By Fikru Helebo
Modern Ethiopian history is full of government policy decisions which had an unintended consequences. Prime among such unintended consequences is the separation of Eritrea in 1991 as a direct result of a decision taken by the Haile Selassie regime in 1962 to dissolve Eritrea's federation with Ethiopia. The current regime has also made a decision, namely the invasion of Somalia a few months ago, that has the potential to produce unintended consequence(s) that could rival Eritrea's separation.
Emperor Haile Selassie's regime did not believe its decision to revoke Eritrea's autonomous status in 1962 would ignite one of the longest civil wars of the 20th century and result in Eritrea's eventual separation. Similarly, Meles Zenawi's regime did not believe that its decision to send troops into Somalia would trigger another round of civil war in the Somali inhabited parts of the country, which could then lead to the separation of the Ogaden region from Ethiopia a few years or decades down the line. Only time will tell if this will come to pass.
Decisions made by parties or groups of individuals in the Ethiopian political scene, which are not often as far-reaching as decisions made by a government, like the ones I mentioned above, may also have unintended consequence(s). Take, for example, the decision by MEISON in the mid-70s to work with the Derg regime, which left the EPRP, the main opposition group of the time, out in the cold. The unintended consequence of this decision by MEISON was the Red Terror the Derg unleashed on the EPRP and, later on, on MEISON itself.
Are there decisions being made in the Ethiopian political scene these days that have the potential to produce unintended consequences of immense proportions like the examples I cited above? I hope not! Decisions that will have to be made by members of Kinijit regarding the apparent division within their party have the potential to produce unintended consequences. So does the muted response by the Ethiopian opposition to the plight of Ogadenis! I hope the politicians of today have learned something from the mistakes of the past.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
To CUDP members, supporters, and to all concerned Ethiopians
By Ephrem Madebo
As we all sadly heard, CUDP, the foremost Ethiopian opposition party seems to be in a deep trouble, as once were the Democrats and the Republicans here in the USA and the Bolsheviks in Russia almost a century ago. Political parties are not problem-prone; they have their high and low times. Today, CUDP is going through a series of internal corrections, a process that consumes time, affects human temper, and temporarily halts operations. However, when the outcome of the correction process settles, I am confident that CUDP shall shine again, not only for its members and supporters, but also for the entire opposition camp and for our country at large.
When the CUDP leaders went to jail we made a continuous local and international cry for their release, we won! Now the party finds itself in a jail of itself. If we need another victory, let’s constructively be engaged with CUDP leaders and behave in the same way we behaved when they were in jail. Let us learn from the American economy. When markets are in deep trouble, the first and the most reliable choice is to tell the government to take its hands off the economy and let the market correct itself. Here the logic is very simple i.e. self correction is efficient than government interference. But, this doesn’t mean the government would sit and watch the correction forever, it will interfere if the economy deteriorates further. Let us not aggravate the CUDP situation by acting like the government in the above analogy. Let us give a chance to CUDP leaders to solve their differences and stand as a single entity again. Mind you, I am not saying we need to keep quiet and wait for outcomes, we have the responsibility of being a constructive critique, but we should not by any means make an attempt to solve their problem in our own way, or be the devil’s advocate!
As we all sadly heard, CUDP, the foremost Ethiopian opposition party seems to be in a deep trouble, as once were the Democrats and the Republicans here in the USA and the Bolsheviks in Russia almost a century ago. Political parties are not problem-prone; they have their high and low times. Today, CUDP is going through a series of internal corrections, a process that consumes time, affects human temper, and temporarily halts operations. However, when the outcome of the correction process settles, I am confident that CUDP shall shine again, not only for its members and supporters, but also for the entire opposition camp and for our country at large.
When the CUDP leaders went to jail we made a continuous local and international cry for their release, we won! Now the party finds itself in a jail of itself. If we need another victory, let’s constructively be engaged with CUDP leaders and behave in the same way we behaved when they were in jail. Let us learn from the American economy. When markets are in deep trouble, the first and the most reliable choice is to tell the government to take its hands off the economy and let the market correct itself. Here the logic is very simple i.e. self correction is efficient than government interference. But, this doesn’t mean the government would sit and watch the correction forever, it will interfere if the economy deteriorates further. Let us not aggravate the CUDP situation by acting like the government in the above analogy. Let us give a chance to CUDP leaders to solve their differences and stand as a single entity again. Mind you, I am not saying we need to keep quiet and wait for outcomes, we have the responsibility of being a constructive critique, but we should not by any means make an attempt to solve their problem in our own way, or be the devil’s advocate!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Is Kinijit the Way?
By Fikru Helebo
The last time I attended a meeting at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia was in January 1994. That was when delegates from the Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia (CAFPDE), which was led by Beyene Petros, had a public meeting there. Yesterday, I attended another public meeting in the very same hall where CAFPDE had its meeting. This time around the meeting was called by the recently-released-from-prison leaders of the CUD (Kinijit). It seemed this meeting was attended by twice as many people as the meeting I attended in 1994.
In a previous post I had expressed my hope and wish that the released Kinijit leaders will "remain united and continue to lead by example" and so this meeting was my first opportunity to observe these leaders up close and find out if they have what it takes to "remain united and continue to lead by example." I am not sure if they will remain united (I have no better insight about the apparent rift within Kinijit), but I came out of the meeting yesterday reassured that Berhanu Nega and the other four colleagues of his who spoke at the meeting are well aware that they must lead by example if their hard work is to bear fruit. Don't take my words about them, just find out for yourselves by listening to their speeches here.
The majority of the audience at this meeting was probably composed of Kinijit members and supporters. But I am sure a sizable portion of the audience was also made up of interested folks who support other opposition groups and non-partisans such as my self. All the speeches were substantive, but the speech that electrified the audience was the keynote speech by Berhanu Nega. I believe every Ethiopian should get a chance to hear or read Berhanu's speech. Berhanu and the other speakers could have chosen to dwell on their prison ordeal or on many of the evils of the EPRDF regime. In stead, their speeches were filled with exhortations about the need to focus on the future and the importance of practicing what they preach.
I think I can confidently say that yesterday was the most optimistic I felt about the future of Ethiopia since the hijacked elections of 2005. A banner posted behind the podium at the meeting yesterday declared, in a Biblical tone, that "Kinijit is the way!". Well, I am not so sure that it is. But, of all the Ethiopian opposition groups out there, Kinijit seems to have the better chance to lead Ethiopians towards democratic pluralism and I sincerely wish these Kinijit leaders best of luck on the arduous immediate and long term tasks they face.
The last time I attended a meeting at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia was in January 1994. That was when delegates from the Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia (CAFPDE), which was led by Beyene Petros, had a public meeting there. Yesterday, I attended another public meeting in the very same hall where CAFPDE had its meeting. This time around the meeting was called by the recently-released-from-prison leaders of the CUD (Kinijit). It seemed this meeting was attended by twice as many people as the meeting I attended in 1994.
In a previous post I had expressed my hope and wish that the released Kinijit leaders will "remain united and continue to lead by example" and so this meeting was my first opportunity to observe these leaders up close and find out if they have what it takes to "remain united and continue to lead by example." I am not sure if they will remain united (I have no better insight about the apparent rift within Kinijit), but I came out of the meeting yesterday reassured that Berhanu Nega and the other four colleagues of his who spoke at the meeting are well aware that they must lead by example if their hard work is to bear fruit. Don't take my words about them, just find out for yourselves by listening to their speeches here.
The majority of the audience at this meeting was probably composed of Kinijit members and supporters. But I am sure a sizable portion of the audience was also made up of interested folks who support other opposition groups and non-partisans such as my self. All the speeches were substantive, but the speech that electrified the audience was the keynote speech by Berhanu Nega. I believe every Ethiopian should get a chance to hear or read Berhanu's speech. Berhanu and the other speakers could have chosen to dwell on their prison ordeal or on many of the evils of the EPRDF regime. In stead, their speeches were filled with exhortations about the need to focus on the future and the importance of practicing what they preach.
I think I can confidently say that yesterday was the most optimistic I felt about the future of Ethiopia since the hijacked elections of 2005. A banner posted behind the podium at the meeting yesterday declared, in a Biblical tone, that "Kinijit is the way!". Well, I am not so sure that it is. But, of all the Ethiopian opposition groups out there, Kinijit seems to have the better chance to lead Ethiopians towards democratic pluralism and I sincerely wish these Kinijit leaders best of luck on the arduous immediate and long term tasks they face.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Good Bye 1999, Hello 2000?
In a previous post I have advocated that Ethiopia is better off adopting the Gregorian calendar, the de facto world calendar, since it is obvious that the current Ethiopian calendar does not offer any advantages, other than its sentimental value for some, and since there is nothing to be gained by clinging to a calendar that is 7 years and 8 months behind the rest of the world. Isn't it time for Ethiopia to switch to the Gregorian calendar and join the rest of the world?
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
The Plight of Beggars, Atonement & The Millennium Truth and Reconciliation Commission
By Mogus Degoyae Mochena
The recent Associated Press report about beggars being rounded up and sent to their villages brought back memories of my experience when I visited Addis Ababa four years ago. In one of the articles I wrote at the time, “In Addis, The Nouveaux Riches Sip Their Caffeine in Range Rovers”, I began the article by spilling out my feelings as follows:
“It was my first day in Addis Ababa, and I had just survived nerve-racking rides through chaotic streets of Addis Ababa with utter trepidation: near misses, jolting swerves, sparring jerks at intersections without traffic lights as contending cars vie for the right of way, speeding busses, rickety old taxis and “wuyiyit” (minibuses) sneaking in and out of traffic, all scaring the hell out of me. At one stop light, seeing a beggar without limbs shoving himself on his belly and two others, with one limb each, hopping between cars as they seek for sympathetic eyes was too much to take on first day.”
How wretched life is for some of our fellow citizens! It is just beyond the pale. The problem of poverty is universal, but the degree of deprivation immensely varies and is relative to the ambient economy. In a country where the average annual income has stubbornly remained stuck at $100 per year for years, it is just too hard to understand how millions of ordinary Ethiopians make it from day to day. And quite a few resort to begging. Yet, the population is growing by leaps and bounds and is currently estimated at 81 million. And the cost of living is skyrocketing: 100 kilos of teff costs around $90 and 17 kilos (one farasulla) of ground pepper costs around $130 at this writing in a country where the average annual income is $100. Everything is so expensive and out of reach for the ordinary Ethiopians that they have dubbed the Millennium as “Minim Yelem (There is nothing)”. What is there to celebrate?
The organizers of the ballyhooed upcoming Ethiopian millennium are trying their best to project a very happy, partying Ethiopia to their foreign guests who will be visiting Addis Ababa for the festivities, especially in the wake of the recent political debacle that has tarnished the image of the current government irreparably. But certain embarrassing realities of Addis Ababa would be just too much to hide during the fleeting celebration - the tawdry, superficial partying in the midst of abject poverty.
According to one arrogant conservative political thinker from American Enterprise Institute: one must provide for beggars because they become eyesores and leave you in moral quandary as they beg. According to the AP report, the eyesores in Addis Ababa are being removed from the eyesight of the millennium party revelers.
Well, society should take care of its most vulnerable members and give them a helping hand. Relocation to one’s own village can be one of the options to solve the problem of urban beggars. This, however, must be done out of moral obligation and commonsense economic policy, not out of concern for dampening the mood of party revelers.
The millennium rather must be an occasion for reflecting why we continue to have millions of our citizens living in abominable poverty at the dawn of the twenty first century and how we can come together as a nation to lift our poor people out of the degrading poverty? If we reflect upon the images of the limbless and hopping beggars in front of us and put their interests ahead of ours, we could compromise, narrow our differences and bring about a lasting peace and economic prosperity to this ancient country to lift millions from misery.
First, however, we must atone for our ineptitude, pettiness, shortsightedness, and complete failure in recent decades before we usher in the new millennium. Then, with humility and contrition, to meet collectively the formidable challenges of poverty and instability, let us establish a Millennium Truth and Reconciliation Commission that brings the country together after the recent political fiasco. Let us wash away our dirty linen and begin afresh.
The recent Associated Press report about beggars being rounded up and sent to their villages brought back memories of my experience when I visited Addis Ababa four years ago. In one of the articles I wrote at the time, “In Addis, The Nouveaux Riches Sip Their Caffeine in Range Rovers”, I began the article by spilling out my feelings as follows:
“It was my first day in Addis Ababa, and I had just survived nerve-racking rides through chaotic streets of Addis Ababa with utter trepidation: near misses, jolting swerves, sparring jerks at intersections without traffic lights as contending cars vie for the right of way, speeding busses, rickety old taxis and “wuyiyit” (minibuses) sneaking in and out of traffic, all scaring the hell out of me. At one stop light, seeing a beggar without limbs shoving himself on his belly and two others, with one limb each, hopping between cars as they seek for sympathetic eyes was too much to take on first day.”
How wretched life is for some of our fellow citizens! It is just beyond the pale. The problem of poverty is universal, but the degree of deprivation immensely varies and is relative to the ambient economy. In a country where the average annual income has stubbornly remained stuck at $100 per year for years, it is just too hard to understand how millions of ordinary Ethiopians make it from day to day. And quite a few resort to begging. Yet, the population is growing by leaps and bounds and is currently estimated at 81 million. And the cost of living is skyrocketing: 100 kilos of teff costs around $90 and 17 kilos (one farasulla) of ground pepper costs around $130 at this writing in a country where the average annual income is $100. Everything is so expensive and out of reach for the ordinary Ethiopians that they have dubbed the Millennium as “Minim Yelem (There is nothing)”. What is there to celebrate?
The organizers of the ballyhooed upcoming Ethiopian millennium are trying their best to project a very happy, partying Ethiopia to their foreign guests who will be visiting Addis Ababa for the festivities, especially in the wake of the recent political debacle that has tarnished the image of the current government irreparably. But certain embarrassing realities of Addis Ababa would be just too much to hide during the fleeting celebration - the tawdry, superficial partying in the midst of abject poverty.
According to one arrogant conservative political thinker from American Enterprise Institute: one must provide for beggars because they become eyesores and leave you in moral quandary as they beg. According to the AP report, the eyesores in Addis Ababa are being removed from the eyesight of the millennium party revelers.
Well, society should take care of its most vulnerable members and give them a helping hand. Relocation to one’s own village can be one of the options to solve the problem of urban beggars. This, however, must be done out of moral obligation and commonsense economic policy, not out of concern for dampening the mood of party revelers.
The millennium rather must be an occasion for reflecting why we continue to have millions of our citizens living in abominable poverty at the dawn of the twenty first century and how we can come together as a nation to lift our poor people out of the degrading poverty? If we reflect upon the images of the limbless and hopping beggars in front of us and put their interests ahead of ours, we could compromise, narrow our differences and bring about a lasting peace and economic prosperity to this ancient country to lift millions from misery.
First, however, we must atone for our ineptitude, pettiness, shortsightedness, and complete failure in recent decades before we usher in the new millennium. Then, with humility and contrition, to meet collectively the formidable challenges of poverty and instability, let us establish a Millennium Truth and Reconciliation Commission that brings the country together after the recent political fiasco. Let us wash away our dirty linen and begin afresh.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
United 93
By Fikru Helebo
The average number of movies that I watch (in a cinema theater or on DVD) in a one year period is probably in the vicinity of six, which hardly qualifies me to be called a movie buff let alone a critic. Nevertheless, please allow me to play the role of a movie critic for a few minutes and recommend to you United 93. This is a movie that was released in 2006 and it is about the fate of the only airplane that was hijacked by Islamic fanatics on September 11, 2001 which did not reach the hijacker's intended destination.
United 93 does not have plot lines that you would normally expect in movies, and what happened to all the passengers on that fateful flight is known to almost everyone who was old enough to remember the harrowing images of 9-11. But, the movie gives the viewer a realistic and gut-wrenching experience of what happened in the airplane and the flight control centers by skillfully reconstructing the heroic efforts of the passengers who, having learned the fate of the other three hijacked planes, decided to act to prevent the hijackers from realizing their objective by retaking control of the aircraft.
The movie also deals with the failure of the air traffic control system which was not equipped to deal with a disaster of the 9-11 magnitude and the unpreparedness of the mightiest military on the face of the earth to react to a worst case scenario that dealt with the civilian air space. The best the US military could do on that day was to watch events unfold just like the rest of us and shake their heads in utter disgust and helplessness by repeatedly uttering "we have a real-world situation here".
Unfortunately, Americans seem to have already forgotten the lessons of 9-11! The main lesson of 9-11 is that there is a real war going on between Islamists of the Bin Laden ilk who have hijacked the religion of Islam for their own political objectives and the rest of the world, and that this war will probably take a generation or more before it ends and the Islamists are defeated for good. I have previously shared my views on this Islamic-inspired war from the perspective of what is going on Somalia here, here and here.
United 93 is the perfect movie to remind us of what happened on 9-11 and what could happen if we forget the lessons of 9-11 and loose our focus on the war on terror. If you have not seen United 93, I highly recommend that you watch it and recommend it for other friends of yours to watch.
The average number of movies that I watch (in a cinema theater or on DVD) in a one year period is probably in the vicinity of six, which hardly qualifies me to be called a movie buff let alone a critic. Nevertheless, please allow me to play the role of a movie critic for a few minutes and recommend to you United 93. This is a movie that was released in 2006 and it is about the fate of the only airplane that was hijacked by Islamic fanatics on September 11, 2001 which did not reach the hijacker's intended destination.
United 93 does not have plot lines that you would normally expect in movies, and what happened to all the passengers on that fateful flight is known to almost everyone who was old enough to remember the harrowing images of 9-11. But, the movie gives the viewer a realistic and gut-wrenching experience of what happened in the airplane and the flight control centers by skillfully reconstructing the heroic efforts of the passengers who, having learned the fate of the other three hijacked planes, decided to act to prevent the hijackers from realizing their objective by retaking control of the aircraft.
The movie also deals with the failure of the air traffic control system which was not equipped to deal with a disaster of the 9-11 magnitude and the unpreparedness of the mightiest military on the face of the earth to react to a worst case scenario that dealt with the civilian air space. The best the US military could do on that day was to watch events unfold just like the rest of us and shake their heads in utter disgust and helplessness by repeatedly uttering "we have a real-world situation here".
Unfortunately, Americans seem to have already forgotten the lessons of 9-11! The main lesson of 9-11 is that there is a real war going on between Islamists of the Bin Laden ilk who have hijacked the religion of Islam for their own political objectives and the rest of the world, and that this war will probably take a generation or more before it ends and the Islamists are defeated for good. I have previously shared my views on this Islamic-inspired war from the perspective of what is going on Somalia here, here and here.
United 93 is the perfect movie to remind us of what happened on 9-11 and what could happen if we forget the lessons of 9-11 and loose our focus on the war on terror. If you have not seen United 93, I highly recommend that you watch it and recommend it for other friends of yours to watch.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Not Just the Tour of ‘Lucy’, but the Name ‘Lucy’ itself is Outrageous
By Mogus Degoyae Mochena
While the uproar against the ‘Lucy’ tour of North America is still in the air, I felt I should share my feelings and thoughts I have been harboring about the name – Lucy – for quite some time.
In 1967, the Beetles, one of the greatest rock bands in history, had a hit song – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Here are the words of the song that have nothing to do with anthropology, or the Hadar region of Afar, or the Ethiopian culture at large:
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies,
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties,
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle,
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.
Apparently the paleo-anthropologist Donald Johanson and colleagues, who discovered, by all accounts, the greatest skeletal remains of anthropology, a hommind that is 3.18 million years old, had a good reason to celebrate; to party in a tent after they had succeeded in assembling the fossil pieces into a skeletal form. Who wouldn’t after such a historic scientific discovery!! So the story goes that the Beetles’ song ‘Lucy in the sky with Diamonds’ was playing as they were celebrating. Voila! They were feeling very Beetles-happy. And they named the skeleton of the three and a half feet female Lucy.
One can’t help but feel awed when watching the video1 footage of the discovery of ‘Lucy’ at Hadar, as Johanson’s four wheel drive descends into the scorching, desolate valley and as Johansen describes how he first came across a couple of fossils that looked suspiciously different, went back to US to study them, and came back to Hadar with his graduate student and was scouring the grounds for more fossils. It always amazes me to observe archeologists or anthropologists, meticulously and methodically sifting through dirt and debris with uttermost care, peeling away at layers after layers with their tiny brushes and gadgets, or wandering some remote, inhospitable place in search of some fossils millions of years old. Such is a scholarly pursuit of highest caliber to uncover the past or link us to our ancestors. Johansen’s work truly falls in such a category and is one of those singular finds that renders meaning to the tireless efforts of scientists engrossed in the quest for knowledge. Nonetheless, the naming of this great find leaves much to be desired. I am not an anthropologist, but I feel there must be a better naming procedure than the trivial, nonchalant manner in which this was done.
In addition, there is the issue of cultural insensitivity. Unfortunately, this naming reminds me of the Hollywood movie, the African Queen of 1951, although the ‘Lucy’ case is somewhat the reverse. Supposedly, the African Queen is considered one of the classic adventure movies of Hollywood. If one believes at first blush what the name suggests, one would go into a movie theatre expecting to watch an African queen who is African. Surprise! The African Queen is none other than Katherine Hepburn, the great, brunette white actress. And Hepburn is no African remotely, and yet the movie producers had to whiten their movie with white audience in mind – a complete disregard for a true African image even if it is an artistic work. The audacity of Westerners anointing a non-African a queen, bestowing such an honor to someone who is not African is a supercilious act of cultural insensitivity.
Scientists have a standard way of doing their scientific work. If they don’t follow the norm, they are ostracized. The scientific aspect of ‘Lucy’s’ discovery is superb and the professionalism is very inspiring. It is in the cultural aspect that Johanson fails miserably. It seems Johanson was bitten by the Hollywood bug of cultural insensitivity when he gave the name ‘Lucy’. It is ironic that such a world - renowned physical anthropologist could benefit from a lesson or two from the likes of Margaret Mead, the cultural anthropologist. And Ethiopians, for they part, must demand a remedy for the transgression - an Ethiopian name!!
Video: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/1/real/l_071_01.hml
While the uproar against the ‘Lucy’ tour of North America is still in the air, I felt I should share my feelings and thoughts I have been harboring about the name – Lucy – for quite some time.
In 1967, the Beetles, one of the greatest rock bands in history, had a hit song – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Here are the words of the song that have nothing to do with anthropology, or the Hadar region of Afar, or the Ethiopian culture at large:
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies,
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties,
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle,
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.
Apparently the paleo-anthropologist Donald Johanson and colleagues, who discovered, by all accounts, the greatest skeletal remains of anthropology, a hommind that is 3.18 million years old, had a good reason to celebrate; to party in a tent after they had succeeded in assembling the fossil pieces into a skeletal form. Who wouldn’t after such a historic scientific discovery!! So the story goes that the Beetles’ song ‘Lucy in the sky with Diamonds’ was playing as they were celebrating. Voila! They were feeling very Beetles-happy. And they named the skeleton of the three and a half feet female Lucy.
One can’t help but feel awed when watching the video1 footage of the discovery of ‘Lucy’ at Hadar, as Johanson’s four wheel drive descends into the scorching, desolate valley and as Johansen describes how he first came across a couple of fossils that looked suspiciously different, went back to US to study them, and came back to Hadar with his graduate student and was scouring the grounds for more fossils. It always amazes me to observe archeologists or anthropologists, meticulously and methodically sifting through dirt and debris with uttermost care, peeling away at layers after layers with their tiny brushes and gadgets, or wandering some remote, inhospitable place in search of some fossils millions of years old. Such is a scholarly pursuit of highest caliber to uncover the past or link us to our ancestors. Johansen’s work truly falls in such a category and is one of those singular finds that renders meaning to the tireless efforts of scientists engrossed in the quest for knowledge. Nonetheless, the naming of this great find leaves much to be desired. I am not an anthropologist, but I feel there must be a better naming procedure than the trivial, nonchalant manner in which this was done.
In addition, there is the issue of cultural insensitivity. Unfortunately, this naming reminds me of the Hollywood movie, the African Queen of 1951, although the ‘Lucy’ case is somewhat the reverse. Supposedly, the African Queen is considered one of the classic adventure movies of Hollywood. If one believes at first blush what the name suggests, one would go into a movie theatre expecting to watch an African queen who is African. Surprise! The African Queen is none other than Katherine Hepburn, the great, brunette white actress. And Hepburn is no African remotely, and yet the movie producers had to whiten their movie with white audience in mind – a complete disregard for a true African image even if it is an artistic work. The audacity of Westerners anointing a non-African a queen, bestowing such an honor to someone who is not African is a supercilious act of cultural insensitivity.
Scientists have a standard way of doing their scientific work. If they don’t follow the norm, they are ostracized. The scientific aspect of ‘Lucy’s’ discovery is superb and the professionalism is very inspiring. It is in the cultural aspect that Johanson fails miserably. It seems Johanson was bitten by the Hollywood bug of cultural insensitivity when he gave the name ‘Lucy’. It is ironic that such a world - renowned physical anthropologist could benefit from a lesson or two from the likes of Margaret Mead, the cultural anthropologist. And Ethiopians, for they part, must demand a remedy for the transgression - an Ethiopian name!!
Video: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/1/real/l_071_01.hml
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The First and the Last Ethiopian Millennium
By Fikru Helebo
Before I go on to my rant I would like to wish all those Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia who will celebrate the Ethiopian millennium a happy millennium Ethiopian New Year! If you can read Amharic, I also would like to encourage you to read this part satirical and seriously polemical piece on the Ethiopian millennium by Mitiku Adisu (though I have differences with his take on emperors Yohannes IV, Minilik II and Haile Selassie I in his concluding remarks). Mitiku pretty much says all that needs to be said about the Ethiopian millennium and I guarantee that you will laugh your heart out!
In a little over two weeks time Ethiopians all over the world (except for some like me) will celebrate the first and the last Ethiopian millennium. Yes, this is the first millennium which is uniquely Ethiopian and, hopefully, if it is left up to people like me, it will be the last uniquely Ethiopian millennium. I am of the opinion that the current calendar should be discarded in favor of the Gregorian calendar which serves as the de facto world calendar. The current Ethiopian calendar is not really Ethiopian in its origins anyway. According to this web site, the Ethiopian calendar is based on the Coptic calendar, which in turn is based on the old Egyptian and Julian calendars.
So, why stick to a calendar that is not Ethiopian in its origins and one which creates unnecessary separation of Ethiopians from the world at large? Besides there are many things that Ethiopians have adopted from the rest of the world for the better. Take, for example, our use of the Arabic numerals (actually Indian numerals) in favor of our own numerals which are used on Ethiopian calendars, like the screen shot for the current month from the Ethiopica Calendar which I posted above.
I am not sure when Ethiopians adopted the use of Arabic numerals, but I am glad we adopted them. The fact that we borrowed Arabic numerals did not bring about the death of our numerals. Ethiopian numerals have not disappeared as evidenced by their continued use in the Bible as well as calendars. The fate of the Ethiopian calendar will also be the same if it is discarded in favor of the Gregorian one: it will not die! The Ethiopian and Eritrean churches will continue to use it, obviously, and this fact alone will ensure that the Ethiopian calendar will survive well into the future if its official use comes to an end as I think it should.
I will not celebrate the Ethiopian millennium because, with the exceptions of the building of the monolithic churches of Lalibela in the 12th and 13th centuries and the Adwa victory over the Italians in the 19th century, there isn't much to celebrate about Ethiopian history of the last millennium. I have no problem with Ethiopians celebrating the Ethiopian millennium, but I am very much turned off by the boisterous atmosphere which surrounds the celebrations, an atmosphere which Mitiku's article captures vividly. In my view, this millennium occasion should have been celebrated in a low key manner in which Ethiopians took the time to reflect on many of our shortcomings!
Before I go on to my rant I would like to wish all those Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia who will celebrate the Ethiopian millennium a happy millennium Ethiopian New Year! If you can read Amharic, I also would like to encourage you to read this part satirical and seriously polemical piece on the Ethiopian millennium by Mitiku Adisu (though I have differences with his take on emperors Yohannes IV, Minilik II and Haile Selassie I in his concluding remarks). Mitiku pretty much says all that needs to be said about the Ethiopian millennium and I guarantee that you will laugh your heart out!
In a little over two weeks time Ethiopians all over the world (except for some like me) will celebrate the first and the last Ethiopian millennium. Yes, this is the first millennium which is uniquely Ethiopian and, hopefully, if it is left up to people like me, it will be the last uniquely Ethiopian millennium. I am of the opinion that the current calendar should be discarded in favor of the Gregorian calendar which serves as the de facto world calendar. The current Ethiopian calendar is not really Ethiopian in its origins anyway. According to this web site, the Ethiopian calendar is based on the Coptic calendar, which in turn is based on the old Egyptian and Julian calendars.
So, why stick to a calendar that is not Ethiopian in its origins and one which creates unnecessary separation of Ethiopians from the world at large? Besides there are many things that Ethiopians have adopted from the rest of the world for the better. Take, for example, our use of the Arabic numerals (actually Indian numerals) in favor of our own numerals which are used on Ethiopian calendars, like the screen shot for the current month from the Ethiopica Calendar which I posted above.
I am not sure when Ethiopians adopted the use of Arabic numerals, but I am glad we adopted them. The fact that we borrowed Arabic numerals did not bring about the death of our numerals. Ethiopian numerals have not disappeared as evidenced by their continued use in the Bible as well as calendars. The fate of the Ethiopian calendar will also be the same if it is discarded in favor of the Gregorian one: it will not die! The Ethiopian and Eritrean churches will continue to use it, obviously, and this fact alone will ensure that the Ethiopian calendar will survive well into the future if its official use comes to an end as I think it should.
I will not celebrate the Ethiopian millennium because, with the exceptions of the building of the monolithic churches of Lalibela in the 12th and 13th centuries and the Adwa victory over the Italians in the 19th century, there isn't much to celebrate about Ethiopian history of the last millennium. I have no problem with Ethiopians celebrating the Ethiopian millennium, but I am very much turned off by the boisterous atmosphere which surrounds the celebrations, an atmosphere which Mitiku's article captures vividly. In my view, this millennium occasion should have been celebrated in a low key manner in which Ethiopians took the time to reflect on many of our shortcomings!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Local History of Ethiopia
Here is an interesting web site that serves as a repository of the local history of Ethiopia. Bernhard Lindahl compiled it and here is his description of what the web site is about:
The concept of this work is to make extracts from printed external sources and to sort them geographically and chronologically. It concerns environment and events in the countryside of Ethiopia mainly from the early 1800s and onwards. The special effort is to shed light on places which are seldom mentioned in print and to make searchable the contents of various published sources.I like the web site's search feature a lot. For example, when I searched for 'Wolayta' one of the search result pages I got contained an entry for Girmame Neway, a man who knew what was wrong with Ethiopia and tried to do something about it:
Girmame Neway was appointed as governor of Welamo sub-province in the late 1950s. He was well received there because he had a famous forefather, Dejazmach Girmame, who had negotiated with the chiefs prior to Menileks re-occupation of the area.Typed in 'Alula' and here is one of the entries I found:
Girmame led the people to build roads and bridges and schools. After he had been governor for just over six months he is said to have produced som E$ 30,000 for a school. He surprised everyone by announcing that the money came from bribes which he had accepted and put aside for the school project.
Governor Girmame organised the people into their own watch committees when they complained of the dishonesty and brutality of 'Amhara' police. He distributed undeveloped land to the landless. The landowners complained of this and of Girmame's settling squatters from their land, leaving them with no labour supply. D. Levine in Africa Today, May 1961, states that a wealthy landowner named Desta Fisseha managed to arrange Girmame's transfer through the customary channels of Palace intrigue. Girmame was recalled and posted to Jijiga. Together with his brother he became the leader of the failed coup in December 1960.
[R Greenfield, Ethiopia, London 1965 p 371]
HET86c Mannawe, about 25 km south of Abiy Adi. 13/39 [n]One of the search results for 'Hadiya' returned the following entry:
Ras Alula (1847-1897) was born in this small village. It is not confirmed that his year of birth really was 1847. His father was the farmer Engda Qubi with wife Garada who was daughter of Nagid, a local notable from the neighbouring village of Baga. A few old people in Mannawe remembered these names when they were interviewed by Haggai Ehrlich in February 1972.
Alula once told an Italian journalist that his father and grandfather had been soldiers. He was educated in the local church school by the Memhir Welde-Giyorgis and "being an aggressive and dominating youngster, he soon became the leader of the children".
"When his Tigrean patron became Emperor Yohannes IV, the young Alula was translated from the provincial to the national scene -- Alula's excellent military services in fighting external enemies and consolidating the emperor's supremacy in Ethiopia established him as a king's man." History remembers particularly Ras Alula's time as administrator of Mereb Mellash = the future Eritrea.
"The Muslims of Hadiya who earlier had suffered at the hands of the Oromo, no longer had any desire for war with the Christians. The attitude was expressed by the action of Azé's soldiers, who refused to fight with Sarsa Dengel. Only the malasay, the Muslim force from Harar, fought. Deserted by their fellow Muslims and outnumbered by Sarsa Dengel's men, they were easily crushed. Aze reconciled himself to the king, who was magnanimous in return. The king left Aze in his office, but stripped him of real power. Takla Giyorgis was made the commander of the provincial soldiers." [Mohammed 1994 p 33]Thanks to Bernhard Lindahl, you may be pleasantly surprised to find historical information about the local area that you come from within present day Ethiopia. Just peruse around and satisfy your intellectual curiosity.
Friday, August 10, 2007
The better of the “Devil’s Alternative” is the right choice
By Ephrem Madebo
In the last two years, so many of us have repeatedly compared CUDP leaders to Nelson Mandela, arguably the best visionary leader of our time. Well, sometimes our emotion rules over our intellect and we do so many things that don’t give sense. Nelson Mandela is the wisest leader of this era and a living symbol of black excellence. To be honest, the only similarity between Mandela and the CUDP leaders is that both went to jail for crimes committed by their respective governments. In anything else, they are different. To a person who skimmed his article, Dr. Solomon Terfa’s recent commentary on ethiomedia seems to be comparing the CUDP leadership to Nelson Mandela.
I may be wrong, but Dr. Solomon’s inciting and incisive critique on the Shemagles is a what-if-analysis that implied what the CUDP leaders and the Shemagles should have done in the recent Shemagles brokered negotiation. As Dr. Solomon himself admitted, his article is hypothetical, i.e., there could be many imaginary answers as to what Mandela would have done if he was in the shoes of the CUDP leaders. Hypothetical scenarios or questions can be speculated in so many different ways, but it is very difficult to conclusively state them as reliable statements of truth. Let me use Dr. Solomon’s own words: “This hypothetical-scenario is an exercise that is routinely done in political science and international relation courses”. This is a correctly stated statement, and I have no second thought, but I just want readers to realize that even political scientists or seasoned political analysts would take a highly polarized stand on what Nelson Mandela would have done had he been in the shoes of the CUDP leaders.
Based on the then objective condition of South Africa and the organizational strength of the ANC party, in the 1970/80s’, Mandela made the right choice when he rejected Peter Botha’s offer of nominal freedom. It was a wise and matured decision in the South Africa of the 1970/80s’. Well, what would have Mandela done in the Ethiopia of 2007? This is a genuine, but hypothetical, a compelling, but speculative question. So why be consumed with a question that doesn’t serve our cause or purpose? Why can’t we deal with a practical question that sheds light in our path? My argument is intuitive and simple. It is very difficult to answer the “what would” Mandela has done question because we can’t read Mandelas’s mind, even if we think we can, there are significant domestic and international differences between South Africa of the 1970s and today’s Ethiopia.
“The what" should question is an opinion inclined question that can be answered by observing objective conditions on the ground and making “a what-if-analysis”. We can answer such questions in so many different ways without worrying for the risk of being wrong. “The what” would question could also be answered in many ways, but every answer has a higher risk of being wrong. In the latter case, we are answering a question by reading Mandela’ mind [which is difficult, or impossible], where as in the former case, we’re doing nothing other than expressing our opinion on how Mandela should have dealt with the issue. Opinions may be poor, so-so, or good, but they are neither wrong nor right on events whose outcome is yet to be decided.
When N. Mandela was arrested in 1963, his ANC Party was 51 years old, with a long time history of struggle in its pocket and many veteran leaders in its power structure [O.Tambo, T.Mbeki, J.Zuma, Ramaphosa, and Maharai]. Mandela enjoyed un-paralleled international support when he was in jail, while the CUDP leaders were forgotten by the international community until the day they were found guilty. In November 2005, when Meles arrested the CUDP leaders, CUDP was not even one year old. Yes, almost all of the CUDP leaders were true intellectuals, but their combined political experience was not at the level of ANC. Mandela’s incarceration might have appeased proponents of the apartheid regime, but it did not slow down the struggle of black South Africans for freedom and equality.
In the contrary, in the summer of 2005, the reckless action of Meles Zenawi dimmed the hope of democracy in Ethiopia. In late Fall of the same year, when the entire CUDP leaders were arrested, the fragile pro-democracy movement became paralyzed and went in to a coma state. Given the time & space difference, and such diametrically opposed economic, social and political conditions, it would absolutely be unrealistic to demand the CUDP leaders to behave the same way Mandela behaved when he was offered a deal by the apartheid regime. There was ANC before Mandela, but there was no CUDP before Professor Mesfin, Dr. Berhanu, Dr. Yackob, Dr.Hailu, Brtukuan, Muluneh Eyoel etc.
Evidently, hypothetical scenarios or questions are good because they give rise to a realistic question. So instead of speculating on what Mandela would have done, I think it would be wise to take Mandela out of the picture and consider a slightly different, but very relevant question. How differently should the CUDP leaders have acted and still secure their release? A critically analysis of this question will augment our subjective judgment and enable us to make informed decision. Otherwise, our judgments and decisions will be subjective reflecting our own ambition. The CUDP leaders could have dealt with the negotiation in many different ways, but as far as the Ethiopian people are concerned, there were only two out comes. Get out of jail, or stay in jail. This by no means is an issue of good, or bad; it is the matter of being right, or wrong.
In a pro-basket ball game, a last second call against a one point leading home team is usually considered a bad call even if the foul was committed, but it is the right call. Definitely, the referees understand the call silences more than 20k cheering home fans, but should they be emotional and not make the call? If they do, it is good for the home team and the supportive crowd, but doing so is not only wrong; it is also bad for the game of basketball. The referees have two options: 1) Make the call and do the right thing for the game of basketball. 2) Ignore the foul and appear to be good for the home team. I will leave the judgment and interpretation of the example to the reader. In the light of this example, let’s consider the following three important conditions: 1) Our country finds itself in a decisive time where the important task of keeping her unity and territorial integrity is left to those who vow to fight alongside her enemies. 2) We have elected leaders in jail and a partially aborted popular movement in coma. 3) The fourth parliamentary election is coming in less than three years time.
As to me, if the benefit largely out weights the cost, I will happily incur the political cost of any decision that stops the disintegration of my country. Here is what Abraham Lincoln said on unity: “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that" If Lincoln was that determined to save the Union at the cost of a continued misery of black people, what is our empirical, moral, or historical foundation to demand how & why the CUDP leaders secured their freedom? Why can’t the elected leaders of Ethiopia do what they think is right to stop the bleeding of their country? To begin with, the crucial question is- Why are they in jail? Not how they were released!
The two years of relative silence and frustration in the opposition camp has clearly demonstrated how bad the popular movement missed the CUDP leaders. So when a condition that re-unites long separated “lovers” is created, what should be the right choice? Stay behind bars for the rest of their life, or come out of jail at a cost and energize the otherwise dormant opposition politics? Save the unity of the swiftly disintegrating Ethiopia, or stay in jail with no hope of passing the Ethiopia they inherited to the next generation? Lead the opposition for the next election in 2010, or sit in Kaliti/Kerchele and guarantee Meles Zenawi and his gang secure an easy fourth term? Social cost-benefit analysis is a good thing to consider here, but I will rather skip it to protect the innocent.
Once again Dr. Solomon said: “Let us recall that Mandela was in the dungeon of apartheid for over twenty five years. I should point out that prison did not deter the leaders of ANC from discharging their historic responsibility” (emphasis added by me). This is an absolutely true statement, but in the Ethiopian case, the prison not only deterred the free CUDP leaders, but it also created multiple Kinjit factions that crippled the popular movement. All in all, the Mandela-ANC experience and historical setting is totally different from the recent experience of CUDP leaders. Therefore, shouldn’t Mandela-ANC and CUDP be viewed independently? While the Mandela-CUDP comparative analysis is an absolutely right task to consider, imposing Mandela’s action on the CUDP leaders is an out-and-out denial of reality. Remember, too much analysis is paralysis! Currently, we all are eagerly expecting to have a town-hall meeting with the CUDP leaders, and here are some possible discussion questions: What is your plan to re-vitalize the struggle? Why did you listen to the Shimagles and bend to the will of Meles? What different things will you do in the next election? Why did you sign a document that makes you look like guilty? What do you do to create a strong political alliance? The CUDP leaders shall definitely entertain all of the above questions, but in the face of the current political crisis of our country, and the tight schedule of the leaders; some of the above questions are inconsequential to all of us individually, and to our country at large.
Obviously, the release of the CUDP leaders by itself does not give us hope for the future; however, their freedom is a vitally necessary factor to resuscitate the chocked hope of our people. The political discourse of the last fifty years did not take us anywhere because we dwelt too much in the past. Let’s change our course and give more emphasis to the future. The Ethiopian farmers, artisans, and working people want to hear our vision for the new millennium. Let’s be intelligent and brave enough to face the Ethiopian people with a vision, and ask their cooperation for its realization. If we can’t prove we’re good enough, let’s quietly leave the forum for the brave, the good, and the able people.
In the last two years, so many of us have repeatedly compared CUDP leaders to Nelson Mandela, arguably the best visionary leader of our time. Well, sometimes our emotion rules over our intellect and we do so many things that don’t give sense. Nelson Mandela is the wisest leader of this era and a living symbol of black excellence. To be honest, the only similarity between Mandela and the CUDP leaders is that both went to jail for crimes committed by their respective governments. In anything else, they are different. To a person who skimmed his article, Dr. Solomon Terfa’s recent commentary on ethiomedia seems to be comparing the CUDP leadership to Nelson Mandela.
I may be wrong, but Dr. Solomon’s inciting and incisive critique on the Shemagles is a what-if-analysis that implied what the CUDP leaders and the Shemagles should have done in the recent Shemagles brokered negotiation. As Dr. Solomon himself admitted, his article is hypothetical, i.e., there could be many imaginary answers as to what Mandela would have done if he was in the shoes of the CUDP leaders. Hypothetical scenarios or questions can be speculated in so many different ways, but it is very difficult to conclusively state them as reliable statements of truth. Let me use Dr. Solomon’s own words: “This hypothetical-scenario is an exercise that is routinely done in political science and international relation courses”. This is a correctly stated statement, and I have no second thought, but I just want readers to realize that even political scientists or seasoned political analysts would take a highly polarized stand on what Nelson Mandela would have done had he been in the shoes of the CUDP leaders.
Based on the then objective condition of South Africa and the organizational strength of the ANC party, in the 1970/80s’, Mandela made the right choice when he rejected Peter Botha’s offer of nominal freedom. It was a wise and matured decision in the South Africa of the 1970/80s’. Well, what would have Mandela done in the Ethiopia of 2007? This is a genuine, but hypothetical, a compelling, but speculative question. So why be consumed with a question that doesn’t serve our cause or purpose? Why can’t we deal with a practical question that sheds light in our path? My argument is intuitive and simple. It is very difficult to answer the “what would” Mandela has done question because we can’t read Mandelas’s mind, even if we think we can, there are significant domestic and international differences between South Africa of the 1970s and today’s Ethiopia.
“The what" should question is an opinion inclined question that can be answered by observing objective conditions on the ground and making “a what-if-analysis”. We can answer such questions in so many different ways without worrying for the risk of being wrong. “The what” would question could also be answered in many ways, but every answer has a higher risk of being wrong. In the latter case, we are answering a question by reading Mandela’ mind [which is difficult, or impossible], where as in the former case, we’re doing nothing other than expressing our opinion on how Mandela should have dealt with the issue. Opinions may be poor, so-so, or good, but they are neither wrong nor right on events whose outcome is yet to be decided.
When N. Mandela was arrested in 1963, his ANC Party was 51 years old, with a long time history of struggle in its pocket and many veteran leaders in its power structure [O.Tambo, T.Mbeki, J.Zuma, Ramaphosa, and Maharai]. Mandela enjoyed un-paralleled international support when he was in jail, while the CUDP leaders were forgotten by the international community until the day they were found guilty. In November 2005, when Meles arrested the CUDP leaders, CUDP was not even one year old. Yes, almost all of the CUDP leaders were true intellectuals, but their combined political experience was not at the level of ANC. Mandela’s incarceration might have appeased proponents of the apartheid regime, but it did not slow down the struggle of black South Africans for freedom and equality.
In the contrary, in the summer of 2005, the reckless action of Meles Zenawi dimmed the hope of democracy in Ethiopia. In late Fall of the same year, when the entire CUDP leaders were arrested, the fragile pro-democracy movement became paralyzed and went in to a coma state. Given the time & space difference, and such diametrically opposed economic, social and political conditions, it would absolutely be unrealistic to demand the CUDP leaders to behave the same way Mandela behaved when he was offered a deal by the apartheid regime. There was ANC before Mandela, but there was no CUDP before Professor Mesfin, Dr. Berhanu, Dr. Yackob, Dr.Hailu, Brtukuan, Muluneh Eyoel etc.
Evidently, hypothetical scenarios or questions are good because they give rise to a realistic question. So instead of speculating on what Mandela would have done, I think it would be wise to take Mandela out of the picture and consider a slightly different, but very relevant question. How differently should the CUDP leaders have acted and still secure their release? A critically analysis of this question will augment our subjective judgment and enable us to make informed decision. Otherwise, our judgments and decisions will be subjective reflecting our own ambition. The CUDP leaders could have dealt with the negotiation in many different ways, but as far as the Ethiopian people are concerned, there were only two out comes. Get out of jail, or stay in jail. This by no means is an issue of good, or bad; it is the matter of being right, or wrong.
In a pro-basket ball game, a last second call against a one point leading home team is usually considered a bad call even if the foul was committed, but it is the right call. Definitely, the referees understand the call silences more than 20k cheering home fans, but should they be emotional and not make the call? If they do, it is good for the home team and the supportive crowd, but doing so is not only wrong; it is also bad for the game of basketball. The referees have two options: 1) Make the call and do the right thing for the game of basketball. 2) Ignore the foul and appear to be good for the home team. I will leave the judgment and interpretation of the example to the reader. In the light of this example, let’s consider the following three important conditions: 1) Our country finds itself in a decisive time where the important task of keeping her unity and territorial integrity is left to those who vow to fight alongside her enemies. 2) We have elected leaders in jail and a partially aborted popular movement in coma. 3) The fourth parliamentary election is coming in less than three years time.
As to me, if the benefit largely out weights the cost, I will happily incur the political cost of any decision that stops the disintegration of my country. Here is what Abraham Lincoln said on unity: “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that" If Lincoln was that determined to save the Union at the cost of a continued misery of black people, what is our empirical, moral, or historical foundation to demand how & why the CUDP leaders secured their freedom? Why can’t the elected leaders of Ethiopia do what they think is right to stop the bleeding of their country? To begin with, the crucial question is- Why are they in jail? Not how they were released!
The two years of relative silence and frustration in the opposition camp has clearly demonstrated how bad the popular movement missed the CUDP leaders. So when a condition that re-unites long separated “lovers” is created, what should be the right choice? Stay behind bars for the rest of their life, or come out of jail at a cost and energize the otherwise dormant opposition politics? Save the unity of the swiftly disintegrating Ethiopia, or stay in jail with no hope of passing the Ethiopia they inherited to the next generation? Lead the opposition for the next election in 2010, or sit in Kaliti/Kerchele and guarantee Meles Zenawi and his gang secure an easy fourth term? Social cost-benefit analysis is a good thing to consider here, but I will rather skip it to protect the innocent.
Once again Dr. Solomon said: “Let us recall that Mandela was in the dungeon of apartheid for over twenty five years. I should point out that prison did not deter the leaders of ANC from discharging their historic responsibility” (emphasis added by me). This is an absolutely true statement, but in the Ethiopian case, the prison not only deterred the free CUDP leaders, but it also created multiple Kinjit factions that crippled the popular movement. All in all, the Mandela-ANC experience and historical setting is totally different from the recent experience of CUDP leaders. Therefore, shouldn’t Mandela-ANC and CUDP be viewed independently? While the Mandela-CUDP comparative analysis is an absolutely right task to consider, imposing Mandela’s action on the CUDP leaders is an out-and-out denial of reality. Remember, too much analysis is paralysis! Currently, we all are eagerly expecting to have a town-hall meeting with the CUDP leaders, and here are some possible discussion questions: What is your plan to re-vitalize the struggle? Why did you listen to the Shimagles and bend to the will of Meles? What different things will you do in the next election? Why did you sign a document that makes you look like guilty? What do you do to create a strong political alliance? The CUDP leaders shall definitely entertain all of the above questions, but in the face of the current political crisis of our country, and the tight schedule of the leaders; some of the above questions are inconsequential to all of us individually, and to our country at large.
Obviously, the release of the CUDP leaders by itself does not give us hope for the future; however, their freedom is a vitally necessary factor to resuscitate the chocked hope of our people. The political discourse of the last fifty years did not take us anywhere because we dwelt too much in the past. Let’s change our course and give more emphasis to the future. The Ethiopian farmers, artisans, and working people want to hear our vision for the new millennium. Let’s be intelligent and brave enough to face the Ethiopian people with a vision, and ask their cooperation for its realization. If we can’t prove we’re good enough, let’s quietly leave the forum for the brave, the good, and the able people.
Friday, July 27, 2007
The Next Big Thing
By Ephrem Madebo
So much of the long history of the struggle between autocratic regimes and the good people of Ethiopia can partially be explained by critically analyzing the essence of good and evil. It is an absolute truth that in every generation of Ethiopians, good citizens seem to clearly outnumber those who are evil, yet those who are evil seem to prevail far too often. It is utterly mystifying and frustrating to see few evils control the economic and political structures of a country for a long period of time. Intellectually, morally, or even statistically, it is appalling to have few evil people stand victorious over the good people of society despite the latter’s lop-sided numerical advantage. In Ethiopia, good and evil have been in a constant fight for many generations, sadly, the good people of Ethiopia have always been in the losing side. In the real world, the out come of the encounter between good and evil is not determined by how good one fights to win; it is determined by how bad one wants to win. The history of the world vividly shows that unless those who claim to be good are willing to stand up and fight for what they believe to be right, they will always be controlled by the few evils.
On Friday July 20, 2007, the struggle of the Ethiopian people for justice and democracy completed its long and twisted chapter when the TPLF regime released 38 high caliber leaders of CUDP. The news of the release sent many Ethiopians around the globe in to a town-hall hand clapping euphoria and all-night long “Eskista” extravaganza. Some jumped for joy, yet others cried hugging and kissing anyone that stood on their way. The July 20 weekend was the only time in memory that brought an unblemished smile on the faces of all opposition leaders. It was a day of jubilation, a day of solace, and most importantly a day of re-grouping. Yes, we completed one ugly chapter in our struggle, but let’s remember that we have a long and treacherous journey ahead of us.
It’s just a week since the CUDP leaders were released, but the question of why the CUDP leaders sign such a controversial document has already been the focal point of discussion among Ethiopians. Why did TPLF release CUDP leaders? Who were the released prisoners? When were they released? How were they released? What do these released leaders intend to do? These are first-class questions worth asking and answering, but to any human being who is conscious of the current political reality of Ethiopia, some of these questions are not even worth considering. In November 2005, evil prevailed over good and the CUDP leaders had to go to jail. Today, the shoe is on the other foot, CUDP leaders are out because good prevailed over evil. There is clear-cut truth here: Guilty, or not guilty, the release of the CUDP leaders is crucially important to the otherwise crippling popular movement. This by no means should imply that our struggle for peace and democracy will die with out CUDP. But, as any mindful person would observe, no single party captured the imagination of millions of Ethiopians in such a short time; and of course, no political imprisonment paralyzed the popular movement like the imprisonment of the CUDP leaders. From November 2005 to July 2007, TPLF was the only visible player in the political scene of Ethiopia, all others were dormant. In the last two years, the only big thing we saw was the formation of AFD, in which Kinijt played a major role, but still condemned, ridiculed, and hacked by the high-pitched elements of the old guard.
So, how should one answer the above five question? Well, it all depends upon who we are talking to. Idiots would answer all of the questions, but they do not make use of the answers. Like the idiots, earsplitting politicians would answer all of the questions and use the answers to make sure that they have enough rumors until another big thing happens. A wise person would consider all of the questions, but answers only the most relevant question(s). Today, some of the important questions to all Ethiopians are: What should be done to make Melez Zenawi the first Ethiopian leader to concede defeat and walk out of the Menelik Palace? How do the released CUDP and all other political leaders steer the popular movement to victory? How do our leaders make use of this momentous time? When do opposition parties stop mud slinging and forge a political alliance? What is the role of civic organizations, the media, and individual citizens in helping the political parities achieve their objectives?
In the last 16 years we vociferously condemned and denounced Meles Zenawi’s regime. Well, good job; but frankly speaking, it is much easier to denounce a wicked man than understanding and ultimately dealing with him. Today, time and momentum are in our side. Let us fully understand Meles and talk to him in the language of his choice. We have repeatedly heard Meles and company boasting to have been the fathers of democracy in Ethiopian. To them, the May 2005 voting process was the ultimate stage of democracy. To us, and to the people we fight for, “it's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting”. If democracy was all about voting, since the majority voted against them; by now, Meles Zenawi and Bereket Simon would have gone to their own country, and Sebaht Nega would have been collecting social security checks.
So what is the next big thing? The next big thing is all about trusting each other, working together and building grass root movements in every locality of Ethiopia. I will repeat my creed of the past. OLF, UEDF, CUDP, SEPC and the many other parties exist in the context of each other, therefore, accepting and exploring the rich context of individual differences does not imply defeat or loss. Nor does it mean surrendering your own intellectual, aesthetic, or moral perspective. It simply means that you gain a deeper, broader understanding of where your own views fit in with society. Evidently, Ethiopia has a huge amount of complex social and economic problems; however, the remedy for Ethiopia’s problems does not warrant the existence of such a countless political parties and ethnic liberation fronts (LFs). The next big thing requires extended dialogue that brings the multiethnic parties and the LFs towards a single common objective. Temporary disagreements and some procedural impediments should not discourage the different parties and the LFs from attending dialogues. After all, isn’t it the mark of great minds to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it?
The multiethnic political parties and the ethnic LFs might have some deep-seated differences, but I do believe, they all agree that TPLF is an evil that should be dealt with. Hence, they need to understand that the life of TPLF is extended by the things they do and the things they don’t do. To work together, dialogues are inescapable tools that curb differences, not to just get rid of TPLF, but to establish a true democratic and united Ethiopia. So, will our political parties stand together and fight the TPLF regime collectively, or, continue their never ending individual race to “Arat Kilo”? Will CUDP, OLF, SEPC and UEDF do something different, or keep on playing the mind numbing “do nothing” type political game of the 60’s? We need to understand that more than 75million good people are sill suffocated by a handful of evil people. Let’s never forget that the only necessary condition for the triumph of the wicked is that good people do nothing.
Fortunately, we find ourselves at the dawn of the third millennium. Let’s celebrate this once in a thousand year moment by Laying the foundation for a stable state of Ethiopia in which all citizens are equal before the law. If we accomplish this noble task, our names will be immortalized in the history books. In deed, our names will be written in a completely different tone and page than Meles and company. At the end of 2999, we will be remembered just like Nelson Mandela, George Washington, and Kamal Ataturk. Are we determined? If yes, so help us God!
So much of the long history of the struggle between autocratic regimes and the good people of Ethiopia can partially be explained by critically analyzing the essence of good and evil. It is an absolute truth that in every generation of Ethiopians, good citizens seem to clearly outnumber those who are evil, yet those who are evil seem to prevail far too often. It is utterly mystifying and frustrating to see few evils control the economic and political structures of a country for a long period of time. Intellectually, morally, or even statistically, it is appalling to have few evil people stand victorious over the good people of society despite the latter’s lop-sided numerical advantage. In Ethiopia, good and evil have been in a constant fight for many generations, sadly, the good people of Ethiopia have always been in the losing side. In the real world, the out come of the encounter between good and evil is not determined by how good one fights to win; it is determined by how bad one wants to win. The history of the world vividly shows that unless those who claim to be good are willing to stand up and fight for what they believe to be right, they will always be controlled by the few evils.
On Friday July 20, 2007, the struggle of the Ethiopian people for justice and democracy completed its long and twisted chapter when the TPLF regime released 38 high caliber leaders of CUDP. The news of the release sent many Ethiopians around the globe in to a town-hall hand clapping euphoria and all-night long “Eskista” extravaganza. Some jumped for joy, yet others cried hugging and kissing anyone that stood on their way. The July 20 weekend was the only time in memory that brought an unblemished smile on the faces of all opposition leaders. It was a day of jubilation, a day of solace, and most importantly a day of re-grouping. Yes, we completed one ugly chapter in our struggle, but let’s remember that we have a long and treacherous journey ahead of us.
It’s just a week since the CUDP leaders were released, but the question of why the CUDP leaders sign such a controversial document has already been the focal point of discussion among Ethiopians. Why did TPLF release CUDP leaders? Who were the released prisoners? When were they released? How were they released? What do these released leaders intend to do? These are first-class questions worth asking and answering, but to any human being who is conscious of the current political reality of Ethiopia, some of these questions are not even worth considering. In November 2005, evil prevailed over good and the CUDP leaders had to go to jail. Today, the shoe is on the other foot, CUDP leaders are out because good prevailed over evil. There is clear-cut truth here: Guilty, or not guilty, the release of the CUDP leaders is crucially important to the otherwise crippling popular movement. This by no means should imply that our struggle for peace and democracy will die with out CUDP. But, as any mindful person would observe, no single party captured the imagination of millions of Ethiopians in such a short time; and of course, no political imprisonment paralyzed the popular movement like the imprisonment of the CUDP leaders. From November 2005 to July 2007, TPLF was the only visible player in the political scene of Ethiopia, all others were dormant. In the last two years, the only big thing we saw was the formation of AFD, in which Kinijt played a major role, but still condemned, ridiculed, and hacked by the high-pitched elements of the old guard.
So, how should one answer the above five question? Well, it all depends upon who we are talking to. Idiots would answer all of the questions, but they do not make use of the answers. Like the idiots, earsplitting politicians would answer all of the questions and use the answers to make sure that they have enough rumors until another big thing happens. A wise person would consider all of the questions, but answers only the most relevant question(s). Today, some of the important questions to all Ethiopians are: What should be done to make Melez Zenawi the first Ethiopian leader to concede defeat and walk out of the Menelik Palace? How do the released CUDP and all other political leaders steer the popular movement to victory? How do our leaders make use of this momentous time? When do opposition parties stop mud slinging and forge a political alliance? What is the role of civic organizations, the media, and individual citizens in helping the political parities achieve their objectives?
In the last 16 years we vociferously condemned and denounced Meles Zenawi’s regime. Well, good job; but frankly speaking, it is much easier to denounce a wicked man than understanding and ultimately dealing with him. Today, time and momentum are in our side. Let us fully understand Meles and talk to him in the language of his choice. We have repeatedly heard Meles and company boasting to have been the fathers of democracy in Ethiopian. To them, the May 2005 voting process was the ultimate stage of democracy. To us, and to the people we fight for, “it's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting”. If democracy was all about voting, since the majority voted against them; by now, Meles Zenawi and Bereket Simon would have gone to their own country, and Sebaht Nega would have been collecting social security checks.
So what is the next big thing? The next big thing is all about trusting each other, working together and building grass root movements in every locality of Ethiopia. I will repeat my creed of the past. OLF, UEDF, CUDP, SEPC and the many other parties exist in the context of each other, therefore, accepting and exploring the rich context of individual differences does not imply defeat or loss. Nor does it mean surrendering your own intellectual, aesthetic, or moral perspective. It simply means that you gain a deeper, broader understanding of where your own views fit in with society. Evidently, Ethiopia has a huge amount of complex social and economic problems; however, the remedy for Ethiopia’s problems does not warrant the existence of such a countless political parties and ethnic liberation fronts (LFs). The next big thing requires extended dialogue that brings the multiethnic parties and the LFs towards a single common objective. Temporary disagreements and some procedural impediments should not discourage the different parties and the LFs from attending dialogues. After all, isn’t it the mark of great minds to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it?
The multiethnic political parties and the ethnic LFs might have some deep-seated differences, but I do believe, they all agree that TPLF is an evil that should be dealt with. Hence, they need to understand that the life of TPLF is extended by the things they do and the things they don’t do. To work together, dialogues are inescapable tools that curb differences, not to just get rid of TPLF, but to establish a true democratic and united Ethiopia. So, will our political parties stand together and fight the TPLF regime collectively, or, continue their never ending individual race to “Arat Kilo”? Will CUDP, OLF, SEPC and UEDF do something different, or keep on playing the mind numbing “do nothing” type political game of the 60’s? We need to understand that more than 75million good people are sill suffocated by a handful of evil people. Let’s never forget that the only necessary condition for the triumph of the wicked is that good people do nothing.
Fortunately, we find ourselves at the dawn of the third millennium. Let’s celebrate this once in a thousand year moment by Laying the foundation for a stable state of Ethiopia in which all citizens are equal before the law. If we accomplish this noble task, our names will be immortalized in the history books. In deed, our names will be written in a completely different tone and page than Meles and company. At the end of 2999, we will be remembered just like Nelson Mandela, George Washington, and Kamal Ataturk. Are we determined? If yes, so help us God!
Friday, July 20, 2007
The Ethiopian Freedom Bus is on the March
Very happy about the release of the CUD (Kinijit) prisoners of conscience. Sad about the thousands of others left behind bars.
I have heard that the CUD folks have signed a document in which they have admitted to "mistakes" to win their release. Naturally, I feel that the document has some relevance, to the extent that what it may reveal about the nature of the regime that incarcerated them, and I am curious to read the document in its entirety. But, obviously, the document was signed under duress and, as such, I do not think it is of any use to spend precious time talking about it. What is more important to me and, I am sure, to most Ethiopians is what the freed CUD leaders plan to do to further the cause of peace, justice and democracy in Ethiopia in the days, months and years ahead. I hope they will remain united and continue to lead by example. I also hope that they will not forget those whom they left behind in Woyane's dungeons.
I have heard that the CUD folks have signed a document in which they have admitted to "mistakes" to win their release. Naturally, I feel that the document has some relevance, to the extent that what it may reveal about the nature of the regime that incarcerated them, and I am curious to read the document in its entirety. But, obviously, the document was signed under duress and, as such, I do not think it is of any use to spend precious time talking about it. What is more important to me and, I am sure, to most Ethiopians is what the freed CUD leaders plan to do to further the cause of peace, justice and democracy in Ethiopia in the days, months and years ahead. I hope they will remain united and continue to lead by example. I also hope that they will not forget those whom they left behind in Woyane's dungeons.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
High Court, Low Verdict
By Ephrem Madebo
The absolutely nonsense and preposterous ‘political’ verdict that started on June 11 calumniated to its worst stage yesterday when the Ethiopian High Court nominal judges read a political manuscript sent from Zewnawi’s office. The rule of law might have never been the way of life in Ethiopia, however, neither the judges of the 16th century nor the emperors of the 19th century, or the Military dictators of the late 20th century exhibited such a contempt and despise to the rule of law and to the people they administered. Yesterday, the ever degenerating Ethiopian justice system reached its rock bottom and proved itself to be nothing, but a decayed formation of dead processes and futile human vultures. As the illustrious Ethiopian proverb says, yesterday’s verdict was nothing, but “Ferde Gemdel”.
As one would not expect a wheat kernel from an acacia tree, we sure did not expect justice from an injustice system. But, I personally, never thought my country would have a regime that kills the hope of the very people that it purportedly leads. Fifteen years ago, Zenawi and his poisonous rats like the retarded Sebhat Nega gave Ethiopia’s natural sea port (Assab) to Eritrea. In 1999 and 2000, the same bloody duo and their supporters led the Ethiopian people to war, but deliberately lost the political cause of the war after sacrificing tens of thousands of people. In 2005, they invited political parties and organizations for a free and fair election. But, when the outcome of the election went against their expectation, they took out their anger on innocent demonstrators. Yesterday, the TPLF gangs surpassed all of their past sins by giving a life sentence for absolutely innocent and relentless defenders of democracy.
Last week, a wise Ethiopian lady was escorted from the court room for laughing at the prosecutor when he asked the court to impose the death penalty on innocent people who fought for the life of many Ethiopians. To the Zenawis’ and the shameless judges, her laughter could be seen as an act of disturbing order in the court, but to millions of Ethiopians and to many peace loving people of the world, the famous July 8 laugher in the Ethiopian court room is a historical event of great magnitude that resonates to posterity. She preferred to laugh when most of us cried because when one has no more tear to shed, laughter is the only means of expressing emotions. Her laughter has a great role in shaping our struggle for peace and justice just like Rosa Park’s resistance to give her seat for a white man ignited the civil rights movement of the 1960s’.
Yesterday morning when I first read news of the verdict (on Ethio-Zagol blog), I was shocked not by the verdict itself, but by the kind of inequity that comes only from the rancorous heart of the TPLF gangs. During the Second Word War, Italian soldiers used to stab every soldier killed by the Nazis; well no wonder for the Italians were trying to make sure that Nazis left no life in the fallen soldiers. Today, the Ethiopian ruling party and the High Court are repeating the infamous act of the Nazis and the Fascists. Here is part of the verdict that made me giggle like the lady who was escorted out of the court room: Thou shall not vote and run for public office for the rest of your life. What kind of nonsensical verdict is this? How can one kill a person and then punch the dead body? How can one take the right of a person when the very person has no right to be taken?
Dear fellow Ethiopians, Meles Zenawi has explicitly demonstrated his recklessness towards Ethiopia, and his pig-headed confidant Sebhat Nega has complimented Meles’s unruliness by renewing TPLF’s covenant with EPLF [we will die for Eritrea]. We Ethiopians always called ourselves the proud people of Africa for no white power dared to touch or take our freedom. Our fathers died for the cause of freedom and made us proud Africans. Does it matter if our freedom is taken by a white or black power? If no, then where is our fighting spirit that annihilated the Mahdists, the Italians, the British, and the mercenary armies of the Pashas of Ottoman Turks? Freedom is always freedom; therefore, enemies of freedom should always be dealt with the same decisive blow regardless of their origin or skin color. If we are the true children of Alula Aba Nega, Balcha Aba Nebso, King Tona, and Colonel Abdissa Aga, let’s pass to our children what these heroes passed to us!
For the last forty years, the Ethiopian political scene was jam-packed by unsynchronized agglomeration of parties that showed no sign of cohesiveness. EPRP, EDU, AESM, and many other parties proliferated with an identical objective of bringing peace and democracy to the Ethiopian people. But, none of these parties achieved their objective. Division, uncompromising, lack of trust and cooperation, and individual race to power were among the principal causes of the failure. Today, the only route to unseat the TPLF regime is unity. We can individually bark, but we can’t plant a bleeding bite on our enemies. Forget fighting for Ethiopia, with out unity, we can’t even firmly stand for our individual parties. Let me leave you alone by repeating what the lone African Pope and Philosopher [Saint Augustine] said 1500 years ago: “A divided will shall not stand for itself”. The political momentum will definitely be in our side as our jailed leaders soon join us in victory. Let’s unload our baggage, change our attitude, and create a united forum that propels us to a united Ethiopia.
The absolutely nonsense and preposterous ‘political’ verdict that started on June 11 calumniated to its worst stage yesterday when the Ethiopian High Court nominal judges read a political manuscript sent from Zewnawi’s office. The rule of law might have never been the way of life in Ethiopia, however, neither the judges of the 16th century nor the emperors of the 19th century, or the Military dictators of the late 20th century exhibited such a contempt and despise to the rule of law and to the people they administered. Yesterday, the ever degenerating Ethiopian justice system reached its rock bottom and proved itself to be nothing, but a decayed formation of dead processes and futile human vultures. As the illustrious Ethiopian proverb says, yesterday’s verdict was nothing, but “Ferde Gemdel”.
As one would not expect a wheat kernel from an acacia tree, we sure did not expect justice from an injustice system. But, I personally, never thought my country would have a regime that kills the hope of the very people that it purportedly leads. Fifteen years ago, Zenawi and his poisonous rats like the retarded Sebhat Nega gave Ethiopia’s natural sea port (Assab) to Eritrea. In 1999 and 2000, the same bloody duo and their supporters led the Ethiopian people to war, but deliberately lost the political cause of the war after sacrificing tens of thousands of people. In 2005, they invited political parties and organizations for a free and fair election. But, when the outcome of the election went against their expectation, they took out their anger on innocent demonstrators. Yesterday, the TPLF gangs surpassed all of their past sins by giving a life sentence for absolutely innocent and relentless defenders of democracy.
Last week, a wise Ethiopian lady was escorted from the court room for laughing at the prosecutor when he asked the court to impose the death penalty on innocent people who fought for the life of many Ethiopians. To the Zenawis’ and the shameless judges, her laughter could be seen as an act of disturbing order in the court, but to millions of Ethiopians and to many peace loving people of the world, the famous July 8 laugher in the Ethiopian court room is a historical event of great magnitude that resonates to posterity. She preferred to laugh when most of us cried because when one has no more tear to shed, laughter is the only means of expressing emotions. Her laughter has a great role in shaping our struggle for peace and justice just like Rosa Park’s resistance to give her seat for a white man ignited the civil rights movement of the 1960s’.
Yesterday morning when I first read news of the verdict (on Ethio-Zagol blog), I was shocked not by the verdict itself, but by the kind of inequity that comes only from the rancorous heart of the TPLF gangs. During the Second Word War, Italian soldiers used to stab every soldier killed by the Nazis; well no wonder for the Italians were trying to make sure that Nazis left no life in the fallen soldiers. Today, the Ethiopian ruling party and the High Court are repeating the infamous act of the Nazis and the Fascists. Here is part of the verdict that made me giggle like the lady who was escorted out of the court room: Thou shall not vote and run for public office for the rest of your life. What kind of nonsensical verdict is this? How can one kill a person and then punch the dead body? How can one take the right of a person when the very person has no right to be taken?
Dear fellow Ethiopians, Meles Zenawi has explicitly demonstrated his recklessness towards Ethiopia, and his pig-headed confidant Sebhat Nega has complimented Meles’s unruliness by renewing TPLF’s covenant with EPLF [we will die for Eritrea]. We Ethiopians always called ourselves the proud people of Africa for no white power dared to touch or take our freedom. Our fathers died for the cause of freedom and made us proud Africans. Does it matter if our freedom is taken by a white or black power? If no, then where is our fighting spirit that annihilated the Mahdists, the Italians, the British, and the mercenary armies of the Pashas of Ottoman Turks? Freedom is always freedom; therefore, enemies of freedom should always be dealt with the same decisive blow regardless of their origin or skin color. If we are the true children of Alula Aba Nega, Balcha Aba Nebso, King Tona, and Colonel Abdissa Aga, let’s pass to our children what these heroes passed to us!
For the last forty years, the Ethiopian political scene was jam-packed by unsynchronized agglomeration of parties that showed no sign of cohesiveness. EPRP, EDU, AESM, and many other parties proliferated with an identical objective of bringing peace and democracy to the Ethiopian people. But, none of these parties achieved their objective. Division, uncompromising, lack of trust and cooperation, and individual race to power were among the principal causes of the failure. Today, the only route to unseat the TPLF regime is unity. We can individually bark, but we can’t plant a bleeding bite on our enemies. Forget fighting for Ethiopia, with out unity, we can’t even firmly stand for our individual parties. Let me leave you alone by repeating what the lone African Pope and Philosopher [Saint Augustine] said 1500 years ago: “A divided will shall not stand for itself”. The political momentum will definitely be in our side as our jailed leaders soon join us in victory. Let’s unload our baggage, change our attitude, and create a united forum that propels us to a united Ethiopia.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
"Abusing the people doesn't make sense"
In a recent must-read article ("Fallout from war on terror hits Ethiopia") by a foreign correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, an article that deals with the repercussions of Ethiopia's interference in neighboring Somalia in the name of the war against terrorism, an Ethiopian government official was quoted as saying:
"We don't see any basic violations of human rights," said Bereket Simon, an adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. "Abusing the people doesn't make sense. You abuse people and they look to the subversives. It's counterproductive."
For those who are an uninitiated in Ethiopian politics (or those who are ill-informed) such talk may come across as straight talk and sound refreshing. Unfortunately, the true nature of the people who are currently ruling Ethiopia and the state of human rights in Ethiopia could not have been any further from the truth. The truth is, the human rights record of the current rulers for the last 16 years is diametrically the opposite of the image the above quote is intended to project.
One thing the current rulers have excelled at in the last 16 years has been in the PR game. Their talk has always been designed to hoodwink the international audience about the reality in Ethiopia and give an image of a political leadership that is cool-headed and rational. The international audience pretty much had bought into their propaganda up until two years ago. Fortunately for Ethiopia, that game is over. This Bereket fellow and his master, the prime terrorist Meles Zenawi, can try all they want to say the right things while doing the exact opposite. But no matter how skilled they may be in the PR game, one thing they can't control for sure is the reality on the ground. The reality in Ethiopia, including the Ogaden, is human rights abuses that rival the record of the Dergue regime, the regime Meles and his terrorist friends replaced.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Lies of the Millennium
By Ephrem Madebo
In the last two years, Ethiopia has produced a plethora of pathological liars; in fact, it produced more public liars than honest judges. Historically, Ethiopia is a country where the supply of the truth has always been in excess of the demand. Paradoxically, in TPLF’s Ethiopia, the truth is a scarce commodity. In the past nine months, TPLF and its associates have been busy getting ready for the millennium extravaganza. As the ruling party of the last 16 years, TPLF has little to show for its relative “Pax Romana”, yet it plans to spend $25 million to tell more lies to the Ethiopian people and to the rest of the world. The lies that will be told on the week long celebration of the millennium shall be articulated by writers of the next millennium. For the millennium that we’re saying good bye, here are some lies by the TPLF officials:
-“Ethiopia’s history is no more than 100 years” TPLF members
-“Many who know Ethiopia will tell you that our party is firmly entrenched in the rural areas where 85% of the population lives. Fortunately or unfortunately the elections were never tight. Under these circumstances, the primary objective of our party was not necessarily to win seats, but to have absolutely credible and democratic elections in Ethiopia. Credible in the eyes of the Ethiopian people and secondly, credible in the eyes of the international community”
Meles Zenawi
-“Ethiopia has gradually moved through various stages of democracy in the last 16 years, culminating in the first real competitive multi-party elections in 2005”
Seyoum Mesfin
-“Well, I definitely believe that it [the violence] will tarnish the image of the country. But, what was the alternative? Let's look at it. The alternative was strife between the different nationalities of Ethiopia which might have made the Rwandan genocide look like Child’s play” Bereket Simon
-“Ethiopia has a clear-cut policy on land ownership and administration”
Addisu Legesse
-“Ethiopia could jump to the ranks of middle-income nations in two decades”
Sufian Ahemed
-“It was proved that the CUDP leaders were in the process of forming an armed wing to throw out the constitutional government of Ethiopia” Assefa Kesito (recent interview with Ande Ethiopia radio)
Today, every cadre in the TPLF power echelon makes his/her living by duplicating, re-fining, or re-generating the lies fabricated by the upper level bosses. Should this surprise us? No! As contagious as lying is, if a government is a liar; all it does is breed lies among citizens. Naturally, it is very difficult to get the TPLF rank and file agents to understand the lies of their masters when their salary depends on not understanding the truth. I really don’t blame people like Addisu Legesse, Sufian Ahemed, and Assefa Kesito, whose lively hood depends on the quality and quantity of lies they produce. The Holy Bible says:
“You are of your father the devil: and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning: and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof:” John 8:44
In the United States, politicians lie because the public wants to hear what it wants to hear, and what it wants to hear may not necessarily be the truth. In 1988, Michael Dukakis said he would hike taxes to reverse the Reagan deficit [the truth], but the public trusted G.H. Bush’s lie- “Read my lip no new taxes”. Politicians in Ethiopia do not have the burden of proving to be the right candidate, and unlike the US public, the Ethiopian public wants to hear nothing, but the truth. So why do politicians lie in Ethiopia? The answer is simple. The TPLF officials lie because they can’t live without it. The TPLF regime would never make the truth part of its principle; if it does, there would be no TPLF. Therefore, for them lying is a normal way of life.
The higher magnitude TPLF lies are fabricated in the politburo, interpreted as the truth by the judicial system, and disseminated by the government press. As we all know, the Ethiopian press is a great keyboard on which only Meles Zenawi plays, and he is good at it. He makes louder sounds, keeps the notes simple, and repeatedly plays the same chord until the whole room is in the same rhythm with him. Once Adolf Hitler said: “Make the lie big, make it simple, and keep saying it, eventually they will believe it” What a “good” man to learn from.
One of the most boisterous whimper of the TPLF elites is that Ethiopia is doomed to disintegrate in the absence of their “divine” rule. What a wild cry! Wasn’t TPLF created to destabilize Ethiopia? Isn’t TPLF the one that started the disintegration? Their other fooling scheme is that these barefaced part-time leaders and full time entrepreneurs tell us to sit back and watch them do things for us. In a nutshell, they want to spoon feed us. We need to say no, and we need to make our own food. If we are always spoon fed, we learn nothing, but the shape of the spoon. And this is what exactly the TPLF gangs want us to be – Dependent!
As early as last week, the father of all lies was trying to teach the “ABC” of lies to the “Kaliti” heroes through his Western tutors. During the short lived June and July 2005 negotiation, it was Meles who took advantage of the negotiation to cool off the wrath of the Ethiopian people. Let’s not fall victims to Meles Zenawi’s swindling devices again. His primary objective is to blame the crimes he committed on the victims. The plea deal is crafted to wash his hard to clean face. Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian people, and the rest of the world know why the CUDP leaders are in jail. The arrangement to free the CUDP leaders should not be viewed as a good will gesture of Meles Zenawi. It is not the exclusive outcome of western pressure either, if it was, it should have come two years ago. The pressure to release our heroes is initiated primarily by Ethiopians inside and outside. Our enemies belittled the candle night vigils in front of the Whitehouse, and ridiculed the demonstrations in Downing Street. Regardless of what happens in Kaliti, today, we have a good reason to laugh at those who dismissed our cry for democracy as a mystified Diaspora attempt to bring back the old. Today, they are the old!
Today, the opposition has learned from its naïve mistakes. I don’t think the heroes who stood firm for the last two years will agree to a plea deal that grants them physical freedom, but takes away their moral freedom and leaves a blemish on their otherwise crystal clean pro-democracy dossier. Our dignified heroes in “Kaliti” deserve a wholehearted apology, not impunity. They are not criminals; they are law abiding advocates of democracy. It is the truth that set Nelson Mandela free, not a deal with the apartheid regime. The Ethiopian people are behind you; stand for the truth, the truth shall set you free. Evidently, it is hard to fight the TPLF elites, because they have a fetish faith that spins around a single ethnic group. We all know it is more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge, but it is also difficult to win over faith without knowledge. Knowledge is in our side!
To Meles and his associates, here is my creed that I always go over with morally bankrupted people: Ethically, I am reserved from saying shame on you, for shame arises from a sense of personal failure; however, you should feel guilty of yourself, for guilt arises out of concern for others. The Ethiopian people are not upset that you lied to them; they are upset that they have a leader they don’t trust and a party in power that they didn’t elect. Trust is the Foundation of leadership. You can’t buy trust, or declare your trustworthiness. You should earn it like Professor Mesfin, Dr. Yacob, Dr. Berhanu, and the young Eyoel Muluneh!
In the last two years, Ethiopia has produced a plethora of pathological liars; in fact, it produced more public liars than honest judges. Historically, Ethiopia is a country where the supply of the truth has always been in excess of the demand. Paradoxically, in TPLF’s Ethiopia, the truth is a scarce commodity. In the past nine months, TPLF and its associates have been busy getting ready for the millennium extravaganza. As the ruling party of the last 16 years, TPLF has little to show for its relative “Pax Romana”, yet it plans to spend $25 million to tell more lies to the Ethiopian people and to the rest of the world. The lies that will be told on the week long celebration of the millennium shall be articulated by writers of the next millennium. For the millennium that we’re saying good bye, here are some lies by the TPLF officials:
-“Ethiopia’s history is no more than 100 years” TPLF members
-“Many who know Ethiopia will tell you that our party is firmly entrenched in the rural areas where 85% of the population lives. Fortunately or unfortunately the elections were never tight. Under these circumstances, the primary objective of our party was not necessarily to win seats, but to have absolutely credible and democratic elections in Ethiopia. Credible in the eyes of the Ethiopian people and secondly, credible in the eyes of the international community”
Meles Zenawi
-“Ethiopia has gradually moved through various stages of democracy in the last 16 years, culminating in the first real competitive multi-party elections in 2005”
Seyoum Mesfin
-“Well, I definitely believe that it [the violence] will tarnish the image of the country. But, what was the alternative? Let's look at it. The alternative was strife between the different nationalities of Ethiopia which might have made the Rwandan genocide look like Child’s play” Bereket Simon
-“Ethiopia has a clear-cut policy on land ownership and administration”
Addisu Legesse
-“Ethiopia could jump to the ranks of middle-income nations in two decades”
Sufian Ahemed
-“It was proved that the CUDP leaders were in the process of forming an armed wing to throw out the constitutional government of Ethiopia” Assefa Kesito (recent interview with Ande Ethiopia radio)
Today, every cadre in the TPLF power echelon makes his/her living by duplicating, re-fining, or re-generating the lies fabricated by the upper level bosses. Should this surprise us? No! As contagious as lying is, if a government is a liar; all it does is breed lies among citizens. Naturally, it is very difficult to get the TPLF rank and file agents to understand the lies of their masters when their salary depends on not understanding the truth. I really don’t blame people like Addisu Legesse, Sufian Ahemed, and Assefa Kesito, whose lively hood depends on the quality and quantity of lies they produce. The Holy Bible says:
“You are of your father the devil: and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning: and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof:” John 8:44
In the United States, politicians lie because the public wants to hear what it wants to hear, and what it wants to hear may not necessarily be the truth. In 1988, Michael Dukakis said he would hike taxes to reverse the Reagan deficit [the truth], but the public trusted G.H. Bush’s lie- “Read my lip no new taxes”. Politicians in Ethiopia do not have the burden of proving to be the right candidate, and unlike the US public, the Ethiopian public wants to hear nothing, but the truth. So why do politicians lie in Ethiopia? The answer is simple. The TPLF officials lie because they can’t live without it. The TPLF regime would never make the truth part of its principle; if it does, there would be no TPLF. Therefore, for them lying is a normal way of life.
The higher magnitude TPLF lies are fabricated in the politburo, interpreted as the truth by the judicial system, and disseminated by the government press. As we all know, the Ethiopian press is a great keyboard on which only Meles Zenawi plays, and he is good at it. He makes louder sounds, keeps the notes simple, and repeatedly plays the same chord until the whole room is in the same rhythm with him. Once Adolf Hitler said: “Make the lie big, make it simple, and keep saying it, eventually they will believe it” What a “good” man to learn from.
One of the most boisterous whimper of the TPLF elites is that Ethiopia is doomed to disintegrate in the absence of their “divine” rule. What a wild cry! Wasn’t TPLF created to destabilize Ethiopia? Isn’t TPLF the one that started the disintegration? Their other fooling scheme is that these barefaced part-time leaders and full time entrepreneurs tell us to sit back and watch them do things for us. In a nutshell, they want to spoon feed us. We need to say no, and we need to make our own food. If we are always spoon fed, we learn nothing, but the shape of the spoon. And this is what exactly the TPLF gangs want us to be – Dependent!
As early as last week, the father of all lies was trying to teach the “ABC” of lies to the “Kaliti” heroes through his Western tutors. During the short lived June and July 2005 negotiation, it was Meles who took advantage of the negotiation to cool off the wrath of the Ethiopian people. Let’s not fall victims to Meles Zenawi’s swindling devices again. His primary objective is to blame the crimes he committed on the victims. The plea deal is crafted to wash his hard to clean face. Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian people, and the rest of the world know why the CUDP leaders are in jail. The arrangement to free the CUDP leaders should not be viewed as a good will gesture of Meles Zenawi. It is not the exclusive outcome of western pressure either, if it was, it should have come two years ago. The pressure to release our heroes is initiated primarily by Ethiopians inside and outside. Our enemies belittled the candle night vigils in front of the Whitehouse, and ridiculed the demonstrations in Downing Street. Regardless of what happens in Kaliti, today, we have a good reason to laugh at those who dismissed our cry for democracy as a mystified Diaspora attempt to bring back the old. Today, they are the old!
Today, the opposition has learned from its naïve mistakes. I don’t think the heroes who stood firm for the last two years will agree to a plea deal that grants them physical freedom, but takes away their moral freedom and leaves a blemish on their otherwise crystal clean pro-democracy dossier. Our dignified heroes in “Kaliti” deserve a wholehearted apology, not impunity. They are not criminals; they are law abiding advocates of democracy. It is the truth that set Nelson Mandela free, not a deal with the apartheid regime. The Ethiopian people are behind you; stand for the truth, the truth shall set you free. Evidently, it is hard to fight the TPLF elites, because they have a fetish faith that spins around a single ethnic group. We all know it is more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge, but it is also difficult to win over faith without knowledge. Knowledge is in our side!
To Meles and his associates, here is my creed that I always go over with morally bankrupted people: Ethically, I am reserved from saying shame on you, for shame arises from a sense of personal failure; however, you should feel guilty of yourself, for guilt arises out of concern for others. The Ethiopian people are not upset that you lied to them; they are upset that they have a leader they don’t trust and a party in power that they didn’t elect. Trust is the Foundation of leadership. You can’t buy trust, or declare your trustworthiness. You should earn it like Professor Mesfin, Dr. Yacob, Dr. Berhanu, and the young Eyoel Muluneh!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Rumor
Seminaworq reports that the CUD prisoners of conscience have agreed to the terms of release sent to them by Meles and their release is imminent. If this report comes to fruition, then it is a great news for the prisoners, their families and all who want to see Ethiopia to return to the hopeful days of pre-May 16, 2005!
But this report should be taken with a grain of salt as Ethiopia's prisoners of conscience number in the thousands. The thousands of prisoners who languish in Meles's dungeons merely because they are suspected of being supporters of the OLF and other opposition groups and prisoners of conscience like Abera Yemaneab should never be forgotten. Their release should be given just as much attention if Ethiopia is to genuinely break away from its totalitarian past.
But this report should be taken with a grain of salt as Ethiopia's prisoners of conscience number in the thousands. The thousands of prisoners who languish in Meles's dungeons merely because they are suspected of being supporters of the OLF and other opposition groups and prisoners of conscience like Abera Yemaneab should never be forgotten. Their release should be given just as much attention if Ethiopia is to genuinely break away from its totalitarian past.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Meles's War Against Democracy
By Maimire Mennasemay
On June 11, 2007, the Meles regime found democracy guilty for voicing the people's demand for a government that represents the will of the people. The arrogance and contempt for Ethiopians that this "judgment" exudes was already palpable in 1991 when Meles captured power. It has now crystallized into an anti-democratic ideology – Melesism, one may call it – that considers governance as a rule of the TPLF, by the TPLF, for the TPLF. The regime's war against democracy was evident in the 1995 and 2000 elections, which it won, as neutral observers noted, through intimidation and manipulation. Thanks, however, to the political maturity of the Ethiopian people, the regime failed to stifle the democratic forces in the 2005 elections. True to form, Meles lashed back by arresting the militants for democracy, among whom the CUD leaders, and accused them of treason. Now that it knows that the great majority of Ethiopians have rejected it, the regime is openly conducting a war against democracy. Two events, among so many one could cite, illustrate this – Sebhat Nega's declaration and the Millennium mega-party.
The rank-and-file of the TPLF, who shed their blood for democracy, must have been shaken out of their wits by the recent declaration of Sebhat, one of the top TPLF leaders, who announced publicly that he and his colleagues fought for the secession of Eritrea, despite the EPLF's wish to explore a political solution that will not dismember Ethiopia. The TPLF leadership sacrificed the lives of thousands of Tigreans, without ever consulting them, to ensure that Ethiopia becomes a land-locked nation. Thus, Tigreans, whose ancestors have shed their blood for centuries to defend the integrity and independence of Ethiopia, were used, without their consent, to dismember their own country. The contempt for democracy is thus lodged in the very heart of the TPLF, right from its very beginning.
Those who believed that Meles's gospel of ethnic self-determination meant democracy for all are also finally seeing that, according to Melesism, ethnic self-determination means creating ethnic entrepreneurs committed to cultivating their private interests by serving as the fifth column of the Meles clique in the various regions of Ethiopia. More and more, Melesism appears as the latest inheritor of the 2000 old feudal system that has kept Ethiopians locked in poverty and oppression. To be sure, it is a new kind of feudalism – ethnic feudalism, if you will. A look at the TPLF's politburo discloses that most of its members are related to each other though family ties, as befits a feudal order. To ensure their power, Meles and his clique have created a nation-wide ethnic feudal organization, the EPRDF. Its tentacles siphon wealth from all over Ethiopia into the coffers of the TPLF leadership and endowments. Its officials intimidate, imprison, torture and kill those who, believing that the demise of the Derg opened the way for democracy, try to give voice to the people. Feudalism, be it of the Imperial or EPRDF variety, is the enemy of democracy.
Those who believed that the Meles regime, intoxicated as it may be by the wealth and power it has reaped from its ethnic divide-and-rule policies, will at least distance itself from the kinds of crimes against humanity the previous regimes committed have now to admit that it also is playing the fiddle while Ethiopia is burning. During the great famine of the 1970's, the Imperial regime organized a lavish feast to celebrate the Emperor's 80th birthday. Certainly, the Emperor loved Ethiopia. Nevertheless, he considered Ethiopian peasants less worthy than his chihuahua dogs to whom he fed choice meat while thousands were dying from famine. Then came the Derg. It projected Jonathan Dimblby's "Hidden Hunger" on the catastrophic famine in Wollo, and, ridding on the shockwaves that the film sent through Addis Abeba, dethroned the Emperor. The Derg proclaimed socialism. Then again, one cannot serve the Imperial Regime without being infected by the virus of contempt for the people. In the middle of the devastating famine of 1984, the Derg threw a multi-million dollar tenth anniversary party. But the story of our rulers' contempt for Ethiopians is not yet over, for the Meles regime has now reclaimed the mantel of this repulsive and obscene behaviour of shameless feasting in the midst of absolute misery and is spending millions of dollars to throw its Millennium mega-party.
For the third time in 30 years, an Ethiopian regime will be dining, wining and dancing while millions of Ethiopians are suffering and dying. Apologists of the Meles regime may shriek that there is no public famine as in the past. But Ethiopians do not die from hunger alone. They die, in the present as in the past, not only from the scarcity of food, but also from the scarcity of democracy, though it is important to remind the apologists that more than five million Ethiopians teeter at the edge of famine every year, and that Ethiopians suffer and die by the thousands from preventable causes. The social and economic indicators from the specialized UN agencies depict Ethiopia as one of the poorest countries in the world. Life expectancy is 48 years; 46% suffer from malnutrition; only 22% of Ethiopians have access to safe water. Among the 15 to 49 years old, 4.4% are HIV-positive. Malaria infects nine million Ethiopians and kills thousands a year. 90% percent of the urban population lives in shantytowns without basic sanitation. Many live over or besides open latrines. Water-borne diseases are common, and often fatal. Diarrhea alone accounts for 46% of mortality among children under five. Infant mortality rate under one year of age is 109 per thousand, one of the highest in the world. According to UNICEF, 509 000 children under the age of 5 die every year needlessly. 47% of children under five years suffer from stunting. And where does the Meles government spend its money? On a millennium party whose watering holes will be overflowing with scotch and gin from Scotland; wine, champagne and cognac from France; and beer from Holland. Of course, democracy is most unwelcome, indeed feared, for were it to be invited, it will surely transform the Millennium party into a massive popular demonstration against the tyranny and callousness of the Meles regime. No wonder then that Meles declared democracy guilty on June 11, 2007, and that the Foreign Policy review (2007) classified Ethiopia as one of the twenty most failed states in the world.
1972, 1984, and 2007 will go down in Ethiopian history as the years of infamy, of decadent and unforgivable feasting of the elite while Ethiopians are dying needlessly by the thousands. Indeed, 2007 shall be remembered as the year of a double ignominy: It marks the exit from our Second Millennium with the criminalization of democracy on June 11, 2007; and it ushers our Third Millennium with an obscene mega-party on September 11, 2007 for the ruling elite, while millions of Ethiopian children will go to bed on an empty stomach. On this day of infamy alone, according to UNICEF figures, at least 1394 children under the age of five will die from preventable causes.
But the end of the Meles regime is not far. However powerful Meles may be, he can never succeed in preventing democracy from rising again from the ashes of his victims, ever stronger, with her arteries rejuvenated by the blood of the martyrs, and her heart pulsating with the rhythm of freedom. Ethiopians shall rise and reclaim their rightful place as a free and dignified people. Meles can have his Millennium party, but the day after shall belong to Ethiopians and democracy.
On June 11, 2007, the Meles regime found democracy guilty for voicing the people's demand for a government that represents the will of the people. The arrogance and contempt for Ethiopians that this "judgment" exudes was already palpable in 1991 when Meles captured power. It has now crystallized into an anti-democratic ideology – Melesism, one may call it – that considers governance as a rule of the TPLF, by the TPLF, for the TPLF. The regime's war against democracy was evident in the 1995 and 2000 elections, which it won, as neutral observers noted, through intimidation and manipulation. Thanks, however, to the political maturity of the Ethiopian people, the regime failed to stifle the democratic forces in the 2005 elections. True to form, Meles lashed back by arresting the militants for democracy, among whom the CUD leaders, and accused them of treason. Now that it knows that the great majority of Ethiopians have rejected it, the regime is openly conducting a war against democracy. Two events, among so many one could cite, illustrate this – Sebhat Nega's declaration and the Millennium mega-party.
The rank-and-file of the TPLF, who shed their blood for democracy, must have been shaken out of their wits by the recent declaration of Sebhat, one of the top TPLF leaders, who announced publicly that he and his colleagues fought for the secession of Eritrea, despite the EPLF's wish to explore a political solution that will not dismember Ethiopia. The TPLF leadership sacrificed the lives of thousands of Tigreans, without ever consulting them, to ensure that Ethiopia becomes a land-locked nation. Thus, Tigreans, whose ancestors have shed their blood for centuries to defend the integrity and independence of Ethiopia, were used, without their consent, to dismember their own country. The contempt for democracy is thus lodged in the very heart of the TPLF, right from its very beginning.
Those who believed that Meles's gospel of ethnic self-determination meant democracy for all are also finally seeing that, according to Melesism, ethnic self-determination means creating ethnic entrepreneurs committed to cultivating their private interests by serving as the fifth column of the Meles clique in the various regions of Ethiopia. More and more, Melesism appears as the latest inheritor of the 2000 old feudal system that has kept Ethiopians locked in poverty and oppression. To be sure, it is a new kind of feudalism – ethnic feudalism, if you will. A look at the TPLF's politburo discloses that most of its members are related to each other though family ties, as befits a feudal order. To ensure their power, Meles and his clique have created a nation-wide ethnic feudal organization, the EPRDF. Its tentacles siphon wealth from all over Ethiopia into the coffers of the TPLF leadership and endowments. Its officials intimidate, imprison, torture and kill those who, believing that the demise of the Derg opened the way for democracy, try to give voice to the people. Feudalism, be it of the Imperial or EPRDF variety, is the enemy of democracy.
Those who believed that the Meles regime, intoxicated as it may be by the wealth and power it has reaped from its ethnic divide-and-rule policies, will at least distance itself from the kinds of crimes against humanity the previous regimes committed have now to admit that it also is playing the fiddle while Ethiopia is burning. During the great famine of the 1970's, the Imperial regime organized a lavish feast to celebrate the Emperor's 80th birthday. Certainly, the Emperor loved Ethiopia. Nevertheless, he considered Ethiopian peasants less worthy than his chihuahua dogs to whom he fed choice meat while thousands were dying from famine. Then came the Derg. It projected Jonathan Dimblby's "Hidden Hunger" on the catastrophic famine in Wollo, and, ridding on the shockwaves that the film sent through Addis Abeba, dethroned the Emperor. The Derg proclaimed socialism. Then again, one cannot serve the Imperial Regime without being infected by the virus of contempt for the people. In the middle of the devastating famine of 1984, the Derg threw a multi-million dollar tenth anniversary party. But the story of our rulers' contempt for Ethiopians is not yet over, for the Meles regime has now reclaimed the mantel of this repulsive and obscene behaviour of shameless feasting in the midst of absolute misery and is spending millions of dollars to throw its Millennium mega-party.
For the third time in 30 years, an Ethiopian regime will be dining, wining and dancing while millions of Ethiopians are suffering and dying. Apologists of the Meles regime may shriek that there is no public famine as in the past. But Ethiopians do not die from hunger alone. They die, in the present as in the past, not only from the scarcity of food, but also from the scarcity of democracy, though it is important to remind the apologists that more than five million Ethiopians teeter at the edge of famine every year, and that Ethiopians suffer and die by the thousands from preventable causes. The social and economic indicators from the specialized UN agencies depict Ethiopia as one of the poorest countries in the world. Life expectancy is 48 years; 46% suffer from malnutrition; only 22% of Ethiopians have access to safe water. Among the 15 to 49 years old, 4.4% are HIV-positive. Malaria infects nine million Ethiopians and kills thousands a year. 90% percent of the urban population lives in shantytowns without basic sanitation. Many live over or besides open latrines. Water-borne diseases are common, and often fatal. Diarrhea alone accounts for 46% of mortality among children under five. Infant mortality rate under one year of age is 109 per thousand, one of the highest in the world. According to UNICEF, 509 000 children under the age of 5 die every year needlessly. 47% of children under five years suffer from stunting. And where does the Meles government spend its money? On a millennium party whose watering holes will be overflowing with scotch and gin from Scotland; wine, champagne and cognac from France; and beer from Holland. Of course, democracy is most unwelcome, indeed feared, for were it to be invited, it will surely transform the Millennium party into a massive popular demonstration against the tyranny and callousness of the Meles regime. No wonder then that Meles declared democracy guilty on June 11, 2007, and that the Foreign Policy review (2007) classified Ethiopia as one of the twenty most failed states in the world.
1972, 1984, and 2007 will go down in Ethiopian history as the years of infamy, of decadent and unforgivable feasting of the elite while Ethiopians are dying needlessly by the thousands. Indeed, 2007 shall be remembered as the year of a double ignominy: It marks the exit from our Second Millennium with the criminalization of democracy on June 11, 2007; and it ushers our Third Millennium with an obscene mega-party on September 11, 2007 for the ruling elite, while millions of Ethiopian children will go to bed on an empty stomach. On this day of infamy alone, according to UNICEF figures, at least 1394 children under the age of five will die from preventable causes.
But the end of the Meles regime is not far. However powerful Meles may be, he can never succeed in preventing democracy from rising again from the ashes of his victims, ever stronger, with her arteries rejuvenated by the blood of the martyrs, and her heart pulsating with the rhythm of freedom. Ethiopians shall rise and reclaim their rightful place as a free and dignified people. Meles can have his Millennium party, but the day after shall belong to Ethiopians and democracy.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Freedom on Trial!
By Ephrem Madebo
In one of his vibrant songs, the late Jamaican Reggae star Bob Marley told to all tyrants of the world - “You can full some people some time, but you can’t full all the people all the time”. Yes, yesterday’s verdict might have fooled some innocent people, but it has never fooled the majority of Ethiopians. Yesterday’s premeditated political decision or “Verdict” on the CUDP leaders was not a surprise to Ethiopians who have been following the fate of their elected leaders for the past two years. Personally, I was at both ends of a cliff for almost two years over the suspense of knowing how long I should wait before I hear the verdict. Since I always knew the anatomy of Meles Zenawi, to me, the verdict itself was clear from the get–go. To all peace loving people of Ethiopia, yesterday June 11, 2007 was both a day of sorrow and a day of jubilation. It was a day of sorrow because, at least temporally, freedom itself was on trial in the Ethiopian justice system. Yet it is a day of joy because we have heroes who gave us their yesterday so that we all can live for today.
PM Meles and his gangs might think that their sham verdict has alienated the Ethiopian heroes from the Ethiopian people. Make no mistake! If you imprison them, the truth shall set them free like Nelson Mandela. If you carry a death sentence on them, their spirit of freedom shall be renewed and shall rise from the ashes like Phoenix. Your unclean hands can kill our clean leaders; yes, you can kill them physically, but you can never kill their sprit; for their sprit is with me, with him, with her, with them and with us!
The TPLF regime has repeatedly preached to have been the first government of Ethiopia to grant freedom. To the TPLF gangs, freedom is a mere opportunity to do as one pleases, or a mere opportunity to choose between set of alternatives (seceding, not seceding). This is not freedom. Freedom is the chance to formulate choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose. The Ethiopian people have never been given the opportunity to formulate their choices. PM Meles, if you really like the Ethiopian people (as you claim), please wish us to be free, free to be free from your freedom. “Him that I love, I wish to be free -- even from me” Anne Morrow Lindbergh A.
Thanks to God, I consider myself educated, affluent, and successful in life. Most of the factors that made me who I am today were implanted in me by some of the people who were found guilty yesterday. Dr. Befekadu Degefe was my role model who positively shaped my life in Addis Ababa University. Next to my father, professor Mesfin was my source of wisdom whom I followed from lounge to lounge in AAU campus. Dr.Yacob was a man who taught me patience and walked me through the ‘ABC’ of Ethiopian politics. These three battle seasoned intellectuals and all of the other “candles” around them were on a mission of transforming the socio-economic reality of Ethiopia. How can my conscious mind accept a verdict that condemns the very people that lived to make me a better citizen? How can I live in peace with myself without doing to others what Professor Mesfin, Dr. Befekadu and Dr. Yacob did to me? As to me, I will renew my covenant with the Ethiopian people to live every second of my life for their freedom, and die if death comes along the path. What about you?
Dear fellow Ethiopians, our leaders have labored in freedom and have given birth to a favorable environment in which we should get on to free our people. All in all, they labored in freedom and gave birth to freedom. June 11 will be remembered as the birth day of freedom in Ethiopia. Nurturing and raising this newly born freedom is our resposnibity. We should never entrust the care of freedom to the weak or to the timid. The month of June is the mother of good and bad. June 1 2005 was a dark day in our struggle to freedom and justice. June 11 2007 is the start of a new milestone; a milestone that takes us to the last lap before the finish line. The title of Marley’s song in my opening statement was “Get up- Stand up…don’t give up the fight”. Let’s stand up and fight, and never flinch an inch before making sure that power is at the hands of its true owner.
In one of his vibrant songs, the late Jamaican Reggae star Bob Marley told to all tyrants of the world - “You can full some people some time, but you can’t full all the people all the time”. Yes, yesterday’s verdict might have fooled some innocent people, but it has never fooled the majority of Ethiopians. Yesterday’s premeditated political decision or “Verdict” on the CUDP leaders was not a surprise to Ethiopians who have been following the fate of their elected leaders for the past two years. Personally, I was at both ends of a cliff for almost two years over the suspense of knowing how long I should wait before I hear the verdict. Since I always knew the anatomy of Meles Zenawi, to me, the verdict itself was clear from the get–go. To all peace loving people of Ethiopia, yesterday June 11, 2007 was both a day of sorrow and a day of jubilation. It was a day of sorrow because, at least temporally, freedom itself was on trial in the Ethiopian justice system. Yet it is a day of joy because we have heroes who gave us their yesterday so that we all can live for today.
PM Meles and his gangs might think that their sham verdict has alienated the Ethiopian heroes from the Ethiopian people. Make no mistake! If you imprison them, the truth shall set them free like Nelson Mandela. If you carry a death sentence on them, their spirit of freedom shall be renewed and shall rise from the ashes like Phoenix. Your unclean hands can kill our clean leaders; yes, you can kill them physically, but you can never kill their sprit; for their sprit is with me, with him, with her, with them and with us!
The TPLF regime has repeatedly preached to have been the first government of Ethiopia to grant freedom. To the TPLF gangs, freedom is a mere opportunity to do as one pleases, or a mere opportunity to choose between set of alternatives (seceding, not seceding). This is not freedom. Freedom is the chance to formulate choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose. The Ethiopian people have never been given the opportunity to formulate their choices. PM Meles, if you really like the Ethiopian people (as you claim), please wish us to be free, free to be free from your freedom. “Him that I love, I wish to be free -- even from me” Anne Morrow Lindbergh A.
Thanks to God, I consider myself educated, affluent, and successful in life. Most of the factors that made me who I am today were implanted in me by some of the people who were found guilty yesterday. Dr. Befekadu Degefe was my role model who positively shaped my life in Addis Ababa University. Next to my father, professor Mesfin was my source of wisdom whom I followed from lounge to lounge in AAU campus. Dr.Yacob was a man who taught me patience and walked me through the ‘ABC’ of Ethiopian politics. These three battle seasoned intellectuals and all of the other “candles” around them were on a mission of transforming the socio-economic reality of Ethiopia. How can my conscious mind accept a verdict that condemns the very people that lived to make me a better citizen? How can I live in peace with myself without doing to others what Professor Mesfin, Dr. Befekadu and Dr. Yacob did to me? As to me, I will renew my covenant with the Ethiopian people to live every second of my life for their freedom, and die if death comes along the path. What about you?
Dear fellow Ethiopians, our leaders have labored in freedom and have given birth to a favorable environment in which we should get on to free our people. All in all, they labored in freedom and gave birth to freedom. June 11 will be remembered as the birth day of freedom in Ethiopia. Nurturing and raising this newly born freedom is our resposnibity. We should never entrust the care of freedom to the weak or to the timid. The month of June is the mother of good and bad. June 1 2005 was a dark day in our struggle to freedom and justice. June 11 2007 is the start of a new milestone; a milestone that takes us to the last lap before the finish line. The title of Marley’s song in my opening statement was “Get up- Stand up…don’t give up the fight”. Let’s stand up and fight, and never flinch an inch before making sure that power is at the hands of its true owner.
Friday, June 01, 2007
A Vote against Meles is BY NO means a vote for DERG!!!
By Ephrem Madebo
This past weekend, as I always do, I skimmed over aigaforum (unofficial site of TPLF) and read two articles scribbled by Engineer Ghrima. Since I have a great respect and appreciation for engineers, I took time and read the two articles. Though I always read, I usually don’t bother myself replying to aigaforum articles; however, I decided to reply to Engineer Ghrima because I thought the title of his name might have conned many innocent people [like me] to read his insidious article. I do believe this response serves as an antidote to those who might have been contaminated by Engineer Ghirma’s venomous article.
In one of his articles, Mr. Ghrima said; "Yes, the DERG may now be lying in repose. The relevant question however, is a matter of whether the Ethiopian people will allow it to resuscitate" Dear engineer, why would the Ethiopian people resuscitate a dying giant that devours them if resuscitated? In the history of man kind, no nation has collectively allowed evil to prevail over good. Ethiopia is no different. Ethiopians have neither the need for resuscitating DERG nor the desire to nurture TPLF. I have a grandfather who is at odds with TPLF and the two preceding regimes. When I call him on New Year’s day and ask him how he feels about the new year, he consistently answers - "Son, this year seems to be better than next year" My grandfather is a very optimistic person who expected better governance when Mengistu came to power, but he helplessly watched a wave of children including his grandsons marching to a never ending war. Mr. Ghrima, in May 2005, my grandfather went to his precinct [may be for the last time] to elect his representatives, but your boss denied him his life long wishes! So aren’t you ashamed when you tell me that my grandfather voted to resuscitate DERG, a government that confiscated his son’s hard earned wealth and forced almost all of his grandchildren out of their country? Do you think a vote against Meles is a vote for Mengistu? If you think so, you are more catholic than the Pope. Meles himself doesn’t think so!
Mr. Engineer, you said, "His [Mengistu’s] followers won significant number of seats in the 2005 elections" Time and again, we Ethiopians have shown to the world that we are forgiving people, but after 17 years of social and economic terror, I don’t think we have the heart that wants Mengistu back. On Election Day May 2005, the Ethiopian people did not vote for Mengistu, nor for Meles, they voted for candidates whom they entrusted to represent them in the national parliament. Unlike your deceitful claim, the opposition was more than a match to a one man show party of TPLF; however, in political games; it is not only size that matters the most, but the rule of the game and the behavior of the players. In the Ethiopian case, the rules of the game were written by Meles whose behavior invariably varies like a stock market price. In deed, as you said, there was no way the peaceful Ethiopian opposition could have been a match to the savage Agazis who like the "Toro Bravo" bulls are trained to kill.
My dear country man Ghrima, I am not as rowdy as you are to repeat the sexist and chauvinistic words you used on Anna Gomez. In my opinion, the only interest of Anna Gomez is to see Ethiopians (including you) endlessly enjoy the same peace, justice, and democracy that Europeans enjoy. If you think otherwise, what is the tangible or intangible advantage the respected Anna Gomez would gain if Ethiopia is ruled by CUDP/UEDF, or by any party for that matter? She is a person of high moral standard; unlike your TPLF scamps, she doesn’t bend her values for a moment of pleasure. You said, "EU deserves a more mature person in its parliament". Oh! What a joke! Are you a stand-up comedian from Dedebit that we never had a chance to watch on ETV, or are you the hilarious "Mamo Qilo", a character from the epic story of "Lemma Begebya"? Which ever you are, instead of talking about the European Parliament, why don’t you talk about your own parliament that coughs when Meles sneezes? Do you remember when the incongruous representative from Bademe voted for a resolution that in due course separates his constituency from Ethiopia? Imagine this is the same representative that voted to authorize war that eventually liberated Bademe from the bad man of Eritrea. Is this what you want the European Parliament to look like, or is this what you call maturity? What a shame!
You said, "I believe the time is now, for Ethiopia to become whole again" You must be one of those " F or D" grade engineers whose purpose in AAU’s School of Technology was pure political. What does "....Ethiopia to become whole" look like to you? Don’t you know that Ethiopia is a fraction of what it used to be just 17 years ago? You may forget about Ethiopia since it is not your cup of tea. How about Tigray becoming a ‘whole’ after losing Bademe? The Ethiopia of Haile Selassie had a seaport, and the Ethiopia of Colonel Mengistu did not compromise on Bademe. Today, thanks to the TPLF leadership that you praised, Ethiopia is landlocked, and Meles is on the verge of handing out the "Aceldama" of Ethiopia to Eritrea. Is this the type of whole you learned in one of your engineering classes? You also said, "However, the break-up of Ethiopia is not in the people’s mind right now" Did you say right now? Aha! So this must be a sneak pre-view of your diabolic plan! You are a true graduate of the TPLF School of Engineering! By the way were you a valedictorian? How can you realize the whole you mentioned above if your constitution allows every ethnic group to secede from the whole and go its own way? How can you even talk about Ethiopia’s unity by crafting a constitution that disintegrates Ethiopia? My poor engineer of calamity, you have no moral foundation to call any one a "bum", because you yourself are an intellectual drifter who leans on who ever drops food in your constantly open mouth.
You said, "I am proud of where Ethiopia has been throughout ancient history" Good job! So am I and so are many Ethiopians; but how about our modern history? Ethiopia’s past has never been a worry to any of us; our grave concern is its future. Ethiopians are not trying to pull Ethiopia back in time, fix her past problems, and propel her back to the present time. This is your type of ill-advised reverse engineering, and this is exactly what worries me. What worries me and what worries millions of Ethiopians is the wrong path our mother land is heading. What worries me is not federalism, but ethnic federalism. What worries me is not economic development, but the lopsided development that favors the few. What worries me is not the existence of multi party democracy, but the action of a misguided ruler who uncovers every stone to stay in power. Ideologically, die-hard supporters of TPLF do not worry me much because I’m in a constant state of war with them. Wishy-washy gluttons like you worry me a lot because you’re with me when your belly is half full, and you burp with the enemy when you’re full.
You said, "Young people were butchered by Mengistu" you’ re right many people were massacred by Mengistu. How about those young people who were equally butchered by Meles on the streets of Addis Ababa, Awassa, Ambo, and in many localities of the Oromia zone? Mengistu killed in the pretext of defending the mother land, Meles killed in the pretext of defending the constitution. Didn’t these two evil men kill to draw out their dictatorial rule? Like the analogy you used in one of your articles, both Meles and Mengistu walk like a duck and quack like a duck, so why don’t you call both a duck?
I really don’t know about your engineering skill, however, you seem to be very good in MS Word because you have properly bolded half of your two articles. Mr. Ghrima, your education was financed by the poor Ethiopian tax payers, not by TPLLF. You may serve as a civil servant in the TPLF government, I have no problem with that; but please don’t impair the very people who financed your education and who are paying your salary now. Our poor mother of antiquity can’t anymore afford giving the lion’s share of its rare resources for a group of muggers that ramble in the Menelik Palace every other decade. Finally, you concluded one of your doodle articles by saying the following; "Some would say I am being a bit too harsh. Damn right I am". My fellow engineer, my generosity surpasses your selfishness; therefore, I have no intention of denying what you asked for. Yes, you’re right; you have been extremely unsympathetic to the Ethiopian people like your role model Meles and like your nemesis Mengistu. You’re damn right, you are too harsh, too rubbish, too blandish, and too selfish.
This past weekend, as I always do, I skimmed over aigaforum (unofficial site of TPLF) and read two articles scribbled by Engineer Ghrima. Since I have a great respect and appreciation for engineers, I took time and read the two articles. Though I always read, I usually don’t bother myself replying to aigaforum articles; however, I decided to reply to Engineer Ghrima because I thought the title of his name might have conned many innocent people [like me] to read his insidious article. I do believe this response serves as an antidote to those who might have been contaminated by Engineer Ghirma’s venomous article.
In one of his articles, Mr. Ghrima said; "Yes, the DERG may now be lying in repose. The relevant question however, is a matter of whether the Ethiopian people will allow it to resuscitate" Dear engineer, why would the Ethiopian people resuscitate a dying giant that devours them if resuscitated? In the history of man kind, no nation has collectively allowed evil to prevail over good. Ethiopia is no different. Ethiopians have neither the need for resuscitating DERG nor the desire to nurture TPLF. I have a grandfather who is at odds with TPLF and the two preceding regimes. When I call him on New Year’s day and ask him how he feels about the new year, he consistently answers - "Son, this year seems to be better than next year" My grandfather is a very optimistic person who expected better governance when Mengistu came to power, but he helplessly watched a wave of children including his grandsons marching to a never ending war. Mr. Ghrima, in May 2005, my grandfather went to his precinct [may be for the last time] to elect his representatives, but your boss denied him his life long wishes! So aren’t you ashamed when you tell me that my grandfather voted to resuscitate DERG, a government that confiscated his son’s hard earned wealth and forced almost all of his grandchildren out of their country? Do you think a vote against Meles is a vote for Mengistu? If you think so, you are more catholic than the Pope. Meles himself doesn’t think so!
Mr. Engineer, you said, "His [Mengistu’s] followers won significant number of seats in the 2005 elections" Time and again, we Ethiopians have shown to the world that we are forgiving people, but after 17 years of social and economic terror, I don’t think we have the heart that wants Mengistu back. On Election Day May 2005, the Ethiopian people did not vote for Mengistu, nor for Meles, they voted for candidates whom they entrusted to represent them in the national parliament. Unlike your deceitful claim, the opposition was more than a match to a one man show party of TPLF; however, in political games; it is not only size that matters the most, but the rule of the game and the behavior of the players. In the Ethiopian case, the rules of the game were written by Meles whose behavior invariably varies like a stock market price. In deed, as you said, there was no way the peaceful Ethiopian opposition could have been a match to the savage Agazis who like the "Toro Bravo" bulls are trained to kill.
My dear country man Ghrima, I am not as rowdy as you are to repeat the sexist and chauvinistic words you used on Anna Gomez. In my opinion, the only interest of Anna Gomez is to see Ethiopians (including you) endlessly enjoy the same peace, justice, and democracy that Europeans enjoy. If you think otherwise, what is the tangible or intangible advantage the respected Anna Gomez would gain if Ethiopia is ruled by CUDP/UEDF, or by any party for that matter? She is a person of high moral standard; unlike your TPLF scamps, she doesn’t bend her values for a moment of pleasure. You said, "EU deserves a more mature person in its parliament". Oh! What a joke! Are you a stand-up comedian from Dedebit that we never had a chance to watch on ETV, or are you the hilarious "Mamo Qilo", a character from the epic story of "Lemma Begebya"? Which ever you are, instead of talking about the European Parliament, why don’t you talk about your own parliament that coughs when Meles sneezes? Do you remember when the incongruous representative from Bademe voted for a resolution that in due course separates his constituency from Ethiopia? Imagine this is the same representative that voted to authorize war that eventually liberated Bademe from the bad man of Eritrea. Is this what you want the European Parliament to look like, or is this what you call maturity? What a shame!
You said, "I believe the time is now, for Ethiopia to become whole again" You must be one of those " F or D" grade engineers whose purpose in AAU’s School of Technology was pure political. What does "....Ethiopia to become whole" look like to you? Don’t you know that Ethiopia is a fraction of what it used to be just 17 years ago? You may forget about Ethiopia since it is not your cup of tea. How about Tigray becoming a ‘whole’ after losing Bademe? The Ethiopia of Haile Selassie had a seaport, and the Ethiopia of Colonel Mengistu did not compromise on Bademe. Today, thanks to the TPLF leadership that you praised, Ethiopia is landlocked, and Meles is on the verge of handing out the "Aceldama" of Ethiopia to Eritrea. Is this the type of whole you learned in one of your engineering classes? You also said, "However, the break-up of Ethiopia is not in the people’s mind right now" Did you say right now? Aha! So this must be a sneak pre-view of your diabolic plan! You are a true graduate of the TPLF School of Engineering! By the way were you a valedictorian? How can you realize the whole you mentioned above if your constitution allows every ethnic group to secede from the whole and go its own way? How can you even talk about Ethiopia’s unity by crafting a constitution that disintegrates Ethiopia? My poor engineer of calamity, you have no moral foundation to call any one a "bum", because you yourself are an intellectual drifter who leans on who ever drops food in your constantly open mouth.
You said, "I am proud of where Ethiopia has been throughout ancient history" Good job! So am I and so are many Ethiopians; but how about our modern history? Ethiopia’s past has never been a worry to any of us; our grave concern is its future. Ethiopians are not trying to pull Ethiopia back in time, fix her past problems, and propel her back to the present time. This is your type of ill-advised reverse engineering, and this is exactly what worries me. What worries me and what worries millions of Ethiopians is the wrong path our mother land is heading. What worries me is not federalism, but ethnic federalism. What worries me is not economic development, but the lopsided development that favors the few. What worries me is not the existence of multi party democracy, but the action of a misguided ruler who uncovers every stone to stay in power. Ideologically, die-hard supporters of TPLF do not worry me much because I’m in a constant state of war with them. Wishy-washy gluttons like you worry me a lot because you’re with me when your belly is half full, and you burp with the enemy when you’re full.
You said, "Young people were butchered by Mengistu" you’ re right many people were massacred by Mengistu. How about those young people who were equally butchered by Meles on the streets of Addis Ababa, Awassa, Ambo, and in many localities of the Oromia zone? Mengistu killed in the pretext of defending the mother land, Meles killed in the pretext of defending the constitution. Didn’t these two evil men kill to draw out their dictatorial rule? Like the analogy you used in one of your articles, both Meles and Mengistu walk like a duck and quack like a duck, so why don’t you call both a duck?
I really don’t know about your engineering skill, however, you seem to be very good in MS Word because you have properly bolded half of your two articles. Mr. Ghrima, your education was financed by the poor Ethiopian tax payers, not by TPLLF. You may serve as a civil servant in the TPLF government, I have no problem with that; but please don’t impair the very people who financed your education and who are paying your salary now. Our poor mother of antiquity can’t anymore afford giving the lion’s share of its rare resources for a group of muggers that ramble in the Menelik Palace every other decade. Finally, you concluded one of your doodle articles by saying the following; "Some would say I am being a bit too harsh. Damn right I am". My fellow engineer, my generosity surpasses your selfishness; therefore, I have no intention of denying what you asked for. Yes, you’re right; you have been extremely unsympathetic to the Ethiopian people like your role model Meles and like your nemesis Mengistu. You’re damn right, you are too harsh, too rubbish, too blandish, and too selfish.
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