It may be hard for those who are as yet not aware of the relationship between Meles on the one hand, and Professors Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz on the other hand, to imagine that two renowned scholars from a prestigious university could create a strong bond to a cold-blooded dictator-turning-totalitarian. For those who are still incredulous and are looking for hard evidence, we have compiled this body of evidence, letting Sachs’ and Stiglitz’s own words speak for themselves:
Jeffrey Sachs on the Ethiopian dictator
1. A Sachs speech
Some excerpts from this speech: “Your Excellencies: our wonderful host Prime Minister Meles”… and: “When I meet with Prime Minister Meles and President Museveni I feel like I am attending a development seminar. They are ingenious, deeply knowledgeable, and bold.” [full text]
2. An article Sachs wrote in the Economist
Here, Sachs measures Meles up against the lowest possible bar: “Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia, has the most insightful, indeed ingenious, ideas about rural development of any leader in that country’s modern history.” [full text]
3. Sachs’ written exchange with a Western Blogger in Ethiopia [a must-read]
4. Sachs’ speech as Meles was accepting the Yara award, cited verbatim by a blogger named Weichegud [see here and here]
This is what Sachs says in the midst of the 2005 killings: “Prime Minister, you have distinguished yourself as a one of our World’s most brilliant leaders. I have often said that our many hours of discussion together are among the most scintillating that I have spent on the topics of economic development. I invariably leave our meetings enriched, informed, and encouraged about Ethiopia’s prospects. Moreover, I know fully that you are deeply committed to peace, development, and the success of your country.” And: “Third, I am here to pay my respects to those who have lost their lives in the struggle for democracy, both the fighters for freedom who toppled a despicable regime 14 years ago, and also the dozens of students and innocent bystanders who tragically and unnecessarily lost their lives several weeks ago when they were shot by security forces during protests in the nation’s capital. There is no excuse for such loss of life; security forces must be equipped with non-lethal means for riot and crowd control. And our students anywhere are our future. ” And further: “I especially admire, Mr. Prime Minister, your deep commitment to Ethiopia’s rural communities and to Ethiopia’s Green Revolution, the very commitment that we recognize today with this award.” And: “Ethiopia is a much divided society, as shown by the recent contested elections and the controversies that swirl around them. Political divisions are natural, indeed healthy. They are part and parcel of democracy. But the hate and distrust that are on view in Ethiopia’s multi-ethnic society are beyond normal. They are social ills that need mending. Few countries in the world have been able to make multi-ethnic societies work peacefully for all. Grievances and distrust in Ethiopia are deep and have deep historic roots. Many of the attacks on the current government reflect revanchist sentiments from an earlier era of Imperial domination of a former elite. But others reflect real and deep grievances about the present day. Still others are simply a byproduct of the suffering of extreme poverty.”
In communications after the speech, Sachs further elaborates: “The fact that security forces have shot again into the crowds is not acceptable. Aside from the heated charges and counter-charges of who has done what to whom and who has or has not provoked the violence, the government and its security forces should have been much better prepared with non-lethal means to control unhappy crowds.” And “The opposition leaders too should have been speaking out much more to keep their own followers peaceful and unarmed. There are many reports that people in the crowds fired upon the police. I do not know whether those reports are accurate, and as far as I know there has been no independent assessment to date. […] Undoubtedly, though, there is responsibility required on all sides in a tense confrontation such as this, and more that both government and opposition can and should be doing much more to secure the peace.”
Sachs continues: “I will also note for you that I receive many heartfelt assertions that accuse some of the opposition leaders of stoking violence and ethnic hatred. It appears that some of the spiraling unrest is partly, and dangerously, ethnically motivated on both sides. It is also widely believed that there are revanchists from the Mengistu era stoking some of the unrest.”
5. Sachs’ book, “The End of Poverty” [full text]
In this book, Sachs remarks: “My ardent hopes for Africa are fueled by the powerful and visionary leadership that I have seen in abundance throughout the continent, in contrast to the typical uninformed American view about Africa’s governance. In particular, I would like to thank Africa’s new generation of democratic leaders who are pointing the way, including […] Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia.” , and: “I visited and worked in many places with good governments that were struggling mightily against the odds. Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi […] all have better governance than might have been expected given the burdens of extreme poverty, illiteracy, lack of financial resources […]” And: “The prime minister made a powerful and insightful presentation about Ethiopia’s potential to expand food production, and thereby to overcome pervasive hunger. …”
Joseph Stiglitz on the Ethiopian dictator
6. An op-ed Stiglitz wrote for the New York Times [full text]
Excerpt from this article: “Ethiopia also receives a lot of aid from Western countries, partly because they feel the government uses it in ways that benefit the vast majority of the citizens.“, and: “Meles’ overthrow of Mengistu not only ended the Red Terror, but also centuries of domination by the Amharas. Power was devolved toward the regions, and a most unusual constitutional provision, giving regions rights to withdraw, ensured that the center would not abuse its powers.”
7. Stiglitz’s book, “Globalisation and its Discontents”
(See longer excerpts here; a a summary version also written for the Atlantic )
In his book, Stiglitz dedicates a many pages long segment to Meles and Ethiopia. Among other things, he states: “A doctor by training, Meles had formally studied economics because he knew that to bring his country out of centuries of poverty would require nothing less than economic transformation, and he demonstrated a knowledge of economics—and indeed a creativity—that would have put him at the head of any of my university classes. He showed a deeper understanding of economic principles—and certainly greater knowledge of the circumstances in this country—than many of the international economic bureaucrats that I had to deal with in the succeeding three years. Meles combined these intellectual attributes with personal integrity: no one doubted his honesty and there were few accusations of corruption within his government. His political opponents came mostly from the long-dominant groups around the capital who had lost political power with his accession, and they raised questions about his commitment to democratic principles. However, he was not an old-fashioned autocrat. Both he and the government were generally committed to a process of decentralisation, bringing government closer to the people and ensuring that the centre did not lose touch with the separate regions. The new constitution even gave each region the right to vote democratically to secede, ensuring that the political elites in the capital city, whoever they might be, could not risk ignoring the concerns of ordinary citizens in every part of the country, or that one part of the country could not impose its views on the rest.”
8. Peter Gill on the Stiglitz-Meles relationship in the book “Famine and Foreigners
(See longer excerpts here). Anintriguing account which illustrates the deep backing Meles had from Stiglitz, strongly influencing Meles hand in policy negotiations, and an illustration of their tight bond, based on a common “enemy”, the IMF, and based on Stiglitz’s intellectual delight and titillation with Meles’ way of thinking and articulating himself.
26 thoughts on “Sachs and Stiglitz – in their own words”
Leave us alone Sachs, you suck!
This is really funny, because Dambisa Moyo told Jeff Sachs how wrong he is in his thinking as far as Africa is concerned. She is young and well informed, she has lived in Africa most of her life, and she also worked in World Bank and many more prestigious US financial institutions. Mr. Sachs is a professor at some educational institution and taught Ms. Moyo. He is a white American, automatically that makes him “think” he is a better thinker than non white human.
His way of thinking has kept Africa into a never ending misery and war for the top position, every guerilla fighter wants to be on top to get their turn of free money Mr. Sachs make available for the winner. Because like all before him he believes honoring and protecting dictators is the way for Americas industrialists to make money, hence he acts as the vanguards of those industrialists, that way he continues to occupy influential position and the beneficiaries continue to suck Africa while the dictators use their well fed army to keep the people from rejecting that arrangement.
He does not consider the harm he is inflicting on the average African as being too bad, because he is far away from feeling the impacts of his own craze. Praising Zenawi and Museveni is an illustration that both countries’ dictators are supported to safeguard white America’s access to Africa’s resources at the expense of their respective populations. Both countries are amongst the poorest of the poor, yet Mr. Sachs praise them for they are doing what he instructs them to do, be it for Woyanne to lower the price of a pound coffee or devalue BIRR to the level in twenty years time it weakens by 600%. Menge left Ethiopia with 1:2.5 and Meles has yet to finish his selling program with 1:16.5, and this is to be praised.
I am telling you, Mr. Sachs was very angry when he was asked why his student thinks he is wrong? His answer was unbelievable. She was also told what he says about her belief and she answered politely in a rational manner discussion of facts on the babies of results on the ground. That is what did it for me, to see that Mr. Sachs responding angrily, it reminded me of a professor of mine when I found mistake with him and I ended up being punished for his flaws. This is the age where color has less to do with and understanding is what must be debated on. Mr. Sachs would prefer the last century where whites say something blacks have to listen not disagree with.
I think we have crossed the new era, where some white Americans are having a hard time to accept realty, they want to maintain things the way they were, while time is passing and everything is changing. Hard to believe but most radical minds reach influential position and mess the world for the rest of us. I believe Mr. Sachs is one of them, he is having a hard time to accept even after seeing the results on the ground. I am now seeing clearer that it’s been a while since America stopped producing smart minds.
EthiopianReview.com replies:
September 18th, 2010 at 12:07 AM
Dambisa Moyo: Cut Off Aid to Africa
By Douglas McGray
Last year, Dambisa Moyo was an unknown banker in the London office of Goldman Sachs. Then she wrote a book, Dead Aid, that blames foreign economic assistance for Africa’s poverty and corruption (with passing shots at Bono and celebrity activism) and calls for an overhaul. As she began a tour of what seemed like hundreds of talk show appearances, defenders of aid started fighting back. Economist Jeffrey Sachs called her views “cruel” and noted acidly that aid (i.e., scholarships) sent Moyo from Zambia to Harvard. Others, Moyo says, accused her of “killing African babies.”
But Moyo’s arguments are based on basic, even well-known, facts: Europe and the US have sent billions in aid to horrible regimes. Corrupt leaders have seen way more cash than needy citizens. Endless loans left the continent with crippling debt. And most of Africa is actually poorer today than it was a few decades ago, when aid dollars began to increase.
Furthermore, she doesn’t condemn all aid, just that to governments. Nor has she proposed to end aid to Africa in five years, as many critics believe. Rather, Moyo wants the world to taper off financial assistance to African governments, as quickly as possible, and replace it with direct investment. She wants foreigners to see Africa as an opportunity not a basket case. And she points to the fact that a number of African economies have actually grown in the past year, even as the global economy contracted.
Moyo is young, African, great on television, and a natural pundit. This is what makes her so alarming to the development community. To them, she’s providing cover for the world to neglect Africa. She sees it another way. “One of my publishers told me that I’ve given people license to question these issues without being labeled heartless or uncaring.”
what can I say. We have too many enemies. But, I have no idea why they turned to us and want to kill us – some of these ferenjis. I am very much disappointed by these people I used to admire and the school I used to love. I do not know what a friend of mine who work for these people at this university will feel after knowing the facts about the people he work for. WAKE UP BRO. “Bere karaju new negeru”. Thank you Elias for your informative posting as before. It is good to know our enemies – that way we can protect ourselves.
can we put a big sign on the protest requesting IRS to look into the personal accounts and incomes of Sachs and Stiglitz? this might lead to the biggest scandal of the year..but better they get caught now before they bleed our country to death..I am sure there will be a lot of unexplained deposits in their accounts where ever!!!! it is just obvious that they or somebody of their’s are on the payroll.
The great shame of two men: Like so many people around the world, these two men also got totally brainwashed, misinformed and persuaded by one ethnic group– Meles and his comrades made up history and lies. It is a travesty of justice what these two men have done to Ethiopia and Ethiopians to be on the side of tyrant Meles, without conducting a study or some kind of research how the non-Woyane Ethiopians have been treated since Meles has taken power. And they should have at least, talked to the opposition leaders.
It is nauseating for a sane person to hear such a blissed-out and unabashed kiss-up to a dictator from Sachs and Stiglitz. God have mercy.
At this time meles is a useful idiot for the white establishment. meles may have insight for rural tigray. As for tigray majority of its population lives out side of tigray.
It is no wonder they increased their aid and support right after the murderer killed 200 of our people and wounded 750.
I was truly puzzled by the overflow of aid as soon as our defenseless people were being mowed down in the streets and in their homes. Here we see the faces behind the beast.
Both Sachs and Stiglitz are intellectual “MERCENARIES”.
Dear Ethiopian Fellows,
I love what Elias is doing about Colombia speech, he is doing an amazing job to bring the attention to a wider community. And the good thing is it is working and it will be a devastating blow to Meles when he touches the gate of CU. On the other hand I want to say a few words about these something:
There is an old saying in Ethiopia
“Dont expect a bird from a snake egg”. Foreigners always play for their own benefit, period!.They don’t give a dammn to what the ordinary citizen in EThiopia and Ugand feels about their own government.
We, ourselves, are the solution to end tyranny. Never expect America or any other nation come to rescue the people of Ethiopia. We have to stand together, work together compromise our difference.
I take this opportunity to call up on all Ethiopians to come together and stand up for their people.
God Bless Ethiopia!!!
What one has discovered in the last few days is that, Sachs & Stiglitz are like modern day “hired guns” for dictators like Meles Zanawi. The only difference is, in one hand, that the weapons they carry have more fire power: Nobel Prize, Career at rescpected institutions, Connection to rich donors to the CU, and, of course, access to influence the US Foriegn Policy (IMF/World Bank. It is AID stupid!) towards Sub-Saharan Africa etc.
On the other hand, they are also equipped, as any human being, with some attributes or strength & weakness. Their strength/contributions to the field of Economics………. needs no futher discussion. Simply GOOGLE their names……the sky is the limit!
However, the million dollar question is, (that) How on earth such two “brillent mind” fall (from grace) for such a low-down dictator as Zanawi, who is soon to be indicted for genocide, for crimes against humanity, and for violations of the laws? Etc
We do not claim to be experts in this Field of Inquiry (Psycho-analysis), and ask the readers to continue the search for the motives behind their support.
However, we do have confidence on the degree of our certainity about the good-old saying out in the West:
“When everything fails follow the money trails!”
By the way, “money or wealth” for the dictator Zanawi has no value, because he has not earned it the hard way. Unless looting is considered as one. How else one allegedly becomes a billionaire, holding a position of a Prime Minster, in the poorest country on Earth? He could easily hire Tony Blair as his Deputy,with that kind of cash!
In other words, Where does that money comes from? And Where is that money showing up…in what forms?…in whose account??????
Getting back, Do Sachs & Stiglitz et al (CU) have received any enormous funds from some anonymous sources in the past few years? How about a “Major Gift” in the name of some obscure “Sheikh” from the MiddleEast/Horn of Africa? Answers to these questions will hopefully be provided to the appropriate people & agencies in the US…… who stand against corruption and Human Rights violation and do support for the rule of law & Democracy to flourish in Ethiopia.
The more I read their biased disheartening statements, the more I get disgusted. I happen to be an Amhara and Oromo, and I have family members almost from every ethnic group of Ethiopia and the two major religions by marriage. Everything that came out of the mouth of the two educated, but not well informed biased–Sachs and Stiglitz is totally dishonest and one-sided. Coming to a multiethnic country of Ethiopia and make this kinds of insensitive and inexcusable statements is being unlawful and totally unfair to say the least. The poor Amharas have been used as scapegoats for every problem in Ethiopia by groups like OLF, EPLF, TPLF, ONLF and by outsiders without any basis. Not one Ethiopian leader ever control the Ethiopian government by one ethnic group as Meles has been doing for the last twenty years. I wonder Stiglitz was talking about the multiethnic Ethiopian Haile Selassie that had a multiethnic Ethiopian cabinet members. I wonder, what kind of study has Stiglitz done before he made a controversial statement blaming one ethnic group against another? This particular statement that came out of the narrow-minded, not the well informed prejudiced Stiglitz on the New York Times has shaken me to the core:
….“Ethiopia also receives a lot aid from Western countries, partly because they feel the government uses it in ways that benefit the vast majority of the citizens.” and: “Meles’-overthrow of Mengestu not only ended the Red Terror, but also centuries of domination of by the Amharas. Power was devolved toward the regions, and a most unusual constitutional provision, giving regions rights to withdraw, ensured that the center would not abuse its powers.” …..
Sachs and Stiglitz have been used to spread the master manipulators, looters and criminal Woyanes propaganda for the last 20 years. I wonder if Sachs and Stiglitz knowingly have aligned themselves with the worst Ethiopian leader that has spilled many innocent peoples blood for some kind of benefit for themselves, or will they conduct an independent study to find out the whole truth and learn from their mistakes and apologize to Ethiopian people that have been wrongly imprisoned, tortured and killed by the current government that Sachs and Stiglitz strongly support?
Stop glorifing the little man who is being groomed as a show case and African experiment by the globalist elite.the only method,infact,the only proven means that allways worked to resscue Ethiopia in the moment of danger is armed resistance. Ethiopian intelectuals just leave us alone.Those who are tired and sick of fufa!werie!gurabekisu! and mean business to salvage Ethiopia the terrain is waiting only for the brave ones.
Few years down this road through toil and hard work one can expect the double minded economists reconsidering their view of L/m/z.Unless Ethioopians adapt such drastic measure by declaring boldly freedom through victory,we as a people are lost.One of the declared goal of the elits is to remove the barrier of national sovereignity and tear down traditional culture.Melese is perfectly chosen for this role as he lacks all the quality associated with national leader.He is simplly to shallow by all criteria that deemed him worthy to be faforite child of the globalist elite.
Thanks ER.
One website does such great job, digging the enemies profile…
I agree with Jaleta that “Both Sachs and Stiglitz are intellectual “MERCENARIES”.”
Dear Almaz above:
You got it right. You see Sachs and Stiglitz are not acting alone. They are the weather makers. They have the job of paving the way for their friends to come in. I will have no problem with anyone to go there and open factories. The problem is how those factories will be run. These blood and sweat suckers have spotted a diamond-in-the-rough. Ethiopia with its soon-to-number 100,000,000 jobless and desperate people who are cowed to submission by the hooligans of this specter from Adwa is hard to resist.
Sachs and Stiglitz seem to be ready to transfer some of their friends’ factories from Southern China to Mojo, Kombolcha, Jimma, and Bahr Dar or anywhere the goon may tell them to do so. Those of us who have been to Shenzhen and Dongguan recently will understand the reasoning by these two shameless sharks. Things have started changing there. Workers are not 100% submissive anymore. Slowly they are raising questions about their working and living conditions. But our old country is well worked up, glazed with mouth-watering condiments and ready to devour. These two are just a manifestation of faceless leftist brutes. I would not be surprised if they invite the head of Hamas in the near feature who is hurling deadly rockets at innocent civilians including elders and children. What is new with them? Right? They had already caressed with Iran’s Dracula Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. What I suggest to all of us is this: Let’s go back home for a week and gather up all the tombstones from the graves of those 193 people who were callously murdered by these two’s ‘friend’ and build them a house close to their ‘friend’s’ home. Then they can lick his shoes on daily basis. Happy? Happy Sachs and Stiglitz?!!!! Shame on you two pseudo-intellectuals!!!
By the way, may be these two are direct descendants of those shameless concentration camp capos (kapos).
የተኩላዎች ሸንጎ
These mid-level so called gentlemen are probably the top wolf-men power to be out there. And they don’t know it. Top wolfman on David’s Throne meets top Wolf-men in academia. Nothing is coincidence here, scentual attraction is overwhelmingly evident. Beneath the obvious impression (fooled Blair, Bush et. al) that the Ethiopian leader emits, all these scholars and leaders should know better by now after 19 years of controversial rule. Police detectives and criminal lawyers make better leaders than other kind of lawyers and professions: first-impression seldom fools them. Even the imprisonment of a leading woman opposition, normally an impassioned cause for Americans in intellectual, academia an university circles has not registered anywhere. Only a Facebook profile by the adminstrator of this site has kept her alive. “Hypocrisy came forth from the gentiles.”– Ethiopian proverb.
mr. sache’s credibility as an economist has been genuinely questioned when he suggested the obama administration to copy ethiopian development plan to get us out of the current recession.
I don’t believe these professors have been taken in by meles’ intellect. What I actually think is they have found a subservient African leader who regurgitates their own theories and provides an experimental test ground. Is it any wonder that he gets support from them? I don’t believe they are duped by Meles,as he might like to think. Their act shows that they are ‘academic dictators’ who could do anything,even allying with another dictator, to further their theory. Shame on them.
Haha Elias you have written hundereds of articles rightfully accusing Tigrayans of nepotism. However, the priviliged position of Amharas in the past regimes which ALL historians agree on, you shamefully deny (as you emphasised in this art). Do you see the hypocrisy? Because it is evident to everyone else, although you may not think so. Your Ethiopianism is simply a cover for your ethno-chauvinism. How do you expect Somalis, Oromos etc. to react to this attitude?
Oh and let me guess, you are not going to publish this coment.
My fellow True Ethiopians and True Friends of Ethiopia, we need to show this Tyrant and paid cadres, by putting a one line comment like the blog below for this good Professor. My two cents can just post a link of Ethiopianreview.com or any other sites about Human Rights violations. The more, we are silent the more legitimacy we give them.
I know, we are all afraid this Authoritarian government might harm our family back home, if they find out we are posting the Truth.
http://aidwatchers.com/2010/09/how-to-respond-to-a-bad-government-in-someone-elses-country/
Jeffrey Sachs: After being exposed for making a “killing” off of the privatization of Russia, he was allowed by Harvard to quietly leave and take a professorship at Columbia University in NY. They are foot soldiers of international Bankers.
Yes, both “Scholars” (denkem muhur u u te) are Mercenaries!!!
you people look naive enough not to know that the world is run by well organized Mafias. clear example is when a supose to be war criminal became a UN peace envoy for the Middle east. we will see more criminals being invited to such places. even they are tempting to raise statues for people like mobutu in the campas compound.
I never and ever seen balanced comment in this westernworld the so called media. How come there is no single negetive comment is posted in this blog? Is this also another dictator of Western World? Shameful.