By
Theophilus Ilevbare
Hashtag online activism has continued to prove critics wrong
in the amazingly unique way it amplifies disconsolateunheard
minority voices, suppressed or subdued by a repressive and despotic government.
It draws attention of millions to a horrific story. It gets better when world
leaders and celebrities latch onto the hashtag as it nudges other countriesto weigh
in or even intervenein the crisis. Granted, a lot of persons may not know the
complexities of the political, economic or security problems associated with
such hashtags, and don’t bother to know, but still join the sentimental global
train to amplify such stories helping to raise awareness to tales of horror. It
is sometimes regarded as a wave of superficial momentary sentimentality because
it is not in any way a real engagement in any attempt to resolve a complex or
violent threat.However, the voice of minorities is amplified by sharing their
stories in a way even the most sophisticated and networked print or electronic
media platform cannot achieve. Like #OccupyNigeria protest of 2012, #BringBackOurGirls
campaign is another case in point.
The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag went viral worldwide sparking
global awareness to the almost 300 schoolgirls abducted in the predominantlyChristian
community of Chibok, a small village on the outskirts of Borno State.
Celebrities and global politicians – among them, world leaders - have united
behind a cause to bring succour and hope to the families of the abducted girls
by theIslamic fundamentalists who started out as a small salafist sect in Borno
but have over the years morphed into a monster threatening to take control of
some North-East states of Nigeria.Before now, many people outside the shores of
Nigeria have never heard of Chibok or Borno State. The awareness the hashtag
raised brought to public knowledge, the horrendous atrocities the religious
zealots have inflicted on a nation now at the mercy of their mindless and
wanton killings. While the #BringBackOurGirls movement has drawn attention to
the plight of the Chibok families, we’re still faced with the stark reality of
our girls still missing. Like everyone else, I had hoped that the campaign will
be a tipping point for Nigeria’s war on terror. But subsequent attacks by the
Jihadists in different states that have claimed over 250 lives and many more
injured, has deflated such hopes.
Critics of hashtag activism have drawn parallels between the#BringBackOurGirls
movement and #Kony2012 campaign. Via a movie, Invincible Children, that went
viral on the internet with over 8million views on YouTube within the first few
hours of upload, global attention in 2012 was attracted to a Ugandan warlord,
Joseph Kony, and his Lord’s Revolution Army (LRA), where children were made
soldiers and used to perpetuate some of the most brutal crimes against humanity.
Kony had been terrorising Uganda and Ugandans for decades but Americaand the
rest of the world only got a glimpse of it when it became a convenient and
popular hashtag. #Kony2012 trended for days and weeks on social media platforms
turning the LRA Ugandan warlord into the most hated, loathed and wanted man. Despite
the awareness that compelled the US to send some 100 troops to Uganda to
co-ordinate the search for Kony, the campaign soon lost momentum and two years
on, Joseph Kony remains at large!
Not so impressed observers have described hashtag online
activism as "a frictionless convenience, conducted from the safety of a
computer screen or handheld device that often serves more as a flattering
public symbol of concern than concern itself.”
Complex
and multidimensional nature of problems are otherwise meant to look too simplified
by mere tweeting, filming, and changing picture profiles across platforms. They
posit that beyond the awareness raised, hashtag activism does not solve the
problem. Some others call it an exercise in “self-esteem”. True, the reaction
of the outside world is mostly sentimental as it essentially revels in the
moment but in the case of the Chibok girls, it has drawn global attention to
their plight, ratcheting up the pressure that has led to some sort of international
military intervention or assistance. But a hashtag campaign at the very least
can’t hurt even if those involved in it know next to nothing more than the
hashtag.
Granted
that hashtag activism oversimplifies the complexities of events abroad, and
even if well-intentioned, rarely affect things on the ground but same cannot be
said of the
#BringBackOurGirls movement. Fillip and compass have been added to
the rescue mission with the deployment of foreign intelligence personnel and
some advance aerial surveillance gadgets by the US, Britain, China, Israel,
France and a few other European countries joining the ongoing efforts to
reunite the abducted schoolgirls with their loved ones. Sustained daily
protests in the Nation’s capital, Abuja, by the #BringBackOurGirls movement
have put the government on its toes. Western countries are rushing Special
Forces and all their first-world paraphernalia to Nigeria in the hope of
tracking the missing girls down.
In
spite of all the criticism against hashtag activism, the bring back our girls campaign
has gone beyond borders, breaking barriers and doubts that the farthest hearts
can be touched and leaders of world superpowerscan be forced to act.
President Jonathan, the man in the eye of the storm, only
came alivewhen he learnt the online campaign has drawn the attention of Western
powers. He did not flinch since the religious extremists kidnapped about 300
girls from Chibok. Nigerians didn’t expect him to lift a finger though, after
all, nothing now moves him considering how he danced away in Kano 24hoursafter
74 persons were killed by a bomb blast at Nyanya. On this occasion, he began to
act when the international community joined in the viral campaign. Wishing the
uproar will go away quickly, same way his government moved on from the murdered
schoolchildren of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, who were killed by
some unhinged monsters. John McCain, the straight from shoulder, critically
outspoken Republican Senator, lampooned the Jonathan’s government slow
response: “The United States didn’t have to wait until a practically
non-existent government of Nigeria gave us(Americans, that is) the go-ahead
before mounting a humanitarian effort to rescue those 276 abducted girls.” Hillary
Clinton threw all diplomacy and prevarication aside to submit that “the
government in Nigeria has been somewhat derelict in its responsibility towards
protecting boys and girls, men and women in northern Nigeria over the last
years”.
But these campaigns and sustained protests have made us
realise that people do actually care, even if they’re unwilling to hit the
streets in protest. There is a new way injustice can be fought in the world
where everyone gets involved in some way. It gives those who join the bandwagon
a sense of belonging that they can play a small part of something immenseto
raise awareness about people around the world who are powerless, helpless and
can do nothing about a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise unfortunate
situation.
(Please follow
me on twitter, @tilevbare).
