THESE LETTERS AND poems are invaluable fragments of a living conversation that portrays the indomitable power in humans to stay alive in the face of certain death. Reading through the treasure trove of the letters and poems compiled here as The Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa evoked such intense memories of his resolute struggles against an oil behemoth and a deaf autocratic government. His crusade frames one of the most tumultuous periods of Nigeria’s history; his tragic story evokes anger and demands action to resolve the crises that first led the Ogoni people to demand that Shell clean up Ogoni or clear out of the territory. It was his leadership, in great part, that forced Shell out of Ogoni in January 1993. The letters are a testament of hope. Being one side of robust conversations between two persons that many would find unlikely as close friends, we learn the lessons that indeed ‘friends love at all times and brothers (and sisters) are born for adversity’, as a proverb in the Bible states. This is where we must applaud Sister Majella Mc Carron for preserving and making public these letters that Ken Saro-Wiwa wrote to her between 20 October 1993 and 14 September 1995. The collection includes essays by the three editors, select bibliography and recommended resources.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface to new edition — Noo Saro Wiwa
About the contributors
Acknowledgments
Foreword to the first edition — Nnimmo Bassey
Introduction to the second edition — Helen Fallon, Íde Corely and Laurenc Cox
1. Introductory Section
– The Ken Saro-Wiwa Collection at the Library, Maynooth University, Ireland — Helen Fallon
– Ken Saro-Wiwa and West African Literature: The Politics of Language — íde Corely
– Ken Saro-Wiwa in Political Context: Social Movements in the Niger Delta — Laurence Cox
– The Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa Audio Archive — Anne O’Brien and Helen Fallon
– The Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa Bursary: Research on the origins of the oil industry — Graham Kay
A dying village, poem by Majella Mc Carron
2. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Letters to Sister Majella October 20, 1993 to September 14, 1994
3. Poems by Ken Sara-Wiwa
Afterword — Mark Dummett
4. Appendices
Über den Autor
Laurence Cox co-directs the MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism at Maynooth University. He is cofounder of the international, open-access social movement journal Interface, co-editor of Understanding European Movements: New Social Movements, Global justice Struggles, Anti- Austerity Protest, Marxism and social Movements and author of Buddhism and Ireland. He is currently part of an international team researching the life of U Dhammaloka, an Irish migrant worker who became a Buddhist monk and anti-colonial activist in early 20th Century Burma. Dr Cox has been involved in a wide range of social movements in several countries for over quarter of a century.
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