Re: Madison, WI actions on Nov. 10

["John E. Peck" <jepeck@students.wisc.edu>]

  Hello folks,
  	Just a brief update from Madison, WI covering events that occured
  last week.  On Mon. Nov. 10th eight stout souls braved the chilly winds to
  picket the $hell station on Univ. Ave. which attracted much sympathy from
  passing motorists, as well as one reporter from the Badger Herald - one of
  UW-Madison's daily student papers - which ran a front page story the next
  day.  Later that night after a packed speech by Black Panther founder,
  Bobby Seale, in the Union Theater about 30 people attended a candlelight
  vigil and literary tribute to Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogoni activists
  on the steps of Memorial Union.  Wahid - a local Nigerian activist who
  recently returned from his troubled homeland - gave a very eloquent
  impromptu talk as to why people in the U.S. should get involved with the
  prodemocracy movement.  The next day, Nov. 11th, their was another
  screening of the film - "Drilling Fields" - followed by a discussion of Ken
  Saro-Wiwa's legacy with Prof. Edris Makward of the UW--Madison's African
  Languages and Literature Dept. (he was one of Ken's former profs).  About
  20 people participated in that event.   We've been asked to write an update
  on the Nigerian situation with pictures from the $hell picket for the
  weekly "Madison Times" newspaper, and will continue our efforts to expose
  $hell's activities on the UW-Madison campus - including it's recent
  sponsorship of an assistant professorship and graduate student fellowship
  in the Chemical Engineering Dept.  People may also be interested to know
  that the Nigerian crisis was still a simmering topic of activist/academic
  conversation at the 40th Annual African Studies Association (ASA)
  conference I attended in Columbus, OH this weekend.
  
  		Long live Ken Saro-Wiwa!   Long live Free Nigeria!  - John