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sarcasm
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There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it (The Nation)

Post by sarcasm » 10 May 2022, 10:41

There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it

The reasons range from Internet shutdowns to just pure racism.



humanitarian crisis is taking place in northern Ethiopia, but you may not have read about it in the news. In fact, you may have never heard of the Tigray National Regional State, which is currently encircled by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces. Those troops are setting up blockades, burning food silos, and going from village to village committing genocidal massacres and rapes.

If we compare the situation in Tigray to other ongoing armed conflicts, the numbers are startling. Looking at civilian deaths, for example, the war in Ukraine has resulted in less than 3,000 Ukrainian deaths, according to the UN Human Rights Office, while Tigray has seen upward of 500,000, as per estimates by Ghent University.

Ethiopian politics are complex. The nation has five parliamentary parties, 17 other national parties, and 15 other regional parties. In March 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed postponed the general elections set for August to 2021, citing the Covid-19 pandemic. The local Tigrayan government called this an unconstitutional attempt to extend his mandate and held local elections anyway. Abiy cut funding to the region and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front responded by attacking federal command headquarters in the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle, after which Ethiopian and Eritrean forces began their siege.

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But the violence is not merely political—it’s also racial. There is long-standing conflict among Ethiopia’s three main ethnic groups—Oromos, Amharas and Tigrayans—as well as a desire among Eritreans to settle an old score with Tigray after decades of border conflict. The resulting ethnic tensions have led to violence that isn’t limited to Tigray. Tigrayans across the country face attacks.

Ahlam “Lala” Mohammed, a 21-year-old university student from Washington, D.C., told me that one of her family members was murdered in the capital of Addis Ababa in early April. “He was a Tigrayan and, of course, as a Tigrayan during this time, you are a target. So all you can do is hide your identity or you will be killed.”

To be fair, some outlets, such as Al Jazeera, have provided ample coverage. But it is not enough, and it is dwarfed by the coverage of Ukraine or the Bosnian genocide before it. “I don’t know if the world really gives equal attention to Black and white lives,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, himself an ethnic Tigrayan based in Geneva, said at a press conference given on April 13. “I need to be blunt and honest that the world is not treating the human race the same way. Some are more equal than others.”


“This is one of the longest and worst sieges of modern history,” Tedros told me recently. “There are 7 million people sealed off from the outside world for 18 months now. I haven’t spoken to my relatives in Tigray in 18 months, because telecoms are cut off. They are starving. But I can’t send money because banks are closed.”


War in Europe is startling to Western audiences, and it carries with it echoes of World War II and Nazi Germany, the horrors of the Holocaust, and the words “never again.” Tigray, meanwhile, is a foreign and unfamiliar land where discerning who the bad guys are can be difficult. Too often for US and European readers, the reaction to conflict in Africa or the Middle East is for many to shrug and say, “Isn’t that region always at war anyway?”

Of course, another reason for the media’s heavier focus on Ukraine is its geostrategic importance not only for Europe, but also, some would argue, Western liberal democracy. In Tigray, there is no threat of nuclear conflict or global economic repercussions, whereas Ukraine supplies 12 percent of the world’s wheat and 17 percent of its corn.

Finally, the Ethiopian government cut Internet access in Tigray on November 4, right before the fighting broke out, further contributing to our lack of knowledge about what’s happening there. Tigray is far from the only region that has been cut off from the rest of the world in this way. According to a 2021 report by the digital civil rights group, Access Now, authorities cut Internet access at least 182 times in 34 countries last year, including in 12 African countries. As in China, Russia, North Korea and elsewhere, controlling Internet access is a means of throttling democracy. But Tigray is in one of the worst situations in the world. The longest ongoing shutdown, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, lasted five and a half years, followed by less than two years in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, and one and a half years in Tigray. However, as Tedros noted, Tigray contains over 7 million people, while there are just 5 million in FATA and 3 million in Rakhine.

Continue reading https://www.thenation.com/article/world ... -about-it/

Sam Ebalalehu
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Re: There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it (The Nation)

Post by Sam Ebalalehu » 10 May 2022, 10:48

The nation the most liberal paper doesn’t have the money to send reporters to Ethiopia. If that is the case just shut up. Do not write a story quoting a single person who is partisan in the conflict.


Right
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Re: There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it (The Nation)

Post by Right » 10 May 2022, 11:44

Genocide?
OK. There is nothing you can do. You are a caged animal. Period. It is over.


Ethoash
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Re: There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it (The Nation)

Post by Ethoash » 10 May 2022, 12:28

PHD sarcasm

DONT WORRY the usa give green light to TDF to go to Assmara .. the root cause of our problem will be eliminated soon. God is my wittiness horn of Africa will be peace again

euroland
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Joined: 08 Jun 2018, 12:42

Re: There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it (The Nation)

Post by euroland » 10 May 2022, 15:12

AganeAssh
Last time your ill trained Weyane contemplated that, Shaebia ended up taking over your entire Chigar kill just in 17 days :lol: :lol: AND Chigray lost over half of her land to her enemies PERMANENTLY. Shaebia also made your people, from the “Golden Race” to “Beggers”, surviving on on expired Canadian wheat LOL

Ethoash wrote:
10 May 2022, 12:28
PHD sarcasm

DONT WORRY the usa give green light to TDF to go to Assmara .. the root cause of our problem will be eliminated soon. God is my wittiness horn of Africa will be peace again

lil kogne
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Re: There’s Genocide in Tigray, but Nobody’s Talking About it (The Nation)

Post by lil kogne » 10 May 2022, 17:36

Ethoash I mean Ethotrash, Agame indeed will go to Asmara just to shine shoes and push carts.
ok and your sisters and mother will be maids but, then again, who would want a qomal dirty agame to set foot in their homes. Nah, Agames will never set foot in Eritrea not, never.
these humanoids are insignificant creatures and are liability to Ethiopia and Africa at large. need to be eliminated !!!

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