TITLE:
Petro-Fiction and Pseudo-Environmental Activism: The Defining Moments in Chimeka Garricks’ Tomorrow Died Yesterday
AUTHORS:
Abiodun Fakemi
KEYWORDS:
Eco-Activism, The Tripartite System of Ruination, Slow Violence, Deep Ecology, Pseudo-Environmentalist
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.9 No.10,
October
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: This study asserts that Chimeka Garricks’ Tomorrow Died Yesterday illustrates pseudo-environmentalism, which exemplifies the need to pay attention to the various social issues marauding postcolonial societies mostly because of the indiscriminate plundering of humans and the environment. There is the need to consider the implication of neo-colonialism prevalent in the narrative, to discuss the factors stamping the choices of those advocating for an ecologically minded society. It is pertinent to identify what Olaoluwa Senayon calls the “tripartite system of ruination”—the oil companies in the region, the government’s agencies and the militants though there is a fourth identified and that is a group of individuals who enhances corruption in the region and the need to protect the environment alongside other social justice environmentalists seek. Garricks proves in the narrative the inconsistencies that surround the struggle or advocacy for ecological issues in Africa—the continent has some other socio-political and economic concerns and not until Africa gets to that level where corruption is curbed and there is a working system, many who desire to be environmentalists like those in the western societies will still be caught in the web of trouble with “the powers that be”, just as in the case of Amaibi. Therefore, the narrative falls short in its portrayal of an ideal ecocritical or eco-activist writing, using western ecocritical fundamentals. Arguably, the Niger Delta is already experiencing the apocalypse caused by the destruction of the natural habitat while western environmentalists are theorizing about it.