Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People

A mass-based umbrella social movement of the Indigenous Ogoni people

“Dance your anger and your joys. Dance the military guns to silence. Dance their dumb laws to the dump. Dance oppression and injustice to death. Dance the end of Shell’s ecological war of 30 years. Dance my people for we have seen tomorrow. And there is an Ogoni Star in the sky.” Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken Saro-Wiwa at the first Ogoni Day held on 4 January 1993, which drew an unprecedented crowd of more than 300,000 Ogoni people. It is a special day on which our people celebrate their victory over the evil forces of marginalisation, unconscionable military brutality against defenceless and law-abiding citizens, untold oppression, economic deprivation, environmental despoliation, and criminal neglect by the Nigerian state and their corporate agents including Shell.

The following poem by Ken Saro-Wiwa was masterfully crafted by the internationally acclaimed writer and playwright to invoke the jubilant mood for celebration of Ogoni Day:

Dance your anger and your joys

Dance the military guns to silence

Dance their dumb laws to the dump

Dance oppression and injustice to death

Dance the end of Shell’s ecological war of 30 years

Dance my people for we have seen tomorrow

And there is an Ogoni Star in the sky