Over the years, Facebook, tweeter and other social media networks has been interesting and life fulfilling in sending billions of hopes to the downtrodden, from activist armed with pens and keyboards to billions of hopeless individuals scattered around the far and near ends of the world. These men and women, either paid or in freelance has done the world proud in recent. I salute the courage of these distinguished men and women, and to say they’re the true soldiers of our emerging humanity.
Activism can be a long game. But we did it. Since then, several prisoners of conscience has joined us, speaking their minds, whether or not the laws of their societies allow them the free space. Oftentimes, hundreds to thousands of activist are cornered and murdered, others are seen as security threats that must be curtailed or put away at all cost by agents of injustice, that house their mercenaries in the walls of government arsenals; yet the battle against good and evil, truth and falsehood continues. Our work to make sure the tempo is sustained and the world is allowed its free balance, which is to create real change in people’s lives has already started.
As 2014 begins, many challenges lie ahead. Human rights continue to be violated on a massive scale, from Syria to the Central African Republic, from violent escalation, Boko Haram militias threats in Northern Regions of Nigeria to narco-militant insurgency in Niger Delta and the high seas to state sponsored terrorism moves beyond manageable scales. From bearing witness through whistle blowing by documenting and mapping violations, Corruption, Ineptitude and high level official recklessness by government officials, to campaigning and lobbying for change, we are clear that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. There will be truth and justice. Thank you for being a part of the online steams for justice everywhere – together, we are making a significant difference.
Many of us may have differed in points and figures, yet the tempo of this crusade has been sustained thus far, well done!
We are still counting the tweets, good old-fashioned letters, SMS messages and petition signatures, but it is already clear that hundreds to thousands of people in up to 180 countries are taking part in our biggest global campaign event, Write for Rights, from 1990s till December last year, we gained huge momentum. Armed with pens and keyboards, we challenged the authorities to release prisoners of conscience, tell the truth and set injustices right. Time will tell what impact our actions will have. The wheels in the machinery of power can turn slowly. But it’s important to remember that as soon as you hit the tab or click/press send that email and that fax, it becomes part of something much bigger. When hundreds of messages start arriving at any sorts of prison (be it corruption, violent escalation, human rights violation, terrorism, etc), those in charge know we are watching them. And the person inside that cell knows that while they wait for the door to open, we wait with them. This same strategy implies to all other sectors, the movement must be sustained with decorum, else we’ll miss our points and our struggle defeated
I can only do the needful and wish you all the best of luck…!
