PRESS RELEASE
Ethiopian Youth Movement
The Ethiopian youth is once again determined to make history. We have unanimously decided to conduct tactical campaign strategy and remove the despotic regime that has been in power for more than 20 years through brute force and fraudulent elections. In 1974 the popular revolution that overthrew the age old imperial regime was led by the youth. It was the result of the sustained struggle of the Ethiopian student movement that culminated in a popular revolution. After the 1974 revolution, the Ethiopian youth vehemently fought the military regime, and paid dearly. The sacrifice required retreat and change of strategy. In 1991, the youth managed to remove the military dictatorship. Unfortunately like the 1974 revolution, the 1991 revolution was hijacked by poor leaders and blood thirsty Marxist dictators that used ethnic differences as a card to impose an apartheid type minority rule. Today the Ethiopian youth faces severe hardship, has little sense of national cohesion, and is living with grim future. It is facing high unemployment, mass migration, bad education, eviction from its ancestral land to give way to land to foreigners and lost its God given liberty.
On the positive side, there is hope. We are fully aware that our destiny is in our hands. We are also inspired by our peers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. There is no reason why we cannot have the Arab uprising in Ethiopia. We can have an Ethiopian Spring that addresses the root causes of bad governance. Therefore, we have resolved to bring the torch to Ethiopia, and liberate the country from the minority dictatorship that has been in power for more than 20 years.
To this effect, the youth wings of major political organizations have agreed to work for peaceful change, with the main objective of creating a platform in bringing the Ethiopian youth together, to network and build solidarity, brainstorm ideas, strategize long term and short term plans to shape the political, social and economic future of Ethiopia. We want to contribute to peace and development not only in Ethiopia but in the Horn of Africa. We want to resolve the Nile River issue with a win win situation for all countries. Our aim is to promote democracy and end minority rule through peaceful resistance. It is to promote equality, justice, unity and mutual respect among all Ethiopians. The Ethiopian Youth Movement is an independent network with structures in most parts of Ethiopia, and in the Diaspora. It has been operating for sometime. It is an action oriented movement that does not aspire to hold a political office. Our movement rejects all forms of extremism.
In the short term, the struggle will focus on removing the dictatorship through peaceful resistance. The struggle period can be short or a protracted one. It aims to minimize the level of sacrifice. Our struggle is not against the ordinary TPLF members or the Ethiopian Defense Forces. It is against the TPLF cabal, the violators of human rights and corrupt officials. We have an excellent relationship with the global youth movement. Our short term aim is to help the formation of a Transitional Government that prepares the country for an unfettered free and fair election.
The Transitional Government, in addition to preparing the country for a free and fair election, shall maintain law and order, and defend the unity and territorial integrity of the country during the transition period. It shall have no hidden agenda. The Ethiopian Youth Movement therefore fully supports the recently issued press statement of the National Oromian Youth Movement, and calls upon the removal of Meles Zenawi from power. We support the suspension of the constitution and the abolition of the rubber stamp parliament of TPLF.
No amount of suppression and propaganda shall confuse the Ethiopian youth from its target. We are very happy to announce that the peaceful resistance for change will start on May 28, 2011. We call upon Ethiopian students, farmers, workers, civil servants, businessmen and women, professionals, political organizations, civic organizations, religious leaders, and men and women in the uniform to join the youth movement to remove the dictatorship. We also call upon all armed and clandestine opposition forces to declare cease fire and support the peaceful struggle.
The struggle for democracy and unity shall continue!
Ethiopian Youth Movement
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107472902664461
28 thoughts on “Democracy, Freedom, Liberty, Unity Shall Prevail in Ethiopia”
Wow! This is an answer to our question; we Oromos used to ask: where are the other students? Why are the Amhara students and the students from other opressed nations still sleeping? Are they still the victims of Woyane’s divide and rule method? We must be able to say together: no more antagonizing the all-inclusive freedom fighters in favour of the Woyane fascist forces. It is clear that the Woyane fascists and racists survived by dividing, fragmentizing and polarizing both the Amhara integrationist camp and the Oromo independenist camp among and between each other.
But now the question is: how long will both the Ethiopian nationalists’ camp of the Amhara and the Ethnic nationalists’ bloc of the Oromo allow the Woyane to play with them and how long do they give a chance for this mafia group to beat them turn by turn? Are they less intelligent than the Woyane not to outsmart this fascist and racist regime? Time will show us for how long Woyane will play the game of pure political acrobat, presenting itself as either the Oromo independenist or as the only Ethiopian killil-federalist or as the Amhara integrationist just to sow a discord among the opposition and make these different parts of the opposition to fight each other; actually the ONLY true motive of Woyane is to keep the Tigrean hegemony at any cost!
Otherwise, we have to be able to differentiate Woyane political acrobatists from the genuine independenist Oromo, federalist South and integrationist Amhara. To know this difference, what matters is not the position of their guts, but more the direction of their guns. Woyane cadres do direct their guns (verbal bullets) on pro-integration Amhara nationals and on pro-independence Oromo nationalists, whereas the genuine opposition from these two camps nowadays consequently and conciously try to direct their guns ONLY on the currently tormenting enemy (the Woyane). Woyane cadres shoot continously at these genuine Amhara and Oromo groups, whereas the genuine pro-independence Oromo and the genuine pro-integration Amhara nationals do try to tolerate all the opposition political groups with their different tactics and strategies in struggling for FREEDOM from Woyane’s fascism. So we just need to check the direction of their guns in order to differenitate the camouflaged Woyane cadres talking about an ‘independent
This is a movement that we have missed for the last 20 years. We should support this movement. Long live the Ethiopian youth!
Absolutely a winning and forward moving positive strategy!
The broad based unity and alliance elements(across religions, regions,gender, inter generation,ethnicity, etc.) both at the grassroots and leadership levels have always been the weak link and cause of our common and individual struggles’ repeat failures of the long and recent past.
Now that we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, as a result of justice and freedom repeatedly escaping out of our sight like mirage for the last 20 long years, we can now start building true democracy, sustainable development, good governance and justice for all just like the brave Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans, Yemenis, etc.who defied overarmed, over eating, over rich, over killing impoverishing tyrannical dictators and took their destiny in to their own hands and brought about irreversible positive changes.
If political, social, economic, etc. well-beings and welfare were/are genuinely fair, just and equal for all, then no one would have taken to the streets and the jungles even for a second, say, for the purpose of reclaiming his/her equality, dignity, liberty and all the justices and freedoms needed in a society.
Surprisingly, even in the case of Egypt the fall of Mubarak dictatorship is ushering in the unity of Palestinian factions in order to BRING TRUE PEACE by solving the long standing perpetual violence and chaos that have been and is being ONE OF THE SOLID BEDROCK and BODY CANCER in the regional and international body politics and its disgraceful endless instabilities.
Who was behind the perpetual instability? None other than dictator Mubarak and his ex-vice president and torture chief Omar Suleiman who was a long standing “official peace negotiator” between Palestinians and the various Israeli governments. In the guise of negotiating peace and talking peace in public, he in fact actively and secretly promoted divisions among the various Palestinian groups, helped Israeli extremist eelments expand settlements on Palestinian lands, imposed embargo, close borders, ban Palestinian poor from crossing over to Egypt for buying basic food and other life necessities.
Now that tyrant Mubarak, Omar Suleiman and others were disgracefully chased away from power by the determined, united and sustained sacrifices of the Egyptian youths, human hope and the bright sunlight of justice for all is beaming in Egypt as well as across the entire region. So should the Ethiopian youths also follow this positive strategy and action lines in order to bring about justice for all rather than standing divided and brooding over the traumas uncured in the long or short past.
“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”
~Horace Mann stated :)
THUMBS UP FOR SOLOMON thumbs down for selam!
If we need to topple Meles and his gangs–We must and should speak as ONE ETHIOPIAN!
The Ethiopian youth, go forward!And we all are at your disposal!
good job
I am behind you
To save Ethiopia, or not to save Ethiopia, that is the question now. We don’t have any other choice except to save our country from the tyrant mercenary regime. Our country is on the verge of destruction. If we don’t act now we will regret it in the future. We should be ready for the protest.
I appreciate your gut! Lets go to get woyane’s throat! March for freedom!!!
A real democracy cannot be achieved with a low-level of sacrifice where a country like Ethiopia whose leader has been a day-time and a night-time killer of his own people in peace time as well as in a time of great conflict.
The Oromia youth movement, brainwashed by the remaining fragments of OLF may have its own hidden agenda, even though it says it doesn’t have any hidden agenda, from the rest of the other innocent Ethiopian youth. The OLF has used multiple techniques to secede from the mother land of our country: it has used foreign aid to achieve its independence but failed miserably, and, when there is nothing left to divide the country, it has now chosen the Oromo youth movement as the last resort to try to liberate Oromia as if Oromia were a foreign country that does not belong to Ethiopia.
We know there is a National Oromia Youth Movement somewhere in Egypt or Eritrea or in some parts of the jangles of Ethiopia at the border between Ethiopia and Kenya. To tell the truth, the Oromia Youth Movement is not different from the New OLF Movement that, few months ago, slaughtered the young Amhara Freedom Fighters in the capital city of Asmara; therefore, the Amhara youth must be very careful before it commits itself to the New National Oromia Youth Movement. Let the Amhara youth first hear the National Oromia Youth Movement declare that it believes in the unity of Ethiopia and opposes any secession by any nation in the country after Meles is gone for the good of the country.
The following statement sounds good to me, at least on the surface: “The Transitional Government, in addition to preparing the country for a free and fair election, shall maintain law and order, and defend the unity and territorial integrity of the country during the transition period.” However, the problem comes after the free and fair election is over: Oromia is going to declare its independence from Ethiopia since the majorities of the Ethiopian people are Oromos. So, what is the guarantee that Oromia will not declare its independence after the election is over? Can some one tell me Oromia will never try to disassociate itself from the rest of the Ethiopian states?
I lost my brother during Mengisgtu’s regime. I could not even find his body for burial so jusice never been served for that kind of masacar that was excuted against the you. I support your idea being a peaceful ones. I am totally hehind you 100%. I strongly suggest that weather you like it or not contact President Barack Obama and his supporters to excute this with you. The U.S.A. put them on power supported them still supporting them. Do Not be surprised if you see the American soldiers supprting this brutal regime. First go to the White. Show how serious you are. Tell them the truth. Just because united states has interest in the middle east it does not have to deal with dictators beside the U.S.A. only cares aboute the will being of their own race. Tell them the truth. I can asure you the the future of that great Nation should not sacgtifies any thing a Phone call from the White will do the trick in a split of a second. You also have to have the american puplic awareness to what your plans are so that you be protected either by human shield and their representative. Distribute flyers by means of hand out everywhere any where. Good Luck I am sure you will do this and save your brothers and sisters in Ethiopia who are suffering for generation.
From the day on which Ethiopians around the world vowed and committed to accelerate the down fall of Meles Zinawi’s brutal regime,everyone picked up a shovel to uproot the rotten regime.
When the robbers entered Ethiopia,it was never be for bringing democracy to Ethiopia nor was planned to establish good governance;it was rather to put into practice what these grand thieves had been preaching in the wild while fighting against Ethiopians.Today,these robbers are more outlaw than they were a day before.Wiht millions of guns and bullets and gallons of blood in their hand,and billions of dollar in thier bank account,they are the owner of 1,127,127 square kilometers of land and 8o millions of Ethiopians.
Not only these robbers looted the nation’s wealth and resources,they also stole the ballot and murdered Ethiopians accross the country.Today,everything and anything that is available above and below the lands,in Ethiopia is owned,controlled and run by members of the crimefamily lead by the grand robber,Meles Zinawi.
Time favored the Woyane robbers and invaded Ethiopia;they then quickly established two economic sytems – One for themselves and another one for Ethiopians.The stealing hands of Woyane extended far and wide with many tentacles, sucked resources and blood into the giant sink called EFORT.EFORT is a joint venture among members of the crimefamily lead by the chief criminal,Meles Zinawi and his wife,the equally criminal,Azeb Golla Mesfin;although,wife and husband,they were hatched from the same egg that was laid by the enemy before them.
Mining,Manufacturing industries,Service and finacial sectors,transportation,bulk and retail businesses of selling babies and exporting little girls and young women to international cliens and custumers in the Middle East are fully owned,controlled,and run by the grand mafias,bloods,operators,spies,hitmen,and informers.
Etiopians,in order to achieve big rulsts,we must have consistent and persitent action;actions against the enemy.
A Prosporious, Lovely Ethiopia is our target. We should break divisions,narrowisms, we should encourage development of everys culture not by way of tribalism but by way of developing modern democracy.
Let’s break the structures of woyanne which makes us to be divided and loose unity. Let’s make a true federalism. Not ethnic federalism. We need a federalism based on our economic, culture, geography,and administrative status. The federal structure Woyanne has is for division , for narrowists and for their life-long rule. It doesn’t help Ethiopian peolple.
Think about it and stand-up.
Long live Wellega and Ethiopia
Assta B. Gettu,
Some of us know you very well that you are a planted Wayane divisive agent. Keep your cadre job going strong.
Secession is not meant as an end itself but as one of the solutions against perpetual tyranny, perpetual dictatorship, endless poverty and blatant exploitation by ruthless dictatorial system of bad government.
If there comes genuine democratic participative and representative good government and good governance for all why on earth one needs to secede when we have lots of joint possibilities and common opportunities for the sustainable development, welfare and equitable prosperity of the entire country for the entire population rather than feeding and fattening a tiny minority of tyrannical habitual human rights violators and war lovers?
You can keep blaming the victims while handling your reckless minority robbers with soft woolen gloves. Keep lying though.
Dirriba G.,
It is not the structure or the existence of tribes and ethnics that makes Ethiopia divided but the policy of dictatorship by a tiny minority (5%)determined to rule over the clear majority(95%) by sheer force alone.
Ethiopia is composed of tribes, Ethnics and nations with different religions living in different regions and that is natural and very good diversity which can contribute in lots of innovations, creativity as well as social, political, economic developments if democratically elected representative good government and good governance is put in place. The fundamental and core problem is the fact that tyrants manipulate manipulate our existing natural diversities as to exclusively reward their own ethnic and religious groups while completely excluding and exploiting the other ethnic and religions groups.
So please blame the injustices, exclusions, and exploitations being deliberately applied along tribal and Ethnic lines by chauvinist dictators who only care about their own selves and the minority ethnics they come from. Otherwise you fall in to the category of cunning fox dressed in sheep skins and blaming the wrong thing.
Any way, you are using typical Wayane argument (Amharas are trying to bring back their age old dictatorship) whenever it attempts to divide Amharas and Oromos in order to extend its dictatorial lifespan.
” The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty.” ~Abraham Lincoln stated
There is no as such kilil in ethiopian history. There is no and have never been an area which was called oromia, debub kilil, amhara kilil. We oromos from wellega and shoa are welleges and shoas period. We do not and are not in the kilil formed by woyane. We are oromos from shoa and wellega in ethiopa. only woyane and narowists,and land thursties are the one who propagate about kilil.
I am oromo from wellega from ethiopia. There is nothing between wellega and ethiopia.
Therefore do not be illusive for something that doesnkt exist. Kilil is woyane and narowists it is for division and to promote tribalism. We welleges and shoas are not included in the kilil.
Wellegas and shoas oromos do not want to be part of any, any kilil.
Narowist you cannot full us anymore.
#11 Assta B. Gettu
Are you a scaremonger? Almost all Oromo people believe in one Ethiopia. It is the TPLF leadership that has secessionist tendencies.
The Ethiopian people have suffered for 20 years under the tyrant TPLF regime. There is no genuine democracy in our country, we must stop Meles Zenawi”s political drama. Enough is enough! Yes we will protest against the regime! Yes we can make history!
Dear Editor and All,
Thank you for your interesting article where we can differenciate the desperate Woyane forces: ASSTA B. Gettu, DIRRIBA and Gudatta are the TPLF cadres who desperately digging the weak points of our society for divide and rule system by such expenses the TPLF might survive analogy. In its historical record,The Oromo youth movement is part and parcel of Ethiopian youth movement for the common Social- Justice from the facist TPLF regime. It is always the TPLF’ s hidden agenda from its inception to today is as much as possible to destroy the Ethiopian Identity for the sake of establishing the so- called Great Tigray.
The rest of the Ethiopian nations and nationalities can live together after the Woyane facist regime collapse by the hands of civic societies based on true democratic system. As Fincilaa said above, no more Oromos , Ahmaras and others fell in a trap of divide and rule propaganda of the TPLF. TPLF in its history never ever stood/ stand for the Unity of our country, it is the TPLF who gave away our land to the Sudanese and our fertile land to the foreigners- Ethiopia For Sale is the policy of the regime. Hence the more it stays on power the more misery and uncertainity awaits us. Despite such outdated propaganda , we are already a United Forces against the Tyranny Meles like Egyptians. For sure a determined popular uprising is a time of bomb to explode in every angle of the country.
ENOUGH, GAYE!!
#17. Gudetta,
Don’t panic and beat about the bush. Yes, there are many things that are missing from the Ethiopian history. For example, democracy, justice for all, good governance, equality of all citizens,sustainable development, welfare and well-being for all, etc. also including Killil as you ingeniously observed.
Also you can not claim that killil never existed in Ethiopia while it in fact existed for the last 20 long years. Please check your memory.
Yes, you are Oromos from shoa and wollega as you claimed without authentication which is hilarious to say the least. But that does not exclude other Oromos from other Oromo regions from outside Shoa and Wollega as to add up to what is being called the GREAT OROMIA OF THE GREAT GADA DEMOCRACY. To claim ONLY shoa and wollega is absolutely down right rock bottom NARROW while adding together all Oromos in all the Oromo regions and call them Oromia nation is rather BROAD and antithesis of you tiny narrow Shoa and Wollega petty mathematics.
By the way, write your name with a single “t” in rather than with double “tt” That way, you may appear genuine. Just an advice! :)
A long awaited ‘UNITED ETHIOPIAN YOUTH MOVMENT” is here A united and well organized youth movment is woyanes nightmare than any one of the previous movments only beacuse TPLF knows well the power of the youth when stands against dictatorship always Wins -Its by default the dictatorship is a rotten decaied system as the youth movment is the future of any nation
BRAVO E.Y.M AND KEEP UP THE HEAT AGAINST TPLF DICTATORSHIP IN ETHIOPIA
Tegadalai”Melkamu” The woyane cadre who wrote his suger coated poisnous woyane pills meant to divert attention from the real issue – united Ethiopians youth movment againt TPLF DICTATORSHIP towards dividing oromos by the region that is their trade mark from the begining So disregard his divisive poison and focus on all ethiopians youth unity
Lemlem (#15),
I doubt, friend, you know me personally; if you knew me, you wouldn’t have said I am a Woyanne agent: I am rather a Woyanne threat, a Woyanne curtailment, and a Woyanne containment. My comments on various web sites, especially on this widely red Ethiopian Review, are valid testimonies I am for the unity of Ethiopia and for the total destruction of the Woyanne regime that has plunged our country into the deluge of mistrust: a son does not trust his father; a father does not trust his son; students don’t trust their teachers and teachers don’t trust their students; Northerners don’t trust Southerners and Southerners don’t trust Northerners, and the Christians don’t trust the Muslims and the Muslims don’t trust the Christians. It is clear this kind of mistrust between and among the Ethiopian people was created by Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi) and his wife Jezebel (Azeb) for the purpose of dividing the country in ethnic lines and fostering the duration of the corrupt presidency of Meles Seitanawi.
As far as the Woyanne regime promotes mistrust in every Ethiopian region, we will have an insurmountable problem to convince Ethiopians to trust their children at home and abroad, to trust their clergies, to trust their Imams, and to trust their neighbors. Whenever a new movement pops up, the Ethiopian people put their trust in that movement, thinking it would liberate them from their endless sufferings, but when the new movement fails to deliver them from their misery, they would go back to their hiding and comfortable place – the Big Mistrust!
Of course, the Ethiopian people have every right to examine any new movement or any new organization before they put their trust on it. St. Paul says: “Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1st Thessalonians 5:21). In fact, St. John advises us: “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world” (1st John 4:1). Therefore, the Ethiopian people must see if this Ethiopian Youth Movement is from OLF or from Ginbot 7 that believes in the unity of Ethiopia, or is it a brand new movement that has nothing to do with the old and still lingering movements?
Let me now analyze your second statement: “Secession is not meant as an end itself but as one of the solutions against perpetual tyranny…by ruthless dictatorial system of bad government.”
Tyranny or oppression never creates secession; what create secession are greed, selfishness, and bigotry. For example, in America when the North advocated that slaves should be free, the greedy South wanted to secede from the Union because the South knew once the slaves were free, the economy of the White Southerners would go down. In reality, suffering, oppression, and tyranny would bring people together and help them unite against their oppressors; however, secession brings an adversarial effect between the seceded state and the one that opposed secession.
Knowing their rich natural resources, some greedy Oromos, no doubt, want to secede from their mother land, Ethiopia, and for this reason, the Ethiopian Youth Movement must tell the Ethiopian people it is free of greed, self aggrandizement, and bigotry.
Your third statement: “If there comes genuine democratic participative and representative good government…for all why on earth one needs to secede…?” Bangladesh was part of a democratic country, Pakistan, but why did Bangladesh declare its own independence? Do you think a democratic Ethiopia will prevent Oromia from declaring its own independence? In this case, a democratic government is not a full guarantee for keeping its democratic states from seceding from the main land. In other words, prosperity, equality, and good governance would not necessarily keep a country united but trust does.
Your last point, “Keep lying though” is not valid, for I always tell the truth that the Ethiopian people would like to know if their redemption is from the Ethiopian Youth Movement or from some other unknown entity.
Amensisa (#18),
I am a harbinger of democracy, not an alarmist, and I want not almost but all Oromos believe in one Ethiopia under one flag that represents all people in Ethiopia.
MR ER Editor -just brotherly advice –the topic should be -ETHIOPIAN YOUTH MOVEMENT -PRESS RELEASE
Thank you
Pakistan never has been a democratic country after it seeceded from India:not it is now.The real democratic india came into being after partion.The following years,Bangladesh went on its own not because the “Democracy in Pakistan” did not give a gurantee to be with Pakistan or the other way around.First and foremost,there is India between Pakistan and Bangladesh ie geographycally;therefore,howcome Pakistan and Bangladesh stay as one country while they are separated geogeraphycally by India?
Prejudice, Bigotry & Racism
•It’s a Prejudice when Mr. Zenawi feels unhappy when other Ethiopians move in next door because he doesn’t like the Ethiopians’ skin color or ethnic identity.
•It’s a Bigotry when Mr. Zenawi refuses to invite the Ethiopians into his home or offer them friendly waves of greeting.
•It’s a Racism when Mr. Zenawi uses threats and intimidation to attempt to drive the rightful owner Ethiopians and ther families out of the neighborhood.