(en) Anarkismo.net: Obituary of Nigerian anarchist Sam Mbah by Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front

Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front is deeply saddened to hear of the death a great human 
being, African brother, and fellow activist ? Sam Mbah. We would like to send our deepest 
sympathies to those who knew Sam. We hope that you are comforted by the fact that the time 
he did spend with us was put to its absolute fullest use. ---- Sam Mbah ---- It is 
particularly difficult for us in South Africa to hear of this news because we are likewise 
struggling to build a movement that, as Sam has always acknowledged, is still in its 
infancy and will take some time to ?crystallize?. Knowing that people like Sam were out 
there in other parts of Africa doing what we are trying to do here was a great inspiration 
to us. It helped us to continue on a long and difficult path. Sam?s individual 
contribution to our own (and collective) project of building a strong and viable anarchist 
movement in Africa was massive, and his departure will be sorely felt. But we feel 
comforted in the fact that his legacy will be an inspiration for others who will 
eventually follow in his footsteps.

Sam wasn?t only a dedicated and sensitive activist but also a brilliant scholar and 
thinker. He epitomized what is best in historical anarchist work. His words were always 
rooted in careful, considered analysis, and always took class (exploitation and 
oppression) seriously. His views about religious and superstitious conservatism in Nigeria 
always sought answers in deeper social phenomenon. For example, the fact that ?social 
differences have been magnified by politicians, who use it to manipulate and control the 
mass of the population? was not lost on him. On environmental degradation too, Sam was a 
voice of reason. He worked hard to make sure that oil companies in the Niger Delta did not 
get away with their involvement in causing the changes in climate that have destroyed the 
livelihoods of so many of its inhabitants.

Sam?s legacy will not only be that of a dedicated and sensitive activist, but this he 
surely was. Sam?s role in establishing the Nigerian, anarcho-syndicalist Awareness League 
? at the height of military rule, was tremendous; for this he should be credited with no 
less than helping establish the roots of anarchism in Africa. Despite his obvious 
disappointment with the League?s fate, which collapsed with the coming of civilian 
democracy (Sam called it ?an extension of military rule), his continued perseverance to 
building the basis for a vibrant anarchist movement in Nigeria was encouraging. Like the 
best of activists, rather than blaming its dissolution on outside forces, Sam was 
sensitive to the movement?s internal weakness and his own mistakes that lead to this 
unfortunate outcome, acknowledging that ?we did not analyze in a serious sense what would 
be the consequences of the end of military rule and the coming of civilian rule, in the 
place of the military. We took it for granted that it would be business as usual?.

Sam, brother, we will miss you.
Related Link: http://zabalaza.net