Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday with the revelation that our local Napoleon is under immense pressure to take over from Snowball in the enlarged Animal Farm. The revelation was made Squealer.
Squealer announced to all animals that our local Napoleon has the magic wand to turn all stones in the enlarged Animal Farm to bread, same way he did in our local Animal Farm.
He showcased the achievements of local Napoleon and said he has successfully ended the enmity between cats and rats in the local Animal Farm. In fact, sheep and pigs now worship together as brothers on the same mountain.
Squealer identified insecurity, lack of unity and economic diversity as the greatest problems facing the enlarged Animal Farm and the local Napoleon is adequately equipped to face these problems and surmount them all.
“Local Napoleon has shown that young animals can provide quality leadership in the enlarged Animal Farm,” he enthused.
Squealer however did not announce if the local Napoleon is under pressure to end the suffering of less privileged ‘cart horses’ in his local farm who work as teachers as well. Curiously, teachers, local government workers and pensioners are more or less casual workers in the local animal farm.
Now, the question on the lips of all animals in the Napoleon’s local farm is; “Who is under pressure to end teachers, local government workers and pensioners’ misery?”
Who will speak for them? Who will mount pressure on local Napoleon on their behalf? Will any or all of the animals mounting pressure on local Napoleon to succeed Snowball add their case to their clarion calls?
Teachers, local government workers and pensioners in our local farm have been at the receiving end since local Napoleon took over from our local Snowball. They have had to endure pains and untold suffering never witnessed in the farm. They get paid 30-35% of their wages and even had to cry their hearts out to force out 40% this month.
They work every day of the week, in the rain and under the sun. They groom other people’s children and ensure the third tier of government does not collapse but no one seem to care about their welfare. When they protest, local Napoleon and his aides threaten them with ‘Great Purge’, as was the case with legendary Boxer.
These ‘cart horses’, like legendary Boxer, are the farm’s most dedicated and loyal labourers.
In a hopeless and helpless state, the new rule seems to be; “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
Who is under pressure to end their misery?
– Alhassan Tijani wrote from Lokoja.
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Writer’s Note:
Napoleon is a fictional character in George Orwell’s 1945 novel Animal Farm. He is described as “a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar” who is “not much of a talker” and has “a reputation for getting his own way”. While he is at first a common farm pig, he exiles Snowball, another pig, who is his rival for power, and then takes advantage of the animals’ uprising against their masters to eventually become the tyrannical “President” of Animal Farm, which he turns into a dictatorship.
Squealer is a fictional character, a pig, in the same novel. He serves as the farm’s minister of propaganda. He is described in the book as an effective and very convincing orator and a fat porker.
Throughout the novel Squealer is highly skilled at making speeches to the animals. Under the rule of Napoleon, Squealer does things to manipulate the animals. It is said that Squealer was very convincing and could turn “black into white”.
Throughout the book, Napoleon and Squealer broke the Seven Commandments, the tenets on which governance of the farm is based. To prevent the animals from suspecting them, Squealer preys on the animals’ confusion and alters the Commandments from time to time as the need arises. In the end, Squealer reduces the Seven Commandments to one commandment, that “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.
