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

[FrodosPet]

This piece brings up some interesting points about not letting our concern for these poor young ladies caught up in this terrible kidnapping end up hurting them and others.

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

Jumoke Balogun - Co-Founder of CompareAfrique.com

Posted: 05/08/2014 9:41 pm EDT

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.

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions.