#BringBackOurGirls campaign sheds light on missing Nigerian school girls

[sheshe2]

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Lecrae ✔ @lecrae
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It's been two weeks since the kidnapping of 234 Nigerian girls and they still aren't home #bringbackourgirls
12:31 PM - 1 May 2014

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Human rights organizations report that the kidnappped girls are being forced to marry the leaders of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in mass weddings, and some fear that they "could become the latest sex slaves of the insurgents."

A Borno state community leader told The Associated Press that two of the girls have already died from snake bites while being held in the dense 60,000 square kilometres Sambisa forest — a place that has become synonymous with Boko Haram according to The Guardian — and parents of the girls are becoming so sick with fear and grief that many are unable to eat.

Despite Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's vow to find and rescue the girls, many are criticizing the country's government for failing to bring them home.

A Change.org petition asking the government to dedicate more resources toward the search has been signed more than 84,000 times, and a similar White House petition calling for more support from the international community and U.S. government is circulating widely on social media.

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Michael Skolnik ✔ @MichaelSkolnik
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women march in Nigeria to demand gov't take more action to rescue the 234 girls who were kidnapped #BringBackOurGirls
8:36 AM - 1 May 2014


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Kelechi Nkoro @K1Says
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Our Mothers are also calling for #bringbackourgirls
6:10 AM - 1 May 2014


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#Shokoto! @ShowaShins
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#BringBackOurGirls my love to all the parents in Nigeria that's going though this stress right now!😥❤️
8:48 AM - 1 May 2014

As news of the missing girls spreads around the world, concerned parents, women's rights advocates, and compassionate social media users are rallying together in an effort to bring attention to the situation, which has received little international coverage until recently.

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To date, the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag alone has been used more than 424,000 times on Twitter.


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#BringBackOurGirls @Stephdazzle
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#BringBackOurGirls
2:02 PM - 1 May 2014

Bassey. @Basseyworld
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we are in this together. The government doesn't care. We are all we got, Nigeria. The sooner we realize the better. #BringBackOurGirls
2:41 PM - 1 May 2014


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Adetola Adekunle @mrpirazzy
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My students decided 2 show solidarity 4 d missin #Chibok girls in der own lil way #BringBackOurGirls @mishalhusainbbc
4:07 AM - 30 Apr 2014

Valentina Anyanwu @ValentinaAmour
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Over 200 innocent little girls are missing in Nigeria after kidnappers raided their school #BringBackOurGirls
2:41 PM - 1 May 2014


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Nature #AfroRoots @Dj_Nature
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If you aint touched by this image...

Then i jus dont know

#BringBackOurGirls
1:02 PM - 1 May 2014


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HoodiesUpMusicLoud™ @MrMilitantNegro
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#Bringbackourgirls: A Cry For Help By Boomiebol.

http://boomiebol.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/bringbackourgirls-a-cry-for-help/ …
2:58 PM - 1 May 2014


Kenneth Muyiwa Tharp @KennethTharp
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The abduction of 234 Nigerian Schoolgirls should be front page news in the UK. #BringBackOurGirls #stopthesilence
3:03 AM - 1 May 2014

See More:http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/05/bringbackourgirls-campaign-sheds-light-on-missing-nigerian-school-girls.html

They are our sisters, wake the fuck up world and do something!

[okaawhatever]

1. K & R nt

[seabeyond]

2. .......

[sheshe2]

3. I know sea.

I know...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Greatest Page for this important, and sad story. n/t

[sheshe2]

5. Kick!

[marions ghost]

6. Terrible

--where is the outcry from the world?

Do these girls matter to anyone? If the perpetrators get by with this....

[LeftishBrit]

7. k&r

This is heartbreaking.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. I just got an email from the American Jewish World Service promoting this twitter campaign.

It is frightening this is happening and with such a blatant attitude. May they all come home safely.

[sheshe2]

9. Thanks for that info BtA.

I don't twitter, but we can keep it alive here. There must be a FB campaign, that I haven't checked.

I too hope they come home safely, though they will need a lot of help and counseling when they do. It breaks my heart that so many lives of such young girls have now been changed forever.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. There is a facebook campaign as well! (I don't twitter either.)

I just don't know where it is as I rarely even use Facebook anymore.

They will need counseling, something rarely provided in these situations. It is just so scary how blatant all of it was/is. All girls in that country must be beside themselves with fear right now and what a sad thing that is for children or really for anyone.

[sheshe2]

11. I just found it,BtA.

https://www.facebook.com/bringbackourgirls

The cover photo will break your heart.

[Behind the Aegis]

14. I will get the word out to those who use Facebook regularly!

Thank you for finding this.

May they all come home soon and safely.

[sheshe2]

15. Thanks BtA!

Thank you.

[Cha]

12. Mahalo she, for this shining a very compelling Light on our Missing Girls~

[Supersedeas]

21. +1

[Cha]

22. Kick!

[Jamaal510]

13. K&R

[polly7]

16. K&R. nt.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Beautiful images

It helps us to see - these are human beings.

[sheshe2]

19. It may not be their faces...

yet it gives a face to the names.

Once again, thank you JAG~

[treestar]

18. K&R how old are the girls?

Anyone know? Was it a high school?

[sheshe2]

23. They are 16-18 years old, treestar.

Heartbreaking.

[treestar]

25. Thank you sheshe2

Did you see the video where they are claiming the girls converted to Islam?

[sheshe2]

26. No treestar, I missed that one.

I will try to find it unless you have a handy link. The only way they did that was with a barrel of a gun at their heads.

[treestar]

27. On this page

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27398640

It shows a poor man who is related to several of the girls.

[sheshe2]

28. thanks treestar, will watch

[William769]

20. kick & recommended.

Let's keep the faith they will be returned.

[FrodosPet]

24. Our hearts go out to these young women

And good people want to do the right thing for these poor young ones. We want the monsters who would kidnap, kill, and sell people into slavery and forced marriages to be caught and severly punished, and the victims returned safely to their families.

But this article makes a point that we cannot let this tragedy turn into another "America! Fuck Yeah!!!" show.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jumoke-balogun/hashtags-wont-bringbackourgirls_b_5292312.html

Dear Americans, Your Hashtags Won't #BringBackOurGirls; You Might Actually Be Making Things Worse

Jumoke Balogun - Co-Founder of CompareAfrique.com

Simple question. Are you Nigerian? Do you have constitutional rights accorded to Nigerians to participate in their democratic process? If not, I have news for you. You can't do anything about the girls missing in Nigeria. You can't. Your insistence on urging American power, specifically American military power, to address this issue will ultimately hurt the people of Nigeria.

It heartens me that you've taken up the mantle of spreading "awareness" about the 200+ girls who were abducted from their school in Chibok; it heartens me that you've heard the cries of mothers and fathers who go yet another day without their child. It's nice that you care.

Here's the thing though. When you pressure Western powers, particularly the American government, to get involved in African affairs, and when you champion military intervention, you become part of a much larger problem. You become a complicit participant in a military expansionist agenda on the continent of Africa. This is not good.

You might not know this, but the United States military loves your hashtags because it gives them legitimacy to encroach and grow their military presence in Africa. AFRICOM (United States Africa Command), the military body that is responsible for overseeing US military operations across Africa, gained much from #KONY2012 and will now gain even more from #BringBackOurGirls.

~ snip ~

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It's a heartbreaking situation. But while we can and should acknowledge how awful this is, we must accept that all we should be doing is offering moral support, not military.