Please Help – We Have To Take A Stand

/ May 9, 2014

bring back our girlsAs a rule I try to keep the weekend posts here at Unload and Unwind to more humorous topics as a way of taking a step back from the more serious pieces that I write about politics and the environment.  However I have decided that this issue far out ways the need to step back.  In fact I am calling for all of us to step forward, to raise our voice and add our names to the petitions being created around the world decrying the horrendous taking of a number of young girls in Nigeria.

As most may be aware on April 16 of this year 200 girls were kidnapped by an extremist group called ‘Boko Haram‘. This was done so that they would be unable to take their examinations and to call a halt to the education of women in that country. Around the world the outrage has poured forth and yet the Nigerian government, reluctant to start a civil dispute, has moved far to slowly in aid of these young women.

The terrified families, forced to realize that there would be little aid coming for them, are planning on entering the forest where they believe these girls are being held and plead for their release.  It unlikely that they will be able to achieve anything on their own , in fact Boko Haram has released video footage in the last days portraying the rape and torture of these young women and their determination to sell them into slavery in retaliation for trying to ‘exceed their proper roles in life’ by getting a western education.  Since then there have been other abductions but not in such large number as this attack on the 200 girls.

bhBoko Haram was founded in 2002 and loosely translated from the local Hausa language means “Western education is forbidden“.  It has been involved in a large number of assassinations, abductions and bombings.  In 2010 was declared a terrorist group by the US amid fears that it had developed links with other militant groups, such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, to wage a global jihad.

What I am asking, actually what I am begging is that you share this post with others as well as add your name to the petitions from Be Brave – Take a Stand,  Walk Free and We the People in the US by following the links provided in the sentence. There are some things in this world that cannot and should not be tolerated.  If we can send the military into other countries to deal with groups we are told pose an imminent threat then we should have no trouble sending military aid to assist the Nigerian Government and the families of these girls.

take a stand

 

As a rule I dislike military intervention but as I said there are times and this is one of them, not just for these young women and their families but for all who would come after them and all who have gone before. If you know of other petitions in your own countries then send the links here or in your own posts and gather as many signatures as you can demanding that our governments step in and do what the Nigerian government is either unable or unwilling to achieve alone.

 

 

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65 thoughts on “Please Help – We Have To Take A Stand”

      • I added a bit more to the reblog text so people would see it when they arrived at my blog – urging them to contact their Government Officials and demanding action be taken against the people who have taken these kids away!

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      • Thank you – this is just the latest kidnapping and torture that they have done, there is also a large number of bombings, attacks on villages and assassinations. If we can send the military in to other places with far less cause the UN can surely ask for the US, Australia, Britain etc to send in ‘Peace Keeping’ or even Tactical troops. From what I understand the Nigerian government is quite corrupt and as a result fear asking for aid as once it arrives much of their own skeletons will be out of the closet. It is why this group has been allowed to do what they have done for over 10 years now. They sacrifice their own people for greed and power just as much as these terrorists sacrifice the people for their own fanatical beliefs and the utter assumption of their righteousness to do so.

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      • The only way to get rid of a corrupt Government is by a peoples uprising – but that is no guarantee that corruption doesn’t re-surface in the new replacement Government – History proves that time and again – the main concern is that these kids are freed.

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    • It does and I cannot understand why the UN has been stuffing around when it is obvious the Nigerian government are scared/inept or whatever and don’t want to go against the Islamic fundamentalists. If we send the military in to other countries with far less provocation why the F. hasn’t Obama and our Prime minister as well as everyone else stepped up to the plate on this one.

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  8. On Lord, I have just been checking out the info on this debaucle and it is not simple. I tried to sign a petition but I can’t find one for Canadian citizens. The US one requires I be a resident. Getting those girls back has to be of critical and primary importance and then the question remains: How to stop it from happening again? Nigeria is corrupt and has been banned by most nations from receiving military aid because it would be used against the citizens. And even if aid is offered the Nigerian gov’t will turn most of it down because they see it as likely to spark a civil war by telegraphing their weakness to the rebels. Boko Haram is actually raping and killing fellow Muslims as they say that the current Muslim population is also corrupt. They want Sharia Law. The area where they are operating is lawless. This whole situation is so hopeless. Boko Haram is also believed to be a loosely organized consortium of splinter groups – i.e. we can’t stop it by attacking the leaders. The corrupt Nigerian forces that have been trying ot stop the Boko Haram have been killing as many or more citizens than they have militants because A)they don’t care and are as much threat as the bad guys to the citizens and B) You can’t tell a Boko Haram member from a citizen if they are standing side by side. . On top of all this, every attempt to negotiate with the Boko Haram has resulted in the death of the Boko negotiator within one day of the start of negotiations.

    Oh Jenni this is so, so bad on so many levels that as long as the current situation perisists, returning the girls will only result in the kidnapping of more girls. The Boko Haram has succeeded in getting the world’s attention and I only see two roads to resolution: 1) removal of all non-Boko citizens from the area and allow the establishment of Sharia Law or 2) a civil war. And I suspect it will be the civil war option that will occur. This will undoubtably be an extended conflict (due to the immutable beliefs of the two factions) and one in which many thousands or millions will be killed. It would probably help if we were to kill all the current gov’t but only eventually result in the installation of an equally corrupt and violent replacement gov’t.

    I will pray for the girls return and contribute in any way I can but I’m not hopeful.

    Thank you for bringing this situation to our attention. You are doing a service by spreading the word.

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    • I know – it doesn’t seem to have an answer that isn’t going to end in a lot of death. But we’ve sent the military as has the US and the UN for less so with or without the permission of the government something needs to change. It is so hard accept the fact that only extreme violence will make a difference but Oh goddess it hurts my heart to think of all those young people, men an women who are going to die because a group of people as so determined to be right they will do horrendous deeds in the name of a deity that would despise those actions.

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      • That’s the problem I think some of the government may be worrying about. During the unrest in the Sudan Australia took a large number of refugees and brought them here via Aid Organisations. Some towns such as Toowoomba and other places sponsored families to move there where they found work etc. Something similar should be done again but I’m afraid we have a very different government in power at this point in time and I cannot see Abbott allowing that to happen.

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  9. I find it interesting that those men who took those girls call themselves Islam followers. Their act doesn’t sound like something a Muslim follower would do. Sound sick and anything but compassionate…

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    • Fundamentalist’s of any religion can convince themselves or the righteousness of any act if they cloak it in their interpretation of a holy text.

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      • But where do they get taking girls and selling them into slavery as anything religious… Mohammad would have kicked their …. It’s early in the morning where you are… 8:41am on the west coast here.

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      • 1.40 am Saturday morning.

        Yes – they see it as ‘punishment’ and a deterrent to other families to allow the education of their girls especially a modern education [these girls were to take a physics exam]. It’s cruel, vile, disgusting and morally depraved and it’s times like this I wish their god would make an appearance and kick the ass.

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      • President Obama will send a few drones there and then send a black ops team in… Those guys are toast… There always will be people (mostly men) who will do asleep things… They aren’t spiritual awake even though they say they are followers of Mohammed.

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      • No – they only see the world from the screwed up perception and will never understand how spiritually bereft they really are. Only problem is they and those like them can cause a great deal of pain and anguish before they’re stopped.

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      • So true! So true! I’m sure a drone has their name on them… It’s called pin point targeting. God have mercy on their souls… Isn’t that what they say as they execute the condeemed?

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      • Normally I’m all for the balance and karma etc but as I said in a post awhile back – Sometimes Karma needs a hand, I hope they fry the bastards. I’ve been reading about the origins and the numerous other bombings and kidnappings that they have done since 2002 and you know what I don’t want God or Goddess or Allah to have mercy on their souls. If these miserable excuses for human beings actually have souls I hope they rot in the void forever.

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      • Whatever happens to them it won’t be good… People such as you are waking the sleeping giant up and getting the collective conscious going…. Good for you!

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  10. We have to take a stand! Right now! It is incredible that this can happen in this world, without so far, any repercussions! Horrible and I did not mean to make light of it, just had posted this week. I had written a post, saying I wished to go to “Neverland,” since it is so hard to face the truth and being an adult can be so hard! But in my first sentence, I also informed people of this tragic kidnapping of innocent young girls for ‘child wives’ or worse! Burning the school down, alone, was a serious crime, let alone taking all those poor children from their mothers and fathers… Hope we see results. Wish I were a sniper in the special forces or CIA…

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    • To tell you the truth – so do I. Normally I don’t get as emotional about the pieces I write. Passionate yes, involved and invested but not like this. I’m just so very angry that for over a decade this group has been doing such terrible things and yet nothing has really been done – no genuine concerted effort to bring them down – and now this. They took those girls from their family homes the night before a physics exam and now plan to sell them into sexual slavery and still the UN won’t move.

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  13. I’m really concerned about this. Obviously I am concerned about the girls, but it’s more than that. There has been extremely limited media attention of this major event, at least until social media got involved, so how many events have been ignored by the media in favour of telling us about the latest celeb diet or fashion. Personally I don’t believe the fact that a celebrity wore clothes is news. They wear clothes everyday. If they stripped naked in public I might be less against it being in newspapers, but still there shouldn’t be column space given to celebrities when there is news like this not getting enough attention.

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    • I agree – the careful editing of the news and manipulation of the public is a tool that governments and their backers use to keep people ignorant and compliant. Social media has changed the rules and now they are having to deal with a united front on some issues not just in their own countries but around the world.

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  15. How does any country get away with doing this? Remember they shot Malala for doing the same thing, attempting to get an education. You would think they would have the sense to figure out that man or woman, an educated populace can only strengthen that country’s economic prowess.

    I wish that the U.N. was more powerful.

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    • I understand your disbelief because I share it. What is wrong with these people that such acts are considered a means to an end. As for their government they have been letting them get away with things such as this [although on a smaller scale] as well as bombings etc for over a decade. Obviously it is a case where the UN has to step in and we need to force our governments to push for them to do so.

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    • Thank you for sharing this with your readers – every extra person who can put their names to the petitions or start ones of their own will be of help.

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  18. Reblogged this on Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner and commented:
    My blog posts are typically on the humorous side. The times I mount my soapbox and voice an outraged opinion are few. Today is one of those days where I cannot remain silent. Thankfully, Jenny at UNLOAD & REWIND has made it easy for me to pass on to you – so now let’s Bring Back Our Girls! Mankind’s inhumanity has no place in this world. Please take a stand and add your name to the the petitions Jenni has put together. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

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    • Thank you so much for sharing this with your readers – every person who signs or writes a letter/calls their local representatives will make a difference. Jenni.

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  22. In a world where the West often takes it upon itself – and usually with dubious motives – to interfere in the lands/affairs of others here we have a case where for proper moral grounds we should be in en masse attempting to sort this evil out and, if it is not too late, rescue those poor kids.

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    • It is too late – regardless if they come out alive they will never be the same after what they have been through. I agree totally that we [western world] have stuck our nose in everywhere [usually with profit or strategic presence in mind] and here we have an issue that has been going on for over a decade and still nothing. If Nigeria had something like oil etc we’d have been there in 2010 when the US declared them a terrorist group in the same class and al-Quaeda.

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  23. Thanks for bringing this ongoing travesty front and center!!!
    I wish this was an isolated event, but sadly that’s not the case.
    My husband and I minister in Ghana, West Africa. It’s a democratic country with relative peace and stability. Nigeria is a near neighbor. It’s a massive country with almost 170 million people. They’re an oil rich nation, but much of the rural population lives in poverty. Islamic extremists are spreading their particular form of violence and terror from north Africa southward over the continent. The lack of stable and democratic governments makes African nations vulnerable to Muslim extremists.
    The US has been slow to intervene in many of Africa’s human tragedies. From famine, to HIV, to the long civil wars that have ravaged several central African countries, we keep our distance because there’s not an interface with our Foreign policy or interests.
    Here are some good articles addressing the very serious risk of a new hotbed in Africa for the plague of terrorism.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joop-koopman/if-nigeria-falls-to-islamic-extremists_b_4532300.html
    http://www.humanosphere.org/2014/05/boko-haram-al-shabaab-and-al-qaeda-2-0-islamic-extremism-in-africa/

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    • Thanks for the link and I agree while it is awful what is truly horrible is that it is not a rare occurrence and neither is the UN and other countries slowness to act.

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