Rethinking Africa is a forward looking blog dedicated to the exchange of innovative thinking on issues affecting the advancement of African peoples wherever they are. We provide rigorous and insightful analyses on the issues affecting Africans and their vision of the world.
(Born 23 September 1926, Hamlet, NC, United States)
ICONOCLASTIC tenor (and soprano) saxophonist and composer who, arguably, has had the most profound impact on the development of jazz in the past 50 years (Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe)
(John Coltrane Quartetat work – left to right: Coltrane, Jones, Garrison, Tyner)
(John Coltrane Quartet, Both directions at once – the lost album [personnel: Coltrane, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Elvin Jones, drums; additional personnel: Ravi Coltrane, compiler, Ken Druker, compiler, Rudy Van Gelder, mixing, Sonny Rollins, liner notes; recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, US, 6 March 1963; released 55 years later, 29 June 2018!])
TODAY marks 12months or 365 days since the 14 September 2017 genocidist Nigeria military, led by Fulani islamist/ jihadists under Muhammadu Buhari, stormed the home of Nnamdi Kanu’s parents at Afaraukwu-Ibeku, eastcentral Biafra. Consequently, the whereabouts of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (constituted integrally in the Biafra freedom movement), and his parents, remain unknown. Scores of the Kanus’ relatives and friends were murdered during the assault and scores of others are still unaccounted for. Three thousand Igbo people have been murdered across Biafra since Buhari, who, in March 2015, was imposed on Nigeria as head of regime by ex-United States President Barack Hussein Obama (first African-descent president of the US republic in 233 years of existence) and ex-British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron, embarked on this bloodiest track of phase-IV of the Igbo genocide (13 January 1970-present day) in November 2015. After eight years in the White House and 19 months since he left office, Obama now presents an abominable presidential legacy, not lost particularly on African World reckoning, of zealously supporting the Igbo genocide, foundational genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa, executed on the ground by Nigeria, an islamist-led state, and its suzerain state Britain. (http://re-thinkingafrica.blogspot.com/2017/05/on-30-march-2016-i-published-essay.html) GENOCIDIST Nigeria has murdered more Africans in Biafra, southwestcentral Africa, since 1945 (Igbo pogrom in Jos, northcentral Nigeria) than the total number of Africans murdered in Africa since 1900 by all of Europe’s conqueror-powers in Africa: Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain – including the number of Africans the Germans murdered in the genocide of the Herero, Nama and Berg Damara peoples of southwest Africa, 1904-1907. Nigeria now rates a not-too-distant second to Belgian King Leopold II’s notorious position as lead génocidaireof African peoples since the 19th century in the Leopold II/Belgian state’s genocide against Africans in the central regions of the Congo River basin, 1878-1908, murdering 13 million of them (Isidore Ndaywel è Nziem,Histoire générale du Congo: De l'héritage ancien à la République Démocratique. Paris: Duculot, 1998, p. 344).
Nigeria surely knows that it will account for the safety of Nnamdi Kanu and his parents and take full responsibility for the consequences of that savage raid on a family home.
(Harold Wilson:“would accept a half million dead Biafrans if that was what it took...”)
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
“Diminution-of-African life” AT the apogee of phase-III of this genocide, summer 1968-autumn 1969,
23 years after the horrendous Jewish genocide in east and central Europe carried out by Germany, Harold
Wilson informed Clyde Ferguson
(United States state department special coordinator for relief to Biafra), on
record, that he, Harold Wilson, “would accept half a million dead
Biafrans if that was what it took” the Nigerian génocidairesto
destroy the Igbo resistance to the genocide (Roger Morris, Uncertain Greatness: Henry
Kissinger and American Foreign Policy, 1977: 122).
Wilson pursued his genocide drive against the Igbo, steeped in that overarching
ideological rubric of the expressed “diminution-of-African life” that
constitutes the engaging, subjugating template of 400 years of pan-European
enslavement of the African humanity in the Americas and elsewhere, beginning in
the 15th century, and Europe’s consequent occupation of the African homeland
itself.
Wilson’s
Igbo death-wish tally of 500, 000 represented 4.2 per cent of the Igbo
population at the time. The prime minister’s on the ground African executioners
led by Fulani islamist/jihadists, fulsomely obliged their “massa” Wilson,
murdering 3.1 million Igbo by 12 January 1970 – 2.6 million more Igbo than the
Labour leader’s slaughtering target or 25 per cent of the Igbo population.
Wilson would later acknowledge the extent of the British role in the sheer
savagery of the Igbo genocide. In his memoirs, he noted that the Nigeria genocidist
military, equipped zealously by Britain, expended more small arms ammunition in its campaign to
achieve its annhilative mission in Biafra than the amount used by
the British armed forces “during the whole” of the Second World War (Harold Wilson,Labour Government, 1964-1970: A Personal Record, 1971: 630, added emphasis). Colonel Robert Scott, military advisor in the British diplomatic mission
in Nigeria then couldn’t agree more with Wilson on the subject. Scott stated that
as Nigerian genocidist military forces unleashed their attacks on Biafran
cities, towns and villages, they are the “best defoliant agent known” (Daily Telegraph, London, 11 January 1970). Chillingly dreadful...
Intelligible
SEEN AGAINST this background of Harold Wilson’s repugnant involvement in the Igbo genocide, the very trenchant charge of antisemitism and racism that
current Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has had from some of his colleagues
and other prominent persons in Britain, becomes hugely intelligible:
(Margaret Hodge, British Labour party member of parliament: “Jeremy Corbyn is f****** racist and antisemite”, The Independent, London, 18 July 2018)
(Chuka Umunna, British Labour party member of parliament: “The Labour party [under Jeremy Corbyn] is institutionally racist ... very painful”, Daily Mail, London, 9 September 2018)
(Jonathan Sacks, former British chief rabbi: “[Jeremy Corbyn] is anti-semite [who has] given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate”, New Statesman, London, 28 August 2018)
(Trevor Philips, former head of British equality commission: “[Jeremy Corbyn] is anti-semite and racist”, Daily Mail, 13 September 2018)
(Jeremy Corbyn, British Labour party leader...)
(John Coltrane & Don Cherry, “Focus on sanity” [personnel: Coltrane, tenor saxophone; Cherry, pocket trumpet; Percy Heath, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums; recorded: Atlantic Studios, New York, US, 28 June/8 July 1960])
(Biafran women on freedom march, Owere, east Biafra, Friday 17 August 2018)
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe THE Indigenous People of
Biafra has declared a general strike across Biafra on Friday 14 September 2018.
All Biafrans living at home and in the diaspora in Nigeria and
elsewhere in the world have been asked to stay home with their families and
mourn the death of over 3000 Igbo people murdered by the Fulani-led islamist/jihadist Nigeria genocidist
occupation military in Biafra and its adjuncts Fulani militia* and Boko Haram** terrorists since Muhammadu Buhari, one of the vilest members of the génocidaires
high command that has waged the Igbo genocide in the past 52 years, was imposed
on Nigeria as head of regime in March 2015. All public services in Biafra including schools, markets,
banks/other finance houses, state offices, etc., etc., will be shut down
throughout the day. There will be no movement of vehicles, private or
commercial.
Legacy THIS LAST three years’
stretch of Igbo murders has been particularly horrid, the bloodiest in phase-IV
of the genocide since the Nigerians launched it on 13 Jaunary 1970. Tens of
thousands of Igbo have been murdered during the period. In phases I-III of
the genocide, 29 May 1966-12 January 1970, the genocidists murdered 3.1 million
Igbo or 25 per cent of the Igbo population at the time. The Igbo genocide is
the foundational genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa.
The Buhari head-of-regime imposition
was carried out by Barack Obama, former US president and first person
of African descent to be elected to the position of president of the United
States 233 years after the founding of the republic, and
David Cameron, ex-British prime minister, whose country is a co-genocidist
state in this crime of the Igbo genocide.
OBAMA’s support of the Igbo genocide constitutes the abominable
legacy of his presidency. ---------------------------0000---------------------0000------------------- * & **Fulani militia and Boko Haram are both part of the world’s five deadliest terrorist groups currently, according to the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-17/global-terrorism-index-increase/6947200, accessed 17 November 2015.
(Charles Mingus Sextet – with Eric Dolphy, Cornell University 1964, “Meditations” [personnel: Mingus, bass; Johnny Coles, trumpet; Dolphy, flute, bass clarinet; Clifford Jordan, tenor saxophone; Jaki Byard, piano; Dannie Richmond, drums; recorded: live, Cornell University, 18 March 1964])
(Save-a-Soul Quintet of Biafran school girls from Regina Pacis Secondary School Onicha, southwest Biafra...wins global technovation contest, San Jose, United States, Thursday 9 August 2018)
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
ON FRIDAY 10 August 2018, news comes through of
the overnight stunning success of the great Save-a-Soul Quintet of Biafran school girls from Regina Pacis Secondary School, Onicha, southwest Biafra, winning the
2018 global technovation contest held in San Jose, United States. Fifty million
Biafrans at home and in the diaspora are catapaulted into a weekend of celebration
as the Regina Pacis whiz kids Promise Nnalue, Vivian Okoye, Adaeze Onuigbo, Jessica Osita, and Nwabuaku Ossai became latest icons in the 52
years of the Biafra freedom movement.
Across the wall, in genocidist lair Nigeria, the
news from San Jose is crushingly depressing … The state, as usual, is thrown
into a frenzy as it decides what to do… how to react to yet another uplifting news feature on/about Biafra and
Biafrans. As in the past, genocidist planners would come up with a response,
usually more savage than before, in a day or two, a few days, but surely
within a week…
ON FRIDAY 17 August in Owere, east Biafra, 50
miles away from Onicha, 2000 Igbo women embark on a peaceful freedom march. As
the marchers approach the Owere city centre, a genocidist police detachment
opens fire on them. Details of casualties and
possible fatalities suffered by the women are still unknown but the génocidaires detained scores of survivors
of the shooting for four days before they were released due to a follow up unrelenting
campaign by the Biafran population.
(Biafran women on freedom march, Owere, east Biafra, Friday 17 August 2018)
(Biafran women freedom marchers, Owere, east Biafra, Friday 17 August 2018)
(Scores of Biafran women marchers in Owere, east Biafra: detained by Nigerian génocidaires)
Crux, collapse, legacy AT the crux of this unparalled savagery by genocidist Nigeria,
this malebogle, this poorest country on earth presently (according to the World
Bank, https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1031088319654842369), is the engaging, crippling consequence of its genocide against Igbo
people which has gone on since its launch date on 29 May 1966. Nigeria murdered
3.1 million Igbo during phases I-III of the genocide, 29 May 1966-12 January
1970, and tens of thousands of additional Igbo subsequently, phase-IV, 13
January 1970-present day… Precisely, Nigeria has indeed collapsed as a state with few
prospects for the future. Despite 52 years of genocide it has waged on the Igbo, including its 44 devastating months of comprehensive siege of Biafra by air, land and sea, 29 May 1966-
12 January 197o, Igbo people have demonstrated a greater creative
drive towards constructing an advanced civilisation in Biafra than what Nigeria
has all but wishesit could achieve in the past five decades.
THIS is the haunting legacy that Nigeria presents to Theresa
May, prime minister of its Igbo genocide co-genocidist and suzerain state Britain, who arrives there
tomorrow, Wednesday 29 August, for a fleeting visit.
(John Coltrane & Don Cherry, “Focus on sanity” [personnel: Coltrane, tenor saxophone; Cherry, pocket trumpet; Percy Heath, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums; recorded: Atlantic Studios, New York, US, 28 June/8 July 1960])
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe BRITAIN creates a predatory estate it calls Nigeria, a name concocted cavalierly from one of the derivatives of the racist, dehumanising pan-European-crafted “n*****” epithet with edited part of word “area” added on to emphasise the conquered African peoples’ domicility. Igbo people It then employs an equally predatory and expansionist African-basedFulani islamists/jihadists,originally from Futa Djallon highlands in contemporary Guinea-Conakry, 1500 miles to the northwest, to murder indigenous uncompromisingly republican Igbo people at will in this longest and most devastating genocide of contemporary history – with 3.1 million Igbo murdered, 29
May 1966-12 January 1970, and tens of thousands of additional Igbo murdered, 13
January 1970-present day... Just three days ago, Friday 17 August 2018, a Nigeria genocidist ocupation police unit in Owere, east Biafra, opened fire at 2000 Igbo women engaged in a peaceful freedom march through the Owere city centre. Details of casualties and possible fatalities suffered by the women are still unknown but the génocidaires have detained scores of survivors of this shooting. IT should be noted that, in shooting at Igbo women freedom marchers last Friday, the Nigerians have studiously borrowed a leaf out of the book of their co-genocidist British conqueror state whose own occupation forces had, in November-December 1929, fired on and murdered 55 Igbo women freedom marchers in this same east Biafra region, opposed to the British conquest (https://re-thinkingafrica.blogspot.com/2017/11/blog-post_23.html). Freedom For the Igbo, the resistance and overcoming from Nigeria are undoubtedly existential. Clearly, the Igbo are the authors of their freedom which, thankfully, 52 years later, is on the cards. IGBO FREEDOM from this haematophagous monster, presently in its death throes, is the great African story of the 21st century.
(John Coltrane Sextet, “Out of this world” [personnel: Coltrane, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Donald Garrett, clarinet, bass; Pharoah Sanders, tenor saxophone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Elvin Jones, drums; recorded: live at Penthouse Jazz Club, Seattle, US, 30 September 1965])
AS PART of today’s commemoration of ChristopherOkigbo’s birthday, re-thinkingafrica reissues the 3-part video recording of Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe’s paper presentation to the Christopher Okigbo International Conference, Harvard University, 22 September 2007, entitled “Okigbo, the Africa state, genocide and the peoples”
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is specialist on the state and on genocide & wars in Africa in the post-1966 epoch – beginning with the Igbo genocide, 29 May 1966-present day, the foundational and most gruesome genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa. 3.1 million Igbo or 25 per cent of this nation’s population were murdered by Nigeria and its allies, principally Britain. Africa and the rest of the world largely stood by and watched as the perpetrators enacted this horror most ruthlessly. The world could have stopped this genocide; the world should have stopped this genocide. This genocide inaugurated Africa’s current age of pestilence. During the period, 12 million additional Africans have been murdered in further genocide in Rwanda (1994), Zaïre/DRCongo (variously, since the late 1990s) and Darfur – west of the Sudan – (since 2004) and in other wars in Africa. African peoples have, presently, no other choice but exit/dismantle the extant genocide-state (the bane of their existence & progress) & construct own nation-centred states that serve their interests. He is author of several books & papers on the subject and his new book is entitled The longest genocide – since 29 May 1966 (2019).
