Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Steve Kusaba's avatar

The story is 95% tragedy and sorrow. Such a great man being forced to suffer so much while he was a beacon of light to the world, improving the place at every turn. This is a sign of a world still bad, humanity in its infancy, still struggling with the simple issues of right and wrong. Still unable to understand that criminals from the top are the most dangerous since they have too many resources. If the public could turn out and send the security apparatus hiding, they cumulatively have the ability to overthrow the regime, which is essential.

In Gulag Archipelago Solzhenitsyn bemoans that before he was deported to the Stalin work camps that when they came to get him, if only he (and everyone else) had grabbed a knife or ax handle and taken out a few of the KGB goons, that soon they would be suffering serious manpower problems and would have to have stopped it.

The lesson of Fela Kuti is that Nigerians need to destroy their cruel dictatorship.

The even better lesson is that we need to protect our future Fela Kuti's.

Expand full comment
Bruce Raben's avatar

Thank you for writing this. Fela was a giant and the fear and rage he engendered by the Nigerian government remarkable. More people should know his music and his story

Expand full comment
63 more comments...

No posts