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Radio War Nerd EP #195 — Nigerian Politics, Boko Haram & Biafra, with Chika Oduah (Patreon)

Published:
2019-08-26 18:50:47
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Guest: Chika Oduah, journalist 

Recorded: August 19, 2019

We talk to Nigerian-American journalist Chika Oduah about her travels to Boko Haram's strongholds in Nigeria's far northeast, about the politics of Nigeria's north-south divide, and the lost history of the Biafra rebellion and its legacy.

Check out Chika's articles and blog at her web page. Follow Chika on Twitter.

*Maps

*Nigeria states & regions

*Topography

*Ethnic map

*Boko Haram strongholds

*Biafra separatist state, late 1960s

Total time: 1:54:41

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here.

Files

Comments

A Patreon of the Ahts

Islam's gone all the way from the House of Wisdom to Boko Haram.

Curli Linds G

I feel like every John's mind gets blown every time he hears a Millennial string a sentence together. "Wow! What an articulate guest! She didn't choke to death on a Tide Pod or or anything!"

Nicknimh

This is a pretty huge oversimplification. Early and Medieval Islam had loons like the Khawarij (the original Takfiri) or Al-Hakim the Mad, while the Islamic world today still has a considerable intellectual life. Iran, for all its other flaws, has a pretty impressive education system,

Hugh

If you guys end up doing a piece on the Hong Kong protests, please please please get someone who has lived in HK and understands the HK view.

Hugh

And the bullshit re: foreign interference - If the Americans or other foreign enemies were involved, the protests would be far less competent. While foreign forces may be interested in messing with China, there is enough anti-mainland sentiment in HK to fuel the protests for decades. It's an interesting discussion on where that anti-mainlander sentiment comes from (not entirely pretty), but the theme of foreign influences on the protest movement strikes me as crap. Beijing is entirely capable of arousing anti-Beijing sentiment by itself, without needing the Anglosphere involved.

Hugh

If you were looking for a start to "why so angry now?", it would probably be the story of youth disenchantment with the HK pan-dems who lived in the delusion that democracy in HK was just a matter of waiting until the PRC traveled along the Western teleological road and eventually became a democracy, "catching up" with the tide of history. The rage of the HK youth is, in part, a reaction to the passivity of the prior generation who thought that playing nice would get HK somewhere.

ChessGuevara

A lot of left commentary on it has been frustrating. Tankie twitter presents a sort of reverse american exceptionalism to everything and isn’t particularly self critical. More thoughtful commentators like Carl Zha seem to be relentlessly just engaging in “nut picking” (which you could do to any protest), ad hominem attacks (which are usually true but dont relate to the point), outright wounded nationalism, and the type of acceptable dissent that Chomsky talks about where the state is criticized for not implementing its goals effectively enough: “Chinese citizens make chinese case better so the government makes a mistake in censoring mainland as tightly”.

Mark Ames

You have any suggestions? My sense is that structural inequality & economic factors are fueling this as much as as anything.

Hugh

I suggest contacting Tom Grundy at Hong Kong Free Press (https://www.hongkongfp.com/contact-us/). Although he tried to do a citizen's arrest on Tony Blair a few years ago, he's pretty sensible. If he's got enough time/bandwidth despite all the reporting HKFP is doing, he may be able to connect you with a good person (or appear on the show himself). HKFP runs on donations, so if a donation to help him keep the lights on might convince him to give you some time, send me a message and I'll let you know how much I can provide.

xnfec

That was a nice episode. Enlightening.

Edward P Slocomb

I know, right? Even 50-somethings these days know not to refer to black people with General American accents as "articulate." That moment was really... what is it the kids say now, "cringey?" "awkward?"

JoR

With all the strife Nigeria has, it's amazing that the western press hasn't tried to tie Iran into it (wrongly of course). "oh, Boko Haram kidnapped children? Well of course, Iran is secretly converting Nigerian Muslims into Shia Agents!". Unfortunately maybe this only did not happen because of the lack of interest in Africa in the west Anyway, please keep up the world at war updates for Yemen. Obviously the interviews are enlightening and often take up most of the show but even a quick WaW segment is nice to have, especially for Yemen.

Marekedo

Didn't Chika mention a online archive on the Biafra war? Does RWN have the link/scoop on this?

Violence Jones

sounds like the non-Kanuri in Boko Haram really need to file a complaint with HR