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The rise of Boko Haram

The start of Boko Haram's insurgency in Nigeria, the campaign for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US, the Stanford Prison Experiment and a Cold War love story from Germany.

In 2009, Boko Haram, a small Islamist group, launched an insurgency in the north eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri. The conflict would eventually force hundreds of thousands from their homes, and leave tens of thousands dead. We hear a witness account of how the violence started. Plus, this past week Americans have been observing the Martin Luther King Jr. Day national holiday. The long campaign to have Dr King formally recognized in the US was led by his widow, Coretta Scott King. We hear from her daughter, Dr Bernice King, about the campaign. We dip into the 麻豆社 archive to bring you the story of the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment. Also, from the 1980s, a time when many wanted to get out of East Germany and into the West, the young woman who decided to go the other way and set up a new life in the East. And the Dutchman behind the first bike sharing scheme.

Photo: A suspected Boko Haram house in Maiduguri set ablaze by Nigerian security forces, 30th July 2009 (AFP/Getty Images)

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50 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Sat 22 Jan 2022 14:06GMT
  • Sat 22 Jan 2022 19:06GMT
  • Sat 22 Jan 2022 20:06GMT
  • Tue 25 Jan 2022 00:06GMT

Podcast