Have you used the hashtag over on Twitter? Good.
Have you told someone about this? Good!
Have you written your Congresscritter, let your opinion known, said a prayer? Kept the missing girls in your thoughts? Meditated on the subject? Good!
I am glad that you’ve done those things. It is a helpless situation, for us, as observers, far away in privileged, safe America (or Europe, if you’re reading from Europe.)Yes, it’s the least you could do. But you did something, and so what if it may or may not have a tangible effect? There is something to be said for solidarity. I am glad US media cast its Sauron-eye at something other than its own balls, vanished planes, made up political scandals, and the like.
Unfortunately, it means America’s pundit class has done the same. That was the risk, sadly. These are people who are not very bright. They whine. They bitch. They troll. They are profoundly stupid people who we elevate to the level of expert. Sometimes we elect these same idiots to public office, where they’re currently declaring the administration’s interest a distraction from whatever dumbass scandal they’re inventing this week.
They deride “hashtag activism.” They’re incapable of imagining that Nigerians started the campaign on their own smartphones themselves, and when this is pointed out, they go “why does it matter who started it?” I attribute this to racism. And profound ignorance, but the two are not mutually exclusive of one another.
What does the pundit class (and evidently, a substantial part of the population) think the residents of Nigeria do all day, sit on in their huts and swat flies? Actually yes, that’s precisely what they think because the networks they work for have few or no reporters on the continent and most Americans still think the place is just like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness which many read in high school English. When a coup occurred in Mali, there was a similar silence from US media, and then they completely missed the boat about the complex issues that are rolling through that country. They were rather shocked the French chose to intervene. Most US media has all but ignored the genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic, now said to be all but complete.
Very few US media words have been expended on South Sudan except “it’s all tribal.” We still make jokes about how Somalia is the “perfect lawless libertarian state” even though it’s not perfect and in fact is still pretty bad, it’s not lawless, and it’s certainly not libertarian. Jokes like these do nothing to help the need for progress in Somalia. The cellphone network in Tanzania is probably better than the ones in most of the US. A Nigerian-American writer pens a novel about alien first contact in Lagos and on reviews of her book she gets comments like “why would aliens land in Africa anyway it’s a low-tech shithole.” South Africa just conducted successful elections—which it does often, since leaving fascism and apartheid behind twenty years ago. When terrorists bombed a mall in Nairobi, my twitter stream was filled with pundits going “they have malls in Africa?” Never mind that there are 54 (well, 56) separate distinct countries on the African continent. Never mind that Kenya, among many of those 54 (or 56) nations, is economically booming. Media reduces all of their coverage to “well they’re just tribal barbarians,” ignoring the” tribes” that exist in and polarize American society.
One of those tribes we all know quite well, because US media pundits have them on your television screens to represent the Christian view on things in America all the time, even though they only represent the views of white conservative Protestant evangelicals and their occasional allies amongst Mormons and Catholics. Nevertheless, US media will never admit that, correct the error, or even show that there’s a diversity of opinion and thought within American Christianity. Nope. You won’t see it ever, and that is to the detriment of all involved except, maybe, that particular tribe. For example, we’ve all but conceded the word “religion” to them.
Denise Oliver Velez wrote a great diary by the way about this. The comments, well, they’re indicative of a problem in progressivism that I and others have alluded to (and spoken about explicitly) in the past. They weren’t of course a surprise, and they’re a big reason I’ve extracted myself from mainstream progressive activism. The diary those people read was not the one Denise wrote but it is what it is: Derailment bingo 101. One day, when we’ve exhausted all the stories we can about the Right’s bigotry, we’ll talk about the racism that exists on the Left and amongst progressives. But not today.
The hashtag and the “hashtag activism” got US media to look, even if CNN and ABC let a liar named Ramaa Mosely take credit for it (they still haven’t corrected this mistake, by the way, but, eh. That’s America for you!)
They’ve forced the US media to pay attention. And that gaze will likely force President Goodluck Jonathan’s government to finally act. Despite declaring states of emergency across Nigeria’s north (surprise! They’ve been extended!), despite declaring martial law, despite the scorched earth campaigns by Nigeria’s military to quell Boko Haram’s terror campaign, they’re clearly ineffective. They ignored US and British offers to help from day one until they couldn’t ignore the rising anger from all sectors in Nigeria, and of course our all-seeing Sauron even if its eye has cataracts.
The girls are still gone.
It’s ironic that they need assistance, since Nigerian troops are all over the continent under the auspices of the African Union. That is likely a big reason they’re so reluctant. It does not help that the West were awful colonizers-whole planet has to come to terms with that. It really does not help that the US invaded Iraq for the stupidest, most expensive, and flimsiest of reasons, and has otherwise flailed at its “War on Terror” to the detriment of the entire globe.
And the US considered Boko Haram to be a local issue. They generally only target other Nigerians (indiscriminately at that) so not a threat to Americans, I guess. I don’t know if anything would be different if Boko Haram had made the US’s “Official List of Bad People.” Incidentally, it did make our official bad list in 2013, not that the pundit class is capable of doing even the most basic of internet research.
I’ve been pretty clear, however, that I do not want a US military invasion, and neither should you. I bought this to your attention so you could know about it. If you believe the wavelengths of your thoughts or your prayers to your personal deity or deities could help, then good. We here in the states can pay attention.
Can we save these girls? No, “we” can’t. “We” can’t be the saviors of the world. The key to this is Nigerians themselves. Next year’s Nigerian elections will be most interesting. I am also glad the Nigerians have accepted the assistance of our government. American surveillance planes are now flying over the region where the girls are believed to be held captive. How effective they’ll be is anyone’s guess, especially since it’s widely believed among the Nigerian public that there are lots of leaks to the group from within the military and the girls have mostly been dispersed through neighboring nations with poor security. Indeed, when the girls were stolen, their kidnappers wore the uniforms of the Federal military. We only know this because about forty girls managed to escape.
The Nigerian government needs to admit to itself that it has a problem. Arresting #BringBackOurGirls advocates, as it's currently doing, is not going to fix the problem. I found this article by Atane Ofiaja enlightening. He’s right too: rescuing the girls is a priority, but it’s not the only one. The young women have to come home to safe communities. The people in those communities need jobs. Education is the great equalizer and access for all is imperative. Wouldn’t it be cool if that was a global (and free!) focus, not just for Nigeria but for everyone?
I have hopes for the people of Nigeria though. I think they can do it. They’re fed upand it’s in them that I’m putting my hopes in ending this crisis. An editorial:
It is disheartening that millions of those trapped in this desperation are young people, whose sweat and blood should build our continent, our future. They prefer to die in dangerous migration because life in their countries is meaningless.
The fault lies at the doorsteps of governments. Poor leadership and the quality of governance cause desperate migrations.
Even when life in their destinations may not be rosy, promises that they could find opportunities to explore, provides the impetus for the would-be immigrants. They believe the risk is worth taking, a better risk than the wars, strife and limited opportunities at home.
The lessons of the Arab Spring are strong and evident enough for governments to realise that they should promote the common good, through policies that make life meaningful. Where governments fail, people search for survival outside their countries; not minding that the search could cost them their lives
Much of this diary was written on Tuesday. Since I first drafted this, there are indications that at least 77 of the girls seen on video (which I’ll not link to, but it can be found easily if you really need to see it) are from Chibok, and there are also indications that the
Nigerian federal government may be considering Boko Haram’s offer of an exchange.
Yes, Jay Carney said “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” but again, this is not our show. It’s their show, end of story. We are invited guests. The people of Chibok don’t care how it's done; they just want their girls back.
With a tinge of relief in seeing and identifying some of their children and wards, families and friends of the abducted schoolgirls of Government Secondary School, Chibok yesterday said they were not concerned with strategy used in freeing the students held by the notorious Boko Haram sect, stressing that all that mattered to them was the safe return of their daughters.
The parents and schoolmates of the remaining abducted girls, who answered questions from THISDAY after identifying some of the girls shown in a video released Monday by the Boko Haram sect, explained that they were not interested in the means by which the girls are recovered from their captors as long as they are brought back home alive.
#BringBackOurGirls