Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate, has reacted to how the former United States President Donald Trump was found guilty in what Al Jazeera called “a historic criminal hush-money trial, in a decision that could shake up the 2024 election campaign.”
He has become the first US president, past or present, to be charged and convicted of a crime. A New York City jury delivered the verdict on Thursday afternoon after a seven-week-long trial – and it found Trump guilty on all 34 counts he faced.
According to Soyinka, “It is ‘not yet Uhuru,’ not anywhere close for humanity in our global village. Nonetheless, a celebration, albeit in a minor key, is justified.”
Below is Soyinka’s statement:
The Trump Verdict
Wole Soyinka
For millions in anguished parts of the world, certainly for us in vast swathes of the African continent, this is daybreak on a new democratic promise. The warning is clear. Sooner or later, the clamour of equity breaks down the stoutest gates on guard across the citadel of impunity.
The Trump debacle is a challenge also, a call to preparedness and steadfastness. Installed and putative fascisms – secular, military or theocratic – will extract from this only the wrong lessons, batten down and ‘crack down’ in self-protection.
It is “Not yet Uhuru”, not anywhere close for humanity in our global village. Nonetheless, a celebration, albeit in a minor key, is justified.
p.s. Seeing that this trite, personal gesture attracted such inordinate attention at the time, let me answer the question before it is asked: Yes, I may choose to apply for restoration of my card of Permanent Residence, known as the Green Card. Possibly.
Wole SOYINKA
A.R.I. (Permanent Resident)
Ogun State, Nigeria
May 30, 2024