Notices by Zecharias Zelalem (zekuzelalem@dair-community.social), page 4

The argument among many in journalism for muted stances is that journalism ethics requires us to refrain from engagement in activism of all kinds.

But this is actually a western social construct.

Journalism doctrine in Africa leaves space for a huge exception: press freedom advocacy related activism. It's due to the repression often encountered while working on the continent: if journos don't speak up for journos, no one else will.

Silence when journalists are killed is what is unethical.

A source in Lebanon tells me that there have been two mass roundups of Syrian refugees at Beirut's Martyrs' Square since Saturday. The Syrians had been displaced by Israeli airstrikes & were on the streets with scores of other IDPs. The source tells me she is certain that Syrians were targeted, because police went around asking people for identifying documents, presumably to avoid arresting Lebanese.

The Saturday arrests began late, around 22h00, just after journalists had left for the night.

Grim anniversary.

Al Jazeera's recap of a year of horrors. Their coverage of Israel's war on Gaza and atrocities that even the ICJ admits plausibly amount to genocide, has been unparalleled.

Meanwhile, we learned a lot about our colleagues and friends and the politically demarcated limits we set for compassion and humanity. For too many of us, the massacre of 40k+ has been an inconvenience and not a source of outrage.

We still don't know when it will all end.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/7/one-year-of-israels-war-on-gaza-a-simple-guide

Israel's attacks on Lebanon have killed 2000 and displaced over a million now.

Here's another aspect of the story you're not likely to have heard of: Lebanon's African migrant community, which numbers around half a million, are among the displaced, the fleeing, the injured.

Unfortunately, and this is incredibly heartbreaking to say it, African migrants are being denied space at shelters that are being declared "Lebanese only."

-Euphemisms for all out war-

Limited ground incursion 🇮🇱
Special military operation 🇷🇺
Law enforcment operation 🇪🇹

A number of prominent media outlets, including the Washington Post and The Economist released editorials this week, calling on Biden to pressure the UAE to end its funding of the rebel RSF implicated in gruesome atrocities.

The war in Sudan has killed 20,000 thus far. In Ethiopia, atrocities by the UAE backed factions caused half a million deaths. It didn't appear to matter much.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2021/11/25/uae-air-bridge-provides-military-support-to-ethiopia-govt

For what it's worth, last month US singer songwriter Macklemore cancelled a concert in Dubai, to protest the UAE's enabling bloodshed in Sudan. It's a rare instance of major stars trying to shine a light on the Sudan conflict and the role played by regional powers in inflaming it. A ray of hope for those who lament how human suffering is totally overlooked when it happens in certain places.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrj1gkw52lo

THREAD: Among commentators in East Africa, this odd move to name the UAE as a "major defence partner" was viewed as another low point for the outgoing US President.

The US appears keen on awarding its Middle East allies involved in fledgling Gaza peace talks but who have thus far withstood pressure domestically and from the entire Arab world to take radical action against Israel. The US similarly announced $130M in funding destined for Egypt.

On the UAE...

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/9/23/biden-administration-designates-uae-major-defence-partner-in-rare-move

Publicly, the UAE has been seen issuing denounciations of Israel's mass slaughter in Gaza and its diplomats at the UN have repeatedly called for a ceasefire. As such the perception of many, especially those who don't follow African affairs is that strong security ties with the UAE could enable the Emiratis to help stabilize the region in the long run.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/9/14/uae-says-it-will-not-back-post-war-gaza-plans-without-palestinian-state

It's viewed as disappointing in Africa, because the UAE played a hugely important role in arming and funding militia groups or armies involved in horrendous atrocities that legal scholars and HRW have said amount to genocidal acts, both in Sudan (ongoing since 2023) and Ethiopia (2020-2022).

Despite mass murder of human beings that by far outnumbers anything seen in the Middle East since 7/10/23, the UAE appear to have been given a pass by Biden.

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/uae-sudan-war-peace-emirates-uk-us-officials

"Ethiopia" reads the word in white. In letters only people more familiar with Africa might recognize.

But I bet some of you here might recognize the orange pizza slice in this photo.

That's right! It's Russian state media. Sputnik is expanding its news service in the Amharic language.

The Russian propaganda outlet, renowned for misinformation and being booted off social media platforms, wants to become a major news provider for Ethiopians. It has already set up an office in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, and plans to begin radio broadcasts soon.

In May of last year, Sputnik signed a partnership agreement with Ethiopia's Fana Broadcasting Corporate, a local state media outlet. At the time, the two said they would work to share expertise and news, which I found astonishing considering that both regularly violate journalism ethics and are recognized as propaganda outlets.

https://rossiyasegodnya.com/20230306/435464.html

At first all it did was hire translators to reproduce Sputnik's English content in Amharic. Now however, I've learned that it is training Amharic speakers to produce content that will fall inline with narratives friendly both to Addis Ababa and the Kremlin.

For those working in human rights, this is a bad thing. Throughout the brutal wars that killed hundreds of thousands in Ethiopia since 2020, Russia VETOed anything brought up at the UNSC, which enabled Ethiopia to continue its onslaughts.

Here are some samples of what I am told is news produced independently by Ethiopian staff at Sputnik.

"Ukrainian intelligence is working to recruit and arm known terrorist organizations based in Syria."

"The government of Mali slammed the UN for its failure to condemn Ukraine and hold Kiev accountable for its support of terrorist entities across Africa."

Ethiopia is one of the worst jailors of journalists in Africa, with 200+ journalists detained unjustly in the country since 2019. With such a hostile press atmosphere, the government opening up the space for Sputnik to operate is clearly because they've reached an agreement to avoid all hard hitting actual journalism, and disseminate propaganda.

What worries me is the impact it may have on society with precious few independent outlets operating in Ethiopian languages.

https://africanarguments.org/2024/06/in-abiys-ethiopia-200-journalists-have-been-arrested-since-2019/

THREAD: Hello friends. Work has me running everywhere and extremely busy, sorry for not updating more often.

I'm still busy, but I come here to drop a few lengthy MUST READ reports for people who want an understanding of affairs in East Africa.

C.W: content primarily centered around genocide.

This special citation by the Pulitzer Prize committee is an insult.

To refuse to even mention that these are Palestinian media workers...and then to intentionally avoid distinguishing between those living and working in Gaza in extremely dangerous conditions and at risk of death at any moment...and everyone else covering the conflict remotely from North America or Europe, belittles the sacrifices of Palestinian journalists.

It's an attempt at sugarcoating Israel's direct role in their murders.

A far more proper citation was the one UNESCO made last week, which specified that it was honoring Palestinian journalists for its 2024 Press Freedom Prize. The UNESCO award failed to use updated figures for murdered media workers, and didn't identify the perpetrators of bloodshed.

But at least, this doesn't dehumanize Palestinians, as the statement names them and thanks them by adding that humanity has "a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression."

Guess who won the Pulitzer for best International Reporting? The New York Times. Anat Schwartz et al.

Well oh well.