Fi Evan, MG

[Wahalla]

Mi know deh two ah unno wi appreciate this:::: Imagine my delight in getting this from my Africa book list!!!


37810 THERE WAS A COUNTRY: A Personal History of Biafra
Achebe, Chinua
Achebe's long-awaited account of coming of age during the defining experience of
his life: the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War of 1967-1970. It
became infamous around the world for its impact on the Biafrans, who were
starved to death by the Nigerian government in one of the twentieth century's
greatest humanitarian disasters. Caught up in the atrocities were Chinua Achebe
and his young family. Achebe, already a world-renowned novelist, served his
Biafran homeland as a roving cultural ambassador, witnessing the war's full
horror first-hand. Immediately after the war, he took an academic post in the
United States, and for over forty years he has maintained a considered silence
on those terrible years, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Now,
years in the making, comes his towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's
most fateful experiences, both as he lived it and he has now come to understand
it. Marrying history and memoir, with the author's poetry woven throughout, this
is a distillation of vivid observation and considered research and reflection.
It relates Nigeria's birth pangs in the context of Achebe's own development as a
man and a writer, and examines the role of the artist in times of war. 352pp,
UK. ALLEN LANE.
2012 9781846145766 Hardback WAS £20.00 Our Price: £15.00

[evanovitch]

thanks,many thanks indeed...still read THINGS FALL APART, every year

[evanovitch]

http://www.amazon.ca/There-Was-Country-Personal-History/dp/1594204829

[evanovitch]

There was a country" by Chinua Achebe: Excerpts < Prev Next > Posted By: bokusogu bokusogu Offline Send Email Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:08 am | Options View Source Use Fixed Width Font Unwrap Lines

The Igbo are a very democratic people. The Igbo people expressed a strong antimonarchy sentiment— Ezebuilo— which literally means, a king is an enemy. Their culture illustrates a clear-cut opposition to kings, because, I think, the Igbo people had seen what the uncontrolled power of kings could do. There is no doubt that in their history they experienced the high-handedness of kings, so they decided that a king cannot be a trusted friend of the people without checks and balances. And they tried to construct all kinds of arrangements to whittle down the menace of those with the will to power, because such people are there in large numbers in every society. So the Igbo created all kinds of titles that cost much to acquire. Aspirants to titles, in the end, become impoverished in the process and end up with very little. So that individual begins again, and by the time his life is over, he has a lot of prestige but very little power. Democracy is the very antithesis of military or absolutist rule. And democracy is not a fancy word; it is something that is full of meaning, even in our ancient African cultures. Dictatorships by their very nature concentrate power and the resources of the state in the hands of a very few people (or, as we have seen in Africa, in one person’s hands). Dictators hang on to power by resorting to tactics designed to keep the mass of the people silent and docile. Dictatorships that have used violence, murder, and bribery, and psychological, financial, and social intimidation to force the opposition into perpetual retreat are many and widespread. This is not a time to bemoan all the challenges ahead. It is a time to work at developing, nurturing, sustaining, and protecting democracy and democratic institutions. Winston Churchill perceptively said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” 3 We have to go by that wisdom. Therein lies an opportunity for Great Britain, America, and the West to be involved positively in African affairs, this time not by imposing themselves or their self-selected rulers on a desperate continent but by aiding African nations in their struggles to become viable democracies. We also realize that we must learn patience and not expect instant miracles. Building a nation is not something a people does in one regime, or even in a few years; it’s a very long process. The Chinese had their chance to emerge as the leading nation in the world in the Middle Ages but were consumed by inter-ethnic political posturing and wars and had to wait another five hundred years for another chance! Another crucial ingredient in sustaining a democracy is the ability to stage free and fair elections. The last general election in Nigeria was not perfect, but overall it was an improvement over past travesties that were passed off as elections in Nigeria. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chairman (and professor) Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, and his team should be allowed to build upon the gains of that exercise for the good of the nation. I think it is important to discuss some real events that occurred during Nigeria’s Fourth Republic (circa 2004), during which the very opposite of the democratic ideal was at work. Anambra state, the past home of several venerated Nigerians, such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Okigbo brothers— Pius and Christopher— Kenneth Dike, and others— was literally and figuratively on fire. There was a succession of events during a tussle for political power that resulted in renegades arresting a sitting governor and buildings being looted and government property ransacked and burned to the ground by hoodlums— those infamous rent-a-crowd hooligans at the beck and call of corrupt politicians with plenty of money and very low IQs. What seemed almost incredible to me was that it was clear from all accounts that the presidency was behind the chaos in the state— was encouraging the destabilization of the government of Anambra state as well as encouraging a small group of people whose sole interest seemed to be in getting their hands on the financial allocation made to the state. In other words, to use the money that was intended for work on the state for their own private ends— and that these were friends of the president. For any clear-headed observer such a scenario would be unimaginable— that the head of state, or his government or his office, should be encouraging crime in one of the federation’s constituent states, encouraging anarchy in a part of the country, Nigeria. That state, of course, as you might know, is also my home state. It’s also part of Igbo land, which has had a peculiar history in Nigeria, some of which involves this particular former president of Nigeria— his attitude to this part of Nigeria, which he and some like him consider responsible for the troubles of the Nigerian civil war. And so it just seemed to me totally irresponsible for leadership to be involved, to be promoting chaos instead of preventing it. It was in a sense the very end of government itself, where government leaps beyond the precipice, dismisses itself, and joins ranks with crime. I decided that I wasn’t going to be part of any of this. Elie Wiesel reminds us, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” I had very little at my disposal to protest with, so the strongest statement I could make was to turn down the honor of commander of the federal republic, which I was awarded. Achebe, Chinua (2012-10-11). There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra (pp. 246-249). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition. Shared By Okei Okusogu

[Emperah]

mi nuh have dis one but Chinua Achebe is an awesome writer.

[mountaingal]

thanks, wahalla. i'll check my library for it. right now am going thru my second christopher brookmyre in two weeks, will pick up achebe after (if the library has it).

things fall apart makes me sad/angry. i've also read girls at war, achebe's book of short stories, and his analysis of conrad's heart of darkness. truly respect achebe's writing.