We are sentenced to political servitude, and we are committed to economic serfdom. Our national identity has been stifled to serve the selfish purposes of alien rule. In spite of their war efforts, the people of Nigeria and the Cameroons have been denied political freedom, economic security, and social emancipation. Today, in Nigeria, thousands of ex-servicemen are unemployed they are disillusioned and frustrated, while some of them have been maimed for life, because they had been bamboozled into participating in a war which was not of their making. Attlee, the War Premier's reply, couched in diplomatic language and delivered with a soothing manner, contradicted President Roosevelt's interpretation to the effect that the Atlantic Charter applied to the whole world. Winston Churchill to confirm that the provisions of the Atlantic Charter applied to Nigeria, as was asserted by his Deputy, Mr. We remember that when during World War II the speaker requested Mr. In Nigeria and the Cameroons we face the inescapable reality that the blood of our sons has been shed in two world wars in vain. Certain factors have necessitated the stand which my organization, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, has taken in respect of the next war. American technicians are flooding Africa, and feverish preparations are being made for World War III. Military roads are being constructed under the guise of economic development. Since the end of World War II, Field Marshal Lord Montgomery has been visiting several countries in Africa, including my country, Nigeria, which harbors uranium-233. Now the peoples of Africa are being told that it is necessary, in the interest of peace and the preservation of Christianity, that they should be ready to fight the Soviet Union, which the war buglers allege is aiming at world domination. It is very significant that in the last two world wars, African peoples were inveigled into participating in the destruction of their fellow human beings on the ground that Kaiserism and Hitlerism must be destroyed in order that the world should be made safe for democracy-a political theory which seems to be an exclusive property of the good peoples of Europe and America, whose rulers appear to find war a profitable mission and enterprise. Again, when the Allied Nations beat the tom-tom for World War II, the African continent was used by military strategists in order to destroy the Fascist aims of Germany, Italy, and Vichy France. When the Allied Powers sounded the tocsin for World War 1, Africa played a leading role not only as supplier of men, materials, and money, but as a theatre of war in which German colonialism in the Cameroons, in East Africa, and in South West Africa was destroyed. Since the Berlin Conference, the continent of Africa has been partitioned and dominated by armies of occupation in the guise of political trustees and guardians, represented by the following European countries: Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and also the Union of South Africa. Yet the paradox of Africa is that its wealth and resources are among the root causes of wars. To some people this ham bone has been designed by destiny for the carving knife of European imperialism to others, it is a question mark which asks whether Europe will act up to its ethical professions of peace and harmony. You will notice that its contour presents a shape which reminds one of a ham bone. From an address delivered at the Plenary Session of the British Peace Congress held at the Lime Grove Baths, Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith, London, on October 23, 1949: From Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zik (Cambridge, England, 1961). In a sense these statements bridge the space between Nigerian politics and the broader issues expressed by all Africans.Ī. You will note that all of these statements were made following World War II. Returning to Africa, he helped to launch political movements and parties through his newspapers." (Spodek, The World's History, 1st edition, p. Azikiwe learned his journalism in the United States, where he also experienced at first hand American racism and the efforts of radical journalists to combat it. 1904) first edited the Accra African Morning Post, and in 1937 he introduced in Lagos the West African Pilot, thereby introducing populist, revolutionary journalism to Africa. The following biographical information is a typical textbook entry: "In 1935, the Nigerian Nnamdi Azikiwe (b. The most central figure in Nigeria's efforts to obtain independence was Nnamdi Azikiwe who began his efforts as a journalist in the 1930s.
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