|
The Agbekoya Parapo Revolt of 1968–1969, popularly known as Agbekoya or the Egbe Agbekoya Revolt, was a peasant revolt in Nigeria's former Western region, home to the majority of the country's Yoruba population. It is the most well known peasant-driven political riot in western Nigerian history, and continues to be referenced by grassroots organizations as a successful example of collective action against unpopular government policies. The revolt was predominantly aimed at agitating for a reduction in taxes, though some believed there were also political catalysts. ==Background== During the 1950s, the colonial government of Nigeria established local commodity depots in many parts of the country. The depots served as stores of exchange for goods the government was interested in buying from peasants. The prosperous Western region was one of the world's most prolific producers of cocoa, and the regional government hoped to increase its tax revenues from farmers by regulating the sale of the crop through state-regulated agricultural cooperatives, also known as marketing boards. Most of the products to be sold were to undergo a process of grading, examination, and sometimes bargaining before purchase. Against this backdrop, a farmers' organization was created to represent the interest of the farmers within the new marketing system.〔Tunde Adeniran: "The Dynamics of Peasant Revolt: A Conceptual Analysis of the Agbekoya Parapo Uprising in the Western State of Nigeria," ''Journal of Black Studies''. Jun., 1974..〕 Translated from Yoruba, Agbekoya Parapo means "the union of farmers who reject suffering." The association was an heir to an indigenous system of work cooperatives akin to trade unionism and drew on a tradition of occupational guilds that had regulated working standards and policies for centuries in the region. Yoruba workers in various professions traditionally organized themselves into "egbes", peer groups and guilds that protected the interests of their members in situations that required collective action. During the early part of Nigeria's independence, a systematic approach to solving the general problems of the region was taken by the Action Group, the leading political party in the Western Region. Many roads leading to villages were tarred, credit was extended to cooperative societies, and schools were equipped for better education. However, as the Nigerian political scene became more volatile with the jailing of foremost political leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the 1966 coup, and the beginning of the Biafran War, politicians came to view the farmers as pawns to be used for electoral strategies. The local depot officials also began to present themselves as minor vassal lords, demanding bribes and other concessions from farmers before accepting their harvest for sale. The provided amenities began to slide towards deplorable conditions, even though the government continued to demand taxes for their upkeep.〔 Members of the loose farming guilds that eventually coalesced into Agbekoya first developed more militant tactics during an epidemic of swollen-shoot disease on cocoa plantations during the 1950s. Calling themselves the Maiyegun (or 'Life Abundance') League, they resisted attempts by government representatives to destroy affected trees on the premise that farmers could not afford to lose their crops without compensation. Several violent clashes occurred before the matter was settled in favor of the league. As the local depots became institutions in the economic life of average farmers, the organization and many other peasants continued to complain about other issues they found unjust The primary problems the farmers has were the arbitrary standards used for examination, which meant that significant amounts of harvested cocoa were discarded as unfit for sale; and the low prices they received for the accepted produce that reached the marketplace. The farmers complained about the neglected infrastructure of roads they had to travel to reach the depots. Moreover, they were also asked to pay a flat tax, a hefty imposition during times of economic uncertainty. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Agbekoya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|