tangaroa | On the wrong side of History

Boko Haram has a lobby. Back in June 2012, William Minter of the Africa Focus Bulletin (allafrica.com) created a petition to not declare Boko Haram a terrorist organization. This raises the question: Who is this idiot?

A month before creating the MoveOn petition, Minter circulated a petition opposing sanctions on Boko Haram on the grounds that:

it would "internationalize" a group that was already part of international al-Qaeda and getting support from all over the place
it would show that some attention is being paid to counter-terrorism
defeating Boko Haram would "undermine Nigeria's progress on the rule of law" because only the Nigerian state is responsible for human rights abuses, and only a Muslim may be the legitimate ruler of Nigeria
it would impede "humanitarian" and "academic" financial support for Boko Haram

Minter's May letter is signed by these idiots:

John Campbell, director of the State Department's history office, former US Ambassador to Nigeria, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations
Carl LeVan, professor of African studies at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC
Adrienne LeBas, professor of government at American University;
Clarence Lusane, professor of Political Science and International Relations at the American University, former board member of the Institute for Policy Studies
Susan Shepler, professor of peace and conflict resolution at the School of International Service at American University and member of the Peace and Collaborative Development Network
Peter M. Lewis senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and director of African studies at Johns Hopkins University
Jean Herskovits, research professor of history at Purchase College in New York, Director of United Bank for Africa and advisor to Conoco Phillips, denies that Boko Haram exists.
Daniel J. Smith, professor of anthropology at Brown University
R. Kiki Edozie, director of African American and African Studies at Michigan State University
Brandon Kendhammer professor of political science at Ohio University Athens who writes that "sharia protects the rights of Muslims in a democracy" and promotes "social justice"
David Dwyer, professor of Peace and Justice Studies at Michigan State University
Paul Lubeck, director of the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at UC Santa Cruz, director of the Everett Program to "advance social justice and promote sustainability", senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, and former steering committee member of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community
Pearl Robinson, professor of African studies at Tufts University
Darren Kew, professor of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance at University of Massachusetts Boston, Executive Director of the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development
Laura Thaut, professor of Political Science at University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, author of a may 2013 paper that blames the violence in Nigeria on "the rapid growth of Christianity and the increased political activism of adherents or churches."
Judith Byfield, professor of history at Cornell
Nicolas van de Walle, professor of International Studies at Cornell, and former director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Susan M. O'Brien, professor of history at University of Florida;
John Paden, professor of International Relations at George Mason University and member of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
Deborah Brautigam, professor of Comparative Politics at the School of Advanced International Studies atJohns Hopkins University and director of the International Development Program and the China-Africa Research Initiative
Michael Watts, professor of Geography and Development Studies at UC Berkeley, survived an assassination attempt in Nigeria
David Laitin, professor of Political Science at Stanford,
David Wiley, professor of sociology at Michigan State University and veteran of "the movement for decolonization in Southern Africa" (it is not clear if Wiley's decolonization would have included kicking the blacks out of South Africa to return the land to the Khoi-San)
Shobana Shankar, professor of history at Georgetown University, who in December repeated the argument that sanctions on Boko Haram would be bad because it would stop money from going to them

Signatories to the June petition include, in the first week (note that these can be faked):

Anita Wheeler of Africa Focus
Catherine Sunshine, co-edited the 1991 book Caribbean Connectons on behalf of the Network of Educators on the Americas, now known as Teaching For Change, and the Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean at Georgetown University which today, 23 years later, describes itself as focusing on "unjust globalization policies and the negative consequences of a military response to the September 11, 2001 attacks" (in Central America and the Caribbean?) and "community empowerment initiatives among Latinos in the United States"
David Brodnax, director of Black Studies at Trinity Christian College in Chicago
Irving Leonard Markovitz, professor of Political Science at Queens College of New York
Jay O'Brien, professor of anthropology at Purdue, d. 2013, wrote a 1989 article blaming "class struggle" for Hassan Turabi's ideologically motivated actions in the Sudan (covered well by Burr and Collins in Revolutionary Sudan)
Christopher Lowe of SEIU Local 49, former history professor at Reed College
Connie Field, filmmaker known for "The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter"
Christine Root, grant developer for the history department at Michigan State University
Roxanne Lawson, director of African policy at the Transafrica Forum and co-founder of United for Peace and Justice
Barbara Cooper, professor of African studies at Rutgers
Richard T. Booth of Hickory Isle, Michigan, possibly the retired foreign service labor officer
Chuks Eleonu of Proven Methods and Solutions, former CEO of African PAC
Kolawole Bakare, at the time an international business student and now working in logistics in the oil and energy field
Nunu Kidane of the Priority Africa Network
Robert Naiman, director of Just Foreign Policy, president of the board of Truthout, mentioned earlier
James Mittleman, professor of International Affairs at American University, former Dean of Queens College
John Metzler, professor of African Studies at Michigan State University
Elizabeth Schmidt, professor of History at Loyola University with a focus on African studies
Eric Morier-Genoud, professor of African and Imperial History at Queen's University, Belfast
Roxanne from Skyline, MN, near MSU Mankato
Amiala from Port Harcourt, Nigeria
A.H. Ahmad from the UK
Kouassi Kra from the island of Guadeloupe in the French Antilles
Virginia Dooley of the Emerging Markets Foundation (EMPower), Rising Tide, and Ideavine
Roshen Henderson, professor of Political Science and Global Affairs at the College of Staten Island
Cassidy Regan of the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict Program of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, member of the Peace and Collabortative Development Network
Prexy Nesbitt, Senior Multiculturalism and Diversity Specialist for the Chicago Teachers Center at Northeastern Universit, director of the American Friends Service Committee Africa Program in 2001, supporter of the Weather Underground
Basil Clunie of the Chicago Committee in Solidarity with Southern Africa, an associate of Nesbitt
Constance Freeman, "Independent International Affairs Professional" and professor of African studies at Syracuse University
Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, professor at the Paris Institute of Policy Studies, fellow at Chatham House
The same David Wiley as above, who here deplores the fact that sanctions had already been placed on three Boko Haram leaders and declares it "urgent" to stop further sanctions
Vicky Alain from Paris, possibly Le Monde Diplomatique's Alain Vicky
Ann Klaus of the Maryknoll Mission of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society
Geoffrey Traugh, student at New York University with a focus on Malawi who would win a Fulbright scholarship in 2013
Mechthild Nagel, director of the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies at the State University of New York in Cortland
Almaz Zewde, professor of Sociology, Agricultural Economics, and Social Policy at Howard University in Washington, DC
Jan Burgess, editor of the Review of the African Political Economy
Richard Knight, director of the African Activist Archive Project
Steven W. Orvis, professor of government at Hamilton College in New York
William Martin of New York, possibly William G. Martin of Binghamton University, coordinator of the Social Justice Research Group
Frank Holmquist, professor of politics at Hampshire College in Amherst, New York
Steve Howard, director of the African Studies Center at Ohio State University
Richard Waller, professor of African studies at Bucknell University in Ohio
Neil O. Leighton, professor of political science at University of Michigan, Flint, and member of the African Studies Association
Hannah Cross, lecturer in International Relations at the University of Westminster
Joshua Grace, professor of history at the University of South Carolina with a focus on Tanzania
Michael D. Fleshman, Human Rights Coordinator of the Africa Fund, also known as the American Committee on Africa and the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars, who wrote that sanctions on Boko Haram would "do the opposite" of advancing "representative and accountable democracy" in Nigeria
Vicki Fergusen, director of Outreach and Education Africa Policy Information Center and program director for Africa Action
Beverly Abisogun, Import and Export Professional and board member of Pacifica Radio station WBAI
David Robinson, professor of history and Muslim studies at Michigan State University
Beverly Mack, professor of African and African-American Studies at the University of Kansas
Nathaniel Danjibo of the West Africa Peacebuilding Institute
Brad Brown of Miami, FL, possibly the Vice President of the Miami-Dade NAACP

Signatories over the next two weeks include:

Lorraine Eide, possibly the author of a 1989 biography of Robert Mugabe and American Policy Toward Southern Africa During the Carter and Reagan Administrations, member of the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and lead inspector at the Department of Homeland Security
John Aerni-Flessner, professor of African History at State University of New York, Cortland
Yusuf al-Hassan of Missouri, possibly lecturer at Kansas City Community College and the University of Kansas, Lawrence (without a mention on the website of either facility) founder of the Guidance Academy of Technology of the Support Learning Foundation, appointed last year as Rector of Kano Polytechnic and falsely accused of forging his Ph.D certificate.
Annette Fay of the Blue Planet Network and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development
Ruth M. Brandon, Reverend of the United Church of Christ
Marylee Crofts, senior lecturer in International Studies at Bentley University in Boston
Stephanie Maher, grad student in anthropology at University of Washington
Meredeth Turshen, professor of public policy at Rutgers
Sundjata ibn Hyman, voted Professor of the Year by the student body at West Virginia State University

The petition was then ignored and left to spammers for two years until there was a resurgence of interest in the petition in April this year. Signatories at this point include:

Curtis L. Rumph of New Jersey, possibly the Rev. Curtis Rumph who founded the Christian Universal Temple Baptist Church
Yomi Durojaiye of North Carolina, possibly Segum Yomi Durojaiye of Duro Travel Services
Peter Ighodaro of New York City, possibly the president of Consulting Towers and the Polytechnic Universal import-export company
Kenneth Wolff, Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Professional from Utah, possibly the Treasurer of American Trans Air, Inc PAC
Kimberly Slonski of Phoenix, Arizona
Nathan Hood of Lucedale, Mississippi, possibly the Nathan Hood of Tupelo on the far side of the state, founder of Hood Oil, Charnat, and Mississippi Petroleum, whose street address is a Chevron gas station that used to be a BP station and an Amoco station.
Dana Shore of Richmond Hill in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina, director of investment mangement firm Shannon Consulting which deals in gold bullion, real estate, stock loans, JP-54 jet fuel, D-2 diesel fuel, etc.
William Dinger of Scranton, Kansas
Pat Raines of Trenton, Missouri
Terrill Wyche of Detroit, affiliate marketer at Global Cash Flow Network and professor of political science at Wayne County Community College, probably this guy
Octavius Rowe of Boston, firefighter
Timothy Moore of Clinton Township, Michigan; there is more than one person matching that description
Jacey Lawday of the UK, possibly a daughter of British nonprofit employee Andrew Lawday

These patterns show network effects. All it takes for a bad idea to spread is for someone to push a bad idea, people to trust that person enough to believe them without doing their own thinking, and people who trust those people. The first event in 2012 went through the Africa Studies community and spread rapidly there but did not spread widely outside that community. The origin of the second spread in April is not obvious. The petition was mentioned on a right-wing website, which may account for a couple of signatures protesting against the petition, but that was after it had become active again.

What's sad is that many of the people who signed on to this have spent time in Nigeria and ought to know better. I am reminded of an old quote about an idea being so stupid that only an educated man could support it.

I will propose a very, very low bar for analysing a strategic policy proposal. I don't care how long you've studied the region or how many letters you have after your name, but if your proposal would have a measurably worse outcome in terms of human rights and human suffering than Ann Coulter's proposal to invade and torture and kill everything that moves and convert any survivors to Christianity at gunpoint, you suck at peace studies and conflict resolution.

The expertise of some signatories dates back to the '70s, which means they have completely missed the rise of the new fundamentalists over the past 30 years, which means they are not experts at all. To anyone still under the impression that Boko Haram is an African problem arising from local conditions, I prescribe a reading of Revolutionary Sudan, particularly the parts about how the RCC managed conflict with Sudanese traditions.

There is a disconnect between the public and the education system. When close to 100 people who are specialists in their field take a position like this, it should cause a bigger dent in the public consciousness even if they are wrong.

Potentially related: see earlier.

Sourcewatch associates William Minter with Walter Turner, "President of the Board of Directors for several San Francisco Bay Area nonprofits, including Sound Vision, Global Exchange, and the Institute for a New South Africa" and producer/host of Africa Today on Pacifica Radio. About those groups:

The Sound Vision Foundation is run by Abdul Malik Mujahid who was a member of the Shura council of the ICNA in 1999 and won the American Library Association's Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award in 1990 for a book saying that all of the "Untouchables" of India should convert to Islam.
Global Exchange is alleged, always by the far right and never convincingly, to be a front for Cuban intelligence. Then you look at the stuff they do and it's hard not to call them a front for Cuban intelligence.
The Institute for a New South Africa, in Turner's words, "began in the 1980s and continued in the 1990s to build links between communities and city officials in the United States and South Africa" and "did not survive the 1990s", probably because the apartheid government fell.

I found nothing else to link Minter to Turner other than a few appearances of Minter on Turner's radio program.

The Union for a Better Nigeria, which is apparently one guy with a Facebook page, created a competing MoveOn petition to call for President Obama to publicly oppose Boko Haram. I can't tell you the specifics because the page says "Petition Not Available: This petition has been taken down." It is not clear whether it was taken down by the submitter or by MoveOn.

[Edit May 9] Someone at MoveOn took down the Minter petition. "The content of this petition is under review." Down the memory hole and pretend it never happened. Someone must have been embarrassed.

[Edit May 11] Examples of ongoing propaganda on behalf of Boko Haram:

Nafeez Ahmed of The Guardian blames Boko Haram's attacks on global warming.
Lindsey German of The Guardian blames Boko Haram's attacks on "the corruption and inequality that the west's economic war has helped to create". This may not be wrong, but in the exact opposite direction of where German is going with this. Signs point to the US, under the direction of Ambassador Johnnie Carson, engaging in an economic war favoring Boko Haram against its enemies.