COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE BELT SUMMIT ORGANISED BY THE MIDDLE BELT DIALOGUE, HELD AT THE MANYI HOTEL, LAFIA, NASARAWA STATE, 17TH – 18TH SEPT. 2010. A Middle Belt Summit organised by the Middle Belt Dialogue held at Manyi Royal Suite, Lafiya, Nasarawa State from 17th to 18th September 2010. Delegates from Kogi, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kebbi, Niger, Gombe,Taraba, Benue States and the Federal Capital territory were in attendance. It was resolved that the Middle Belt Region would support all efforts by politicians and activist groups to expand the political space in Nigeria as the 2011 Elections approaches so as to allow all groups and peoples of Nigeria to be incorporated into the Nigerian project. |
All issues that affect Jos and Plateau State in general are discussed in this blog.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
THE MIDDLE BELT DIALOGUE
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
ISLAMIC HONOR KILLINGS IN AMERICA
We are told that Islam is a religion of love and peace. In reality, it appears to be more a religion of hate and murder. The vicious acts of terrorism aside, consider the practice of honor killing. This is defined by the Human Rights Watch as “acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family.” These are very common in the Middle East and
Honor killings are on the rise in the
The first documented case was in November 1989, when Zein Isa, a Palestinian terrorist living in
In April 2004, Ismail Peltek of
In January 2008, teenage sisters Amina and Sarah Said were shot to death in
In July 2008, Chaudhry Rashid strangled his daughter to death in
That same month, in upper state
In February 2009, Muzzammil Hassan beheaded his wife, Aasiya, in upstate
In October 2009, police in
Recent honor killings in other Western nations include the following:
In August 2010, a Turkish man beat his 20-year-old daughter, Gulsum Semin, to death with a club in
In 2009, Mohammad Shafia was charged with murdering his three teenage daughters (Zainab, Sahari, and Geeti) and his first wife, Rona, in
In 2008 in
In June 2007, a British court found Mahmod Mahmod guilty of murdering his 20-year-old daughter Banaz. She was strangled with a boot lace, stuffed into a suitcase, and buried in a garden. The killing stemmed from her father’s hatred of her Western ways and non-approved boyfriend. An uncle assisted in the murder. Her life had been threatened since her teenage years. Once she ran away from home, but she agreed to come back after her father sent an audio tape warning that he would kill her sisters and mother if she did not return. More than 100 homicides are under investigation as potential honor killings in Britain (“British Court Finds Muslim Father Guilty,” Fox News, June 11, 2007).
Because of an upsurge in Islamic murders in India, the nation’s Home Minister proposed in August 2010 a new law “to provide specific, severe penalties to curb honor killings” (“India Proposes New Law,” Yahoo, Aug. 5, 2010). A study found that as many as 900 honor killings are committed each year in the three northern Indian states of Haryana,
The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization says, “We’re seeing an increase around the world, due in part to the rise in Islamic fundamentalism.”
Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
WHO IS A NORTHERNER?
"... 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?"
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S RESPONSE
Saturday, August 14, 2010
AVATAR: A RACIST MOVIE


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.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
DR. IBRAM ROGERS - 27 YEAR-OLD PROFESSOR
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.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
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.