Obnoxious Labels as Language of Class Struggle in Nigeria: The Igbo Experience

Abstract

Obnoxious Labels as derogatory language have some truths Nigerians
especially the Igbo have not set free. The essay identifies some
discriminatory practices and postures of intolerance, occasioned by linguistic,
religious, gender, and ethnic related sentiments as being reinforced by
revivals of primordial differentiations occasioned by the politics of identity.
Moreover, prejudice is even being intellectualized and rationalized, such that
the society itself appears to become a training ground for future practitioners
of discriminations in Igbo society. In as much as these obnoxious terms
determine social cohesion, filial obligation and the emergence of genuine
democratic Igbo society, it becomes urgent to confront the class struggle and
the recourse to obnoxious labels in a more pragmatic way through education,
mobilization and transformation.