Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Complexity of Biafra

i agree w gloria, but there was a bottom line. it was an attempt at secession. the ugliness of war followed, with all the consequences gloria mentioned, but they were not the issue. it was the secession.

achebe had one take on it.

others condemned it because it foolishly put too many lives at risk. it is hard to imagine a secession that is worth the blood of so many people.

imagine it in different terms, but which came to hundreds of thousands of lives as well: the american civil war.

in fact, it is almost impossible to think of real wars that were "worth" it.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2020 1:31 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Complexity of Biafra

 

"Biafra was waging a war against genocide ."

This is a simplistic, unidimensional view of events, Biko. This was also a war against secession and the machinations of foreign powers who had their eyes on oil  and resources. It intersected with panafricanism, anti-colonialism, Anglo-French rivalry, the  military industrial complex of arms dealers and gun runners, federalism, Ojukwu-ism, personality conflicts, regional power blocs, intraregional and geopolitical power struggles, and a hundred more issues.


Gloria Emeagwali



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