The Movement For The Survival Of The Ogoni People Essay

The Movement For The Survival Of The Ogoni People - Essay Example Weak and isolated, minority communities sought to internationalize their struggles in a political system largely dominated by three larger ethnic groups (Obi, 2000a, p. 67). Out of the cauldrons of minority protests rose The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) mounting sustained mass mobilizations through robust local and international support networks towards a worthy moral course-gaining economic control of resources mined in their ancestral homeland through political inclusion. The Movement organized the Ogoni people to demand â€Å"political autonomy† within their system effectively drawing the world’s attention through conflict with the Nigerian government, Shell Oil Company and a host of multinational corporations, all sourcing to benefit from the regions’ oil wealth. Indeed, since the 1990s, the movement’s dynamism in its tactical approaches drew international support with numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs)such as Human Rights Watch, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace coming to their aid in one way or another (Human Rights Watch 1993; Friends of the Earth-Netherlands 1993; Greenpeace International 1994). The movement’s activities were so intense pressuring the government to the brink prompting a three-year of harsh repression on the entire Niger Delta with the execution of MOSOP’s leader Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 in a bid to smash dissenting voices domestically-an act that branded the system a pariah regime in the eyes of the international community (Obi, 2002, p. 30-41). As a matter of fact, the history of this particular movement has been punctuated with intrigues and turns with the principal aim of getting their government to lend them listening ears so as to deliver their grievances. This paper sets out to analyze the tactical activities of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) with due regard to its relations with multinational oil business companies operating i n the Niger Delta. Summary Background of MOSOP Tactics and Its Evolution to the Present The history of man has been one characterized by occasional resurgence with distinct causal identities comprising of hyper nationalist beliefs, contentious religious principles, ethnical cleavage thinking, secessionist claims, and denial of fundamental inalienable human rights, environmental rights being at the epicenter in the recent times. The era after the Cold War markedly witnessed these identities antagonize each other for control of socio-political as well as economic scenes with events that occasionally tended to mount serious challenges to state authorities. Seemingly, Nigeria went through the test with near statehood collapse. The emergence of armed ethnic militias in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in the early 1990s was largely informed by marginalization of the minority communities, constituting social deprivation of fundamental, basic rights (Harper, 1996, p.42-47). The 21st century ha s seen indiscriminate use of lethal weapons giving way to conflagration of all sorts against the dysfunctional political structure of the state as well as oil multinationals’ policies infringing on the locals rights. Basically, these ethnic militias emerged with the sole purpose of challenging the poor choice of policies over environmental degradation emanating from oil extraction with little or no return at in certain instances (Onishi, 2000, par.2-4). Without