0:46BAmazon. All 16 are on Amazon.
0:48AOkay, great. And they all have a Pan-African, um, they are about Pan-African issues.
0:57BYes.
0:57AVery good, very good. And what else do you do? You have a very interesting, um, Facebook page. You want to tell listeners about that?
1:06BWell, um, the Facebook page is kind of an extension of what I do with my books. I try to educate people on Pan-African issues and African history in general because I feel knowing our history is very important for people of African descent.
1:19AMm-hmm. And what’s the Facebook page?
1:21BIt’s, uh, Dwayne Wong Omowale, Pan-African Writer. That’s my public Facebook page.
1:27AAnd there’s another page, Restoring --
1:29BOh yeah, there’s, um, Restoring the African Mind. That’s a Pan-African movement that I launched to accomplish the same goal of educating African people for the purpose of restoring our minds so that we could address many of the issues that we face globally.
1:42ADo you remember how long ago was it you came on the show? About 3 years ago?
1:47B2015 was the first time.
1:49AYeah, it was the first time. Now you’re speaking all over the place and holding seminars, and that’s great. That’s great for a young man, and he’s not even 30 and he’s written 16 books. Paul, when are you going to write your first book?
2:02BI don’t know, I’m lagging now.
2:05AYeah, well, well, we have a whole new year coming and you never know. Maybe you start, maybe you start in 2018. Well, we’re going to be hooking up with your guest. You want to tell us a little bit about her?
2:18BYes, um, she’s a human rights activist. Her name is Farida Nabourema. She’s from Togo, and what she’s going to be speaking about is the situation that’s going on in Togo, because right now the people there are fighting against the dictatorship that’s ruled over them for the last 50 years. So, um, what I’ve been helping her with is just bringing greater awareness to that issue, because one of the problems that we run into as African people is our issues are very neglected globally. For example, there’s a lot of issues that are going on on the African continent that we typically don’t get over here on the news because the American media tends to neglect African issues.
2:52AWell, I’m glad we could at least shine the light on it in the spotlight. Okay, um, you know, some people may not even know where Togo is. Where is Togo?
3:03BIt’s in West Africa, borders Ghana and Benin.
3:10AUh, Ghana, Benin, and there’s some other countries.
3:12BBurkina Faso is to the north.
3:13AYes. Well, we’re gonna hook up with, um, Farida Nabourema. She is the civil rights activist, and she’s going to be calling in shortly. I think we have a word from one of our sponsors.
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3:58AOkay, well, we are still gonna wait for our guest to give us a call. In the meantime, we’re going to talk a little bit to Dwayne and see, you know, what else he’s up to. So what have you discovered in the last year in your, you know, in your talks and seminars, and what have you discovered? What does our community need?
4:21BWell, in terms of the needs of the community, I haven’t really made any new discoveries in that regard. All of the issues that I felt our community needed in terms of education being an issue, economics, needing to be more politically engaged, those kind of issues that I was already aware of. I haven’t learned anything new in that regard, but what I have learned in engaging with people and doing these different talks is that as a Pan-Africanist, I’m actually very encouraged by the sense of unity that I’m seeing amongst African people. For example, I’ve been writing articles in Togo to help shed light on that issue, and I’ve gotten a lot of support not only from the people of Togo but from other West -- people in West Africa as well, such as people in Nigeria and Ghana. And Barbuda is an island in the Caribbean. I’ve been writing articles to shed light on what’s going on there as well, and I’ve gotten a lot of support from people in the Caribbean. So I’m very encouraged by the sense of support that I’m receiving.
5:14ATell us a little bit about what’s going on in Barbuda, because there are a lot of Caribbean listeners and You know, we’d like to know.
5:22BYeah, well, they were recently devastated by a hurricane. It destroyed the island so badly that it had to be evacuated. So the people there are starting to return to the island and they’re working to rebuild the island. But the issue that’s going on there right now is that Barbuda is very unique in that the land there is collectively owned by the people of the island. They have a communal land ownership. So what’s going on right now is that the prime minister’s seems to be seeking to overturn that, and the people of Barbuda have been fighting to retain the communal ownership of their land.
5:54AWow, that’s, you know, you never tell when you’re in a crisis situation like that. You’ve lost everything, and then for someone to want to have your land as well, that’s no good. And we should be aware of that, and we should do all that we can to, you know, maintain those things. All right, I believe we have Farida on the line, are you there? Farida? Okay, you gotta turn down all electronics behind you and, um, so we could get a very good transmission. All right, very good. Good morning, Abarigani.
6:29BAbarigani.
6:33AAre you, are you hearing me? Okay, are you -- do you have something loud in the background? You gotta turn it down, all the way down. Any, um, computers or audio equipment, just turn it down, all the way down. All right, are you still there?
6:53CYes, I’m still here.
6:55AAll right, because we’re getting a feedback. So if you have any electronics in the background, you have to turn it all the way down. Okay, could you hear me?
7:05COkay.
7:05AAll right, turn it all the way down.
7:07CYeah, I can hear you well.
7:07AVery good. Well, we can hear you now. All right, Dwayne, it’s all yours.
7:12BHi, Frieda.
7:13CHello.
7:16BHi, how are you?
7:17CI’m good, and you?
7:20BI’m good. Okay, so to get started, for our listeners who might be unfamiliar with Togo, can you please explain where Togo is and give us a little bit of a background history on Togo?
7:31CTogo is a country in West Africa, 7.5 million people. It is located on the West African coast on the eastern side of Ghana and on the western side of Benin. The people of Togo are in majority made of about 51% traditionalists and then 22% Christians and the remaining Muslims. So it’s a pretty diverse country. We have about 40 ethnic groups and as many languages as well.
8:10BOkay. So the people of Togo have been protesting since August. Can you please explain to our listeners why the Togolese people have been protesting?
8:16CWell, our country has been led by the same family for the past 50 years. We were ruled by Eyadéma Gnassingbé, who was a dictator for 38 years. And when he died, his son took over in a military coup that was later legitimized elections that were very violent. And his son has been ruling Togo for the past 12 years. So the same family has been in power for 50 years, and it has been 50 years of abuse, of repression and oppression. And the people are fed up. They want change. And that’s why they have been protesting to demand the resignation of Faure Gnassingbé, who is the current president.
8:58BOkay. And to give our listeners some idea of how dire the situation has been in Togo, can you describe some of the abuses? and the struggles that the Togolese people have experienced?
9:08CIn Togo, you know, we don’t have our basic civic rights respected. When it comes to freedom of expression in Togo, denouncing the ill governance of the country can get you killed. Journalists are arrested and killed. Same with the activists. Militaries are extremely brutal to people whenever they protest. Even 2 days ago, On Thursday, there were a lot of brutalities in Lomé when people were protesting. Hundreds of people are currently in jail, and Togo’s prisons have been described as a living hell -- one of the most horrific prisons we have, not just on the continent.
9:59AOkay, we had a little break there.
10:03CBy not only bad governance, but the plundering of our resources and the embezzlement of our resources by the ruling government. So the Gnassingbé family, their friends and allies, own everything in the country. The place, their billions of money abroad offshore. They have been cases against them on issues like on scandal of like the Panama Papers. They were cited. So basically, the wealth of the whole country is held in the hand of a few, and you. We have 50% of the people who are living in poverty.
10:38BOkay. And how did you yourself become involved in the struggle against the dictatorship there?
10:43CI followed in the steps of my dad, who has himself been fighting for democracy in Togo for as long as he can remember. In 2003, he was arrested along with other political activists and militants at the time. I was 13. That’s how I was shocked to see see what happened, the way he was tortured, the way our house was destroyed, torn upside down by militaries who said they were looking for evidence to prosecute them. I started gaining interest in that and I got involved, and gradually I became more involved as I left the country in 2008.
11:29BOkay. Can you speak about the Faure Must Go movement that you founded? When and why did you form this movement, and why did you choose an English slogan for your movement, given that Togo is a predominantly French-speaking country?
11:47CAll right. I founded the Faure Must Go movement when I was in the U.S. together with other countrymen of mine. For us, Faure Gnassingbé does not deserve to rule Togo at all. It is not about just operating reforms in Togo or accessing democracy, but they will The way he took over is unconstitutional, and it makes him a criminal. Let me recall that when Faure Gnassingbé became president in 2015, and the Togolese people revolted against the way he seized the power through a coup, they went through an extreme repression of the protest that left at least 500 people killed, according to the United Nations. And when you take a country like Togo, which then was a A country of 5 million people, having 500 people killed during an election is like if 30,000 Americans were killed during an election in the United States when you look at the proportion, the percentage of the population.
12:46CSo, that -- it was a very horrific time for us in Togo. And for me and for other of my countrymen, a man like that deserves to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, and he does not deserve to rule our country. That is why we founded Four Must Go. So, for us, there is no other Other alternatives. It’s not about; it’s not just a matter of term limits. Like some people say, well, he can run twice, and then now he has to go because he has already finished the two terms. For us, he shouldn’t be president in the first place. The reason why we chose former go, we could have said for do a partir.
13:21CBut for us, the French have been extremely supportive of the Gnassingbé family. When Eyadéma Gnassingbé died after ruling Togo for thirty. 8 years and being known as one of the worst dictators of all time, the French president at the time, Jacques Chirac, said that he lost a great friend and a friend of France. Basically, the person who is responsible for mass atrocities, for grave human abuses, is your personal friend and the friend of your country. The French have supported them at all levels. They provide them with military equipment and training, which they use in turn to repress us. So, because at the end of the day, They are the ones profiting from this government.
14:06CSo we want the rupture of the neocolonialism that we are enduring with the French through the Gnassingbé family. So for us, Faure must go instead of Faure pas partir is significant, because it means we are rejecting the residues of the French colonialism in Togo.
14:25BAnd speaking of French colonialism, the anniversary of Haiti’s independence is coming up in a few days, and of course Haiti was a country that rebelled and won their independence from France. And I know the Haitian Revolution has been a significant influence on you, so can you please explain to our listeners how the Haitian Revolution has influenced you and your vision for Togo’s future?
14:47CI read, I read about the Haitian Revolution when I was 12 years old, even before I started getting interested in politics in Togo, and I became more curious about it when I was in high school, I read even more about it, and I was extremely amazed. First of all, for me, as a young child, an African child then, and raised in a country that was colonized by the French, we were brought up, we were brought up in a system that was not built to make us independent intellectually. Our school programs were not ever edited, ever since we got our independence. So the materials and the curriculum that we study are the ones that were created by by the colonial masters.
15:38CSo for us, we are the people who have been defeated by the colonial masters. I don’t want to say that way, but by the white man in general. We are the people that were -- that are powerless in front of the white man. So reading about the Haitian Revolution and realizing that at some point in time, somewhere in the world, there were Black people who were able to stand against their slavery, to fight against such slavery, and to destroy their masters, well, for me, it was extremely inspiring. Because in Togo, what we were told in school is that slavery was abolished by a French guy called Victor Schoelcher.
16:26CSo for us, the white man started slavery, And another white man was so nice to abolish slavery, and that white man happens to be French. But they don’t tell us that there were countries like Haiti, people like Toussaint Louverture or Dessalines, who had to fight and put their lives on the line in order for slavery to end. So they just tell us the part where some of their guys played a certain role. So for me, it was extremely disappointing. Motivational, inspirational, and that has pushed me into reading more about African American and Black abolitionists, as well as Black leaders and figures. I gained more awareness over these people before even gaining awareness over African independentists like Kwame Nkrumah, Sylvanus Olympio, who was the first president of my country.
17:29BOkay, now what are some of the things that the people who are listening can do to help the Togolese people in their struggle?
17:35CNumber one is to raise awareness about what is happening in Togo, no matter how they can do it. If they can share information, they can share articles that are written about Togo. You do -- you did a fantastic job by publishing many articles about Togo in the Huffington Post, and that helped us get a lot of coverage because the atrocities that happen in our country Are possible because the government does not feel like they owe anyone any explanation. There is no accountability. There is no fear of retribution from their part. Since the struggle has started, since the uprisings have started in August, our president has never, not even once, addressed the people.
18:18CHe addressed the military. He addressed the members of his party. He granted an interview to a foreign media, but never even once did he address the people of Togo because he doesn’t have any respect or consideration for us. And he knows that no matter what he says, people want him out. So the people that he’s interested in convincing are the international community, especially countries like the United States. Why? The reason why, one of the reasons why he voted in support of Israel at the United Nations, they want the protection of countries like the United States and Israel in order to maintain themselves in power. So if you are in the United States and you can help raise awareness about Togo, you can write your legislator to question them about the U.S.
18:59Cpolicy towards Togo, that would be extremely helpful to us.
19:03BOkay, the steel pan was invented in Trinidad and Tobago by young men of African descent. So before you leave, can you quickly tell us something that you know about the steel pan?
19:14CUnfortunately, I have not been able to research much about it. Would you mind educating me more about that, please?
19:24BYes, as I said, the steel pan was invented in Trinidad and Tobago by young men of African descent. And what had happened in Trinidad and Tobago, as the rest of the Americas, was, um, the African drum was banned. So what Africans in Trinidad and Tobago did was they, they were able to create the steel pan, an instrument, through, um, discarded, uh, metal items. And, um, I think that’s one of the things that I find fascinating about the steel pan is how these African people were able to create an instrument out of, uh, what was essentially nothing at the time.
19:55CI see. Well, you have to salute the creativity of our people. That is one thing we have to be able to salute.
20:05BYes, all right. So thank you for joining us and agreeing to take part in this interview. We appreciate it.
20:12CThank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you.
20:19BThis is the Steel Pan Vibes, it’s more than music radio show. We just heard from blogger, author, human rights activist Farida Nabourema giving us an informed analysis and update on the current situation in Togo, West Africa. We thank our friend and guest interviewer Dwayne, aka Wong Omowale, for doing a very good job.
20:42AOkay, well, you know, one thing we could say is sisters are on the front line, and historically we’ve been there. Also, democracy, you can’t take it for granted. So, you know, the freedoms that we have, that we enjoy, other people have fought and died for it. So we just have to continue, you know, respecting that and respecting the rights, all human rights of all people within Togo. whether in Barbuda, wherever it’s being abused, we don’t want that. We have to fight against that. Okay, well, the last word comes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and I quote, this is the most important and crucial period of our lives, and what we do now and decide now may well determine which way your life shall go.
21:39AAnd the question is whether you have a solid and sound blueprint. And I want to suggest some of the things that should be in your life’s blueprint. Number 1, in your life’s blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own somebody-ness. Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth. Always feel that your life has significance. Secondly, in your life’s blueprint, you must have a basic principle: the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. You are going to be deciding as the days and years unfold What you will do in your life, what your life work will be.
22:38AOnce you discover what it will be, set out to do it and to do it well. Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be the sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you will win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. Finally, in your life’s blueprint must be a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice. Well, life for none of us has been a crystal stair. We must keep moving. We must keep moving. If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk.
23:28AIf you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving. Taking us home is E-Queen and Hannibal. This is the 5th day of Kwanzaa, and the name of the track is Seven Principles. And from all of us, Happy New Year, Happy Kwanzaa. May God richly bless you all. We you, the A and Z, the A to the A we need.
