Word: wiwa
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...weeks ago, the government of Nigeria demonstrated its contempt for justice by hanging Ken Saro-Wiwa, a nominee for the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, and eight other environmental activists. Hoping to silence one of its most eloquent critic, the Nigerian military junta executed Saro-Wiwa after a widely-condemned show trial for his alleged role in the deaths of four tribal chiefs killed during a riot. Harvard should divest itself of interests in companies that continue to do business in Nigeria despite its oppressive regime...
...Wiwa was hardly a violent threat to the state of Nigeria, but his criticism of oil companies endangered the cash flow to the ruling junta. He had actively campaigned against the environmental destruction on his tribal land caused by Shell Oil Company. As a result of Saro-Wiwa's efforts, Shell ended oil mining in the author's homeland, much to the dismay of the military junta...
...addition to being a vocal environmentalist, Saro-Wiwa was an accomplished poet, playwright, publisher and father of four. As a young person, Saro-Wiwa experienced and wrote about the horror of Nigeria's civil wars and tribal conflicts, leading him to advocate nonviolent protest against the military junta...
...Nigerian government ignored the worldwide pleas for clemency and protests against Saro-Wiwa's unjust conviction. After the execution, the military junta dismissed the outrage expressed by South African President Nelson Mandela, President Clinton and British Prime Minister John Major...
...intransigence of Nigeria's military leaders towards global opinion is not surprising. General Sani Abacha, Nigeria's dictator, and other military leaders have profited enormously from oil revenues reaped by Shell's exploitation of Saro-Wiwa's homeland and other parts of the country. To ensure continued profits from the oil industry, the military government of Nigeria instituted a crackdown resulting in the deaths of over 2,000 of Saro-Wiwa's tribes people. In 1993, during the transition from military to civil government, Abacha imprisoned Chief Moshood Abiola, the democratically chosen president, declaring the election invalid...