Are You a Black Man? Don’t go to Russia!
on March 29, 2005
Category: Africa
I received this from a brother activist and I thought it appropriate to publish it on Black Looks.
I met Uri Godnav (not real name as he his on the so called
top 40 wanted list of the Russian Regime) at the meeting of the anti fascist
movement held in Istanbul Turkey.
I had just made a presentation on the aspiration of
the Yoruba in south west Nigeria towards self determination, my presentation
centred on my involvement with the Odua peoples congress, the betrayal of the
genuine aspiration of the Yoruba by political prostitutes who turned a
potentialy revolutionary organisation into an instrument of oppression and a
bargaining organ to negotiate spoils of power from corrupt but articulate
Yoruba leaders who deceive the people into believing that the fate of the
estimated 50 million Yoruba in Nigeria and more than 25 million in Diaspora
lies in a continued forced union with Nigeria and a turn by turn looting
agreement by the ethnic nationalities that make up the mirage called Nigeria.
Godnav approached me and offered to make possible my
visits to the Chechen Republic. At first I was a bit sceptical about going to
Chechnya as I vividly recall that one of the reason for my brush with the
Germen Government some few years back was a leak by a reputable Yoruba leader
to Nigerian security operatives about my alleged involvement with a top ranking
Tamil activist and my visit to the Tamil region in Sri lanka.
Visiting Chechen Republic from the United Kingdom is a
tough task, my contact assured me I will never get a visa from the Russian
embassy in London if I indicate my visit was for onward transition to
Chechenya, not bothering to ask if the Chechen Republic do have an embassy he
promised that a contact will call my house in London and that our journey to
Chechen would be trough unofficial route (cant explain any further here
remember the Nigerian NADECO route?)
Each time I got ready for the trip something gets in the
way, the last one was the reported killing of Aslan Maskhadov by Russian
forces. Aslan was seen as the Yassar Arafat of the people of Chechen.
Then last Easter Thursday I was just about telling my
colleagues at work here in London that I would be having a very well deserved
rest in Paris when a call came trough that “the road is clear” and so it was
that I finally made my trip to Chechnya, land of Europe’s longest-running but
most brutal war.
The story of what I saw in Chechnya is for another day. But
even when we condemn the terrible terrorist activity going on in Chechnya, the
world should not forget and turn a blind eye on the brutal use of power by the
Russian govt on the innocent and unharmed women and children of Chechnya. My
trip as also espoused me to a bitter truth the state of the self-determination
group in Nigeria is nothing but a big joke. Its nothing but an avenue for
otherwise jobless lazy local warlords to experiment self determination in a
highly disorganised fashion leading to senseless killings and turning terror on
the people under the banner of internal fights and struggle over money dolled
out by the federal, state and local governments and politicians who find it
necessary to control any mad man with a shakabula (Dane gun) or some amount of AK47.
The state of the black man in Moscow.
The final leg of my journey took me to Moscow and meeting
members of the African students union was an eye-opener. It is a shame that the
Russian government is turning a blind eye on the growing level of attacks on
foreign students and residents in Russia. Students of the international
university in Moscow are the worst victims. I was shown video evidence of acid
attacks and knife cuts. One African student, Nigerian Mukaila Odedina remains
paralysed from an attack from right wing thugs in front of a Russian police
station in Moscow, speaking with Mukaila brought tears to my eyes. He is in his
final year and would have been a medical doctor in September 2005 now he cannot
even raise a flight ticket back home; all contact with the Nigerian embassy
yielded no result.
It is high time the African union looked into the treatment
of Africans in Russia; Nigeria in particular should use her position to protest
the ill treatment of African nationals and Nigerians in particular. On my part
I am liaising with the anti fascist movement in Europe to start a campaign
picketing the various Russian embassy in Europe.
People of goodwill should help to save our brothers and
sisters in Russia most of whom are the guest of the Russian government from further
humiliation and dehumanisation.
By Kayode Ogundamisi
Kayode Ogundamisi is a former secretary general of the Odua
peoples Congress, and founding leader of the Odua Republic Front. Ogundamisi
currently resides in The United Kingdom were he his a postgraduate student of
the London Metropolitan University. He is a volunteer campaigns fellow for the
German human rights group IMRV Bremen.
Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.blacklooks.org/2005/03/are_you_a_black_man_dont_go_to_russia.html/trackback
7 Comments so far
1. Clarius Ugwuoha
March 29th, 2005 at 11:02 pm
Kayode Ogundamisi, your piece was very pathetic.Our Government of today is highly culpable for whatever becomes of our nationals in foreign countries. Here is a nation of abundant human and natural resources being looted systematically by a power clique that does not have the interest of the people at heart. I regret to observe that our foreign missions to these countries our brothers are domiciled have followed the bad examples of the Government at home. Yet there comes a day of recorning for all excesses!
2. owukori
March 30th, 2005 at 8:06 am
Hey Kayode dont you mean “Black person” what about Black women in Russia do they fare any better?
3. Anon
April 1st, 2005 at 12:18 pm
Dear Mr. Kayode Ogundamisi
I read your article with much admiration and I must
say that I am glad that at least someone that never
lived in Russia before, saw it first-hand.
I used to study in Russia, the racism out there became
part of daily life. There have been cases that
students were killed just for their race. It doesnt
matter African or Asian, but the victims are normally
from third-world countries that “dont look like them”.
Just after I left a vietnamese guy was killed just
like that. He was stabbed to death near my hostel in
St. Petersburg. We heard cases of people pushed onto
the underground train tracks just as the train
approached and they get killed or severely maimed.
The problem, as we tried to figure out, is that the
Russia government treats such issues as simple
nuisance, instead of fighting it head-on and kicking
it out of the society. The penalty mented out to
offenders caught in cases like that is like a few
hours to a whole night in the cell, and that’s it.
No matter the number of complaints from us, nothing
seemed to change. Or maybe little changed when the
complaints were just too much, like Street protests.
We even had TV forums to which Russians were invited.
You would be surprised at the way some recklessly
addressed the issue. They called it “hooliganism”
instead of “racism”.
Then, whenever we had to go out to the stores or even
to study, we had to either go out in groups or be
extra-cautious of our surroundings. We had to stir
clear of groups of young boys. Some of us even had to
carry gas-sprays just as a means of protection. Any
sharp movement from their side could get our legs into
running mode.
I study for a second degree in Germany now, but I must
confess that it was difficult for me to adapt to
normalcy after leaving Russia. I forgot my gas-spray
in my pockets once here and my friends had to laugh at
me, because they just couldnt understand what I needed
it for. I visited Russia again last year because I
still have friends studying there. The whole
cautiousness thing started getting over me again.
It’s sad. And it’s not that our governments dont know
anything about it. At least we complained and wrote
statements at the embassy every now and then. Even one
african ambassador got beaten once (I think it was
Ghana’s, but I cant recall exactly now.), since they
at the embassies always replied us that it is only a
student-issue. It’s either our governments “third
world” dont know how to go about it or maybe they just
dont want to criticise Russia.
Well on my own, none of my relatives or friends would
go there to study any more. I would readily disallow
it.
And I pray that one day, something will be done to
curb it all.
Thank you for bringing it to light.
Name Deleted for security reasons
4. Toy Jania
April 12th, 2005 at 1:18 am
Many people may not want to admit it but quite a lot of us are quite ignorant about what is going on outside our habitat. I personaly (ashamed to admit) do not discuss politics or get interested but i consider myself to be very humane.It was quite an eye opener for me after reading Mr. Kayode’s article. I hear about war, racism in places like Rushia, Chechenya horrible things happening around the world but it never occurs to me that there could be Nigerians there. Who takes care of them? where do they go for help. Are they some of the unaccounted for bodies? After reading this article it opened my eyes a bit more and i thank God for my life but then i thought if many people were silent like me would i be greatful for my life today? where would i be? would i have even existed? I thank you Mr. Kayode for this article, even though i may not be one of the people walking the picket lines (just yet)but i surely would do something significant in my own way to help the aftermath of war, abandoned black orphans, abused children, victims of racial killings e.t.c. Many questions cross my mind and i start to wonder…
5. walt235
April 26th, 2005 at 1:45 pm
It isn’t any better in China, Korea or Japan. Even in Mongolia-one of the most isolated countries on Earth, they will tell you they hate blacks.
About 2 years ago, I was in China on business and heard about a nearby village where an African student asked a Chinese (woman) student to a dance at the local university. The town nearly had riots. The military was called in to protect the African students. The next day, all 300 African students were gathered up, and given 2 hours to pack-with an armed guard watching them and were then deported.
When I was in China, I was harassed on a daily basis, but not nearly as bad as Africans. Another time, I saw an African walking home from school and children were making sounds like apes, going “oogga-booga-boogaa,” throwing rocks and calling him foul names in Chinese. I saw him later and asked him what was going on and he said it was an almost daily ordeal. If he defended himself, he said he would probably be attacked, arrested or worse! He left China shortly after that.
A Chinese man I sort of got to be friends with was drinking beer and came and sat down with me. We started talking and he told me something very interesting. He said he didn’t like the white man. But he know he (the white man) was smart and educated so he respected him. He said when he saw a black man, he saw an dirty, unintelligent animal. Not worthy of respect or any kind of consideration. Many Asian countries were once as poor as Africa a few decades ago, but they are now rich. African countries haven’t made any progress, they’ve gone backward. So in his opinion, blacks were not due any respect at all!
Don’t let anyone fool you, just because they’re not white doesn’t mean they will like you. Even Moslem Arabs enslave Africans today, and treat them like animals as well. In Western Africa, they are killing black Christians and animists in the name of the Koran, but it is really to drive them off the land!
6. Juluka
April 26th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
Blacks are are always seen as a threat wherever they go. But one thing that THE MAN needs to realise is that this race is like an Indian rubber-ball; the harder they bounce it on the ground, the higher it goes, BE STRONG brethrens, we are almost there. For example, look at the situation in the English Premiership League and tell me it is not so.All the succesful teams have 3 or 4 black players (does not matter whether they are originate from Africa or France). We are taking over the continent!
7. Richie
November 13th, 2005 at 8:32 pm
I schooled in Russia myself in the 90’s. Things were as bad then for Nigerians in Russia, as they still are today.
Sadly, it’s not just the Nigerian or Russian government that is to blame. The Nigerian embassy, that is supposed to be advocating for the interests of Nigerians in Russia, is doing absolutely nothing.
It gets worse. While students from poor countries like Niger, Angola, Kenya, etc get stipends from their government and live well, the Nigerian embassy withholds money meant for Nigerian students in Russia. Life was so tough for us then because we had no money to spend.
So, although Nigeria may be helping students financially, the corrupt embassy officials made sure the money never got to the students. Meanwhile, they are driving around in brand new German machines with our money.