Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
AbbreviationMOSOP
Formation1990
FoundersKen Saro-Wiwa
TypeSocial Movement Organization
PurposeIndigenous rights of the Ogoni people
HeadquartersBori, Ogoni, Rivers State, Nigeria
Region
Ogoniland
Membership
  • Ethnic Minority Rights Organization of Africa (EMIROAF)
  • Federation of Ogoni Women Association (FOWA)
  • National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP)
  • Ogoni Council of Churches (OCC)
  • Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers (COTRA)
  • Council of Ogoni Professionals (COP)
  • National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS)
  • Crisis Management Committee (CMC)
  • Ogoni Teachers Union
  • Ogoni Technical Association
  • Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority
President
Legborsi Saro Pyagbara
Affiliations
Award(s)Right Livelihood Award
Websitemosop.org

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), is a social movement organization representing the indigenous Ogoni people[1][2] of Rivers State, Nigeria. The Ogoni contend that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), along with other petroleum multinationals and the Nigerian government, have destroyed their environment, polluted their rivers, and provided no benefits in return for enormous oil revenues extracted from their lands.[3][4][5]

MOSOP is an umbrella organization representing about 700,000 Ogoni in a non-violent campaign for environmental justice in the Niger Delta.[6][7] Peaceful demonstrations led by MOSOP and other indigenous groups in the region have been brutally suppressed by the Nigerian Mobile Police.[8][9] Thousands of Ogoni were killed, raped, beaten, detained, or exiled.[10] The Ogoni's challenge to state power was finally put down through the judicial murder of Ogoni leaders, including spokesman and founder Ken Saro-Wiwa, in November 1995.[5]

Oil was discovered in the Niger delta in 1957. MOSOP was founded in 1990 by Ken Saro-Wiwa and Ogoni chiefs when they presented the Ogoni Bill of Rights to the Federal government of Nigeria and to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva.[4][11][12]

The Ogoni uprising under the leadership of MOSOP was an early and non-violent phase of the conflict in the Niger Delta.

In 1994, MOSOP, along with founder Ken Saro-Wiwa, received the Right Livelihood Award for their exemplary courage in striving non-violently for the civil, economic and environmental rights of their people.[13]

  1. ^ "Ogoni". unpo.org. Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. March 25, 2008. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  2. ^ "Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)". ESCR-Net. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference HRW Nigeria95 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Osaghae, Eghosa E. (1995). "The Ogoni Uprising: Oil Politics, Minority Agitation and the Future of the Nigerian State". African Affairs. 94 (376): 325–344. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098833. ISSN 0001-9909. JSTOR 723402.
  5. ^ a b Agbonifo, John (2009). "Oil, Insecurity, and Subversive Patriots in the Niger Delta: The Ogoni as Agent of Revolutionary Change". Journal of Third World Studies. 26 (2): 71–106. ISSN 8755-3449. JSTOR 45194563.
  6. ^ "Ogoni: Oral Intervention on the Human Rights Situation of States and Territories threatened with Ex". unpo.org. Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  7. ^ "About Us - Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)". Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2009.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference All for Shell was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference HRW Reports526 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Boele, Richard; Fabig, Heike; Wheeler, David (2001). "Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni. A study in unsustainable development: I. The story of Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni people - environment, economy, relationships: conflict and prospects for resolution1: SHELL, NIGERIA AND THE OGONI I". Sustainable Development. 9 (2): 74–86. doi:10.1002/sd.161.
  11. ^ "Ogoni Bill of Rights" (PDF). ogoniyouthnetwork.org. Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  12. ^ Obi, C. I.; Development, UN Research Institute for Social (2005). "Environmental movements in sub-Saharan Africa". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ^ "Ken Saro-Wiwa / Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People". The Right Livelihood Award. Retrieved January 8, 2020.