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HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THESE 5 AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THESE 5 AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH SOCIAL MOVEMENTS With Nigeria having its #EndSARS movement with ongoing protests around the world, other countries in Africa also have movements calling on their governments to do better. Here are 5 countries and their social movements: 1. DR Congo– #CongoIsBleeding The exploitation of nearly 40,000 child laborers in the mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is now receiving global attention thanks to a new trending social media hashtag, #CongoIsBleeding. In the east of the DRC, where the mines are located, child laborers dig for minerals that would eventually be utilised by Apple, Google and other giant tech corporations. For decades, multinational companies and European countries have acquired coltan in spite of the fact that the monies they pay do not go into improving the lives of poor Congolese. 2. Namibia– #ShutItAllDown On October 8, 2020, campaigners marched through the streets of Windhoek and other cities demanding political action to tackle rape, sexual abuse, and violence against women. The government has since promised to tackle sexual and gender-based violence and the protests have paused for now. However, activists say they want concrete action or they’d resume their campaign. Many people all over Africa and the world are supporting the Shut It All Down movement. 3. Cameroon– #AnglophoneCrisis Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis erupted in 2016 with protests over the marginalisation of Anglophones by the Francophone-dominated government. The protests turned violent in 2017 and the crisis has left over 5,000 soldiers, separatist fighters, and civilians dead since then. The crisis returned to the global spotlight on Saturday, October 24, 2020 when unidentified men armed with assault rifles stormed the campus of Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba and opened fire on the schoolchildren under 14 years old. The fatal shooting left five girls and one boy dead and 13 others injured, according to official sources. 4. Liberia– #RapeNationalEmergency Liberian President George Weah has declared rape a national emergency and ordered new measures to tackle the problem after a recent spike of cases in Liberia. This came after thousands of Liberians protested in Monrovia in August 2020 against rising sexual assaults. Weah said he would install a special prosecutor for rape in Liberia, as well as set up a national sex offender registry. The government will also establish a “national security task force” on sexual and gender-based violence. 5. South Africa– #AmINext On August 8, 2019, 19-year-old Uyinene Mrwetyana was abducted, raped, and murdered by Luyanda Botha. In response, South African women took it upon themselves to take action by starting country-wide protests using the hashtag #AmINext against violence against women in September 2019. This led to a shutdown of economic activities in some of the big cities and prompted the president of South Africa to promise harsher sentences against offenders to ensure perpetrators no longer prey without punishment. CTA: Are African governments listening to their citizens well enough?

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