2023-10-29 17:05:23
“These people rape children (…). I would rather my brother get killed than dance with men. » Like the young female executive who made these comments, many Ethiopians were outraged by videos showing men dancing together, some dressed in outfits that could be considered feminine. Captured during a party and published in August on the social network TikTok, these images triggered a wave of hatred against the LGBT+ community in Ethiopia.
Push into exile
Among the victims, the singer Ezana (1) who, after performing at this evening, joined his friends on the dance floor. “The scene was filmed and posted on social networks without my knowledge. Fifteen days later, I was having lunch near my university when a dozen men attacked me.”, he says. He escaped with several broken bones.
His own cousin recorded a video calling for his murder, including his address. Terrified, Ezana took refuge with a friend. He managed to leave the country thanks to an NGO that helps people in his situation. At the same time, influencers revealed on social networks the sexual identity of LGBT+ people who were hiding it.
Homosexuality prohibited by law
In Ethiopia, homosexuality is punishable by fifteen years in prison. While multiple conflicts divide and ravage the country and inflation strangles the population, the authorities in Addis Ababa have used this “scandal” to unite society against the LGBT+. Following the hostile reactions sparked by the images of the evening, the authorities announced that they were taking measures “against institutions where homosexual acts are committed”. They opened a telephone line to denounce “illegal activities that deviate from the law and social values”.
In this repressive climate, homosexual people are also victims of blackmail. “They are trapped by men in cahoots with the police who demand huge sums of money in exchange for their release”, says Bonny Jay, a civil servant in the Ethiopian capital. Himself a member of the LGBT community, he has cut all ties with those close to him who are not part of it, as a security measure.
Defending yourself against TikTok
Faced with this situation, LGBT people support each other and defend each other. Lexi and Haben began systematically reporting hateful content on TikTok. The social network’s moderators were slow to suspend the accounts concerned, citing a lack of staff understanding Amharic, the most widespread official language in Ethiopia. But the articles published in the international press ultimately forced the social network to speed up its response.
At the end of October, the flow of hatred has subsided. “The positive side of this sequence is that we realized how much we can count on each other within the community”judge Haben at the table of a café in the capital. “And then the rest of the population can no longer pretend that we don’t exist. This recognition constitutes a first step in claiming our rights”, he hopes. In the meantime, the Ethiopian authorities have closed the establishment that hosted the evening with which the scandal began.
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