The Ethiopian People Patriotic Front (EPPF) has launched a new web site, eppfonline.org, on Sunday, Nov. 23. The official launching of the web site was announced by the organizational affairs head of EPPF’s International Committee, Ato Sileshi Tilahun, in an interview with Ethiopian Review.
Ato Sileshi has also announced that EPPF will launch a radio program shortly, which will be run by Ato Demis Belete, head of the EPPF International Committee’s press office.
Earlier this month, EPPF has started a campaign to organize Ethiopians around the world to support its cause of liberating Ethiopia from the fascist tribal junta of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne). To that end, the EPPF chairman Meazaw Getu and the general executive committee had sent to Europe former Ethiopian parliamentarians Ato Leul Qeskis and Ato Assefa Hailu with an assignment to reorganize the Front’s international committee.
The newly reorganized EPPF International Committee is currently building its grassroot structure in several countries, says to Ato Sileshi, who is heading the effort. In the coming few weeks, EPPF chapters in Washington DC, London and other major cities will officially start their operations.
Through the International Committee, EPPF has also started to counter the massive propaganda campaign that was launched by the Woyanne regime against freedom fighters that are engaged in an armed resistance. The Woyanne propaganda is intended to create fear and confusion among Ethiopians about EPPF and its allies, including the Government of Eritrea, says Ato Zewdalem Kebede, an executive committee member of the EPPF International Committee who is in charge of public relations.
The EPPF press office, through its web site and radio program, and in collaboration with independent media such as Ethiopian Review, will campaign to educate Ethiopians and the international community about EPPF’s mission and objectives. EPPF’s military and other actions will also start to get adequate media coverage.
EPPF is an armed resistance group that is currently fighting with the brutal dictatorship in Ethiopia at several locations, but mostly in the norther part of the country. As EPPF gains strength, it is trying to widen its area of operations. Last years it signed an agreement with the Tigrean People Democratic Front and other armed group to create an alliance and coordinate their anti-Woyanne campaign.
Ali Bira and Kemer Yousuf need no introduction to Oromo communities around the world. Living in exile for over two decades, they have both been compared to Maria Makeba of South Africa for stirring hopes of freedom with their music among millions in Oromia and beyond. Music being a central part of the Oromo struggle against past and current oppressive Ethiopian regimes, Ali and Kemer acted as constant reminders of the events in their homeland.
But unlike Maria Makeba, these icons of the Oromo nation have decided to reconcile with their people’s enemy – the Ethiopian regime – before the freedom they once sung for and raised hope about among the Oromo arrived.
Ali decided to reconcile with the TPLF government in September 2005 following Ethiopian elections in the same year and while the world was in the middle of condemning the TPLF government for stealing elections by intimidating, detaining and murdering hundreds Oromos and others.
Kemer followed suite three years later and flew back to perform in Addis Abeba a couple of days ago (November 2008) hot on the heels of mass arrests, “disappearances” and mistreatment of Oromo nationals (Read Amnesty Intenational Urgent Action Request Here) including his popular fellow singer Zerhun Wedajo whose where about is unknown.
Much has been said on and off the Internet about Ali Bira’s and Kemer Yousuf’s visits to Ethiopia to perform there. To my knowledge, not since Leencoo Lataa’s visit to Ethiopia (purportedly to have Ibsa Gutema released from TPLF dungeon) has any Oromo’s visit there generated such a heated debate among our people. Opponents have painted them as traitors and sell-outs. The old adage “everyone can be bought” is heard a lot in reference to the two singers. Supporters, on the other hand, see no issues or concerns with what they have done and argue that their critics’ concerns are misplaced.
Why such a controversy over two singers’ visits to, and performance in, their home land?
No serious person can dispute Ali’s quasi-legendary status when it comes to Oromo music. That he got Oromo music going when the going was tough needs no reminding for any serious observer of Oromo cultural renaissance. Neither is Kemer’s stature as a popular and very much loved Oromo singer is contested by anyone I know. Ali’s and Kemer’s love for the Oromo language and music is beyond dispute. That much is known and beyond debate as far as I am concerned.
Ali Bira had won some ethnic music award, along with other African singers in Canada, in or around 1996. The awards were given out to the winners by ambassadors (to Canada) of their respective native countries. Ali is said to have refused to receive it from the then Ethiopian ambassador, and was given the award by the then mayor of Toronto. I have checked out this story with brothers living in Toronto who confirmed it as accurate.
Rumor has it that Kemer Yousuf was offered hundreds of thousands of dollars by the TPLF government on various occasions to return to, and perform in, Ethiopia which he rebuffed bluntly, often disdainfully. It is said that he refused to succumb to financial enticements by the powers that be in Ethiopia mindful of the political benefit the current rulers of the country would rip from his appearance there.
That was then and this is now.
Inconsistent with their prior abhorrence for the current rulers of the country (and their cronies – the OPDO), Ali and Kemer decided to return to Ethiopia and perform for their former enemies. After having successfully resisted TPLF advances for many years, Ali succumbed in 2005 and Kemer in November 2008.
The official reason for Ali’s performance there was for inauguration of “Gada Convention Center” in Adaamaa, Oromia. Kemer’s official reason for doing so, according to the Toronto Star, is “The system changed, the people changed, I changed,” However, no mention of whether the system he condemned for the last seventeen years changed for better or for worse. As Oromo politicians in the country, the likes of Bulcha Damaksa and Marara Gudina attest, the Oromo situation has worsened even further over the last decade under the current Ethiopian regime. Regardless, “the central government [of Ethiopia] is helping to arrange a six-concert homecoming tour [for Kemer] that opens Dec. 7 at the East African country’s largest indoor venue – Addis Ababa’s 20,000-seat Millennium Hall.” And Kemer is taking advantage of it to make some bucks. Read Here.
The central issue, however, is whether Ali’s and Kemer’s performances there, particularly at these critical times for the rulers of that country, impacts (positively or negatively) on the Oromo struggle for liberation and/or life expectance of the regime. It is this issue that needs to be addressed. This is not without reason. It is because of Ali’s prominence, reputation and the legendary status conferred on him by many. Although he is not considered a legend, the same goes for Kemer Yousuf. As a consequence, their fans hold them to a higher standard. Needless to say, it is fair to scrutinize public figures more closely than the average person.
This is not about Ali or Kemer the person per se. It is about Ali Bira or Kemer Yousuf the public figures and the role models for many. It is about all Oromo public figures – politicians and non-politicians alike – and how their association with enemies of the Oromo people impacts on the Oromo struggle for liberation.
After having rebuffed Wayyannee’s approach for many years, why have Ali and Kemer changed their minds at these particular times – in 2005 when TPLF and OPDO were fighting for their very lives and today when mass arrests of Oromo nationals is a daily occurrences? Why have they stopped feeling their people’s pain and suffering? In the case of Kemer, where is the solidarity with his “disappeared” fellow Oromo singer Zerhun Wedajo and the many Oromo nationals suffering in TPLF prisons at the present time? If they were so desperate to see their aging parents, as they both claim, why did they not slip in and out of the country quietly? In fact, Kemer was offered an all expenses paid rendezvous with his parents in the Middle East by Oromo nationalists which he refused to accept. Were they so desperate for money that they decided to perform for enemies of their people, or do they not consider OPDO and TPLF enemies of their people anymore? If the later, what has changed? Why would OPDO (TPLF) pay so much to have Ali and Kemer perform for them? Will their performance there contribute to prolonging or shortening the life of this regime which has wrecked havoc on the Oromo people for the last seventeen years? How much Oromo support will their popularity gain (lose) the TPLF government? What message does their performing for OPDO/TPLF send to our people back home and in the Diaspora – particularly to those who view them as role models? Will it encourage them to carry on the fight, or it will give them that “things are changing for the better” feeling and fool them in to relaxing their guards? It is these and other similar legitimate questions that propelled many compatriots in to this debate. I don’t believe any of their critics hate them but would like to know whether these larger than life personalities in Oromo music have sold their people’s struggle for liberation for a few bucks.
Their critics are concerned that (1) Their onetime heroes appear to have sold their souls to enemies of their people for the opportunity to earn some bucks (2) Their performing for OPDO/Wayyaanee will contribute to prolonging the life of the regime (3) Their association with OPDO/Wayyaanee will send the wrong message to those who look up to them as their role model – if it is ok for Ali and Kemer to perform for the enemy of our people then why is it wrong to support OPDO/TPLF? (4) Their performing for OPDO/Wayyanee has the potential of demoralizing, or setting a bad example for, other Oromo artists – inside and outside the country – engaged in agitating our people to fight to the end through their music.
I share these concerns with their critics. (Oromo Affairs)
A TRADE mission of 40 Irish lawyers and business people left for Ethiopia yesterday to develop links between the two countries and encourage investment in the African state.
The delegation is travelling as part of an initiative led by lawyer Philip Lee and businessman Brody Sweeney. It includes Minister for Food Trevor Sargent and former attorney general Harry Whelehan.
Connect Ethiopia, the group founded by Mr Lee and Mr Sweeney in 2005, sends biannual missions from Ireland to exchange expertise and harness the knowledge of Irish professionals.
This week, a group of 10 lawyers will hold training workshops for judges and anti-corruption officials, while business representatives will host an insurance seminar and attend a joint taskforce to develop tourism in Ethiopia.
Mr Sweeney, founder of O’Brien’s Irish Sandwich Bars, said Connect Ethiopia was attempting to help remedy one of the main causes of poverty – a lack of business activity. “There’s very little business being done and, because of that, there’s very little wealth being created, very few jobs being created and very little taxes being paid to the government,” he said before departing.
“We’re trying to help the business community there to upskill. We’re trying to introduce them to western ways of doing business, we’re trying to give them contacts in Ireland or Europe that they can use to help sell their products. We’re trying to encourage Irish investment there.”
Mr Sargent and Philip Lynch of One51 Charitable Foundation, an offshoot of the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society Co-op, will tomorrow launch the Hamara Digital Hub near capital Addis Ababa.
The hub is a partnership between Camara, an Irish charity that sends second-hand computers to schools and colleges in Africa, and Harambee College, an Ethiopian private third-level college. It will provide teacher-training courses and support for the schools receiving the computers.
More than 100 Irish and Ethiopians will have travelled between the two countries under the initiative by the end of the year. Last week, a group of senior Ethiopian bankers visited Dublin as guests of the Irish Bankers Federation and the Institute of Bankers.
Mr Sweeney said Connect Ethiopia would be relatively insulated from the recession because it asked donors for time rather than money.
In the first American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson declared to a “candid world” that “when in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” That revolution was against King George III.
In the Second American Revolution, Barack Obama surveyed the devastation wreaked upon American society and America’s role in the world in the last eight years and declared that in the course of global human events it becomes necessary for America to reunite with the “opinions of mankind”, re-establish its position of global leadership and remain the “best hope of Earth.” Of course, that was not Barack’s original idea; it was an idea put to him by people around the world:
On a trip to the Middle East, I met Israelis and Palestinians who told me that peace remains a distant hope without the promise of American leadership. At a camp along the border of Chad and Darfur, refugees begged for America to step in and help stop the genocide that has taken their mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. And along the crowded streets of Kenya, I met throngs of children who asked if they’d ever get the chance to visit that magical place called America. I still believe that America is the last, best hope of Earth. We just have to show the world why this is so. This President may occupy the White House, but for the last six years the position of leader of the free world has remained open. And it’s time to fill that role once more.
The Second American Revolution is against the calamitous legacy of President George W.
The Second American Revolution: Saving the Best Hope of Earth
It is the Second American Revolution, and it’s being televised. It is a Movement of the American People (The MAP). But Barack calls it “change”. He talked about “changing America” at every campaign stop. After his Iowa primary victory, he told South Carolinians that “our time for change has come.” In his final victory speech he said, “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America… But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to – it belongs to you. This is your victory.”
For the faint of heart, perhaps the word “change” would do. But if one carefully considers the totality of Barack’s message and campaign strategy, it is plain to discern that he is really talking about a Second American Revolution in the form of a new MAP. As Barack said, in charge of the new MAP are ordinary Americans who had long felt marginalized, disenfranchised and victimized by years of deception, corruption and the hypocrisy of the Bush Administration. Bush and his arrogant “neoconservative” con men plunged America into a disastrous war in Iraq on bogus justifications. Bush made sure the proverbial image of the “ugly American” was seared into the consciences of people around the world with the ghastly photographs of torture victims in Abu Ghraib prison, and zombied terrorism suspects caged in Gitmo detention camp for years without due process of law. Bush made it possible for Wall Street sharks to squander billions of dollars in investments of the American people, and swiftly rewarded these brazen crooks with a taxpayer bailout. (They were not unlike the defendant who killed his parents and then asked the court for mercy because he was an orphan.)
Bush and his cronies stoked up the “culture wars” polarizing American society on the “hot-button” issues of abortion, gun politics, separation of church and state, affirmative action, the death penalty, privacy, sexual orientation, censorship and so on. When these issues waned, they toiled to create an Amerika that was divided by race, ethnicity, social class and political affiliation under the wicked GOP (Republican Party) political tactician and Ubermeister Karl Rove. When all failed, they scrambled to invent a Palin-esque “real America” where Americans who hold “patriotic values” can hide in the “pro-America areas of this great nation”. For eight years under George Bush, America struggled to be a polity without policy, and Americans put up with an administration bereft of governance. America sleepwalked for eight years without a national policy on health care, energy, immigration, the environment, the economy or foreign policy. To add insult to injury, George Bush thought he had gotten away with it all. This past May, he sighed contentedly: “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.”
Healing these and other virtual atrocities committed on the American body politics could not be achieved by mere “change” or “reform”. “Change” suggests making alterations, modifications and substitutions. The damage done to America over the past eight years is so total and devastating, only a Second American Revolution with a MAP can repair America from within and without and make her whole once again. Much to the surprise of George W., there will soon be a really “smart person in the Oval office to figure it out.” The Man with the Plan, with the MAP to lead the Revolution from the Oval Office is Barack Obama. Like any revolution, it is not going to be easy. Barack understands the revolution will be long and hard fought, and formidable challenges lie ahead. That is why he said, “The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.”
America is Back, on Track, with Barack Who is Sharp as a Tack!
But what is Barack promising the American people in the Second Revolution, in the MAP? His promise is that it will take some time to repair the damage done by Bush’s unrestrained unilateralism and militarism, but in time America can regain its global leadership acting in concert with its allies in the spirit of multilateralism and collective action. He is saying that the damage done to the American body politics by racial, ethnic and class divisions will take time to heal, but they will be healed as Americans of all backgrounds come together in the spirit of E Pluribus Unum (out of many one) and deal with the enormous challenges facing them. He is promising the American people that the damage done to the American psyche by those who use religion as a weapon of mass spiritual warfare and deception in the culture wars; the violence done to party politics by creating red and blue states; the ideological cleavage that separates liberals and conservatives; the sexism and racism that puts asunder Americans by gender, race and ethnicity will be overcome, but it will take time. He is saying that millions of Americans have now opened their minds, their eyes, and hearts, and keenly understand that they share the same destiny; and though they may have come to America in different ships from all corners of the world, they are now in the same boat. Barack is promising that the American people united can never be defeated. That’s right. America is back, on track, with Barack who is sharp as a tack!
America Will No Longer Be a Welfare Department for Dictators
There is an important postscript to the Second American Revolution. It is no longer going to be business as usual in Washington, D.C. Barack did not mince his words when he slammed the creepy lobbyists and influence peddlers who shuffle stealthily in the halls of government. He said lobbyists, “will not run my White House. You [the people] will help me run my White House, when I’m president. I don’t take money from lobbyists. I don’t take money from PACs. They have not funded my campaign. I don’t take money from federal registered lobbyists, because I want to answer to you when I’m in the White House. I don’t want to answer to all these fat-cat lobbyists!” Such sublime words, beauteous poetry to our ears as we continue our grassroots advocacy to get H.R. 2003 before President Obama for his signature. (Oh! Pity for those poor “fat-cat lobbyists” at D.L. A. Piper! Excommunicated from the White House, the U.S. Congress and the State Department! How the tables have turned!) Now is the time for the people — for us — to help Barack “run the white House”, and the Democrats run Congress; and give a helping hand to whomever Barack appoints to lead the State Department.
Months ago, we cautioned the panhandling tin-pot dictators of the world begging alms from the American taxpayer:
Watch out, petty dictators! A fierce wind of change is blowing across America. A new sheriff is coming to town. His name is Barack Obama. He does not carry a six-shooter. But he carries a law book. And he’s laying down the law for all the tin-pot dictators of the world: Y’all better shape up, or Barack’s Posse will be right on your tail. That goes for the outlaw Meles Zenawi and his gang of murderers and bank robbers, too… Tin-pot dictators and thugs, listen carefully. Read the writing on the wall. Barack will stand against you as long as you keep slaughtering your people, jail your innocent citizens by the hundreds of thousands and starve the rest by the millions. Barack will turn you back when you come to America’s doorsteps panhandling for military aid so that you can declare war on your people, and destroy your neighbors. Barack will not listen to your BS about democracy while you mercilessly crush legitimate democratic opposition, destroy press freedoms, disregard the rule of law and flout international law. Barack will not be scammed by your foolish threats of imaginary terrorists just so you can trap America in a regional war. No brownie points for offering to fight a needless destructive war in the name of America.
Well, there ain’t no doubt about it. Barack is in the saddle now, law book and lasso in hand. Right-wing haters and tin-pot dictators: GAME OVER!
A native of Ethiopia gets $305k verdict against Maryland Transportation Authority
By Brendan Kearney | Daily Record
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – A Baltimore jury has awarded $305,000 to a former Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) taxi driver who was arrested — and later unsuccessfully prosecuted — after complaining to Maryland Transportation Authority police about a shuttle bus that was blocking his exit.
In the course of the April 2005 incident, Dawit Seyoum, a native of Ethiopia who currently resides in Hyattsville, Maryland, suffered tears to his right bicep and tendons in that arm, leading to an impingement in that shoulder, according to his attorney, Cary J. Hansel III. The judgment, including economic, non-economic and punitive damages against the two officers involved, will allow him to undergo the required surgery, Hansel said.
“He’s very happy to have the determination that what happened to him was wrong,” said Hansel, of Joseph, Greenwald & Laake P.A. “The emotional benefit of that ruling for people in those situations is incalculable.”
Seyoum, an Ethiopian immigrant with a doctoral degree, worked at the state Department of Human Resources and taught at Baltimore universities before joining the BWI Taxi Companay at in 1999, according to Hansel.
“It’s a ‘Don’t judge the book by its cover’ story. You never know who your cab driver’s going to be,” Hansel said. “His nickname was The Professor … and that’s sort of his demeanor, which makes what happened so shocking.”
According to court papers, Seyoum, 61, picked up three passengers around midnight and was about to take them to their downtown Baltimore hotel when he found himself boxed in. He honked his horn, then got out of his minivan and walked over to Officer James Meyers, who was managing traffic on the loop’s lower level in light of ongoing construction.
After that, accounts diverge.
Assistant Attorney General Glenn T. Marrow declined to comment for this story, citing the possibility of post-trial motions. But in court documents, he argued Seyoum repeatedly disregarded Meyers’ orders to return to his cab and instead carried on clamoring; and that Corporal Jeffrey Sheriff arrived on the scene and, despite resistance from Seyoum, arrested him.
Conversely, in his September 2007 amended complaint, Seyoum claimed Meyers “began ‘yelling’ at him without provocation” and that Sheriff “appeared suddenly and of his own accord,” “pinned” Seyoum against his own cab, and then “slammed” him onto the hood of a nearby cab. In the process, Seyoum’s glasses were broken and his concerns about his injured shoulder went unheeded, the complaint alleged.
Seyoum briefly returned to work but the limited mobility of his injured arm interfered with his ability to drive. He is now unemployed, Hansel said.
In September 2005, Seyoum, represented by one of Hansel’s law partners, stood trial in Anne Arundel County District Court on charges of failure to obey an order, disorderly conduct, hindering and obstructing a public place, and resisting arrest, as well as horn-blowing and parking violations. The judge found Seyoum not guilty of all charges, and testimony in that case from the officers and three cab company employees who witnessed the arrest had a direct bearing on the civil trial before Baltimore City Circuit Judge Althea M. Handy late last month.
The police did not testify — the state put on no case at all — but Hansel compared their story from the criminal case with their deposition testimony in the civil case, highlighting inconsistencies in the accounts. In support of Seyoum’s punitive damages claims, Hansel also pointed the jury to other instances, including a January 2003 incident near the Fort McHenry Tunnel, in which Sheriff “kind of inserted himself into a situation and escalated it.”
The same three employees of BWI Taxi Co. testified again on behalf of Seyoum. (The three women in Seyoum’s cab that night could not be located.)
After a four-day trial, the jury found Meyers and Sheriff had maliciously violated Seyoum’s constitutional rights; battered, falsely arrested and falsely imprisoned him; and maliciously prosecuted him. The panel awarded $25,000 in economic damages, $250,000 in non-economic damages and $30,000 in punitive damages. Hansel said the state made a pretrial settlement offer that was “much, much, much lower than the verdict.”
Hansel said the $200,000 cap on non-economic damages against the state, which did not apply here because of the finding of malice, has made such behavior by law enforcement a public policy concern because lawyers are often hesitant to take a case with limited damages and fees.
“There’s nobody policing the police, and it leads to things like what happened to my client,” said Hansel.
Dawit Seyoum v. Officer Meyers, et al.
Court: Baltimore City Circuit
Case No: 24-C-07-005048
Proceedings: Jury trial
Judge: Althea M. Handy
Outcome: Plaintiff
Dates: Incident: April 1, 2005; Suit filed: July 12, 2007; Disposition: Oct. 30, 2008
Plaintiff’s Attorney: Cary J. Hansel III of Joseph, Greenwald & Laake P.A.
Defense Attorney: Assistant Attorney General Glenn T. Marrow
Counts: State constitutional violations, false arrest, false imprisonment, battery, malicious prosecution
Award: $305,000
ADDIS ABEBA, ETHIOPIA – A mediation team said that the government of Woyanne regime Ethiopia has agreed to hold talks with the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) without any pre-conditions.
In January, a group of mediators drawn from 3 Oromo ethnic elders met OLF leaders, namely Dawd Ebsa and Temam Yosuf, in Amsterdam and signed with the rebel leaders a pact of agreement to come for peace talks under which the rebels agreed to accept Ethiopia’s constitution in principle.
“Meles Zenawi called us and told us in person that his country his junta is ready to hold talks with OLF” Ambassador Birhanu Dinka, one of the elders and also former UN envoy to the great lakes region said.
“Ethiopia agreed to come to negotiating table after the prime minister’s office looked deep into the Amsterdam’s pact of agreement reached between the three of us(elders) and the rebels last January” he added.
After both parties agreed to start talks, the third party has been holding meetings with different influential people abroad and at home.
Recently the elders group has held a two-day discussion with 125 influential elders drawn from different zones of the Oromiya region under which they urged the rebels to listen to their people and come to peace talks without any delay.
Ethiopia Woyanne has long designated the rebel group as a “terrorist” group and holds it responsible for a number of bomb blasts in the capital and in other southern towns.
Recently Ethiopia Woyanne has arrested a number of Oromos including an opposition leader for an alleged links to OLF “terror ring”.
The elders on a declaration called on both sides to show a genuine commitment to narrow their political difference which put the rebel group into nearly two decades of insurgency.
The Ethiopian People Patriotic Front (EPPF) has launched a new web site, eppfonline.org, on Sunday, Nov. 23. The official launching of the web site was announced by the organizational affairs head of EPPF’s International Committee, Ato Sileshi Tilahun, in an interview with Ethiopian Review.
ADDIS ABEBA, ETHIOPIA – A mediation team said that the