Close to 500 people, who claim to have been deceived by Askallucan Trading Plc were seen gathered outside the headquarters of the Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (ERTA) located at Churchill Avenue on June 24, 2010.
Yidenekachew Abebe, 28, was a farmer in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) Regional State town of Hosanna, until recently, when he sold his farmland and came to Addis Abeba. Here he paid almost 37,600 Br to Askallucan Trading Plc which was promoting a package for people to go watch the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. However, he was denied an entry visa to South Africa and the dream that brought him out of his village to the city remained just that – a dream.
Yidenekachew joined hundreds of people who had met a similar fate, sitting outside Askallucan Trading’s office in Arat Kilo, near Ginfele Bridge on Elizabeth II Street on Tuesday, June 29.
Unfazed by the cold and cloudy weather, the mob went looking for Girmay G. Michael, vice general manager of Askallucan Trading – who had guaranteed them visas to South Africa. Now they are demanding their money back.
Askallucan Trading ran a massive promotional campaign wherein the company claimed to possess 10,000 guaranteed visas to South Africa. It offered people a package that included a ticket for the match of their choice, a roundtrip airplane ticket, and a five-day hotel stay with meals included, all for 37,580.65 Br.
Yidenekachew is one of the almost 1,200 people who signed up and paid Askallucan Trading. He deposited 34,000 Br into an account in Wegagen Bank, opened under Hospitality Package Plus Ethiopia, as per the instructions he received, and paid another 3,580 Br in cash to Girmay, which he claims to have not received a receipt for. He signed up to watch the match between Germany and England on June 27.
Some of the other people who signed up thought that the receipt which they received upon depositing the money at Wegagen Bank was an actual World Cup ticket.
However, the bank provided Hospitality Package Plus Ethiopia with the same services it gives all customers and merely deposited the cash it received from people into the account, sources at Wegagen Bank told Fortune.
The bank’s president was unavailable for comment.
Although Yidenekachew signed up to watch a game, his real purpose for going to South Africa was to immigrate in search of a better life, he said.
Many of the people that Fortune talked to who had “bought the package” had similar plans. Some had a family member that they wanted to join in South Africa or had heard of better opportunities there and wanted to immigrate under the guise of the World Cup.
All, but a few of the people who had paid for the package that guaranteed a visa, were denied visas at the South African Embassy. The South African Embassy declined to comment.
All Yidenekachew’s money is now finished, and he cannot even afford to return to his hometown, he said.
“I have nothing left; I have been begging from people to feed myself,” he said. “I am spending nights on the streets and most of my days searching for answers from concerned government authorities.”
The sacrifices that he made and the anger he feels are the driving forces behind his wandering around to find answers and get back what he claims is his.
Askallucan Trading Plc was established in 2006 with a capital of 50,000 Br, which has now grown to 100,000 Br, according to the company website.
Aside from offering individuals packages for the World Cup, Askallucan Trading also partnered with Haleta Advertising Media Plc and Afrodan Plc to put on an exhibition for businesses from June 29 to July 3, in Johannesburg, South Africa. However, the exhibition was cancelled because participants could not get visas, an employee at Haleta Advertising Media told Fortune.
The idea to hold an exhibition to promote Ethiopia’s image in South Africa during the World Cup, first came from Century Promotion Services, claims Zewge Jemaneh, managing director of the company. Their whole endeavour was discontinued because Askallucan’s claim to have visas confused clients, and some of the people who showed an interest had clear intentions of immigrating, said Zewge.
“We did not want to take the risk of bringing those exhibitors whose intention was to stay in South Africa once the exhibition was over,” Zewge said.
He spent 100,000 Br in four months on promotion work before deciding to abandon the exhibition, he claimed.
Girmay allegedly collected close to 44 million Br, from almost 1,200 people, deposited into his bank account and given in person. Despite the affronted people’s relentless search to locate Girmay and demand their money back, they have not been able to find him.
They have knocked on the doors of various government institutions; they have been to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), and the Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (ETRA).
The search for Girmay having proven futile, they instead located Menna Terefe, Girmay’s wife and general manager of Askallucan, who gave birth a week ago. She is currently in police custody and her involvement is being investigated.
The police conducting the investigation refused to comment, claiming that it may hamper the investigation.
Yohannes Awano, 57, an employee at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), is another victim of Girmay and his company. He came from SNNP Regional State and paid Askallucan Trading the same amount of money as Yidenekachew.
However, he also could not get his visa in time for the game that he paid for and was told that he would be provided with a ticket for another game, he alleged. This failed to materialise, he claimed.
Yohannes blames the media who gave the whole event high visibility and, to a certain extent, legitimacy.
“We were misled by the media itself,” he said. “I saw the advertisement in many newspapers, and the promoters were also in my village advertising. I was convinced when I read about it in newspapers, heard about it on Radio Fana, and watched it on Ethiopian Television.”
Girmay and his colleagues showed them original documents indicating that they had support from different government institutions, Yohannes alleged.
Yohannes admitted that he would have used this opportunity to visit his daughter who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and to get a medical check-up along the way. Now that his plan has failed, Yohannes plans to use every available avenue to get his money back.
“I will fight to my last breath to get my money; I will not give up at all,” he said, pounding his leg with an angry fist.
A similar situation occurred eight years ago when Habesha Trading organised the 2002 Ethio Trade and Cultural Fair to be held in the US.
A similar tale unfolded as the trade fair was cancelled due to individuals posing as businesspeople who tried to use it as a way to immigrate to the US. The organisers cancelled the event and returned the money to some of the companies who had registered, while some never got their money back.
“The situation with Askallucan Trading Plc is not new; history is repeating itself,” said an exhibition consultant who requested annonimity.
The same thing happened during the Sydney Olympic Games in Australia in the year 2000, and also when Habesha Trading tried to hold a trade fair in the US.
“I wonder why people are not willing to learn from past mistakes,” said the same consultant who has worked with exhibitions for the last 15 years. People do not quit their jobs and sell businesses that afforded them their daily bread just to watch a football match, he explained.
The idea of promoting an occasion like this and holding an event to promote Ethiopia’s image is a noble cause, opines the consultant, but it does not work here. Most people have a hidden agenda, which is often to stay in the country where they travel, he said.
The South African Embassy denied the visas because it was suspicious about some of the individuals who had applied for visas. And because some even admitted that the real reason they wanted to go to South Africa was not for the games but to find work in the country, complained Beniyam Mola, who was also denied an entry visa.
Some still believe that they will make it to the World Cup and are even willing to pay additional money if it gets them to South Africa. Others have given up on the idea and even on the possibility of getting their money back.
Being large in number, the claims coming out of different groups among these people differ and are sometimes hard to verify. What is common is that they all carry a receipt, faded from too much handling, for the money they deposited in the bank as a payment for Girmay, who is yet to be found.
In line with Egypt’s policy of increasing investments in Ethiopia, a number of Egyptian businessmen have recently established a consulting firm in Ethiopia, said Mohamed Shaker el-Marqabi, member of the Egyptian-Ethiopian Business Council and head of the Export Council for Construction.
El-Marqabi told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Egypt faces danger not in the form of Israel’s presence in Ethiopia, which is limited, but rather from China, which is funding major projects in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. Chinese investors are currently sponsoring a big dam in Ethiopia–Juba 3–which, when completed, will be the biggest hydroelectric station in Africa.
El-Marqabi also said Egypt should not be so concerned about dams on the Nile River, as many assume, as the real danger lies in attempts by central African states to change the Nile’s flow. According to el-Marqabi, hydropower projects shouldn’t concern Egypt because they will not affect water distribution quotas.
“The Egyptian government should think seriously of going into partnership with Ethiopia in this field by studying a project on electricity linkage, to exchange electricity during rush hours,” el-Marqabi said.
“Ethiopia can generate 11,000 megawatts of electricity from hydroelectric stations and only 200 megawatt are used so far,” he added, referring to Ethiopia’s plans to sell its extra electricity to neighboring countries.
“Egyptian companies have great investment opportunities in the field of distributing and transferring electricity,” el-Marqabi said. “Egyptians should prove their good faith in cooperation with Ethiopia over the long term.”
The export council chief also said Egypt should deal with Ethiopians as people of “intelligent brains,” noting that “most of them have received their education at western universities.”
“The main reason for a successful relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia is to have common interests,” he added.
(Translated from the Arabic Edition of ALMASRYALYOUM)
Samuel Getachew, an Ethiopian-Canadian who is running for Toronto City Council seat, is proposing that Toronto’s Danforth neighborhood be named “Little Ethiopia” in the following article that was published on Toronto Sun today.
Does Little Ethiopia belong on Danforth?
By Samuel Getachew
I don’t usually like big mega cities, like New York. However Toronto is an exception.
Toronto, a city I admire, has always been full of characters, or much like the way former prime minister Joe Clark envisioned Canada in his successful 1979 election — a community of communities.
The Greektown on Danforth, Chinatown around Dundas West and Spadina Avenue, Korea town on Bloor in the Annex are some of the areas that attract thousands of tourists on a yearly basis.
On top of all of these, festivals such as Caribana, Taste of the Danforth, the Toronto Film Festival and Luminato helps us attract lots of people and resources to the city. Greektown alone claims to have more than 1 million visitors yearly.
These areas help us showcase the rich diversity of our city, not just in words but in deeds.
That is why a few friends and myself are asking the City of Toronto to name a section of Danforth Ave. around Greenwood Ave. as Little Ethiopia.
The history of Ethiopian Canadians, especially in the Toronto Danforth area, is new.
Ethiopians are one of the many groups of new immigrants to have fled successive broken governments and settled in Toronto. But what makes Canada different than most countries is we can be passionate citizens without losing sight of our heritage.
Earlier this year, a few of us met with the Toronto Danforth Mosaic BIA for about 30 minutes about our idea for Little Ethiopia. We spoke about our hope and dream for our city. They spoke of a multicultural mosaic they wanted to create in the area, one that is not a ghettoized neighbourhood, and rejected the idea.
Along the Danforth from around Greenwood to Monarch Park, there are about 16 Ethiopian Canadian businesses and their contribution is very visible. We are owners and tenants of the many buildings found in the area.
However, we lack visibility in our area BIAs, activities and at City Hall.
Governments can do much to help connect us to the area and have us take ownership of the areas we frequent. To clean it more, make it lovely like Greektown, and above all take ownership of it.
To have us believe in our BIA’s enough for us to join its boards and volunteer at the different activities in the community. The idea of Little Ethiopia is of celebration and not of ghettoization.
Greektown, Chinatown and the many areas named after a certain country or countries are not ghettos but a celebration of global citizenship.
As a Torontonian and as a black person, I get my hair cut in the heart of Greektown, buy the best and the cheapest Italian beef in Chinatown and go for the best coffee in Little Italy at College and Clinton.
Almost always the people I see are diverse in their representation from every country on the planet.
That is the wish for our aspiring Little Ethiopia on Danforth project — that of many cultures and a recognition of the Ethiopian Canadian experience.
We are not tourists to Canada but citizens of an awesome country.
I believe Little Ethiopia can be a start.
We are a very small group pushing forward this idea with the hope of thousands.
Our effort is no longer an Ethiopian story but that of a Canadian: Passion, youthful vigour and hard work — the hallmark of what makes me a proud Canadian.
(Samuel Getachew is a member of the Ethiopian community in Toronto and is running for council in Scarborough)
The world’s earliest illustrated Christian book has been saved by a British charity which located it at a remote Ethiopian monastery.
The incredible Garima Gospels are named after a monk who arrived in the African country in the fifth century and is said to have copied them out in just one day.
Beautifully illustrated, the colours are still vivid and thanks to the Ethiopian Heritage Fund have been conserved.
Abba Garima arrived from Constantinople in 494 AD and legend has it that he was able to copy the gospels in a day because God delayed the sun from setting.
[A page from the Garima Gospels – the world’s oldest Christian book found in a remote monastery in Ethiopia]
The incredible relic has been kept ever since in the Garima Monastery near Adwa in the north of the country, which is in the Tigray region at 7,000 feet.
Experts believe it is also the earliest example of book binding still attached to the original pages.
The survival of the Gospels is incredible considering the country has been under Muslim invasion, Italian invasion and a fire in the 1930s destroyed the monastery’s church.
They were written on goat skin in the early Ethiopian language of Ge’ez.
There are two volumes which date from the same time, but the second is written in a different hand from the first. Both contain illustrations and the four Gospels.
Though the texts had been mentioned by the occasional traveller since the 1950s, it had been thought they dated from the 11th century at the earliest.
Carbon dating, however, gives a date between 330 and 650 – which tantalisingly overlaps the date Abba Garima arrived in the country.
So the first volume could be in his hand – even if he didn’t complete the task in a day as the oral tradition states.
The charity Ethiopian Heritage Fund that was set up to help preserve the treasures in the country has made the stunning discovery.
It was also allowed incredibly rare access to the texts so experts could conserve them on site.
[The incredible relic has been kept ever since in the Garima Monastery near Adwa in the north of Ethiopia]
It is now hoped the Gospels will be put in a museum at the monastery where visitors will be able to view them.
Blair Priday from the Ethiopian Heritage Fund said: ‘Ethiopia has been overlooked as a source of these fantastic things.
‘Many of these old Christian relics can only be reached by hiking and climbing to remote monasteries as roads are limited in these mountainous regions.
‘All the work on the texts was done in situ and everything is reversible, so if in future they can be taken away for further conservation we won’t have hindered that.
‘The pages had been crudely stitched together in a restoration in the 1960s and some of the pages wouldn’t even turn. And they were falling to pieces.
‘The Garima Gospels have been kept high and dry which has helped preserve them all these years and they are kept in the dark so the colours look fresh.
‘This was the most astounding of all our projects and the Patriarch, the head of the Ethiopian Church, had to give his permission.
‘Most of the experts did the work for nothing.
‘We are currently undertaking other restoration programmes on wall paintings and religious texts.
‘We believe that preserving Ethiopia’s cultural heritage will help to increase visitor revenue and understanding of the extraordinary history of this country
Note: This is my fifth commentary on the theme “Where do we go from here?” following the rigged May 2010 elections in Ethiopia in which the ruling dictatorship won by 99.6 percent [1]. In this piece, I express deep regrets over the never-ending subjugation of women in Ethiopian society and call for a movement for the advancement of Ethiopian women’s human rights. I urge Ethiopian women to join hands in building the “future country of Ethiopia” that Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia’s foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, dreamed about.
Women in the “Present Country of Ethiopia”
Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia’s foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history enjoyed talking about an allegorical “future country of Ethiopia” that would become an African oasis of democracy and a bastion of human rights and the rule of law in the continent. In Birtukan’s “future Ethiopia” women and men would live not only as equals under the law, but also work together to create a progressive and compassionate society in which women are free from domestic violence and sexual exploitation, have access to adequate health and maternal care, and are provided education to free them from culturally-enforced ignorance, submissiveness and subjugation. But if the situation of women in the “present country of Ethiopia” is any indication, Birtukan’s “future country” is in deep, deep trouble.
Article 35 of the Ethiopian Constitution (1995) guarantees women not only full equality but also preferential treatment “in the political, economic and social fields both within public and private organizations.” Women are provided sweeping constitutional protections from “all laws, stereotyped ideas and customs which oppress women or otherwise adversely affect their physical and mental well-being.” They have guaranteed property rights and “the right of access to education and information on family planning” to “prevent health hazards resulting from child birth.” Article 34 secures matrimonial contractual rights for “women attaining the legal age of marriage.” It mandates that “Marriage shall be based on the free and full consent of the intending spouses.” Even before the rights of women were “constitutionalized” in 1995, the ruling dictatorship of Meles Zenawi took the lead by issuing a National Policy on Women in 1993 with the aim “to institutionalize the political, economical, and social rights of women by creating an appropriate structure in government offices and institutions so that the public policies and interventions are gender-sensitive and can ensure equitable development for all Ethiopian men and women.” After a lapse of seventeen years, the evidence on the status of women in Ethiopia society is horrifying and shocking to the conscience.
The 2000 U.S. State Department Human Rights Country Report on Ethiopia[2] described the status of women in appallingly disheartening terms:
The Constitution provides for the equality of women; however, these provisions often are not applied in practice. Furthermore, these provisions often are in conflict with the 1960 Civil Code and the 1957 Penal Code, both of which still are in force. The 1960 Civil Code is based on a monarchical constitution that treated women as if they were children or disabled. Discriminatory regulations in the civil code include recognizing the husband as the legal head of the family and designating him as the sole guardian of children over 5 years old. Domestic violence is not considered a serious justification under the law to obtain a divorce. Irrespective of the number of years the marriage has existed, the number of children raised and the joint property, the woman is entitled to only 3 months’ financial support should the relationship end. However, a husband has no obligation to provide financial assistance to his family and, as a result, women and children sometimes are abandoned when there is a problem in the marriage. All land belongs to the State; however, land reforms enacted in March 1997 stipulate that women may obtain government leases to land. Discrimination is most acute in rural areas, where 85 percent of the population lives. In urban areas, women have fewer employment opportunities than men do, and the jobs available do not provide equal pay for equal work. As a result of changes in the Labor Law in 1998, thousands of women traveled to the Middle East as industrial and domestic workers. There were credible reports that female workers were abused, and even killed, in these positions.
A decade later, the 2010 U.S. State Department Human Rights Country Report on Ethiopia[3] described the status of women in similar stark terms:
The constitution provides women the same rights and protections as men. Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) such as FGM (female genital mutilation), abduction, and rape are explicitly criminalized; however, enforcement of these laws lagged. Women and girls experienced gender-based violence daily, but it was underreported due to shame, fear, or a victim’s ignorance of legal protections. Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a pervasive social problem. The 2005 Demographic and Health Survey found that 81 percent of women believed a husband had a right to beat his wife. Prostitution was legal for persons over age 18 and was commonly practiced around the country. Sexual harassment was widespread [and] harassment-related laws were not enforced. The law sets the legal marriage age for girls and boys at 18; however, this law was not enforced. For example, a 2006 Pathfinder International study found that in the Amhara region, 48 percent of women were married before the age of 15, the highest early marriage rate in the country. Limited access to family planning services, high fertility, low reproductive health and emergency obstetric services, and poor nutritional status and infections all contributed to high maternal mortality ratio… Discrimination against women was most acute in rural areas, where 85 percent of the population was located. There was limited legal recognition of common law marriage. Irrespective of the number of years the marriage existed, the number of children raised, and joint property, the law entitled women to only three months’ financial support if a relationship ended. A common-law husband had no obligation to provide financial assistance to his family, and as a result, women and children sometimes faced abandonment. In urban areas women had fewer employment opportunities than men, and the jobs available did not provide equal pay for equal work.
It is manifest that in 2010, the vast majority of Ethiopian women, particularly in the rural areas, enjoy very little personal security against violence and degradation. In fact, these women believe that violence and degradation is an appropriate form of treatment for women. According to the 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (“a nationally representative survey of 14,070 women age 15-49 and 6,033 men age 15-59”) “81% of Ethiopian women believe their husbands have the right to beat them if they burn food, refuse sex, or go somewhere without their husband’s consent”[4]. Ethiopian women are not only lacking personal security but also social security. Seventy- five percent of all Ethiopian women are illiterate, and consequently bear the heaviest burden of poverty. Maternal deaths from childbirth for Ethiopian women is among the highest in the world[5]. High HIV infection rates, child marriages and the devastating health consequences associated with them and many other risk factors have left Ethiopian women in a state of misery and despair facing a daily ordeal for survival.[6] With one of the highest birth rates in the world, Ethiopia’s population is projected to increase by 20 million in the next 10 years and double to 160 million by 2050.
Thanks for Nothing!
Dictator Zenawi, in a “victory” speech celebrating his 99.6 percent win in the May 2010 “election”, thanked Ethiopian women “boundlessly”:
We, the members of EPRDF, with great humility offer our gratitude and appreciation to the voters who have given us their support freely and democratically. We also offer our thanks to the real backbone of our organization, the women of Ethiopia who are committed to our struggle due to their realization of our track record on gender equality and who want to forge ahead on this path of peace, development and democratization. Our admiration to the women of Ethiopia is indeed boundless!
It is disconcerting to think of the vast majority of Ethiopian women who suffer in absolute misery and wretchedness becoming a “backbone” to anyone. But if we must resort to anatomical analogies, women can best be described as the rump of Ethiopian society, little valued and appreciated. Their backbones, spirit and will have long been shattered by official neglect and indifference and the daily reality of domestic violence, illiteracy, sexual exploitation, underage marriages, lack of education and grinding poverty. It is adding insult to injury to patronize them as the “backbone” of a potbellied dictatorship when they can barely stand up on their own two feet. If we are to offer “admiration” to Ethiopian women (and they deserve it all), it is only because of their incredible capacity to withstand unimaginably “boundless” suffering, degradation, cruelty and indifference. Even illiterate women know when they are being patronized by crocodilian words of “humility”, “gratitude” and “appreciation”.
Misogynistic or Chauvinistic?
I am not sure of the qualitative difference between misogyny and male chauvinism. Misogynists hate and have total contempt for women. A male chauvinist just believes women are naturally inferior to men and do not deserve equal treatment. If it is not misogyny or male chauvinism, what on earth could possibly explain the fact that “81% of Ethiopian women believe their husbands have the right to beat them if they burn food, refuse sex, or go somewhere without their husband’s consent”? This deeply disturbing fact was historically observed only among slaves. The slave was absolutely terrified of his master and always lived in fear of his master’s whims and fancy. The slave believed his master could do whatever he wanted to him because he understood himself to be his master’s property. The slave, totally dependent on his master for his very existence, pinned the blame for his master’s cruelty and depravity on himself. The slave believed that mistreatment and abuse by his master is his divinely foreordained destiny. Could it be that long after the odious institution of slavery has been abolished in the world, the overwhelming majority of women shackled by domestic violence, inequality, sexual exploitation, destructive traditions and customs and poverty continue to believe themselves to be chattel property (personal property) to their husbands and men?
Ethiopian Women’s Human Rights
If 81 percent of Ethiopian women believe they are the property of their husbands, it seems obvious that they are not aware of their human rights secured under international law. Since 1948, there have been at least ten major international conventions and protocols protecting the human rights of women throughout the world. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by Ethiopia in 1981, prohibits as discrimination a variety of actions that compound the subjugation of women, and requires state parties to take action to eliminate them. Governments are required to act and eliminate “social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.” A special legal duty is imposed upon governments to “take into account the particular problems faced by rural women and take all appropriate measures to ensure the application of the provisions of the present Convention.” Women have the “right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent.” Children can not give free and full consent to marriage. As parents, women shall have equal rights “irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children.” It is discriminatory to arbitrarily deny women spousal support and equal custody rights at divorce. Various other conventions ensure that women are protected from involuntary servitude, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Domestic violence can not be ignored as simple “family misunderstanding” but must be prosecuted as a serious crime. The Convention on the Rights of the Child protects young girls from being forced to undergo the painful and degrading practice of genital mutilation and rape in the form of child marriages.
Calling for a Movement for Ethiopian Women’s Human Rights
It is manifest that the vast majority of Ethiopian women are trapped in a patriarchal and paternalistic system that exploits them sexually, socially, politically and in every other way. For centuries, Ethiopian law has “treated women as if they were children or disabled.” Discrimination, abuse and mistreatment against Ethiopian women has continued for so long that it is time to end the silence and stand up and speak up against their dehumanization. All Ethiopians, and particularly the educated ones and those in power, should publicly condemn the brutal practice of female genital mutilation. It is an atrocious and dreadful custom. All educational and informational efforts must be employed to eliminate it. The rampant violence against women must not be tolerated. It must be combated through a combination of education, information and rigorous prosecutions of abusers. If actions or lack of action speaks louder than words, it is obvious that Ethiopian men do not think much of their women’s lives and dignity and could be straddling that thin line between misogyny and male chauvinism. A broad social movement needs to be established to challenge all practices that degrade women and challenge cultural and social patterns defining the lopsided power relationship between men and women in Ethiopian society.
A New Culture of Women’s Activism and Assertiveness is Needed
Throughout the Western world and elsewhere, women have organized effectively to form political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights and securing effective legal protection for women. In some part of the world, the label “women’s liberation” has been given to describe the campaign for women’s rights. Those who advocate for women’s rights have been called “feminists” because of their efforts to change traditional perspectives on a wide range of issues covering domestic violence, sexual harassment and exploitation, economic equality and elimination of all forms of gender discrimination against women.
Labels and designations for Ethiopian women’s activism are unimportant in describing the need for activism. What is important is the realization that effective activism and advocacy on behalf of Ethiopian women is long overdue. Well-educated and well-placed Ethiopian women are in the best position to engage in activism to stop violence against women, help teach them to assert their legal and human rights and research and document the condition of women in society for informed policy-making. They are also in the best position to challenge Ethiopian men to reconsider their long held beliefs about women and encourage and show them how they can change their outdated beliefs and unhealthy behavior towards women. In other words, it is possible to help Ethiopian men gain new awareness and consciousness about the plight of their women and help protect their dignity and value in society. In this regard, I believe Diaspora Ethiopian women bear special responsibility to articulate Ethiopian women’s issues in international forums.
Young Ethiopian Women Need Female Role Models
I often wonder if many Ethiopian fathers seriously ponder whether our daughters have good role models in strong, ethical and assertive Ethiopian women. It pains me to think that the vast majority of girls growing up in Ethiopia today will absorb the beliefs from their mothers and society that domestic violence and sexual exploitation are acceptable; that male supremacy is the natural order of things and that they will likely be married off in childhood and have children while they are themselves children and very likely die an early death from complications of childbirth.
I truly hope that all of the young Ethiopian girls will look up to Birtukan Midekssa and understand that she stood up not only for her rights and theirs, but also that she represents the new Ethiopian woman who stood up to the arrogance of power and male chauvinism. I have no doubts that if Birtukan dropped on her knees, bowed down and begged for mercy from her captors, as do women who face the daily reality of violence and physically abuse, she would be out of prison in heartbeat. We need more Ethiopian women like Birtukan who set new moral and ethical standards for the newer generation of women who in turn can change the attitudes and beliefs of the newer generation of men so they can together build “the future country of Ethiopia.”
The Question: To be or Not to be…. Birtukan
When I write about my heroine Birtukan Midekssa, I often refer to her as “Invictus” (unconquered).[7] Some wonder why I defend Birtukan passionately and ferociously against those who have unjustly imprisoned her and take every opportunity to humiliate and degrade her despite the universally recognized fact that she is innocent of any wrongdoing. I do so because Birtukan to me is the model of the new self-confident and dignified Ethiopian woman I hope to see in the “future country of Ethiopia.” Birtukan chained in prison stands taller for the cause of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Ethiopia than any man I know. She sacrificed motherhood to her 4-year old child so that the millions of little girls in Ethiopia could grow up in dignity, without physical abuse by men, educated and equal in every way to Ethiopian boys. Birtukan has shown more backbone and spine in standing up to dictatorship than anyone I know.
We can thank Ethiopian women until the cows come home, but so long as they have little personal and social security and are valued less and subjected to violence, there will be neither development, progress nor justice in Ethiopian society. The real question is not whether Ethiopian women can be the “backbone” of a political party or even society. It is whether Ethiopian men can be the backbone, indeed have the backbone, to lift their women out of the misery, suffering, degradation, insecurity and value them for their inestimable worth.
In my flights of fancy, I let myself imagine millions of young Birtukan clones growing up in Ethiopia. I imagine these young women standing up to male chauvinism and defending their rights to be free from physical abuse, sexual exploitation and discrimination. I imagine them demanding accountability from their leaders and government. I imagine them taking leadership in vast numbers in society. Then I realize that I am not really lost in imagination. I had just taken a brief detour to Birtukan’s “future country of Ethiopia”.
I will now say of Ethiopian women collectively what I have said of Birtukan individually:
Ethiopian women condemned to abuse, exploitation and indifference, but unconquered.
Ethiopian women subjected to the wrath of men and tearful, but defiant.
Ethiopian women beaten, bludgeoned and bloodied, but unbowed.
Ethiopian women mocked, ridiculed and disrespected, but gracious.
Ethiopian women vilified, strong-armed and manhandled, but unafraid.
Ethiopia under the crushing boots of soldiers of fortune.
Ethiopian women, Invictus!
Birtukan, Invictus!
FREE BIRTUKAN MIDEKSSA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS.
WOMEN OF ETHIOPIA, UNITE!
Alemayehu G. Mariam is a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. He writes a regular blog on The Huffington Post, and his commentaries appear regularly on pambazuka.org, allafrica.com, afronline.org and other sites.
The ruling Woyanne junta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ethiopia has posted on its web site an article that attacks Jason McClure, a correspondent for Bloomberg and Newsweek. Jason has been targeted by the genocidal regime because he dared to expose the truth about conditions in Ethiopia. It is to be remembered that a few months ago, Woyanne propaganda chief Bereket Simon warned him with expulsion if he writes any more critical news about the regime. What triggered the latest attack against Jason McClure is his recent report about Africa drifting toward a new age of authoritarianism. Below is the Ministry of Information’s article:
Jason McClure’ Cold-War mentality
By Ministry of Information
The successful completion of the May 2010 elections in Ethiopia has certainly been received with a high level of enthusiasm by the great majority of the Ethiopian population. The widespread rallies that millions of people in different parts of the country made in the aftermath of the peaceful conduct of the election were clear indications of the amount of enthusiasm the results had generated. But then again, this was not entirely surprising after all; it was in large measure a reflection of the extent to which the peoples of Ethiopia take the process seriously and the manifestation of the unflinching resolve of Ethiopians to own the process. There also appears to be a near unanimous agreement among various stakeholders in the political process to view the results of the election in a favorable light irrespective of the relative performance of the contending parties.
Even the staunchest of the government’s detractors within the opposition seem to have come to terms with the assessment that the results are as much reflections of the incumbent’s track record in development as they are the result of peoples’ disenchantment with the zero-sum politics of the opposition. To the extent that the rather wide margin by which the incumbent won the election is relevant, it is in the unequivocal message it sends to both the winners and losers alike that the mandate of the peoples of Ethiopia can be won only by a proven commitment to improving their lots through hard work than by mere sloganeering and propagation of hate.
The reason why most gloomy predictions by too many western pundits of a post-election Armageddon rang abysmally hollow has everything to do with the commitment and vigilance of the peoples of Ethiopia to see their will respected. Those who might doubt the sincerity of the peoples’ resolve for democracy and good governance are certainly in for disappointment. Jason McClure of Bloomberg news—along with the coterie of interest groups he represents, of course—is one such people. He has long since crossed swords with sworn detractors of the whole economic and political developments in the country and has seldom missed an opportunity to paint the government of Ethiopia in the ugliest of light possible. His almost daily doodles on the web have always been selectively negative.
In a recent report he wrote to the Newsweek (June 18, 2010), presumptuously entitled “why Democracy Isn’t Working”, he has once again engaged in yet another mud-slinging campaign against the Ethiopian government. In a style typical of his previous reports, he draws pervasive conclusions on the basis of one or two observations colored by his own bias. While his latest article is supposedly meant to show the trend throughout Africa towards what he calls ‘a new age of authoritarianism’, its main thrust, however, is an unmitigated campaign to discredit the recent political developments in Ethiopia particularly the results of the election. Mr. McClure’s penchant for hyperbole and downright fabrication is quite phenomenal. His visceral hostility to the government of Ethiopia coupled with his proclivity to offer his services to anyone out to get the government has rendered his judgment all too skewed apparently beyond repair.
His explanation as to why hundreds of thousands of people in the capital went out on a rally in support of the EPRDF, for example, was an outright lie that would put even the most ardent of the government’s detractors to shame. People, he tells us, “were paid the equivalent of a day’s wage for a few hours of shouting against Human Rights Watch”. What this shows of course is the extent to which he is willing to go to tarnish the government’s image even if he has to fabricate the most outrageous of lies. But more importantly, such remarks also betray his deep-seated contempt for the people who took it upon themselves to go out in droves to express their desires to have their will respected by the likes of Mr. McClure. It is not for the first time that Mr. McClure got involved in an out and out smear campaign
against Ethiopia. He has in several occasions colluded with the most rejectionist elements of the opposition in trying to create—even succeeding to do so—a media circus contrived to muddy the waters of the electoral process long before campaign had been properly begun. In his latest report too, he cites dubious sources to make his mendacious claims plausible. It is difficult—even unnecessary—to respond to every mendacious allegation that Mr. McClure makes in his recent article.
That would be a tall order. But one inescapable conclusion is that his is a mentality that belongs in the cold-war era, putting as it does higher premium on using any leverage that comes with aid to effect changes in the political structures of recipients for the sake of serving narrow ideological interests. His view of democracy for instance leaves no room whatsoever for the natives to manage their own affairs. It has to be consonant with some pre-packaged matrix to be dictated by the ideological high priests of the orthodoxy Mr. McClure’s handlers preach. Clearly, Mr. McClure has been frustrated by the generous outpouring of public support to the incumbent as displayed in the rallies by millions of people throughout Ethiopia and more particularly in the capital. These developments certainly run counter with the kind of Armageddon scenario the likes of HRW would have us believe the country would be unless the opposition won. His involvement in reporting about the state of democracy in Ethiopia is apparently informed by his fancying himself as having the central role to play. If that sounds too much of an overreach a foreign correspondent can ill afford, Mr. McClure would accept none of it.
His zeal to denigrate every development—however positive, borders on the messianic. But his frustration is likely to continue to mount—and along with it his hysterical postings—with each passing day as Ethiopia marches triumphantly along in its fight against poverty. One final statement is in order. McClure is a disgrace for journalism. Though he insinuates in his article that there is no free press in Ethiopia, he probably has never enjoyed as much freedom to write as he wished as those reporters in Ethiopia writing for Fortune, the Reporter and the Capital.
[A page from the Garima Gospels – the world’s oldest Christian book found in a remote monastery in Ethiopia]
[The incredible relic has been kept ever since in the Garima Monastery near Adwa in the north of Ethiopia]