Note: This is the second installment in a series of commentaries I intend to offer on U.S. foreign policy (or lack thereof as some would argue) in Ethiopia. In this piece, I argue that the price of U.S. lip service to human rights in Ethiopia without action is demoralization of the brave and dedicated Ethiopians who struggle everyday against dictatorship and tyranny, trivialization and crippling of efforts to build a strong human rights movement and disempowerment and discouragement of ordinary Ethiopians aspiring to a democratic future.
If the Silenced Majority Could Talk…
If the silenced majority inside of what has become Prison Nation Ethiopia (PNE) could talk, what would they tell President Obama and Secretary Clinton about U.S. human rights policy? Would they pat them on the back and say, “Good job! Thank you for helping us live in dignity with our rights protected.”? Or would they angrily wag an accusatory finger and charge, “You speak with forked tongue. You wax eloquent on your lofty principles to us in the morning while you consort with thugs and murderers in the afternoon.” What would the thousands of political prisoners rotting within the closed walls of dictator Meles Zenawi’s prisons say of America’s big human rights talk? “Practice what you preach, Mr. President!” What would Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia’s No. 1 political prisoner, first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history and the undisputed heroine of 80 million Ethiopians say to President Obama were she allowed to speak to him? “Mr. President, why do you turn a deaf ear when I have been silenced in solitary confinement?” What would the innocent victims gripped in the jaws of Zenawi’s steel vises say to Secretary Clinton in their faint whimpers from the torture chambers? I do not know. What I know for sure is that the silenced majority of Ethiopians does speak loud in bootless cries while gasping for air under the jackboots of a barbaric dictatorship. President Obama, can you hear their deafening silence?
The Belly v. The Ballot
The defenders of the dictatorship in Ethiopia argue that the masses of ordinary Ethiopians are interested in the politics of the belly and not the politics of the ballot. They do not care about human rights or democracy because they are concerned about finding their daily bread. The masses of poor, illiterate, hungry and sick Ethiopians in their view are too dumb and too damn needy to appreciate “political democracy”. “Economic democracy before political democracy,” they proclaim with certainty. They condemn free speech, free press, free elections, and indeed freedom itself as alien Western ideologies that are meaningless to the masses of poor and hungry Ethiopians. Ethiopia’s dictators are quick to stand on their hind legs and condemn the West for violating their sovereignty because the West insists on human rights observances in Ethiopia. Of course, these rights are not some bizarre imported ideas but core element of the organic law of Ethiopia which incorporates by reference all of the major international human rights conventions. All African dictators have been justifying their dictatorships for well over one-half century by claiming that there is democracy before democracy in Africa.[2]
I raise the belly v. ballot argument to contextualize American human rights policy in Ethiopia. The evidence suggests that the attitudes and perceptions of American (and other Western) policy makers may be latently contaminated by the view that human rights are not of concern or are not important to the tired, poor and huddled Ethiopian masses. I have heard it said artfully in moments of candor by those who have access to U.S. decision-makers, by some decision-makers themselves and even by certain of my learned friends that the majority of ordinary Ethiopians neither know of nor understand their human rights. Even if they are aware of their rights, they do not have a clue as to how to defend them. As a result, I am told, the interests of the ordinary Ethiopian citizens do not figure in the least in U.S. human rights policy calculations. Some have even pointed out to me (much to my disappointment, embarrassment and chagrin) that the lack of informed and vigorous human rights debate and sustained and organized human rights advocacy among Ethiopian elites within and without Ethiopia is clear and convincing evidence that human rights are not important to Ethiopians. I am advised to accept the fact that U.S. human rights rhetoric is primarily intended for international media consumption and to give moral support to the few human rights-minded Ethiopian elites while avoiding the scathing criticisms of the international human rights community for U.S. inaction and hypocrisy. “That is realpolitik for you,” said one of my erudite colleagues jokingly. “The U.S. would rather blather about human rights violations to the African masses in the morning only to sit down for a seven-course meal with Africa’s murderers and butchers in the afternoon.”
Introducing the Unsung Heroes of Ethiopian Human Rights to U.S. Policy Makers
I strongly disagree with those who sideline ordinary Ethiopians as too poor and hungry to be concerned about their human rights or good governance. I could not disagree more with the cynics who claim that ordinary Ethiopians do not know or care about their human rights as long as their bellies are full. In fact the contrary can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. When the 2005 elections were stolen by Zenawi in broad daylight and opposition leaders were hunted down, arrested and jailed, it was not the elites, the privileged and the degreed that came out to defend democracy and human rights. The people who stood up for democracy, freedom and human rights when it really counted were the poor, the urban laborers, the students, the unemployed, the slum dwellers, the retired and plain ordinary folks. The true unsung heroes of Ethiopian human rights are Tensae Zegeye, age 14; Debela Guta, age 15; Habtamu Tola, age 16; Binyam Degefa, age 18; Behailu Tesfaye, age 20; Kasim Ali Rashid, age 21; Teodros Giday Hailu, age 23; Adissu Belachew, age 25; Milion Kebede Robi, age 32; Desta Umma Birru, age 37; Tiruwork G. Tsadik, age 41; Admasu Abebe, age 45. Elfnesh Tekle, age 45; Abebeth Huletu, age 50; Etenesh Yimam, age 50; Regassa Feyessa, age 55. Teshome Addis Kidane, age 65; Victim No. 21762, age 75 and Victim No.21760, male, age unknown and hundreds more. These were the real defenders of human rights in Ethiopia. Their story is memorialized for history in the testimony of Yared Hailemariam,[3] an extraordinary human rights defender and investigator for the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), before the European Parliament Committees on Development and Foreign Affairs, and Subcommittee on Human Rights in May 2006 [Warning: The graphic content in Yared Hailemariam’s testimony cited in the link in footnote 3 may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is strongly advised.] and the report of the official Inquiry Commission that investigated the violence in the post-2005 election period.
If American policy makers are giving lip service to human rights in Ethiopia to please the few elites or immunize themselves from criticism by the international human rights community, their concern is truly misplaced. Human rights in Ethiopia is not about the elites yapping about human rights, nor is it about fine intellectual discussions, philosophical debates, speeches, annual reports or legal analyses of the nature and importance of human rights. It is much, much simpler than that. It is about helping to bring to justice the killers and those who authorized the killings of Tensae Zegeye, age 14; Debela Guta, age 15; Habtamu Tola, age 16 and all the rest. It is not about a metaphorical “closing walls”; it is about getting released the thousands of innocent political prisoners languishing behind the prison walls. It is not about an imaginary clenched fist but the real iron fist of a dictatorship that crushes citizens mercilessly every day. It is not about metaphorical steel vises, but about those who cling to power like blood-sucking leeches on a milk cow.
American policy makers should not be dismissive of ordinary Ethiopians. They should not misinterpret their silence for consent to be brutalized by dictatorship. Ordinary Ethiopians may not know much about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the numerous protocols, resolutions and declarations. They may not even know of Article 13 of their Constitution which incorporates all of the major international human rights conventions as part of their rights. But there should be no doubt that all of them know that as human beings, no person has the moral or legal right to take their lives just because he wants to, jail them and throw away the key because he feels like it or rule them for decades against their will by training a gun to their heads. That is all the human rights knowledge they need to know to deserve the respect and support of the American government.
Stability v. Human Rights
It has been argued and anonymously reported in the media that “Western diplomats” in Addis Ababa believe that forceful U.S. action on human rights could create “instability” in the country. To talk about stability in a dictatorship is like talking about the stability of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl just before it suddenly exploded. But the whole U.S. “stability” subterfuge to do nothing, absolutely nothing, about gross human rights violations in Ethiopia is eerily reminiscent of a shameful period in American history. The principal argument against the abolition of slavery in the U.S., the ultimate denial of human rights, was “stability”. Defenders of slavery strenuously argued that if slavery ended, the American South would simply disintegrate and collapse because the slave labor-based economy would be unable to sustain itself. They predicted that there would be widespread unemployment and chaos leading to uprisings, bloodshed, and anarchy. To ensure the “stability” of the South, even the United States Supreme Court joined in with its most infamous decision and held that the U.S. Constitution protected slave-holders’ rights to their property. But history proved that keeping the institution of slavery became the very undoing of the American union when the civil war was fought. America came apart at the seams because slavery that denied fundamental human rights to African slaves was retained, not because it was abolished. American policy makers should see the historical parallels. The undoing and unraveling of Ethiopia will be the result of sustained and gross violations of human rights by the dictatorship of Meles Zenawi, not because of respect for and observance of human rights. Perhaps we can crystallize the issue for American policy makers in the language of the American Declaration of Independence: It is necessary for Ethiopia to go through a civil war to ensure that every Ethiopian has the “right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it…”?
President Obama’s Challenge in Ethiopia and Africa
President Obama now faces a great challenge in Africa, and particularly in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. His African human rights rhetoric is being tested by the cunning dictators on the continent who are scheming to counter his every move. They are prepared to test his mettle to find out how far they can push him before he pushes back. So far, Zenawi has succeeded in cowering the U.S. into inaction and paralysis.
President Obama will soon have to make some tough decisions in his choices in the Horn of Africa. He can choose to let progress on human rights and democracy die on the vine by handing over American tax dollars to sustain bloodthirsty regimes to oppress their citizens, or use the same tax dollars to pressure for change. President Obama is said to be “a pragmatist” concerned about “problem-solving.” He has got a hell of a problem in Ethiopia and must make some tough choices. His major choice will not be between “stability” and human rights, nor will it be a choice between the forces of radicalism and terrorism and democracy in the Horn as the dictators want him to believe. The one and only choice he has is how to help Ethiopia become permanently stable by ensuring the protection of the human rights of its citizens. There will be neither peace nor stability in Ethiopia until the human rights of every citizen are protected.
Zenawi complains that the U.S. and the West in general interfere in Ethiopian affairs too much by insisting on human rights observances and demanding democratization. But by Zenawi’s measure, the U.S. has been “interfering” in Ethiopia for nearly two decades, handing out to him tens of billions of dollars in aid. But for U.S. aid and loans by multilateral institutions under U.S. control, his dictatorship could not last even a single day. If the U.S. is serious about progress on human rights, it will have to kink the aid hose line just a bit. It is guaranteed that someone will be shrieking at the receiving end, “Uncle! Please Uncle Sam!”
Giving lip service to human rights in Ethiopia without action is tantamount to demoralization of the brave and dedicated Ethiopians who struggle everyday against dictatorship and tyranny, trivialization and crippling of efforts to build a strong human rights movement and disempowerment and discouragement of ordinary Ethiopians aspiring to a democratic future. It has been said that, “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.” The most critical need in Ethiopia today is neither food nor water (though they are very much needed), but HOPE. The U.S. has a moral obligation to keep hope alive in Ethiopia by conditioning its aid on significant human rights improvements. Stated simply, the U.S. must practice what it preaches!
FREE BIRTUKAN MIDEKSSA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA.
[1] http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/61799
[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/the-democracy-before-demo_b_434992.html
[3] http://ethiomedia.com/carepress/yared_testimony.pdf
See also the list of names of massacred victims released by the official Inquiry Commission investigating the
post-2005 election at: http://www.abbaymedia.com/pdf/list_of_people_shot.pdf
9 thoughts on “Steel Vises, Clenched Fists and Closing Walls, (Part II)”
Please let´s stop dreaming about saviours from outside, whether it´s the US or anybody else. Don´t U think they already know the nature of this regime? They were in Ethiopia in 2005, when he killed 300 and plus people in broad daylight in Addis. But instead of accusing him of massmurder they did their utmost to provide him with cover. They probably know this regimes all dirty secrets much deeper and better than any ethiopian can. But as americans use to say: “america doesn´t have permanent friends but permanent interests”! It´s the nature of politics. For these people to act, they must be forced to act, meaning, they must see a viable and strong military opposition in the horizon for them to change course. Especially in Ethiopia because now they´ve a regime who responds how high for their command to jump. So why should they look for somebody else? It might take a long time but the only hope for Ethiopia is the freedom fighters in the bush. Let´s help them in everyway we can.
The author is an educated man yet he seems to dwell on US policy towards Ethiopia, as if the US will feel sorry for the Ethiopian people thus get them out of the tyranny of the Melles gang.
What baffles me is that this educated author doesn’t seem to understand that US foreign policy works for US interests only, nothing more, nothing less. This is such an elementary issue a reasonalbly educated person can figure out by just following the facts, not propaganda. The author seems to think western pressure will make Melles regime go away without any effort on behalf of the Ethiopian people. This is a perfect example of western education making third world “intellectuals” nothing more than a tool of western propaganda.
I would like to remind the author that there is only one way for the Ethiopian people to free themeselves from the yoke of Woyanne, to fight the tribal junta themselves and not worry about what western governments think about their struggle. The Ethiopian people know who their friends and enemies are, they don’t need prosthelyzing from western educated and detached “intellectuals”. A home grown resistance and leadership will get the job done. What western educated individuals should do is support their people now, at the end of the day there will be an accounting as to what these diaspora individuals did.
i dont support to go back to the past but i support to go forward.let us look to the truth what did H.I.M say until human right are equally guarantee to all regardless to Reece their will be war,war in the north…war in the east,war in the west and war down south. no one will free us… we Ethiopian have to free our self trough armed struggle.
NO ON E WILL LISTEN UNTIL WE HAVE AN AREM TO STRIKE WITH imagine our for fathers when our country was invaded by countless power they did not wait or asked any on to free them.they took action and give there precious life for you and me.
the only course of action that we have is ARMED STRAGLE. and still fight the cyber war heir abroad.but the victory will come through our ETHIOPIAN freedom fighters. and our job is to help them wen that war for our country and people.
and thanks.
obama can not solve our problem period
Profesor, I realy like your analysis. Everytime after i finished reading it, it makes me to wait for your next writing anxiously. Saying that, however, the solution to Our problem is not America. America can not will not be a solution to any country problem. They will be there to negotiate for their best interest with the group they think is strong and influential in a country. President Regane is qouted saying one of the latin president “he is son of a bich, but he is our son-of -a bich”. This clearly summerize the U.S foriegn policy. They dont care what the son-of -a bichs do to their fela citizen as long as these son-of-a bichs dont do any harm to thier fat ass. Trust me ethiopian will rise up and change the course. They will get their freedom. But it will be too late for American politicians to repent from the misdeed they advocated against Ethiopian people. Woyane also knows that their days are numbered. they will go to the grave with all the stolen money and all their children and family will live in shame for the rest of their life. The blood that is spilling unjustly will hunt them for the rest of their life.
Love for Ethiopian people and freedom!
As a jury, I find the defendants are guilty of all charges. I find defendants have committed crimes of Aiding and Abetting gangsters to kill democracy. Defendants have knowingly, having sufficient information that their material and monetary assistance to the dictator and it’s criminal gangs have been causing and increasing violations of human right have supplied billions of dollars and materials for torture, kill, to deprive justice, embezzle, harass innocent people and entities. The evidence they have done these crimes against humanity is in their own ink called reports and their contradictory deeds. Shame on criminals. I say this knowing that you know the writer.
ከሁለት ሺህ በላይ ተፈናቃይ ነዋሪዎች ሃያ እና አስር ሺህ ብር ተጠየቁ
Monday, 21 June 2010 07:18
Ethiopia Zare (ሰኞ ሰኔ 14 ቀን 2002 ዓ.ም. June 21, 2010)፦ በአዲስ አበባ ከአራት ኪሎ ጀምሮ እስከ ሁለተኛ ፖሊስ ጣቢያ አካባቢ ያሉ ቤቶች እንዲፈርሱ ተወስኖ፤ መሬቱ ለግል ባለሀብቶች መሸጡ ታወቀ። ተፈናቃዮቹ ከአቅማቸው በላይ ገንዘብ ከፍለው ኮንደሚንየም ቤቶች ውስጥ እንዲገቡ ተጠየቁ።
መንግሥት መሬቱን ሲሸጥ በአካባቢው በቀበሌም ይሁን በኪቤአድ ቤት ተከራይተው ይኖሩ ለነበሩ ሰዎች ተለዋጭ ቤት የመሥጠት ግዴታ አለበት። ይሁን እንጂ ”ፉሪ” የተባለ አካባቢ መንግሥት ወዳስገነባው ኮንደሚንየም ቤቶች የሚፈናቀሉት ነዋሪዎች እንዲገቡ ተነግሯቸዋል። ለዚህም ተፈናቃዮቹ ቅድሚያ ክፍያ 20 ሺህ ብር ተጠይቀዋል።
ባለሁለት መኝታ ቤት ኮንደሚንየም ውስጥ ለሚገባ ሃያ ሺህ ብር፣ ባለአንድ መኝታ ቤት ውስጥ ለሚገባ ደግሞ አስር ሺህ ብር ቅድሚያ ክፍያ እንዲከፍሉ ተነግሯቸዋል። በዚህም ምክንያት በርካቶቹ የአካባቢው ነዋሪዎች የተጠየቁትን ክፍያ የመክፈል አቅም ስለሌላቸው ከፍተኛ ጭንቅ ውስጥ መሆናቸውን ለመረዳት ችለናል።
የተጠየቁትን ገንዘብ ፈፅሞ ማግኘትም ሆነ መክፈል አንችልም ያሉ ወገኖች ደግሞ፤ በከተማይቱ በሚገኙ አንዳንድ መንግሥታዊ መጋዘኖች ውስጥ መቀመጥ እንደሚችሉ ተገልፆላቸዋል።
ይህ የመንግሥት ውሳኔ ተግባራዊ የሚሆነው ከሰኔ 30 ቀን እስከ ሐምሌ 15 ሲሆን፣ የአካባቢው ነዋሪዎች ይህን መሰል እርምጃ ሲወሰድ ቢያንስ የአንድ ዓመት የዝግጅት ጊዜ መሰጠት ነበረበት ሲሉ እርምጃው ተገቢና ኢ-ሰብዓዊነት የጎደው ነው በማለት ድርጊቱን ኮንነዋል።
– http://www.ethiopiazare.com
The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed
ISAIAH
ኢትዮጵያ 1990 – 2011.
5:1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured; [1]
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed; [2]
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry! [3]
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres [4] of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.” [5]
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
12 They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into exile
for lack of knowledge; [6]
their honored men go hungry, [7]
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem [8] and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who exults in her.
15 Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty [9] are brought low.
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted [10] in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19 who say: “Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
26 He will raise a signal for nations far away,
and whistle for them from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
27 None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
28 their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
ረድሄት ራቀ፡
ባቢሎንና ፋርስ ቀረቡ፡
መከራና ጨለማ ሰፈኑ፡
ምግባርና ትሩፋት ሲጎሉ።
The Fall of Babylon
Revelation, The Bible.
1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
3 For all nations have drunk [1]
the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
and repay her double for her deeds;
mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
7 As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
and mourning I shall never see.’
8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,
“Alas! Alas! You great city,
you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. [2]
14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendors
are lost to you,
never to be found again!”
15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
16 “Alas, alas, for the great city
that was clothed in fine linen,
in purple and scarlet,
adorned with gold,
with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,
“What city was like the great city?”
19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,
“Alas, alas, for the great city
where all who had ships at sea
grew rich by her wealth!
For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!”
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
and will be found no more;
22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
will be found in you no more,
and the sound of the mill
will be heard in you no more,
23 and the light of a lamp
will shine in you no more,
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
will be heard in you no more,
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
and of all who have been slain on earth.”
“… ከዚህ ቀጥሎ በጀምበር መጥለቂያ ጅቦች ኢትዮጵያን ሊበሉ በመሃል ከተማ ይሰበሰባሉ: የተሰበሰቡትን ሳይፈፆሙ ድንገት ከምስራቅ: ከፀሓይ ምውጫ ላይ ቀይ-ደም የመሰለች ፀሐይ ትወጣለች:: ለአርባ ሁለት ሃመት ኢትዮጵያ በቅዱሳን ትመራለች:: ከአርባ ሁለት ሃመት በዃላ የሃይማኖት ጦርነት ይሆናል: ብዙ ሰማዕታት ያልቃሉ: ኢትዮጵያ በነጭ ትገዛለች::” -ልሳነ ኢትዮጵያ