Happy to share the latest edition of a research project I worked on together with a colleague, focusing on digital violence in Ethiopia. (highlights the patterns of harassment, surveillance, outing, and stigma against queer individuals.)
genderit.org/feminist-tal...
Discounted registration is not compensation. If an organization truly value art as advocacy, healing, and change, they need to value the artists behind it with fair pay. Isn’t
compensation equity in practice? How do you ask for art projects and treat artists as customers?
I've been engaged in a research project for over a year with an incredible research partner I'm deeply grateful for. Our work focuses on online violence against queer individuals in Ethiopia. Our reflection has finally been published:
genderit.org/index.php/fe...
Picked my favorites 💐
✨ Tulips ✨ Dalton Farms, NJ
The Women going to the Sepulchre, 1912, Robert Anning Bell Painting of women in blue garments walking leftward, one woman, and then five behind her, on a flat plain, hazy sky ....
Thanks to my friend Harriet for pointing out that the women went to Christ's tomb and saw he was not there, the angels showed up to describe what happened, & the women then told the apostles, who dismissed them. A Biblical account of women not being believed.
Thank you 😆
First half marathon ✅
Please HALF Marathon 🥲
I can’t believe I am actually running my first marathon this Sunday 🎧🏃🏾♀️✨
Why queer archive?
Because queer stories shall start with queerness not queerphobia.
All this hate crime is deeply embedded in the narrative of keeping Ethiopia safe and holy, driven by fear based rhetoric that motivates people to partake in this hate. (Years of misinformation and disinformation + propaganda that are still available in different social media platforms) /End
August 2023
For months, an organized campaign targeting queer communities unfolded on TikTok, involving doxing (those assumed to be gay), threats, mob justice calls, and misinformation, with participation from government officials, religious leaders, influencers, and users.
March 2022
<<ስለ ኢትዮጵያ ዝም አንልም: ትውልድን ከግብረ ሰዶም እንታደግ>> org (We will not be silent about Ethiopia. Let us save generations from Gibre Sodom) hosted an event to raise awareness about homosexuality and how Eth can prevent its spread.
youtu.be/SEXdSH6qAJA?...
June 2019
Toto tours to Ethiopia
(US based LGBTQ+ tour operator announcement on their visit to Ethiopia which included Lalibela Church)
A press conference was held by anti gender activists stating “they should not come or they will be attacked.”
religionnews.com/2019/06/14/e...
July 2015
Former President Barack Obama’s visit sparked a widespread rumor that his visit aimed to discuss decriminalization of homosexuality. Comments on Dr Tedros Adhanom’s post speak volume about that time.
June 2012
Conference entitled “Homosexuality and its Associated Social Disastrous Consequences” was held at the AU. Featured a research finding that “homosexuality is a result of inappropriate upbringing and linked it to STDs, HIV, and severe psychological disorders.”
76crimes.com/2012/06/15/e...
December 2011
During the 16th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) held in Addis Ababa, messages of protest spread, claiming that the conference’s objective was to promote homosexuality & pressure the Eth govt to pass supportive legislation.
globalvoices.org/2011/12/01/e...
Key dates on the evolution of anti homosexuality advocacy and online violence against LGBTQIA+ communities in Ethiopia: 1/
Fuck this fucking fascist fuckery.
A portrait of queer Ethiopian American friends who found this big friendship while in college.
In the face of relentless disinformation and the shattering weight of systemic denial, queer Africans continue to create safe spaces for themselves. Every quiet search for connection and every hidden gathering is an act of defiance — a refusal to be erased.
The African Union’s moment of truth At this weekend’s summit in Addis Ababa, our presidents must decide: Does the continental body serve them, or us? NEWS ANALYSIS Simon Allison In March 1990, the Tanzanian statesman Salim Ahmed Salim visited Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli. At the time, Salim was just six months into his long tenure as secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity. According to Salim’s notes, the Libyan dictator made him wait before eventually granting him an audience in the ruins of a former presidential compound that had been bombed by US warplanes several years earlier. Gaddafi had turned the compound into a museum. On two chairs set up outside a tent, the pair discussed the major issues of the day – civil war in Ethiopia; clashes
Cover of this weekend's edition of The Continent's digi newspaper... Skyrise buildings in Addis Ababa, including the HQ building of the African Union is seen...as well as a busy road with vehicles driving by a billboard that reads "now or never for the African Union." It is next to a drawing of the Lion of Judah, a symbol seen in many places across the Ethiopian capital.
"Now or never" - @thecontinent.org.
Thread: While Europe was getting scolded at its own Munich Security Conference, African leaders were in Ethiopia for the annual African Union summit. As @simonallison.bsky.social explained, it was a critical summit, with Africa facing a new Trump led world order.
Publishing this during black history month is DIABOLICAL. LMAOOOOOOOOO!!!! The NYT is so wild.
🤩 Ethiopian and Eritrean queer stories to the streets. To be seen. To be heard. A song of resistance ✨
Billboard from Exposure Photography Festival. (📸 Mitra Samavaki)
Calgary, Alberta
My photography project Wonderfully Made, which highlights the Ethiopian and Eritrean queer community in the US, is featured in this year’s Exposure Photography Festival and opened last night ✨
If you are in Calgary don’t miss it - at Contemporary Calgary.
Today, I have a home where anyone who has been mistreated because of their sexuality, or who can’t be queer, Habesha, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Oromo—whatever their identity—in their own home, can come and be themselves.” 3/end
From a conversation with an Ethiopian American queer woman.
…When I turned 18, a family member outed me by sharing personal social media posts of me and the girl I was dating. My parents threatened me and even threatened to out her to her family, even though she wasn’t out—and as far as I know, she still isn’t. That’s when they essentially disowned me… 2/
“I grew up in a very religious household where my parents often expressed that they didn’t believe the LGBTQ+ community deserved equal rights. Yet one of God’s commandments is “love your neighbor as yourself.” Why would you deny your neighbor the same rights you have? 1/
“I can still see you if I close my eyes and focus, but that’s the only place you exist now. You’re a dream I had to let go of, even though I didn’t want to. Because more than anything, I wanted you to be safe and happy—and I can’t promise you that.”
open.substack.com/pub/soniawit...