Let just say it is painful to hear that a prestigious University like Columbia has invited Ethiopia’s tyrannical leader Meles Zenawi to speak at the annual World Leaders Forum. As an Ethiopian I feel insulted and mocked upon.
Then again we Ethiopians are used to having our country and people judged with different sets of values and standards than what is applied to others. The cowardly stand taken by the League of Nations that failed to condemn Italy’s aggression against a member state served a severe blow to the Organization. Emperor Haile Selassie’s prophetic words ‘”It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.” Still rings true today.
We will always remember former President Jimmy Carter’s retreat from telling the truth on the aftermath of the 2005 general elections. When the PM declared state of emergency this is what Mr. Cater said, “We believe collectively that the decision of the prime minister was not excessive in preventing any possible arousal of animosity or violence among his own supporters or the opposition.” Such endorsement of an illegal action emboldened the tyrant to let loose his private Agazi force and specially trained sharpshooters on unarmed civilian protesters and the world ignored our cry.
Columbia University is not ‘just another’ institution. It is the fifth oldest in the US (1754) and is credited with affiliation with the most Noble Prize winners in the world. The World Leaders Forum that extended the invitation has the following regarding its guest:
Under the seasoned governmental leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, now in his fourth term, and vision of the Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Ethiopia has made and continues to make progresses in many areas including in education, transportation, health and energy.
Does that statement reflect facts on the ground, as we Ethiopians know it? For such a prestigious research University the statement seems to have been written by a freshman that is not yet clued on the importance of fact check and adherence to higher academic standard of proof before publishing. TPLF is neither visionary (student of Albania’s Enver Hoxha) EPDRF is a subsidiary of TPLF and the progress is a mirage concocted for donors and enablers and we can prove that without much fanfare.
Here is your ‘visionary’ leader undressed as seen by his poverty stricken subjects that pray daily to all the Gods for his quick departure from the land of Abeshas.
His visionary policies include:
Land: The State owns all of Ethiopia and the people lease the land and pay rent. The State uses its ownership to reward or punish the citizen depending on ethnic and political affiliation.
Business and Industry: All key industries and private businesses are owned by the TPLF party and it affiliates. EFFORT is a super conglomerate owned and controlled by the party. It owns Banks, Cement factory, Brewery, Insurance, Transportation, Tannery, Engineering etc. EFFORT is bigger than Ethiopia and is not accountable to the State.
Communications. Telephone service both land and cellular is owned by the state. It is a cash cow for TPLF that uses the income for its own survival (on security, bribing Bantustan chiefs, and buying individuals loyalty) instead of upgrading and modernizing the system, Thus in this day of explosion of cellular technology Ethiopia is next to last in Africa.
Media: The state controls the single Television and short wave radio transmission services. ESAT (Ethiopian Satellite Television) that is trying to level the playing field by offering independent news and entertainment service from abroad is being subjected to jamming using sophisticated Chinese technology. The print media has been decimated and at the moment on life support with no chance of survival. Publishers, editors and reporters are victims of secret service death squads and forced exile from their homeland. Internet when available is still slow dial up service with all ‘independent’ sites blocked.
Politics: TPLF divided our country into ethnic Bantustans called ‘Kilils’ like as in South Africa during Apartheid rule. This is your basic ‘divide and rule’ policy pursued by colonialists to have the natives fight for the limited resources. In theory although the Kilils supposedly have their own people in charge, in practice it is TPLF cadres that are running the show.
The so-called EPDRF is a Hollywood style façade for show. The different Party’s are the brainchild of TPLF and nothing more than puppets on a string. Any opposition that dares to challenge the mighty TPLF is subjected to intimidation, harassment and cooption. No viable opposition is tolerated. The Chairman of Andenet Party Bertukan Mideksa is solitary confinement and denied visitors, Red Cross and medical attention. As for the four elections they were nothing but a farce. The recent one in May of 2010 was the ultimate joke played on the world where the single ethnic based party garnered 99% of the vote. So much for participatory democracy.
Dear organizers, if you have only talked to Ethiopians at home you would have found out that famine is a fact of life in TPLF’s Ethiopia. ‘According to estimates by the United Nations World Food Program, 14.3 million people in Ethiopia are threatened with starvation—every fifth person in the country http://www.wfp.org/
When we say your ‘visionary’ leader is a murder it is not some kind of metaphor rather a statement with verifiable facts. Ask Addis Abeba University students that have been recipient of Woyane justice. Unlike Columbia University, AAU has become a cadre training institutions with most of its able and seasoned professors dismissed by the PM (1991) students murdered (1993, 2001) and independent associations banned.
We Ethiopians are a little confused when you claim ‘progress’ that is being made by the regime under the PM. On the other hand we are perfectly aware of the fact that our country ranks 171 on the UN Human Development Index. I doubt being ahead of nine countries is a source of pride. I am sure the PM will mention stability and peace as one of his legacy. That is not rue either. Since his assumption of power there has been inter ethnic clashes in Gambella, Awasa, Jimma, Ogaden, Afar, Arsi and all university campuses including the TPLF capital Mekele. Today’s Ethiopia is a police state with security personnel in every government office, neighborhood control centers (Kebeles) and so called Kilils or Ethiopian Bantustans.
With all due respect your invitation of a dictator whose crime has been recorded by such credible organizations as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Doctors without Boarders, International Federation of Journalists and your own State Department Human Rights Report is very perplexing for his victims. I very much doubt you will sleep easy after reading any of the above organizations reports.
You can talk all you want about ‘freedom of speech’ but the fact of the matter is that your honored guest does not believe in that. It also makes one wonder if you will accord the same right to Osama Bin laden or how you would feel if the shoe is on the other feet and Addis Ababa University invites Mr. Bin laden to expound on the his ‘seasoned leadership’ of a terrorist organization and the progress he is making in extending his tentacles all over the world.
I assure you with or without your help Ethiopia will be free. Your honored guest will be tried by the Ethiopian people for his crimes and our country will rise up one day to usher liberty and the rule of law in our ancient land. After over thirty years of civil war, dictatorship, famine we are one tired people. Your ill advised action makes us sad but not despondent because we know we are capable of overcoming any hurdle and rebuild our country to join the international community as free and equal.
Leading up to the fake “demonstration” the TPLF or Meles Zenawi’s supporters conducted earlier this month (August 5), they run an ad detailing the reasons for the event. The sign read, “Come for a peaceful demonstration. A huge turnout Demonstration at the White House and State Dept is planned for August 5, 2010 at… in support of Ethiopia’s effort to make poverty a thing of the past, continuous Economic growth and its right to use the Nile River, and in opposition to the recent terrorist acts against our people in Uganda.”
Where to start; so much to ponder?… But first, let’s look at the statement of “peaceful demonstration.” What would “peaceful” mean to a group that put a nation in shackles, committed major crimes on Ethiopians in the Ogaden, Gambella Oromo and roasted civilians in Somalia like roaches; deported thousands of Eritreans after they stole their hard-earned wealth? What would “peaceful demonstration” mean to Meles Zenawi and his Aigaforum criminal partners that shot direct hundreds of innocent civilians in front of the whole world?
Let’s look at what it would mean to “Demonstrate to support their efforts to make poverty a thing of the past.” How will demonstration at the State Department alleviate poverty? Is it not US that provides the largest financial, material, military and diplomatic support of the defunct Meles Zenawi’s TPLF regime? By all accounts, Ethiopia is and has been the largest recipient of US and Western aid. Meles Zenawi has enjoyed more access to Western and US leaders than any other African leader in history. He attends all the G-8, G-20 and many of the other major international leaders’ gatherings. He has befriended such major proponents of aid for Africa as Geoffrey Sachs and others. They support him on his endeavors to collect major funding for all types aid by applying their theories, methodologies or schemes, if you will. In other words, he never lacked support of those enablers that give him aid willingly. In fact, he remains the poster child of aid handlers. He has been the choice spokesperson for foreign aid and funds generated, supposedly for the “poor” in underdeveloped countries. Then, why did he need to demonstrate outside the doors of the State Department for aid, all of a sudden? It is curious to see Meles, who bombarded the world and Ethiopians with rosy economic growth-figures, which should have placed Ethiopia in the top of developed countries categories by now, begging outside the State Department.
The second stated reason for the demonstration was, “Continuous Economic growth and its right to use the Nile River.” Here again, more questions than answers. Why would a country that claims to have successfully organized Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya and signed an agreement need, the US regarding the right of the Nile river use? Why did Meles need to demonstrate when he has signed an accord with Egypt in July 1993 in Cairo? Article 6 of the accord states:
“The two parties agree on the necessity of the conservation and protection of the Nile Waters. In this regard, they undertake to consult and cooperate in projects that are mutually advantageous, such as projects that would enhance the volume of flow and reduce the loss of Nile Waters through comprehensive and integrated development schemes.”
In addition, Meles Zenawi signed another agreement with Cairo acknowledging Egypt’s quota over Nile River in December of 2009. Therefore, why is he demonstrating after the fact? How is US involvement going to change the agreement? Furthermore, why would the US put itself in a position to have to choose between Egypt and Ethiopia? Why would the US antagonize Egypt who has been a staunch ally and key supporter of Israel and US policies in the Middle East for decades? Is Meles Zenawi giving the US an ultimatum you are either with Ethiopia or with Egypt?
The third reason for the demonstration was “Opposition to the recent terrorist acts against our people in Uganda.” Again, questions, questions and questions yet, no explanation. First, why tie poverty alleviation to anti terror campaign? Secondly, Ethiopia is the number one beneficiary of the billions spent on the war on terror. Then, why did Meles see a need to demonstrate? Is he looking for additional funding? Did the US stop providing him with the funds? Why demonstrate in opposition to a terror act in the US in front of the State Department? Is the US not supportive of Ethiopia’s efforts everywhere? Curiously, is the terrorist Al Shabab, sanctioned by the US? Is the US harboring and providing sanctuaries to Al Shabab?
Furthermore, the demonstration was, “In opposition to the recent terrorist acts against OUR people in Uganda.” How about those Eritreans that died in the blast in the Ethiopian restaurant? It is ironic; of all the people that died in that Ethiopian restaurant that evening, nearly all were Eritreans and yet, there is no mention of them. What is curious is Aigaforum is claiming their Eritrean friends will come and join the demonstrations while they failed to acknowledge Eritreans that died in the blast. The reality however, Meles-ovich or his criminal gangs of Aigaforum do not have Eritrean friends.
The Scoop
Meles Zenawi and his friend Yoweri Museveni believe that they can continue on receiving the financial gains they used to get during the Bush Administration. There are some in Meles’ circles saying, “Why farm when all you need is boots.” Sending troops for peacekeeping missions yields good cash for these despots. In 2007, the average cost per troop for the UN was as follows: $1,028 for pay and allowances, $303 supplementary pay for specialists, $68 for personal clothing gear and equipment and $5 for personal weaponry. These does not include logistical and troop transportation expenses, the further the distance and the rougher the road the more the money. Therefore, there is no incentive for the troop providing countries like Ethiopia to use shorter routs. For example, the distances from Addis Ababa to Port Mombassa is 1804, Addis Ababa to Port Sudan 1696, Addis Ababa Mogadishu 1520, Addis Ababa to Berbera 943 and Addis Ababa Djibouti 910 kilometers.
It is ironic that the bombings in Uganda happened just days before the African Union was to meet in Uganda. Ethiopia and Uganda are the countries that desperately wanted to change the Somalia Mission mandate and escalate the troop numbers to about 20, 000. They heavily relied on the bombings to convince the US and AU into changing the mandate from peace- keeping into active peace-enforcement. Their aim was to try to make the bombings into a 911 type of mandate that propelled the ouster of the Taliban from Afghanistan. That would have given them opportunities to unlimited funds and for extended period to hunt Al Shabab door to door. That failed and failed miserably because the US and AU rejected it outright.
Over the last five years, IGAD essentially replaced the African Union. Meles and Musevini used IGAD to pass their agendas using all kinds of trickery and went crazy thinking that they can keep hijacking African matters but run into a wall during the last AU session in Kampala. The dynamics have changed completely. The AU members have decided to take back the AU. The Community of Sahel-Saharan States CEN-SAD came with one voice and decisions to put a stop to it all and there was nothing any power could do to change that collective advantage..
Most importantly, in pursuing to change the mandate, Ethiopia and Uganda made the miscalculation by thinking that they can take ownership of the so-called “War on terror” from the US and the US rejected it. In other words, these despots let their greed and ill-perceived senses of confidence guide them into their failures. They failed in Somalia miserably. The TFG they tried to screw on to power failed to make a dent let along establish itself. Some analysts have said,” The idea that 8,000 or 10,000 ill equipped African troops are going to be able to defeat the insurgency is utterly delusional.” That is the reality. Meles and Museveni are mercenaries that could only take orders not the other way around. Their aim was to try to make money-using peacekeepers in Somalia not to bring peace or stability there.
As for the Nile, Meles-ovich is using the Nile as a wedge issue in order to change the subject from his domestic issues in the same manner that he used the Eritrean port of Assab for a while! That will not work because Ethiopians have outsmarted him and rejected his devious ploys. In fact, time has come that Ethiopians, Eritreans have started to work together, and it is certain that it will bear fruit.
Conclusion
What the demonstration exposed was that Meles-ovich and his cronies are in the outside looking in. They are about to get layoff notices. It is a sign of a shift in US policies. It was unthinkable for a while for Meles-ovich who enjoyed unfettered access to the State Department to send his cronies in a blues T-shirts (which looked like prisoners shirts) to shout outside the doors of the State Department. It is a true sign of desperation. After he “Won” the landslide victory, 99.6% to be exact, he was trying to show the US he has that type of support in the Diaspora. However, he was not able to bring enough people to fill a small restaurant. Meles-ovich and his Aigaforum cronies conveniently forgot that the US has expressed its disapproval of the election and stated that it did not meet international standards. That is also a reflection of the international community’s views. Meles went as far as the US and their Western allies could take him. However, at this point, Meles has become more of a liability than he is worth. In other words, he is increasingly isolated, loosing grip and sliding downward fast.
Meles-ovich thought that he cleaned house in Ethiopia and it was time to focus in the US by changing the subjects from domestic to terrorism, The Nile and poverty. He figured Ethiopian communities in the Diaspora would play dead and allow him to own their agendas. He was wrong, because they came roaring. They did not give him a chance. They held their own demonstration and took away from the attention he desperately thought to get. In reverse, he actually reinvigorated the Ethiopian communities and all his opposition. In other words, as always he miscalculated.
This was a great opportunity not only for Ethiopians but also for all peace loving people that want to rid this despot. By holding the failed demonstration, he hinted to all that he is not receiving the attention he needs from the US. That means, it is a great opportunity for the people of the region to press the US more into completely dropping him. Because, without US support he cannot survive a month even with China’s support. China will not go to war for him and certainly, China would not want the US to stop supporting Meles because they do not know what the alternative would look like. Therefore, it is time for all the people of the region to join hands and show the world what they feel and urge them to change their failed policies in the Horn of Africa.
Note: This is the second installment in a series of commentaries I intend to offer on U.S. foreign policy (or lack thereof as some would argue) in Ethiopia. In this piece, I argue that the price of U.S. lip service to human rights in Ethiopia without action is demoralization of the brave and dedicated Ethiopians who struggle everyday against dictatorship and tyranny, trivialization and crippling of efforts to build a strong human rights movement and disempowerment and discouragement of ordinary Ethiopians aspiring to a democratic future.
If the Silenced Majority Could Talk…
If the silenced majority inside of what has become Prison Nation Ethiopia (PNE) could talk, what would they tell President Obama and Secretary Clinton about U.S. human rights policy? Would they pat them on the back and say, “Good job! Thank you for helping us live in dignity with our rights protected.”? Or would they angrily wag an accusatory finger and charge, “You speak with forked tongue. You wax eloquent on your lofty principles to us in the morning while you consort with thugs and murderers in the afternoon.” What would the thousands of political prisoners rotting within the closed walls of dictator Meles Zenawi’s prisons say of America’s big human rights talk? “Practice what you preach, Mr. President!” What would Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia’s No. 1 political prisoner, first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history and the undisputed heroine of 80 million Ethiopians say to President Obama were she allowed to speak to him? “Mr. President, why do you turn a deaf ear when I have been silenced in solitary confinement?” What would the innocent victims gripped in the jaws of Zenawi’s steel vises say to Secretary Clinton in their faint whimpers from the torture chambers? I do not know. What I know for sure is that the silenced majority of Ethiopians does speak loud in bootless cries while gasping for air under the jackboots of a barbaric dictatorship. President Obama, can you hear their deafening silence?
The Belly v. The Ballot
The defenders of the dictatorship in Ethiopia argue that the masses of ordinary Ethiopians are interested in the politics of the belly and not the politics of the ballot. They do not care about human rights or democracy because they are concerned about finding their daily bread. The masses of poor, illiterate, hungry and sick Ethiopians in their view are too dumb and too damn needy to appreciate “political democracy”. “Economic democracy before political democracy,” they proclaim with certainty. They condemn free speech, free press, free elections, and indeed freedom itself as alien Western ideologies that are meaningless to the masses of poor and hungry Ethiopians. Ethiopia’s dictators are quick to stand on their hind legs and condemn the West for violating their sovereignty because the West insists on human rights observances in Ethiopia. Of course, these rights are not some bizarre imported ideas but core element of the organic law of Ethiopia which incorporates by reference all of the major international human rights conventions. All African dictators have been justifying their dictatorships for well over one-half century by claiming that there is democracy before democracy in Africa.[2]
I raise the belly v. ballot argument to contextualize American human rights policy in Ethiopia. The evidence suggests that the attitudes and perceptions of American (and other Western) policy makers may be latently contaminated by the view that human rights are not of concern or are not important to the tired, poor and huddled Ethiopian masses. I have heard it said artfully in moments of candor by those who have access to U.S. decision-makers, by some decision-makers themselves and even by certain of my learned friends that the majority of ordinary Ethiopians neither know of nor understand their human rights. Even if they are aware of their rights, they do not have a clue as to how to defend them. As a result, I am told, the interests of the ordinary Ethiopian citizens do not figure in the least in U.S. human rights policy calculations. Some have even pointed out to me (much to my disappointment, embarrassment and chagrin) that the lack of informed and vigorous human rights debate and sustained and organized human rights advocacy among Ethiopian elites within and without Ethiopia is clear and convincing evidence that human rights are not important to Ethiopians. I am advised to accept the fact that U.S. human rights rhetoric is primarily intended for international media consumption and to give moral support to the few human rights-minded Ethiopian elites while avoiding the scathing criticisms of the international human rights community for U.S. inaction and hypocrisy. “That is realpolitik for you,” said one of my erudite colleagues jokingly. “The U.S. would rather blather about human rights violations to the African masses in the morning only to sit down for a seven-course meal with Africa’s murderers and butchers in the afternoon.”
Introducing the Unsung Heroes of Ethiopian Human Rights to U.S. Policy Makers
I strongly disagree with those who sideline ordinary Ethiopians as too poor and hungry to be concerned about their human rights or good governance. I could not disagree more with the cynics who claim that ordinary Ethiopians do not know or care about their human rights as long as their bellies are full. In fact the contrary can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. When the 2005 elections were stolen by Zenawi in broad daylight and opposition leaders were hunted down, arrested and jailed, it was not the elites, the privileged and the degreed that came out to defend democracy and human rights. The people who stood up for democracy, freedom and human rights when it really counted were the poor, the urban laborers, the students, the unemployed, the slum dwellers, the retired and plain ordinary folks. The true unsung heroes of Ethiopian human rights are Tensae Zegeye, age 14; Debela Guta, age 15; Habtamu Tola, age 16; Binyam Degefa, age 18; Behailu Tesfaye, age 20; Kasim Ali Rashid, age 21; Teodros Giday Hailu, age 23; Adissu Belachew, age 25; Milion Kebede Robi, age 32; Desta Umma Birru, age 37; Tiruwork G. Tsadik, age 41; Admasu Abebe, age 45. Elfnesh Tekle, age 45; Abebeth Huletu, age 50; Etenesh Yimam, age 50; Regassa Feyessa, age 55. Teshome Addis Kidane, age 65; Victim No. 21762, age 75 and Victim No.21760, male, age unknown and hundreds more. These were the real defenders of human rights in Ethiopia. Their story is memorialized for history in the testimony of Yared Hailemariam,[3] an extraordinary human rights defender and investigator for the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), before the European Parliament Committees on Development and Foreign Affairs, and Subcommittee on Human Rights in May 2006 [Warning: The graphic content in Yared Hailemariam’s testimony cited in the link in footnote 3 may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is strongly advised.] and the report of the official Inquiry Commission that investigated the violence in the post-2005 election period.
If American policy makers are giving lip service to human rights in Ethiopia to please the few elites or immunize themselves from criticism by the international human rights community, their concern is truly misplaced. Human rights in Ethiopia is not about the elites yapping about human rights, nor is it about fine intellectual discussions, philosophical debates, speeches, annual reports or legal analyses of the nature and importance of human rights. It is much, much simpler than that. It is about helping to bring to justice the killers and those who authorized the killings of Tensae Zegeye, age 14; Debela Guta, age 15; Habtamu Tola, age 16 and all the rest. It is not about a metaphorical “closing walls”; it is about getting released the thousands of innocent political prisoners languishing behind the prison walls. It is not about an imaginary clenched fist but the real iron fist of a dictatorship that crushes citizens mercilessly every day. It is not about metaphorical steel vises, but about those who cling to power like blood-sucking leeches on a milk cow.
American policy makers should not be dismissive of ordinary Ethiopians. They should not misinterpret their silence for consent to be brutalized by dictatorship. Ordinary Ethiopians may not know much about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the numerous protocols, resolutions and declarations. They may not even know of Article 13 of their Constitution which incorporates all of the major international human rights conventions as part of their rights. But there should be no doubt that all of them know that as human beings, no person has the moral or legal right to take their lives just because he wants to, jail them and throw away the key because he feels like it or rule them for decades against their will by training a gun to their heads. That is all the human rights knowledge they need to know to deserve the respect and support of the American government.
Stability v. Human Rights
It has been argued and anonymously reported in the media that “Western diplomats” in Addis Ababa believe that forceful U.S. action on human rights could create “instability” in the country. To talk about stability in a dictatorship is like talking about the stability of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl just before it suddenly exploded. But the whole U.S. “stability” subterfuge to do nothing, absolutely nothing, about gross human rights violations in Ethiopia is eerily reminiscent of a shameful period in American history. The principal argument against the abolition of slavery in the U.S., the ultimate denial of human rights, was “stability”. Defenders of slavery strenuously argued that if slavery ended, the American South would simply disintegrate and collapse because the slave labor-based economy would be unable to sustain itself. They predicted that there would be widespread unemployment and chaos leading to uprisings, bloodshed, and anarchy. To ensure the “stability” of the South, even the United States Supreme Court joined in with its most infamous decision and held that the U.S. Constitution protected slave-holders’ rights to their property. But history proved that keeping the institution of slavery became the very undoing of the American union when the civil war was fought. America came apart at the seams because slavery that denied fundamental human rights to African slaves was retained, not because it was abolished. American policy makers should see the historical parallels. The undoing and unraveling of Ethiopia will be the result of sustained and gross violations of human rights by the dictatorship of Meles Zenawi, not because of respect for and observance of human rights. Perhaps we can crystallize the issue for American policy makers in the language of the American Declaration of Independence: It is necessary for Ethiopia to go through a civil war to ensure that every Ethiopian has the “right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it…”?
President Obama’s Challenge in Ethiopia and Africa
President Obama now faces a great challenge in Africa, and particularly in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. His African human rights rhetoric is being tested by the cunning dictators on the continent who are scheming to counter his every move. They are prepared to test his mettle to find out how far they can push him before he pushes back. So far, Zenawi has succeeded in cowering the U.S. into inaction and paralysis.
President Obama will soon have to make some tough decisions in his choices in the Horn of Africa. He can choose to let progress on human rights and democracy die on the vine by handing over American tax dollars to sustain bloodthirsty regimes to oppress their citizens, or use the same tax dollars to pressure for change. President Obama is said to be “a pragmatist” concerned about “problem-solving.” He has got a hell of a problem in Ethiopia and must make some tough choices. His major choice will not be between “stability” and human rights, nor will it be a choice between the forces of radicalism and terrorism and democracy in the Horn as the dictators want him to believe. The one and only choice he has is how to help Ethiopia become permanently stable by ensuring the protection of the human rights of its citizens. There will be neither peace nor stability in Ethiopia until the human rights of every citizen are protected.
Zenawi complains that the U.S. and the West in general interfere in Ethiopian affairs too much by insisting on human rights observances and demanding democratization. But by Zenawi’s measure, the U.S. has been “interfering” in Ethiopia for nearly two decades, handing out to him tens of billions of dollars in aid. But for U.S. aid and loans by multilateral institutions under U.S. control, his dictatorship could not last even a single day. If the U.S. is serious about progress on human rights, it will have to kink the aid hose line just a bit. It is guaranteed that someone will be shrieking at the receiving end, “Uncle! Please Uncle Sam!”
Giving lip service to human rights in Ethiopia without action is tantamount to demoralization of the brave and dedicated Ethiopians who struggle everyday against dictatorship and tyranny, trivialization and crippling of efforts to build a strong human rights movement and disempowerment and discouragement of ordinary Ethiopians aspiring to a democratic future. It has been said that, “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.” The most critical need in Ethiopia today is neither food nor water (though they are very much needed), but HOPE. The U.S. has a moral obligation to keep hope alive in Ethiopia by conditioning its aid on significant human rights improvements. Stated simply, the U.S. must practice what it preaches!
FREE BIRTUKAN MIDEKSSA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA.
See also the list of names of massacred victims released by the official Inquiry Commission investigating the
post-2005 election at: http://www.abbaymedia.com/pdf/list_of_people_shot.pdf
Following its 4th regular session early this month, the OLF National Council issued a communiqué wherein it calls upon “all the forces opposed to the dictatorial regime of the TPLF to struggle for liberation, freedom, democracy, the rule of law, peace, and prosperity.” The communiqué states that there is “no more option left except to rise up in unison and struggle to get rid of the tyrannical minority rule.”
To this end, the Council instructs to “set our priorities in order and forge a meaningful alliance against the TPLF rule.” Then the Communiqué states that OLF is ready for “a meaningful cooperation and alliance with serious political organizations fighting and struggling for liberation democracy, the rule of law, and human rights and human dignity for all the peoples in Ethiopia.”
Is there anything new or grand about the above pronouncement? Does one see any change in form or substance that could make this communiqué a different read from what one can glean from OLF’s mission and policy statements on the OLF website? Nope. The So-called Council is still singing from the same old song book. OLF still maintains that the Oromo people are a people in Ethiopia, not a people of Ethiopia. The not so-subtle difference between the notions of “peoples in Ethiopia” and the “people of Ethiopia” actually makes all the difference between OLF and other opposition forces that are fighting to build a better Ethiopia for everyone. The fact that the Council listed liberation along with democracy, the rule of law and human rights does not camouflage the true color of OLF or its mission which remains to be the “liberation of Oromia from the Colonial empire of Abysinnia.”
So the natural question is why on earth should other opposition forces, which consider themselves Ethiopian and want to see a united, democratic and strong Ethiopia get into an alliance with an organization that doesn’t see itself or the Oromo people as Ethiopian? Why should Ethiopians who stand against TPLF’s ethnocentric policies form an alliance with an organization whose stated mission is dismembering their country? At a time when coalitions such as Medrek are declaring the advent of a new form of alliance where respect of both individual and group rights can be pursued and achieved within a united and democratic Ethiopia, why should one entangle itself with an organization such as the OLF that clearly pictures a different Ethiopia post TPLF rule?
Now one may argue that OLF doesn’t mean what it has put in black and white on its website, which is the liberation of Oromia from Abyssinia. One may say that the leadership needs to continue to use same liberation message (i.e., lying about it) to keep their rank and file intact. If this is how the OLF leadership handles openness with its rank and file regarding a major policy shift , that in itself should be highly disconcerting to anyone who contemplates to enter into any form of alliance with this organization. At any rate, sorting out OLF’s rank and file issues is OLF’s own responsibility. What other organizations should demand from OLF from the outset is to come clean and openly clear on where it stands on such a fundamental question as the unity and integrity of Ethiopia. With anything less, OLF would be a liability to any coalition it might enter into even if one were to believe that OLF has moved from its historical stance on the issue of unity.
The option for OLF has been very clear since it left or was kicked out of the coalition government back in the early 1990s: to either align its struggle with the rest of Ethiopians who are victimized under the same regime to bring about a political system that would allow nationalities or ethnic groups to exercise their legitimate rights within a united Ethiopia, or to remain an exile secessionist organization, forever giving false claims and hopes to its ever fracturing membership. For close two decades, OLF’s choice has been the latter. Three regimes have changed hands in Ethiopia since OLF came into existence. As an organization, OLF is the same age as, if not older than, TPLF. But look where TPLF is now and where OLF is. Even when one may say that TPLF no longer represents the people of Tigray, it has perhaps done more to the people of Tigray from the Minilik Palace than what OLF could dream all night for the Oromo people from the capitals of Western nations.
After close to four decades of existence, OLF is not closer to, indeed is further away from achieving its stated goal. Each day it is not getting stronger but weaker and less relevant. So, at this point, it has neither the moral nor the material leverage to entice anyone to enter into an alliance with it as long as it sticks with the same old political agenda. The future is more unlikely to reward OLF with better results if it stays on the same track.
One wonders why OLF is not doing the one right thing once for its life, namely, come up with true and realistic goals and aspirations for the Oromo people and for Ethiopia in general, close ranks with other opposition organizations in a truly new and lasting alliance, and fight to get the country rid of the TPLF repressive and regressive regime to build a free, democratic and prosperous Ethiopia where all people of Ethiopia will live in harmony and economic prosperity?
One plausible explanation could be OLF’s utterly exaggerated, if not entirely false, sense of exclusive tenure to the cause of the Oromo people and consequently its misplaced pride in the purity of its stance, namely the “liberation of Oromia from the Colonial Empire of Abysinnia.” Otherwise, why should OLF still maintain the colonial theory and liberation objective when other Oromo political organizations are fighting for the cause of the Oromo people within a united Ethiopia?
When the current regime took power in 1991, it declared that Ethiopia would no longer be a prison of nations and nationalities. Forget that this was a preposterous notion, but even if one were to believe this notion in 1991, 19 years is too long a period of time not to re-evaluate this notion against the reality now on the ground. The unquestionable reality is that it is actually now or over the last 19 years that Ethiopia has been made a prison of Oromo activists, students, and elders. Previous regimes have not arrested a fraction of the number of Oromos that have now congested the Kaliti Prison. However, it would be a gross misperception, once again, to think that only Oromos are languishing in TPLF’s prisons. Equal, if not more, numbers of non-Oromos are sharing those same prisons. Their common enemy is the authoritarian regime that wields power not by the will of the people but by its military and security might.
Looking forward, what the Oromo people want is to become makers of the Ethiopian destiny, not just their own destiny as an ethnic group. One is not complete without the other. What the Wollega Oromo wants in life is not fundamentally different from what an Amhara in Gojjam wants. Both want equality and a fair opportunity to take part and derive benefits from the economies of their regions and their country at large. Both wants to promote and exercise their culture, to preserve and share the good of their identity, which together with the culture of other people of Ethiopia makes Ethiopia a mosaic of cultures. Each wants, democracy, unfettered participation in the political life of their respective regions and their country. Each wants peace and prosperity to raise children and leave them a better legacy and opportunity. This is the kind of vision on which a meaningful alliance should be built up on among Ethiopian opposition forces.
Many Ethiopians would like to see OLF playing a constructive part in the political struggle to build a better Ethiopia for all. Many Ethiopian opposition organizations have in the past responded generously to OLF’s slightest gestures of moving away from its longstanding stance. The recent, now defunct, Alliance for Freedom and Democracy is one example. But OLF has proved to be incapable of extricating itself from the past and formulate a realistic and functional political program for the future. Until it does so, its call for any form of alliance will not and should not get a sympathetic ear. The ball is still in OLF’s court.
Last week the leaders of the world’s largest economies met at the G20 Summit in Toronto. The key items on the agenda were global economic recovery, sustainable and environmentally-friendly growth, and the impact of the recession on social justice. Special invitations were also issued to Vietnam, Malawi, and Ethiopia. Vietnam attended as chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations. Malawi came as chair of the African Union (AU). Ethiopia Meles Zenawi’s genocidal dictatorship, it seems, was invited in a somewhat ambiguous role, as the “voice of Africa.” You can always tell a lot about a party from the guest list. So what agenda was served with this group? … Read more
Note: This is my fourth commentary on the theme, “Where do we go from here?” following the rigged elections in Ethiopia last month in which the ruling dictatorship won by 99.6 percent[1]. In this piece, I express deep anguish over the enormous problems and challenges faced by Ethiopia’s youth, and urge them to emancipate their minds and work collectively to build the “future country of Ethiopia” that Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia’s foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, dreamed about.
Own the Youth, Gain the Future
In 1935, Adolf Hitler delivered a speech at the Reichsparteitag (national party convention) in which he declared, “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” By impregnating German youth with Nazi ideology and unleashing them on the world, Hitler believed he could perpetuate the Third Reich for a thousand years. Creating an indoctrinated and brainwashed youth is the impossible dream of all dictators and tyrannical regimes. The Soviets created the Young Pioneers and Komsomols to integrate youth into the party structure and tighten their control over the population. In China, Mao’s anchored his theory of “permanent revolution” in the mass mobilization of youth; and in the late 1960s he formed the Red Guards to implement his Cultural Revolution.
During the 17 years of military dictatorship in Ethiopia following the overthrow of the imperial regime in 1975, much effort was done to convert the country’s youth to become supporters of the junta and its socialist revolution. That courtship ended in a so-called Red Terror campaign in which tens of thousands of young people were hunted down in the streets and in their homes and arrested or killed by junta cadres. In a monstrous act that will remain in infamy in the history of mankind, junta leader Mengistu Hailemariam forced the parents of Red Terror victims to pay for the bullets used to murder their children.
Today, the dictatorship of Meles Zenawi is busily implementing a master plan to “own” Ethiopia’s youth in a futile attempt to perpetuate itself for a thousand years. Zenawi’s strategy is straightforward. Force the best and the brightest of Ethiopia’s youth to make a Hobson’s choice: Become loyal party members or you will not have access to jobs, education, health care or social welfare programs. It is a simple Faustian bargain. The youth have the option of getting education, jobs, wealth, political power and social privileges in exchange for selling their souls and joining the party. Those who will not take the deal will be left to twist slowly in the wind. The political pressure on Ethiopia’s youth to join the ruling party is so staggering that young people who are not members or supporters of the dictatorship are routinely denied “support letters” from their kebeles (local districts) necessary to get public employment and other social benefits. To squeeze new college graduates into joining the party, the dictatorship has a “new scheme” in place: “Students graduating in the year 2008-2009 from all governmental higher learning institutions have been prohibited from collecting their academic credentials including the student copy until they find jobs which enable them to refund the cost sharing expenses utilized at the universities.”[2] This policy is inapplicable to members and supporters of dictatorship’s party.
Only Slaves Can Be Owned
“Owning” the youth of a nation remains the Holy Grail of every tin pot dictator and tyrant from Albania to Zimbabwe. The concept of “ownership” of youth evokes the imagery of slaves and masters. The slave’s sole purpose in life is to serve the master. Slaves work exclusively for the benefit of their masters, and receive nothing in return. Slaves always work involuntarily and do so because they are fearful of the painful sting of their overseer’s whip. The history of slavery also shows that the master can only own the body of the slave and rarely the slave’s mind. But the master’s ultimate aim is to enslave and cripple the mind of the slave by making the slave feel totally dependent on the master and imposing an overwhelming sense of fear, powerlessness, hopelessness and despair in the slave.
Own-a-Youth or Rent-a-Youth?
In his “victory” speech celebrating his 99.6 percent win in last month’s “election”, Zenawi offered hollow gratitude to Ethiopia’s youth: “We are also proud of the youth of our country who have started to benefit from the ongoing development and also those who are in the process of applying efforts to be productively employed! We offer our thanks and salute the youth of Ethiopia for their unwavering support and enthusiasm!” Given the grim statistics on Ethiopia’s youth and children (below), it is not clear what “ongoing development” Zenawi is talking about.
Nonetheless, Zenawi’s message at the Third Annual Youth Conference in November 2009 provides some insights into his overall strategy to “own” (more appropriately “rent”) Ethiopia’s youth. Before a stage-managed hall full of young people sitting in numbed silence wearing party-issued baseball caps, purportedly representing Ethiopia’s youth, Zenawi laid out his over all youth strategy based on engagement of youth into his party structure. In sketching out his plan for “leadership succession” incorporating youth, Zenawi said that his party for the preceding three to four years had been engaged in preparing youth for political leadership by undertaking “broad recruitment, broad training and broad placement” efforts. His party has placed “no less than 30,000” youths in leadership positions at the local, district and even regional levels. Youth leaders that have shown potential for higher leadership positions will be “tried and tested” and elevated. The “main thing”, Zenawi said is to get youth — large numbers of them — enlisted in the party. In response to carefully crafted questions read out by apparently pre-selected youth, Zenawi assured the overwhelmingly male youth crowd that they have a much better chance of electoral participation than ever before, and have an “irreplaceable role” to play in ensuring “free and fair election” in the May 2010 “election”. He advised repeatedly to closely work with and report issues and problematic persons to the “authorities”.
The manifest aim of this youth strategy is to recruit and unleash hundreds of thousands of well-trained, loyal, bought-off robotic army of youths that will carry out the party’s programs, follow orders and serve as “shock brigades” in the implementation of party policies and Zenawi’s will. In time, the thirty thousand youths would proliferate to hordes of 3 million; and that way, the youth can be owned and the future gained. But the history of the 20th Century shows that many dictatorships have tried and failed in their efforts to recruit and enlist an army of brainwashed youths who could be cloned as successive generations of “True Believers” for the party.
Ethiopia’s Youth at Risk
In discussing Ethiopia’s youth here, I am not employing the standard quantitative age category of 15-24 years. In the context of the African economic realities, a broader swath of the age group under 30 is warranted. Article 36 of the Ethiopian Constitution enumerates a whole set of guarantees to ensure the health, education and welfare of the country’s children and youth. But the statistics on Ethiopia’s children in general is shocking. Though the population under the age of 18 is estimated to be 41 million or just over half of the country’s population, UNICEF estimates that malnutrition is responsible for more than half of all deaths among children under age five[2]. Ethiopia has an estimated 5 million orphans or approximately 15 per cent of all children. Some 800,000 children are estimated to be orphaned as a result of AIDS. These children are highly vulnerable to all forms of exploitation, including child labor and sexual, and receive little educational services, social support or supervision. Urban youth unemployment is estimated at 70 per cent. According to a Population Council report[3] “the vast majority of Ethiopian adolescents, 85 percent, live in rural areas. Levels of education are very low, especially for girls and for rural youth. A substantial proportion of adolescents do not live with their parents, especially in urban areas, where 33 percent of Ethiopian girls aged 10–14 live with neither parent. Some regions have extremely high rates of early marriage. For example, 46 percent of girls in the Amhara region were married by age 15.” There are also about 2.5 million children with disabilities receiving very little government assistance. Frustrated and in despair of their future, many urban youths drop out of school and engage in a fatalistic pattern of risky behaviors including drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse, crime and delinquency and sexual activity which exposes them to a risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. There is a serious problem of child trafficking and highly publicized instances of adoption fraud and abuse cases have been documented in the international media in the past year.
Ethiopia’s Youth as Ticking Bomb
The wretched conditions of Ethiopia’s youth point to the fact that they are a ticking demographic time bomb. The evidence of youth frustration, discontent, disillusionment and discouragement by the protracted economic crisis, lack of economic opportunities and political repression is manifest, overwhelming and irrefutable. The yearning of youth for freedom and change is self-evident. The only question is whether the country’s youth will seek change through increased militancy or by other peaceful means. On the other hand, many thousands gripped by despair and hopelessness and convinced they have no future in Ethiopia continue to vote with their feet. Today, young Ethiopian refugees can be found in large numbers from South Africa to North America and the Middle East to the Far East.
The dictatorship in Ethiopia hopes to neutralize the youth by “buying” (renting) the “best and the brightest” to serve them. But they also see the writing on the wall clearly. When youth experiencing such high levels of frustration represent such a high percentage of the total population, the implications for a small repressive dictatorship without any broad societal support or acceptance are plain. The critical questions are: Will the frustration, hopelessness and despair push the youth to take a path away from peaceful change? Will the hand-selected and well-trained cadre of rent-a-youth be able to provide a buffer between the masses of locked-out youth and the dictators or demand change? Does the dictatorship really “own” the youth cadres, or merely “renting” them by offering them lavish rewards and incentives? The answers to these questions appear plain to the reasonable mind.
What Can Be Done?
Given the enormity of the problems facing Ethiopia’s children and youth, there are no easy answers or solutions. But the real and lasting solutions to the problems of youth will not come from self-serving cynical dictators, party hacks, academics or self-indulgent intellectuals. The search for solutions must begin with the youth themselves.
Ethiopia’s Youth Must Be Seen, Heard and Engaged
As I have observed and studied Ethiopian politics, it seems that the old adage holds true: “Children should be seen and not heard.” Though young people represent a significant segment of the Ethiopian population, they are marginalized and largely ignored in the governance process. A study of Zenawi’s speech and exchange with the youth “leaders” at the Third Annual Youth Conference provides an object lesson in how political leaders of all stripes have dealt with the youth in a condescending and patronizing manner. At that conference, Zenawi did not solicit the views of the youth “leaders”, he lectured them like school children. He did not allow them to interact with him freely, rather designated individuals asked specific written questions in apparent trepidation. It was obvious that they were not even allowed to improvise in asking questions or follow up with additional questions. The stage management of the questioners was so mechanical and robotic that the observer could easily tell that the youth asking the questions did not formulate the questions themselves. The very nature of the questions points to the fact that they were planted. One would reasonably expect a youth conference representing the interests of all of Ethiopia’s youth to focus largely on matters that have direct relevance to youth. It seems odd that such a conference should devote so much attention and time to questions of leadership succession, party organization of youth and placement of youth in local, state and national offices. The point is that all young Ethiopians, regardless of their party affiliation or ideology, should be encouraged to be actively engaged in the political process, become civically engaged, take volunteer and formal leadership roles in their communities and become active participants in the governance process.
We Must Listen to the Youth
It is necessary to listen to and understand the views and perspectives of Ethiopia’s youth on the issues and problems vital to them. They should not be marginalized in the discussions and debates. The older generation is always quick to tell the youth what to do and not do. We lecture them when we are not ignoring them. But rarely do we show them the respect they deserve. We tend to underestimate the intelligence of youth and overestimate our abilities and craftiness to manipulate and use them for our own cynical ends or in our political struggles with our adversaries. How many of us in the older generation have made the effort to interact with young people regularly and tried to understand their pain, despair, hopelessness? How many of us have taken the time to talk to small groups of them to find out the issues that are most important to them and what they desire in the future? How many of us in the older generation truly believe that the youth own the future and we do not own them?
Let’s Help Develop Youth Leadership and Inspire Them
One of the major problems of Ethiopia’s youth is that the older generation refuses to get out of the way. At the Third Youth Conference, Zenawi used an interesting analogy involving a “traffic jam” to describe his sense of the intergenerational leadership succession. He said it was necessary to create an orderly succession in the transfer of power from one generation to another in the same way as traffic on the highway should flow “smoothly” and in an “orderly process.” It is ironic that he does not see himself as the principal cause of the 20-year total traffic jam on the Ethiopian political freeway, but his analogy is instructive. Speaking particularly to the older generation opposition, we need to realize that we are cluttering and congesting the political highway with our old clunkers and jalopies. We need to graciously accept the fact that we need to get off the highway so that the youth driving their turbocharged cars can zoom to their destinations. The point is that the older generation can be most helpful by providing guidance and advice to the youth instead of getting on the highway and blocking the flow of traffic. Leadership is not limited to the political realm. Youth can be engaged in activism on community, environmental and human rights issues; they can participate in volunteer community service and take leadership roles in civic and cultural institutions. We can help enlighten, inspire and empower the youth. The basic challenge is not only to engage the youth in governance but also in preparing them to take diverse leadership in the future. Those in the opposition should seriously consider drafting a formal youth agenda with the significant input of youth addressing the wide range of problems and issues.
Link Diaspora Youth with Youth in Ethiopia
There is a big disconnect and a huge gulf that exists between young Ethiopians in the Diaspora and those in Ethiopia. That is partly a function of geography, but also class. It needs to be bridged. Youth in the Diaspora are in the best position to create linkages with their counterparts in Ethiopia using cyber-technology. Many young Ethiopians born in the West are often heard complaining and expressing concern over the enormous problems faced by young people in Ethiopia. Diaspora youth endowed with higher education and resources can use their creativity to create networks and linkages to help their counterparts in Ethiopia.
My Humble Message to Ethiopia’s Youth
I have no magic formula for any of the problems faced by Ethiopia’s youth. My humble message to all young Ethiopians is simple. Never give up. Never! Emancipate your minds from mental slavery. Develop your creative powers. Learn and teach each other. Unite as the children of Mother Ethiopia, and reject any ideology or effort that seeks to divide you on the basis of ethnicity, language, region or class. Study and acquire knowledge not only about the arts and sciences but also your legal, constitutional and human rights. It is easier for tyrants and dictators to rob you of your rights when you are ignorant and fearful. It has been said that “ignorance has always been the most powerful weapon of tyrants; enlightenment the salvation of the free.” Jamming the airwaves to keep information from reaching the youth and the larger population and maintaining a pall of darkness over society is the weapon of tyrants. Blocking access to the internet, banning the free press and exiling independent journalists are all weapons in the arsenal of tyrants who fear the truth and despair over their rendezvous with the dustbin of history.
President Obama was absolutely right when he said, “We’ve learned that it will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future. It will be the young people brimming with talent and energy and hope who can claim the future that so many in previous generations never realized.” The destiny of “the future country of Ethiopia” is in not in the clenched fists of dictators but in the palms of the likes of Birtukan Midekssa and all the youth like her yearning to breath free. Ethiopia’s youth owes a lot to Birtukan. She is in prison for life not only because she stood up for her rights; but most importantly because she wants her generation of young people and posterity to live free in the “future country of Ethiopia” that she often dreamed about. If the dictators do not own the youth, they can not own the future!
Alemayehu G. Mariam is a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. He writes a regular blog on The Huffington Post, and his commentaries appear regularly on pambazuka.org, allafrica.com, afronline.org and other sites.
