Ken Saro-Wiwa

* As I filled my car with gas, I wondered to what degree we all share responsibility for the senseless executions of Nigerian environmental activist and author Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others (Nov. 11 and 16). More than 50% of Nigerian oil reaches U.S. consumers who continue to demand artificially low prices for gasoline.

Since 1958, Shell Oil has extracted $30 billion in sweet crude from the lands of the Ogoni people. In the process, vast amounts of rich farmland have been turned into wasteland by oil spills, massive pollution and the venting of toxic gases. While Shell seduced the corrupt Nigerian government--to the enormous profit of both--the Ogoni people have been thrown into abject poverty. Shell’s repeated denials of responsibility and refusal to clean up this territory led to the civil unrest and trumped-up charges against Saro-Wiwa, whose only crime was to call for accountability. There can be no doubt that Shell is morally culpable for these executions. But in a larger sense, we all share some blame for looking the other way as corporations exploit the world’s most vulnerable citizens on our behalf.

ANNA AMARANDOS

Huntington Beach

* My Amnesty International “urgent action” plea on behalf of Saro-Wiwa had probably traveled no farther than Los Angeles when I read that he and eight colleagues had been summarily hanged. The news was particularly shocking, as I was confident that international pressure would prevail and that these innocents would be released. By way of their murderous act, Nigeria’s generals have saluted the rest of the world with their middle fingers. Political rebukes are toothless.

Let the international community now respond by curtailing all trade with Nigeria. Sadly, that country’s citizens will suffer. But only their collective anger will dislodge Nigeria’s dictators from power.

JIM LITTLE

Ojai