George Orwell it was who said, ‘he who controls the present, controls the past. And he who controls the past, controls the future’. Africa’s future has been programmed to be gloomy by those who controlled our past and present! The Americans! And Shell and other corporate big wigs!
Wars never end between countries. The Cold War started right after the end of World War II. But since the end of the Cold War, which was an era where superpowers fought proxy wars in Africa (civil wars, coups, and so on), not many scholars have been able to decipher the kind of war that took over… Until now. With the benefit of hindsight, the period of the Cold War, which culminated in the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90s, also saw a parallel strategy whereby superpowers collected tremendous information on weak and strong countries alike and strategised into the future on the basis of what they know. Countries like Nigeria, without a sense of unity, history or any cohesive strategy, simply stood no chance of making any progress. According to Immanuel Kant, ‘the sense of the world can only come from outside the world’. It is therefore an arduous task to convince the man on the street as to the importance and relevance of my idea that a World war has been going on, or that it may just have entered another phase.
Whatever the case may be, Julian Assange has done countries like Nigeria a tremendous favour; worth more than any aid we could collect from the powerful countries; and much more than all the NGOs resident in Africa put together, could ever do. Wikileaks seeks to remove the information asymmetry, such that we now understand the mindset of those we share the world with, and how they have determined our past, present and future. But then, do we as a people know what to make of all the information that we now have? Can we now tell our enemies from our friends; our ‘leaders’ from our traitors?
If Assange has started a new World War, the new phase will pertain to what countries are able to do with all the information they now have about each other. The next phase of the war will pertain to what each country is able to do with the weapons that Assange has handed out to each of them. That weapon is INFORMATION. Now, countries will move into a more informed, strategic phase, planning and counter-planning, trying to upstage one another. Nigeria doesn’t seem to be ready or able to enter this next stage as every other sensible country will. Our inability, our almost genetic limitation, is evident in the type of analysis of current situation that we are reading from many ‘opinion-shapers’.
A lot of our energy, since the revelations, have again been focused on cementing our prejudices. Instead of being worried about revelations concerning our future as a people, we are more concerned about what the leaks have to say about people we hate. It’s all about Aondoakaa and Turai and the ‘cabal’. Once again, even the best of our intellectuals have allowed sentiments to override good judgement. We seem not worried that Pfizer commissioned investigators to dig up dirt on a minister just because that company wanted to wriggle out of making payment to Nigerians whom they used as guinea pigs. We seem not worried that Ann Pickard of Shell said that they have moles at every level of government, in every ministry and even the private sector, who can ensure our best efforts are frustrated if such action is not favoured by foreign powers and their conglomerate sidekicks. We are not perturbed that the present government was born out of their active, evil orchestration. We are not curious to find out why they wanted our ex-president dead and gone BY ALL MEANS, AND QUICKLY TOO!
Assange’s revelations is a triumph for those of us earlier labelled as ‘conspiracy theorists’. It is a call for all reasonable people to begin to think outside the box. It is a confirmation that indeed people like John Perkins, Robert Fisk, John Pilger, Naomi Klein and co, have been trying so hard to save humanity, while so-called ‘diplomats’ caterwaul at conferences, deceiving the world. Now we should know that Economic Hitmen are real. Pickard was one!
The key lessons we should draw from Assange’s revelations are that we live in a crazy world, driven essentially by selfish interests. All that talk about ‘helping’ African countries to get out of poverty is rubbish, as the same powerful countries ensure we sink deeper into morass. What is the point of giving us handouts, when the same powerful countries ensure we never get the leaders we believe in? What is the point of feigning support to our health and education sector, when extremists from those powerful countries introduce manufactured diseases into our societies? But then, we so-called ‘educated’ people are the ones totally sold out on the benevolence of the superpower countries. Now we need to fully understand that like George Orwell said; ‘People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf’. The problem is, nobody stands for Nigeria.
The other lessons from Assange’s revelations is that Nigeria is a nation full of traitors. Yes, a disunited country, full of traitors. Thanks to Ann Pickard, the former Shell Head in Africa, who has this country wrapped around her little finger, every facet of our society is infiltrated for the love of lucre! I would suggest that the next general elections be postponed indefinitely, while we try to really confirm who and who is working for Nigeria. If the ‘rough men’ who should be standing ready to ‘do violence’ on our behalf, are doing violence against us, and in favour of other countries, no wonder we no longer sleep at night! What is the point of appointing ‘representatives’ and senators who will only represent other countries and conglomerates? What is the point of reading newspapers even, when no one is sure about the motives of the reporter, columnists, editor or publisher?
To be continued
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