The miseducation of contemporary Africans that prevents the understanding of Yoruba Original African philosophy continues to prevent lasting revolutionary change and quest for justice.
The fixation on spiritual attributes and not intellectual foundations of Orishas is a major obstacle to Yoruba progress. While Shango, the Orisha of Justice is noticed for his loud thunder claps and lightening flashes, it is Oya the Orisha of revolution that brings sweeping changes with her powerful storms and winds that sculpture the Earth.
Could this be one of the reason why our contemporary political landscape is rented by grandiloquent speeches of ego filled Men, but with no sweeping liberating changes of Oya women?
From Oya to Moremi that liberated the Yoruba nation from Ugbo hegemony and Madam Funlayo Ransome Kuti, Yoruba women have played a strong role in your political evolution.
However, the adopted foreign perspectives have constrained them to the Other Room. We tend to demonize them more as witches and nagging bitches in our gender unbalanced Eurasian Abrahamist dogma.
In the evolution of human civilization, women played an equally important role. The discovery of yams the fuel of human civilization and settlements is attributed to women, as well as the beginning of timing and calendars linked to moon and menstrual cycles are the domain of Yemoja.
Some writers go as far that the world was under matriarchy before the advent of Abrahamic dogma, but I believe it was a balanced system reflected in the equal number of female Orisha to male Orishas.
Even the Jews had a female goddess known as Asherah, but it appears the arid environment of the Middleast negated the need for goddesses of fertility.
Instead, they replaced the cool moon concepts with that of the ferocious Sun, the essence of women – the tree of life and her snake concept of knowledge, were replaced with that of Ogun and Jehovah, god of war since they were to become marauding herdsmen/seamen instead of settled farmers.
The Abrahamic dogma institutionalized by Emperor Constantine, through the Council of Nicea and Nicene creed that produced the Bible, enabled the Holy Roman Catholic Empire sustained by male Popes and Kings, could only be broken by women.
Making Britain Great could be broken down to 3 women:
1) Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) who with the help of astrology saw and set out to make Britain a global player by challenging Holy Roman 1,500yrs Global domination. She used pirates to sabotage and bankrupt the trade triangle established by the Portuguese and Spanish backed by Pope Alexander. This eventually led to British colonial America in the Caribbean and North America.
2) Queen Victoria established the Britannica Rules mantra by setting up Britain to take the juiciest colonies in Africa (Nigeria, the Black heartland, Egypt, the Arab heartland, South Africa and Ghana, the gold basins, India, the Hindu heartland, Indonesia, Japan and China.
3) Queen Elizabeth II oversaw the turning of colonial Britain into globalizationist Britain, whereby their former colonies were neo-colonized trough subterfuge.
However, in Abrahamic traditions, the women were demonized by historians who painted Elizabeth I as a Virgin Witch and Victoria as a ravaging nymphomaniac.
The contemporary Margaret Thatcher became the milk snatcher Iron lady. This male chauvinist perspective runs through Eurasian historical accounts from when they took over ancient Egypt and erased female Pharaohs like Hatshepsut that chased out the Jews, and the fact that women were the real power behind the Pharaoh throne.
Not only were women the power behind the throne in Original African controlled ancient Egypt but in every Original African system, especially in Yoruba the oldest and largest original African group.
The Yoruba political system had very powerful permanent roles for women. The Yoruba system was upheld by 3 powerful roles – the king (Oba) who was never an absolute power, the Bashorun/Balogun the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces and leader of the people’s Assembly like Oyo Mesi and the Iyalode, the head of all women and the economy. A king could be disposed by the Iyalode and Bashorun who lead the calabash opening impeachment process.
Our cultural slavery has led us the same path of denigrating women exhibited by Eurasian dogma with Efunsetan Aniwura and Madam Tinubu were two powerful women that controlled the slave and arms trade. When Efunsetan that armed the Ibadan dreams of a militocracy decided to pull out from the unattainable venture, she was demonized by Aare Latosa and later historians.
In contemporary politics, in what I call ‘probably the best government Nigeria ever had’, General Obasanjo denigrated the women who made the difference by claiming Jonathan was being controlled by women. Ngozi Iweala, the Economist par excellence that sustained the longest and economic growth in recent memory: Stella Oduah that brought appreciable development to aviation: Deizani Madueke that pushed local content laws and a revolutionary Petroleum Industry bill but attacked with the most hateful corruption propaganda.
However, the statement by Obasanjo known to push Western interests and dogma (PhD CRK) resonated with a cultural misguided audience.
Obasanjo’s verbal attack on Jonathans Amazons is pale in significance to what Fulanis, who exhibit the crudest and most vicious strain of Abrahamic dogma, do to women.
Some Northerners have been known to physically assault our women legislators while our men turn their faces. Whereas our women could be the most effective tool in breaking Fulani hegemony.
Obama came to power through White women that voted for him. The White male and Black votes didn’t change. It was the White women who identified with his mother than made the change attainable. In a democratic system, our women have the power to agitate Northern women to seek liberation.
Ultimately, we need our other half beside us on our revolutionary March to freedom and not idle in the other room. Some argue that women are less corruptible because they are not influenced by old boys network.
I say the Yoruba ancients must have known something to have represented revolutionary fervour with a female Orisha called Oya!!!
