The Northerners did not simply wake up and attack Igbos.
They were motivated by the events of the coup and of their suspicions of Aguyi-Ironsi, who was Igbo, in his handling of the nation after he assumed power.
Such reasons have to be noted in the historical record.
Noting such reasons is not identical with justifying their actions.
Hitler had his reasons for wanting to exterminate the Jews. He described them as traitors to the body politic, along with other reasons he could have had.
Taking note of that rationale and analysing it, is not identical to justifying it.
No study of the 1966 crises is complete without a discussion of the ethnic tensions that erupted in connection with the 1966 coup.
No study of the Jewish Holocaust is complete without exploring the rationale for it and why it was possible to mobilise the Nazis so effectively for such a massive act of coordinated barbarity. That anti-Semitic mind set also needs to be understood in relation to centuries of European anti-Semitism, of which it was a climax.
Engaging in such analyses is not identical with justifying those genocidal actions.
thanks
toyin
On 2 January 2012 22:41, G. Ugo Nwokeji <ugo@berkeley.edu> wrote:
"My argument, therefore, is not about the anti-Igbo pogroms following the January 1966 coup in retaliation for perceived Igbo leadership in that coup that killed central Northern leaders and their families as well as Yoruba leaders and killed no Igbo leader, thereby inspiring fears of an Igbo plot to decimate Northern leadership and seize the nation."--Toyin Adopoju
Toyin,
You have just labored to justify genocide. Of course, there have to excuses for genocide. Nazis even concocted for the Holocaust. The Hutus came also up with excuses to massacre the Tutsis.
What you have done is not different.
UgoOn Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 1:41 PM, toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com> wrote:
My argument, therefore, is not about the anti-Igbo pogroms following the January 1966 coup in retaliation for perceived Igbo leadership in that coup that killed central Northern leaders and their families as well as Yoruba leaders and killed no Igbo leader, thereby inspiring fears of an Igbo plot to decimate Northern leadership and seize the nation.
--
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