ Yes Biafra must
ride again” you are not all lined up and eager - to “disembowel the
idea of a New Biafra”?
It seems to me that there in Wittgenstein's Cambridge, you are
experiencing some problem with the English language – disembowelling
an idea or a proposition is not such “violent language” after all -
not even surgically speaking, so please try to distinguish the word
( moon) from the reality, the scared image (Christ on the cross/ the
crucifix) from the pain of the actual crucifixion. Start jiving around
with metaphors without getting into hermeneutic hysteria about even
plain, innocuous manners of speaking. For that reason alone, I never
comment or interfere with your usual hermeneutic drift. I do not have
any uncontrollable urge to “teach”
You started the same kind of tittle-tattle when Chidi joked or
iconoclastically wrote his tongue-in-cheek piece (“Who Is This
Professor Toyin Falola? “) -soon after Professor Falola had been
awarded yet again another prestigious academic acknowledgement and
you felt called upon to “protect” La Vonda ( who needs no protection)
as a misunderstood Lady-in-distress and you as her cultural ambassador
to explain where she’s' coming from. That in her culture, meritocracy
( in academia) occupies a supreme place in the hierarchy of values and
deserves a lot of respect – as if I ever said that it doesn’t.
Professor Falola is after all one of my icons - so you must know -
if you didn't, that I didn't and don't share that kind of
misunderstanding, nor did I need your explanations - the African-
American and his/ her multiple perceptions - language – music, even
the dozens are no stranger to me. There is no cultural foreignness -
I do not feel alienated or feel any kind of distance to Africa-
America. I am not an other – I am also one of them. All of them.
Nor do I need to ask you “ to explain what ( you) meant by the
multiple and contradictory conceptions entertained about the original
Biafran vision and why those contradictions need to be addressed in
the present.” Why should I ask you in particular when I am current and
Biafran vision and why those contradictions need to be addressed in
updated with all the discussions that have been raging about Biafra
since before the Biafra war and up to now? You should take that
understanding as fore-granted.
I am fully aware of all that. And more. Of course, for many people “
the idea of Biafra remains an idea awaiting actualisation.”
I should also like to tell you that I followed the discussions about
Sharia Law, very closely around the time that of Zamfara was going
Sharia....
I sense that Chidi does not want to engage with you in another
interminably drawn-out and quite foreseeable pedestrian discussion in
which even as spectators we know all the well worn pros and cons of
Biafra in a “ things fall apart” disembowelment-of -Nigeria. Scenario
… the disembowelment of da Lugardist experiment of 1914 , etc
etc.....such a discussion would not be meaningless but could, as
always have its fair share of acrimony & recriminations.
He who feels it knows.
This has been most helpful in understanding the on-going crises:
http://books.google.se/books?id=4X4oYdPpXGQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
On Jan 6, 10:10 pm, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
> On 6 January 2012 18:45, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > "This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin".
> > .........Nkolika
>
> > Madam,
> > If you are referring to the poem, it was written by me not Jubrin.
>
> > Chidi.
>
> > About Me <http://www.chidianthonyopara.blogspot.com/>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > "This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin".
> > .........Nkolika
>
> > Madam,
> > If you are referring to the poem, it was written by me not Jubrin.
>
> > Chidi.
>
>
> > ------------------------------
> > *From:* Nkolika Ebele <nkoli...@yahoo.com>
> > *To:* "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <
> > usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
> > *Sent:* Friday, January 6, 2012 4:48 PM
>
> > *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers
> > Of New Biafra”
>
> > This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin.
> > Nkolika
>
> > *From:* JIBRIN IBRAHIM <jib...@gmail.com>
>
> > This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin.
> > Nkolika
>
> > *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> > *Sent:* Thursday, January 5, 2012 10:03 PM
> > *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers
> > Of New Biafra”
>
> > See attached
>
> > On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 8:02 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@yahoo.com
>
> > See attached
>
> > > wrote:
>
> > The bright beautiful rising sun
> > From behind the hills
> > Beckons on battle ready
> > Soldiers of new Biafra.
> > Balancing on the bright morning sky,
> > Her beautiful smiles
> > Beam on brand new Biafra,
> > Bringing a balm
> > For our broken freedom.
> > As our eyes
> > Are gazed skywards
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Minister to the wish
> > Of our mangled spirits,
> > That we may again
> > March on merchandize
> > Of merchants of servitude,
> > And vanquish our victors.
> > This is our supplication,
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Supplication of soldiers
> > Of new Biafra.
>
> > About Me <http://www.chidianthonyopara.blogspot.com/>
>
> > The bright beautiful rising sun
> > From behind the hills
> > Beckons on battle ready
> > Soldiers of new Biafra.
> > Balancing on the bright morning sky,
> > Her beautiful smiles
> > Beam on brand new Biafra,
> > Bringing a balm
> > For our broken freedom.
> > As our eyes
> > Are gazed skywards
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Minister to the wish
> > Of our mangled spirits,
> > That we may again
> > March on merchandize
> > Of merchants of servitude,
> > And vanquish our victors.
> > This is our supplication,
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Supplication of soldiers
> > Of new Biafra.
>
Cornelius Hamelberg
Jan 6, 2012, 7:31:41 PM1/6/12
to USA Africa Dialogue Series
Get real, Toyin Adepoju;
This not a game of wit/s or a time for poetic conceits or the
witchdoctor either. Ask me to write a poem NEW BIAFRA and I'll do it
This not a game of wit/s or a time for poetic conceits or the
in ways that could upset your precognitive faculty.....
Yeah, violence in thought via violence in language often leads to
violence in action, Hutu versus Tutsi style. Don’t we all know it?
Enemies are not fantasies. By what extrasensory perception do you
asking another person to clarify his position must be that person's
enemy.”? I am not that sort of Nigerian.
If it's poetry that we're talking about, you don't have to agree with
me about anything. Please feel free.
I am as familiar with the Biafra saga and as concerned as you about
the present situation in Nigeria. Don't you ever mistake, exaggerate
or downgrade that.
The recent passing away of the Biafra leader has once more brought
the Biafra of history to the forefront – and as you must be aware,
some of the causes for the Biafra adventure have still not gone away
- with your Boko people in full battledress array bombing churches,
terrorising innocent people and battling it out with the Christians
who they say must leave the Muslim Northern enclaves. Déjà vu ?
Now you want to deny that should Chidi say e.g. “ Yes Biafra must
ride again” you are not all lined up and eager - to “disembowel the
idea of a New Biafra”?
It seems to me that there in Wittgenstein's Cambridge, you are
experiencing some problem with the English language – disembowelling
an idea or a proposition is not such “violent language” after all -
not even surgically speaking, so please try to distinguish the word
( moon) from the reality, the sacred image (Christ on the cross/ the
If it's poetry that we're talking about, you don't have to agree with
me about anything. Please feel free.
I am as familiar with the Biafra saga and as concerned as you about
the present situation in Nigeria. Don't you ever mistake, exaggerate
or downgrade that.
The recent passing away of the Biafra leader has once more brought
the Biafra of history to the forefront – and as you must be aware,
some of the causes for the Biafra adventure have still not gone away
- with your Boko people in full battledress array bombing churches,
terrorising innocent people and battling it out with the Christians
who they say must leave the Muslim Northern enclaves. Déjà vu ?
Now you want to deny that should Chidi say e.g. “ Yes Biafra must
ride again” you are not all lined up and eager - to “disembowel the
idea of a New Biafra”?
It seems to me that there in Wittgenstein's Cambridge, you are
experiencing some problem with the English language – disembowelling
an idea or a proposition is not such “violent language” after all -
not even surgically speaking, so please try to distinguish the word
crucifix) from the pain of the actual crucifixion. Start jiving around
with metaphors without getting into hermeneutic hysteria about even
plain, innocuous manners of speaking. For that reason alone, I never
comment or interfere with your usual hermeneutic drift. I do not have
any uncontrollable urge to “teach”
You started the same kind of tittle-tattle when Chidi joked or
iconoclastically wrote his tongue-in-cheek piece (“Who Is This
Professor Toyin Falola? “) -soon after Professor Falola had been
awarded yet again another prestigious academic acknowledgement and
you felt called upon to “protect” La Vonda ( who needs no protection)
as a misunderstood Lady-in-distress and you as her cultural ambassador
to explain where she’s' coming from. That in her culture, meritocracy
( in academia) occupies a supreme place in the hierarchy of values and
deserves a lot of respect – as if I ever said that it doesn’t.
Professor Falola is after all one of my icons - so you must know -
if you didn't, that I didn't and don't share that kind of
misunderstanding, nor did I need your explanations - the African-
American and his/ her multiple perceptions - language – music, even
the dozens are no stranger to me. There is no cultural foreignness -
I do not feel alienated or feel any kind of distance to Africa-
America. I am not an other – I am also one of them. All of them.
Nor do I need to ask you “ to explain what ( you) meant by the
with metaphors without getting into hermeneutic hysteria about even
plain, innocuous manners of speaking. For that reason alone, I never
comment or interfere with your usual hermeneutic drift. I do not have
any uncontrollable urge to “teach”
You started the same kind of tittle-tattle when Chidi joked or
iconoclastically wrote his tongue-in-cheek piece (“Who Is This
Professor Toyin Falola? “) -soon after Professor Falola had been
awarded yet again another prestigious academic acknowledgement and
you felt called upon to “protect” La Vonda ( who needs no protection)
as a misunderstood Lady-in-distress and you as her cultural ambassador
to explain where she’s' coming from. That in her culture, meritocracy
( in academia) occupies a supreme place in the hierarchy of values and
deserves a lot of respect – as if I ever said that it doesn’t.
Professor Falola is after all one of my icons - so you must know -
if you didn't, that I didn't and don't share that kind of
misunderstanding, nor did I need your explanations - the African-
American and his/ her multiple perceptions - language – music, even
the dozens are no stranger to me. There is no cultural foreignness -
I do not feel alienated or feel any kind of distance to Africa-
America. I am not an other – I am also one of them. All of them.
multiple and contradictory conceptions entertained about the original
Biafran vision and why those contradictions need to be addressed in
Biafran vision and why those contradictions need to be addressed in
the present.” Why should I ask you in particular when I am current and
updated with all the discussions that have been raging about Biafra
since before the Biafra war and up to now? You should take that
understanding as fore-granted.
I am fully aware of all that. And more. Of course, for many people “
the idea of Biafra remains an idea awaiting actualisation.”
I should also like to tell you that I followed the discussions about
Sharia Law, very closely around the time that of Zamfara was going
Sharia....
I sense that Chidi does not want to engage with you in another
interminably drawn-out and quite foreseeable pedestrian discussion in
which even as spectators we know all the well worn pros and cons of
Biafra in a “ things fall apart” disembowelment-of -Nigeria. Scenario
… the disembowelment of da Lugardist experiment of 1914 , etc
etc.....such a discussion would not be meaningless but could, as
always have its fair share of acrimony & recriminations.
He who feels it knows.
This has been most helpful in understanding the on-going crises:
http://books.google.se/books?id=4X4oYdPpXGQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
On Jan 6, 10:10 pm, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
updated with all the discussions that have been raging about Biafra
since before the Biafra war and up to now? You should take that
understanding as fore-granted.
I am fully aware of all that. And more. Of course, for many people “
the idea of Biafra remains an idea awaiting actualisation.”
I should also like to tell you that I followed the discussions about
Sharia Law, very closely around the time that of Zamfara was going
Sharia....
I sense that Chidi does not want to engage with you in another
interminably drawn-out and quite foreseeable pedestrian discussion in
which even as spectators we know all the well worn pros and cons of
Biafra in a “ things fall apart” disembowelment-of -Nigeria. Scenario
… the disembowelment of da Lugardist experiment of 1914 , etc
etc.....such a discussion would not be meaningless but could, as
always have its fair share of acrimony & recriminations.
He who feels it knows.
This has been most helpful in understanding the on-going crises:
http://books.google.se/books?id=4X4oYdPpXGQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
On Jan 6, 10:10 pm, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
> On 6 January 2012 18:45, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > "This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin".
> > .........Nkolika
>
> > Madam,
> > If you are referring to the poem, it was written by me not Jubrin.
>
> > Chidi.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > "This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin".
> > .........Nkolika
>
> > Madam,
> > If you are referring to the poem, it was written by me not Jubrin.
>
> > Chidi.
>
> > About Me <http://www.chidianthonyopara.blogspot.com/>
>
> > ------------------------------
> > *From:* Nkolika Ebele <nkoli...@yahoo.com>
> > *To:* "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <
> > usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
> > *Sent:* Friday, January 6, 2012 4:48 PM
>
> > ------------------------------
> > *From:* Nkolika Ebele <nkoli...@yahoo.com>
> > *To:* "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <
> > usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>
> > *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers
> > Of New Biafra”
>
> > This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin.
> > Nkolika
>
> > *Sent:* Thursday, January 5, 2012 10:03 PM
>
> > This is beautiful, I hope we have it in Mind while confronting the
> > subsidy oppressors in Nigeria. The Sun of suffering Nigerians shall rise
> > and shine again, but is for us to make it shine. Thanks Jibrin.
> > Nkolika
>
> > *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My 2007 Poem Titled “Soldiers
> > Of New Biafra”
>
> > See attached
>
> > On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 8:02 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@yahoo.com
>
> > See attached
>
> > > wrote:
>
> > The bright beautiful rising sun
> > From behind the hills
> > Beckons on battle ready
> > Soldiers of new Biafra.
> > Balancing on the bright morning sky,
> > Her beautiful smiles
> > Beam on brand new Biafra,
> > Bringing a balm
> > For our broken freedom.
> > As our eyes
> > Are gazed skywards
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Minister to the wish
> > Of our mangled spirits,
> > That we may again
> > March on merchandize
> > Of merchants of servitude,
> > And vanquish our victors.
> > This is our supplication,
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Supplication of soldiers
> > Of new Biafra.
>
> > About Me <http://www.chidianthonyopara.blogspot.com/>
>
> > The bright beautiful rising sun
> > From behind the hills
> > Beckons on battle ready
> > Soldiers of new Biafra.
> > Balancing on the bright morning sky,
> > Her beautiful smiles
> > Beam on brand new Biafra,
> > Bringing a balm
> > For our broken freedom.
> > As our eyes
> > Are gazed skywards
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Minister to the wish
> > Of our mangled spirits,
> > That we may again
> > March on merchandize
> > Of merchants of servitude,
> > And vanquish our victors.
> > This is our supplication,
> > O' mother Sun,
> > Supplication of soldiers
> > Of new Biafra.
>
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