The power of social media has over taken of the world of late, last week, thanks to a statement that has become a buzz word on twitter with just a hash tag, has gotten millions of people around the world rant out a desperate to end the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls by the Boko Haram sect that kidnapped school girls in Chibok on April 15.
On Twitter, #BringBackOurGirls is the trending has exceeded #NyanyaExplosion and #NyanyaBlast in sheer number of retweets. The world was first cooked up by Nigerian lawyer Ibrahim Abdullahi in a speech by World Bank vice president Oby Ezekwesili calling for Africa to “Bring back the girls.” It has since earned millions of retweets and thats just the beggining. The campaign has garnered support from across the world, allowing millions to lend their voice to a growing campaign for the girls’ freedom.
[blockquote]
This needs serious attention: Join the global call. DEMAND their unconditional release: http://t.co/nWIQ9ruJ3f #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS #Nigeria
— Katy Perry (@katyperry) May 9, 2014
[/blockquote]
We currently have international artistes Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown and many others groups from Amnesty International to UNICEF that have also joined the campaign.
[blockquote]
This #MothersDay, our hearts are with the mothers in #Nigeria who are missing their daughters. #BringBackOurGirls pic.twitter.com/8LSgWI6xAR
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) May 11, 2014
[/blockquote]
Actors like Sean Penn, Ashton Kutchner, Justin Timberlake back a parallel #RealMenDontBuyGirls campaign, as well as actress/activist Angelina Jolie, also spoke publicly about the kidnapping, addressing it as ‘unthinkable cruelty and evil’. Lets not forget spiritual figures like Don Moen as seen in the tweet below.
[blockquote]
Join with me in praying for Nigeria and the Nigerian school girls. #BringBackOurGirls #Nigeria pic.twitter.com/OyzBiJFd8U
— Don Moen (@donmoen) May 13, 2014
[/blockquote]
Basically the whole world is now behind this campaign as on Thursday last week, supporters worldwide took to their networks–BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter–answered a call to use their accounts for a 200-minute social media march in protest.
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
#BringBackOurGirls has now been translated into Pidgin English (Nigeria’s version of the Queen’s launguage), Yoruba, Hausa, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish to reach more non-English speaking peoples. We are seeing tweets coming in on the hashtag in Spanish asking what could happen to the girls and what governments are doing.
On-the-ground protests involving migrant Nigerians and non-nigerians have held national governments and global imaginations–from Britain and Germany to the US, Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland. More rallies are planned over days. Tomorrow marks 30 days since the abduction and has been declared as a public holiday and a day of action.
[blockquote]
#BringBackOurGirls National Day of Action – 30 days after the abduction – Lagos – Wednesday 14th May. Please share… pic.twitter.com/fEpSHP5Ctp
— Nasir El-Rufai (@elrufai) May 12, 2014
[/blockquote]
