Wiwa's courage The Politics of Bones by J. Timothy Hunt NOW Magazine, Nov 10, 2005 Judicial murder leaves powerful memories in the lands where it is committed. The legal lynching of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists stains the history of Nigeria like an oil slick. Saro-Wiwa, the politician who became famous writing sitcoms for Nigerian television, was hanged in 1995 for daring to stand up to the military junta and to Shell Oil, who had turned his homeland into a polluted wasteland while hoarding the profits. Beside Saro-Wiwa during much of the struggle was his quiet younger brother Owens Wiwa. Timothy Hunt's superb The Politics Of Bones tells the terrible, heroic story of the Ogoni resistance and the dramatic lives of Saro-Wiwa and his brother. It also gives a charming account of the Wiwa family and the close relationship between Ken and Owens, whose final separation is heartbreaking. Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogoni leaders were hanged on trumped-up charge...
American-Canadian author and journalist