How You Can Help the Occupy Nigeria Protests from Outside Nigeria

1. Give. Thousands of people who go out everyday to give their time, energy and put their lives on the line in demanding for justice and reform do so with their own money. Because of the standstill around the country, they are not able to go to work and make a living, so it might become a lose-lose situation where the powers just wear them out patiently. If you live in Europe or America and you have the means, please donate money. Give to people you trust. Give to organizations that you are sure will make sure that the funds are judiciously used to cater for the (mostly food and transport) needs of those young people out in the sun every day. (PS: I will be sending some money to the Occupy Ibadan coordinators, friends, during the coming week. If you’re interested in supporting the protests with your money and it is too small to send alone via Western Union, let me know. I can take it via paypal or bank transfer and send it together with mine.)

2. Learn about the situation. The #Occupy Movement in Nigeria today is not about income inequality as it is about a demand for accountability and reform. The status quo is corrupt. Millions of dollars are siphoned every month in Nigeria to the pockets of political elites and other business cabals who collect subsidy money from the government and then turn around to sell petrol at market price to neighbouring countries, thus creating scarcity and making a profit. If you are a writer/blogger/tweeter, be aware of all the facts in the situation. Do not be used.

3. Join an #Occupy protest around you. There have been #Occupy Nigeria protests in Belgium, Washington DC, London, New York etc. Start one near you, or join them wherever it exists. The soul and future of Nigeria is at stake, and every support counts. Spread the word. Spread the message. Tell everyone you know about this and put pressure on the Nigerian government to reform on the side of the people and not on the side of the selfish people who look out only for their pockets. Post pictures and videos from this protests.

4. Write to your representatives. A group of activists” called the Naija Cyber Hacktivists are using twitter to put out phone numbers of elected officials, and other relevant information.Follow them, and barrage representatives with messages, pressuring them to take sides with the suffering populace.

5. Follow Occupy Nigeria on twitter.

Visit Kola’s blog for the original post here: http://www.ktravula.com/2012/01/how-you-can-help-the-occupy-nigeria-protests-from-outside-nigeria/

People Power: Mubarak is Gone!

I haven’t got much analysis on the Egyptian situation (I’ll leave that to the experts) but I wanted to register my reaction to the news that Mubarak has been forced out of office. Unbelievable! After 30 years and an 18 day stand-off by protesters, he’s gone. No one knows what’s going to happen next since the situation is still developing. For now though, the army is stepping in to take the reins and coordinate a transition to democracy. The unity, determination and commitment of the protesters so far has been stunning and I hope it lasts to carry the country through the next phase of the revolution because the biggest challenge of implementing reforms is surely just beginning.

I was particularly moved to remark on this outstanding event after reading some snippets yesterday of an interview with Pastor Adeboye of RCCG, one of the biggest and most influential Nigerian churches. What really caught my eye was his view that protesting is useless as a way of provoking social change.  I wonder if the events in Egypt would cause him and other Nigerians to reconsider this opinion. I’m not saying that people should not pray for change. After all, in Egypt we saw people use prayer as protest. But I think it’s very complacent to believe that prayer alone is enough. I think those comments betray an attitude that is too often used to excuse a lack of action where it is needed.

I’m not saying either that everybody must go out on the streets to protest but my point is that God will not come down from heaven to change our communities for us. People have to do what they can to make their discontent known even if it involves risk. As we have seen in Egypt, there is no such thing as risk-free or sacrifice-free commitment. Many were injured and killed over the last 18 days but the people persisted until their demand for Mubarak’s resignation was met.

Many of the elements that contributed to cause the protests in Egypt and Tunisia are present in other African countries: pervasive corruption, stagnating economies, massive levels of unemployment, a high population of dissatisfied youth and social media technology to facilitate organising. Perhaps the penetration of facebook and twitter is not as great in other African countries because of problems with internet access but the influence of social media is growing. We are slowly building up to change. Tunisia and Egypt have shown us what it could look like when citizens become fed up with corruption, incompetence and lack of opportunity. People in other nations around the world can draw inspiration from these examples. If I were a despotic African leader or member of a ruling cabal, I would take careful note of January and February 2011 because they have shown us that you cannot suppress people forever. One day, the tides will turn.

Link from The Smile of a Nigerian Scorpio (http://www.nigerianscorpio.com)

Since the announcement of this policy, i’ve seen and heard a lot of comments criticizing the public protests that have followed. This is what i’ve decided to address in my post.

The problem with the removal of the fuel subsidy goes beyond economics and a failure to understand this is what has angered the Nigerian public so much. People are not opposing this policy because they are stupid and cannot understand (at least at a basic level) the economics behind subsidy removal. We already know that it is folly to be paying so much to import something that is domestically produced and ought to be refined domestically too. So making economic arguments in response to the public reaction completely misses the mark.

No, the issue is the complete lack of consideration the Nigerian government gives to the welfare of the people it is supposed to be leading. Coupled with the blatant corruption that has led to Nigeria spending N1.3 trillion on this subsidy, one can begin to understand the public frustration at this horribly executed policy.

No one has yet explained the strange increase in the amount allocated to the subsidy (from N300bn to N1.3t). The government has talked about how the savings from subsidy removal will be used for development projects but they haven’t  explained whether the companies that received these subsidy payments actually delivered what they were paid to. This is the kind of situation where an inquiry is needed because if they didn’t people should be held accountable but the government has said nothing about this. It’s not enough to just announce a new policy and sweep the past under the carpet. N1.3t is a huge chunk of money! The public really should know how exactly such an outrageous subsidy scheme came to be in the first place but i don’t hear any plans from Jonathan’s government to go into that.

A proactive government would have made arrangements to alleviate the harshness of the policy on the public before making a shock announcement on the first day of a New Year. But not the Nigerian government. It was only after the first rumblings of discontent that plans were announced to introduce 1600 buses. Why were these buses not already in operation before the subsidy removal took effect?

Not only did the Nigerian government fail to take ameliorative steps on their own end, they did not give people an opportunity to prepare for the effects of more than doubling the price of gas overnight. And then when people gathered to protest, they were met with police brutality. Protesters have been harassed, sprayed with tear gas and even killed just for registering their discontent with the government’s actions. As if that was not bad enough, word got out about clumsy attempts by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation to suppress reporting about the protests. Do all these actions strike you the reader as those of a government that gives two hoots what happens to the Nigerian public?

So when people complain and protest about the removal of the subsidy, do not answer with economics alone. The fuel subsidy is only symbolic of a greater problem with Nigerian governance. Until the present state of Nigerian governance can be justified  by economics, ethics or even plain common sense, there is not much that can be reasonably said against people protesting such oppression.

NB: I read on Chxta’s blog that the Nigerian House of Representatives claims to have no position on the removal of the subsidy. I could only laugh. They can have a position on same sex marriage but they cannot have a position on the subsidy? Bunch of jokers.

To participate in this initiative organised by 9jaFoodie and Naijalines, you can do the following:

I’ve included excerpts from both articles. Click on the headings in blue to read the articles in full.

Have a Happy New Year!

1. Because Amber Cole is Just a Kid and Boys Learn to Be Boys from Racialicious

“Our culture teaches boys that this is okay. That it is okay to use people. That you are expected to disregard a woman’s feelings, to do what you want with her, to find women who are pliable who you can mold, who will seek your favor and happily trade a few moments on her knees for her affection. Our society teaches boys that this is ok, that this is what you do with women. The onus is on women not to be used. Men do not hear “don’t be an abuser” in the same way men don’t hear “don’t be a rapist.” The onus is always on women keeping themselves safe, on women not putting themselves in positions to be attacked or exploited. And when something does happen, when teenagers being teenagers suddenly becomes a nation newsstory, everyone wants to talk about what the girl should have done to prevent herself from being in the situation.”

2.  What Rape Culture Looks Like from Ginger’s Blog

“As more details emerge, you’d think there would be a deafening outcry from sympathetic Nigerians – fellow students, mothers, women in government, fathers, brothers who would join arms with this hurt sister in solidarity and call out for investigations for justice. No! Rather they ask ‘why did she go to his room?’, anonymous students from her school write to say ‘she’s a known slut who probably decided to make more money by taking on 5 guys and has now bitten more than she can chew’, they say ‘didn’t you hear her tell her rapists that ‘she was cooperating’ does that sound like rape to you? Was she screaming or moaning in pain at any point? Aren’t people being raped supposed to scream and struggle? Some even suggest she may be a lying gold digger who is only protesting cause the act was video-ed.
Her life history is already on public trial in a way that would never happen if she were the victim of kidnapping or attempted murder.

That’s rape culture. When victims are tasked with the burden of rape prevention. When women are too afraid of being re-victimized by their peers, the courts and the media to come forward, and when the public gets the message that women who accuse men of rape are lying or did something to deserve it, and the cycle continues…… 

There are 5 alleged rapists in this crime. But no one is talking about them or what determinants in their school environment or community fostered and promoted rape. Rather the victim is the focus of all the blame and negativity. That’s rape culture, and it has to stop.”

I’ve had a moment to reflect on everything and i feel i’ve finally put some distance between myself and the events that caused me to be so sentimental. I’ve wept so much the last couple of weeks but now i’m ready to write about how i feel and in particular, to write about him. I finally understood what Alanis Morissette meant with the song lyric about meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife. Well, he wasn’t married but he might as well have been because he’s just as unavailable.

He never promised me anything, but he didn’t have to because i was ready to give him my heart at the slightest indication from him. But he couldn’t go there, for good reason, and he made that pretty clear too. So despite how i felt, i had to come to the realisation that what this circumstance offered was not enough for me. Much as i am ready to love, i will not give my heart away to someone that is not unequivocal in his feelings about me. He can be as awesome as this Mr is but the fact that he cannot care about me really puts an end to whatever possibility i may have wanted with him. I deserve better than someone who does not really care about me, whatever the reason for that may be. I don’t care how hot he makes me, that is just not good enough for me.

I guess it had to happen sometime and as difficult as i’ve found this experience, it’s also been a learning opportunity for me. It’s very unfortunate that we lack control over who we are attracted to because i would never voluntarily put myself in this position. Catching feelings for someone who cannot reciprocate them is horribly sucky. On the bright side, i’ve learnt that i’m not cut out to be a mistress or the other woman. I’m too needy for that crap.

I think i’m all cried out now so it’s time to dust myself off and move on.

As this story has progressed, I have noticed that the way it’s been covered has had a major impact on the how people view the credibility of Assange (on this particular issue, not on Wikileaks in general) and his accusers. At the beginning, the allegations were reported in such a way that left the impression that it was all trumped up by these women angry at finding out that Assange had two-timed them. This fit very neatly into the idea of women trying to bring down an innocent man with a devastating, false rape accusation.  Coming off the back of the much-hyped Wikileaks document dump, the perception of Assange as an innocent crusader for transparency was at its strongest. There were also many threats made against him and there was even talk of the possibility of him being tried in the USA for acting against their national interests. It was easy then, to view the allegations in that light and conclude that it was part of a targeted plot against the man that had just become public enemy number one. The fact that the matter seemed to have been abandoned and then brought back to life also did not help things. I was finding myself leaning towards the conspiracy narrative at this point.

However, more details about the allegations began to surface and it started to become clear (absent a specific knowledge of Swedish law) that the interactions between Assange and these women was a lot more complicated than initially reported. At the least, Assange was coming across as a jerk in the way he had dealt with them. Then as even more information came out about what passed between Assange and the women (sex while half-asleep, failure to use a condom despite being asked to  and carrying on when a condom broke etc), I started to think that Assange’s conduct seemed to fall on the wrong side of the line between consent and sexual assault.

All along, one of Assange’s main arguments against extradition was that the allegations would not stand up to scrutiny in a court of law outside Sweden (the idea being that they have their own peculiar approach to these matters which others would find unreasonable). Now, a judge has considered the points and concluded that it is not in fact, an open and shut case and that the allegations would also amount to an allegation of rape under English law.  This made me wonder what influence this outcome would have on media reporting of the story and the public opinion of Assange. My suspicion is that the public perception of him will swing negative with people being more likely to consider the credibility of the allegations because of the stamp of authority from a judge.

All of this, to me, illustrates the need to carefully assess what information one uses in coming to conclusions. Intentionally or not, the media is very powerful in shaping the way we view the world.  Hero or criminal? Innocent activist or rapist? Crusader for justice or a man trying to avoid being held acountable?  How you see it depends on what information you relied on in forming an opinion and how it was presented to you.

Of course this story is not over yet. Assange has a few more days to decide whether to appeal the decision further. If that option fails, it’s off to Sweden where a whole new chapter will begin. I, for one, will be following the developments in this matter keenly not only to see what happens with the allegations but also to see if his fears of falling into a trap set by the US government materialise. I am inclined to think that if the US were out to get him, this would be too public an opportunity. I would be more worried about covert operations but perhaps I have been watching too many spy movies.

Here it is: you have been lied to. That’s right, the glamorous picture of urban dwelling single ladies painted by tv shows and movies is all false. The dating scene is nothing like that. Sex and The City, it definitely ain’t.

Why you ask? Well, i was just coming to that. To start with, the racks and racks of gorgeous clothes and shoes that fill the closets of those ladies on tv? I don’t know anyone in real life who can afford all that and pay their bills at the same time (at least not on their legal income alone).

As for the endless supply of hunky men to fuel all those shenanigans, my totally unscientific poll of ladies from different countries produced one clear answer: they are nowhere to be found! Maybe they only exist on tv. In the real world, we mostly meet guys that are unavailable whether they’re gay, attached or just have emotional issues. There’s none of that gorgeous stranger nonsense going on either because, as we’ve learnt from the news, you can’t trust strangers especially those who are suspiciously friendly. I mean, who wants to end up strangled by some random they ran into on the street for the sake of a date? No one i know. The truth about living in a city is that everyone has their guard up and sadly, a cute smile is not enough to penetrate.

So there you have it all laid out for you. Before you go comparing your life to that of the Rachels, Carries and Samanathas on your screen, just bear in mind that tv dating does not resemble real life dating in any way whatsoever.

You can thank me later.

But then you realise that Mr ‘Gets-your-heart-racing-and-your-voice-quivering-like-no-other’ is actually another’s Mr ‘Perfect’ and that’s when chemistry leads to trouble. Because you have to decide what the heck to do with this relationship. Do you continue your acquaintance with this Mr or do you count it as one of those things, shrug it off and never speak to him again? But then how can you cut him off, knowing that there is potentially a really valuable friendship to be had there? After all, apart from the chemistry you like other things about this person. Do you hang on, hoping that even though the tide is high right now, soon the other girl’s ride will be over and it could be your turn to be no 1? But then what if her ride never ends? Will you be stuck hanging on forever? Decisions, decisions!

Finally, you come to a conclusion. Since you’re not that girl, aka the femme fatale who gets her way regardless of if it hurts anyone else or not, you decide to eliminate any thoughts of romance from your mind entirely. You will be just friends and you will never give a hint that you wish things could be different. Oh but there goes that damn chemistry again, betraying you just when you thought you had things under control.

Very little else in the world can beat the feeling of discovering how well and easily you click with someone else. There’s no denying that chemistry can be amazing. Too bad you never seem to find it except with inappropriate guys.

In a Nigerian setting, the words hi or hello have the capacity to cause extreme havoc. To say that many older Nigerians loathe these greetings is putting it mildly. They are considered offensive and insulting enough to warrant immediate intervention from other older persons within earshot. The possible reasons why these greetings in particular cause such a strong reaction is what i find very interesting about the topic because i think it says something about what the recipient expects from the greeting, which in turn leads me to wonder what function greetings perform.

An idea i have heard expressed is that hello is so offensive because it signifies a loss of culture in the person offering it up as a greeting. If i thought this meant that the recipient was motivated to rebuke the greeter only by a desire to preserve the integrity of Nigerian culture by upholding the proper modes of greeting, i would buy into this theory much more easily. However, i suspect that a bruised ego plays into things heavily as well. This is because amongst Nigerians, i have observed that greetings are a way of marking hierarchy between people. Therefore, someone failing to follow the proper form of greeting is not only viewed as introducing something foreign into the proceedings, but as daring to elevate themselves over the other person. As such, they must be immediately put back in their place. This is why who greets whom first also becomes an issue because of the power play involved in exchanging greetings.

Where this system breaks down is when people are interacting across cultures because in that case, the expectations and assumptions behind a greeting are not the same on both sides. This creates the potential for unintended offence. This is where i think many older Nigerians are going wrong when they react so harshly to an innocently offered greeting. Of course, there is always the possibility that the person saying hello might intend it as an insult but i think what happens more commonly is that there is a clash of cultures which the participants are not even aware of. The key mistake on the part of the older person in this scenario is assuming that because they share a similar heritage with the person greeting them, they must be operating by the same cultural rules and so any deviation from those rules must be intended maliciously. However, this is not necessarily true.

If we considered it for moment, we could admit that a young person of Nigerian heritage born and raised in a Western country, who mostly interacts with other people like him and a Nigerian adult born and raised in Nigeria, who mostly interacts with others like her (even though she now lives in the same Western country) are not using the same social code. Executing greetings properly the Nigerian way can be even more challenging when the person greeting is used to interacting in an environment in which addressing people by their names and making eye contact are perfectly polite things to do.This leads me to the question of who gets to set the bar of what is acceptable in a greeting? The one making it or the one who is being greeted?

The way i see it, greeting someone else is not a duty or an obligation. It doesn’t even have to be a routine though it often is. So when someone does greet you, it shows that in some way they have acknowledged your presence and something about you. In my ideal world instead of causing offence, greetings would be received in the spirit in which they were intended even if they do not perfectly fit the expected form. Instead of playing politics with greetings, we would take them as an opportunity to connect with another person. After all, who says that a good morning ma is meant more sincerely than a hello or that a hug is meant less genuinely than a kneel?

NB: Another greeting that causes problems is Happy Holidays in place of Merry Christmas. I would have looked at this as well but this piece is long enough already. Perhaps some other time.

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