WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN AFRICA: DIGITAL COLLECTIVE IDENTITY BUILDING AND OFFLINE ORGANISING THE CASE OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA

It was around 2014 when Ethiopian Facebook saw an incredible uptick in feminist and women's organizing following the tragic death of a teenage girl named Hanna as a result of a gruesome gangrape. The news hit the internet when a (former) activist and co-founder of a university student-led youth feminist group, the Yellow Movement, took a screenshot of the news from a local newspaper that was shoved in the corner without enough emphasis. The news stirred many, feminists and non-feminists alike, causing massive outrage and call for action against the criminals. This is when Facebook and Twitter unleashed a concerted campaign called #JusticeForHanna and #IamHanna which brought in the much-needed media attention and public attention causing thousands of people to empathise with the victim and call for justice. The campaign was able to put significant impact on the legal process which forced legal professionals involved to treat the matter with care as they had all eyes on them to deliver justice for the victim. The judges gave them all the maximum punishment as per the law although the public was not entirely satisfied with the verdict.