The history of the world is chronicle of oppression. The
true measures of man are the degree of his success in meeting the challenge
posed by this oppression. Man, therefore is born oppressed, his life is a
struggle and his fulfillment freedom. Of all peoples of most oppressed is the
black man, his true measure as a man is measured only by the degree of his success
in meeting the challenge posed by imperialism. The story of Biafra is an
account of the heroic efforts of the Biafran people to meet the challenge of
colonialism in all its forms.
Historical precedents, while constantly reaffirming the
unchanging pattern of oppression, continually indicates the revolution is the
only means left to a people for changing or breaking off the shackles of
colonial oppression. Since oppression is maintained by force, it is only
possible to remove that force to maintain colonialism is always material-the
products of a sophisticated network of industry and technology - because this
force is often denied the oppressed, force become the major weapon in the
revolutionary arsenal of an oppressed people.
It is this force which is moral that enables a total
mobilization of the oppressed people to combat the oppressor. This force, the
revolution within so change the oppressed people that almost overnight the
signalized, lazy, cowardly, primitive people, without initiative, without
stamina, at once becomes hard working, courageous, ingenious, persistent,
modern. The metamorphosis is so complete, the result to unlike the original
that the imperial giant finds itself fighting the unknown-an enemy it made no
plans to meet.
To us, war become a David and Goliath struggle. A
struggle which David inevitably must win. The oppressed people of Biafra
believe in this moral force that will inevitably humble the Nigerian giant and
her bloodthirsty collaborators. In the course of this war, by a system of
constant analysis and deduction, we have set out to remove the internal
contradiction in our society and to purify our body polite. This becomes the
bedrock upon which our nation is found.
Hence, revolution for a colonized people is not a series
of acts of violence, which in themselves are often revolutionary, but an
indeterminate sequence of social changes punctuated and supported by various
acts of violence. The complexities, the varied aspects, the full ramifications
of colonialism are such that they at once make the struggle for freedom total
and absolute.
This demands of the oppressed first an identification,
then a rejection of everything colonial, finally a determination, lest it
should every recur, totally to eliminate all vestiges of colonialism wherever
it is found.
Colonial people today have variedly become aware of the
unnatural limitation imposed on progress by a colonial status, as a people we
have partially identified and in identifying partially rejected it various aspects.
It is this that has made possible a new form of colonialism in which oppressed
is no longer by direct application but by distant impulses and self-imposed by
reflex action. Neo-colonialism came to Africa by subterfuge, by diverting the
tide of nationalism before it had gathered full momentum, by luring the unwary
nationalist away from his people's declared objectives with premature victories
and by clothing the imperialist in the false grab of defeat.
Africa today has recognized this subterfuge. Africa now
understands the tactics of the enemy, the tactical withdrawal which has lured
her into a hasty pursuit without the protection of her flanks and rear. We have
learnt lately that the intention of the imperialist is to cut the vanguard, and
finally, to retake the reins of power a project made easy by the demise of
vanguard leadership and impose a subjugation made total and a slavery more
object.
It is this discovery that has changed the pattern of
revolutionary struggle in Africa. Countries with nominal independent have
become aware that colonialism does not die with granting of independence. They
have come to learn belatedly that independence, true independence is never
granted but seized by the determined will of the people. They know that true
independent freedom comes only through revolution. Countries not yet
independent, with awareness of and learning from their mistakes of the past,
will no longer take the easy way but will embark upon a revolution as the sure
road to freedom and fulfillment.
For Africa today, life takes on the aspect of a
protracted war. Learn that the enemy are not simply white, not simply the
colonist or ex-colonial master, but that the enemy is neo-colonialist. It is
everything that threatens to destroy Africa dignity both with the Africa state
and without. We can be, and frequently are, our own enemies. We have learned
before us; that it is not only in the unequal war which characterizes the
struggle for national liberation that a people rid themselves of the myriads of
the shackles backing each and every sine that impede their march to
self-realization and fulfilment.
Arising from African's failure in the first pitched
battle against colonialism, arising from the ease with which Africa's vanguard
leaders were lured deep into the ambush which left the leaders prisoners of war
with rights, as it were, under the Geneva Convention and her people subjected
to moral occupation. The whole problem of leadership in a revolution struggle
for people's self-determination becomes a major preoccupation with the people
in their determination to succeed. The structure of power and the control by
the people of those who exercise power on their behalf becomes the ground floor
of revolutionary edifice.
To understand the anti-colonist struggle, one has to see
the struggle in its guise as a struggle for human dignity. This is the essence
of the Biafran struggle; in this context only can one understand our attitude
to our sufferings; deprivations, to brutality, to our friends to our enemy and
to the future. We do not ask for pity, we make no apologies for the social
phenomenon known as the Biafra revolution rather we proclaim with pride the
inevitability of our struggle, the destructibility of our people and the
assured finality of our success.
We do not claim to be unique either in our suffering or
in our achievement. What we proclaim is that we follow a laid down pattern of
our revolutionary struggle. For Southern Sudan, for Vietnam, for Ireland, in
Africa, in Asia, in Europe, for black, for yellow, for white, the pattern is
the same whenever man at any stage in his history decides and sets out to
assert his dignity and freedom.
Biafra is a child of circumstance. Like a premature baby
born by caesarean section, anaemic and sustained by blood transfusion,
destined, like the original Caesar for great work. His existence and survival
are always a marvel, sometimes bordering on a miracle. His life's is a tribute
to man, his courage is his endurance, his ingenuity is humanity.
There was never a laid down plan-no long-haired
intellectuals burning midnight oil in down cafes - no plotters, no systematic
indoctrination, no cruelly induced conformity. The Biafra is a victim of a
series of actions directed at his destruction. The only thing positive is his
reflex to live, to prevent further death a rejection of genocide. From the dawn
of history, he has been visited with many scourges first, for his strength, he
was made slave and in slavery his ability marketed him out for resentment and persecution.
In persecution his resilience led from murder to massacre, massacre to program
and genocide. These self-same attributes strength, ability, and resilience
ensure for him the fulfillment of his destiny.
Thoughts in this section of the book are random thoughts.
They are perhaps reflecting our circumstance, my reactions to the ever-changing
circumstances of a various and unequal war. The thoughts are of course,
coloured sometimes by the elation of not too frequent military or diplomatic
success, sometimes by the depression of near calamitous setback. Through them
emerge the essence of this phenomenon known as the Biafra Revolution, through
them the logic of our struggle, through the meaning of our sacrifice.
A great deal has been said about the Biafra struggle, a
great deal has been written; yet a series of questions persist. While I do not
provide the final answer, the careful reader will find indications of the
attribute of mind that has governed by reactions and those of my people in this
struggle. It is impossible in one work to set out in details the full dimension
of this African struggle and the ethnic complex nature of the drama
In summary, the indestructibility of the Biafran Spirit
is much alive and nothing will stop the land of the rising sun from emerging.
May Chukwu Okike Obioma continue to bless the intellectuals in this struggle.
Biafra is the beacon of hope for the African Continent.
Written by:
Mazi Mazi Dimkpa Ikenna Ikenga Amadioha-Gbo
For: Rivers State Media (Igwuocha Province)
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