By Tedla Asfaw
Chief Judge Iftikhar Chaudery of Pakistan who was thrown with other judges by the former western loved dictator Musharraf is now reinstated to its former position by the organized protest which is a lesson to our own country. The protesters went out in force yesterday on the streets of Pakistan and planned to stage a huge demonstration today and the Pakistan government has back down after consulting with its western supporters.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heard saying yesterday that the struggle in Pakistan is with the extremists and she wanted the government to focus on fighting Taliban and Pakistanis extremists. It is a shame that for her throwing judges to jail or the struggle to free them as was demanded by the majority of Pakistanis is not an issue that has to worry her.
Ms. Clinton on her recent visit to Asia she made it also clear that she is not standing for human rights and rule of law and cajoling with dictators to get their help in fighting the world economic crisis and do business as usual. Now in Pakistan she affirmed that what she needs is a partner to fight American war. Is this the change the Obama was talking about on his campaign ?
On March 21, citizens in huge numbers are coming to Pentagon in D.C. to demand the end of war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Middle east and force the Obama Administration to focus on the big economic crisis at home. A bankrupt USA has not the means to fight multiple wars and people are demanding their tax dollars not to be spent in any kind of war.
For the world dictators who are suffocating their people with the help of USA military machine and tax dollars they should learn a big lesson from the Pakistanis mobilization that succeeded in forcing the release of their judges. Similar actions can be taken to secure the Ethiopian judge, Birtukan Mediksa, who is now behind bars for three months.
Members of the party she is leading, UDJP, tried to stage protest rally in Addis Ababa recently and the TPLF regime denied permit. The next step is to come out and challenge the authorities like the Pakistanis did and face the consequence. If the current leadership of UDJP is not be able to stage a protest it officially has to stop calling itself an opposition party and be disbanded.
The call in western cities for Judge Birtukan release has not produced any result so far because it is not supported by similar actions back home out of fear by current leadership of UDJP. Persons like Yackob Hailemariam are good only on radios and televisions lecturing law and scared to practice law on the streets of Ethiopia.
The grassroots supporters of UDJP should be supported by the masses of Ethiopians in a huge demonstration to demand for the unconditional release of Judge Birtukan Mediksa and all political prisoners. The financiers of Meles Zenawi will back down when they see an angry crowd that condemn both the ethnic apartheid rule of TPLF and their evil hands.
12 thoughts on “What can Ethiopians learn from the mass protest in Pakistan?”
Hilary Clinton is a shame!!!! she has made Obama administration WORSE than the Bush administration!!! she should be fired in my opinion
By THE WAY Mr. Tedla Asfaw,
You said….”The next step is to come out and challenge the authorities like the Pakistanis did and face the consequence”
WOW!!!!
are you telling addis ababa people to sacrifice their life for you by protesting to be shot dead by woyane like before??
you are THE MOST SELFISH ETHIOPIAN IN HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SELFISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET US SEE YOU GO UP AGAINST THE WOYANE GANGSTERS!!!!!
Hana you must be weyane there is no freedom without sacrifice forget Addis Ababa people the UDJ leaders are not ready to sacrifice. Already they joined the loyal opposition camp after Birtukan arrest shame on Dr. Yakob, Engi. Gizachew and all the UDJ leaders you don’t have difference with Beyene, lidetu you are not struggling if you keep asking weyane to allow you demonstrate. Folks let’s make strong Ginbot 7 that’s the only hop left for Ethiopia.
Mr. Tedla,
Are you kidding? You mean to encourage the poor people of Addis Ababa to get out in the streets and get slaughtered like sheep again. Where were you in 2005?
This is the problem with the majority of the so called diaspora Ethiopians. You are never inside the country to lead that movement, you never will, because it is not an easy task. You see leading a popular movement requires first and foremost SELF SACRIFICE, not ask people to SACRIFICE THEMSELVES so you can vindicate your convoluted theories.
If you any kind of common sense you wouldn’t have compared the objective situation in Pakistan to that of Ethiopia. This shows how shallow and lazy you are. At least do an objective study of a situation before writing an article. As we all know Woyanne has the full backing of western nations who finance the regime, without them the Ethiopian people would have kicked Woyanne out of power a long time ago. In 2005 Woyanne slaughtered hundreds of innocent protesters and the westerners didn’t even say a peep.
The only language Woyanne understand is the language of the gun. There are plenty of Armed Opposition Movements in Ethiopia doing it, they are paying with their lives to rid Ethiopia of Woyanne, they are also killing every Woyanne mercenary. You see, Woyanne can’t kill armed men and women at will, because they will shoot back and kill Woyanne mercenaries. I urge Mr. Elias to comment on these types of articles at the top. You will have less and less of these idiotic articles presented, becuase they will think twice before presenting them for posting in ER.
We have seen what happened after the May 2005 sham election in the streets of Addis and others in Ethiopia. Our poor brothers and sisters were gunned down for just asking their votes to be honored. Please people don’t encourage any kind of an unarmed confrontation against this blood thirsty junta. We have organizations like the EPPF challenging the tplf with the appropriate language it understands which is, force. We can support these organizations in every way we can to shorten the sufferings of our people.
I enjoyed your analysis. Why don’t you go back home and organize the protest ?
Yes, Hana Ethiopia does not need mass protest against well-armed soldiers. Mass protest with empty hands is suicidal we know it from experiences during DERG era in the 70’s under EPRP and 2005 under Kinjit leadership. Pakistan and Ethiopia are two different countries ruled by different set of people.
Ethiopians could learn a lot from Afgans, Pakistanis, Iraqis and Palestinians. A regimes army and armamemt shall never stop the will of the people.
The problem for Ethiopia is a lack of strong leadership who can mobilize the 80mn people. Uprising, revolt, public disobedience, refuse to pay taxes, general stike and the last if all fails armstruggle.
Er thanks
Mr. Tedla Thank you for your analysis. The problem is, as many commented to your article, lack of leadership and solidarity.Otherwise the Ethiopia people has shown its readiness in 2005. But due to lack of good leadership the blood-thirsty woyane flooded the country roads with blood.
Look how we the diaspora reacts to demonstration when called here. Only few hundres are participating. Why? if we couldn’t do this tiny thing, how we ask the people once again to die for nothing. Dictator Meles is still darling dog for Gordon Brown and the likes. Who is to blamed for that. We, the diaspora, couldn’t expose him well.
So lets do our homework first
thank you all
It is true that you can’t compare the Pakistani gov and the Et gov. Pakistani gov is not anti pakistanis. Et gov is anti ethhiopian in every way. But from what i have heard in 2005, Meles and comrades were ready to fight back the people of Addis to some extent and go to Tigray if the protestors were strong. They are not foolish to kill thousands of people like Chauchesko of Romania did and risk the Hague courts.
So my point is what is wrong with people to die for their countries’ freedom. How can a country win its enemy if the people don’t fight in battle fields or in the streets of Addis.
How about the people who die from cholera, starvation, and poverty every day in Ethiopia. At least to die fighting Meles and gang is an honor.
without proving oneself carrying out the least level of one’s duty it is selfish and unthinking to expect people to pay the price dearly with their precious blood.
No Ethiopian is foolish any more to go to the streets of Addis and die like a dog.
It’s unthinkable and no hope to entertain such egostic idea.
As for Woyane their machinegan has still been roaring waiting for another blood to shed.
There is a world of difference between Pakistan and the regime in Ethiopia.
Pakistan and Ethiopia may differ but the need to fight through whatever sacrifices unrelentigly for your stolen freedom without an iota of cowardly recoiling like snail’s tentacles and divisive opportunist self centered waverings is universal as well as a sure way to highway of freedom just like in Pakistan too.
” When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.” – Dorothy Thompson
What the HELL makes a society of some 80 million people calling itself endlessely so much patriotic and repeatedely drumming empty barrels as to how much ptriotic battles in the past saved the nation from ruins while in practice exihibiting damn alarming unparalled cowardity?
Even PM. Odinga of Kenya might be laughing always whenever he hears about Ethiopian politics and endless Ethiopian misery at the endless dictatorial rule of a tiny minority. You may not even need to travel as far as Pakistan inorder to see yourself stright in to the mirror.
What you people certainly need is your traditional exclusionist medieval divisive self serving narrow political camps based on suspicions, gossips, counter gossips as well as unhealthy and unjust manouverings while keeping unity ritual lip services at the same time.
Take yourselves from the neck, form firm and innovative unity within diversity and from that strong and acceptable stand point to the local and internaltional communities engage the already weakened minority dictatorship politically, diplomatically and militarily to the end of the line. :)
“They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.”
– Benjamin Franklin
obama ,honestly speaking, has no intention of changing nor improving any of american current foreighn policies. he has proved this to the whole world when he picked clinton to be secretary of state. clinton is a women who is obesessed by her own achivment. she enjoys the fame that surrounds her than the work that she could do to change the fate of many poor countries . she has tangled up with american poletics too much. women can be deadly when they try to perform like men. it’t good that we have obam no matter what but the change arround the world will be up to those countries.