Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Challenger of Boko Haram

how much is boko haram sustained by the population up north? if the people feel aggrieved, it can't be starved by money, but by addressing the grievances. the other islamist movements you mentioned arose in a context in which an invasion or a repressive state created an aggrieved population.
even the lra arose from such circumstances, and not out of the deranged delusions of kony or his seer predecessor. people listen to such figures or support movements when they are aggrieved. i hear a good deal of rhetoric and anger directed against muslims up north; no doubt they hear the same thing.
ken

On 5/2/12 5:53 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:

Boko Haram's objectives are very clear. The Nigeria that is acceptable is the Nigeria that Boko Haram wills. The insurgency is seemingly a political one driven by a religious agenda. Does anyone see parallels with the Taliban resistance to Soviet Union and NATO military presence in Afghanistan? The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after the unilateral Soviet Union withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Ayatollahs did the same in Iran after the fall of the Shah of Iran. Similar events are unfolding in Yemen and Somalia presently.

Attempts to rationalize or apply reason to Boko Haram's intentions and objectives is worse than naive. Their plot and expected outcomes are clear. To describe Boko Haram's insurgency as unpatriotic is to grossly miss the point. Boko Haram does not recognize the Nigerian State as it is presently defined and structured. For them, Nigeria should be redefined and restructured according to their will.  Patriotism after all assumes the recognition and acceptance of a state as it currently exists.

Boko Haram has become the potent opposition to the Jonathan presidency. Boko Haram walks and talks. Boko Haram has become the implacable and unrestrained scourge of the Jonathan presidency. The scourge and shame are however not without solution. Faint hearted entreaties and pleas for peace to Boko Haram are very unlikely to work. One constructive thing that may be done is to uncover and stop Boko Haram's financial sponsors and political leaders. It cost money, a lot of money, to sustain an insurgency such as Boko Haram's. Insurgencies are midwifed and managed. Who provide their funding? Cars, motor cycles, and trucks cost a lot of money. Bomb making costs money too. Suicide bombing is a job. It costs money. It is tempting to call Boko Haram's suicide bombers "volunteers" but they are more correctly mercenaries.  Money incentivizes and motivates. Who pays Boko Haram's suicide bombers?

Money does not seem to a hindrance to Boko Haram. She is well funded as all successful modern religious/political insurgencies everywhere are. Boko Haram is dancing to pipe tune. Who are the pipers?
Boko Haram will die a natural death if it is starved of funds. Until this happens, Boko Haram will continue to thrive. Her agenda it seems, is in congruence with the agenda of some silent "majority". Starve the beast and the beast is dead.

It might be added that many who have paid attention are not really surprised by Boko Haram's emergence and "success" so far, in Nigeria.  It has been certain and common knowledge for many years that an insurgency such as Boko Haram , was going to happen and destabilize Nigeria as a country. The signs were always there. What has been less certain is the insurgency's cost to Nigeria and what its ultimate effect will be. What happens to Nigeria as a result of Boko Haram's insurgency is a matter for Nigeria's Federal Government and the leaders of Muslim Northerm Nigeria.

 

oa

 

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--   kenneth w. harrow   distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  east lansing, mi 48824-1036  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu