Defense Official Details Boko Haram’s ‘War Against Education’

Jackson Doughart: Boko Haram threat extends beyond kidnapped schoolgirls (National Post)

In reading the mainstream coverage of the Chibok kidnapping in Nigeria, one would think that the root issue was the right of young women to attend school against the patriarchal wishes of Nigerian men. But while Boko Haram most certainly believes in the inferiority of women, this doesn’t make it a simple reincarnation of Mark Lépine. What animates this group is sectarian conflict in a country divided on religious lines, making its misogyny a means to a political end.

The victims are not just any girls, but the girls of a primarily Christian village in the country’s Islamic northeast. As Michael Rubin argues on the Commentary blog, “the target may have been the girls, but the motivation was not simply to prevent the girls from receiving education or a desire to attack Western education.” Rather, their intent is “to launch a much broader attack on Christianity.” He quotes Boko Haram leader Abubakr Shekau, who concluded his May 5 speech by saying: