Dublin Remembers Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 8

Monday November 10th is the thirteenth anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others by the Nigerian Government in 1995. The executions are widely believed to be a consequence of Shell's activities in the Niger Delta, and next February, a court in New York will hear a case brought against Shell by KSW's son, Ken Wiwa, who is a U.S. citizen.

It seems fitting to honour Ken Saro Wiwa this way (even if it only by concerned activists with temporary signs) since it is important that his struggle against the destruction of the Niger Delta is remembered by those who deal with energy companies like Shell.



Many people still refuse to buy petrol from Shell since the executions, and this boycott continues in Ireland even though Shell now uses the Topaz brand to disguise its products. Sadly, others seem to have forgotten the history of KSW and the people of Ogoniland, and the Irish government today colludes with Shell in the destruction of the sensitive environment of the north west coast of Mayo, while doing deals which effectively hand over the country's oil and gas resources to Shell and other multi-national energy companies.



The outrage which was expressed against Shell at the time of the executions seems to have been put aside in the interests of "business of usual". So it is appropriate to name the street where Minister Eamon Ryan hands out licences for Irish oil and gas exploitation after a fighter who gave his life trying to protect his homeland from destruction and see a long term benefit for his people from their resources.

Many people have also commented that there is no straightforward mechanism to re-name streets in Dublin after deserving figures from history and culture. To this day, we have no Oscar Wilde street, no George Bernard Shaw Street, no Samuel Beckett Street, even though these figures are honoured around the world. Instead we have still have streets named after King George, Queen Victoria, and places in Britain such as Dorset and Essex. Perhaps seeing a street renamed will remind legislators that it is long overdue that the streets of Dublin reflected positive influences from history and culture, rather than the city's colonial past.




Notes:

Who was Ken Saro Wiwa ?

Ken Saro-Wiwa (October 10, 1941 – November 10, 1995) was a Nigerian author, television producer, and environmentalist. He was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority whose homelands in the Niger Delta have been targeted for oil extraction since the 1950s. Initially as spokesperson, and then as President, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental damage associated with the operations of multinational oil companies, especially Shell. He was executed by the Nigerian military in 1995, his death provoking international outrage.

read more here: www.remembersarowiwa.com/lifeksw.htm

What is the court case being brought against Shell?

On October 7th, lawyers from the Center for Constitutional rights were given a court date of February 9th 2009 for their case against Shell for the company's involvement in conspiring to torture and murder opponents in a pattern of human rights abuses.

read more here:

(http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/wiwa-v.-royal-dutch-petroleum%2C-wiwa-v.-anderson-and-wiwa-v.-shell-petroleum-d)

What street has been renamed?

Adelaide Road in Dublin was named after Queen Adelaide of England, wife of King William IV. It is the home of the Department of Natural Resources and also the main entrance of the headquarters building of Shell Exploration and Production Ireland Limited.

Is this the first street named after KSW?

A proposal to name a street in the Nigerian Federal Capital, Abuja, after Ken Saro Wiwa caused controversy recently. Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka said that streets should not be named after national figures until those named in honour of the dictator General Sani Abacha were re-named.

Read more here: http://www.champion-newspapers.com/news/article4_071108.htm

(if links are broken, copy and paste them into the browser's address bar)

Pictures of the renamed street can be seen at flickr here - http://flickr.com/photos/24935400@N06/sets/72157608792269359/

Please feel free to reproduce them and forward them and this email to anyone interested.

If you would like a higher resolution copy of the pictures emailed to you please contact rememberkensarowiwa@gmail.com

Please also note- a new book on the Niger Delta has just been published -

Curse of The Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta

Photographs by: Ed Kashi
Edited by: Michael Watts
(powerHouse Books, 2008) http://www.powerhousebooks.com/look-inside/400