#EthiopiansMessageToObama is storming the internet while the government and its supporters kept quiet

The idea of this hashtag was discussed as matter-of-factly by like-minded friends on Twitter, just a few days after the Ethiopian government suddenly 'freed' some members of Zone 9 bloggers and journalists at the beginning of July. One of them was suggesting to exploit this opportunity to urge President Obama to press its Ethiopian counterparts to release the prisoners of conscience and to respect the rule of law. The other suggested this seemingly harsh hashtag.

BTW shouldn't we start some hashtag to make voices heard while he's visiting, pls shoot one!

— Faisal  (@FtihLeEt) July 12, 2015

This same guy posted on twitter conversation in Amharic (Ethiopian official language) “The hustle is getting harder, I wonder when exactly this guy [President Obama] is coming.”

On July 20^th 2015, an Ethiopian Muslim activist Facebooker revealed the plan inviting Ethiopians at home and abroad to use #EthiopiansMessageToObama hashtag in the social media from July 21^st – July 24^th 2015 between 9-10 GMT Ethiopian local time. In this the fifth of its kind social-media campaign, thousands of tweets were flooded the internet from all corners of the world.

According to Vocactiv, an online media, twitter users leveraged President Obama's final appearance on Daily Show last Tuesday (July 21, 2015) to highlight the injustices. Hundreds of tweets were posted with a hashtag '#EthiopiansMessageToObama' before, during and after the broadcast to draw attention to Ethiopia’s crackdown on dissent.

But, who are these twittering people trending the hashtag #EthiopiansMessageToObama on the social media? Many of them are Ethiopians who accuse their government

Planned anti-gay rally in Ethiopia is cancelled

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A planned anti-gay rally that would have made Ethiopia the latest African country to demonize gays has been cancelled, officials said Wednesday.

In addition, plans by the legislature to add gay sex to a list of crimes not eligible for presidential pardons has been dropped, said Redwan Hussein, a government spokesman.

Hostility toward gays across Africa is high. Uganda and Nigeria increased penalties against gay acts this year. Homosexuals in other countries face severe discrimination and harmful physical attacks.

Gay Ethiopians still face severe penalties for living in the open. Same-sex acts are punishable by up to 15 years in prison. A 25-year jail term is given to anyone convicted of infecting another person with HIV during same-sex acts.

But the government does not appear ready to further demonize homosexuals. Redwan said

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa City Administration gives Green Light for Anti-Gay Rally

 Ethiopian Copycats of Uganda

The Addis Ababa Youth Forum and a religious association known as the Weyneye Abune Teklehaimanot Spiritual Association have received permission from the Addis Ababa City Administration to hold a mass demonstration in the capital to protest against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals (LGBT)

and the violence that is being committed against minors.

The request made by the Forum and the Association was given the green light by the city government last Tuesday. The mass protest is scheduled to be held on April 26 under the motto 'Keeping alien culture and homosexuality at bay'.

Pro Government Youth Group Eyes Homophobic Rally in the Ethiopian Capital

Let The Hate Begins!

Chairman of the youth forum, Hailemichael Bizuayehu told The Reporter (one of the few government affiliated 'private' media outlets in Ethiopia) that the anti-Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) demonstrations are being organized in collaboration with a religious association known as Weyneye Abune Teklehaimanot Spiritual Association. 

Hailemichael, disclosed his partners in hate such as the Addis Ababa City Culture and Tourism Bureau, Addis Ababa Labor and Social Affairs Bureau, Women, Youth and Children Affairs Bureau and the Addis Ababa Police Commission. The forum, which boasts to have over 55 thousand members in Addis Ababa, is expecting over 200 thousands people to be on its hate bandwagon and protest against LGBT rights. The chairman denied the planned demonstration has no relation to the recent incident involving Minister Zenebu Tadesse's controversial Twitter message against Uganda's anti-LGBT bill.

የህውሃት ተከታዮች የጥላቻ ዘመቻ በቅርቡ በአዲስ አበባ ለማድረግ ጥያቄ አቀረቡ

ከ55 ሺሕ በላይ አባላት አሉኝ የሚለው የአዲስ አበባ አስተዳደር ወጣቶች ፎረም፣ ሁለት መቶ ሺሕ ሰዎች ተሳታፊ የሚሆኑበት ፀረ ተመሳሳይ ጾታ ተጓዳኞች ሰላማዊ ሠልፍ በመጋቢት ወር 2006 ዓ.ም. በአዲስ አበባ ለማካሄድ ጥያቄ አቀረበ፡፡

ከቀናት በፊት ለአዲስ አበባ ከተማ አስተዳደር ደብዳቤ ማስገባቱን፣ የፎረሙ ወጣት ተኮር ዘርፍ ሰብሳቢ ኃይለ ሚካኤል ብዙአየሁ በሳምንት ሁለት ጊዜ ለሚታተመው የመንግስት  ደጋፊ እንደሆነ ለሚታማው የሪፖርተር ገልጿል፡፡ 

ፎረሙ ሰላማዊ ሠልፍ ብቻም ሳይሆን የሃይማኖት ተቋማትን ጨምሮ የተለያዩ ተቋማት ተወካዮች የሚገኙበትና ብዙዎች የሚካፈሉበት የውይይት መድረክ ለማድረግ ማቀዱም ተገልጿል፡፡ ፎረሙ የፀረ ግብረ ሰዶማዊነት ሰላማዊ ሠልፍ ለማድረግ ለከተማ አስተዳደሩ ጥያቄ ያቀረበው፣ ከዚህ ቀደም በኢትዮጵያ የግብረ ሰዶማውያንን ሕይወት የሚያሳይ ዘጋቢ ፊልም ካሳተመው ወይንዬ አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት ከሚሰኝ መንፈሳዊ ማኅበር ጋር በመተግበር እንደሆነ ኃይለ ሚካኤል ተናግሯል፡፡

ሙሉ ዝርዝሩን ለማንበብ

የዘነቡ ታደሰ የትዊተር ገጽ "የተጠለፈው" ይቅርታ የተከረቸመው የለውጥ ሃዋርያ ወይስ ኢሞራላዊ ምኒስትር ስለሆኑ?

 መንግሥት አካውንታቸው ተጠልፏል እያለ ነው

የሴቶች፣ የሕፃናትና የወጣቶች ጉዳይ ሚኒስትሯ ወይዘሮ ዘነቡ ታደሰ የካቲት 17 ቀን 2006 ዓ.ም. በትዊተር ማኅበራዊ ገጻቸው ላይ፣ ‹‹በተወዳጇ አፍሪካዬ ውስጥ ጥላቻና መገለል ቦታ የላቸውም፡፡

የአለባበስ ሥርዓት ወይም የፀረ ተመሳሳይ ጾታ ተጓዳኞች ሕጐችን ማውጣት የመንግሥታት ሥራ አይደለም፤›› በሚል የወጣው መልዕክት አነጋጋሪ ሆኗል፡፡ መንግሥት ግን የሚኒስትሯ የትዊተር አካውንት መጠለፉን ገልጾ፣ ይህ መልዕክት የሚኒስትሯንም ሆነ የመንግሥትን አቋም አይወክልም ሲል

Ethiopia: ’A Graveyard for Homosexuals’

"I won't quit anti-gay advocacy until Ethiopia adopts the death penalty". " United for Life's president, Seyoum Antonius

"I don't want a gay son. You are not my son from this minute. It is better to kill yourself than be gay." An Ethiopian Father

 "Ethiopia is supposed to be clean and holy, I felt like such a dirty person for having those feelings." Exiled Ethiopian gay man

Does Homosexuality exist in the Holy land Ethiopia?

It was last Friday that I came across with these terrifying and troubling facts on Newsweek ( one of my favorite news-magazines I grew up with reading back in the days). One of my followers on twitter re-twitted it from his follower with a subject-line: "Ethiopia is a graveyard for all sorts of human rights". Well,  I couldn't resist my curiosity but found out that my follower's follower altered the original title "A graveyard for homosexuals" for some unknown reasons when he shared. Anyway, I know the human-rights abuses is bad but the anecdotes at the beginning of this piece speak volumes about the atrocities, discrimination and abuses against Ethiopian sexual minorities not only by the government but also anyone including their parents in that country. Katie Jim A. Baker of the Newsweek should be commended for writing such a very detailed, well-researched long feature by interviewing the victims, various international watchdogs, governmental and non-governmental officials. Claire Beston, Amnesty International's Ethiopia researcher told Newsweek that Ethiopia wasn't on the radar due to limited resources and difficulties getting around the anti-advocacy law. "The U.S., U.K. and other governments give huge amounts of aid to Ethiopia while remaining tight-lipped about the extensive violations of human rights happening throughout the country," Beston said. According to Pew Global Attitudes Study conducted in 2007, ninety-seven percent of Ethiopians would like homosexuality to be outlawed in the country. Honestly, I wasn't really surprised when I read this statistics because I know homophobia is highly prevalent due to patriarchy, centuries old cultural and religious beliefs and deep rooted ignorance. Katie explored these phenomenon in her writing; it's not uncommon to hear derogatory, sexist, bigoted and stereotyped comments against LGBT groups by highly educated Ethiopians at home and abroad.
 Ethiopian LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) activists to home and abroad to shade lights about the plights these minorities. International human right groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published reports in the past but were surprised that Katie was able to conduct with members of Ethiopian LGBT groups and warned her to check up on sources after the story comes, because "