April 22, 1999
E-mail a Response
A Lesson from Africa
Opinion
Activism 4/22/99 Activism. It's idealistic crap. Like some dictator's going to suddenly stop oppressing his people because some activist brought it to his attention that it's a bad thing to do.
We have to get a grip on the reality of human nature and figure out some way to make the best of it, without getting distracted by the signs these side-line protestors keep waving in our faces.
That's what I used to think about activists, until I was invited into their world last Saturday night. The event was a banquet for Koigi wa Wamwere, a former Kenyan presidential candidate and Cornell student, who had returned to campus to thank the Ithacan activists that had recently mobilized the world for his freedom.
Thrown in prison for his defiant stance against the violent, self-elected President Moi, Koigi endured torture and isolation for 13 years, until an Ithaca-led movement finally forced Moi to surrender to morality and let Koigi go free.
As it turned out, a friend of Koigi's, Neil Getnick '75 Law '78, had found out about the imprisonment of his former hotelie classmate. Back in those days, the two of them used to hit the Olin media library at night to listen to the clips of King, Malcolm X and Bobby Kennedy talking about how to induce change.
An East African and a Long Islander, walking up Libe slope in the rain, excitedly chatting about one day getting involved in the world. They were freshmen then, and had no idea what was to come in the years ahead.
Determined to do whatever he could for his friend, Getnick coordinated with Michael Koplinka-Loehr '84 to assemble a global network of activists specifically to help Koigi. With the touch of a button, 1000 self-replicating e-mails would launch like sporophytes to trigger the letter writing campaign of the day to the recipient of their choice.
Through intelligent use of widely-available technology, each click of his mouse would generate small ripples from all directions, building upon each other to come crashing down on any chosen focus.
This means of amplifying any humanitarian signal continues to improve, and raising thousands of echoes in support of a cause is now a simple matter of connecting your voice to the network. The resources to create change are plentiful, there just aren't many people organizing these forces in a focused direction.
Pressure to free Koigi continued from within Cornell. President Rhodes wrote a letter directly to President Moi on behalf of his former student. Professors Carl Sagan, Roald Hoffman, Tom Eisner, Karel Husa and Hans Bethe authored letters to Moi as well as to Al Gore, emphasizing the need for immediate action.
Ithacans lobbied our Congressman, Maurice Hinchey, who came through with a bill in Congress specifically addressing Kenyan human rights, with an entire clause dedicated to Koigi's predicament.
The letters to Moi were not only meant as moral reminders. Flooding him with targeted communication sent a clear message: we are the world and we are watching your every move. With the name of his government and the approval of his investors at stake, Moi was suddenly unable to do anything but bow down to the people of the world and the morality they were demanding.
Koigi was freed, and without leaving the Western Hemisphere, Koplinka-Loehr had effectively paralyzed one of the world's most powerful dictators. When I shook hands with Koigi, alive and unbroken, it finally hit me: a war with real world ramifications and yet not a single casualty. This stuff actually works.
Now Koigi is out of prison and on his way to testify before Congressional caucuses, African envoy Jesse Jackson, Vice President (and future president) Al Gore, and the National Security Council, in order to address the Kenyan problems which are finally exposed.
David Unger, who oversees the editorial section of the New York Times, is planning to lead a media chain reaction to make Americans aware of the mounting movement to liberate all of Kenya. The wheels of real change are in motion, and it all started with one everyday person that decided he was fed up and did something about it.
If you want to experience this intoxication first-hand, check out the ground-breaking Focus On Justice web page (www.focusonjustice.org) or follow some of the links at www.amnesty.org. Through these organizations, the millions of activists who have traditionally been restricted to isolated communities are slowly trickling together.
As more and more join the struggle for human rights, the directed force of millions of humans, now focusing their energy at specific targets instead of the ambiguous "state of things," will pack too much pressure to be resisted by even the worldÕs most powerful oppressors.
Any kid knows when an injustice has occurred, and one cannot argue that morality and the will to enforce it do not have a genetic basis. This is the real human nature. Each one of us also shares the most basic need of feeling connected to and valued by a group.
Everyone can experience this sense of connection and self-worth. While we will all go on to make money and have a really good time in life, getting involved offers the potential to derive even more meaning from our days.
This lifestyle, the "committed life" as Martin Luther King, Jr. called it, is clearly not for everybody. Koplinka-Loehr warned me that the rose-colored glasses immediately fall off when you witness some of the ugliest and most divine examples of human nature simultaneously.
Others tell me that once you have been exposed to the realities of the world, you can never flush them from your mind and go back to everyday life. And yet without facing our dark side - without acknowledging it - we can never hope for its eradication.
I remember Koigi remarking, "When the struggle is over, I still intend to open a hotel." Until that day arrives, any support from Cornell and the rest of the world is greatly appreciated.
Despite any initial scepticism you may have, please find out about the global community of activists and the surprisingly rational people that live there. I promise you will be glad that you did.
Nathan Wilson is a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The North Façade appears every Monday.
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