Main content

Power and Freedom

Wole Soyinka examines how difficult it can be to tell friend from foe in a climate of fear in his second Reith lecture.

In his second Reith Lecture, the Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka examines how difficult it can be to tell friend from foe in a climate of fear. Organisations that are set up to overthrow dictatorships can themselves turn into tyrannical regimes. Liberation movements may be forced to seek help from dangerous quarters and these days it is not just countries that control and direct the lives of their citizens.

Wole Soyinka looks at the recent history of two countries - Algeria and Nigeria - both plagued by political turmoil. He considers what has become one of the most difficult tests for democracy - when the ballot box produces 'the wrong result' - when the people vote for a party that is fundamentally opposed to democracy?

Available now

43 minutes

Broadcast

  • Wed 14 Apr 2004 09:00

Featured in...

New to the Reith Lectures? Here鈥檚 where to start

Four lectures recommended by the series producer.

Podcast