The contrast: US President Donald Trump unequivocally condemns the premeditated murder of Christians in Biafra and genocidist Nigeria by the Nigeria military/Boko Haram/Fulani militia whilst Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby remains conspicuously silent over this grave emergency

(Donald Trump ... president of the US: unequivocal condemnation of crime...)

Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

“If I were to remain silent, I’d be guilty of complicity.”

Albert Einstein

“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

Albert Einstein

AS I HAVE shown variously in recent essays (see, for instance, Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, “Why Barack Hussein Obama must tell the world why he supported Igbo genocide”, http://re-thinkingafrica.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/on-30-march-2016-i-published-essay.html), 
the past 30 months represent the bloodiest stretch of the ongoing phase-IV of the Igbo genocide by Nigeria led by Hausa-Fulani/islamist jihadists whose regime is headed, currently, by Muhammadu Buhari, one of the vilest genocidist operatives engaged in this crime against humanity. 

Three thousand Igbo people have been murdered across Biafra in stepped up scorched earth campaigns by the Nigeria military and its adjunct Fulani militia and Boko Haram terrorists (latter 2 are part of the world’s 5 deadliest terrorist organisations presently) since Buhari came to power in March 2015, having been imposed as head of Nigeria’s regime by Barack Obama, the ex-US president of African descent, and David Cameron, ex-British prime minister. It should be stressed that at no time did the Obama presidency (White House, state department, US embassy in Nigeria) nor indeed Cameron’s/May’s (successor) British governments condemn these Igbo murders.

(Justin Welby ... archbishop of Canterbury: conspicuous silence...) 

SIXTY per cent of the 3000 murdered Igbo have occurred in Onicha and neighbouring towns and villages, southwest Biafra, which are all located in the Onicha diocese of the Anglican communion, part of the Church of England, one of this denomination’s largest population districts in the world. Ninety-six per cent of Igbo are Christians and about 45 per cent of these protestant and overwhelming majority Anglican.

Neither the Church of England nor its head, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, who has known Muhammadu Buhari personally since the former enjoyed an exponentially-lucrative post working for French oil company Elf Aquitaine in the early 1980s in the petroleum oil industry in Biafra’s Oshimili Delta, occupied by genocidist Nigeria, has condemned any of these Igbo slaughters since it began in November 2015 or offered public condolences to the aggrieved and traumatised Anglican communion congregants... Since 1 January 2018, the genocidists, spearheaded this time by the Fulani militia with logistical support from the parent military, have embarked on the attack of Tiv and Jukun peoples in the Benue valley northcentral Nigeria itself, majority of whom are Christians, murdering hundreds. These state-organised massacres have continued unabated.

Trump breaks this morbid silence of the states of the world

BESIDES Amnesty International which has twice published expansive reports on this phase of the Igbo genocide (http://re-thinkingafrica.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/blog-post_30.html), 
US President Donald Trump’s unreserved condemnation of this atrocity and the murder campaign in Nigeria’s northcentral region during his 30 April 2018 Washington joint-press conference with the visiting Buhari, is the first by not only a head of state but president of one of the foremost powers of the world:

We have had serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria; We are going to be working on that problem very, very hard because we cannot allow that to happen … It’s a horrible story…

BIAFRANS and the peoples of the Benue valley in Nigeria are no doubt looking forward to the implementation of Trump’s response in terminating this genocidist Nigeria’s state-organised crime.

(John Coltrane Quintet, “The believer” {composer: McCoy Tyner} [personnel: Coltrane, tenor saxophone; Donald Bryd, trumpet; Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Louis Hayes, drums; recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, US, 10 January 1958)

Twitter@HerbertEkweEkwe

FWD: Einstein writes on African Americans in 1946...

(Einstein: ... I am firmly convinced that whoever believes this suffers from a fatal misconception. Your ancestors dragged these ... people from their homes by force ... they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited ...)

Albert Einstein, “A Message to My Adopted Country”, written in 1946 by the physicist – from “Dead Sea Scrolls of physics”, The Digital Einstein Papers (The Collected papers of Albert Einstein), December 2014:

I AM WRITING AS ONE WHO has lived among you in America only a little more than ten years. And I am writing seriously and warningly. Many readers may ask:

“What right has he to speak about things which concern us alone, and which no newcomer should touch?”

I do not think such a standpoint is justified. One who has grown up in an environment takes much for granted. On the other hand, one who has come to this country as a mature person may have a keen eye for everything peculiar and characteristic. I believe he should speak out freely on what he sees and feels, for by so doing he may perhaps prove himself useful.

What soon makes the new arrival devoted to this country is the democratic trait among the people. I am not thinking here so much of the democratic political constitution of this country, however highly it must be praised. I am thinking of the relationship between individual people and of the attitude they maintain toward one another.

In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class. Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few, cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for the dignity of one’s fellow-man.

There is, however, a somber point in the social outlook of Americans. Their sense of equality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of white skins. Even among these there are prejudices of which I as a Jew am clearly conscious; but they are unimportant in comparison with the attitude of the “Whites” toward their fellow-citizens of darker complexion, particularly toward Negroes. The more I feel an American, the more this situation pains me. I can escape the feeling of complicity in it only by speaking out.

Many a sincere person will answer: “Our attitude towards Negroes is the result of unfavorable experiences which we have had by living side by side with Negroes in this country. They are not our equals in intelligence, sense of responsibility, reliability.”

I am firmly convinced that whoever believes this suffers from a fatal misconception. Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man’s quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition.

The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of racial differences. And yet Aristotle, one of the great Greek philosophers, declared slaves inferior beings who were justly subdued and deprived of their liberty. It is clear that he was enmeshed in a traditional prejudice from which, despite his extraordinary intellect, he could not free himself.

A large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our environment. In other words, it is tradition—besides inherited aptitudes and qualities—which makes us what we are. We but rarely reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerful influence of tradition is the influence of our conscious thought upon our conduct and convictions.

It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human relations are ever to change for the better. We must try to recognize what in our accepted tradition is damaging to our fate and dignity—and shape our lives accordingly.

I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias against Negroes.

What, however, can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by word and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by this racial bias.

I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil can be quickly healed.

But until this goal is reached there is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause.

(Three masters at work: Duke Ellington Trio, “Fleurette Africaine” {“African flower”} [personnel: Ellington, piano; Charles Mingus, bass; Max Roach, drums; recorded: Sound Makers Studios, New York, US, 17 September 1962)])

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe 

FWD: Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti region administration, west Nigeria, unequivocally condemns continuing murder of Biafrans by Nigeria-occupation genocidist military in Biafra; Fayose warns: “Muhammadu Buhari is turning the people” of Biafra into “endangered species” (Vanguard, Lagos, Wednesday 1 June 2016)

(Ayodele Fayose: ... “Buhari has made up his mind to eliminate as many [Biafrans] as possible”)

*****“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything” (Albert Einstein)

NO CURRENTLY serving public official in genocidist Nigeria has been as forthright in denouncing the present phase of the Igbo genocide, being directed by Muhammadu Buhari, as Ayodele Fayose. In his latest condemnation, Fayose reminds the world that well over 150 Igbo have been murdered by the Nigeria military under the Buhari regime since August 2015 and notably indicts: “It appears that … Buhari has made up his mind to eliminate as many [Biafran] people as possible … To even justify the killing by claiming [as regime spokespersons have been variously quoted] that Igbo youths protest was orchestrated in order to mar the first anniversary of Buhari’s [regime] is to say the least wicked and animalistic” (Vanguard, Lagos, 1 June 2016). Fayose ends his historic statement by appealing to the international community (pointedly a direct reference to David Cameron and Barack Obama administrations which imposed Buhari as head of Nigeria regime in March 2015) to take note of this gruesome murder campaign against Igbo people.

Fountain of ideas

Surely, no one would accuse Ayodele Fayose of overstating this ever deteriorating grave situation in Biafra... 

It is extraordinary, if not shocking, that, in contrast, there is a deafening silence on the ongoing genocide from the heads of the following administrative regimes in six regions of occupied Biafra – Abia, Anambra, Enuugwu, Delta, Ebonyi, Imo and Rivers, the epicentre of this unrelenting slaughtering of a peaceful, defenceless people. Are they not aware of the genocide? Do they dispute Fayose’s courageous, graphic narrative? Would they? What has happened to those who claim to be leaders from a people who gave the world such literary classics as Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, There was a Country, Efuru, Idu, Labyrinths & Path to Thunder and who constructed and lived through advanced republican democracies for over a millennium whose variegated legacy constitutes a fountain of ideas for the contemporary world? Just what are these officials waiting for to tell the world that their people, Igbo people, are being murdered by a ruthless Nigeria-islamist genocidist regime headed by Muhammadu Buhari who, during phase-III of the Igbo genocide (6 July 1966-12 January 1970), was commander of a genocidist brigade in north/northcentral Biafra, slaughtering to the hilt?

(George Russell Sextet here plays “Nardis”, a composition by Miles Davis [personnel: Russell, piano; Don Ellis, trumpet; Dave Baker, trombone; Eric Dolphy, bass clarinet; Steve Swallow, bass; Joe Hunt, drums; recorded: Riverside Records, New York, US, 8 May 1961])

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

FWD: Einstein on African Americans, 1946

Albert Einstein, “A Message to My Adopted Country”, written in 1946 by the physicist – from “Dead Sea Scrolls of physics”, The Digital Einstein Papers (The Collected papers of Albert Einstein), December 2014:

I am writing as one who has lived among you in America only a little more than ten years. And I am writing seriously and warningly. Many readers may ask:

“What right has he to speak about things which concern us alone, and which no newcomer should touch?”

I do not think such a standpoint is justified. One who has grown up in an environment takes much for granted. On the other hand, one who has come to this country as a mature person may have a keen eye for everything peculiar and characteristic. I believe he should speak out freely on what he sees and feels, for by so doing he may perhaps prove himself useful.

What soon makes the new arrival devoted to this country is the democratic trait among the people. I am not thinking here so much of the democratic political constitution of this country, however highly it must be praised. I am thinking of the relationship between individual people and of the attitude they maintain toward one another.

In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class. Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few, cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for the dignity of one’s fellow-man.

There is, however, a somber point in the social outlook of Americans. Their sense of equality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of white skins. Even among these there are prejudices of which I as a Jew am clearly conscious; but they are unimportant in comparison with the attitude of the “Whites” toward their fellow-citizens of darker complexion, particularly toward Negroes. The more I feel an American, the more this situation pains me. I can escape the feeling of complicity in it only by speaking out.

Many a sincere person will answer: “Our attitude towards Negroes is the result of unfavorable experiences which we have had by living side by side with Negroes in this country. They are not our equals in intelligence, sense of responsibility, reliability.”

I am firmly convinced that whoever believes this suffers from a fatal misconception. Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man’s quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition.

The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of racial differences. And yet Aristotle, one of the great Greek philosophers, declared slaves inferior beings who were justly subdued and deprived of their liberty. It is clear that he was enmeshed in a traditional prejudice from which, despite his extraordinary intellect, he could not free himself.

A large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our environment. In other words, it is tradition—besides inherited aptitudes and qualities—which makes us what we are. We but rarely reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerful influence of tradition is the influence of our conscious thought upon our conduct and convictions.

It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human relations are ever to change for the better. We must try to recognize what in our accepted tradition is damaging to our fate and dignity—and shape our lives accordingly.

I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias against Negroes.

What, however, can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by word and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by this racial bias.

I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil can be quickly healed.

But until this goal is reached there is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause.

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe 

FWD: Einstein on African Americans, 1946

Albert Einstein, “A Message to My Adopted Country”, written in 1946 by the physicist – from “Dead Sea Scrolls of physics”, The Digital Einstein Papers (The Collected papers of Albert Einstein), December 2014:

I am writing as one who has lived among you in America only a little more than ten years. And I am writing seriously and warningly. Many readers may ask:

“What right has he to speak about things which concern us alone, and which no newcomer should touch?”

I do not think such a standpoint is justified. One who has grown up in an environment takes much for granted. On the other hand, one who has come to this country as a mature person may have a keen eye for everything peculiar and characteristic. I believe he should speak out freely on what he sees and feels, for by so doing he may perhaps prove himself useful.

What soon makes the new arrival devoted to this country is the democratic trait among the people. I am not thinking here so much of the democratic political constitution of this country, however highly it must be praised. I am thinking of the relationship between individual people and of the attitude they maintain toward one another.

In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class. Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few, cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for the dignity of one’s fellow-man.

There is, however, a somber point in the social outlook of Americans. Their sense of equality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of white skins. Even among these there are prejudices of which I as a Jew am clearly conscious; but they are unimportant in comparison with the attitude of the “Whites” toward their fellow-citizens of darker complexion, particularly toward Negroes. The more I feel an American, the more this situation pains me. I can escape the feeling of complicity in it only by speaking out.

Many a sincere person will answer: “Our attitude towards Negroes is the result of unfavorable experiences which we have had by living side by side with Negroes in this country. They are not our equals in intelligence, sense of responsibility, reliability.”

I am firmly convinced that whoever believes this suffers from a fatal misconception. Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man’s quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition.

The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of racial differences. And yet Aristotle, one of the great Greek philosophers, declared slaves inferior beings who were justly subdued and deprived of their liberty. It is clear that he was enmeshed in a traditional prejudice from which, despite his extraordinary intellect, he could not free himself.

A large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our environment. In other words, it is tradition—besides inherited aptitudes and qualities—which makes us what we are. We but rarely reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerful influence of tradition is the influence of our conscious thought upon our conduct and convictions.

It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human relations are ever to change for the better. We must try to recognize what in our accepted tradition is damaging to our fate and dignity—and shape our lives accordingly.

I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias against Negroes.

What, however, can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by word and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by this racial bias.

I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil can be quickly healed.

But until this goal is reached there is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause.

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe