Power and Freedom
The Reith Lectures
BBC
4.2 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2004
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In his second Reith Lecture, the Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka examines how difficult it can be to tell friend from foe in a climate of fear. Organisations that are set up to overthrow dictatorships can themselves turn into tyrannical regimes. Liberation movements may be forced to seek help from dangerous quarters and these days it is not just countries that control and direct the lives of their citizens.
Wole Soyinka looks at the recent history of two countries - Algeria and Nigeria - both plagued by political turmoil. He considers what has become one of the most difficult tests for democracy - when the ballot box produces 'the wrong result' - when the people vote for a party that is fundamentally opposed to democracy?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a podcast from the archives of the BBC Reith Lectures. |
| 0:04.5 | This lecture in the series Climate of Fear, given by Wolle Shoeinka, was originally broadcast in 2004. |
| 0:14.0 | Good evening and welcome to the School of Oriental and African Studies, or SOAS, as it's better known. |
| 0:20.1 | The school is part of the University of London, |
| 0:22.7 | founded nearly 90 years ago. It's considered by many to be the world's leading centre for the |
| 0:28.2 | study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It can boast many distinguished alumni, including the singer |
| 0:34.1 | and campaigner Paul Robson, Enoch Powell, Luisa Diorgio, |
| 0:38.7 | recently appointed Prime Minister of Mozambique, and the Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner, |
| 0:43.4 | Ang San Suu Kyi. |
| 0:44.9 | Our audience this evening is made up of many people who currently work and study here, |
| 0:50.0 | as well as others from business, the arts, religion and the media. |
| 0:54.5 | Last week, our lecturer, the writer and Nobel laureate, Wolle Shoyinka, |
| 0:59.5 | began his wreath lectures by analysing the nature of fear in his lifetime. |
| 1:04.9 | His childhood was overshadowed by Hitler and the threat of Nazism. |
| 1:09.4 | Later he campaigned against nuclear arms as the world seemed |
| 1:12.5 | intent on a program that could end in global destruction. Today he and we face what he's called |
| 1:19.4 | the greatest fear of all, fear of the unknown, global terrorism. What motivates those who seek |
| 1:26.8 | to supplant our freedom with fear? |
| 1:29.3 | This is the subject of his lecture tonight. |
| 1:31.7 | It's a question he's been able to study firsthand. |
| 1:34.4 | He suffered imprisonment in his native Nigeria |
| 1:36.8 | because of his stand against tyranny there. |
... |
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