Propaganda is the main tool of political warfare. The idea is to disseminate information to a vast number of people through spoken and written words. The ‘black’ propaganda emanates from unknown sources that are made to appear as disinterested parties. It is widely accepted that political warfare executed by Russia, using cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, was responsible for the election of Donald Trump in 2016. The ‘gray’ propaganda amplifies the propagandist’s voice. Iran uses a network of trolls and automated bots particularly on twitter and facebook to foment political and social divisions in America.
The usual practice is for one country to launch political warfare against another targeting the citizens of the enemy country. But countries do not have a monopoly of political warfare. Governments are not the only ones capable of launching political warfare. We too can. Although ours is a fight for Yoruba self-determination, there is no impediment to using methods of political warfare to achieve it. The task for the Yoruba Diaspora is different to that of countries, of course. Our task is to target the citizens of the country where we live to assist us to get independence for Yorubaland. Our task is to convince the political class of our host countries that we are committed to peaceful means until that strategy fails, which is imminent.
The Yoruba Diaspora can use political warfare propaganda methods a) to sensitize the local population in their host countries to the plight of the Yoruba people in Nigeria and b) to make known the advantages that an independent Yoruba homeland would bring to the world. Yoruba-owned Radio/TV outlets could broaden their activities, presently concentrated almost exclusively on the Diaspora, to include other audiences. Letterbox pamphleteering and leafletting, and at crowded arena like London’s Kings Cross and Euston Stations, could be used to convey our message directly to non-Yoruba people. Diaspora groups on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlet, again almost exclusively focused on educating the Yoruba, should be persuaded to switch their attention to evangelizing to the local population instead. Educating the Yoruba Diaspora alone will not win self-determination for the Yoruba. The ‘Yahoo boys’, who currently use their internet skills and huge traffic to commit fraud, should be persuaded to divert such skills to fight for Yoruba self-determination.
Another propaganda tool that the Yoruba Diaspora could use effectively is their visibility. Our number is case in point. Over 120,000 Yoruba live in London. This is the same number of people that the Chinese have. The Chinese enhance their visibility by establishing ‘Chinatowns’. There is no doubt that establishing such enclaves will enhance our visibility. There is no reason why we too cannot establish ‘Yoruba Quarters’, a designated official territory of our own. Indeed, to establish a ‘Yoruba Quarter’ might take no more than writing letters to the local or Parish Council! Some 15,000 Yoruba live in the Borough of Southwark. There are similar large numbers in the London East End. The first, and loudest, critics will be the Yoruba themselves, of course, but give them leadership and they will fall in line.
Political warfare can be immediately successful. It took the Russians just a few months in 2016 to persuade Americans to elect Donald Trump as their president. Think about that!
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