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    Letters from the breadbasket


    Fallon, Helen (2012) Letters from the breadbasket. Africa, 77 (4). pp. 20-22.

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    Abstract

    On 10th November 2011, Sister Majella McCarron OLA handed over a collection of personal correspondence she received from Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, in the two years leading up to his execution alongside eight other colleagues. This followed a trial before a special tribunal which contravened several key international standards for a fair trial and provoked international outrage. Saro- Wiwa was leading a non-violent campaign against the environmental destruction of his homeland in the Niger Delta by the international petrochemical industry. The letters to Sister Majella were smuggled out of his Port Harcourt detention centre in breadbaskets and provide rich detail on the ongoing struggle to protect the Niger Delta, the growing political instability in Nigeria and the importance of his friendship with a nun from Country Fermanagh during the final chapter of his life.
    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: Ken Saro-Wiwa; Ogoni; Niger Delta; Petrochemical Industry; Majella McCarron; Archives; Libraries; Letters;
    Academic Unit: University Library
    Item ID: 4367
    Depositing User: Helen Fallon
    Date Deposited: 16 May 2013 14:05
    Journal or Publication Title: Africa
    Publisher: St. Patrick's Missionary Society
    Refereed: No
    URI: https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/4367
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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