Tigray genocide Archives | South Seattle Emerald

by Ronnie Estoque

The Seattle Globalist was a daily online publication that covered the connections between local and global issues in Seattle. The Emerald is keeping alive its legacy of highlighting our city’s diverse voices by regularly publishing and re-publishing stories aligned with the Globalist’s mission.

Last Saturday, the local Tegaru community gathered from across the Tigrean Community Center on East Yesler Way to protest the continuing war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Last December, the Emerald covered a candlelight vigil that was organized by the community to honor those killed in a conflict that began Nov. 4 after the Ethiopian government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front of ambushing a federal military base.

According to protestors in attendance, the situation since then has only intensified, with persisting blackouts in Tigray preventing families from checking up on their relatives that have been fleeing the conflict.

Speeches were given at the protest by several local community members, which were then followed up by a march down East Yesler Way. Local youth led the march by holding banners up front. “Stop ethnic cleansing in Tigray!” was a chant that rang through the streets as protestors marched, alongside calls for international intervention to help halt the war. According to Al Jazeera, thousands have died in the conflict thus far with around two million people having to flee their community as refugees. Protest organizers also encouraged attendees to financially support their people in need during this time by donating to a GoFundMe set up by the Tigray Development Association.

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by Chloe Collyer

May Day is a historic and celebrated day for Seattle to honor its labor movement. This May 1, at Volunteer Park, a few runners and dog walkers passed by a group of “Black Bloc” protesters carrying handmade signs and East African flags. Black Bloc, the term used to describe the black-clad protesters usually associated with anti-capitalist, anarchist movements, was defined by one park-goer as “people who just want to smash something,” but the sincerity of their cause on Saturday was clear: They were there to protest the genocide taking place in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Whether you call it a civil war, ethnic repression, or genocide, it’s clear people are suffering. Millions of Tigrayans have lost their jobs, faced violence and drone strikes, or been thrown out of refugee camps by the Ethiopian government and simply scattered across the countryside. First-hand reports describe sexual violence being used as a daily weapon of war. International aid has been cut off. It is, by all accounts, a nightmare.

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