Statement by The Alliance for Liberty, Equality and Justice in Ethiopia

November 7, 2010 is the 5th anniversary of the November Massacre, a massacre in which over 200 innocent Ethiopians were brutally killed and thousands more were wounded. We are a forward- looking nation of hope, but as much as we want to be a forward-looking people, in the month of November, Alliance for Liberty, Equality & Justice in Ethiopia (ALEJE), urges all Ethiopians to look back and reflect on the sacrifice of men and women who gave their life for the freedom of our people and great nation. ALEJE also emphasizes that as we remember our heroes; let us not think of them as everyday people who once lived and died. Let us remember that each one of the victims was an individual with a sense of prosperity and a dream of living a fulfilled life, but chose to make great sacrifice so that Ethiopians can live with freedom and democracy.

Those brave men and woman knew very well that a demonstration against Zenawi’s brutal regime could cost them their life, but without freedom, they believed that their life was worth giving for the freedom of the rest of the Ethiopian people. The November Heroes were true givers who sacrificed their life for others in a country where political sycophants always sacrifice principle to hold on to their ill gotten position of power. This November, our thoughts and prayers should go out for these heroes and to all past victims of Zenawi’s brutal regime as we continue to commemorate November 2005’s memories. Those brave men and women were robbed of their futures, but they gave us love, peace, and the hope of a better tomorrow.

On that “Cold” November day, death rate on the streets of our nation’s capital and elsewhere in Ethiopia soared as the fearless torches of democracy stood face to face with a the blazing guns of a brute force unleashed by the fascistic and ethnocentric regime of Meles Zenawi. We must raise the torch of these fallen heroes and carry it all the way to victory. While we grieve for the fallen and as we start the month long commemoration events worldwide, we must never forget the urgency and the magnitude of the tasks ahead of us.

As we pay homage to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in lives and limbs for our freedom, there is a debt that must also be paid; and there is only one choice and one path ahead to pay this debt. Our choice is freedom and the path to freedom knows no surrender or submission. So, as we take few minutes during this busy month and solemnly remember and thank our patriots, here are few things that they want us to do from now onwards:

* The victims of the November massacre lived and died to ensure freedom and democracy for the people of Ethiopia. Let’s honor their sacrifices by living a life worthy of the ultimate price that they paid and worthy of us Ethiopians, to make a resolution to ourselves to live a life of liberty and justice;

* To be part of the struggle for freedom and equality, it is imperative that every person joins ALEJE, any of the ALEJE member organizations, or any other democratic organization of his/her choosing. Liberty Equality and justice in Ethiopia could only be attained through organized struggle. Therefore, let us all be organized in the various organizations of our choice;

* Let us resolve to ensure that everything we do [our actions] and everything we don’t do [our in-actions] must help the struggle in Ethiopia;

* The media—Local radios, shortwave radios, and ESAT- has the power to influence the lives of millions of ordinary people who are fighting tooth and nail against the brutal dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi. Therefore, helping all pro-democracy media outlets constantly is an integral part of the struggle for freedom and justice to prevail in Ethiopia;

* Every member of the Ethiopian Diaspora must join the diplomatic part of the struggle and influence their elected representatives not to use the tax payers’ money to support and prop a brutal and corrupt dictatorship in Ethiopia;

* We usually condemn donor nations for financing dictatorship in Ethiopia, but we ourselves are party to financing the TPLF dictatorship by using their companies and formal channels when transferring funds to our relatives and friends in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Diaspora transfers more than $3.2 billion annually to Ethiopia through both formal and informal channels such as banks and money transfer institutions. Through formal channels–money transfer and banks– the regime gets more than 1.2 billion annually in foreign currency. It is our moral duty to help our relatives who are neglected by the regime, but let’s never and ever use the TPLF companies and formal channels such as banks and money transfer institutions around the world so that the foreign exchange does not get into the TPLF coffers to further strengthen its repressive state apparatus and used to prop the instruments of repression by and corruption of the dictatorial regime in Ethiopia. We therefore call on all Ethiopians in Diaspora to find creative ways and means of sending remittance to friends and families in Ethiopia;

* The Ethiopian Diaspora must stand as one person and speak in one voice to foil TPLF’s design and campaign to control Churches, Mosques, and civil society organizations in the Diaspora.

The struggle of the Ethiopian people for Liberty, Equality and Justice shall triumph!

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