Book contents
- Soro Soke
- Soro Soke
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Illustrations
- About the Nine Dots Prize
- 1 The Soro Soke Generation
- 2 The New York of Nigeria
- Speaking Out: Chekwube Okonkwo on Expressing African Identity
- 3 Cultural Capital
- Speaking Out: Osinachi on Art and Nigerian Identity
- Speaking Out: Priscilla Eke on Feminism
- 4 Challenging Norms
- Speaking Out: Uyaiedu Ipke-Etim on Facing Homophobia
- Speaking Out: Michael Elégbèdé on the Diaspora
- 5 Japá
- Speaking Out: Davies Okeowo on Entrepreneurship
- 6 Entrepreneurs with a Mission
- 7 The New Oil
- Speaking Out: Rinu Oduala on the #endSARS Protests
- 8 The Hashtag Generation
- Speaking Out: Princess Obiajulu Ugwu on Standing for Election
- Speaking Out: Fortunes Oronkwo on the Monetisation of Politics
- 9 Contesting for Power
- 10 We’re in This Together
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Soro Soke
- Soro Soke
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Illustrations
- About the Nine Dots Prize
- 1 The Soro Soke Generation
- 2 The New York of Nigeria
- Speaking Out: Chekwube Okonkwo on Expressing African Identity
- 3 Cultural Capital
- Speaking Out: Osinachi on Art and Nigerian Identity
- Speaking Out: Priscilla Eke on Feminism
- 4 Challenging Norms
- Speaking Out: Uyaiedu Ipke-Etim on Facing Homophobia
- Speaking Out: Michael Elégbèdé on the Diaspora
- 5 Japá
- Speaking Out: Davies Okeowo on Entrepreneurship
- 6 Entrepreneurs with a Mission
- 7 The New Oil
- Speaking Out: Rinu Oduala on the #endSARS Protests
- 8 The Hashtag Generation
- Speaking Out: Princess Obiajulu Ugwu on Standing for Election
- Speaking Out: Fortunes Oronkwo on the Monetisation of Politics
- 9 Contesting for Power
- 10 We’re in This Together
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
Summary
A new wave of global social movements is being led by young Africans. In the same way that a wave of European Baby Boomers took to the streets demanding social change as teenagers and young adults in the student protests of 1968, this cohort of young Africans are at the forefront of similar protests. And young sub-Saharan Africans are using social media to push back against tradition and fight for change, as exemplified by Nigeria’s #endSARS protests against police brutality. Driven by Twitter – at the movement’s peak in October 2020, 48 million #endSARS tweets were posted in just 10 days – #endSARS constituted the country’s most significant protest movement since pro-democracy rallies in the 1990s. Threatened by the power of platforms such as Twitter, the frequency and duration of internet shutdowns by governments across Africa is steadily increasing – in June 2021, the Nigerian government suspended Twitter in the country. For many young Nigerians #endSARS was a real political awakening. The protests created the recognition that young people could be a powerful political force, combined with the more brutal understanding that the establishment will respond violently to perceived challenges.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Soro SokeThe Young Disruptors of an African Megacity, pp. 101 - 115Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
- Creative Commons
- This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/