https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/14/in-ethiopias-war-against-social-media-the-truth-is-the-main-casualty/
WorldViews
In Ethiopia’s war against social media, the truth is the main casualty
By Paul Schemm
October 14 at 11:04 AM
People attend a prayer ceremony for protesters who died recently in
the town of Bishoftu, Ethiopia, during the Irreecha festival for the
Oromo people. The government blames social media for exaggerating the
loss of life. (Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)
The annual U.N. General Assembly meeting provides an unparalleled
opportunity for world leaders to take to the bully pulpit of the U.N.
chamber and trumpet their country’s achievements or slam their
enemies.
Last month, presidents, kings and prime ministers talked about the
dangers of climate change, progress made in development goals, the
threats of terrorism or their responses to the global immigration
crisis. But when Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn took
the podium Sept. 21, the global challenge he had in mind was perhaps
unexpected: social media.
There were many other things he could have discussed, including
Ethiopia’s impressive investments in infrastructure like hydroelectric
dams and its high growth rates — or even a devastating drought that
the government and its international partners have confronted this
past year.
“We are seeing how misinformation could easily go viral via social
media and mislead many people, especially the youth,” he said. “Social
media has certainly empowered populists and other extremists to
exploit people's genuine concerns and spread their message of hate and
bigotry without any inhibition.”
The state has singled out social media as being a key factor in
driving the unrest now gripping the country. Sites like Facebook and
Twitter are now largely blocked in the country, as is Internet on
mobile phones, which is how most people in this country of 94 million
find their way online.
For much of last year, Ethiopians, especially in the vast Oromo
community, have been protesting the government over corruption, lack
of jobs and poor administration. Their efforts have been championed by
many Ethiopian dissidents living abroad, especially in the United
States, who have held rallies for them and bombarded social media
sites with denunciations of the regime’s harsh suppression of
protests.
After at least 55 people were killed in a stampede at the Irreecha
cultural festival Oct. 2, overseas activists called for “five days of
rage,” and for the next week, factories, government buildings and
tourist lodges were attacked across the Oromo region in a spasm of
violence that prompted the government to declare a state of emergency
Oct. 9.
While Ethiopia is nominally a democracy, the ruling party and its
allies hold every seat in parliament, and it is described by the
Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the most censored countries
in the world and a top jailer of journalists.
Now, however, with the Internet and the technologies it has spawned —
which the government has spent millions developing the necessary
infrastructure for — more and more dissident voices are being heard,
but often without the restraint or commitment to accuracy of more
mainstream media.
“I am fairly certain the restrictions they have put in place now are
less about silencing Ethiopians and more about restricting the
influence of the diaspora,” said Nicholas Benequista, a former
journalist who worked in Ethiopia and is now the research manager for
the U.S.-based Center for International Media Assistance.
“Ethiopia is more vulnerable to the rumor, misinformation and
provocation coming out of the diaspora because it has prevented an
independent, professional and ethical media from growing inside the
country,” he added. “I actually think they are beginning to realize
that.”
In the wake of the Irreecha tragedy, Jawar Mohammed, a
Minneapolis-based Oromo activist and head of the opposition Oromo
Media Network, posted on his Facebook page that troops had fired on
the crowd with live ammunition while helicopter gunships mowed down
innocent protesters — something that journalists and witnesses there
said simply did not happen.
In a strange twist, the government, which often interferes with
foreign journalists attempting to report across the country, ended up
citing Western media reports that none of the victims exhibited
gunshot wounds to bolster their version of events.
Mohammed said he provides the protest movement with tactical and
strategic advice on civil disobedience and has actively called for
attacking businesses to wound the regime economically.
A tour through his Facebook and Twitter account reveals postings in
three languages — Amharic, Oromo and English — describing protests,
shootings and riots across the country, as well as incidents like
soldiers shooting their commanders and the use of artillery against
unarmed civilians that have not been described anywhere else, and
which are a bit hard to swallow.
“We have tens of thousands of activists taking pictures and photos as
they take part in protest actions. They pass it to us, we verify the
story using various mechanisms and share with the public,” he told The
Post in an email. “When Internet is down, we have alternative ways
where critical information reaches us, although the volume
significantly drops.”
The degree to which social media actually translates into direct
activism has long been debated. Some maintain that the role of
Facebook in coordinating and fueling the Arab Spring uprisings has
been vastly exaggerated.
Ethiopia, with its impoverished countryside, has an Internet
penetration of between 4 and 12 percent, with few being able to afford
the smartphones to take advantage of the 3G network — when it hasn’t
been shut down.
Mohammed, however, says that all it takes is a few people accessing
his messages through proxies or special software and then passing it
on through word-of-mouth or phone calls to other activists on the
ground.
Yet others active in Ethiopia's social media environment prefer not to
overestimate the influence of people like Mohammed, ascribing the
unrest more to people's well-founded anger rather than following
orders from abroad.
Daniel Berhane, an Addis Ababa-based blogger and editor of the Horn
Affairs Network news site, said many times in the past, Mohammed and
others have called for “days of rage” and there had been little
response. It was only in the wake of huge loss of life at one of the
most sacred festivals of the Oromo people that there was so much
violence.
His website has hosted a number of articles critical of Mohammed, and
he dismissed the veracity of much of Mohammed’s reporting, but
admitted that knowing through social media that others were angry
helped sustain the movement.
“Social medial tells you if the other district is protesting and it
makes you feel like you are not alone,” he said. “It sends a signal
that the rage already exists on the ground.”
The problem, according to Berhane, is that there are not many online
voices disputing the exaggerated narratives of the diaspora activists.
The government relies on its monopoly of traditional media like radio
and television and leaves the world of social media uncontested.
“The government doesn’t have a clue for using alternative voices even
to support their own policies,” he said. “They can’t tolerate even a 1
percent deviation from their own view.”
Received on Fri Oct 14 2016 - 20:48:16 EDT