By Fikre Tolossa

It is my contention that Western education has alienated Ethiopian intellectuals by uprooting them from their history, culture, language and society. This paper, which was presented at an Ethiopian studies conference at the University of Dayton, Ohio, in the summer of 2006, attempts to elaborate my contention by providing a brief account of the history of Western education in Ethiopia and its negative impact on Ethiopian students. It also demonstrates how Marxism damaged Ethiopia and reveals the secret forces behind Marxism and its hidden agenda. In conclusion, it suggests ways and means of improving the core-curriculum of Ethiopian education.

When Emperors Menilik II and Haile Selassie I introduced and spearheaded Western education to and in Ethiopia in the 19 nth and 20th centuries, they didn’t foresee that it will alienate and uproot Ethiopian children from their origin: Ethiopian history, culture, language, psychology, philosophy, religion, music, literature, arts, and even society. These emperors introduced and spearheaded it with the sole purpose of modernizing Ethiopia by the acquisition and transfer of knowledge in the form of science, technology and education. When parents wouldn’t allow their children to go to Western schools fearing they would be exposed to foreign ways of life and religion such as Catholicism, Emperor Menilik II made a decree to punish them severely. This phenomenal Emperor who had cultivated the love for technology when he was growing up at the court of Emperor Tewodros who was himself a fanatic for technology, particularly weapons’ technology, set an example to his people by doing menial works, demonstrating an interest in engineering, and even himself repairing watches, driving car, encouraging his wife Empress Taitu to ride bike, introducing electricity, telephone, telecommunications, cinema, railway transportation, etc. to his country. Following in his footsteps, Emperor Haile Selassie laid a modern infrastructure and stressed the importance of Western education. As a matter of fact, he volunteered to serve as the Minister of Education for many years to see to it that his educational policy was implemented properly. To this end, he went to different schools in person and supervised the classes and the foods his “kids” ate and drank. At times, he sent fruits to his students from his palace. During Christmas, he offered thousands of students in his palace with cakes and special sweaters. To high achievers, he awarded special watches with his profile and inscriptions of his name.

Modernization and “civilization” were understood to be two words defining the same concept. Westerners were supposed to be highly civilized. Hence the acquisition of Western education to “civilize” and modernize Ethiopia after their model. This implied that Ethiopia was not civilized or was less civilized than the West. If one was to define civilization as a high achievement in science and technology, Ethiopia was not indeed civilized. However, if civilization meant a high achievement in religious moral, ethics, philosophy in general, music, culture, literature, arts, architecture, history, warfare and even politics, then Ethiopia was highly civilized. The concept of civilization was not then explicitly defined.

What Ethiopian leaders overlooked was that Western science, technology and education brought with them an unexpected baggage: Western culture, history, geography, literature, psychology, sociology, and most of all, political economy and revolutionary philosophy championed by Karl Marx which not only formed their world outlook, but also affected the behavior and political practice of the youngsters. As Karl Marx himself stated, philosophers before him had interpreted the world, but his philosophy was to change the world, whatever change meant, by revolutionary means.

After all was said and done, after having gone through Western education, Ethiopia produced many technocrats who didn’t contribute an iota to the betterment of the life of the toiling masses, a few scientists from whom she didn’t benefit much, philosophers who were ignorant of the existence of Ethiopian philosophy, economists who didn’t have any impact on the economy of the county, revolutionaries who didn’t know the culture, tradition, history and mentality of the people in whose name they were dying and killing, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists who didn’t know a lot about the politics, psychology and sociology of their people, in addition to specialists and experts in various disciplines whose expertise had no relevance to Ethiopian realities.

It would have been a different story had these students dealt with these subjects in terms of their application to Ethiopian realities. In order for them to do so, nonetheless, the Ethiopian subject-matters mentioned above should have been systematized and included in the Ethiopian school curriculum and studied side by side with those of the West. This doesn’t mean that there were not conscious Ethiopians who didn’t understand the dangers of unchecked Western education and didn’t suggest otherwise. His excellencies Ato Mekonen Desta and Haddis Alemayehu who served as ministers of education in their own times had foreseen it and suggested the integration of Ethiopian subjects with Western education; but nobody took them seriously. The zealots of Western education, such as His Excellencies Mersaehazen Woldeqirkos and Ato Abebe Retta nevertheless, went to the extent of proposing to replace even one of the oldest if not the oldest alphabet in the world, Geez, with the Latin alphabet and to make changes in the alphabets. Aleka Lema who had a debate about this matter with other groups of scholars and his witty son who had just graduated from high school, Mengistu Lema, he who had later challenged Bertrand Russell ’s ( the famous British philosopher and mathematician) colonialist contentions at the London School of Economics, exposed the errors of those who wanted to alter the Geez alphabet and nipped the proposal in the bud. (Mengistu Lema, Autobiography. P.116-124)

Indoctrination in the form of Western education begins at an early age. The process of alienation starts when a child is placed in the first grade of a Western school. The moment a child attends first grade and moves to grade two, he moves away farther from his Ethiopian roots and gets a step closer to becoming westernized; so that, at the end of twelve years of schooling and four years of college he has strayed away from his “Ethiopianess” for 16 years. By then, his mentality, psyche, manners, cultural orientation and life-style will have been influenced profoundly. The more this young person acquires Western education and culture, the more he becomes westernized, and the less Ethiopianized. If he moves to the West for further education, he is even alienated more from his Ethiopian roots. Outwardly, this person has an Ethiopian look. However, inwardly, he feels and thinks like a “Ferenj”. The fact that the color of his skin and even his citizenship is Ethiopian doesn’t mean much with respect to his mentality and psyche. A white person who is deeply rooted in Ethiopianess could be more Ethiopian than such a person. A case in point is the situation of Ayana and Ayantu, a white twin living in an Oromo region of Ethiopia.

When Ayana and Ayantu were babies, they strayed away from their parents, got lost and were taken by some Oromo peasants who raised them like Oromo peasants in the remotest part of Ethiopia. Now they are adult peasants married to Oromo peasants. These two white individuals were never exposed to Western education, culture and language after they were kidnapped. Their parents traced them later. But alas! They had become totally Oromos in their language, mentality, psyche, manners, culture, cloth and life-style. Their parents traced them after it was too late, and left them sadly. Despite their white color of skin and their place of birth, Ayana and Ayantu are more Oromo, and as such, more Ethiopian, than a westernized Oromo, or any person belonging to any other Ethiopian ethnic group, thus proving the fact that the color of one’s skin alone doesn’t always determine one’s identity.

Alienation as a result of Western education within the Ethiopian context was best reflected on the generation of Ethiopians who received Western education after the end of the invasion of Ethiopia by Fascist Italy and the subsequent years (1941-1980). The reason for this was the fact that Ethiopia flung opened her gates for the West to engage in the construction and reconstruction of the infrastructure, as well as in the building of the nation itself. The generation that received Western education before the Invasion had been exposed more to Ethiopian traditional education, culture and way of life than the generation which followed. They had already been adults when they entered grade one having spent so many years in Kine and Zema bet or serving as shepherds, and even farmers contrary to the generation after the War which joined Western schools at relatively early ages without being too familiar with Ethiopian culture and way of life.

The Westernized Ethiopian exhibits a few distinct characteristic features. Such an Ethiopian has tendency to look down upon Ethiopian things labeling them as backward and feudal, and looks upon anything Western highly. If there is anything Ethiopian he appreciates, it is the food- the Kitffo and Doro Wot. As such, he dreams to visit Paris and New York instead of Axum and Laibella. Given the choice to read between Charles Dickens and Haddis Alemayehu, he prefers the former. He esteems highly Marx and Kant, but is not even aware of the existence of Ethiopian philosophers such as Zera-yacob and Welde-hiywot. If he is cultured in the Western sense, whether his appreciation and knowledge are superficial or not, he appreciates and gives the impression to know Mozart than St.Yared. He values more the guitar than the Kirrar, any Western dance than isqista and dankira, Western outfits than Shema and Ye tibeb libs, beer than Tella, wine than Tedge, and whisky than Katikala. He is well-versed in China’s, Russia’s and West Europe’s history, politics, music, languages, literature, philosophy, etc. but very little, if any, in those of Ethiopia. He knows the cities and states of Europe and America like the palms of his hands, but not of his native land. He prefers to speak in European languages than any of his native tongues. He speaks to his children and encourages them to speak European languages than his native languages thinking his children will be more “civilized” if they spoke European languages. In an extreme case of his identity crisis, he will also give his children European than Ethiopian names.

Teens who grew up during the Era of the Derg were reared upon the so-called Socialist-Realist culture which emphasized the deployment of the “culture of the masses”. As such, contrary to those who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s and even the 1960s, the “children of the Derg” appreciated and practiced the Kirrar, than the guitar, Isqesta and dankira than Western dances as well as traditional costumes (more women than men). “Ye Kinet Kibebes” (traditional art groups) mushroomed in different Kebeles in Ethiopia, and those youngsters became experts in traditional music and dance. Hence, the frequent appearance of young people performing traditional music and dance in weddings and dance floors in Ethiopia proper and in the West where Ethiopians have been exiled.

When the revolutionary youngsters were not yet revolutionary, they wee influenced highly by the so-called “imperialist culture”. When they became revolutionaries they rejected “cultural imperialism” and fought it tooth and nail, labeling it us “Jolly-Jackism” on the campus level. “Jolly-Jackism” was understood to be wearing bell-bottoms (the fashion of the day), Afro-hair-styles, fancy shoes and attires in general, partying, singing, looking good as opposed to looking shabby, and even having boy and girlfriends in the open (Visiting prostitutes in the dark was the order of the day). Ironically enough, being a “revo” was like being a “Pente”. The only difference between being a “revo” and a “Pente” was that the former didn’t believe or pretend not to believe in the existence of God. Even the military junta led by Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam echoed this sentiment shouting slogans such as “Down with imperialism! Down with imperialist culture and Joly-jackism!” etc. What was shameful was that all who condemned Western imperialism ended up in the West. Nobody sought asylum in the East Block and China though every revolutionary dreamed of making Ethiopia like the Eastern Block countries and China. I remember only one person who naively chose to seek asylum in the East Block. Funny enough, he was rejected everywhere! So, he headed for Seattle, USA and found a safe haven in the imperialist West against which he had fought. There was a widely spread jock then: “sew-belaw (man eating, swallowing) imperialism “minew innen bewategn” I wish I was eaten up (swallowed up) by the man-eating (the cannibal) imperialism”. The situation is not any different at present when it comes to Ethiopian Exodus.

Things reversed themselves when Weyane took over from the Derg. Weyane itself was Communist and nominally “anti-imperialist” up to the eleventh hour. In that sense it was not any different than the other Ethiopian radicals, as both groups were the result of the student movement. Since communism was crumbling at its source (USSR and East Block), Weyane betrayed its communistic convictions to impress Western donors and wore the mask of a democrat the day it entered Addis Abeba from the bush in which it was waging guerrilla warfare. The West flooded over Ethiopia through the floodgate with its religion and “imperialist culture” including pornography and strip-dance clubs. Sadly, everything Western in general, and American in particular, is being worshiped to this day. Many Hotels and even “Tela Bets”in the remotest part of Ethiopia bear American names and states instead of local Ethiopian names. This is a reflection of cultural subjugation, low self-esteem and identity crisis. Furthermore, the fact that Ethiopians endured sever drought and famine as well as tragic civil-wars has affected negatively the former self-pride and self-reliability of Ethiopians. This has debilitated Ethiopians so much so that they are compelled to deny themselves and to lie about their nationality and identity. Unless something is done about this on the national level, Ethiopia will sink in a bottomless abyss. To overcome this grim and shameful situation, a lot of work should be done on the educational and cultural fronts.

Even though Western education is idealized by many Ethiopians, Western education per se, is deliberately distorted when it deals with the humanity subjects in general, and with history and politics in particular. Let me illustrate my point with a few examples. I will take Marx, communism, the French Revolution, the October Russian Revolution, the First World War and the Second World War.

Marx told us that religion was the opiate of the poor and that neither God nor the devil existed. And yet, when he was in high school, he believed in God and wrote a poem in adoration of Jesus. The same Marx joined a Satanist group in college, wrote an ode to Satan and vowed to dethrone God from heaven. (Richard Wurmbrand. Marx & Satan. P. 11-35). Well, how would he dethrone God, if God didn’t exist. The truth is that Marx believed that God existed, and knew there was Satan, because he practiced witchcraft and worshipped Satan. Not knowing the darkest side of Karl Marx, “progressive” Ethiopian students denounced religion, denied the existence of God, destroyed the foundation of their ancestors’ faith, created social upheaval, got engaged in a civil-war and caused much bloodshed and sorrow in the name of Marxism.

They thought that the tenets of communism were formulated by Karl Marx and Frederick Engle who were “so concerned” with the well-being of the down-trodden. And thinking so, they tried to implement them in Ethiopia at the cost of the lives of others and their own lives. Meaning to improve the tragic lives of their people, they sacrificed their youthful lives for the realization of communism which promised a utopian system of government. The bitter fact was that the tenets of communism were formulated by a Satanist evil man named Adam Weishaupt a century or so before the appearance of Marx and Engle on the European political scene. He was himself recruited by other Satanists such as Mendelssohn and Rothschild who were aspiring to bring about a New Atlantis; and was organized under a Satanic secret society known as Illuminati to destroy the then prevailing monarchies, religions (Judeo-Christianity), feelings of nationalism, families, and abolish ownership of private property with the sole purpose of bringing about one world government under a Satanic religion, economy and army to exploit the world’s resources, spread Satanism and enslave the peoples of the planet Earth. ( Milan Martin, Lucifer’s Children. P. 84-87) To launch this, he attempted to eliminate everything people cherished dearly such as religion (the belief in one God, particularly Christianity and Judaism), the family unit, private property, and feelings of nationalism which would hinder internationalism or one world government. (William Cooper.Behold A Pale Horse. P. 76) According to his vision, a Satanist elite was to be on top of this Satanic world government with absolute power to control the world army, police, economic resources and Satanic religion. Today, this kind of system is called the New World Order. The Bushes, the Clintons, the Gores, the Kissingers, Fords, Rockfellers, the Carnegies , etc. in the US and many of the European elites are ready, willing and able to make it happen. They will use the United Nations and the European Union to achieve this.

Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati secret society on May 1, 1776 to conquer the world. His ideas deceitfully infiltrated into the international trade union movements so that the first day of May became Labor Day. (If you observe May First as a labor day, you are a victim of Weishaupt’s plot). Though he was a professor of Canon Law and lived in Bavaria, Germany, he thought France was more conducive than Germany to experiment his communistic theory. So, he recruited French revolutionaries such as Robespierre, organized the Jacobins (Martin, Milan. Ibid. p. 106-109) and led the bloody French Revolution in disguise. To motivate and allure the French masses he used high sounding and meaningless words, such as “liberty”, “equality” and “fraternity”. We know the havoc and bloodshed which followed the French Revolution. It is enough to recall that most of the victims were innocent Christians who were a threat to the Satanic religion of the Satanist Adam Weishaupt.

Marx followed in the footsteps of Adam Weisehaupt about 80 years later, and expanded and propounded his Illuminati ideas. He was financed by the powerful members of the Illuminated-Masons in secrecy.

One half a century later, the Illuminati-Freemasons found another puppet and volunteer to pursue their vicious agenda further. This person himself was a high level Illuminated-Mason by the name of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. His successors and Lieutenants, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky too, were Masonic-Satanists. (Texe Marrs. Codex Magica. P. 44, 256) Stalin, before he became a Satanist had attended a theological seminary to be a priest. The Illuminati bankers and financiers smuggled Lenin from Switzerland to Russia in a closed train with millions of Dollars at his disposal. Trotsky was smuggled by the same groups from New York to run the Bolshevik Revolution together with Lenin. He was given an American passport and $10, 000 USD by the Illuminate US President who plunged Americans into the First World War so that the League of Nations, the first stage to World Satanic Government is established at the end of the War. When the Red Army of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin were almost destroyed by the Nationalist forces of the Mensheviks, the same group of Illuminated-Masons “capitalists” financed and equipped, and rescued the Red Army by levying arms and supplies embargo on the armies of the Mensheviks and by sabotaging them in many ways. (Stanley Monteith. Brotherhood of Darkness. P. 69-72) They also lent Lenin over $100 million USD later. He paid between 1918 and 24 over $400 million Rubles in interest and principal to these “capitalists”. But if these Satanic bankers and financers were capitalists, we wonder, how come they championed communism? Was it because capitalism was a system of exploitation to enhance communism which was the future form of world government. David Rockefeller is a good example of what I was saying. He was the first capitalist Illuminati-Mason who visited Communist China in 1973. After he met his fellow Illuminati-Mason Satanist by the name of Mao Tse-tung, (David Icke. The Biggest Secret. P.285) who had wiped out 40 to 60 million of his people for the sake of Illuminati agenda, David Rockefeller said, “… The Social experiment in China under Chairman Mao’s leadership is one of the most important and successful in history.” (Monteith, Stanley. Ibid. P.44)

Think of it. This is the capitalist of all capitalists stating this. By “social experiment”, of course, he meant the Illuminati communistic social experiment which will be applied world-wide in the future. So, if you think the communism of the past was horrible, you haven’t yet seen anything. There is no escape. These vicious people have done their homework, and they will launch their “new” brand of communism soon.

It is the same Illuminati-Masonic group which artificially and deliberately caused the First and the Second World Wars. Since people wouldn’t willingly surrender their rights, their religious convictions and the sovereignty of their nations in peaceful and prosperous times, argued these Satanists, we had to plunge them into world wars so that they would accept the formation of world government at the end of such tragic wars. True enough, people didn’t object to the establishment of the now defunct League of Nations, and the currently active United Nations at the end of the First and Second World Wars to serve as platforms for a Satanic-Communist one world government which is otherwise known as “The New World Order”. Now they are scheming a Third World War which should go as planned by Albert Pike and his followers who envisioned to wage three world wars to materialize the one world government of their dream.(Martin, Milan. Ibid. p. 34) They are now plotting to add more fuel into the already flaming Arab-Israeli relationship which they conspire to transform into Christian-Muslim global war. They have no doubt that the end of the Third World War will grant them their one world government. The question is whether they will find any survivor to enslave and rule even if they themselves outlive the forthcoming war.

How many of us knew these facts? How many of us know them now? Formal Western Education is not that enlightening, is it? Western history and political text books as well as the mass media, being controlled and censored by the Illuminati, told us that Communist wars were fought by the oppressed masses of the world. We were led to believe by the unseen hands that the First World War took place because Gavrilo Prinzip assassinated the Archduke of Austria. True, Gavrilo Prinzip assassinated the Duke, but the assassin was a Mason who was sent to kill him to trigger and escalate the First World War which had been “concocted” by the invisible rulers of the world in an effort to bring about a one world government besides making tons of money by financing all sides of the belligerent nations during the War, and at the end of the War, by reconstructing what they had helped to demolish. By the same token, they make us think that WW II was fought because Hitler invaded Europe. They didn’t reveal to us that Hitler, who was himself a Satanist-occultist and National socialist who aspired to unite Europe and conquer the world by reviving the Roman Empire which had ruled the world, was financed, equipped and armed by the same invisible rulers of the world- members of the Illuminated-Masons such as the Fords and Rockefellers in the US, and bankers and financers in Europe such as the Rothschilds.(Martin, Milan. Ibid. P. 276-277/)

All miner and major wars and revolutions including the French Revolution, the American War of Independence, the American Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Russian Bolshevik, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian,, Cuban, Ethiopian, Congolese, Angolan, and Mozambican communist revolutions which ruined these countries were led behind the scene by the Illuminati-Masons. Speaking of Cuba, Fidel Castro is Illuminated-Mason (Marrs, Texe. Ibid. p. 165) who was put in power by the CIA knowing full well that he was one of their buddies who would experiment on the Cuban people their “social experiment”, as David Rockefeller bluntly and brutally stated. Do you find this information I furnished you with in the text books of Western schools? No way. This is a top secret. The evil Adam Weisehaupt once said that their power lies in their secrecy. That is why they are called secret society. The revelation of their secret to the public at large will definitely weaken them and expose their scheme. So, they keep us in the dark. As long as we are ignorant, they can control and rule us with ease.

Our ignorance of this bitter truth in part propelled us Ethiopian intellectuals to destroy our country, to kill each other and to die for the Ethiopian Revolution which strove to attain the so-called communism which was alien to Ethiopia. Thinking that we were killing and dying for the welfare of our people, actually we killed and died for the realization of the satanic aspirations of the Illuminati-Masons. Isn’t this tragic? Our tragedy was not only in enduring and inflicting physical pain and death, but also in destructing whatever we had achieved culturally. A case in point is the destruction of and the attempt to destroy the cultural relics and rare books written before the outbreak of the February 1974 communist inspired Ethiopian Revolution which toppled over the government of Emperor Haile Selassie. Ethiopia’s glorious past was ignorantly labeled as “feudal”. As such, Ethiopia’s glorious past: her culture, history, religions (both Christianity and Islam), and most of all, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which was the cradle of Ethiopian civilization, were under attack. Ethiopia’s four thousand plus years of recorded history was reduced to one hundred years of colonial history to suit the needs of the political protagonists of the day.

At present, the politically-disillusioned youth has embraced Western culture as a role-model in terms of outward appearance, music and dance. Moreover, almost every Ethiopian, be it young or old aspires to get out of Ethiopia to head for the heavenly West for economic, political and cultural reasons. In addition to the above factors, the fact that Ethiopians endured sever civil-wars, famine and drought have contributed to the crisis affecting the self-esteem of Ethiopians. This has affected some Ethiopians so much so that they deny themselves and declare their original nationality to be any other but Ethiopian. Unless something is done about this on the national level, Ethiopia will sink in a bottomless abyss. To overcome this situation, a lot of work should be done on the educational and cultural fronts.

On the educational front, the core curriculum should be redesigned to reflect Ethiopian folklore, culture, literature, history, geography, theology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychology, traditional medicine, arts, crafts, architecture, music and dance among other subjects. This doesn’t mean that the existing Western Science and humanity courses should be precluded totally. Science is science no matter what, unless it is mixed up with politics. The new core curriculum should aspire to transfer from the West science and technology selecting the ones applicable to Ethiopia. However, when it comes to humanity subjects, an alternative research should be conducted to seek and find the truth concealed by the invisible rulers of this world instead of continuing the status quo which is filled with distortions and lies.

On the cultural front, the performing and fine arts too, should reflect the beauty and splendor of Ethiopian culture, arts, history, society, literature and other subjects pertaining to Ethiopia. Ethiopian traditional schools, which are going out of existence due to lack of funding and moral support should be identified, recognized and incorporated under the Ministry of Education and be given equal status with the other schools or assisted separately. The Ministry of Education should indeed provide traditional schools with class rooms, educational materials and put the teachers on its payroll. As things now stand, these dedicated teachers who are the foundation and promoters of Ethiopian education, culture, literature, arts, music, philosophy and medicine are neglected. They are not paid for the great task they accomplish. In most cases, they depend even for their foods on their students who themselves beg their daily meals from the public, as it has happened for the last two thousand years.

If such an action is taken as soon as possible in both the educational and cultural spheres, Ethiopians will regain their pride and self-esteem and also avoid and avert unnecessary personal and national crisis and tragedy which occur because of alienation and due to lack of self-awareness, appreciation, and information.
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Fikre Tolossa, Ph. D., is professor of literature and writing at Patten University, Oakland, CA. He could be reached at [email protected] for feedback.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Lema, Mengistu, Gile-Tarik. Mega Publishing Enterprise. Addis Abeba. 1988
2. Wurmbrand, Richard, Marx & Satan. Living Sacrifice Book Company. Bartlesville, Oklahoma, seventh Printing 2001.
3. Martin, Milan, Lucifer’s Children. New World Order Books. Tulsa. OK. 2002
4. Cooper, William, Behold A Pale Horse, Light Technology Publishing. Sedona, AZ. 1991.
5. Marrs, Texe, Codex Magica, River Crest Publishing. Austin. Texas. Second printing, 2006.
6. Monteith, Stanley, Brotherhood of Darkness. Hearthstone Publishing. Oklahoma City, OK. 2000.
7. Icke, David, The Biggest Secret. Bridge of Love Publications, Scottsdale, Arizona. 1999

City of Denver, Colorado, issued a proclamation naming September 11, 2007, “Ethiopian Millennium Day” in Denver. The proclamation was signed by Mayor John Hickenlooper and presented to Dagmawit Gishet Kidist Mariam Church of the Denver Metro area.Click here to read the proclamation.

Kidist Mariam Church is organizing various millennium-related events from Saturday, September 8 – 11, at its location, 16200 East Colfax Ave, Aurora, Colorado.

By Selam Beyene, Ph.D.

The dawn of the new Ethiopian Millennium, which will be observed by Ethiopians at home and those in the Diaspora with immense pride and well-founded hope for the future, will bear different significances to different groups.

For Zenawi and his oppressive machinery, it will be a smokescreen to divert attention from the critical issues of the day:

• the agonizing economic conditions of the vast majority of the people[1],
• the return of power to the legitimate winners of the elections of May 15, 2005[2], and
• the prosecution of those responsible for crimes against humanity, including the massacre of unarmed civilians in the aftermath of the May 15, 2005 elections[3, 4].

It will be a welcome opportunity for Zenawi to attract Ethiopians in the Diaspora, who are eager to celebrate the special occasion with their loved ones, and who will come with much-needed hard currency. The Ethiopian Airlines, one of the most valued cash cows of the TPLF money launderers[5], and the various TPLF owned hotels, restaurants and other tourist-oriented facilities in the country are expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars to fatten the foreign bank accounts of the dictator and his cronies that have been hit hard by the negative reactions of donors toward the brutal actions of the tyrannical regime following the elections.

Zenawi will spitefully view and use the moment as a chance to repair his damaged image as an enemy of Ethiopia. As a disgraced and traitorous leader, he has repeatedly denigrated the proud history of the country and desecrated the national flag that Ethiopians and much of Africa so affectionately cherish. He has violated the territorial integrity of the ancient land by advocating the secession of one of its legitimate provinces and carving and handing out fertile lands to other countries[6]. He has compromised the long-term interest of the country by invading a neighboring country that posed no tangible threat to Ethiopia’s security. He has wickedly and venomously interjected ethnic discord among the various groups who have lived in harmony for centuries.

With inapposite and out-of-place extravaganza that can rival a Hollywood event, the new Ethiopian millennium will also be exploited by the corrupt and inept regime to mask the immeasurably excruciating economic hardship experienced by the vast majority of the people. As inflation sky-rockets to an all-time high and more and more people fail to make ends meet, the members of the minority government launder money in foreign bank accounts [5] and squander the meager resources on expensive lobbying[7]. As a wicked and segregated educational system condemns the vast majority of the vulnerable youth to a life of perpetual servitude and hopelessness[8], an elite class of the minority regime is rapidly forming, with their sons and daughters crowding premier schools and universities at home and abroad. According to a recent report, “[O]nly about 60 per cent of students in Ethiopia survive to Grade 5, see, e.g.,[8]. As widespread diseases decimate the population through a subtle agenda of ethnic cleansing, the dictator will spend millions of dollars on millennium festivities to hoodwink the unsuspecting outside world into believing the existence of a state of normalcy and prosperity. Based on a 2006 Human Development Report, Ethiopia is ranked 170^th out of 177 countries with respect to a composite measure of life-expectancy, education and standard of living[9].

To a handful of sycophants, the occasion will have significance of a more sinister nature. It will serve to curry favor with a vicious dictator, under the guise of observing a historic moment. These are individuals who work hard to derail the passage of a bill in the US Congress − a bill whose only aim is to protect the democratic rights of the people of Ethiopia. In the name of organizing the millennium festivities, they make themselves frequent visitors of Zenawi’s office, and help to disguise the illegitimacy of the regime, and the crimes the leaders have committed against humanity, by feeding lobbying firms and Congressional members fabricated information about the sorry state of the nation. Shrouded in the subtleties of the customs of the ancient land, they have become deadly tools of an iniquitous regime in the purge of opposition leaders, who are coerced into assuming responsibility for the crimes of the dictator[11].

And, what is the true significance of this special moment to the veritable sons and daughters of Ethiopia?

The occasion will mark the end of a turbulent century, in the final chapter of a remarkable millennium, when the sovereignty of a dignified people was challenged by Fascism, their freedom trampled upon by a military dictatorship, and their unity and aspiration for democracy crushed by a brutal and ethno-centric dictator.

Most importantly, it will be a time for the vast majority of Ethiopians to reflect on their achievements of the May 15, 2005 elections, in which they stunned the dictator and the outside world with their determination and resoluteness to exercise their rights to choose a government through the ballot box.
It will also be an occasion to renew their fortitude to take back what has unfairly been stolen by the vicious despot, to remember the 193 unarmed civilians brutally massacred by the Agazi and other killing machinery of the minority government, and to persevere with their call for justice against the criminals.

For thousands of Ethiopians who will be making pilgrimage to their motherland to share the precious occasion with their loved ones, the moment will be a time to witness first-hand the sufferings of millions of their fellow citizens, who are experiencing unimaginable economic hardship and political oppression under the iron rule of Zenawi and his minority regime. Unhindered by the façade of blitz and glitz and the luxurious lifestyles of the few urbanites and TPLF lackeys, they will see the true hardship befalling the 70 million plus Ethiopians, who are struggling to eke out a precarious existence that pales in comparison the condition under the discredited and brutal regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. As noted by economic analysts, the number of people earning less than one dollar a day has tripled since Zenawi’s dictatorship replaced that of Mengistu’s [12]. A recent report of the World Economic Forum ranks Ethiopia 123rd out of 128 countries in economic competitiveness [13]. According to a 2007 study on Ethiopia, issued by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), a cause of the poverty is poor governance, particularly when the government does not “… allow participation in political life, provide access to justice, deliver adequate public services or control corruption.”[1]

The beginning of the new millennium will be a moment for all ethnic groups across the land to renew the bond that has held them together for generations, to re-affirm their unity as Ethiopians, and to join hands in the fight against tyranny.

• To our Oromo brothers and sisters, it will be an instance to cherish our shared heritage and to celebrate the lives of our great heroes − the patriotism of Gobena , the sacrifice of Teferi Banti, the excellence of Bikila and the immeasurable contributions by the common Oromo man and woman in building modern day Ethiopia. It will be a time to shed off the ugly mask of ethnicity that Zenawi and Afewerki have imposed on us and to work toward the common goal of building a free and just Ethiopia. It will be a moment to assert that dictators, like Zenawi and Afewerki, who have denied basic human rights to the people they govern with iron fists, cannot have good wills toward seeing us free and united. It will be a historic juncture for the people of Oromo, as one of the largest ethnic groups of the country, to exercise their natural role to be in the forefront of the fight for democracy and unity of their motherland.
• To the people of Tigray, this will be an extraordinary event to celebrate the glorious contributions of their forefathers over the centuries in the making of a country that became the pride and beacon of hope for the entire African continent and other oppressed people the world over. This will be a momentous occasion for all Tigreans to make a vow to dissociate themselves from a brutal dictator, who has been riding on their backs to destroy the very civilization their ancestors built − the land Alula defended and the way of life that Emperor Yohannes paid for with his life. No people in history, with such a glorious past as that of the sons and daughters of Tigray, have been subjected to be an instrument of repression for a wicked dictator, whose stated mission is to vilify, destroy and erase the civilization their ancestors heroically built. This will mark a turning point for the people of Tigray to join Gebru Asrat[14] and Seye Abraha in the fight against despotism and for the preservation of the Ethiopian nationhood.
• To the Amharas, the Gurages, the Afars, the Somalis, the Anuaks and the other proud people of Ethiopia, this is a moment to renew their pride in their common legacy, to revitalize their resolve to abolish totalitarianism once and for all, and to build a new Ethiopia, where equality, liberty and fraternity will prevail, democracy will flourish, and no individual, group or organization will oppress any other.

For opposition groups, whose agenda is the establishment of democracy and social justice and the protection of Ethiopian unity, this will be a time to set aside paltry differences and to work in unison to free the people from the oppressive rule of Zenawi and his minority regime. Faced with a depraved enemy, whose goal is to destroy the Ethiopian nationhood and to enslave the people through brutal force, economic deprivation and ignorance, there should be no place for petty personal agenda. There can be no better time to harness the immense resources that are yet to be tapped toward the realization of the struggle for the formation of a free, just and united Ethiopia. Conditions have never been more favorable to free the people from the yolk of Zenawi’s oppression:

• Major newspapers in the West have generously given unprecedented coverage to the atrocities being committed by Zenwai against the people of Ethiopia [15, 16, 17].
• Prominent lawmakers in the US and elsewhere have recognized the true nature of Zenawi’s regime, and have condemned him as a “vicious” dictator[18, 19]
• The chance of the passage of HR2003 in Congress is as strong as ever, and the sponsors of the bill and its promoters are determined to bring it to a viable conclusion.
• Despite the draconian measures that Zenawi took to emasculate the opposition, the people are reinvigorated to rally behind their freed leaders and to press for the return of power to the legitimate winners of the May 2005 elections.
• The case for crimes against humanity is getting stronger by the day, despite Zenawi’s feeble attempts to hide under the cover of “fighting terrorism” or to pass accountability to opposition leaders using “shimagles” as a Trojan Horse[21].
• The extreme economic conditions at home are too harsh for Zenawi to perpetuate his iron rule through brutish force against the people and generous handouts to a handful of greedy followers.
• The unjust and unprovoked war he declared on Somalia has become a drain on his meager sources, and is eroding his principal instrument of oppression at each passing day[22].

The new millennium thus signals the dawn of democracy and social justice, and the beginning of the end of dictatorship, ethnic politics and minority rule. All genuine Ethiopians, wherever they may be at that moment, shall be celebrating it as such, without regard to, or distracted by, the diversionary pomp and glitz that the dictator and his lackeys have mischievously designed as smokescreen to obscure the misery and oppression of the people.

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Selam Beyene, Ph.D., can be reached at [email protected]

By Yared Nerayo

Having been inundated by the political civility, ‘shimgelena’, ‘mechachal’, etc. propaganda in the last few weeks, I was grudgingly looking for positive things to appreciate about the minority regime in Addis. My search has accidentally revealed a discouraging lie or propaganda by the Millenium committee in Addis. For those who are trying to be as tolerant as I am trying to be and read Ben’s page, Ethiopia first, you may have come across this news.

This group claims that they have succeeded in planting 470, 000, 000 tree seedlings over the last two months in Ethiopia. I was so exited by this news that I did some arithmetic and found that if you allow for one square meter per tree, you would cover 40% of Ethiopia’s 1,104,300,000 meters square area. If you are optimistic about the future size of these seedlings and allow for two square meters per tree seedling you would cover almost the entire country’s area including the lakes and rivers. It would be very helpful for our civility to give us an idea of the miraculous logistical work that went behind this monumental achievement.

Until then, as the saying goes ‘Yemaymesel werae le mistih atingerat.’ Is there anyone that is taking pride with the real figures that the minority regime has accummulated.
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Yared Nerayo can be reached at [email protected]

Ethiopia’s Information Highway: Capacity Building Minister Tefera Walwa shows off his accomplishment (satire)

[actually the photo is taken in India]