When George Orwell published his second most popular novel “Animal Farm” in 1945, it was widely assumed that the fictionalised events in the book represented different elements of Russia’s 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. There was the ideological leader of the revolution, a pig named Old Major, who was recognised as a composite of Karl Marx and Vladmir Lenin. Then there was the Joseph Stalin doppelganger, Napoleon and his rival Snowball, said to be based on Leon Trotsky. There is Boxer the horse, representing the hardworking and enthusiastic true believers in the revolution who continue believing fervently long after it should be apparent that it is a sham.
Then there are the sheep whose sole existential purpose is to parrot whatever the pigs tell them. There are also the 4 young pigs who muster up the courage to speak up against Napoleon’s dictatorial regime and promptly get executed for their trouble – representing those who broke ranks with the Bolsheviks. Then there is Clover the mare who sees through Napoleon’s Jedi mind tricks but lacks the eloquence and resolve to speak up or convince Boxer to shed his naive notions.
Finally, there is Benjamin the dislikeable, well-read, cynical donkey said to represent Orwell himself, who is best known for constantly telling all the animals on the farm that nothing will change for the better and that neither man nor pig has their best interests at heart. It is often said that history always repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce. And what could be more farcical than a popular revolution 5,000KM away from Orwell’s London home 75 years after Animal Farm was published, following the exact frame and timeline of events, down to having the same character archetypes and power struggles? Enter #EndSARS.
“We have no leaders”
At the start of the #EndSARS movement back in October, the constant refrain that came to animate the protest movement was “We have no leaders. There are no leaders here. Everyone is a leader.” On paper, this was a brilliant organisational tactic, leveraging decentralisation to avoid the pitfalls of a single point of failure which had bedevilled previous protest movements like Occupy Nigeria, OurMumuDonDo and Resume Or Resign. Without a single recognised “leader”, there was nobody for the government to intimidate or compromise. Or so it went on paper anyway.
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In reality, just as Old Major’s revolution on Animal Farm had maxims like “4 Legs Good, 2 Legs Bad,” “No animal shall sleep in a bed,” “No animal shall kill another animal” and “All animals are equal,” these ideals turned out to be more suggestion than fact. First arose a Napoleon and a Snowball. The Napoleon, a high society feminist drinking club-turned social justice organisation, and the Snowball, a slimy, greasy character operating at the intersection of citizen activist, agent of state, populist dissembler and all-round smarm artist.
Like in the book, the silver afro-haired Snowball and the Yellow Circle Napoleon took on each other in a public battle for control over the “leaderless” protest movement. Napoleon won the battle and Snowball was vanquished. To the thousands of young Nigerian Boxers – experiencing the feeling of agency and pride-in-country for the first time, the Yellow Circle Napoleon was a fiery and inspirational representation of all their hopes and dreams as young citizens of Nigeria. Who could take that away from them?
“Life will continue as always – badly”
While Napoleon was busily setting itself up as the central rallying point of the “leaderless” movement, several sceptical Clovers privately expressed doubts about the future of the movement. This was not the revolution they had been promised. Napoleon had begun hiring expensive PR consultants in Africa and Europe to help place well-airbrushed photos of the definitely-not-leaders on magazine front pages all over the world. Lacking the boldness or the words to express themselves openly, the Clovers silently observed the spectacle of “All animals are equal” mutating very rapidly into a hierarchy with certain individuals anointed with titles like “President.” Some animals were now more equal than others.
The Yellow Circle Napoleon and the loyal pigs and sheep around it, however, had no such concerns. “No animal shall kill another animal” quickly added an unspoken proviso – “unless Napoleon wishes.” As in the book when the 4 young pigs spoke up against Napoleon and got executed, a young journalist was soon bullied into attempting suicide after speaking up against a prominent leader of the “leaderless” movement. The fierce support of Boxer and the sheep did not abate.
Which brings us to the last character – Benjamin. Just like in the book, there was a cynical old donkey who is as well-read as he is dislikeable. Benjamin the outspoken investigative journalist never shared the euphoric optimism of his fellow animals during #EndSARS, gaining a reputation instead for his party-pooping tweets – “Stay on message,” “Don’t bring beer, music and big-screen football to the protest venues,” “Napoleon’s logo-projecting and Mack truck-clambering stunts do nothing except put Napoleon’s face in front of the cameras,” and so on. Benjamin never missed an opportunity to tell the animals that Napoleon’s regime would end up the exact same way as that of Farmer Jones.
Today, #EndSARS has gone down in history as the only protest in living memory to achieve absolutely nothing. The rogue police units are back at it. Hundreds of protesters remain locked up indefinitely without charge. The judicial panels have been systematically undermined and have stopped sitting for the most part. The Lekki and Obigbo massacres remain officially denied by the Nigerian government. Except you count 2 SARS victims picked out of a lottery hat and paraded before the media in Lagos with oversized N10 million compensation cheques like reality TV show contestants, nobody is better off post- #EndSARS than before it.
Nobody that is, except Napoleon, which has leveraged the wonders of expert global PR consultants to spin the non-achievement of not-leading a “leaderless” movement with zero decisive outcomes into a basis for award nominations, list inclusions and front pages. It turns out that like Orwell himself who wrote the Benjamin character as a satirical reference to himself and the futility of knowledge amidst mass ignorance, it is the destiny of yours truly to forever be Nigeria’s ‘Benjamin’ – a cynical, temperamental character who is widely disliked in spite of – or perhaps because of – his annoying habit of being correct.
And frankly, that is a shame.
