Dr. Kjetil Tronvoll speaks about Ethiopia at Columbia – Oct. 5

Any person can have an opinion or view on the affairs of Ethiopia, Eritrea or any other country. But what should, ultimately, matter should not be at the expense of the need & priorities of the people on the ground. This should be the foundation of any society in Africa, despite all the pressures that might be exerted by outsiders. It is a fact that an outsider not necessarily have similar needs or interst to that of the indigenous people of the region. Shouldn’t mind listening to opinions but shouldn’t be dictated. Unless men and women of Africa get rid of this passive attitude in their own affairs leaving the outsiders to engage actively instead, genuine change will be as illusive as can be. It’s vital to garner international support but home support should be central. Weyane thrives in a divisive society. Hence it exploites any opportunity it sees a crack opened in the unity of the nation to further widen that gap. That has been almost the it’s life support machine as much as its support it gets from the West. The West expects its pound of flesh in return for its support of such a despotic & pariah regime like the weyane. The weyane facilitates everything it is asked to do and will recieve a few percentage in the form of foreign aid out of the revenue reaped by the west. The weyane has now bcome a full fledged home slave. It’d be offered advisors that would tell it to buy arms with most of the aid money to keep it’s people in control and sometimes told to invade neighbours under various pretexts(see wikileaks on the minutes of the meeting of jendaye Fraser prior to weyanes invasion of Somalia). There is no doubt of the savage nature of weyane but it’d stay to haunt you for years to come …..so long as Ethiopians remain divided. It is a suicide to keep the status quo and maintain weyane’s life support machine. Ethiopians need soul searching. A little article here and there won’t be enough by itself alone, if the Ethiopian unity is fractious enough to be exploited by weyane. Ethiopia can only be saved by the indispensible unity of its people. This have to be stressed as a vital ingriedent, if not more, as that of some speech from Colombia university or white house for that matter. I couldn’t emphasis this more. The poor Tigray people should not be forgotten in this unity factor.
Eritrea’s experience should be a lesson to mankind. Eritrea revolution wouldn’t have succeeded if it weren’t for it’s unity achieved only midway through the revolution when shaebia came to the scene breaking the divisive practice & sentiment once and for good. Eritrea has experienced almost half a dozen of the worst form of divisions in a space of less than 50 years. In their famous way of the divide and rule strategy, the British military administrators of Eritrea in the late 1940s, employed religion to divide Eritrea so as to incorporate the Muslim lowlands of Eritrea into their Sudan colony. That failed through the efforts of the giants of Eritrea produced at the time, Shiek Ibrahim Sultan & Aboy Weldeab Weldemariam. Then after the federation, came the regional division employed by Emperor Haileselassie in the 50’s . The Hamasein, Akeleguzay & Seraye, who I myself belong to neither of them, were pitted against one another to facilitate the weakening of the federation which was subsequently dissolved & Eritrea was annexed & that speeded up the setting up of the US military base in Asmara.
Eritrea’s struggle for justice and independence begun but was weak as some of the divisions employed by the previous occupiers had set roots in the ELF. Then came the young boys from higher institutions from all over the world with a clear conscious and more visionary to tackle this cancerous divisions that is helping prolong the suffering of the people at the time and which is affecting the people of Ethiopia at the present. That was tackled face on and EPLF was born with a clear vision stipulated in its manifesto called “N’HENAN ELAMANAN”, meaning ” We and our vision”. Their first job was to ensure every person is equal and have equal right (men, women, poor or rich) & united for the same cause.
Then Emperor’s reign ended and Colonel Mengistu’s regime began. It was torturous not only for Eritrean people but also Ethiopians too. After exploiting the deadly internal war between the ELF(Jebha) & EPLF (Shaebia) concluded with a comprehensive defeat of the Jebha , Col Mengistu knew sometime in mid 80s that he has to come up with some sort of division to weaken the resistance. It was beyond anyone’s expectation when he came up with a brand new form of division. A highland – lowland( famously known as Qola ras-gez and Dega ras-gez) that was inventive and helped rehabilitate the ELF remenants and their crony and elitist ways that Derg itself claims to fight it, but was ignored for the sake of expediency.
As Derg was inventive, Weyane matches its predecessors when it come up with ethnicity to divide & rule Ethiopia. But Weyane’s plot didn’t stop in its border when it recently(August) copied and pasted his article 39 into the constitution of what it dubbed as ” Eritrean government in Exile”. It’s laughable indeed. History using the same dog but with different collars.
Some people might want to dismiss my views but I challenge them, why listen to a whiteman from across the continent while dismissing your neighbour who shares so many experiences with you.
If you think you can’t learn from Eritrean experience who shares so many cultures with you , then what makes you think you can learn from someone so far that you share nothing apart from your government sharing his arms industry while they share your resources so unfairly while your people starve.
Rise up to the bigger challenge.
If Ethiopians can’t do what young men in their early 20s achieved more than 40 years ago(in the late 60’s), then it need a serious soul searching. It’s understandable the huge weyane’s machination and it’s foreign support that We all stand against but babaric Pinochet, the brutal Shah of Iran & other equally bruitish dictators were once helped and propped by the US but didn’t stop them from crumbling. Don’t underestimate what you can achieve only if you unite. Your unity can facilitate for regional unity but you can’t do it with the cart before the horse.
God bless your struggle for justice.
I’m sure God helps those who seek a just justice but not sure if he does to those seeking a half-hearted or half justice.
God bless & help your struggle for justice.

4 thoughts on “Dr. Kjetil Tronvoll speaks about Ethiopia at Columbia – Oct. 5”

Mestewat says:

October 4, 2010 at 4:22 PM

Absolutely trust worthy and respectable scientist who can speak about the truth, nothing but the truth. Even his own country’s good government have been trying to advance the right and winning principle of an all round and all encompassing inclusive negotiated settlements of the chaotic horn conflict. He has integrity.

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.” ~Chinua Achebe stated correctly :)

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Anonymous says:

October 4, 2010 at 4:58 PM

“Kjetil Tronvoll was the first anthropologist to enter liberated Eritrea, only a few weeks after the fighting had ceased, to carry out field work in a remote… ” -Book Review

Mai Weini: Book on Eritrea by the Norwegian Kjeti Tronvoll

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Tesfa says:

October 5, 2010 at 12:40 AM

Is there anyway ER, you can get the video from Columbia and post it on Youtube.

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Shaebia says:

October 5, 2010 at 2:55 AM

Any person can have an opinion or view on the affairs of Ethiopia, Eritrea or any other country. But what should, ultimately, matter should not be at the expense of the need & priorities of the people on the ground. This should be the foundation of any society in Africa, despite all the pressures that might be exerted by outsiders. It is a fact that an outsider not necessarily have similar needs or interst to that of the indigenous people of the region. Shouldn’t mind listening to opinions but shouldn’t be dictated. Unless men and women of Africa get rid of this passive attitude in their own affairs leaving the outsiders to engage actively instead, genuine change will be as illusive as can be. It’s vital to garner international support but home support should be central. Weyane thrives in a divisive society. Hence it exploites any opportunity it sees a crack opened in the unity of the nation to further widen that gap. That has been almost the it’s life support machine as much as its support it gets from the West. The West expects its pound of flesh in return for its support of such a despotic & pariah regime like the weyane. The weyane facilitates everything it is asked to do and will recieve a few percentage in the form of foreign aid out of the revenue reaped by the west. The weyane has now bcome a full fledged home slave. It’d be offered advisors that would tell it to buy arms with most of the aid money to keep it’s people in control and sometimes told to invade neighbours under various pretexts(see wikileaks on the minutes of the meeting of jendaye Fraser prior to weyanes invasion of Somalia). There is no doubt of the savage nature of weyane but it’d stay to haunt you for years to come …..so long as Ethiopians remain divided. It is a suicide to keep the status quo and maintain weyane’s life support machine. Ethiopians need soul searching. A little article here and there won’t be enough by itself alone, if the Ethiopian unity is fractious enough to be exploited by weyane. Ethiopia can only be saved by the indispensible unity of its people. This have to be stressed as a vital ingriedent, if not more, as that of some speech from Colombia university or white house for that matter. I couldn’t emphasis this more. The poor Tigray people should not be forgotten in this unity factor.
Eritrea’s experience should be a lesson to mankind. Eritrea revolution wouldn’t have succeeded if it weren’t for it’s unity achieved only midway through the revolution when shaebia came to the scene breaking the divisive practice & sentiment once and for good. Eritrea has experienced almost half a dozen of the worst form of divisions in a space of less than 50 years. In their famous way of the divide and rule strategy, the British military administrators of Eritrea in the late 1940s, employed religion to divide Eritrea so as to incorporate the Muslim lowlands of Eritrea into their Sudan colony. That failed through the efforts of the giants of Eritrea produced at the time, Shiek Ibrahim Sultan & Aboy Weldeab Weldemariam. Then after the federation, came the regional division employed by Emperor Haileselassie in the 50’s . The Hamasein, Akeleguzay & Seraye, who I myself belong to neither of them, were pitted against one another to facilitate the weakening of the federation which was subsequently dissolved & Eritrea was annexed & that speeded up the setting up of the US military base in Asmara.
Eritrea’s struggle for justice and independence begun but was weak as some of the divisions employed by the previous occupiers had set roots in the ELF. Then came the young boys from higher institutions from all over the world with a clear conscious and more visionary to tackle this cancerous divisions that is helping prolong the suffering of the people at the time and which is affecting the people of Ethiopia at the present. That was tackled face on and EPLF was born with a clear vision stipulated in its manifesto called “N’HENAN ELAMANAN”, meaning ” We and our vision”. Their first job was to ensure every person is equal and have equal right (men, women, poor or rich) & united for the same cause.
Then Emperor’s reign ended and Colonel Mengistu’s regime began. It was torturous not only for Eritrean people but also Ethiopians too. After exploiting the deadly internal war between the ELF(Jebha) & EPLF (Shaebia) concluded with a comprehensive defeat of the Jebha , Col Mengistu knew sometime in mid 80s that he has to come up with some sort of division to weaken the resistance. It was beyond anyone’s expectation when he came up with a brand new form of division. A highland – lowland( famously known as Qola ras-gez and Dega ras-gez) that was inventive and helped rehabilitate the ELF remenants and their crony and elitist ways that Derg itself claims to fight it, but was ignored for the sake of expediency.
As Derg was inventive, Weyane matches its predecessors when it come up with ethnicity to divide & rule Ethiopia. But Weyane’s plot didn’t stop in its border when it recently(August) copied and pasted his article 39 into the constitution of what it dubbed as ” Eritrean government in Exile”. It’s laughable indeed. History using the same dog but with different collars.
Some people might want to dismiss my views but I challenge them, why listen to a whiteman from across the continent while dismissing your neighbour who shares so many experiences with you.
If you think you can’t learn from Eritrean experience who shares so many cultures with you , then what makes you think you can learn from someone so far that you share nothing apart from your government sharing his arms industry while they share your resources so unfairly while your people starve.
Rise up to the bigger challenge.
If Ethiopians can’t do what young men in their early 20s achieved more than 40 years ago(in the late 60’s), then it need a serious soul searching. It’s understandable the huge weyane’s machination and it’s foreign support that We all stand against but babaric Pinochet, the brutal Shah of Iran & other equally bruitish dictators were once helped and propped by the US but didn’t stop them from crumbling. Don’t underestimate what you can achieve only if you unite. Your unity can facilitate for regional unity but you can’t do it with the cart before the horse.
God bless your struggle for justice.
I’m sure God helps those who seek a just justice but not sure if he does to those seeking a half-hearted or half justice.
God bless & help your struggle for justice.

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Dr. Kjetil Tronvoll speaks about Ethiopia at Columbia – Oct. 5

4 thoughts on “Dr. Kjetil Tronvoll speaks about Ethiopia at Columbia – Oct. 5”

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