If there remains a soul in the cyberworld who, despite all the blogging and tweeting of the Homegirls and other Hillary Clinton loyalists, continues to labor under the delusion that all she did in Africa was dance and explode momentarily at a Congolese student, this letter, published in The Guardian today, should put to rest that misconception. We have said, in many blog posts at several blogs that our Homegirl, the top U.S. diplomat, made courageous statements about corrupt and malicious governments in the presence of, indeed to the faces of some very “bad and evil men.” Some of us remember how she dealt (adorably) with that question on the primary campaign trail.
In Africa, we had the opportunity to see how she deals with the men themselves in real life – a missed opportunity, since this was not reported here.
This letter, written by Chris Agbiti, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria tells the story of how Hillary spoke at a Town Hall in Abuja. It not only defends her remarks (which evidently were not well taken by the men she was addressing), but it does so splendidly. It is a most enjoyable read due to the writer’s obvious literary gifts.
A few salient excerpts are here along with a link to the entire beautifully-wrought letter. Agbiti begins thus:
SIR: The ripples caused by the outburst of the U.S. Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, in the course of her recent visit to Nigeria a few weeks ago will for long continue to reverberate and touch raw nerves both in and outside the government. The event was a Town Hall meeting in Abuja (not in the hallowed Chambers of the National Assembly or Aso Rock). The audience, a select group of individuals, drawn mainly from the media, the opposition political parties, professional associations and coalitions of Human Rights organisations (not top ranking government officials and party leaders). The only television outfit accredited to cover the event was AIT (not the 30 million-viewers acclaimed NTA).
So it was when Mrs. Clinton visited. The usual diplomatese and protocols associated with such event were radically modified to suit the motive of the visit: to drum into the ears of our leaders this time round with no-holds barred, a few home truths. As she mounted the podium, Mrs. Clinton began to fire right away on all cylinders, administering not the usual diplomatese of go-to-hell-and-you-look-forward-to-it approach, but the untempered bitter pills of home truths on the state of the nation, Nigeria. Not done, she took a swipe at the Nigerian government for its lack of transparency and accountability to the people and went further to lambaste the country’s anti-corruption agency, the EFFC for losing its vigour in the last one year of its operation.https://departmentofhomegirlsecurity.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php
So, evidently there was another, more sustained, more serious Hillary-bomb with regard to issues far graver and broader than whose opinion she was being asked to express. This was Hillary saying where we stand on these issues, and the Nigerian government did not like it!
Predictably, the Nigerian government not one to take such swipes without a fight, lampooned Mrs. Clinton through its coterie of sycophants and beneficiaries of the existing order in what may qualify for all decades a most infamous descent from the sublime to the ridiculous: that she was obviously misinformed! One of them who was so angry with Mrs. Clinton and would have petitioned against her to President Obama but for the cold realisation that Obama himself was even the worse critic of the system, wrote: “she … uttered what has turned a faux pas, an unguarded, misguided, misinformed statement, something not worthy of her position as American number one diplomat.”
Agbiti poses some weighty questions toward the end of his missive. They are questions for Nigeria and Nigerians, but the language betrays the way Hillary Rodham Clinton is viewed abroad, and most particularly in Africa where she broke some very hard ground with this voyage. Emphasis below is mine, the words are Africa’s.
Pray, if not for such constructive diplomatic radicalism (I will not use “madness”) employed by Mrs. Clinton, how could a visionless leadership made up of mediocre sycophants and leeches be jolted out of its reverie amidst the imminent danger of nation failure that stares us in the face?
Who else, whose word could have had that piercing power on the hearts of the leaders and cause such cataclysm both at home and abroad if not that of the number one world diplomat? Would it have been expedient to sacrifice the language effect of her very weighty message to the nation on the altar of diplomatic correctness?
While the American press busies itself with fiction presented as truth about our very savvy, outspoken, and brave Secretary of State, a voice from Nigeria courageously defends her words against the thugs who run the country, and, in doing so throws a spotlight on her assiduous work and methods. They see Hillary pretty clearly in Nigeria (and the rest of the world). It’s a shame Americans did not know about this Town Hall, what she did, and how she spoke. They might have come to a better appreciation of this mighty warrior in pantsuits.
I encourage you to read the letter in its entirety since it is a work of literary art.
I have held hillary rodham clinton as my idol for many years. As a longtime union and human rights activist…. hillary has always stood up beautiful, stong, brave, intelligent and all things that I consider the United States of America to be. She inspires the world of women …. of all ages. i posted on my shania twain site… the obvious appalling treatment of hillary (personal view) by her own party…. and I congratulate Mr. Obama and love that Hillary is the Secretary of State. In Canada we had some problems with our own election and Elizabeth May being treated by the media equally…. and we succeeded. In this day and age- humanity decrees no less than equality of all …for survival of the generations to come…. and education for all children should be free in our free world… and then hopefully education will be free globally. Love you Hillary Rodham Clinton- you stood up for the military men and women serving … even when it wasn’t cool; you stood by your ideals, goals and honour of all women. On this day I am proud to be a hillary rodham clinton fan. Nova.
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What a beautiful comment, Elizabeth! Lovely sentiments. Our girl is a beautiful, brilliant warrior, and that’s why we always stand behind her.
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Yes, great sentiments, Elizabeth.
And great post, Stilll4Hill!
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Thanks, Stacy!
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[…] seriously! I suppose Michael missed this post here on these pages where Hillary is referred to as “the world’s top […]
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Wish to get the original article as published in the Guardian. Can you help me? I am the writer. Thanks. Chris E. Agbiti.
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Have you contacted The Guardian archives department? Other than that, I really don’t know.
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