Poverty Silences People – Seun Kuti

According to Seun Kuti in an interview with Objective Media, poverty silences people. When a man has no voice, the one thing he desires most in the world is to have a voice. Instead of empowering him to challenge the system that renders him voiceless, society often misguides him. He is sent to school and taught that the only way to gain a voice is to emulate the oppressor. Rather than dismantling the structures of oppression, he is conditioned to aspire to become like those who oppress him.

However, Seun Kuti emphasizes that the goal should not be to become new oppressors but to end oppression entirely. He argues that those who benefit from the current system cannot lead this change. They cannot even engage in the necessary conversations about revolution.

For Kuti, revolution is a combination of action and reflection happening simultaneously. Action without reflection is merely activism, not a revolution. Similarly, words without action are nothing but empty rhetoric. True revolution requires a balance of both.

He insists that we cannot adopt the mindset of the oppressor. Instead, we must immerse ourselves among the people, work with them, and develop strategies together. The key is to engage with humility, recognizing that we do not hold all the answers. This collective effort and understanding are what truly matter in creating lasting change.