If you had told me last month that young people would use social media to organise a revolution to end SARS, I would have laughed in your face.
For the past nine days, young people in Nigeria have taken to the streets every day to protest for an end to police brutality in Nigeria. The fact that the protests have been so peaceful, on their part, and so organized is just the cake.
The icing on the cake is how they have used social media to structure everything. I have witnessed young people from all walks of life, both millennials and Gen Z, coming together to provide necessities that are needed for the protests.
Seeing people take everything from mobile toilets to hot drinks to raincoats and everything in between to make the protests as comfortable as possible. I love it so much. We really pin!#SarsMustGoNow
— FK. (@fkabudu) October 14, 2020
Twitter especially seems to be the meeting ground. When it seemed like local media was not paying attention to what was going on, young people in Nigeria used Twitter to draw the attention of international celebrities and international media.
I find it so ironic that it’s the same social media that young people have been scolded severely for always being on, that is now being used to change the very fabric of the nation. Social media is used to give live updates of what is happening simultaneously at every protest location all over Nigeria.
We are trying to put together a list of all the people who have died during the protest so we can reach out to their families and donate something. Money and things can't bring them back but hope it can make life a little easier. If you have info, please DM @Iredeadunni
— FK. (@fkabudu) October 14, 2020
From medical supplies to food, security to lawyers, through social media, Nigerian youths have become a self-sufficient mini-nation. They have gone ahead to also organise funds for people that were killed during the protests after the Nigerian police recklessly fired off live rounds at unarmed peaceful protesters.
Another worthy thing to note is how they adjusted in the face of pressure. There was an initial and still current issue of the local media not giving sufficient coverage of the protests or conveying inaccurate information.
Using the #EndSARS and #EndSWAT hashtags, which have both garnered over four million tweets individually, young people were able to circumvent that to get the direct attention of international media channels like CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera who have been giving the #EndSARS protest the coverage and international audience it needed.
Nationwide protests across major cities in Nigeria were a culmination of weeks of anger and outcry online by the country's young people over claims of kidnapping, harassment and extortion by a police unit known as the Special Anti Robbery Squad.https://t.co/ut4W5Gm2P5
— CNN (@CNN) October 10, 2020
Digital media especially has been a means of communication to raise funds to provide the resources needed to sustain the protests. A collective called The Feminist Coalition have been very instrumental in crowdfunding funds. The group, made up of young Nigerian feminists, worked with Flutterwave to bring things to order. When there seemed to be some sort of attack on that, they showed how progressive they were by switching to bitcoin, which could not be restricted.
Want to know the cherry on the icing of the cake? Jack the CEO of Twitter and everyone’s collective landlord cosigned the protests and called for donations all in one tweet.
— jack (@jack) October 14, 2020
And now, we have an emoji for the #ENDSARS as Twitter lends its support to the movement. I’d like to selfishly think that the global Twitter shutdown that happened during the late hours of Thursday, October 15, 2020, was because Jack wanted to give us an emoji.
Young people have proved their command of digital media in more ways than one and with these peaceful protests, even amidst several opposing forces trying to cause chaos, they have shown how progressive and united they are compared to previous generations.
The government seem to be taking their time to meet the simple demands behind the protests, which first and foremost, is completely disbanding the rogue unit SARS and getting them off the streets.