SHAKE! reflects the distinctive approach of PLATFORM, which attracted me to them in the first place: challenging the misdeeds of the largest centres of power in the world – corporations and banks as vast as Shell, BP and RBS – using, in part, the resources of creativity and art. One example is standing outside the Stephen Lawrence Centre right now – the Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his fellow activists, executed for their role in the non-violent resistance to Shell’s abuse of the land and people of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta. A sculpture in the form of a Nigerian bus, it’s just one of the many creative interventions made by PLATFORM in pursuit of social and environmental justice.

So I was naturally excited about the opportunity to get involved with bringing these elements to the sorts of people – indeed, as mentioned, some of the very people – that I work with on a daily basis. And, of course, I was excited about doing it in the Stephen Lawrence Centre, another memorial, this one to the British teenager whose murder was subject to an investigation that led to the Metropolitan Police being condemned as ‘institutionally racist’. The SLC is certainly a living memorial, and I see it as an act of hopeful defiance in the face of hatred, injustice and cynicism.

The bulk of the work done at SHAKE! has been creative. Having been introduced to the stories of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Stephen Lawrence, and having been fortunate enough to meet in person Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, the participants have responded both personally and analytically, and used these responses to form the basis of what they have produced. There have been three groups – music, video and spoken word, which are beginning to work together. Poems have been spoken over African beats; a roving film-crew is interviewing hopeful DJs. We haven’t reached the end of the course yet, where things will all tie together, but I just spoke to one of the participants. He told me that he didn’t know what to expect, but he’s found an outlet to express himself where there are no holds barred. He has other outlets – sometimes he boxes – but he’s enjoyed a different kind of outlet, one that ‘feels gentle’. The discussions about ways people have challenged injustice led him to tell me that ‘knowing that there are ways of making a difference inspires you’.

I’ve also been touched. Seeing young people feel moved by injustice, and feel grasped by a commitment to act against it, is affecting. We are already talking amongst ourselves about how to continue our connection with the participants, to create an ongoing exploration of all that’s been raised here. I guess this is another way of saying – it’s been a good week so far! But there isn’t a lot more time for all this reflection – there’s work to be done…

Guy Hibbert’s tense thriller (starring Naomi Harris (28 Days Later), Johdi May (Defiance) Patterson Joseph and David Oyelowo) follows two women as they investigate the  circumstances that led to the deaths of four hostage oil workers and their militant captors in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

A fictitious oil company, ‘Krielson International’, stands in as a thinly veiled corporate giant, whose corrupt deals and failed development projects infuriate local communities.

Without giving too much away, the oil company, Krielson, and the Nigerian military are profiting hugely from illegal practice of oil bunkering, at the expense of local communities and ultimately risking the lives of their own workers.

It may sound like a thriller plotline, but it bears a striking resemblance to real life events in the Delta, and in particular one of the darker chapters of former President Obasanjo’s repressive rule of Nigeria.

As scholar and author Ike Okonta writes:

20th August 2006. On that afternoon, soldiers of the Joint Task Force, a contingent of the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force deployed by the government to enforce its authority on the restive oil-bearing Niger Delta, ambushed fifteen members of the MEND militia in the creeks of western delta and murdered them. The dead men had gone to negotiate the release of a Shell Oil worker kidnapped by youth in Letugbene, a neighbouring community. The Shell staff also died in the massacre.

Spokesmen of the Nigerian government had sought to represent the fifteen militias as ‘irresponsible hostage-takers’ in the wake of the slaughter. But those massed at the hospital that morning spoke only of heroes who had fallen in the battle for ‘Ijaw liberation.’

Okonta interviewed Oboko Bello, an Ijaw civil-society leader who traced a clear chain of command between Shell and the soldiers who murdered the boatful of MEND insurgents and Shell workers:

“Shell was in direct communication with the commanders of the Joint Task Force, even up to the time our young men set out in their boats to rescue the Shell worker in Letugbene. These young men were not hostage takers. They were Ijaw patriots, selflessly working to repair the damaged peace between the oil company and our people. For this they were ambushed and murdered by soldiers in the service of Shell.”

Then, as now, the Delta is betrayed by broken promises and military violence. With no end in sight to the devastation of the ecosystem and the ongoing exploitation of Nigeria’s oil, it is unlikely that the wider drama of the Delta’s will end as upliftingly as Hibbert’s movie.

‘Shaping the Future’: a PLATFORM residency programme of art, activism and education launched with a fiery spectacle at 5pm on Tuesday 10^th November at the Stephen Lawrence Centre in Lewisham, London. ‘Shaping the Future’ is led by the arts and ecology group PLATFORM, and speakers at the launch included the Mayor of Greenwich, Doreen Lawrence, (mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence), and Maria Saro-Wiwa, (widow of the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa).

The ground breaking Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa lit up the night sky with a burst of fire, to highlight the ongoing campaign to stop oil companies, in particular Shell, flaring gas in Nigeria.

The Living Memorial takes the form of a two-tonne steel Bus, created by Sokari Douglas Camp CBE. It is the centrepiece of a new, year-long PLATFORM residency at the Stephen Lawrence Centre, that commences in 2010 and aims to inspire young people to learn creative ways of campaigning for change through workshops and collaborations with established global artists.

Doreen Lawrence of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust said, “Stephen Lawrence dreamed of becoming an architect, and making a positive impact on his community and the wider world. The Trust aims to empower young people to change their communities, both locally and globally. We are delighted to welcome the arts and campaigning group PLATFORM to take up a residency that will promote global awareness about environmental and social issues, and explore the vital role of creativity in bringing about social change.”

Ben Amunwa from PLATFORM said, “The oil fields of Nigeria are notorious for decades of pollution and toxic gas flaring on a massive scale. Fourteen years ago Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others were executed for their campaigning against those gas flares. We now know that gas flaring in Nigeria affect us all, by destroying the global climate. We are launching ‘Shaping the future’ to keep alive the struggle for justice, and to inform young people about their role as global citizens and about responding creatively to these urgent issues.”

My heart is beating?

Many times she sang those words, wrapping up the pain and endurance of Niger Deltans, for years she shook the wall of indifference around her, and finally, we were moved.

On 1st October, NNEKA was awarded this years’ MOBO (Music of Black Origin) prize for best African Artist. NNEKA is an artist of rare achievement, whose outspoken views about the exploitation of the oil-rich Niger Delta burns deep into her lyrics. Her music has lifted the Niger Delta struggle into powerful songs,  charging the airwaves of the BBC and the UK Top 40 with her politics.

Her story begins far away from the media spotlight in the oil-city of Warri, in the Niger Delta. A few years after she arrived on the European music scene she is now clocking up +1.5 million hits on her new music video, ‘Heartbeat’. NNEKA’s success has heightened her awareness of the development denied to her people in the Delta, in spite of the oil wealth extracted from the region.

A long-time supporter of the Niger Delta cause, and a headline artist at remember saro-wiwa events, NNEKA takes every opportunity to remind the West of the heavy cost of Nigerian oil, heaping criticism on the destructive impact of companies like Shell, Chevron and the Nigerian government.

As the BBC reports:

The singer says her influences include Nigeria’s iconic Afro-beat performer Fela Kuti as well more contemporary acts like a US rapper Mos Def.

She also cites Nigeria writer and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa as an inspiration. Mr Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Sani Abacha government in 1995 for his efforts to campaign against corruption in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

“Stand up against; corruption, against injustice, against bribery and hypocrisy…….RAISE UR VOICES,” she says on her MySpace page.

NNEKA

After touring with Lenny Kravitz in Europe, NNEKA, who is originally from the Niger-Delta, plays London’s CARGO on Thursday, showcasing songs from her second Album ‘No Longer At Ease’ which is stirred by the injustices taking place in her homeland.
With support from some truly unique rap artists:
Wanlov the Kubolor:
Afrikan Boy
& DJ Edu

Awareness & outreach from the remember saro-wiwa team.

Discover the next generation of Afropean superstars

Advance tickets £12, Limited £15 tickets on the door.

For tickets visit here, here or call (+44)8700 600 100 (24hr box office)

For more info on the featured artists visit:

http://www.myspace.com/nnekaworld

http://www.myspace.com/wanlov

http://www.myspace.com/afrikanboy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/djedu/

Photos below: Campaigners outside Shell’s headquarters in London make sure Shell staff know their company is on trial. Photos courtesy of Martin Le Santo Smith. Click on the images for a larger version. [Journalists, to download the below photos at high-resolution, click here].