The deceptive silence of stolen voices

The text of a new lecture given by Soyinka at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. The pamphlet reflects on question such as in Soyinka's words: "Shall we [Nigerians] ever arrive at an understanding of the futility of attempts to smother the expression of popular will...do we, or do we not need a radical shift that restores to us our stolen voices? Does the call for a national conference not ground itself in the illegitimate antecedence of our current democratic pretensions?" Wole Soyinka is as a dramatist, poet, novelist, essayist, political activist and professor, perhaps Africa's most brilliant cultural ambassador and critic, and a notable commentator on world affairs. He is the only black African to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature.