2 research outputs found
The New Hampshire, Vol. 87, No. 45 (Apr. 15, 1997)
The student publication of the University of New Hampshire
Silence Would Be Treason Last writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa (2nd Edition)
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 — to stay alive even in 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.
These 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 McCarron for preserving and making public
these letters that Ken Saro-Wiwa wrote to her between 20 October 1993 and
14 September 1995