Sociopolitical activism is not a chorus for the backstreet youth. Nope, it is not a contest for social media “likes” and “shares”, neither is it a tool for an income-earning opportunity.
― Dr. Anthony Obi Ogbo
Anybody can be an activist. It just depends on the political environment. Japanese activist Yuri Kochiyama said, “I didn’t wake up and decide to become an activist. But you couldn’t help notice the inequities, the injustices. It was all around you.” The drive to become an activist emanates from compassion. The American talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres said, “I’m not an activist; I don’t look for controversy. I’m not a political person, but I’m a person with compassion. I care passionately about equal rights. I care about human rights. I care about animal rights.”
When Stacey Abrams narrowly lost to Republican Brian Kemp in the gubernatorial race in the state of Georgia, she felt she had been swindled. Kemp, at the time, was Georgia’s secretary of state in charge of running the elections. This allowed him to manipulate the electoral process to his advantage: For instance, he reportedly facilitated the fraudulent elimination of tens of thousands of Black and minority voters before the election in order to promote his candidacy.
Abrams decided to launch a grassroots campaign, which she called Fair Fight, to boost voter registration in deprived areas and counter voter suppression tactics. She also undertook a detailed review of the electoral map of the State of Georgia to show how voter lists had been systematically managed to suppress minority voters.
That was not all. She launched a strategy—a Playbook, she called it—that explained her mission and objectives, and provided a call to action. Her mission was not a selfish one; rather, she wanted to provide a blueprint for expanded voter participation in deprived constituencies in order to make a Democratic victory more likely in the future. Stacey, an alumnus of Yale Law School, well understood the relevant laws as well as the electoral policies. She insisted on seeing all constituents as equal, irrespective of their demographic category.
Though they are faced with much graver social and political challenges, are there things our Nigerian activists might learn from Stacey’s Playbook? People have every reason to fight back. Nigeria’s governance system has long been criticized for failing to serve the country’s interests. Besides providing unfair leadership privileges, the Nigerian constitution favors the ruling class from the northern regions and offers little hope of a united nation. From the ongoing problems being experienced in the Niger Delta to the marginalization of the south-east, Nigeria’s central government has been unable to find any route to adequate solutions. Change only becomes possible when communities agitate to address their grievances.
But the greatest weakness of most Nigerian activists is a lack of knowledge about the very cause they advocate. They also often fall short in terms of producing constructive strategies. And sometimes they fail because they are dishonest about their objectives: Many see sociopolitical activism as an opportunity to achieve fame cheaply and make a financial profit. Some Nigerian activists distort the facts in order to draw a greater audience, lie about their real aims, or raise funds through deceitful means.
For example, you may recall the Niger Delta crisis—hundreds of militant groups sprang up, vowing to defend regions slated for oil exploitation. Vicious armed mobs sought to sabotage petroleum production activities through kidnapping, extortion, and destruction of facilities. After years of violence, most of the self-proclaimed generals of these campaigns have now abandoned their cause.
Another example is the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a Biafran separatist organization led by Nnamdi Kanu. Kanu deceived his numerous followers about the chances of attaining an independent state, constantly flip-flopping on strategy. Displaying a total lack of knowledge about the statutory process for attaining statehood, he talked vaguely about referenda and reconstruction. Kanu’s major interests were similar to those of the Delta militants—money, and ego. To achieve these ends, most notoriously, he was even known to send young boys to their deaths in hopeless attacks on the State security apparatus, in order to use videos and photos of the bloodied corpses in his fraudulent fund-raising activities. Like the hundreds of self-made generals in the Delta region, Kanu had no identifiable source of income. Ultimately, he, like them, would embezzle money from his organization and abandon it.
Bogus social media threats to the ruling class is not a strategy for organizational reformation. It is simply a display of attitude which in most cases impair fair resolutions. Furthermore, social or community activism is not a job opportunity. It is not a food stamp. It is a selfless service borne out of passion and zeal to mobilize the masses and take actions to promote a reasonable cause.
By contrast, Stacey Abrams had a career. Her focus has always been on achieving the change she envisions. Abrams’ strategy was well planned and highly successful: Her campaign and its allies registered more than 200,000 new voters in the run-up to the 2018 election. When Fair Fight and the New Georgia Project, the two organizations founded by Abrams, tried again in 2020, they quadrupled their gains, registering more than 800,000 new voters. The strategy now offers a potential blueprint for how Democrats can win elections in other Red states.
Sociopolitical activism is not a chorus for the backstreet youth. Nope, it is not a contest for social media “likes” and “shares”, neither is it a tool for an income-earning opportunity. Activism itself is often invoked by discriminatory gaps in the governance or organizational system. Therefore, the need for any sociopolitical cause must be inspired by the desire to make changes toward a perceived greater good.
Communal advocacy for radical changes in the system involves collaboration between individuals, groups, and organizations. The campaign might need to consider protests, strikes, or civil disobedience to achieve its objectives. But organizing parties or individual activists must always be familiar with their constituents and the relevant government policies and laws, as well as the nature of the cause. Breaking the peace and throwing rocks in the streets may produce good videos and photos for social media fundraising, but it is not activism.
In conclusion, sociopolitical activism must have reasonable cause, concrete and viable objectives, and sensible execution strategies. Organizers must understand the social and political context; they must be knowledgeable not just about the cause, but also about the bigger picture.
♦ Professor Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D. is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News
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