Nigeria: Stop violence of Boko Haram

Unify the working class and poor in a struggle against the corrupt elite and the big business

Paul Murphy, explanation of vote, 15 March 2012, European Parliament:

"Mr President, together with my sister party in Nigeria, the Democratic Socialist Movement, I condemn the violence of Boko Haram. This organisation has absolutely nothing to offer the workers and poor of Nigeria other than deeper religious and ethnic violence. Violence and extortion by state forces and between rival corrupt politicians is also common.

For Socialists, the answer to communal, ethnic, religious division and violence lies in mass movements which can unify the working class and poor in a struggle against their common enemies, in this case the corrupt elite and the big business which literally steal the vast wealth that exists in Nigeria: just 1% of the population taking 95% of the oil wealth, while over 80% of the population lives in poverty.

January’s general strike, the biggest ever in Nigeria, was not just against the fuel price hike but increasingly called for regime change. That is exactly what is needed in Nigeria, a struggle for a government of working people and poor that can use the tremendous resources that exist in the interests of the majority and point the way forward beyond division."

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