Campaign Wrap-Up Thank you Note

The #In90Words online campaign marking the 90th day of the illegal and inhuman detention of Zone 9ers and three journalists was just a small peak point in the long continuous spontaneous line of campaign waged by many of us. The organizers would like to thank each and every one of you for sharing your personal stories as it relates to those fine young men and women of Ethiopia.

The ultimate purpose of this and upcoming campaigns is to exert maximum weight on the center of the arch of justice so that it bends towards justice sooner than later.

There hundreds of you engaged offline by supporting and comforting the families of these prisoners of conscience.  Some of you are financially subsidizing the homes broken apart because these guys were breadwinners for their families. Others have taken the issue to international rights organizations. And some of you are just doing it in ways we haven’t recognized yet. Kudos to all of us!

As we to tell their stories, post their pictures, and put our tweets we are reminding people in Ethiopia and elsewhere of the continued injustice in Ethiopia. Social media has now more reach than the barely existent independent traditional media in country. More people know about Zone 9ers than before. Tesfalem is fast becoming a household name. People are recognizing the ever increasing active roles women like Edom and Mahi are playing in the public sphere.

Some has rightly raised concern that thousands of other nameless prisoners of conscience have been given less attention. The organizers Kassahun Addis, Kirubel Teshome, Emmii Solomon are cognizant of that fact and want to assure you that Zone 9ers are mere poster children of the conditions [of lack of justice, equality, and freedom] of our country.

Once again, thank you for your continued participation.  Let us close our campaign with tribute to Abraha Desta who is currently unlawfully imprisoned in Maekelawi.