Monday, July 30, 2012
UNDERSTANDING THE RELIGION MEMEPLEX
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Basil Venitis
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Meme is a cultural invention that
passes from one mind to another and thrives,
or declines, like a gene.
Memetics explores the concepts and
transmission of memes in a similar fashion to genetics. A meme's success is due to its contribution
to the effectiveness of its host. Memeplex,
like the g enetic code, is a set of ideas that reinforce each other.
Religion is a memeplex.
Religions, scams, and hoaxes succeed because they exploit powerful psychological processes. These processes are the very ones that have enabled humans to survive and create art and technology, but also transform Homo Sapiens into Homo Suckers! Because religions claim divine favor for themselves, over and against other groups, this sense of righteousness leads to violence because conflicting claims to superiority, based on unverifiable appeals to God, cannot be adjudicated objectively.
Religions do tremendous harm to
society by using violence to
promote their goals, in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders.
Abrahamic Religions are inherently
violent because of an exclusivism that
inevitably fosters violence against those that are considered outsiders.
Abrahamic legacy is actually
genocidal in nature.
Spirituality is the search for God, an ultimate reality, a transcendent dimension of the world, an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his being, or the deepest values and meanings by which people live.
Spirituality is often experienced
as a source of inspiration or orientation in
life. It encompasses belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world. Spirituality is more personalized, less structured, more open to new ideas, and more pluralistic than religion. Spirituality is not related to religion. Spirituality and religion lock horns!
Many people define themselves as
spiritual but not religious. Spirituals believe
in the existence of many different spiritual paths, emphasizing the importance of finding one's own individual path to spirituality.
Most people identify themselves as
spiritual but not religious.
Religion is a memeplex organized
by churches, whereas spirituality is defined as an internal individual
search.
God is a vision of the highest values of truth, justice, love, and goodness toward which we strive.
In this sense, God is a standard
against which to
measure ourselves and our achievements. God reminds us of the relativity and limitations of our own ideas. God serves as a corrective to our biases and a basis for critical reflection. By bringing together our highest ideals in a single symbol, God provides a focus for personal devotion or communal worship. We experience God as love, light, power, and wisdom. The God we pray to is both transcendent and immanent, a part of us but also greater than us. Sometimes we experience God as a light that comes to us in the darkness. This light emanates intense love and compassion and leaves us feeling joyous and connected to all of creation. Other times, we simply hear God's guidance as thoughts. It seems similar to a nudge or sometimes a whisper. This guidance usually comes suddenly and clearly, and it can arrive while we are deep in prayer or simply going about our business of the day. Roger Trigg has identified a trend towards curtailing religious freedom in favor of other social priorities, such as equality and non-discrimination. Religious freedom and the right to manifest religious belief is a central part of every charter of human rights but in recent years there has been a clear trend for courts in Europe and North America to prioritize equality and non-discrimination above religion, placing the right to religious freedom in danger. Trigg is calling for these rights to be balanced. There should not be a hierarchy of rights, but it should be possible to take account of all of them in some way. Reasonable accommodation ought to be the standard. The courts seem to have taken it upon themselves to decide what is and isn't core to belief in a particular religion. Limiting the freedom of religion, courts are limiting human freedom itself, because of the central role played by religion in society. Religion is always vulnerable as it posits a different source of authority from that of the State. No State can be a functioning democracy unless it allows its citizens to manifest their beliefs about what is most important in life. |
Tobechukwu Okonkwo Foundation Supports Neigbourhood Watch
The Secretary General, Tobechukwu Okonkwo Foundation, Mr Tony Moweta, addressing the leadership of Asaba Community Vigilante(ACV) on the reasons behind the courtesy visit to the security outfit.
Tobechukwu Okonkwo, Principal Officer, Tobechukwu Okonkwo Foundation expressing his appreciation to the ACV leadership over their contribution towards community watch
The Chairman of the Asaba Community Vigilante, Mr. Nnamdi Chukwuedo, in his response, thanked the foundation for supporting the activities of the security outfit.
Tobechukwu Okonkwo making some cash presentation, donation of recharge cards and other items to the security outfit, in support of their engagement at curbing crime and insecurity in the land.
The foundation presented to the leadership of the security outfit the branded Foundation T-Shirt
A cross section of representatives of the foundation and the security outfit.
BRITISH CONSPIRACY...PART ONE.
... by Shola Adebowale
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Preamble;
-‘Personally, now and for some
time I feel so ashamed to have killed people to sustain the unity of Nigeria.
I feel so sad to have shed blood for the unity of Nigeria...While some of us
were dying in the battle field for the restoration of Nigeria as one country,
some people have their eagle eyes on one particular subject ‘oil’, the live
wire of the economy, the new fulcrum or pendulum of power. While we fought
for one country, some people have been reaping where they did not sow .They
have been reaping from bogus population figures fashioned to suit their
selfish purposes’. The Black scorpion
- “However, Richard Nixon
got a very different sense of the situation when he met Rogers and officials
of the African Bureau. Following their briefing, he telephoned his National
Security adviser and said: “They’re going to let them starve, aren’t they,
Henry.”The US President, on the starvation going on during the blockade of
Biafra.
-‘The children of Nigeria are
suffering unbelievably. I have seen nothing like it since Belsen. Death and
pain stalk beside them. Out of every two born one must die... often suffering
the greatest agony as they go.”’ Dr. Robert Collis
-‘Since 1914 the British
government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian
people themselves are historically different in their backgrounds, in their
religious beliefs and customs, and do not show themselves any signs of
willingness to unite. . . Nigerian
unity is only a British invention.’ Abubaker Tafawa Balewa, 1948
-‘Nigeria is not a nation.
It is a mere geographical expression. There are no “Nigerians” in the same
sense as there are “English”. The word “Nigerian” is merely a distinctive
appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria
and those who do not.’ Obafemi Awolowo
-"…there was a threat
that the Igbos wanted to take revenge. Now sitting down and looking at it,
quite honestly in retrospect, I think we used that so as to gain support, to
get people committed so that you didn't get caught. It was
preemptive."IBB on the of killing of Igbos throughout all nooks and
crannies of the Northern Region
-“Let us go and crush them.
We will pillage their property, rape their womenfolk, kill off their menfolk
and leave them uselessly weeping. We will complete the pogrom of
1966".The theme song of Radio Kaduna,1967
-‘The very circumstances of
Nigeria only permit an idiot to be detribalized’. Ojukwu
“How the British Undermined
Democracy in Africa”: An Exclusive Account of Nigeria’s First Elections.
The account of Harold Smith, a
Former British Colonial Officer, New African: May 2005
When you hear British government
officials thunder about election malpractices these days, you think butter
will not melt in their mouths. But in 1956 and 1959, the British deliberately
influenced Nigeria’s independence elections so that the Northerners would
dominate the country following independence. And for 45 years (since 1960),one
of the British colonial officials involved in the affair has been trying in
vain to blow the whistle, but the UK media which likes to think of itself as
being free and fair will not touch the story even with a barge pole
apparently on national interest grounds.
This story will shock most
people, especially Nigeria’s multitude of ethnic groups who are still
discussing the mechanism of living together as onenation at the national
conference convened in Abuja by President (Olusegun Obasanjo’s government three
months ago. New African can now reveal that but for the British dirty
work, the Northern domination of Nigeria which has caused so much angst in
the country and which led both tothe coup of January 1966 and the
subsequent “civil war”1967-1970) that killed two million people would
not have arisen and, therefore, the current national conference in Abuja
would nothave been necessary.
To fully understand this shocking
story, we need to go back in time to 1956. The sun is about to set on the
mighty British Empire over which the sun was said to never set.
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s
landmark “winds of change” speech delivered in South Africa is having an
effect. After much agonizing, the British are retreating from West Africa
almost in a panic.
As Harold Smith, the star of this
story puts it: “The withdrawal took place in haste, because world
opinion was beginning to demand that the colonial powers spend money on their
African possessions. If this suggests that Britain enhanced its colonies,
itsimply isnot true, If this had been the ease, then Britain would have left
behind many more factories, plantations, roads, ports and means of
communication in Africa than she did... In 1947, Sir Hugh Foot found that
there was not a single university in Nigeria or technical school, and in the
North not one secondary school.”
But there is no turning back.
Britain has to grant independence to its African colonies. But in
Nigeria, the same Britain, led by the same Harold Macmillan, will not leave
until itmakes sure that in Harold Smith’s words, “its stooges in the North”
will dominate the country after independence. It does not matter whether the
Northerners are up to the task or not. As it happened, they were not!
And Nigeria has suffered for ituntil this day.
Perhaps the Africans were
expecting too much from Britain. As Harold Smith says: “When did Britain
itself become a democracy, and has ityet achieved that state? With universal
male suffrage in 1884 or when all women got the vote in 1928? Britain’s
democratic traditions are of more recent origin than most are aware, When the
British removed themselves from Nigeria in 1960 (though in truth they did not
really surrender all power to the African people), there was not even
universal suffrage as only a minority of the country’s women - those in the
South - were entitled to vote.”
Nigeria’s independence elections
were held in two stages, the first on a regional level in 1956. And the
second on a federal level in 1959. The British did the counting in both
instances and, according to their pre-set plan, massaged the figures and the
electoral process leading to them so that the politicians in the West, led by
Chief Anthony Enahoro and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who more than likely would
have won the elections, were declared losers.
At the time, Nigeria’s three
regions - North (dominated by the Hausa and Fulani), West (Yoruba) and East
(Ibo) - had a measure of independence and were in effect federal states. The
1956 election was, thus, the final regional election before independence. So
much was at stake that the major political parties mounted massive campaigns.
Enter Harold Smith. Then only 29,
he was a mere labour officer based in Lagos. In the absence of his boss, he
had been chosen by the labour commissioner to “keep an eye on things”. In his
autobiography written in 1987 (but which is yet to be published in hard copy
in Britain because of the “dynamite” it contains), Smith reveals: “At this
juncture, the order arrived which was to change my life, It had come through the
chain of command, apparently from the governor-general himself. It was
addressed to me personally... The order directed me to arrange for all
Nigerian staff of the [Labour] Department and all departmental vehicles to
proceed to the minister of labour’s constituency for the duration of the
election campaign to work under the minister’s orders and to get his Ibo
friends elected. This was a covert operation and a cover story was needed. I
was to devise a survey of migrant labour covering the minister’s constituency
“My reply was brief, ‘No,’ I
wrote on the minute sheet, ‘This would be a criminal act,’... The British
government was taking credit for its liberal policies in moving towards
independence and the honest and fair handover of power to the new democratically
elected leaders of Nigeria. Yet here was chicanery and cynical interference
in the electoral process beyond belief.”
Smith continues: “The British
loved the North and had arranged for 50% of the votes to be controlled by the
Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), which was largely a creation of the British
and hardly a normal political party in the accepted sense, It was funded by
the British controlled Native Authorities and was quite simply a tool of the
British administration.
“Because of this, independence
was to some extent a sham because the results were a foregone conclusion, The
North and the British would continue to rule. However, it was still possible
that the two advanced and educated Southern parties would unite against the
North, so it was necessary to keep them apart. Divide and rule, the old
British device for creating conflict, was employed in its most brazen and
cynical form to keep the Ibos and Yorubas from working together in Nigeria.”
According to Smith, it was British
policy to encourage tribal rule in the East and West by discouraging the
creation of new states which would have broken up the two power groups. “Of
particular importance,” he told New African on 13 April 2005, “was the
need for the NPC in the North to go unchallenged. And it was made quite dear
to the leaders in the South that the British would not tolerate more than
token electioneering against the NPC in the North…
“What was quite obvious from the
orders coming out of Government House in 1956 was that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe
[leader of the largely Ibo NCNC party in the East] was working with the
British and the NPC in the North against the Action Group in the West [that
was why Smith was ordered to go and help the NCNC via the Ibo minister’s
constituency in the East].
“In many respects,” Smith
says, “it was difficult to detect in the North where the British
administration ended and Northern rule began. Thus, through a cynical display
of horse dealing, the 1959 Federal election became a mockery, because the
outcome - Northern domination of Nigeria after independence - was assured
before a single vote was cast.
“The Northerners never really
wanted the British to leave. They feared the Southerners more than the
British. The British and the Northern elite worked so closely together that
differences of policy could hardly exist. The British claimed that the
Northerners demanded - and must have - 50%of all the seats in a Federal
legislature. Was it really the Emirs who thought this up or did the British
put them up to it? The British agreed anyway... Whoever controlled the NPC
controlled the North and the whole of Nigeria. As the British and the Emirs
were inseparable, elections were a mere formality.
“This is the story of evil
committed by ‘kind, nice, decent British politicians, they sought to keep
Britain from bankruptcy and found a solution in the mineral-rich Empire on
the point of independence. It was necessary to bend the rules and sadly, in
due course the rules were totally forgotten. Those who got in the way were
innocent but had to be dealt with quite harshly.”
The principal people, “who got in
the way” happened to be the opposition members of the Action Group in the
West. A solution was found, they were sent off to jail on trumped up treason
charges. Chief Enahoro (who is still alive) got 15 years in jail, and Chief
Awolowo 10 years. The seeds of destruction of Nigeria’s democracy had been
sown, and the dark clouds of conflict and war were swirling on the horizon.
Smith and the
governor-general
The governor-general of Nigeria at
the time was Sir James Robertson. He had told Harold Smith in the face in
1960 that the independence elections had been rigged “because it was
necessary”. He then threatened Smith if he did not shut his “bloody” mouth.
Sir James had met Prime Minister Macmillan
when he was on his way to South Africa to make the “winds of change” speech.
London had already agreed that “because of Britain’s self-interest”, Nigeria,
one of the richest and most populous colonies in the British Empire, should
be left in the safehands of “friends of Britain” after independence. As such,
the North had to win the independence elections by any means necessary.
For Sir James and Macmillan’s
government, everything went swimmingly in the 1956 and 1959elections, except
that there was oneodd Englishman in the Colonial Service in Lagos, the labour
officer Harold Smith who would not do their bidding and keep quiet about it.
Smith, a dashing young man with a
bright future, had joined the Colonial Service in 1955 after obtaining a
degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford the previous
year. He had met at Oxford the young lady who would become his wile and
co-sufferer, Carol.
Born in Manchester in 1927, and at
only 29 years of age with movie star good looks, his career was going well.
He had brilliant reports. His name was soon known in the distant parts of
Nigeria as “Smith the Lawmaker” because he had drafted two of Nigeria’s laws
- the Factories Act which was hailed at the time as the “finest piece of
legislation to be placed on Nigeria’s statute book”, and the National
Provident Fund Act.
His seniors trusted him, they knew
he always delivered on time; In short, he was a good man in the service of
the Queen. But by 1956, he had become a thorn in the flesh of the British government
because, as he puts it, “I chose to believe in democracy and to consider it
dishonourable and despicable to tamper with it”.
In fact, he was not alone; there
were two other British officials in Lagos who, like Smith, had initially
protested against the rigging of the 1956 elections.
The two, however,
later crumbled under pressure from Sir James and Whitehall. But Smith stood
his ground. As he told New African in his home, in the tiny village of
Widbrook, near Bradford-on-Avon, England (see interview on p14), “it
was decided that I was the ringleader and should be punished. For 12 years, I
suffered the devastating effects of poison which destroyed my gut and
simulated the disease, Tropical Sprue, [a disease common in Asia but rarely
found in Africa.] My chance survival was remarkable and only after many
years of medical research did I feel confident enough to re-commence my
whistle-blowing. By this time, the British had created a wasteland in
Nigeria.”
He continued; “Many people and
institutions, including the oil companies and Tory and Labour politicians
were all involved in interfering with the 1956 elections, when I, with my two
colleagues, were ordered by Sir James to take a major role in the clandestine
arrangement. It was evident on the ground that planning had been in hand for
some time.
“And so, our stooges who did not
want the British to leave had power thrust upon them. Nobody believed that
the mass of people who followed their nationalist leaders in the South could
possibly vote for the Northerners, In fact few people voted for the
Northerners, hut who cared when the British were counting the votes!
“To leave friends in charge of
Nigeria in our absence was surely prudent. The loss of one or two lives is
all we can comprehend. An expedient Whitehall decision is calm and deliberate
and the risks, fever considered, must be small and, of course, anonymous,”
It is clear at the time that Smith
could not adequately fathom the enormity of the power he was fighting against
when he confronted the governor-general. Their meeting was quite dramatic.
“Sir James confessed to me,” he told New African, “that he had rigged
the elections to let me know how much trouble I was in. ‘Why’. I pleaded.
‘Because it was necessary’, he replied.”
“Ah, necessity and Machiavelli,
and oil,” Smith writes in his 1987 book. “Without oil, without the profits
from oil, neither the UK nor Western Europe can survive. Of course, that was
before we discovered oil in the North Sea.”
When Sir James called Smith to his
grand office facing the Marina in Lagos, Smith says the governor-general told
him; “You know why you are here, Smith. And I want you to know that all your
worst fears and suspicions are absolutely correct. All the accusations you
have made are correct, I am telling you this because I want you to know how
much trouble you are in.”
Smith the Lawmaker was now in real
trouble, “It is a cliché to say that my heart sank, but I use it deliberately
because it was somewhere in my groin, he tells in his 1987 book. “I had
wanted to he proved wrong, but I was being told from the highest possible
source that my conclusions were correct. Britain had calmly, coldly and with
deliberation set out to tamper with democracy in Nigeria.
“While I was absorbing this
incredible disclosure, it became clear that in Sir James’ opinion, I was
willfully disobeying orders on active service. I would now do exactly as I
was told, and I had no choice...
“I listened to Sir James’ terms,
and when he had finished, I said nothing. I looked at the portly figure of
the most senior, the most powerful representative of the Queen in Nigeria,
and very calmly pronounced two words; ‘No. Sir’,” And Smith’s fate was
sealed.
A man of firm convictions, Smith
may have perhaps allowed himself here to be carried away by youthful
exuberance, because most people would have taken Sir James’ word that there
was a choice - keep your mouth shut and continue to be a golden boy, a high
flier, an outstanding officer with appropriate remuneration and rewards, or,
as Sir James starkly put it; “You will never be employed again by anybody.”
Smith says; “I chose the latter
course. I had no choice really. Cheating a fledgling nation out of its
birthright was evidently routine practice for some. I could not see myself
getting involved in this kind of intrigue. And of course, I thought I would
somehow survive. In fact, I did survive, even though I found myself
permanently retired at 33with no salary or pension. I had only graduated at
Oxford six years earlier.”
He continues; “The governor-general
simply could not understand why I should make such a fuss about which set of
Africans the British chose to leave in charge in Lagos. If I would not play
the game, I would have to take the consequences. I suppose this was the way
Africans were treated, and it was decided I might profit from the same
medicine.
“Sir James had said forcefully;
‘You may be under a misapprehension, Smith. I want you to know that I
personally gave the orders regarding the elections to which you objected.
They were necessary.’ ”
“But illegal. Sir,” I riposted.
“Sir James then tried a different
tack; ‘Look here. Smith, he pleaded. ‘Be reasonable. ‘Your work has been
brilliant and outstanding. If you will keep your mouth shut. I can promise
rapid promotion and a most distinguished career elsewhere in government
Service Overseas, but you will not be allowed to work in the UK. You must
understand that you know too much for your own good. If you don’t give me
your word, meanswill be found to shut you up. No one will believe your story
and the press will not be allowed to print it.’
“Sir James continued: ‘You will
never work ina responsible position in the UK again. Be sensible and think of
your own interest. ‘You have had a taste of what lies in store for you. I was
not personally responsible for what those Whitehall wallahs did to you back
in the UK [when they forced the American oil company Esso to terminate
Smith’s appointment as personnel manager after his first tour of duty in
Nigeria had ended].
Those Whitehall Johnnies are responsible for all this.
Now be reasonable and we will forget the whole thing. Just give me your word
and think of the brilliant career which lies ahead.”
Smith told New African that
at that moment, he almost agreed with Sir James. But then, the governor
general shot himself in the foot by pressing too much and rounding furiously
on Smith with threats: ‘You will never work in the UK again! You will be
absolutely finished!
Smith said he replied: “It
was very kind of you to see me, Sir. My position is unchanged. I
cannot carry out unlawful orders, as I said ‘goodbye sir’, he turned
away. He was very angry. Oddly enough, I felt sorry for him.”
But true to Sir James’ words,
Smith has never again worked in the UK. He was only 33 at the time of
the confrontation in 1960. And permanently retired! On his return to
the UK, he tried two temporary jobs as a postman and labour clerk, and, as
Sir James had predicted, the Whitehall Johnnies hounded him out. Imagine an
Oxford graduate working as a postman but they wouldn’t even allow him that.
Later, Whitehall realised that
stick alone would not keep Smith quiet, so they tried carrots. First, they
gave him a secret trial in London, using the same top lawyers that Britain
had used at the Nuremberg trials against the Nazis, and found him not guilty
of treason. Smith, out of work for solong and poor as a church mouse, was
given no defence lawyer. He defended himself.
Then, they offered him a “pot of
money”. He turned it down. They next tried a top job in the Fat East
plus permanent exile from England. He turned itdown too. Finally, they
offered him a knighthood. He refused that as well. Perhaps poison would make
him change his mind. In fact, he nearly died.
Tropical Sprue (the strange
disease Smith caught in Nigeria) attacks the gut and punches holes in it. For
over 12 years, Smith battled with the disease, losing weight all the time,
and becoming listless and helpless, until medical research came across an
antidote in the late 1980’s - don’t eat flour or anything powdery that will sink
through the holes in the gut punched by the Sprue and into the bloodstream.
Havingdone two tours inNigeria
(between 1955 and 1960), Smith still loves the country and talks about itas
an authority. He feels exceedingly distressed that his beloved Britain
“encouraged” Nigerian politicians in the pre-independence era to become
corrupt.
He writes in his 1987 book: “A
major proportion of the politicians who made Nigeria notorious for corruption
after independence were selected by the British before independence. The
politicians and leaders and men of eminence not chosen were often honest,
trustworthy and responsible people. Why were these people not brought in by
the British? The answer is that the British needed people they could control.
They sometimes selected crooks whom they knew they could control after
independence.”
He insists that Nigerian
institutions: “Did not become corrupt after independence, they were crooked
before the British handed over power to a small and elite group of African
leaders and civil servants who were for the most part. Britishers with black
faces and they continued to rule as the British had ruled.”
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