NebraskaRedRoseNov 25, 2022
Zecharias Zelalem
The most shockingly tone deaf event gets underway Monday. The United Nations is set to host its annual Internet Governance Forum, where tech gurus & world leaders discuss greater connectivity & human rights, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. This despite Ethiopia maintaining a 2 year phone and #internet blackout impacting 7 million people in its war torn Tigray region, where civil war killed over half a million between 2020-2022. On par with hosting a women's rights summit in Saudi Arabia.
Nov 25, 2022 at 10:07amWeb
Show threadZecharias ZelalemNov 25, 2022
In addition to horrendous atrocities and famine, the Tigray region's ongoing communications blackout has devastated the region. With residents cut off from the outside world since November 2020, Tigrayans living abroad are unaware of how family and friends are coping, many marked two years since last hearing the voices of their parents. I wrote a story on this for Thomson Reuters back in September.
https://www.reuters.com/article/ethiopia-internet-shutdown-idUSL8N2ZM09X
FEATURE-Six million silenced: A two-year internet outage in Ethiopia

She had just been crowned world champion, but Ethiopian marathon runner Gotytom Gebreslase broke down in tears when asked if her family was celebrating her win back home in war-torn Tigray.

Reuters
Show threadZecharias ZelalemNov 25, 2022
It's not some fringe organization behind this, it's none other than the United Nations. Chairing the leadership panel for the IGF are none other than web pioneer and "father of the internet" Vinton Cerf, and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa. What they would be legitimizing is far more harmful than anything you'll see at the World Cup in Qatar.
Show threadZecharias ZelalemNov 25, 2022
Might be cliche by now speaking about which lives matter and which ones don't, but with the scale of human suffering seen in recent years in countries like Ethiopia and Yemen...the perception among many from our corner of the world is that collective outrage is fueled primarily by political interests & not humanitarian sentiments. The quick fire condemnation of Iran (not saying Iran doesn't merit it) in contrast to the mellowed approach to potential genocides elsewhere bolsters this belief.
Show threadjustin fergusonNov 25, 2022
@zekuzelalem That is ... highly unfortunate. :-(
Show threadBerkubernetusDec 7, 2022
@zekuzelalem can anyone reach Vint? There's no way he'd endorse this if he knew.
Show threadCatmama 🐈Dec 7, 2022
@fuzzychef @zekuzelalem
How could he not know? I'm just a regular person. I don't have cable but do have internet service. Somehow I've managed to be aware that there is conflict in that area. Maybe not all the details, but it's not hard to find them.
Show threadocdtrekkieDec 7, 2022
@fuzzychef @zekuzelalem I'm not sure why you expect a dude who's job has been promoting Google's policy positions for nearly 20 years has an issue endorsing immoral positions. 😬 To me that's a whole other entire cringe of this, we're letting Google chair this thing on Internet governance and we aren't even making that obvious on the above image.
Show threadZecharias ZelalemDec 13, 2022
@fuzzychef he was very aware. There were Twitter campaigns slamming him for it. He chose to ignore them all.
Show threadBerkubernetusDec 13, 2022
@zekuzelalem 😢 😫 😖
Show threadLaureDec 7, 2022
@zekuzelalem wow dissing Ressa for your politics. low man low.
Show threadDaddestofallNov 25, 2022
@zekuzelalem okay, weird choice. Maybe they're trying to smuggle some internet in with them?
Show threadJennifer Moore 😷Dec 7, 2022
@zekuzelalem
Do you think there's any chance the conference can include people speaking out about the blackout? and thereby draw attention to it?
Show threadZecharias ZelalemDec 13, 2022
@unchartedworlds A few did. But at the end of the day...the winners are those behind the brutal backout. The event and the presence of prominent personalities was used to whitewash horrors.
Show threadJennifer Moore 😷Dec 13, 2022
@zekuzelalem Disappointing but I guess not surprising. Thank you for speaking out, anyway.
Show threadራስ ባሪያው Rass BariawDec 13, 2022

@zekuzelalem who agrees with Lincoln at Gettysburg? Why?

Who agrees with the Confederacy? Why?

Hint: TPLF = The Confederate States