As a father (of a young girl) this is the most terrifying thing I have read in a long time. Three weeks ago 200 school girls were taken from their school to be sold at auction and forced into marriage. This is despicable. Read and think:1) Why hasn't anything been done yet?
2) Could this be a good thing? What could this do to help women's rights, child rights, education rights?
3) What can we do to help?
4) How will the world react?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/will-the-world-act-to-help-nigeria-s-missing-schoolgirls-1.2632983
This is my post for the week;
ReplyDeleteThis topic is pretty hot right now on the news and I know this because me and John Burrows are doing our presentation partially on this topic. The reason nothing has been done yet (i think) Is public unwillingness to act against militant forces and the lack of knowledge. Also because on Monday this was a very new topic.
Since the day of the abductions (22 days ago), a lot has happened to the people of Nigeria who are crying out against this atrocity. The US President Barrack Obama has vowed to do anything in his power to stop this terrorist group and get the girls back home safe. In fact he has already sent in a squad of the American Army to help get the situation shut down and hopefully get rid of the Boko Haram terrorist group for good.
I believe that this could be a good thing mainly for educational rights. The leaders of the Boko Haram say that western education is sinful and this could open eyes to the people around the world who may take education for granted or even to those people are unaware that some people aren't aloud to learn what they want because of religion.
As for the world as a whole on the subject a lot of people are outraged but not a lot are doing much as far as I can tell (including me). A lot of media has picked up this story and people on twitter have the hash-tag #BringBackOurGirls trending all over the twittersphere and social medias. altogether a heartbreaking story and I pray that the Nigerians can rise up against this group with the help of others to eliminate them for good.
Here Obama's Take on the Situation:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/05/obama-calls-kidnapping-of-nigerian-girls-heartbreaking-and-outrageous/
I find it interesting how you used the word terrorists Adrian. When I was reading over the article there was a picture at the side of two isalamic women holding signs saying: "No to Terrorism, Yes to Islam". I thought that this connected with what you were saying. These women who believe in the same god as the men who took the girls are calling them terrorists, but clearly stating that the religion is not the main issue here. I think that this situation happens in almost all religions, as people go to far, focusing less on the goals of their god(s) and more on their own gains. For this man, there is definatley money, and fame for his personal reward and he is self-justifying with the values of his religion. I think that it is quite sad that he believes that he has the right to sell the girls' innocence, where the girls get nothing and he is "rewarded".
DeleteHmm, I guess I never thought of it that way. But when you think of it, the people living in the Boko Haram district are almost all Islamic and so the "terrorist" group who took the girls are almost giving a bad name to the Islamic religion by going way too far. I think this has a lot to do with the world media on relgion and how religion are pinned are very extreme when in reality they may not be as extreme or crazy as we thing. Great comment though, got me thinkin
DeleteThis is my post for the week
ReplyDeleteThis is a very shocking and devastating thing that has unfortunately happened to many many girls. I don't think many things have been done about this because the Nigerian government and people in Nigeria obviously do not know where the girls are being held therefore cannot help them and it makes it hard for other countries to help as well because they also do not know where the girls are. It's disgusting how the man behind kidnapping them was taped smiling and laughing saying that he plans on selling the girls as sex slaves. I don't see how this could be a good thing for women. However, it shows how in other countries the rights of women are so limited compared to other countries. This might show the government how awful women's rights are and the laws around and it perhaps motivate them to make a change. I'm not sure what people can do in other countries to help this cause other than being aware of it because I feel like the matter is out of our hands. I think it really shows how different laws and just general ways of life are for people in developing countries. Sometimes we complain and think things are bad for us but in our developed country this kind of thing is much less likely to happen and we are very fortunate to have the rights and safety that we do. I think the world is shocked that this happened because it's an unspeakable thing to happen to so many girls and just very unheard of and awful.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/07/world/africa/abubakar-shekau-profile/ This explains more about Abubaker Shekau, the man who kidnapped the girls
Nice post Julia! I agree that this issues can sort of "light the match" of this issue. It can show the undeveloped countries that women need rights in order to be safe but also show the developed countries that this issue still exists. I do disagree that the matter is out of our hands though. As one of the richest countries in the world, Canada has the power to step in an demand that these women have rights as well as aid in the mission of rescuing these girls. I had a friend that actually went on a mission trip that involves saving women from being sex slaves (I'm not sure how though). Long story short, we can definitely have some impact on what happens in Nigeria.
Deletethis is a really good post, and i totally agree, this is a perfect example of how little rights women have in undeveloped countries.
DeleteThis is my post for the week.
ReplyDeleteFirst off this is a very disturbing crime that has taken place in Nigeria, a place which is already known for being dangerous and a scary place for women. John and Adrian really opened my eyes with their presentation on how little of action is being taken to bring these girls back to their families. One reason i think this is happening is as awful as it sounds, there are some people who simply dont care that this happened, partly because they were all girls abducted. Of course alot of people do care, but on the other hand, you have those people who are absurd enough to actually beleive in the message this terrorist group is trying to spread. No matter what way you try and spin this it is not a good thing, there shouldnt have to be 200 girls get abducted in order to spread awareness about womens rights in my opinion. Having the awareness will be helpfulo, but it should not have come at such a dear cost. I think more developed countries are doing the right things by asking Nigerians if they want there help, instead of doing what George Bush did to Afganistan and making them accept our help because that would just add fuel to the fire in what is already a bad situation. Most of the world has reacted the same as myself, outraged, however the most important thing is the outrage or lack there of in the continent of this crime, Africa or to be even more specific the country that this terrible act took place in. I sincerly hope that the Nigerian government smartens up, accepts help and does whatever they can to get these girls out of the deep trouble they are currenlty in. The article below is an article of the Nigerian president expalining how this crime will be the beginnig of the end of terror.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/nigerian-president-vows-kidnapped-girls-beginning-end-terror/story?id=23636973
I find this story extremely upsetting and I really don't think that the Nigerian government is doing enough. I realize that them as a country might not have the resources to engage in such a search and rescue, however, they have been offered help by many countries with the manpower and resources. I am not one to condone war, however, countries go to war all the time over greedy things such as territory. There are currently over 200 hundred girls being held against their will under conditions that we as Canadians probably can't even being to imagine. Action needs to be taken and I don't believe that negotiation is really a viable option based on the militant ideologies. Personally, I don't think that the awareness towards women's and children's rights is worth it under these disgusting circumstances.
ReplyDeleteHere is an article further discussing the situation and the kidnapping from the perspective of a few girls who managed to escape:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/05/kidnapped-nigerian-girls-recount-escape-201451183515905896.html
You make some really strong and valid points, Gabrielle. Also, the article that you posted really painted a picture of the horrible conditions these poor girls had to endure. Personally, I think it's all the more frustrating that there's so much awareness being spread but there's little to no action being done to prevent any further damage.
DeleteI agree, Kayla. It's one thing for a government to be reluctant to resort to violence, and to want to attempt peaceful negotiation as a first resort. However, it's quite clear that that's not what Nigeria's government has in mind. People are aware of the issue, but awareness does little to bring these girls back from the suffering they're going through if it doesn't bring action.
DeleteThis is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteI remember being in complete and utter shock when I heard this on the news. It’s unfathomable to me how someone could be so malicious and stage a kidnapping of over 200 young schoolgirls in order to protest against education in Western Culture. The fact that he’s selling them off to buyers for marriage purposes only intensifies my disgust towards this entire ordeal. How pleased he is with this diabolical scheme and how he’s convinced this benefits both the girls and those that sought out to purchase them is something I’ll never be able to wrap my head around. It reveals in the article posted by Mr. Lehaie that the fee for each girl to be wed is precisely twelve dollars. The fact that you can put a price tag on a human life is maddening in itself – let alone an expense as low as twelve dollars. It really goes to show the sheer importance of basic human rights and gender equality since if women were perceived as equals, incidents like this certainly would never be heard of since they’re simply contemptible. The lack of action that is being taken does concern me though to say the least. The fact that it’s taken up to three weeks for prominent figures in politics worldwide to acknowledge this tragedy is equally upsetting, as it is perplexing. Many developed nations such as Canada and the US as well as Nigeria itself have released statements of how repulsed they are by the news of the abduction but it appears that we’re still waiting to see whether there’ll be anything done about it. This is the sort of incident that needs to be treated with immediate attention that goes beyond words if you ask me. I wouldn’t go as far as saying there’s any sort of upside to a travesty of this capacity but I will admit that if there’s anything to take from this, it’s that we should be eternally grateful for living in a society where the practice of education doesn’t make us targets for abduction. All and all, this is certainly a crisis that should act as wake up call for the remainder of the world.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/02/missing-nigerian-schoolgirls_n_5252147.html