WHO IS A NORTHERNER?

In 2006 Rev. Father, Matthew Hassan Kukah delivered a paper to the Northern Senators' Forum. He made some very revealing remarks about the identity of a 'Northerner." In view of the recent PDP zoning debate and the stand of some "Northern" States, I feel that portions of Kukah's speech merit revisiting. Below is an excerpt from that speech.

"... But notwithstanding these claims, and assuming that we concede to these emotions, how shall we know when this power comes to the North? How shall we recognize the Northerner? Is it by the fact that he or she is indigenous to the geographical space that used to be called Northern Nigeria before 1967? Or are there other hidden credentials?

"I make this observation because although we claim that the North is a region (though it ceased to exist in 1967!), we are summoned to respond to the call of the North on the grounds that our unity defies boundaries of geopolitics. But, to my brothers and sisters who are Muslims, I wish to ask a few questions which I need you to think over as opposed to giving me answers. Assuming that power does return to the North, if the new Presidential candidate is called John, Thomas, Sarah or Felix, would you be ready to embrace him or her as a Northerner? I am asking this question because from my personal experience, this North seems to be more concerned with religion and not geography. Two examples will elucidate my case. Let me use very recent examples even though I do know that most of us here will be familiar with many similar stories in times past. When Senator Isaiah Balat was made a Minister in 1999 and the North was crying of marginalization, it was pointed out that Senator Balat was one of the Northerners in the administration. Some Northern politicians said openly that Senator Balat was a Christian not a Northerner! Similarly, in 2005, when I was appointed Secretary of the defunct National Political Reform Conference, NPRC, one of your newspapers mounted a campaign of calumny against my appointment. My credentials were not being questioned. What was being questioned was the fact that in their jaundiced view, I was a Christian and not a Muslim! These so called defenders of the North heaved a sigh of relief when a Muslim from the South was appointed to serve as a Co-Secretary with me. They were prepared to overlook the fact that the President had actually sent them someone from his own state. As long as it was a Muslim, nothing else mattered to these strange Northerners. Are these the Northerners I am supposed to join forces with simply because it has become expedient for their questionable interests?"

PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S RESPONSE

Since President Goodluck Jonathan has a page on Facebook, I decided to acquaint him with the recurring crises in Jos. I demanded for the abrogation of Decree 41 of 1991 through which IBB created Jos-North LGA. The opinions of the Afizere, Anaguta, Berom, Igbo, Yoruba, Urhobo and others, all large communities resident in Jos, were not considered by IBB's AFRC. I was pleasantly surprised when Pres. GEJ replied me. Below is his reply verbatim. However, it is obvious that our President is out of touch with the reality of our problem. Nobody wants to kick another person from any part of Nigeria. But some people have made themselves obnoxious and a pain to other Nigerians. This group has caused trouble in all parts of the country, from Shagamu to Calabar, from Ibadan to Yola, from Sokoto to Jos. I promised Mr. President that I will represent the problem to him using different words. Read on:

"I read your complaints about the Settler/Indigene dichotomy and many of you are calling for a constitutional amendment to solve this issue, however, the truth is that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has already abrogated that dichotomy for the simple reason that it does not recognise any difference between the two sets of people. If there is a difference as some insist, it is only in their minds and we must as Nigerians begin the peaceful processes of rebuilding the foundations of our citizenship. As far as our present Constitution is concerned, ALL Nigerian citizens are indigenes of any part of Nigeria. And our history is replete with a demonstration of this fact. For example the Great Zik of Africa won an election in Ibadan. Malam Umaru Altine was the first elected Mayor of Enugu and Felix Okonkwo (known as Okonkwo 'Kano') was a member of the Northern Nigeria House of chiefs. Since there is precedent for it in the past, we have to remove the glass ceiling in our minds that still believes in the Settler/Indigene dichotomy. Under the Nigerian Constitution, there is absolutely nothing stopping any Nigerian citizen who has taken residency in a state, town or ward from participating in the governance processes of that State, Town or Ward including contesting elections if the individual fulfils the constitutional requirements of residency and tax payment. If Nigerian immigrants can win City Council elections in the U.S, mayoral elections in Ireland and most recently Parliamentary seats in the British House of Commons, it should certainly be possible for a Nigerian with ancestral origins from Sokoto to win an election in Port Harcourt and vice versa. As I said, the Nigerian Constitution permits it, there are precedents for it and the only thing we have to do is to give effect to our constitutional rights which speak to our unity and our collective aspirations for peaceful co-existence and greatness."

AVATAR: A RACIST MOVIE

I wish to share the following with you. It comes from Dr. Ibram Rogers' blog: progressivecorner.wordpress.com

Avatar: Most Racist Movie of All Time

April 27, 2010 by Dr. Ibram H. Rogers

Na'vi purposefully depicted with braids (Source: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk)

After watching Avatar for the first time this past weekend on DVD, I must say that it is the most racist Hollywood movie of all time.

This is not an over-reaction. This is not an over-statement. This is not my passion speaking. The movie that is billing itself as the best of all-time is in fact the best—in terms of racism. Birth of a Nation has nothing on Avatar.

Avatar, like The Blind Side, is a White Savior Flick. And of all of the racist plots that have long dominated Hollywood films, the most racist and treacherous plot is undoubtedly the White Savior Flick. There are two glaring reasons for this. First, these movies do not just echo racism’s central ideological position—that Whites are superior—but it takes another paternalistic step to intimate that since Whites are superior, non-Whites are dependent on Whites for their livelihood. Second, since many of these White Savior Flicks are either based on true stories and/or the White Saviors are depicted as the good guys, the racism goes down pleasantly and easy in our consciousness.

In other words, the best drugs are those that provide a powerful high and are easy to consume. In comparison, to a repulsive film like Birth of a Nation in which the racism is like a shot of heroine, White Savior flicks go down painless, like pills of ecstasy. Since it goes down easy and people walk away happy, more people are willing to watch it, more people are unwilling to challenge and repel the racism.

So if the White Savior Flick is the most racist plot saturating Hollywood films, then Avatar is by far the worst of all the White Savior Flicks. Think about the plot of Avatar in racial terms. A white male is the central character. In comparison to his brother with a Ph.D., he is an outcast of White society. He is the worst of White society. He is at the bottom of the hierarchy in White society and his inability to walk symbolizes this. Do not be fooled about his disability. You must see it in figurative terms as a fundamental part of his character. He is disabled not just physically in White society, but generally. Said differently, he is “disabled Whiteness.”

This “disabled Whiteness” is sent to another planet called “Pandora,” which early in the movie is described as worse than “hell.” Who lives in this hell? The Na’vi reside there, an indigenous species called “natives” by the Whites. Who have been called “natives” by Whites in history? Native Americans, Africans, and Asians when Whites were colonizing those areas to secure natural resources worth tons of money, just as the Whites were colonizing Pandora to secure a valuable resource. Thus earlier on, the connection between the Na’vi and Native Americans and Africans are made. To add to that connection, the Na’vi are configured as these physically superior beings, just as African people have been conceived of in European racist thought. This physical superiority (Blacks are better athletes, dancers, and lovers) is in fact an inferiority though since it demonstrates that Black people are closer in the being chain to animals since animals are considered the most superior physical beings on Earth. In addition, central principles in Native American and African culture are attached to the Na’vi, such as the traditional African religious concept that all things exude a spiritual force and the Native American reciprocal relationship with nature.

In sum, the Na’vi are called what colonized non-Whites have been called, they are visually depicted with locs and braids as these physically imposing beings (as Whites have conceived of Africans for centuries), and they even imbrued them with elements of African and Native American culture.

Now, the central character, which again symbolizes “disabled Whiteness” is charged with learning the ways of the Na’vi. If Na’vi culture is conceptualized on the same level as White culture, then one would think that if someone is an outcast and failure in one, he would be an outcast and failure in the other, unless they provide some character trait that explains how he could lose in one and win in the other. But there was no explanatory character trait. The only primary characteristics we knew about this guy before he tried to learn Na’vi culture was that he was White, disabled, and a soldier.

So “disabled Whiteness” begins to learn the ways of the Na’vi. “Disabled Whiteness” learns the culture of the Na’vi quickly, becoming one of the most “abled” of the group. For a time, there is this constant demonstration and switch of “disabled Whiteness” or “low-quality Whiteness” becoming “high-quality Na’vi.” The racist contrast and message is mind-blowing. At the same time, the main character tries to teach the Na’vi the ways of the White man, but of course that is difficult for them to learn (aside from English). In other words, it is easy for Whites to learn non-White culture, but difficult for non-Whites to learn White culture. That positions White culture, once again, as superior.

Eventually, he mates with the daughter of the chief, who of course wants a piece of superior Whiteness. Later, he “conquers” the most vicious animal on Pandora, and when he lands and approaches the people, many are astonished and begin bowing to the power of Whiteness as if he is a God. The movie ends with “disabled Whiteness” managing to compel the God of the Na’vi to do something that God had never done before. He becomes the spiritual leader too, as the White savior saves the Na’vi from annihilation (A side note: Another racist ideas comes to the fore hear that Whites can only be defeated by the super-natural—non-White people can not defeat Whites with their intelligence without the help of their Gods). In the end, “low-quality Whiteness” becomes the “highest-quality Na’vi” on the planet. The incredible and audacious performance of White superiority in this film has no equal in Hollywood history.

Let’s think about this racist performance and message for a second. Since it is the middle of the NBA playoffs, I want to use a basketball analogy. There are two basketball teams: the Blacks and the Whites. On the Whites, there is a guy who is considered the worst player on the team. So he leaves the Whites and decides to join the Blacks. If he rapidly becomes the best player on the Blacks, then what does that say about Whites? What does that say about the Blacks? That the White team is so far superior than the Black team that the worst White player will become the best player on the Black team—or to put it in racial terms, as a college friend once told me, the worst White person in the world still thinks he or she is better than the best Black person in the world.

That situation, which is the basis of the plot in Avatar, is the pinnacle—it is the most tyrannical idea in the ideology of racism. It says that not only is the White race superior to all the other races. But the worst White person is far superior to the best people of all the other races. The trash of White society is the treasure of Black society. Only in a thoroughly racist country is the plot of Avatar even believable.

Avatar is the most racist movie of all-time.

DR. IBRAM ROGERS - 27 YEAR-OLD PROFESSOR

Dr. Rogers kindly permitted me to reproduce his article in this blog.

progressivecorner.wordpress.com

Five Hundred Nigerians Massacred Over a Political, Not Religious Divide

March 10, 2010 by Dr. Ibram H. Rogers

Dr. Rogers can be reached at ibramrogers@aol.com.

Mass burial in Nigeria (Source: latimes.com) (picture missing)

When I heard that almost five hundred Nigerians were massacred over the weekend in Jos, Northern Nigeria, my heart dropped in silence. For over three hours Sunday morning, hundreds of Nigerians were hacked to death with machetes in their homes. Those that were able to flee were caught in large animal traps, and murdered.

After it took me a while to re-center myself emotionally, the next line of thought was WHY? Why did this happen? Why? Why did five hundred people get massacred like this? Why?

Most of the American news stories did not answer this question, as they rarely do. They briefly presented the notion of religious strife, saying Christians were massacred by Muslims. But to me, that is not saying anything. That does not provide any answers. For most Americans, who have this idea that Muslims are barbarous, ruthless, natural killers, who murder to murder, and hate just to hate, that explanation provided an answer. But to me, who see Muslims as people, I still did not learn the reason behind such a massive tragedy.

So as usual, I had to leave the American media, and start searching in obscure places for answers. From reading a variety of foreign sources, I realized the massacre seemed more about power politics than religious tension. In human history, merely religious tension has rarely if ever caused massacres of this magnitude. I knew something else was up.

I came to realize that Nigeria’s former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida created in 1991 the Jos North local government bringing together this rival under one political banner and he ultimately empowered the Hausa Fulani, who actually requested the government be created.

As Nigerian columnist Charles Kumolu wrote, “It all began with the creation of Jos North Local Government Area through States Creation and Transition Provision Decree No 2 of 1991. Unknown to those who conceived the idea and gave concrete expression to it, it has now become synonymous with the recurring decimal now known as the Jos crisis with high toll in human lives and property. In the process, the bond of brotherhood that used to exist appears to be permanently broken.”

In effect, it appears that this local political structure brought together rival ethno-religious groups under its jurisdiction. One group, the Muslim Hausa Fulani, was empowered by the federal government to rule in the early 1990s, and ever since they have sought to assert their power over the other Christian groups in the local government.

The governor of the state where these atrocities occurred set up a commission last year, which investigated the tensions that previously have resulted in deaths of lesser numbers. The commission recommended in a 339-page report that the present Jos North Local Government be sliced into three local governments with the state government giving “due consideration to all ethnic groupings in appointments, nominations and promotions with the state.” It made a series of other recommendations to eliminate the power struggle. None were instituted.

Therefore, the blood and the stench from the corpses are on the hands of state officials who through instituting some of the recommendations of the commission could have prevented this massacre. But even more blood has stained the hands of former president Babangida, who snatched these religious rivals from separate political rooms, threw them into one room, handed the Muslims machetes, and closed the doors.

Violence has reigned ever since in that room. And it may continue. This may not be the last massacre we hear about until the door is opened and they are allowed to reside and operate in their own political rooms like they did pre-1991 when this area of Nigeria was a beacon of peace.

MINORITIES RIGHTS ADVOCACY GROUP EMERGIES IN NIGERIA

The CONGRESS FOR EQUALITY AND CHANGE (CEC), a group comprising of all the perceived minorities of Nigeria was formally inaugurated in Abuja on Thursday August 05, 2010. Chairman of the Board of Trustees of CEC is no other than the untiring octogenerian, Chief Edwin Clark, an Ijaw man from Delta State. I must say, this is the best thing that has happened to the political landscape of our country since Lord Lugard's 1914 amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates that created the entity alled Nigeria. The Hausa/Fulani nation, Yoruba nationa dn Igbo nation have dominated the rulership of the country to their favour and to the detriment of the remaining 250 smaller tribes.

For the first time, the minority tribes in all States and Christians in some northern States have created a forum to express their hitherto oppressed opinions and to demand for their rights as citizens on Nigeria to rulership. I congratulate the pioneers of the movement and wish them God's blessings.

They should please remember the case of Jos North LGA. In 1991 IBB's administration surreptitiously and secretly curved out a Hausa/Fulani settlement in Afizere/Anaguta/Berom land in the old Jos LGA and gave it to these settlers as an LGA called Jos North. This has resulted in over ten thousand deaths since then and the loss of billions of Naira worth of property. The injustice done the owners of the land needs to be reversed for their to be peace on the Plateau.