War of the black magic cults

[T_i_B]

Having just read this, I am just wondering if this article has been published simply to re-enforce certain stereotypes. Make of this what you will.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/20/wcult20.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/04/20/ixportal.html

If students at British universities are "freshers" or "finalists", their counterparts in Nigeria are members of the "Black Bras", the "Black Axes" or the "Pyrates".

But there the similarity ends. While British students are struggling to pay tuition fees, their Nigerian counterparts are risking death in violent clashes between rival university cults steeped in black magic.

Nigeria's 100 universities boast four main cults. Members of each wear distinctive bandanas and use particular handshakes. These mannerisms are bizarrely reminiscent of the antics of the gangs who terrorise the poorer neighbourhoods of American cities and control local crime networks.

In Nigeria those in the "Black Axe", wear black bandanas, the "Black Eyes" wear yellow, the "Pyrates" favour blue and the "Mafia" choose red. Non-members are often ostracised and referred to derisively as "Jews". University lecturers are often members.

[Bridget Burke]

1. Skull & Bones, eat your heart out.

These guys (& gals in the "Black Bras") are for real!

[frictionlessO]

2. Uhmmm well, my take is that they are some sort of drug/mineral gangs

masqueraded as cults. Cults in many parts of the world are still much feared by the general populace especially when dealing with left hand path or darker magicks.

In this case I'd say the cult underpinings probably have some basis in fact but that the cults are indeed gangs warring over turf in a more broader sense.

JMHO...

edited to add: They might have many uses for being Cults, besides programming members minds, its a hands off intimidation, makes them a little harder to investigate, they can claim to have some deity on their side in regards to any illegal activities.

[Dhalgren]

4. I agree.

We have a lot of experience in this country with crime and/or power structures masquerading as religions (cults). Your take is probably closest to the 'truth" (whatever that is). The aura of "cult" is the extra edge they use for they're own purposes - just as our own religionists do, here.

[Bridget Burke]

5. Apparently, there are cults in Nigerian colleges.

This was all new tome. The word "cult" set off my mental alarm.; it sounded like an outside judgment from "Western Civilization". Here's a page from a site on Nigerian poster art (& quite fascinating art it is):

Another area of anxiety and violence in Nigerian can be found on University campuses. Secret cults are primarily male fraternities that often use violence against other students and teachers in order to achieve status within their group and to subvert the University’s authority. They are a matter of great concern in Nigeria and a common theme of newspaper editorials and popular books.

Some argue that the first campus cult was created by the Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka in 1952 at the University college of Ibadan. This cult was originally created to put pressure on British colonialists, shake off colonial mentality and establish an identity of independence for its members. After independence in 1960 things began to change.

http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/otherafricas/cult.html

There's always something new to learn. And how much do we really know about Africa?

[The Stranger]

3. I thought they called them "fraternities."

[SweetLeftFoot]

6. Donations

If anybody would like to make a donation to help these poor Nigerians, drop me a line and I'll happily assist.

[emad]

7. War of the black magic cults brings death to Nigeria's universities

Telegraph
By Christian Allen Purefoy in Ekpoma
(Filed: 20/04/2005)

If students at British universities are "freshers" or "finalists", their counterparts in Nigeria are members of the "Black Bras", the "Black Axes" or the "Pyrates".

But there the similarity ends. While British students are struggling to pay tuition fees, their Nigerian counterparts are risking death in violent clashes between rival university cults steeped in black magic.

"They indulge in all sorts of violent activities - killing, rape, extortion, theft," said Emmanuel Chege, a 24 year-old botany student at Ambrose Ali university in the town of Ekpoma.

Mr Chege sat beneath a poster reading, "We are tired of the cultists - they must go!". The university in Ekpoma is notorious for the violence of the cults.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=IZ5AXYN5BBZWPQFIQMFCM5WAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2005/04/20/wcult20.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/04/20/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=66409

[TheModernTerrorist]

8. wow

and this whole time I was worried about the MSU Spartan riots...
that's crazy...
n/t

[MrPrax]

9. The Brits just can't resist...

"mannerisms are bizarrely reminiscent of the antics of the gangs who terrorise the poorer neighbourhoods of American cities and control local crime networks"

The antics of rappers, their popularity and their accepted tolerance by God-fearing Americans does seem a little bizarre to people outside of America...

[T_i_B]

10. Or, alternatively,

It could just be a cheap shot at blacks. :eyes: The Nigerian cults are of course populated by Blacks, and US gangs are viewed as being wholly black. Maybe the article is trying to get people to associate blacks with violence?

That was what I thought when I read the article, although you lot may see it a tad differently.

[MrPrax]

12. Your're Right...

The inclusion of that sentence seems to serve no other purpose other than making a racist allusion and is rather unprofessional, considering the source--the Rap community in the US is just the public export that an international audience would pick up upon.

[truthisfreedom]

11. oh yeah? i'm going to start a cult of the black asphalt driveway. and

nobody in my neighborhood is going to be safe!