I’m not afraid to take a stand,
everybody come take my hands, let’s walk this road together.—Eminem
The history of mankind hitherto has
comprised of a few oppressors exacting themselves against the will and liberty
of the majority of people. Where they have succeeded, the majority of people
have suffered an untellable hardship while these oppressors have marshaled
resources at the expense of the oppressed and lived in extravagant luxury. But
at a few points in history, some men have risen to the challenges posed by the
harsh environment and indeed delivered their fellow men from bondage and at
least brought them to the doorsteps of the promised land. The few courageous
men that will not be easily forgotten in the annals of men include such names
as Moses, whom by divine providence snatched ancient Israelites from the jaws
of slavery in Egypt, also, Martin Luther, the protestant who refocused the
church and saved Christendom from heresy propagated under the reign of the
papacy. Again, the Napoleon, Washington, Lenin, Castro, Nkrumah, Macaulay, and
Awolowos of this world will not be forgotten because they laboured tirelessly
for the liberty of men.
In contemporary times, the agents of
oppression are pretty much the same as those of the past, but the methods are a
little different. In a civilization where formal education is as important as
the life-breath of the individual, it is meant not only for the individual to
enrich himself/herself but to harness it to the liberation of the state.
Therefore, the education one receives is not for an individual benefit but to
fight for the right of man, hence, the rise of intellectual activism. As stated
earlier, the method of oppression has changed in this era, and it fluctuates
between indirect and direct victimization. Under the Nigerian military eras for
instance, many right activists were imprisoned, exiled, and some even got
killed. Yet, the living were not deterred, they carried on the struggle for
liberty and in the end, it paid off. When thinking about this, a question comes
to bare: what if these people did not take upon themselves the task of speaking
for the masses? What would happen to the society if those noble men had not staked
their lives? I remember the words of Napoleon Bonaparte; “There are so many evils in the world, not because of the violence of
bad people, but because of the silence of good people.” If many people had
stood their ground when it mattered, probably the world would not be in such a
position today where oppression and victimization reign supreme. How I wish
that men would defile all odds and stand for what is at every time, that they
would stake their lives for posterity and most importantly, fear no terror. As
for me, nothing shall stand in the way of my cry against the enslavement of the
human mind and the oppression of the human body. Send me a threat and I will
smile back at you, put a gun to my head and I will whistle into the barrel,
blow me up and the silence of my blood would be more deafening because no
martyr dies in vain.
NIL DISPUNDIUM, AMANDLA
AWETU.
Genera
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