All of the support that the Palestinians receive, support that transcends the Arab and Muslim worlds by the way, has been, in a word, bittersweet. Yes, I am a tireless defender of the Palestinian people and their rights and nothing mystified me more than seeing the Palestinian flag strewn throughout the World Cup by players from across the world and fans alike, as well as people taking to the streets all over the world to demand an end to the onslaught in Gaza and justice for Palestinians, but its also was a stark reminder of how little care or media coverage the genocide of our people in Tigray, Ethiopia got.
I'm hearing a lot that solidarity is not transactional and that we should care about other people, other movements, other atrocities because it's the right thing to do. And most of my comrades in the movement for Tigrayan freedom care deeply and are vocal about about the suffering of all oppressed people from Gaza, to Armenia, to Sudan and the Congo and so much more. But how many of them have spoken out for us? The conservative estimate is that 600,000 civilians have been killed, 120-130,000 women raped, an entire regional state still suffering besiegement and occupation from enemy armies.
As we mourn and commemorate the Nakba on May 15th every year in which 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes, has anyone batted an eye over the fact that 900,000+ Tigrayans were forcibly removed from their homes in Western Tigray by Amhara forces, doomed to a life of being internally displaced people all the while the Ethiopian government is resettling people into stolen homes as we speak? When the UN talks about the hunger crisis in Gaza (which is a travesty that must be addressed) do they not see the blatant hypocrisy in the fact that they gave a free pass to the regime that is still deliberately starving the Tigrayan people by not going forward with the investigation into Ethiopia and Eritrea's crimes?
In some ways, the general public is not to blame, as there was a telecommunications black out during the duration of the war, as well as a carefully cultivated disinformation campaign propagated by the Ethiopian government successfully confusing and maiming any segment of the population that may actually care. As well as an American government and apparatus of NGOs that cared more about diplomacy with Ethiopia than the lives of innocent Tigrayans.
It also occurred to me that if there was a narrative for the global black/pan African community to cling onto of oppressors and oppressed our cause would have so much more salience. More specifically if it were the Habesha people still battling the Italians, and they were responsible for the siege, genocide, bombings, starvation and ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans there would be uproar that rivals the anti-apartheid movement regarding South Africa. But the barbarity came in the form of one black African group onto another so the world looked the other way.
But throughout all the darkness, the only way forward is solidarity. And that's what I, in my small ways and limited capacity, have tried to do. The Tigrayan people should seek out allies everywhere from the Palestinians to the Armenians, to the Oromos of southern Ethiopia, to the Kurds, to the Rohingya people of Myanmar to black Americans, and more.
Also, once the Israel-Gaza war ends and it is in the headlines less, we need to fight to get our stories in the media once and for all. The staggering death toll, the multitude of assaults have to be brought to light and the architects of the blockade that decimated our families must be brought to justice.
But what does justice for Tigray actually look like? To me, its exhaustive yet relatively clear cut, it means a formal recognition that genocide that took place, the removal of Abiy Ahmed's regime as there is no peace or justice with him in power, referrals to the ICC, excising Amhara forces from western Tigray, as well as any remaining Eritrean troops and the return of all refugees and internally displaced people to their homes. But we can start with resuming food aid to Tigray, it's the least the international community can do.
None of this is even remotely possible if we can't get the public, good people of conscience from all over the world, on our side. But how do we get them there? The war is over in name, so the few headlines that appeared have long faded away. How do we force the media's hand? Or perhaps most importantly how do we get them to see the Tigrayan people as as worthy of victims as the people of Gaza or Ukraine?
Unfortunately I do not have any of those answers, I am as lost in this battle as I am in my personal life. But I do know this---we can never give up the momentum. We have to, as Tigrayans in the diaspora, bring Tigray into every space we can. Whether that be on social media, waving Tigray's flag at other protests, lobbying independent media to cover it, contacting our respective members of Congress and just simply talking to people and bringing it into every conversation possible.
The Armenian genocide took a century to be fully recognized and I believe in the depths of my soul that justice for the Tigrayan people won't take as long. We just have to get organized, stay organized, keep fighting the good fight as the facts are on our side and the rest will fall into place.
Excellent piece!