Representatives of Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) chapters in Europe and the U.S. held a worldwide teleconference on Sunday and decided on a resolution affirming their solidarity with the people and government of Eritrea.
EPPF representatives from Washington DC, London, Texas, Chicago, Las Vegas and North Carolina had participated in Sunday’s conference. Representatives of Former Ethiopian Soldiers’ EPPF Support Committee also took part in the meeting.
The resolution, among other things, calls on the military in Ethiopia under the current regime not to take orders from the anti-Ethiopia Woyanne junta that is brutalizing and terrorizing the people of Ethiopia while looting and pillaging the country.
The resolution condemns the recent military aggression against Eritrea by the Woyanne junta at Zalambesa. (Read the full text of the resolution here – pdf, Amharic)
The resolution makes it clear that any military aggression by Woyanne on Eritrea is against the national interest of Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, EPPF’s London chapter is organizing a historic public meeting on January 24. (Click here for more information). The following week, January 30, EPPF-Washington DC will hold a public meeting.
(Ginbot 7 Editorial) — The World Bank, the IMF and the Ethiopian regime annual development reports have highlighted on Ethiopia’s higher GDP growth rate over the past 10 years, yet the UN development index and other indices [Misery Index] that measure the well-being of people have declined both absolutely and relative to many other African countries. The paradox of acute poverty and declining well-being of Ethiopians is found in various parts of the country and is pervasive across demographic groups. Today, to millions of Ethiopians, the heralded GDP growth and the empty promise of joining middle income nations has turned sour as a growing famine once again is engulfing Ethiopia.
In the last 18 years, bilateral and unilateral aid sources have written off about half of Ethiopia’s foreign debt and have pumped more than 30 billion dollars to induce economic development in Ethiopia. In its effort to appease donor nations and keep the flow of foreign aid, the deceitful regime in Addis Ababa has displayed its aspiration to agricultural modernization that focuses on food security and rural development. In spite of the multi billion dollar aid packages and development rhetoric from Ethiopia’s ruling minority regime, rural life in Ethiopia hasn’t changed from what it was at the turn of the last century [˜ 85% of Ethiopians live in rural areas].
Since 1991, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have constantly urged the TPLF regime to liberalize the financial sector and change the country’s land tenure policy. In fact, most of the aid packages from these two international organizations were ear-marked towards the goal of economic liberalization and establishment of a free market economy. However, after 18 years of love affairs between the IMF and Zenawi’s regime, Ethiopia is one of the few countries in Africa that has not made progressive changes in its basic land policy while enjoying multi billion dollar aid packages in the name of liberalization.
The TPLF land policy has discouraged farmers from making long term investment on the land that they don’t own, and the resultant problems generated from the regime’s land policy have made it impossible for Ethiopian farmers to make use of productive agricultural technologies. Moreover, policies of ethnic federalism have limited the ability of farmers to access land in other regions.
Many research and scholarly studies show that land insecurity reduces the incentive to invest on land and limits the ability to transfer land. Moreover, empirical studies have also indicated that Ethiopia’s land policy is the single most important constraint to the nation’s agricultural development.
Over the last 18 years, many national and international organizations including Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) have repeatedly warned the ruling regime in Ethiopia, that land tenure along with the issue of governance were the most urgent areas requiring institutional transformation in Ethiopia. However, Zenawi and his ruling party have ignored advices, recommendations and warnings and made Ethiopia a nation of poverty in the middle of plenty.
The TPLF regime, the very regime that boasts to have dismantled communism in Ethiopia, has deliberately kept the communist land policy of its predecessor. To make things worse, the regime has eliminated the possibility of flexible application of policy by enshrining land policy in the constitution.
Today, to cover up its failed economic polices, Zenawi’s regime has adopted yet another perilous land policy that may have far reaching adverse consequences in the future food security of Ethiopia. A regime that has been parsimonious over the years to its own citizens has recently set aside over three million hectare of fertile land for foreign investors and governments that outsource farming to Ethiopia.
Ginbot 7 is extremely troubled by the scale and pace of the land grab in Ethiopia and has expressed its discontent to Ethiopians and to the international community. Ginbot 7 strongly opposes these secretive land deals that are being struck without the input of the Ethiopian people by an illegitimate regime. We believe that, instead of selling the nation’s fertile land and begging for food aid, the TPLF regime has to change its communist land policy and empower local farmers who have the potential to produce marketable surplus.
Ginbot 7 wants to send an unequivocal message to the land grabbers that any land deal that has not been agreed to by the Ethiopian people will not be honored by future elected governments.
“Ethiopia is the country of the future,” Birtukan Midekssa would often say epigrammatically. Ethiopia’s No. 1 political prisoner is always preoccupied with her country’s future and destiny. Her deep concern for Ethiopia is exceeded only by her boundless optimism for its future. For that reason, her maxim echoes not only a manifest general truth, but also makes a profound and complex historical argument that calls for a paradigm shift in the way we understand contemporary Ethiopian politics and envision the future.
To be the country of the future necessarily means not being the country of the past. Birtukan’s Ethiopia of the future is necessarily the categorical antitheses of an imperial autocracy, a military bureaucracy and a dictatorship of kleptocracy. Her vision of the future Ethiopia is a unified country built on a steel platform of multiparty democracy. Birtukan would have been pleased to explain her vision and dreams of the future country of Ethiopia; unfortunately, she can not speak for herself as she has been condemned to “rot” in jail.
As we begin the second decade of the 21st Century, it is important for the rest of us to carry on the conversation that Birtukan has so insightfully sparked. She is concerned about Ethiopia’s future because she understands that a nation without a clear sense of its future is a nation without a destiny, and one doomed to suffer the scourges of tyranny and oppression. When Birtukan speaks of Ethiopia as the country of the future, she speaks of it in the same way as Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of his American dream. He dreamt that one day in the future, America “will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed… that all men (and women) are created equal.” He dreamt that Americans, despite their bitter history of oppression and injustice, “will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood” and resolve their differences amicably and peacefully. Above all, he dreamt of a future where his “four children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Birtukan also has a dream that one day Ethiopians will sit together at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood to discuss their historic grievances and current issues, atone for and forgive each other for past transgressions, and in a renewed spirit of reconciliation, compromise and accommodation, forge a common destiny. She dreams of the day when her 4-year old daughter and the millions of children in Ethiopia will grow up in a country where they are judged not by their ethnicity, tribal affiliation, gender, language, religion, region or wealth, but by their abilities and the content of their character. She dreams of a just and moral society.
Fully accepting and working towards such a future for Ethiopia may sound naïve and idealistic to some given the present grim state of affairs. If the trend projections of the doomsday soothsayers are to be believed, in Ethiopia’s future, there is no future. The scientists tell us that Ethiopia will prove to be a poster child for “environmental determinism” in 40 years. It’s population will double to 150 million by 2050; and overpopulation, coupled with large and growing per capita resource consumption and negative environmental impact will trigger a complete collapse of the society by the middle of the century. These scientists point to evidence of large-scale deforestation and habitat destruction, soil degradation, decline in potable water supply and water pollution, overgrazing, desertification and so on as the unmistakable present warning signals of future collapse.
The agricultural experts express shock and dismay in the sale and lease of millions of hectares of land to foreign corporations who are set on producing food for export back to their home countries while Ethiopians are dying of massive starvation and famines (officially known in the politically correct phrase “severe food shortages”). The economists paint an equally dire picture of a country overburdened by debt to international lenders and a local economy in the chokehold of businesses closely allied with the ruling regime, and whose principal capitalization is derived from conversion of previously government-owned properties through a bogus privatization process. With land and key sectors of the economy such as telecommunications under the control or ownership of the regime or its supporters, without a functional financial services sector and youth unemployment in excess of 70 percent, the practitioners of the “dismal science” predict a dismal economic future for Ethiopia.
There are even those who predict political implosion long before systemic collapse. A research group with expertise in international crises analysis recently sounded the alarm over “the potential for a violent eruption of conflict in Ethiopia ahead of the May 2010 elections amidst rising ethnic tensions and dissent.” The international human rights groups and organizations who have extensively documented the regime’s sustained pattern of crackdowns on dissent, criminalization of civil society groups, persecution of the independent media, election rigging and theft, massive rights violations and implementation of repressive decrees consign Ethiopia to the scrapheap of the most hopeless and wretched nations on the planet. If we are to believe the doomsday soothsayers, Ethiopia is presently in critical triage on life support. They peg her survival without complete societal collapse and political implosion in the first half of the 21st century at much less than 50 per cent.
We must categorically reject the dark predictions of the naysayers and the merchants of doom and gloom. The future of Ethiopia is in the hands, hearts and minds of its people, not in the tea leaves read by the experts. As John M. Richardson, Jr. said, “When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who let it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” Birtukan belongs in the first category. Because of the enormous sacrifices she has made, she rightly deserves to be called a future maker, as anyone who chooses to join her in her quest for a better future in Ethiopia would be. What makes Birtukan unique is that she understands that if we do not work together actively to shape the future, the past will assuredly shape it for us. Only when the future makers put their shoulders to the grindstone and do the heavy lifting can we prove the experts wrong and guarantee that Ethiopia’s best days are yet to come.
The future of the future country will be decided in a battle between the “future makers” and “future takers”. We are witnesses to the handiwork of the future takers today. They have taken everything in the present — the rights of the people, their dignity, their daily bread, their land, their hopes and their dreams — so that there will be no future. They calculate the future to be a continuation of the past, and they will do everything in their power to perpetuate the past into the future. Future takers worship at the altar of greed and corruption; and for them fairness, decency, generosity and morality are anathema. The battle between the future makers and future takers will be waged and decided in the hearts and minds of the people. The future takers will wage a war of tears and fears. The future makers will fight back with hope, faith, charity and love.
We should reject the static and deterministic outcomes predicted by the experts because their assumptions about Ethiopia are fundamentally incorrect. Their analytical models are predicated on a flawed postulate that Ethiopians are fundamentally a weak and desperate people who are passive objects of oppression, charity and pity. We must reject out of hand, and without hesitation, any argument that suggests Ethiopia’s future will be sealed in ethnic fragmentation, political dissolution and national self-destruction. We must cast aside any theory that predicts the systemic collapse and the end of a nation whose history dates back 3000 years. We have been a nation of survivors. We have survived and prevailed over the plague of European colonialism when nearly all of Africa succumbed to it. We have survived recurrent famines of Biblical proportion. We have endured conflicts and wars. We have survived autocracy, despotism and kleptocracy. Let there be no doubt: We will survive until the end of time because we are the “masters of our fate” and the “captains of our destiny”.
Philosophers and historians speak of a recurrent cycle in human events. Great nations rise and fall. Governments come and go. Leaders change and are replaced. But nations survive because each generation accepts its responsibilities and forges ahead with the enormous tasks of future-building. When Birtukan says Ethiopia is the country of the future, she means to say that this generation of Ethiopians has a rendezvous with destiny. Whether Ethiopia will self-destruct in ethnic fragmentation and strife is not carved in stone. This generation can avert that dark future by working for and promoting ethnic diversity and national unity. A new generation of statesmen and stateswomen could trump the political expediency and machination of those desperately clinging to power. Whether Ethiopia is doomed to ecological collapse is not determined by the inexorable forces of global warming. Carefully planning and prioritization of societal needs, implementation of creative policies, public awareness, education and mobilization could help steer away the Ethiopian nation from the dangerous shoals of ecological calamity.
The future requires responsibility, creativity, endurance and sacrifice. It can not be left to a few leaders, politicians, intellectuals or experts. If there is one thing to be learned from the recent past, it is that the Ethiopian people know what kind of a future they want. Their verdict in the 2005 elections stands as a final testament for a genuine multiparty democracy. History is also on the side of freedom and the youth. Despite all the setbacks of recent years, the values of democracy, freedom and human rights have taken deep root in the psyche of Ethiopian youth. They will be leading the forward march of Ethiopia into a glorious future. With Ethiopia’s future in the hands of her young people, we have cause to be confident and even to celebrate. Let our youth learn from a wise African saying: “Tomorrow belongs to the (young) people who prepare for it today.”
“The Future of the Future Country” is a special commentary to be offered in periodic serialized future segments by the author.
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 News and New American Media. twitter@pal4thedefense
Eritrean authorities are reporting that yesterday morning, January 1st 2010, several soldiers under the Woyanne regime in Ethiopia launched attacks on Eritrean forces at Zalambesa.
The Woyanne forces were driven back after 10 of their soldiers were killed and two captured. They left behind six AK-47 automatic rifles, a machine gun and communication equipments, according to Eritrean Ministry of Information’s shabait.com.
Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that two Eritrean rebel groups said on January 1st they have killed 25 Eritrean government soldiers and wounded at least 38 others in ambushes on two military camps.
Rebel spokesman Yasin Mohamed said the attacks by the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) and the Eritrean Salvation Front (ESF) rebels were in retaliation for the repression of the Afar minority and others by the government.
“The joint forces earlier today, made a surprise attack at the camp of 13 sub-division of the 2nd brigade at the vicinity of Kokobay, killed 13 and wounded 20 others,” Yasin said.
He said a separate attack killed 12 members of an intelligence unit and wounded 18 others in Kermeti area.
Three years ago around the same time, U.S. Ambassador Jendayi Frazer, against the strong advise other U.S. officials, had encouraged the Woyanne junta to invade Somalia, which resulted in the slaughtering of 20,000, and displacement of 2 million Somali civilians. Now, the new Obama Administration Ambassador, Dr Susan Rice, gave another Christmas gift of more bloodshed to the Horn of Africa by pushing through a sanction against Eritrea in the U.N., emboldening the Woyanne junta to engage in another military adventure.
Jendai Frazer is now a highly paid lobbyist for foreign regimes such as Woyanne that brutalize and terrorize their people.
The people of United States must be aware of the crimes being committed by these corrupt, incompetent ambassadors who are creating havoc around the world.
The two reported clashes yesterday and today at the Ethio-Eritrea border are direct results of the U.N. sanction against Eritrea, which was authored by Susan Rice, and submitted by her puppets in Uganda.
To my Fellow Ethiopians at home and abroad: Happy Ethiopian Christmas, and Temqat, and a Blessed and prosperous European New Year! I send this respectful and kind letter of appeal to you, my brothers and sisters: educated Ethiopian political, religious, educational, business, and intellectual leaders.
Ninety-nine percent of the Ethiopian people, Christians, Moslems, Jews, Traditionalists, Oromos, Amhara, Tigre, Gurage, Somali, Walayta, Hadya, Kaffa, Afar, Nuer, Anuak, and other beloved nationals, are deeply spiritual and ethical peoples. We also all have the same DNA – one family even if different language. Our people love and respect human beings.
Why can we, the about one-percent educated Ethiopians, not learn from them? Why are we stuck on the philosophical values of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Marx? Why not respect and uphold the teachings of peace and reconciliation of our own wise teachers like, Zar’a Ya’aqob, Kristos Samra, Abba Gedas, and others? When are we going to wake up and see that tens of millions of our babies are crying for milk, tens of millions of our old people are yearning to go to bed in peace and wake up in peace, and tens of millions of our young people are thirsting for knowledge and learning?
Ethiopia is lucky to have us, her about 1% western educated children. It is also very gratifying to see so many successful Ethiopians in education, technology, business, law, and other important professions. I am very proud of my fellow educated Ethiopians. I wish everyone more success and strength during this coming year.
Brothers and Sisters: In spite of our impressive achievements, it cannot be denied that some of us educated Ethiopians have also squandered our energy on philosophizing politics and promoting group hate.
I have witnessed Ethiopians who have given so much for their country. Yet, I have also witnessed for almost forty years varieties of inter-group hate-badmouthing and quarrel, fighting and killing. I have seen how a good deal of our energy has been wasted for over half a century on verbal or armed power struggle. But we have gotten nowhere!
As your older brother, almost fifty years ago I started preaching mutual love and respect, commitment to each other, and promoting education and development. Please forgive me if I must repeat it again. Everything in this life requires commitment and action – thinking far, making a firm decision to act, making every effort to realize our decisions, and acting in good faith.
Can we decide this year to forgo negativity and change our thought and actions to positive energy? Can we, with all our hearts and all our minds decide to stop inter-group conflicts and fighting? I appeal especially to our political and religious leaders to set the example of mutual respect and love to all our educated people. Can we stop bad-mouthing each other? Can we stop the killings? We have it in one of our traditional songs:
“How are you?’ ‘How do you do?’ can’t we greet each other?
One sometimes reconciles even with his father’s killer…”
For the sake of our poor, sick, and illiterate, I respectfully ask each and every Ethiopian, especially our political and religious leaders, to set an example of mutual respect and love. Yes, let us continue to buy guns and artilleries. Let us continue to shoot them at each other. But when we shoot, let milk pour out of our guns to feed the babies and grains out of our artilleries to feed the hungry. Yes, let us continue to open our mouths and write with our pens opposite each other. But let beautiful words of love and respect come out of our mouths and words of love out of out pens!
