In the weeks following the Parkland, Fla., massacre, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have erupted, projecting a different image of teenage life. Selfies of teens sporting the latest fashion trend have been replaced with messages from today’s youth confronting injustice and demanding change from their adult political leaders.
Whereas the perpetual inaction following tragedy after tragedy seemingly reiterated that the status quo was unshakeable, Generation Z has now wielded social media to profoundly shift the curve of political discourse in the anti-gun violence movement. While revolutionary in the U.S., this campaign echoes those from across the Atlantic and the tech-enabled activism of Africa. From the social media-driven Arab Spring, to polling station transparency using SMS transmitted data in Cote d’Ivoire, populations of African youth trampled by inequality, and fragmented by geographic borders, have long used technology as the infrastructure for activism — even revolution. American youth reckoning with their new-found voice, would be wise to look at their peers across the Atlantic in Africa, where digital change-makers have transformed their own countries with the help of digital platforms, arming themselves with hashtags instead of weapons.
Many countries across Africa are portrayed as a lost cause — a hot bed for corruption, violence, and inaction from those elected. Yet young Africans have shown a great ability to overthrow legacy regimes and backward ideals. In the 1900’s, student activism was key to casting off the colonial yoke. Similarly, it was the South African Students’ Movement uprising in 1976 which eventually led to the end of Apartheid. In modern times, African youth have successfully brought about revolutionary change during the Arab Spring and, even more recently through “Zuma must fall”, thanks to deep mobile internet adoption and a want to use these new tools to bring about profound progress.
Across Africa, a disenfranchised and downtrodden generation, used to their governments leaving nothing in their hands, found mobile phones in their pockets and discovered their best weapon — their voice. The power they fortified is an example to youth everywhere who feel voiceless.
Access to platforms like Twitter and Facebook have brought about knowledge and communication democracy in countries where information flows were previously controlled by misaligned governments or simply not possible due to poor infrastructure. The Arab Spring became synonymous with the “Twitter revolution” or “Facebook Uprising”. Indeed, the need for social media during the revolution in Egypt was so great, that it brought about rapid social media adoption with Facebook users growing 16.5 percent over the start of the uprising in January 2011 to June 2012 (70 percent of those users were aged 15 to 29.) The protestors of Egypt’s revolution had no need to hijack the radio waves; they had their feet in Tahrir Square and their voices online in every corner of the world.
In Zimbabwe, the #ThisFlag campaign rallied patriots to fight for the values of their country and speak out against Robert Mugabe’s policies. In response to the spread of the movement, the government cracked down on social media leaders and announced draft legislation to address so-called “cyber terror”. Yet, after only seven months since the campaign began, it was the leader of 37 years who was stepping down.
Nigeria’s #BringBackOurGirls campaign spread globally, forcing the Nigerian federal government to act and eventually return many of the 276 female schoolchildren to their families. South Africa’s #ZumaMustFall campaign also demanded the removal of the political leader, marred in corruption scandals. With the advent of social media, global youth are offered the power to organize and unite political voice in the way that youth of the past were not – nowadays, no battle is too large.
Social media has been the primary tool of America’s #NeverAgain movement, but young African activists have gone beyond social media and built their own digital platforms to drive improvements in the civil engagement of their respective countries. Coders in Kenya built Ushadidi — a crowd-mapping platform that enables observers to report violence against voters from their mobile phones. In response to data gathered by the app, three political appointees were charged with crimes against humanity for contributing to the 1,300 deaths in the violence of the 2007 presidential election. Ushadidi went on to play a critical role in other crises including the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and Japan’s earthquake Tsunami, and as a violence warning system in the 2015 Nigerian elections.
Civic awareness and activism has also been spurred by platforms such as Uganda’s URB and Nigeria’s Tracka. These platforms empower citizens with the notion that through monitoring and reporting, they can drive transparency for government projects and to make sure budget allocations are used to improve the lives of the general population. In countries where government corruption and censoring of media inhibit transparency, technology platforms have been paramount to bring about major change when governments and development organizations could not.
With campaigns like #Enough and #March4OurLives, American youth have transformed the political conversation in ways never seen before, but their legacy will not stop here. Young change-makers now have the potential to use their unprecedented digital access to catalyze major change. Technology is the key to unlock a better tomorrow, together.
Lexi Novitske and Dale Mathias are venture investors in early-stage technology companies in Africa. Lexi heads Singularity Investments in Lagos, Nigeria and is also a Kauffman Fellow. Dale manages a private investment vehicle for startups across Africa and the United States.
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