It is election season in California. Two positions are open. The governorship and Federal Senate positions are up for grabs. Both parties, that is the Democrats and Republicans are going thru the primary process to nominate their strongest candidates for the November elections. November is Six months away but the contest is becoming hot.
Television and radio are the two preferred medias to reach the electorate. We are being inundated by sleek commercials costing millions of dollars. The candidates are spending their own money, their supporter’s money and their friend’s money as if it grows on trees. There is no such thing as ordinary elections. It is both art and a science. Nothing is left to chance. Commercials are prepared after a lengthy process of focus groups, pools, psychological impact, sociological studies and good old ‘makes me feel good’ assessments.
There have been lengthy debates between the contestants organized by independent groups. Free, vibrant and long debates on issues are standard. There is a media watch group checking all the facts thrown by the candidates. A small mistake can be their undoing, so they are very careful before they open their mouth. They avoid what is known as ‘foot in the mouth disease’. Supporters organize town hall meetings, neighborhood functions and public rallies to introduce their candidate. Fans put signs on their front lawn, windows, cars and every conceivable open space to advertise their preferences. They set up phone banks to call every voter, prepare mailers, use their email accounts and move heaven and earth to reach every last voter.
There is no such thing as government imposed ‘Election code of conduct’ on the candidates, journalists or the party’s. The local Police, State Police and the Federal police (FBI) are not part of the equation. The State has not yet threatened the candidates regarding their positions on issues and the possibilities of being charged for their frank opinions. The Governor has not warned the party’s regarding any wild intentions of withdrawal from the election. No one has offered to come and observe the election. The candidates have not requested observers either.
The candidates know that the voter is sovereign. They are no attempt to belittle the citizen or intimidate an opponent. It is not acceptable behavior. One-person one vote is the rule. It is not always perfect but there is no organized attempt to steal, cheat or exclude.
The voting in our neighborhood is conducted in a small church around the corner from our house. They have a roll of names from DMV, check your name and hand you a ballot. Ethiopians that have arrived a matter of six years ago and that have acquired US citizenship can vote. The only requirement is citizenship and age.
It is election season in Ethiopia too. Citizens are voting for membership in the Federal Parliament. The Party with the highest number of winners will form the next government. That is well and good, but as they say the ‘devil is in the details’. There are a few issues we have to clarify in this Kafkaesque process of election in Ethiopia. Kafkaesque is an apt description of what is billed as election. Here I am using the term to mean ‘intentional distortion of reality, senseless disorienting, often menacing complexity and a sense of impending danger’ by the one party state.
To begin with there is the ‘National Election Board of Ethiopia’ (NEBE) appointed by the ruling party. The members of this government body owe their allegiance to the party. Please see PM Meles’s interview with Stephen Sackur’s regarding the election board. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY2NNOYKM8M) Their survival depends on the whims of the Prime Minster and his TPLF party Politburo (it is an old Soviet term to mean Central Committee of the ruling mafia group). It is alive and well in Ethiopia. There is also an ‘Election Code of Conduct’ proposed as (‘”I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse” kind) and a few ‘chosen’ ones signed the contract. The ‘code of conduct’ is an all-reaching agreement that controls the activities of the Party’s, the Media the Candidates and the air they breathe. It is entirely drawn by the ruling TPLF party and the TPLF appointed Judiciary is the final arbitrator of all issued raised. If the election is a football match this will be analogous to having the TPLF assign the referee, linesmen, the football rules and is in control of the stadium with its own security force.
There are over eighty political party’s registered by NEBE. All but less than five are organized by the ruling TPLF party. Most exist by name only to be activated on a need basis. They can field candidates recruited by the regime, accept state funds thru the ruling party and show up for make believe debates and official functions. They have assigned ‘leaders’ from their own ethnic group but TPLF cadres (mostly Tigrai) run the show from behind.
The fantasy created is so real that it puts real competition to shame. There are candidates but they cannot campaign, meetings are allowed but meeting venues are closed or owners of such places as hotel halls or parks are threatened by the state not to allow opposition activities. Candidates meetings with their constituents are discouraged by arresting and intimidating their supporters. Please read Dr. Negasso Gidada’s article (http://ethioforum.org/wp/archives/1451) Debates are held but since all parties are counted as real the opposition ends up with a fraction of the time. The opposition candidates have to be careful what they say in the heat of the debate since the Prime Minster have warned about the dangers of prosecution after the election.
The opposition cannot campaign in the Kilils due to fear of intimidation and the real danger of being beaten, jailed, and property like cars, video cameras damaged. Please see Dr. Merera’s report regarding his visit to Moyale (click here). The only exception seems to be in Tigrai due to the fact that the candidates were former members of the ruling party and seem to have clout in the military. It is ‘check mate’ situation in Tigrai. The rest of the Kilils are like the American ‘wild west’ where might is right.
Television and radio are the sole property of the TPLF party. The opposition is given the two minutes during debates that are also delayed for ‘editing’ purpose while the ruling party is allowed twenty-three hours and fifty minutes. The independent ‘print media’ has been decimated thus it does not play any significant role while make believe ‘independent’ newspapers are a few but loud.
Supporters of the opposition Party cannot campaign door to door, neither holds meetings in their own houses nor put up placards on their cars or front door. It will surely invite catastrophe and this fact is clear to all. The mere attempt of wearing T-shirts with the opposition name and picture is a criminal offense. The law to watch out regarding meetings is the new ‘terrorist’ law passed after the last election. Please see Human Rights Watch analysis of the law here.
Election observers are members of the TPLF party and its junior affiliates. Foreign observers are a few in number and rendered ineffective by the ‘code of conduct’ that specifies no video, no picture and no interview in the pooling places. Ferenji philosophy is ‘I will not tell unless you complain’.
Suffice to say that the only thing the two elections have in common is the word ‘election’. In California the citizen is free to make his choice without undue pressure from anyone. In California the chances of electing the most capable person for the position is statistically high. In California the candidates have utilized every available media to let the citizen know their stand on issues. In California the Kilil and the Federal government have taken ‘hands off’ attitude and recognized the right of the citizen to make a decision based on his own conscience. In California the ‘candidates’ are not threatened with harm, their family and friends intimidated or stay up all night gripped with fear of what tomorrow might bring.
In Ethiopia the election is over before it started. For the opposition it is what is called as ‘fait accompli’ situation. That means it is over before you know what happened and it is not reverse able. As the sun will rise up from the East tomorrow morning TPLF (EPDRF) will have a majority in parliament, Ato Meles will be elected Prime Minister and more than ten million Ethiopians will wake up hungry with no prospects for a good lunch the day after the ‘democratic election’.
In this election over half of the country is closed to the opposition. There have been three reported incidents of candidates being murdered the last two months. The one Party State has been known to use lethal force on its citizens. It is a clear warning of what is to come. There are not enough brave souls that are foolish enough to tempt fate and stand for elections. In the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia the Chairman of the strongest opposition party is jailed on trumped up charges (Chairman Bertukan Mideksa). The logo of the opposition is awarded to an affiliate of the ruling party (CUDP logo to EDP). The name of the opposition party is handed to ‘hand picked’ leader (CUD to Ato Ayele Chamiso). Even the Chairman of an opposition party is removed from his position and a new one replaced by the NEBE (Dr. Merera and ONC). In Ethiopia the chances of electing the most capable person is nil, zero none.
Please note this not due the Ethiopian people being stupid and incapable. It is due to a lack of good governance. Election 2005 marks a watershed in our country’s history. It showed us that our people embrace the concept of good competition and fair election. The road to the elections were the most exiting, hopeful and a rebirth of the good old Ethiopian ‘free and proud’ mindset. The atmosphere was ripe with anticipation and people were filled with purpose and unity. That Ethiopian sense of ‘not trusting’ was hovering in the background but we choose to believe that a positive outcome was possible. What can I say the Nation was drunk with hope?
The ruling party sent all kinds of signals to show that it hasn’t changed. A few candidates were murdered and some beaten. We knew it was part of the ‘weaning process’ of a Party that was used to violence. You just can’t expect them to quit cold turkey. The PM raised the specter of ‘interhawme’. Alarms were raised and dismissed. Another hiccups we thought. The May rally at Meskel Square was our epiphany. At last we knew that we are good people that can unite for a great purpose. Please read Ato Debebe Eshetu’s article on Awramba Times. Meskel Square showed that under the right conditions we are capable of rising above religion, ethnic affiliation and social class.
We come to the most important question now. Why participate in such a farce? The real answer is, it does not really matter much. Why discuss something that is insignificant in the great scheme of life. What is true is that a democratic election is a process of building a successful, growing and peaceful society. Those countries that hold democratic and free elections have a stable, peaceful and healthy society. Those that deny the basic right of their people suffer from civil war, insurrection and a miserable population always on the verge of catastrophe.
The Ethiopian election is not democratic. The Ethiopian Nation the TPLF leaders have built for the last eighteen years has not borne any fruit. It has only exacerbated the problems they inherited from the failed Junta dictatorship. The TPLF philosophy is not capable of growing the economy, creating real peace and having a happy, healthy and content population. The economic system of favoring an ethnic group to lord it over all others does not work. The idea of a single ruling party and ethnic group monopolizing both the military, and the business sector does not work. The concept of power emanating from above and treating the population as serfs does not work.
Thus electing some members from Medrek, some from AEUO, EDP and others is not a game changer. The problem is not the number of party’s. The system itself is the problem. With the Ethiopian system the question is not a matter of fine-tuning it. It is a complete overhaul that is called for. Party’s can go ahead participate to their hearts content, but remember other than creating employment for a few more individuals it is not going to make an iota of difference. And arguing whether to participate or not at this eleventh hour is only to create a distraction from the shameless act that is to follow. Just do not expect us to cry when you scream foul because Meles cheated or your behind is hauled to Kaliti for further schooling on the true nature of a dictatorial one party state. We promise not to say ‘we told you so!’ Furthermore, this business of bitching because you are not offered a solution is very lame. If someone tells you jumping from a cliff will kill you it doesn’t mean that not jumping will help you solve your problem. Telling you not to jump gives you another chance to contemplate, and to find a lasting solution that will prevent you from entertaining this crazy idea of trying to solve a fundamental problem by ending your life.
Ethiopia’s ruling junta (Woyanne) has turned the city of Gonder is into a militarized zone by deploying tens of thousands of additional troops. Woyanne suspects that fighters of armed resistance groups have entered the city to carry out attacks on regime forces during this month’s general elections that will be held on May 23.
According to eyewitnesses, movements in and out of the city has been restricted and soldiers are conducting house to house searches. Check points have also been set up through out the city.
Meanwhile, in southern Ethiopia, Woyanne claims that a police officer was stabbed to death by members of the Forum for Democracy and Dialogue (Medrek) party in the Oromya region on Saturday.
“Supporters of Medrek stabbed to death policeman Hassan Regasa last night in the Oromya region,” according to a police statement.
On Thursday, in the town of Adaba, Orimya region, attackers threw a bomb at a meeting of a party from the ruling coalition, killing two people, according to the state media.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (Bloomberg) — An activist campaigning for Ethiopia’s opposition Medrek alliance was shot dead in a rural part of Oromiya, the third killing in a week in the southwestern region ahead of elections on May 23.
Girma Kabe was killed on May 4 in the North Shewa district, Negasso Gidada, a Medrek official, said in a mobile-phone interview today.
“He was posting posters in daylight and he was shot,” Negasso said. “Our people say it was a deliberate political killing.”
Tensions have been rising in Oromiya ahead of this month’s vote. On May 7, two people were killed in southern Oromiya when an unidentified person threw a hand grenade at a meeting celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization, which support’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The man who killed Girma may be a member of a militia loyal to Meles’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, said Merara Gudina, a leader of Medrek’s ethnic Oromo wing. The EPRDF said Girma was involved in a personal dispute and was a supporter of Meles’s party, which has ruled the Horn of Africa country for the past 19 years.
“He was not killed by our security and our militia,” said Zelalem Jamanie, an executive committee member of the EPRDF’s ethnic Oromo wing, when reached on his mobile phone today. “The person who killed him, he has his own private gun. There is some problem between them.”
Oromos are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, though national politics in the country has been dominated for more than a century by politicians and feudal lords from the smaller Amhara and Tigrayan ethnic groups.
Security forces loyal to Meles killed at least 193 people in the aftermath of Ethiopia’s disputed 2005 elections. Medrek leader Birtukan Mideksa remains in jail under a life sentence after being charged with treason following that poll.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at [email protected].
As Mother’s Day is celebrated in Ethiopia on the second Sunday in May, I feel privileged to share with my readers a testimonial tribute honoring Birtukan Midekssa, the first female political party leader in Ethiopian history and the most famous political prisoner in that country. Let me say up front that Birtukan needs no tribute or praise from me or any other person. She has written her own heroic chapter in the modern history of Ethiopia for which she will be praised by future generations. Her suffering and sacrifices in the struggle for democracy, human rights and the rule of law are inscribed in the hearts and minds of her people in the indelible ink of courage and humility. But on this Mother’s Day, I have taken the liberty to say just a few words in tribute to Birtukan for her sacrifices as a mother.
Of course, I hold great admiration, respect, appreciation and gratitude for Birtukan not only on Mother’s Day, but every day. I am awed by her display of supreme grace in the face of withering oppression by one of the most barbarous dictatorships in the modern world. When democracy is trampled in Ethiopia, and “wrong forever sits on the throne”, to paraphrase James Russell Lowell, and the rule of law, human rights and truth dangle from the tyrant’s noose on the scaffold, Birtukan did what Nelson Mandela did. She stood up and shouted for the world to hear: Only right makes might!
For her selfless sacrifices in the service of her fellow citizens, we all owe her a heavy debt of gratitude. Birtukan has been to the mountain of temptation and offered the chance to live in the lap of luxury. She could have had everything that money can buy: a posh mansion away from all the poor people, the very best of amenities, the finest garments and jewelry, power and the invisible benefits of office that many have used to accumulate personal wealth. Birtukan refused outright the temptation to sell her soul for all the silver and gold in Ethiopia. She paid a heavy price to keep her soul intact and free: Life Imprisonment.
For showing courage and integrity facing the Beast, I have the highest admiration for Birtukan. As a judge she stood up for justice and the independence of the judiciary. She refused to bend justice to serve politics; and for her judicial integrity, she was booted off the bench. By refusing to betray her professional obligations and judicial oath, Birtukan has served not only the ends of justice in Ethiopia but also the cause of universal justice. She is to be honored for being a fair and impartial judge whose loyalty was always to the supreme law of the land and never to the supreme dictator.
I appreciate Birtukan for showing dignity even when she is the object of obscene mockery. When she stood up for her rights, the constitution of her country and the rule of law, she was mocked as a “silly chicken” that “hanged herself”. After she was forced to endure six months of harrowing solitary confinement under the most brutal conditions in violation of a court order, she was made the object of the proverbial “fat woman” joke. They said she sat around in solitary confinement eating all of the prison food, not exercising and putting on a “few kilos.” I know Birtukan would never stoop to the sewer to respond to such filth. She is just a class act!
I commend Birtukan for being a great Ethiopian. As Shakespeare wrote, “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” In Birtukan’s case, she achieved greatness. Let me be clear. She did not achieve greatness through exploits in the battle field. She was never a general. She abhors violence, brutality and inhumanity. She did not achieve greatness by amassing great fortune. She comes from a humble background; and she would never steal from the people to enrich herself. She did not achieve greatness through extraordinary scientific, literary or artistic endeavors. She never had opportunities for such pursuits. She did not achieve greatness because of her long service to the state or extraordinary political experience and skills. She is too young for that.
She achieved greatness in her profound and absolute faith in what she likes to call “the future country of Ethiopia” and her willingness to pay for it with her life. She has a bottomless faith in the future of her generation to raise Ethiopia from the ashes of dictatorship and transform it into an impregnable fortress of democracy. The “future country of Ethiopia” is the country of Birtukan’s generation. They will inherit a land that has been scorched by dictatorship and oppression, racked by enforced ethnic division and ravaged by poverty, disease, corruption and ignorance; but Birtukan’s generation will be able to build on that arid landscape an oasis of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Birtukan’s generation will be Ethiopia’s greatest generation. In her youthful idealism, Birtukan has overcome the cynicism, pessimism, negativism, defeatism, criticism, lack of enthusiasm, neuroticism, bitterness, doubt and distrust of the generations that have come before her own. I believe a person’s greatness should be measured not only by what they have done in the past, but more importantly by what they are prepared to do for the future and the sacrifices they make in the present for that future. By this measure, Birtukan is truly a great woman!
I have heard it said that Birtukan could walk out of prison at any time if she kissed the hands that keep her chained in the in the dungeons and licks the boots that press heavily against her neck. “She must beg for mercy and ask for a pardon,” they say. She won’t do it! Birtukan is the type of young person who personifies the principles spoken of by Winston Churchill when he urged the youth of England to “Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” She is also that ordinary person anywhere to whom President John Kennedy’s message could be addressed when he pleaded with his fellow citizens, “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” Birtukan refuses to yield to force and asks not for a pardon, but what she can do for her country.
I pay homage to Birtukan for being an inspirational role model to all young Ethiopians. Through personal example, she has taught young Ethiopians the values of honesty, courage, integrity, intelligence, fair-, open- and broad-mindedness and an unshakeable faith in the future of democracy in Ethiopia. In the final analysis, Birtukan is a symbol of the titanic struggle between those who cling to the impoverished and bankrupt politics of the past and the young people who are fighting for a future Ethiopia built on a vision of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. If the past wins, the nation will be lost; and if the future wins, the nation will have been reborn. I have no doubts whatsoever that those who fight for the “future country of Ethiopia” will win because history is on their side.
But on this Mother’s Day, I pay a special tribute to Birtukan for being a mother to her five-year-old daughter, undoubtedly someone she values more than her own life. I can not even begin to imagine what thoughts may have rushed through her mind when she resolved to leave her then three-year-old daughter and serve out a life sentence. The psychological pain and anguish must have been more painful than the prospect of serving out a life sentence. Though her daughter will grow knowing her mother is in prison for life, I can imagine the enduring pride she will have knowing deep in her heart that her mother is very, very special.
I possess neither the poetic imagination nor the ability to write the silky prose that Birtukan deserves in praise for her sacrifices as a mother. So I shall borrow verse from William Ross Wallace, whom Edgar Allan Poe called “one of the very noblest of American poets”, to pay my tribute to her.
“The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World”
…
Blessings on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace, cottage, hovel, (prison)
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
…
Free Birtukan and all political prisoners in Ethiopia.
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, newamericamedia.org and other sites.
Chris Flaherty is the producer of the movie called Migration of Beauty, which shows the struggle of Ethiopians for democracy in Ethiopia in the context of an American experience Chris Flaherity undoubtedly loves our historical and great country Ethiopia and our people, above all he is steadfast to Dr. Martin Lutherkings’ principle which says that Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
It’s based on such conviction that Chris a month ago has declared his plan to hunger strike in front of white house in demanding the Obama adminstration to make pressure on Meles regime to release UDJP Chairwoman Birtukan Mideksa as well as to support the struggle for a democratic change that she is paying a huge sacrifice for.
As he is a man of his word, now he has already started his hunger strike and in doing so he has beyond a shadow of doubt proved to be a friend of Ethiopians and a strong defender of justice and Democracy.
As the saying goes to a friend in need is a friend indeed, and his engagement in being the Voice of the Voiceless Ethiopians is a priceless gift to every justice and democracy thirsty Ethiopians.
UDJP Sweden Chapter would therefore like not only to express its deep appreciation to his conviction to his principles, but also endorse his action and gives him full support to make his effort successful.
UDJP Sweden Chapter therefore calls upon all Ethiopians in Washington and beyond to support this important act of courage by visiting and staying with Chris at Lafayette Park in front of the White House.
(Raswork Mengesha is Chairman of UDJP Sweden Chapter)
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) — Ethiopia’s ruling party accused the opposition on Friday of killing one of its candidates ahead of this month’s national election, in an allegation denied by the main opposition alliance.
Both sides have stepped up rhetoric ahead of the May 23 election — the first vote in the Horn of Africa country since 2005 when a disputed poll ended with street riots and the jailing of politicians.
Ethiopian government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said one of the ruling party’s candidates had been stabbed to death, in a first murder accusation against Medrek, the country’s main opposition coalition.
“Itana Idossa was stabbed to death by Medrek members a week ago after he left a meeting,” he said. “Police have apprehended suspects — Medrek activists.”
Medrek dismissed the accusation. “The people who killed him have no connection with us,” Merera Gudina, leader of one of the coalition parties, the Oromo Peoples’ Congress, told Reuters.
The ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front is expected to win the election comfortably. Medrek is seen as the biggest political force challenging the 19-year-old government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
At the time of the 2005 vote, the government said the violence was part of a plan to force an unconstitutional change. Security forces killed 193 people on the streets and top opposition leaders were imprisoned. Seven policemen were killed.
The opposition says their candidates and voters are harassed and intimidated. The government, for its part, says the opposition plans to incite street violence and discredit the poll because it has no chance of winning.
The political climate in Ethiopia is watched closely by investors eyeing oil and gas exploration and large-scale farming projects there.
Last month, a senior Medrek official, Bulcha Demeksa, said an opposition activist was bludgeoned to death with a gun butt by ruling party members.
The ruling party responded by saying the man died of cancer and vowed to prosecute Bulcha. On Thursday, the man’s father told Voice of America radio station that his son was beaten to death by government militia men.
Both killings happened in the Oromia region, home to Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group, the Oromo, who number 27 million out of 80 million people.
In March, a Medrek candidate in the north of the huge country, Aregawi Gebre-Yohannes, was attacked and stabbed to death. The opposition says his killing was a political murder, but the government says he died in a bar fight. A man has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for his murder. (Reporting by Barry Malone, editing by George Obulutsa and Maria Golovnina)
