Stop Funding Genocide, Save Lives in Tigray

Tigray is a northern regional province of Ethiopia in north-east Africa. Nearly 7 million identify as the people of Tigray, and they face horrendous conditions that pose the threat of genocide. Tigrayans have been fighting against Ethiopia’s military dictatorship for over 20 years, but non-elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, once a Nobel Peace prize winner, declared a genocidal war on Tigray in November 2020 in the midst of the global pandemic.

On November 5, 2021 at 5 p m , members of Tigray community in Toronto rallied outside the office of Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland at 344 Bloor St. W., to demand an end to the funding of the genocide in Ethiopia. In Ottawa a two-day rally drew thousands who demanded that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau take action to stop the assault on millions in Africa. Members of Socialist Action joined these protests in an effort to raise awareness and bring justice to the people of Tigray.

Emmanuel Abraham from Tigray Advocacy Canada explained that under the direction of Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian military has blocked access to electricity, medical aid, food, and water for civilians, thus causing a desperate situation in Tigray. More than two million Tigray people are displaced, including the most vulnerable elderly and children. Ethiopia is massacring civilians, weaponizing starvation and gender-based violence against women and girls at the behest of Canadian gold mining corporations.

The two largest Canadian corporations, Parallel Mining and East Africa Metals, are funding the genocidal Ethiopian government which is bombing and committing atrocities in Tigray. Why is Ottawa quiet while genocide is in progress? Ask the survivors of genocide in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.

Ethiopia wants full control of the country with a military style dictatorship. But the people of Tigray want to be left alone to self-govern without capitalist-induced inequality. Disgracefully, Canadian corporations are funding genocide overseas, for profit and at the expense of humanity. As Tamil from Sri Lanka, a victim of May 2009 Tamil genocide, I stand with people of Tigray and against the genocidal Ethiopia government. The silence of the Canadian state does not excuse or conceal its complicit with war crimes. The time for accountability and justice is now.

Socialist Action stands against the war being waged by the Ethiopian rulers, and their cruelty towards humans and the environment. As a member of Socialist Action Canada, I am outraged at the silence of Canadian government which benefits the oppressor state and big mining corporation shareholders. SA stands in solidarity with the people of Tigray, and we demand that Ottawa act to save millions of lives by demanding an end to the aggression of Ethiopia and open the pathways for humanitarian aid.