I believe you're talking about the famous or infamous diary of Hamman Yaji, one of the most predatory and prolific slave raiders and merchants of the Adamawa hills in Africa. He operated in a relatively small region. Do you know how many Hamman Yaji's there were? Do you know that it was not only Hamman Yaji who kept a grisly record of his exploits as a professional slave raider and merchant? And I am talking only about the Nigeria/Cameroon axis. Have you read some of the canonical texts of the Sokoto Caliphate, especially the Infakul Maisuri, and their accounts of slave raids, domestic slavery, and plantation slavery in the vast empire? Geez, I wonder who were being enslaved in these sites--maybe they were Martians. And the enslavers? Maybe they were blue-eyed white Caliphate leaders! We're not even talking about other parts of West Africa, where slave raiders of all kinds proliferated all the way to the late 19th century (two new books bear witness to this 19th century surge in slavery in the Gold Coast and there are several more works that document this, some of them written by our own erudite historian of Ghana, Kwabena Akurang-Parry). East Africa, had its infamous Tippu Tip, and the list goes on.
On Boko Haram, the Professor is partially right that there is a "state vs. people" element in the crisis. The movement is angry at the Nigerian state (which it sees as an obstacle to the achievement of its goal of Sharia and and an Islamic state (whatever they mean by that) and attacks its symbols. It desires the replacement of Northern Nigeria's secular state authorities with Islamic political institutions. However, the group also attacks innocent civilians, crowds, markets, christian clergy, churches, and moderate Islamic clerics. So, you're absolutely right that Boko Haram is, at its core, an ideological and religious movement seeking an ideological aim. This ideological aim is a broad rubric housing claims about social justice, religious purity, anti-Western umbrage, and return to "true Islam" and "true Sharia." Therefore, I agree with you that Boko Haram is not exactly in the same mould as the Niger Delta militancy, which, as far as we know, has no religious or ideological component. Because of this absence, it was relatively easy to buy off the militants from their struggle with promises of better treatment, reform, jobs, and development. Such a strategy will not work with Boko Haram or will have only limited success--perhaps separating the diehards from the reformable ones. The ideological/religious genealogy of the movement links to the penetration of Wahabi-Salafist Islam into Northern Nigeria in the 1980s' and to the democratization of Al-Qaida's template of implacable, intolerant, fundamentalist, and radical Islam. Terrorism is s tool for achieving this Salafist agenda. So, to simply regard Boko Haram as another manifestation of the familiar state vs people conflictual model, as the professor does, is to misunderstand the group's ideology, history, and mission.
--
There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.
---Mohandas Gandhi
-- On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 7:16 AM, Wassa Fatti <wassafatti@hotmail.com> wrote:
This is interesting, but the Professor's historical historical record of slavery is faulty: "400,000 Africans forcibly carried away as slaves" is inaccurate assertion. Infact the amount of Africans that died on land and in the sea for refusing to be enslaved is more that this figure. Let the Professor count in the millions to get a figure closer to the truth. Secondly, if he's talking about slavery in Africa, which one is he referring to? The European slavery for sure. What about the Arab slavery which started before the European adventures; there was also the African enslavement of Africans in the later 19th century throughout the entire continent which was intensified during the process of Isalmization of Africans. Let the Professor check the record of Hassan Yaji of Nigeria, who was so brutal in his slave raids that he was killed by the British colonisers. This trend of African slavery continued up to the 1930s/1940s. In addition, the Professor did not include the African slaves that were exported to India, China and Indonesia or to the Arab world. I would like to advise him to check the records of African slavery in Senegal, North Africa, Central Africa, Ethiopia and all the way down to the East coast of Africa, including Mozambigue, Zanzibar and the Comoro Islands for example.If Boko Haram is not a terrorist movement, what is it? If they are liberators, who are they liberating and what is their ideology? Boko Haram as far as Africa is concern, is a backward movement whose ideology is based on the Salafist ideology of the 12th century. Can the Professor elaborate further please.Wassa.> Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 13:59:11 -0700
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A Professor's view of Boko Haram
> From: great.arc@gmail.com
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
>
> "Between 1450s and 1850s, over 400,000 Africans were forcibly carried
> away as slaves. Today, if a slave ship of one million capacity berths
> at the Apapa Port and calls for those who want to go voluntarily to
> the United States and United Kingdom on slavery, the ship will not
> take one hour to be filled."
> - Dr. Osisioma Nwolise
>
> Read on:
>
> Boko Haram Not Terrorist Group – Don
> A crime management expert and acting Head, Political Science
> Department, University of Ibadan, Dr. Osisioma Nwolise, has said Boko
> Haram is not a terrorist organisation.
> Rather, the university don described the group as a liberation force
> in the mould of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta,
> the Oodua Peoples Congress that came as a result of a 'state-people
> conflict' and struggle for social justice.
> Nwolise spoke while presenting a paper titled 'Nigeria at 51: Where is
> the life more abundant for the masses?' at a public lecture and award
> ceremony to mark the nation's 51st independence anniversary organised
> by the Centre for Good Governance in Africa at the Conference Centre
> of the university on Friday.
> The HOD, who taught Terrorism Management at the National Defence
> College for five years, however admitted that a thin line separated
> terrorism and liberation struggle.
> Nwolise said, "It is not everybody that uses terrorist tactics that is
> a terrorist."
> He regretted that the life abundant which Nigerians were promised by
> nationalists at independence had remained elusive.
> He said, "Between 1450s and 1850s, over 400,000 Africans were forcibly
> carried away as slaves. Today, if a slave ship of one million capacity
> berths at the Apapa Port and calls for those who want to go
> voluntarily to the United States and United Kingdom on slavery, the
> ship will not take one hour to be filled.
> "It shows the extent our post-independence political rulers have
> devalued our lives."
> The programme coordinator, Adefemi Johnson, said while it was
> noteworthy that President Goodluck Jonathan had finally made up his
> mind to carry out power sector reforms.
> He, however, urged Jonathan not foot-drag on the decision because
> uninterrupted electricity was critical to the economy.
> He pointed out that the country could not afford to carry on with
> business as usual, as had been done in the last 51 years and called
> for commitment on the part of the political leadership towards the
> socio-economic development of the citizens.
> The Director-General of National Space Research and Development
> Agency, Abuja, Seidu Mohammed; the Chairman, Offa Local Government
> Council of Kwara State, Mr Saheed Popoola; and others received African
> Symbol for Quality Leadership award at the event.
>
> --
>
> Ayo Abiola
> skype: abydayjee
> Ontario, Canada.
>
> Faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life...
> Earth's great treasure lies human personality and service to humanity
> is the best work of life"
>
> --
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There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.
---Mohandas Gandhi
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