Adeleke Babatunde

Crafting stories. Doing comms | Empowering the next generation. Digital strategist | Writing | part time poet | Human | Kop

[Adeleke Babatunde @lakezWrites]

For my #RoundUp for the month of August, I allowed my intrusive thought to get on paper.

Where did this mismatch between dating and marriage come in? I don't have all the answers though:

https://t.co/dxUNRRIbwt

[Chetuya Chinagolum @Chetuyachinago]

How the CIA interfered in Nigeria’s intellectual development to prevent socialist class consciousness.

In the 1960s, when Capitalist America was locked in a high-stakes Cold War with the Soviet Union, the CIA was completely terrified that newly independent African intellectuals, fresh off the heels of throwing off European colonial chains, would naturally embrace Soviet communism, Marxist-Leninist class analysis, and radical anti-capitalist revolutions against their former Western colonizers. Instead of deploying fighter jets, heavy artillery, and ballistic missiles to fight this specific ideological battle, the CIA masterfully weaponized money, art, academic funding, and literature. Their calculated goal was to gently, subliminally steer the brightest African minds toward Western liberal democracy, competitive individualism, and free-market capitalism, and decisively away from revolutionary, socialist class consciousness.

The CIA obviously could not openly hand over dollar bills to proud Nigerian writers, because this was the fiery era of sovereign, anti-colonial struggles against Western imperialism, and absolutely no self-respecting, anti-colonial intellectual would ever accept direct funding from Washington. So, the CIA brilliantly funneled millions of dollars through a highly sophisticated, covert front organization called the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), and a philanthropic shell foundation called the Farfield Foundation. Operating out of its luxurious headquarters in Paris, the CCF presented itself as a wealthy, independent, and progressive organization dedicated strictly to promoting "freedom of expression", sponsoring literary magazines, and supporting avant-garde artists worldwide. In reality, every single cent of its operational budget was directed, controlled, and funded by the CIA.

To prevent militant, socialist networks from ever forming on the continent, the CIA recognized that it needed to build, control, and monopolize the physical platforms where African intellectuals gathered, ensuring these spaces were firmly, safely aligned with Western interests. In 1961, the historic Mbari Club was founded in the university town of Ibadan, Nigeria. It rapidly became the most vibrant, electrifying, and celebrated center for literature, theater, poetry, and visual arts in West Africa. It served as the ultimate gathering place for Nigeria's rising literary titans, including Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo, and J.P. Clark. What these brilliant, fiercely patriotic young Nigerians did not know was that the Mbari Club was heavily, consistently subsidized by the CIA through the Farfield Foundation and the CCF. By secretly funding the lease of the building, the publishing costs of their journals, the travel allowances of the writers, and the logistics of their events, the CIA successfully ensured that the very epicenter of Nigerian intellectual life was tied to Western patronage and not Soviet sponsorship.

This initial reality does seem highly counterintuitive and paradoxical because it was inside this exact Mbari Club that some of the most powerful, enduring Pan-African thoughts were conceived. Chinua Achebe published "Things Fall Apart", which contained a powerful anti-colonial consciousness that permanently shattered the racist Western propaganda claiming Africans had no history, culture, or civilization prior to the arrival of white men with their gunboats. Additionally, Wole Soyinka wrote "A Dance of the Forests" to sharply interrogate the political hubris of the newly independent political class, Christopher Okigbo composed his prophetic, avant-garde modernist poetry, and J.P. Clark captured the visceral human textures of local life. These monumental, anti-colonial Pan-African works were successfully produced largely because the CIA did not openly tell Nigerian writers what to write, or try to dictate their creative processes.

If the CIA had literally walked into the Mbari Club in Ibadan and tried to explicitly dictate, censor, or micromanage the conversations, brilliant, uncompromising minds like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe would have rejected them and thrown them out immediately. Instead, the CIA brilliantly used its funding to act as a silent, invisible gatekeeper. They did not have to physically silence, ban, or arrest radical Marxist writers. They simply, strategically made sure that the non-Marxist, liberal writers had the biggest megaphones, the widest distribution networks, and the highest international platforms. By quietly funding the Mbari Club's rent, covering their publishing costs, and bankrolling their international travel to prestigious global conferences, the CIA successfully ensured that writers who focused on individualism, local culture, and bourgeois aesthetics became celebrated global superstars. Meanwhile, radical writers who focused on working-class solidarity, anti-capitalist struggles, and socialist revolutions remained underfunded, unpublished, and completely obscure.
The CIA in the 1960s was perfectly fine with, and even actively promoted, anti-colonialism, cultural negritude, and African artistic pride. What they were absolutely terrified of was class warfare. They desperately wanted to steer African intellectuals toward Cultural Nationalism (the safe, performative celebration of African identity) and decisively away from Marxist Socialism (which involved organizing, educating, and arming the peasantry to overthrow capitalist structures).

The CIA could care less how the newly independent African celebrated their tribal heritage, and whatever beautiful poetry they wrote about the glory of their ancestors was none of their business. They would happily, enthusiastically promote you even if you fiercely criticized European racism, British colonialism, or white supremacy. They could easily tolerate all of these cultural protests so long as Nigeria's massive oil wealth, raw resources, and cash crops continued to flow to Western capitals completely uninterrupted. What they were absolutely terrified of, and heavily, invisibly censored, was class consciousness. Writers who explored socialist ideas, class struggle, and anti-capitalist revolutions were simply not eligible for Western funding, international distribution, or global marketing, which successfully ensured that their works were buried completely away from public view. This was because they knew that if the African working class were enlightened about Marxist thought, they would immediately rebel against the local comprador class, organize general strikes, and dismantle the entire capitalist system that has reduced them to peasants in their own homeland. It is also critically important to emphasize that the CIA was perfectly happy to see the Mbari Club uplift the colonized African. This is because the primary motive for spending millions of dollars funding the Mbari Club was absolutely not about stopping the intellectual "uplifting" of Africans, but rather about completely controlling how they were uplifted.

It is crucial to note that the young Nigerian writers were completely unwitting, innocent participants. Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo, and others had absolutely no idea that their creative sanctuary was secretly being funded by American intelligence agents.
In 1967, courageous investigative journalists exposed the fact that the CCF and the Farfield Foundation were actually covert CIA fronts. African intellectuals across the continent felt deeply betrayed, humiliated, and outraged. However, by that time, the CIA's covert mission had already largely succeeded: the foundational, defining era of post-colonial Nigerian literature and intellectual thought had been established, funded, and firmly anchored in Western liberal traditions, successfully steering an entire generation of our greatest thinkers completely away from Soviet socialism.

[Adeleke Babatunde @lakezWrites]

What's that rub?

[Olamide @Iam_lammy]

Why is the interviewer on his lap, who is clearly uncomfortable in this video?… Why the lap rub, I hope no be wetin I dey think o? 👀🤔

[Adeleke Babatunde @lakezWrites]

For my #RoundUp for the month of August, I allowed my intrusive thought to get on paper.

Where did this mismatch between dating and marriage come in? I don't have all the answers though:

https://t.co/dxUNRRIbwt

[Adeleke Babatunde @lakezWrites]

What does Coffee really do to your body?

https://t.co/7SNwJjW1av

My #MorningRead today is a study-based article on Coffee.

[Adeleke Babatunde @lakezWrites]

Dr Lasisi relies on an allegorical spinoff off of the Noah's biblical story to write about Nigeria today.

#MorningRead on a Monday and you know it's spicy.

https://t.co/Gp7pKE6kIz

[CNN International @cnni]

Duane "Keffe D" Davis has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur. https://t.co/Z58pWjYB30

[ọba @Ola_adesakin]

Taught on the topic “How to keep the fire burning”

3 teenagers spoke in tongues for the first time

God is good all the time 🙌🏽

[Iran Embassy in Zimbabwe @IRANinZIMBABWE]

American democracy every four years.

[Adeleke Babatunde @lakezWrites]

21 days of power! We being great Joy to our city.

It is power forever more

#thenewchurch

#21DaysofPower

[OLUWADUNNI 😎 @Dhunie1]

21 days of Power - We bring great joy to our city
🥳🔥💙🩵

#wearetheNew #TheNewChurch

[callmeDee @EstherAdeola20]

21 days of power! We being great Joy to our city. 🥳🥳

#thenewchurch

[A @Onyeyirichee]

21 Days of Power, we bring great joy to our city!

#TheNewChurch

[Nwaoha Victor @Kingmakerthe1st]

Final morning prayers of #21DaysofPower

Thank God for #TheNewChurch

We bring great joy to our city!

[gst @wearegst]

These are the men you need to hold accountable for the disaster on the Benin Bypass;

Sen. David Umahi: In charge of federal funding, contracts and major highway projects.

Engr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi: In charge of emergency repairs on federal roads.

Mr. Edafe Shingle: In charge of construction and equipment on the Benin–Agbor–Asaba road.

Mr. Ike Chioke: In charge of private financing for the highway expansion.

[NEDU @Nedu_brazil01]

Try Dey wear glasses 😭😂

[WeAreTheNewIkeja @TheNew_ikeja]

My HEAD has been lifted by the ANOINTING!🔥🔥🔥

#21DaysOfPower #WeAreTheNew

[gentlesisi @AlabiSharonB1]

My head has been lifted by the anointing. #21daysofpower #wearethenew

[WeAreTheNewIkeja @TheNew_ikeja]

21 days of Power (Day 8) evening session is live!🔥 Join us or rewatch later here👇🏼

#21DaysOfPower
#WeAreTheNew

https://t.co/INWT4swjRH

[Adeleke Babatunde @lakezWrites]

My head has been lifted

#21DaysofPower
#WeAreTheNew

[TheCable @thecableng]

INEC uploads 58% of Osun election results on IReV as collation continues

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun uploading polling unit results from the Osun governorship election to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

As of 6pm on Saturday, checks by TheCable showed that 2183 results had been submitted to the portal out of the 3,763 expected polling unit results across the state.

https://t.co/U8uvWZjwue

#OsunDecides

[B/R Football @brfootball]

Mo Salah makes his Trabzonspor debut 👑