After the terrible attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, people were quick to express their condolences over Twitter. Judging from the participation in the #JeSuisCharlie social media campaign, ranging from of activists to political leaders and celebrities, nearly everyone seemed to know about the tragedy. The world, however, did not seem to have the same level of concern for the Boko Haram terrorist attack that claimed the lives of an estimated 150 to 2,000 innocent Nigerians just the previous day.
The attack on the Charlie Hebdo office was tragic — the loss of innocent lives, terrorism and the freedom of the press are all important issues to care about. This is in no way an attempt to undermine the severity of the Paris attack. But why is it that my Facebook feed discussed the deaths of 17 people in Paris without also mentioning the hundreds of people in Baga, Nigeria who also died? The uncertainty of the official death toll should say a lot about the lack of attention that has been paid to this crime.
Are Western lives more valuable than others? Did the press choose not to devote coverage to Nigerian events? No and no. It is both impossible and immoral to claim that one life matters more than another — no reasonable person can hold that view. The international press did report on the massacre, albeit to a perhaps lesser extent than their coverage of the Paris attack. Indeed, there are a great number of articles about the Boko Haram massacre.
Instead, I argue that this apathy and overall silence stems from the mindset that anything that happens in Nigeria — no matter how terrible it is — is too far away to care about. Nigeria differs from the U.S. in many ways — economically, socially and politically. The life of a Nigerian in Baga certainly seems more distant to an American than that of someone living in Paris. France feels much more connected, more similar to the U.S., and an attack on the idea of the freedom of the press — a foundational Western value — may strike us as particularly disturbing. It makes sense that even the most empathetic people would worry more about issues that hit closer to home.
Nevertheless, this does not absolve us of our negligence. We can care about the Charlie Hebdo attack while also raising awareness of the crimes committed in Nigeria. There is no reason our attention to tragedies in the world should be so limited in scope. We should condemn all senseless killing, regardless of where it takes place.
More important than the question of knowing is the question of doing. Even if an equivalent #JeSuisCharlie Twitter campaign for the victims in Baga went viral, would future attacks be prevented? Sadly, the answer is again no. Boko Haram made headlines last year when members of the group kidnapped more than 276 Nigerian girls from their school in April 2014. Rumors surfaced weeks later that some of the girls were sold as child brides for as little as 12 dollars. A global #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign gained support from First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Sadly, that campaign has lost its initial momentum, and none of the girls have been rescued yet. Fleeting awareness will not result in meaningful justice or change. It is clear that responding to the threat of Boko Haram will ultimately require action as well.
For now, knowing is half the battle. It is easy to scroll through social media and learn of the issues everyone is talking about. We should recognize that this is an incomplete picture. There are many problems that barely make the news, and many of us remain blissfully unaware of them. Boko Haram is one of them. The least we can do is be more conscious of issues that might not be in our own backyard.
