#BringBackOurGirls - It's time for the droplets to coalesce into a big river

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Sunday May 04, 2014 · 4:17 PM PDT

2014/05/04 · 16:17

We must coordinate better.

It is becoming apparent that there are several parallel social networks: Twitter, Facebook, Feminist networks, Progressive networks, Activist networks, etc. There are even many sub-social networks within Twitter itself! And it is very damaging to our cause that those network do not know of each other.

The most glaring example to me was when I noticed that my many UK followers were organizing vigils in London on the 3rd, 4th and 9th of May,
while another twitter sub-group were separately organising a London May 5th event, and both groups didn't know of each other! They were meeting at the same place (Nigerian Embassy), but on different days.

I promised from the very beginning that we'd get organized and coordinated. The need for that is becoming apparent!

In a way, it's a good sign: it shows that groups spontaneously spring up everywhere. But now, the droplets of water must coalesce to form a big river. (It appropriately sounds like an African proverb!)

The #BringBackOurGirls wiki is our biggest tool to build bridges and inform people. Information in a blog, a diary, or a tweet is volatile, no matter how many times recommended or retwitted. The wiki is more permanent and can be improved over time. A twitt decays. A wiki flourishes.

Use the wiki to link to other groups, to list other organizers, to link to other people's web sites, to other peoples blogs or twitts.

The key is to make sure that we are aware of them and that they are aware of the list of worldwide events that we are compiling.

For this, I need your help. I am spread thin and I miss many things.

I need you as

Researchers
Wiki editor
Liaisons between groups

This way, we'll form a mighty river and will take the girls on a boat ride home!

Thank you very much for all you do.

If I'm alone, me and my channel are meaningless. It's all of you who give us power. Our only strength lies in numbers!

So, Thank you!

#BringBackOurGirls events planned worldwide, Twitter mobilizes

augustin for The Forgotten Ones Project

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday May 03, 2014 · 1:07 PM PDT

2014/05/03 · 13:07

@BringGirlsBack: 0 to 2000+ Twitter followers in a few days, thanks to a large extent to a big boost from Lauren Laverne, a UK media celebrity.

3 days ago, I was despairing for the girls: marches seemed to be exclusively organised in Nigeria.

Today, we are organising events in 6 countries (Nigeria, UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, France) and numerous cities, with more countries to come. Yesterday, for the UK, a single demonstration was planned in London. Today, more are planned in London again, in Manchester, in Nottingham and more to come.

A short while ago, Norwegian Erik Solheim, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Former Minister of Environment & International Development, promised he would boost our movement in the morning (Europe time), so I expect a new crowd of Norwegian followers and new events being organised in Norway.

We are coordinating efforts with other social networks (Facebook) working on the same topic. We are cooperating (you can find the list of such known networks in the wiki, below - add to it if you know more).

One ITV reporter I shall not name said she couldn't 'advertise' our movement unless we had "nice pictures and big numbers". I told her we had neither when Lauren Laverne publicised @BringGirlsBack, my twitter channel.

Meanwhile, I slept in 5 days the number of hours I usually sleep in 2. But I wonder: do the abducted schoolgirls sleep well?

I have been meaning to post some articles about the #BringBackOurGirls movement at Daily Kos much earlier, but... I have been busy.

Please, Dear Kossacks:

I need your help. More importantly, the poor schoolgirls need your help.

Twitter suspended high profile #BringBackOurGirls account for a few hours

augustin for The Forgotten Ones Project

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday May 02, 2014 · 7:07 PM PDT

2014/05/02 · 19:07

I set up the @BringGirlsBack Twitter account to help organise efforts and rallies to help rescue the 200+ kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls. But technical difficulties with Twitter are hindering my efforts...

terrypinder

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Wednesday April 30, 2014 · 9:02 PM PDT

2014/04/30 · 21:02

It has been three weeks since the terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped 234 young women from a school in Northeast Nigeria. The government of Nigeria has failed at rescuing them, and there are protests underway across the country.

The girls, it seems, have been married off for $12 each.

For two weeks, retired teacher Samson Dawah prayed for news of his niece Saratu, who was among more than 230 schoolgirls snatched by Boko Haram militants in the north-eastern Nigerian village of Chibok. Then on Monday the agonising silence was broken.
When Dawah called together his extended family members to give an update, he asked that the most elderly not attend, fearing they would not be able to cope with what he had to say. "We have heard from members of the forest community where they took the girls. They said there had been mass marriages and the girls are being shared out as wives among the Boko Haram militants," Dawah told his relatives.

Saratu's father fainted; he has since been in hospital. The women of the family have barely eaten. "My wife keeps asking me, why isn't the government deploying every means to find our children," Dawah said. The marriage reports have not been confirmed officially, and rely on eyewitnesses.

terrypinder

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 30, 2014 · 9:02 PM PDT

2014/04/30 · 21:02

May I have your attention, please?

If I told you that 200 girls were kidnapped from their school by a bunch of terrorists and the terrorists were now threatening to kill all of them how would you react?

Would you wonder if there’s yet another installment of Taken due this summer?

Would you think it was some other movie plot?

Would you even believe it’s happening?

Would you think I was making it up?

Those are rhetorical questions. The event is happening, in Nigeria, part of the long-running conflict between that nation and its local terrorist group Boko Haram. 230 girls were abducted on April 14th, just as they were to sit for their final exams.

Nigeria has claimed it's rescued them, but they haven't. Families are stating the Nigerian government is doing painfully little to find the missing girls. The terrorist group is now threatening to murder all of their captives.

One wouldn’t know it watching American media. You’d think Fox News would be all over the story, as Boko Haram are an Islamist group opposed to western education. It is, in fact, what their name translates from Hausa into English as, and we all know what Fox News thinks of Muslims of any type. However, I suppose Clive Bundy’s musky racist moocher welfare-queen balls are a lot more fun to play with. CNN is still looking for a plane even when the vast majority of global media has moved on from that story (because seriously, there is absolutely no more story there until the wreckage is found!) and MSNBC is, well, MSNBC.

And nobody watches Al Jazeera America.

I can’t blame us for not knowing either. I’ve been tweeting about it off and on since they were kidnapped but I didn’t keep writing. I failed at passing the story along.

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#BringBackOurGirls - It's time for the droplets to coalesce into a big river

#BringBackOurGirls events planned worldwide, Twitter mobilizes

Twitter suspended high profile #BringBackOurGirls account for a few hours

Horrible update from Nigeria

May I Have Your Attention, Please?