Samira Sabou - Niger Collapse
"When I first got involved in social media journalism, I received many comments - which were mostly from men. They were telling me I had to go and get married. After I got married, they were telling me to go and take care of my husband or go cook. Over time, these comments turned into insults, intimidation and threats. But the desire to bring out the truth, to improve and correct certain malfunctions, is stronger, even if this means we expose ourselves to big risks."
Listen to Samira telling her story here:
When I first got involved in social media journalism, I received a majority of comments - which were mostly from men. They were telling me I had to go and get married. After I got married, they were telling me to go and take care of my husband or go cook. Over time, these comments turned into insults, intimidation and threats.
In the context of the war against terrorism in West Africa, it is very difficult for a female African journalist to have a different opinion from those who evoke slogans of "Fighting imperialism", "Defending pan-Africanism", or from those who advocate the departure of armies from "occupation and imperialism". Supporting a discourse, or having arguments inconsistent with these populist slogans, to them equals treason, slavery, subjugation, and can lead to (online) violence.
Obviously, this violence has an impact on our work. Sometimes we avoid doing certain analyses to not attract the malice of certain social media players. At times we feel like giving up. But the desire to bring out the truth, to improve and correct certain malfunctions, is stronger, even if this means we expose ourselves to big risks.
Often, when people ask me how I manage to stand up to these threats, this wickedness, these intimidations, ... I remind them that: "All the prophets have suffered the wickedness of humans. They were spat upon and some were even killed, before the wisdom of their message was recognised. So who am I, Samira, to escape this?”. I just do law enforcement and journalistic work that is not unanimously approved upon. But the main thing is to be in line with my conscience, after each publication. This is what gives me the strength to continue my work. But we also receive a lot of encouragement and help. I had, for example, help from Free Press Unlimited. They helped to pay my legal fees, despite frequent harassment in court, to the point where two United Nations rapporteurs had to hold the Nigerien government accountable. This kind of encouragement I get soothes the pain left by others.