HE WAS HOLDING MY HAND

Photo Tractatus

1. A starving albino boy, harassed and discriminated against for the color of his skin, clutches an empty corned-beef tin at an orphanage.

Biafra 1969, by Don McCullin

"The day I came across that boy was a killer day for me.

"There were 800 dying children in that schoolhouse.

"The boy is near death. He is trying to support himself. And to see this kind of pathetic photographer appear with a Nikon around his neck.

"He was staring at me and I thought, 'I wish he wouldn't look at me, because it was really unnerving me.'

"So I went away and I was talking to one of the doctors and suddenly somebody touched my hand and he was holding my hand."

"I was on the verge of really crying."

2. "The Biafra fiasco of the late 1960s. Remember?

"The world was supposed to mobilise to defend Biafran rebels...

"Global protests prolonged the war and caused countless deaths...

"Fewer Biafrans would have starved to death if Biafran leaders had not calculated that more starvation would stir up support from human rights advocates in faraway countries."

- Stephen Kinzer, in the Guardian 31 December 2010 (End human rights imperialism now)

3. "The Biafran Genocide of 1966 to 1970 claimed 3.1 million Igbo/Biafrans because Nigeria and Britain wanted to keep Nigeria one." - Osita Ebiem, December 2010 (NIGERIA'S MANY GENOCIDES)

4. According to The Heritage Foundation, in 2004, (Addressing Nigeria's Economic Problems and the Islamist Terrorist ...):

"Recent Muslim-Christian clashes ... have left hundreds of people dead and more than 1,000 wounded...

"Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with a population of 133 million in 2002.

"It is also home to the world's sixth largest Muslim population.

"It has estimated oil reserves of 27 billion barrels (over 2.6 percent of global proven reserves).

"Given Nigeria's location and ports, the country could be an economic hub for western and central Africa.

"Regrettably, political instability and military coups, combined with inept economic governance and endemic corruption, have squandered Nigeria's advantages.

"Since gaining independence in 1960, Nigeria has experienced civil war and numerous coups, with only 13 years of democratic government...

"Violence, kidnapping, sabotage, and other criminal activity in the southern oil-rich region often disrupt production - dramatically affecting an economy in which the oil sector accounted for 65 percent of budget revenue, 95 percent of exports, and 20 percent of the GDP in 2001...

"Poverty, political corruption, an absence of the rule of law, and a fractious society (250 ethnic groups and a population split between Christians and Muslims) make Nigeria ripe for exploitation...

"Nigeria has experienced increased ethnic and religious violence and tensions after 12 of the country's 36 states adopted the Islamic Shar'ia law.

"The BBC reports that over 10,000 people have died in communal and religious violence since 1999."

aangirfan: SPOOKS IN NIGERIA
aangirfan: THE CIA IN NIGERIA
aangirfan: NIGERIA, INDONESIA and THE CHINESE