I was cycling indoors at home recently while watching a tape of the just completed LA Marathon. Like the movie Groundhog Day, Ethiopians moved to the front of the both the men’s and women’s races. Ethiopia’s Bizunesh Deba, looking freakishly fresh, sat on American rookie Amy Hastings for the first 18+ miles at which point she slowly put 150-200 meters into her for victory in 2:26:34. Deba, 23, has won seven of the nine marathons she’s entered. Someone is mismanaging her, but I digress.
In the men’s race 26 year-old Ethiopian marathon rookie Markos Geneti ran a 1:02+ half and blew away the field coasting home in a course record 2:06:35. He’s a preeminent short and middle distance runner, but the marathon is where the money is in track and field these days. From now on, he’ll get six figures to show up at races.
The LA Times reported that Geneti plans to invest his $125,000 in earnings in a school in Addis Ababa.
I was intrigued by Amy Hastings grittiness and guts. When she fell off Deba she crawled back into touch, fell off again, and got back in touch, before fading right before the finish. It was an incredible debut. Afterwards, I read an interview with her from before the race that included this question: One of the appeals of elite-level running is that the people, by and large, are smart, nice, insightful, introspective, all those good things. In addition to the fact that you obviously love the sensation of running, I would think that the kind of people that you meet in running, the kind of people you’ve been teammates with, the kind of people you’re rivals with, have been a big part of the appeal, isn’t it?
This got me thinking about what else we may be able to generalize about elite marathoners. To the interviewers list I’ll add: self confidence, intense competitiveness, extraordinary self-discipline, resilience, optimism, and off the charts toughness.
If I were to write about every elite Ethiopian runner, you’d have to set aside the next hour. It’s Kenya, Ethiopia, then all the other countries of the world combined. I like Geneti and Deba in London (assuming Deba starts spreading out her races better).
And when I taught at a private international school in Addis Ababa, my best students were Ethiopian public school students who won scholarships to our school and went to Harvard and other elite universities after graduating. These athletes and these students accomplishments beg the question, how does a country with Geneti and Deba and Nebiyeleul Tilahoun type of human resources continue to struggle to meet people’s basic needs?
The short answer is poor governance. No doubt Meles Zenawi celebrates “his” runners accomplishments and uses them to bolster his own image among his people.
I hope Ethiopia’s runners, young students, and other citizens find inspiration from the Middle Eastern protestors to help close the Great Rift Valley that exists between their impressive human potential and bitter day-to-day realities. And I hope upon hope that Meles Zenawi is living in exile when Geneti and Deba walk into the opening ceremonies in London in the summer of 2012. Assuming, that is, they make the team.
Ethiopians in several cities in North America are preparing to confront Woyanne agents who have called for meetings with their supporters this coming weekend. The cadres and high level officials were sent by dictator Meles Zenawi as part of his recent {www:disinformation} campaign that is intended to prevent popular {www:revolt} against his regime. Protests are being organized in the following cities (will be updated as we receive more information):
Meles Zenawi’s brutal regime in Ethiopia spends hundreds of millions of dollars to keep itself alive and its tools of repression (the Agazi army, spy agencies and the federal police) operating. Most of the money belongs to the people of Ethiopia. One of the measures we can take to remove the Woyanne junta is by cutting off its life blood: money. Please watch the video below and distribute it widely.
Also listen to this audio:
[podcast]http://www.ethiopianreview.info/2011/GLOBAL_CIVIC_movement_in_Ethiopia-06apr2011.mp3[/podcast]
Human Rights Watch issued a statement today asking the Meles dictatorship in Ethiopia to release over 200 Ethiopians from the Oromo {www:ethnic} group who have recently been detained without charges. Read the full statement below:
Ethiopia: Free Opposition Members Mass Arrests of More Than 200 Ethnic Oromo Appear Politically Motivated
(London) – The Government of Ethiopia should immediately release members of the ethnic Oromo political opposition detained without charge after mass arrests, Human Rights Watch said today.
In March 2011, Ethiopian authorities carried out several waves of apparently politically motivated mass arrests of more than 200 ethnic Oromo Ethiopians. On March 30, the government confirmed that 121 were in {www:detention} without charge, alleging that they were members of the Oromo Liberation Front, a banned rebel armed group. The government told journalists that it had obtained court orders to continue to hold the 121 individuals while it gathers evidence against them.
“The Ethiopian government appears to be back to the old tricks of ‘detain first, ask questions later,'” said Rona Peligal, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately free the Oromo opposition members unless they can bring {www:credible} charges against them.”
Ethiopia’s international partners should press the government to release the detainees immediately if it cannot credibly charge them, Human Rights Watch said.
The authorities arrested 40 members of the Oromo People’s Congress (OPC) in a mass roundup from March 12 through March 14 in several districts of Ethiopia’s Oromia region. Those detained included long-serving party officials and many candidates in the 2010 regional and parliamentary elections. Several of them remain unaccounted for, OPC party officials told Human Rights Watch.
At least 68 members of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), an opposition political party, are among those arbitrarily arrested between March 1 and March 15, according to party officials. Those arrested include former members of Parliament, former local government candidates for election, civil servants, teachers, and students. OFDM officials reported that at least two were beaten at the time of arrest, and the whereabouts of several remain unknown.
Torture is a routine practice at Addis Ababa’s Maikelawi, or Central Investigation Unit, where the majority of the detainees are believed to be held, Human Rights Watch said.
Reports of the arrests broadcast on Voice of America’s Amharic service have been jammed by the government the radio service said in a statement on its website, further raising concerns that the roundups are politically motivated.
Oromia is Ethiopia’s largest and most populous region. Its regional government is controlled by the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), a member of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
The Ethiopian government has a long history of using accusations of support for the Oromo Liberation Front, an armed rebel group that has been carrying out a low-level insurgency for more than a decade, as a {www:pretext} for cracking down on political dissent among the Oromo population.
While Ethiopia has valid security concerns related to sporadic bombings and other attacks, the government has routinely cited terrorism to justify suppressing nonviolent opposition and arbitrarily detaining peaceful government critics. The authorities have indicated that they may charge several of the detainees under the new Anti-Terrorism Law, which Human Rights Watch and others have criticized on human rights grounds.
Enacted in July 2009, the Anti-Terrorism Law severely restricts the right to freedom of expression. It contains an overly broad definition of acts of terrorism that could be used to suppress non-violent peaceful protests, and greatly expands police powers of search, seizure, and arrest. The law also provides for holding “terrorist suspects” for up to four months without charge. These provisions violate basic human rights requirements of due process. Human Rights Watch expressed concern at the time that the new law would become a potent tool for suppressing political opposition and legitimate criticism of government policy.
The Ethiopian constitution requires the government to bring a person taken into custody before a court within 48 hours and to inform the person of the reasons for their arrest, a protection that is already systematically violated. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Ethiopia is a party, provides that anyone arrested for a criminal offense shall be brought before a judicial authority and promptly charged.
Adama Clayton Powell Plaza
163 West 125th St., New York
Date: Saturday April 9th
Time: 12:00PM
No Confidence; No Investment!
Confidence is the prerequisite to attract {www:investment} by the Ethiopian Diaspora. The presence of genuine democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law are prerequisites to consider investment in Ethiopia. The following preconditions must be met by TPLF/EPRDF immediately.
1. All criminals involved in the murder of 193 unarmed pro-democracy protesters in June and November 2005, in Addis Abeba and the massacre of 424 Anuaks of Gambella in December 2003 must be brought to justice.
2. Ethnic apartheid is the new slavery institution in Ethiopia. Ethnocracy that has segregated 82 million Ethiopians into Killils must be abolished.
3. The separation of powers principle must be instituted by replacing the legislative- executive-judiciary branches of government that are fused into the hegemonic powers of the TPLF party.
4. All forms of media should be free and available to the public and all political parties.
5. All political prisoners should be released with appropriate compensation.
6. Repression and intimidation of opposition party members and their supporters must be outlawed and stopped immediately.
7. The police and armed forces should not get involved in politics and they need to be committed to protect the people from the government and outside enemies of the nation.
8. We hereby urge Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his regime to stop the reign of terror and immediately transfer political power to a Transitional Government of National Salvation.
Please join us at 12:30 P.M. on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 163 West 125th Street in Harlem to challenge the repressive regime’s charade of the so-called transformation and investment scheme crafted to hoodwink us all and the international community.
Enough to Tyranny in Ethiopia! Beka! Ga’ae!
For more info: [email protected]
Reject the Ethno-Fascist Foot Soldiers of Melese Zenawi
A message from the Ethiopian Embassies in the US and Canada is urging all persons of Ethiopian origin to meet a high level delegation of Melese Zenawi’s regime in 14 cities of North America. The delegation will hold its meeting in Ottawa and Toronto on April 9 and 10. The purpose of all these coordinated meetings, we are told, is to invite {www:diaspora} Ethiopians to participate in the so called “Development and Transformation Plan” of the regime. In other words we are being invited to invest in the economic plan of Melese Zenawi and his ethno-fascist regime. We are writing to request all Ethiopians to come out in force and reject the maneuvers of the regime for the following reasons:
Based on its record we can not trust this regime
EFFORT owns and controls every sector of the Ethiopian economy; the ruling party (the TPLF) is at the same time a trading company
TPLF/EPDRF is a one party dictatorship in which political power, military leadership, and economic ownership has firmly come under the control of Melese Zenawi
The ethno-fascist regime has wiped out the free press and independent media and Ethiopians are forced to lead a life of untold oppression and misery
Inflation is soaring at 10% every month and corruption of government officers is completely out of control; to get a permit or a stamp of approval citizens must pay tens of thousands of Birr or abandon their project
Ethiopians from North America who went back to their country to invest in good faith have been robbed by corrupt officials, cheated out of their money by the cronies of the state and returned bankrupt. We can site a number of cases, including some from our own city. A number of people have come back with broken health and empty pockets after losing millions of Canadian dollars.
o Melese and his band of traitors have sold away our land inch by inch, plot by plot there by uprooting Ethiopians from their land and destroying the natural environment. And now they are coming for our bank books.
Why now and what is the real objective of the regime
The dictator is jittery about the popular uprising in North Africa and his messengers are going around the world to divert attention
After having weakened the legal opposition, this is a follow-up strategy to divide and conquer and ultimately silence the diaspora opposition.
Melese Zenawi and his band of robbers would like to see the flow of dollars to increase in order to fatten up their Swiss bank accounts.
If they are lucky the errand boys of the regime would like to recruit agents among us by handing out some sugar cubes.
What must be our response to the messengers of the despot
Our response to tyrants, criminals and traitors could be just one and only one: that is rejection. It is our duty as sons and daughters of a glorious country to shame and frustrate the foot soldiers of this ethno-fascist regime. It is our duty to speak up and fight for the rights and liberties of our people. It is our duty to reject the futile maneuvers of the despot to divide and conquer us. Finally we would like to give this band of traitors a very bold and unmistakable message to take to Melese Zenawi: “Sorry pal, Mission Impossible.”
