Thread by @TTUSILC

We stand in solidarity with people in Nigeria, DR Congo, Cameroon, & other African nations which are dealing with many crises at this time and offer our support to all African students at Texas Tech hurt by these events. Please use your voice to support those affected. THREAD:

In Nigeria, #EndSARS protestors continue to resist ongoing police brutality at the hands of the unethical and cruel Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, which has a history of frequent incidents of illegal detentions, extrajudicial killings, and torture.

While SARS was disbanded on October 11, the brutality is continuing under a new Special Weapons and Tactics team. On October 20, Nigerian police opened fire on a crowd of non-violent #EndSARS protestors at the Lekki toll gate. VIDEO (CNN): cnn.com/videos/world/2…

Additionally, the UK government has recently admitted to training and supplying Nigeria’s brutal security forces between 2016 and 2020. ARTICLE (THE INDEPENDENT): independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

The Nigerian people also discovered a warehouse full of palliatives meant for COVID-19 relief, which politicians had diverted for personal use rather than distribution to the public.

The west continually exploits the Democratic Republic of the Congo for its natural resources, which are valued at $24 trillion and include 60% of the cobalt in the world’s lithium-ion batteries, found in western commodities like cell phones and other consumer electronics.

As a result, Congolese people work under cruel and immoral conditions to produce these resources, which have only intensified since the start of the pandemic. #CongoIsBleeding

In addition to the labor exploitation in Congo, which includes children, Congo is experiencing a rise in domestic and sexual violence against women, violence against children, and the recruitment of children into armed groups. #CongoIsBleeding

The Anglophone Crisis, which began in 2017, is coming to a head in Cameroon, seeing abductions of Anglophone adults and children and murders at the hands of government forces. ARTICLE (QUARTZ AFRICA): qz.com/africa/1922580…

On top of what we have already listed, we also want to give attention to crises happening in other African countries, all of which are the result of colonialism, imperialism, and/or the pandemic. We encourage you to get informed on these events, in the news and on social media.

That includes the wave of sexual assaults and gender-based violence in Namibia, Liberia, Congo, and South Africa, increased trafficking to Ivory Coast and Ghana (including 1.8 million children) from Burkina Faso and Mali, and child labor on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

There is also an uptick in political violence in Ivory Coast, Uganda, and Guinea, and ongoing police brutality in Zimbabwe and Zambia. We encourage you to read more on your own and find out ways you can help directly. THREAD:

https://twitter.com/naanakingx/status/1318948607077351429

More info/places to donate and provide aid:

https://twitter.com/ASAUMN/status/1319010148967452674

(General/info)
docs.google.com/document/d/e/2… (Zimbabwe)

https://twitter.com/anne_hambuda/status/1314687531527667712

(Namibia)

https://twitter.com/MizzouASA/status/1317618548383113217

(General/info)
anglophonecrisis.carrd.co (Cameroon)
instagram.com/feminist.co/ instagram (Nigeria)