Chinua Achebe’s twin-portals of engaging historic witness

(Father of African Literature: visiting Umeå, Sweden, in the autumn of 1988 [19 October 1988] to launch the Swedish translation of his Anthills of the Savannah, 1987)

Portal-I: Aftermath of pan-European conquest and occupation of the African World

[The European conquest of Africa] may indeed be a complex affair, but one thing is certain: You do not walk in, seize the land, the person, the history of another, and then sit back and compose hymns of praise in his honour. To do that would amount to calling yourself a bandit; and you won’t to do that. So what do you do? You construct very elaborate excuses for your action. You say, for instance, that the man in question is worthless and quite unfit to manage himself or his affairs. If there are valuable things like gold and diamonds which you are carting away from his territory, you proceed to prove that he doesn’t own them in the right sense of the word – that he and they had just happened to be lying around the same place when you arrived. Finally if the worse comes to the worse, you may even be prepared to question whether such as he can be, like you, fully human. From denying the presence of a man standing there before you, you end up questioning his very humanity …[I]n the [European conquest] situation presence was the critical question, the crucial word. Its denial was the keynote of [this conquest’s] ideology. (Chinua Achebe, “African Literature as Restoration of Celebration”, Kunapipi, 12, 2, 1990: 4; emphasis added) 

Portal-II: Aftermath of Igbo genocide, the foundational genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa, 29 May 1966-12 January 1970 

[Nigeria’s] wartime cabinet, it should also be remembered, was full of intellectuals like Obafemi Awolowo and Anthony Enaharo and super-permanent secretaries such as Allison Akene Ayida among others who came up with a boatload of infamous and regrettable policies. A statement credited to … Obafemi Awolowo and echoed by his cohorts is the most callous and unfortunate: ‘All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder’. It is my impression that … Obafemi Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition of power, for himself in particular and for the advancement of his Yoruba people in general. And let it be said that there is, on the surface, at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations. However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbo … at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose – the Nigeria-Biafra War – his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to any length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation – eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations. (Chinua Achebe, There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra [New York: The Penguin, 2012], p. 233; emphasis added)

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African Atlantic discourses: Chinua Achebe and Langston Hughes

(Visiting poet, novelist, playwright, freedom movement exponent and distinguished Harlem Renaissance [1920s-1930s] alumnus Langston Hughes, 60, in conversation with novelist Chinua Achebe, 31, outside the [then] Achebes’ home, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria, August 1962)

(Charles Mingus Sextet – with multiinstrmentalist 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])

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“Friday the 13th”

(Thelonious Monk ...:composer, pianist)

(Joe Henderson Trio plays Thelonious Monk’s composition, “Friday the 13th” [personnel: Henderson, tenor saxophone; Ron Carter, bass; Al Foster, drums; recorded: live, Village Vanguard, New York, US, 14-16 November 1985])

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105th birthday of Louis Mbanefo

(Born 13 May 1911, Onicha, Biafra)

Erudite human rights lawyer, distinguished international jurist at the International Court of Justice, The Hague, 1962-1966, Biafran chief justice, ambassador extraordinary, and one of the leading intellectuals who defends the people during the Igbo genocide by Nigeria and ally Britain, foundational genocide of post-(European) conquest Africa, 29 May 1966-12 January 1970, in which 3.1 million Igbo or one-quarter of this nation’s population are murdered

(George Russell Sextet, “Ezz-thetic” – personnel: Russell, piano; Don Ellis, trumpet; Dave Baker, trombone; Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone; Steve Swallow, bass; Joe Hunt, drums [recorded Riverside Records, New York, US, 8 May 1961])

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82nd birthday of Jayne Cortez

(Born 10 May 1934, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, US)

Distinguished prolific poet and word-performing artist, freedom activist, publisher

(1. Mother and son: Jayne Cortez Duo, “Find your own voice” [personnel: Cortez, voice; Denardo Coleman, drums; recorded: live, The Sanctuary for Independent media, Troy, New York, US, 23 October 2010])

  (2. Mother and son: Jayne Cortez Duo, “She got he got” [personnel: Cortez, voice; Coleman, drums; recordings and other details as in “1” above])

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Mmuo Biafra intervenes! British establishment’s extraordinary indictment of its lead client-state in Africa and the world: Nigeria is a “fantastically corrupt” country

(David Cameron)

Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

Speaking at a reception with a number of top British establishment figures (captured on camera – see video below) which noticeably include head of state Queen Elizabeth II, parliamentary speaker Bercow, archbishop of Canterbury Welby and former justice secretary Grayling, David Cameron, British prime minister, pronounces: “We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain … Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world”. We must note, though, that despite Cameron’s affirmation or rather because of it, Nigeria works exponentially for Britain. On 29 May 1966, just 5 months before David Cameron was born, Britain, under prime minister Harold Wilson, supported Nigeria militarily, diplomatically and politically as it launched the genocide against Igbo people. 3.1 million Igbo or one-quarter of this nation’s population were murdered during the course of 44 dreadful months. This is the foundational genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa and the most gruesome campaign of extermination of a people in African history. This genocide continues today. It is led by Muhammadu Buhari, a genocidist trooper right from the outset 50 years ago, and the islamist head of the Nigeria regime currently visiting London on a so-called corruption summit. The genocide is supported fully by Cameron, just as his 1960s’ predecessor. 

“Punishment”, capital net-exporters, cavalier

Britain waged the genocide against the Igbo as “punishment” for the vanguard role Igbo people played between the mid-1930s and October 1960 to terminate 75 years of its conquest and occupation of Nigeria and emerged as the effective suzerain-state power over Nigeria subsequently, safeguarding its vast economic and strategic interests in this southwestcentral Africa region. Besides, kakistocratic Nigeria, in addition to the other “Berlin-states” dotted across Africa, “corrupt” or not, have consistently been net-exporters of capital to Britain and the rest of the West since 1981. At least the gargantuan sum of US$400 billion has been transferred in this track of transaction during the period which is tagged “legitimate” by its recipients. Except African peoples in these “Berlin-states” embark at once on freeing themselves from this quagmire of existence in states essentially constructed to serve the European World in perpetuity, a westerner born in 2016 would conceivably, in another 50 years, update David Cameron’s assured, champagne-sipping breathtaking performance on the subject but this time around with even more cavalier and pompous disposition than what was on display earlier on in the day...

(David Cameron in conversation ... Nigeria: “fantastically corrupt...”)

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The transit of Mercury

Today, Monday 9 May 2016, Mercury, the planet in our solar system closest to the sun, crosses the “front” of the rising sun during the course of approximately our seven and one-half hours – crossing occurs only 13/14 times in a century.

(John Coltrane Duo, “Mars”, part-I of 4-part extended suite, Interstellar Space [personnel: Coltrane, tenor saxophone, bells; Rashied Ali, drums; recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood, Cliff, NJ, US, 22 February 1967])

(John Coltrane Duo, “Venus”, part-2 of 4-part extended suite, Interstellar Space [personnel and recording details as in pt-I])

 (John Coltrane Duo, “Jupiter”, part-3 of 4-part extended suite, Interstellar Space [personnel and recording details as in pt-I])

 (John Coltrane Duo, “Saturn”, part-4 of 4-part extended suite, Interstellar Space [personnel and recording details as in pt-I])

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