Our story
2020 has been a year of seismic change on the global scale, the Coronavirus pandemic and the call for Black Lives Matter. For Ethiopia these global challenges have been compounded by violence and ethnic tensions that international actors have predicted can lead to genocide.
As a diaspora Ethiopian living in the UK (and our friends), we have witnessed how social media and other online tools have been used to terrorise certain communities and lead to violence that has meant lives and property were lost. We felt we can no longer be a silent witness, that we needed to act, to do something positive. We have come together to create this non for profit organisation, to ensure there is accountability.
Our interest is ensuring Ethiopia (and Ethiopians in the diaspora) can be a society free from violence created by online hate as well as empowering communities to take action against misinformation and increasing the use of online tools for the positive.
The team
Resom Michael
Resom has worked in the NGO sector helping asylum seekers and refugees. He also has background in the tech industry. He is now on a mission to fight online hate speech, fake news and misinformation that leads to violence and instability in Ethiopia.
Marchu Girma
Marchu is a campaigner for refugee and migrant rights in the UK. She is a committed feminist. Currently she is the CEO at Hibiscus Initiatives. Her expertise is around working with marginalised communities to bring about systemic change.
Biruk Gebreselassie
Briuk is a software engineer working in one of UK's tech firms in London. Biruk is very passionate about online tools that prevent hate and misinformation.
Marthe van der Wolf
Marthe is an Ethiopian-Dutch journalist & publisher. She has worked as a news correspondent across Africa and Western Europe. Marthe is currently based in London where she works as a freelance journalist and runs the online book platform MarketFiftyFour.com
Tsi Tesfay
Tsi is an experienced social worker, working with families in London. Everyday she works in challenging circumstances, and is an expert mediator, bringing different sides together. Tsi also has expertise in safeguarding.
Help Our Cause
Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals and keep the conversation going on the fight against online hate speech and misinformation. Your generous donation will fund our mission.
