The Slaughter in Nigeria

The Story: Last week, 185 people were killed in a series of attacks in northern Nigeria's largest city. The radical sect responsible, Boko Haram, is using violence to impose its version of Islamic law across the country. According to a UN report, governments in the region are growing concerned that Boko Haram is joining forces with Al-Qaeda and other hardline groups in West Africa.

The Background: Last year, several hundred Nigerians were killed---including five hundred Christians slaughtered with machetes by Fulani Muslims--- in a string of religious clashes. As Joseph Bottum reported at the time,

Christian leaders say they telephoned for protection from the national security forces as the Muslim crowd gathered, but the military apparently refused to react until 3:30 a.m., by which time the slaughter was mostly finished. Indeed, the failure to protect the Nigerian Christians was even more egregious---for the assailants seem to have come from out of state. Despite advance notice of their arrival, the military made no plans beforehand to protect the threatened villages.

Why It Matters: Violence against Christians has been escalating in the country and yet the Nigerian government will not---or cannot---do much to protect its citizens. In Kano, a city of more than 9 million people, Boku Haram has threatened to kill any Christians living there. Unless neighboring African states or international coalitions intervene, the group, which carried out a series of attacks on churches last Christmas, will continue to persecute Christians unimpeded.  HT: Joe Carter

The Three Deadliest Words in the World: “It’s a Girl”

The video below is a trailer for a documentary to be released this year titled, “It’s a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World.” The trailer alone is chilling. I can hardly imagine an entire movie documenting this atrocity. But we need to see the culture of death for what it is. Here’s a description of the movie:

In India, China and many other parts of the world today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. The United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls⁽¹⁾ are missing in the world today because of this so-called “gendercide”.

Girls who survive infancy are often subject to neglect, and many grow up to face extreme violence and even death at the hands of their own husbands or other family members.

The war against girls is rooted in centuries-old tradition and sustained by deeply ingrained cultural dynamics which, in combination with government policies, accelerate the elimination of girls.

Shot on location in India and China, It’s a Girl! explores the issue. It asks why this is happening, and why so little is being done to save girls and women.

The film tells the stories of abandoned and trafficked girls, of women who suffer extreme dowry-related violence, of brave mothers fighting to save their daughters’ lives, and of other mothers who would kill for a son. Global experts and grassroots activists put the stories in context and advocate different paths towards change, while collectively lamenting the lack of any truly effective action against this injustice.

 

 You can view the website for the film here.

 

HT: Denny Burk