Ken Saro-Wiwa

My name is Ken Saro-Wiwa. I died 30 years ago and I am writing to you from beyond the grave to ask you not to forget me and mine. Above all, don’t forget our fight. As a writer and informed political observer, I could not remain indifferent to the fate of the Ogonis, my people, who live in the south-east of Nigeria. My people who are fighting against deforestation and the ecological survival of the Niger Delta polluted by foreign oil companies not the least of which is Shell. In this stretch of sea, the pestilential smell of oil is omnipresent, suffocating and deadly. Whether on the water, on the banks, in the mangrove, we detect a brownish and viscous layer. All life is dead. The disaster has lasted for more than 60 years in the complicit and cowardly silence of the powerful of this world. If the region is rich in hydrocarbons, only multinationals and the privileged members of the political system in place benefit from it. As for the people, unfortunately, they are one of the poorest in the world. My people who lived from fishing and agriculture saw food resources diminish and then disappear due to leaking pipes and other poorly maintained oil pipelines. On November 10, 1995, with nine other activists of my people, I was executed by hanging following a parody of a justice trial for having denounced and fought against this legalized crime.