The people Ethiopia are ready to spontaneously rise as their brothers and sisters are doing in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and many more. Spontaneous uprisings are the necessary engines of social movements. They are infact the necessary conditions for the possibility of organized and disciplined revolutions.
Spontaneity has its strengths but also its weaknesses. We must positively exploit the strengths and protect the people’s movement against its weaknesses. The strengths of the Ethiopian people, particularly the country people, are their generosity, patience, and loyalty. They will respond to our call in record numbers. They will join the struggle body and soul; and we in return must be ready with an alternative vision of Ethiopianity freed from the DDT of Ethnicity and the corrosive effects of cultural decadence through acts of cultural transformation… [Continue reading here]
Before you begin reading the article, I urge you to think of not only what is happening today but also the steps after the inevitable revolution. I ask you to question your commitment and what you are prepared to sacrifice for your country. The next critical steps of our nation must be planned, calculated and executed with deliberation. Let us lean from the past and craft a feature inclusive of everything Ethiopia.
The question of: “Who to call in Ethiopia?” or rather, “Whom can Ethiopia call on?” in times of chaos and tyranny has not been answered in recent history. Despite the context of the question, or to whom it might have been directed to, it is imperative that someone capable should answer. If the specific question was ever answered, it was by a few daring individuals who were capable, but not strong enough to withstand the lateral damage caused by those who stood alongside them. Those groups/individuals were educated and capable to answer Ethiopia’s call but not strong enough to unite. I believe we all agree that the educated and those with a voice have to stand up and fight for those who are unable. Throughout the evolution of mankind, at the heart of a country’s economy, development, rise or decline stand those who educated themselves or those who were institutionally educated. Ethiopia is no different, aside from our continued decline, with no return in the hands of the educated/intellectuals. Anyone who keeps in silence is as guilty as those who are causing the problem. Ethiopia is not their country; Ethiopia is OUR country.
This article is not a religious calling of the wrongdoings of our educated or a spiritual teaching of the afterlife. It is an assessment and a crucial observation of the actions by which a person is judged, and to a large degree judges oneself. Ironically, these seven acts occur simultaneously with the deterioration of our nation, enclosed into one deadly human virus and sin, which has plagued our community for far too long. An educated person can be judged unsympathetically if the knowledge he/she attained was wasted on greed and selfish interests. Ironically, Ethiopia has given birth to many of us who have lost our self-worth in pursuit of Westernized “to the top at all costs” education. Her call of “save me” has fallen on deaf ears. Education is as simple as “acquiring knowledge” if we have not educated our selves and those around us to improve on the condition of the past.
We have been trapped in the Western capitalist illusion of greed. It is not money that is the root of evil for us; it is the pursuit of money. We are emotionally unstable, still trapped in the cultural teachings of our ancestors, while living in the west; in pursuance of the almighty dollar. Our inability to work together, listen to differing opinions, express our true selves, share ideas, help the less fortunate, or see the horrors of tomorrow comes from our blindness in wanting what everyone else has. The educated few in our community are guilty of feeding the fire of ignorance that plagues our nation. And so, when asking why Ethiopia’s hopes have been silent, it can be summed up in one answer: GREED. Now, think of those around you. Think far and think long; think of the current and the two previous governments, and think of the individuals who held power. I do realize the traitorous trail we have all left behind and the dangers of going back. But I ask you to look back. What has become of our country and its people?
Institutionalized education has become the decline of our people. In pursuit of written knowledge, we have neglected the ideals and teachings of our people, to which we are more ethically connected. The first lesson to our less educated (who lack global knowledge) is, “a man is born free,” and no one can take that away from you unless you choose to give it up. It is the ability to be free that our people seek, not democracy, socialism, or capitalism. Yet we are blindly stumbling through a fast-changing world, claiming we understand the needs of our people. When have we, as Ethiopians, asked another Ethiopian who is less fortunate, “How can we work together so you are able to help yourself?” We have taken enough from Ethiopia; she is naked and bare because we have not given back what she has sacrificed for us. The more we continue psychologically and physically constructing Ethiopia to be like North America and Europe, the further we dig the grave of her eternal demise. What is it we can do as sons and daughters of Ethiopia to prevent this.
This article is not intended to offend our educated minds, but if you are angry? Good, get mad.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle
I assure you, however, that it is not all doom and gloom. There is hope at the end of that long tunnel we have journeyed for over fifty years. Before we begin to walk towards a new self-realization, we must first rid ourselves of our envy and hate of one another. We must look to our neighbors, in North Africa, to see the impact of the educated minds influencing a nation into change and new beginnings. We must cleanse ourselves of GREED. It is the root and cause of all our national sins. As a country is a representation of its people, the people are a reflection of that nation. As Ethiopians, how have we represented ourselves, and therefore our country?
PRIDE: If curiosity did kill the cat, pride is what has us Ethiopians pondering the afterlife. We are quick to cling to the achievements of our forefathers, and slow to adapt to anything new. We are truly proud people, and that is not all bad, except that in our pride, we have forgotten to actually contribute to the achievement of those who came before us. We are proud to have not been colonized, and yet today, we, more than any other African nation, rely on Western government in the form of foreign aid, famine relief, and debt. As a nation, we are more in debt and behind almost 90% of the countries in Africa in most measurable categories of development. Yet, more aid money goes to our government than to that of any other African Nation. GREED.
ENVY: Those of us in the diaspora, we magnify envy. We are unhappy when someone does something. We are unhappy when someone doesn’t do something. If someone stands up and says something or does something of note, the response from the majority is, “What is he or she trying to prove?” We have programmed ourselves not to be satisfied with anything so we can be envious of everything and everyone.
WRATH: A question I still ask myself: “What is it that we are so mad at each other about?” Hate is a disease. Hate without true cause is a plague. We bully one another, we are power hungry, and worst of all, we steal from the weak. GREED.
SLOTH: Since the majority of us attack those who are doing something, it’s only natural that the same majority would not do anything. Aside from the few who continue their education and try to survive in the West, most of us find easy (lazy) jobs, steal from our workplaces, and live in public housing while cheating government benefits. GREED.
GLUTTONY: In some ways, gluttony is a problem in our community; it is not overeating alone that makes us fat. If we hog resources, if enslave our own people for our personal gain, and we ignore their cry, what have we become? Here is where we have failed to understand our wrongdoing. If you are eating alone after stealing from Ethiopia, you are stealing from your brother and sister. GREED.
LUST: Money has become our secret lust, our “lady in red”. Some have been blinded to the point of no return. They sleep with blood money while they watch children living in sewers, farmers losing their fertile land, and innocent people fleeing the country on foot. GREED.
AVARICE: We have become self-loving, wealth-obsessed Neanderthals. It is this primitive lust of materialistic wealth that has hindered our national development and our individual growth. Need I say more… GREED.
Contrary to poplar believe in our community [“going to school does not necessarily make a person educated, as being poor does not make you uneducated”.]
Despite all of that, all is not doomed. There is hope in the mind of every young child who grows up oppressed and brainwashed that they will one day be educated so that they can recognize the wrong being done to them. Let us be critical when analyzing the educated from the intellectuals; the knowledge of change, new beginning for our nation, must begin with a combination of old and new teaching. It is the intellectuals of their profession who can speak out and evolve the current state of affairs in Ethiopia. Change must be a combination of ideas and actions, crafted from the minds of educated intellectuals, who understand the subject well enough to build a plan capable of surviving the current living and ideological conditions of all Ethiopians in Ethiopia.
The introductory pages of any manifest of Ethiopia’s future must begin with the lives of the poor. Those who are educated must theoretically and in their physical actions view the majority of the country as the heart of both the problem and the solution. Our actions forward must equally involve the views and opinions of those with and without modern institutionalized education. Our financially poor have no formal education; furthermore, their education of honesty, hard work, community sharing, patience and patriotism is being crushed by those of us who seek to teach them our Western ideals, which we view as being superior. A nation is judged by the conditions of the frail and poor, but the answer to the problems facing the same people is the responsibility and duty of those who have been educated.
Institutional education does not make you an intellect; being able to think freely and for yourself makes you an intellect. The source of individual truth is self-education, not the words written by those who choose to educate everyone with the same information, to produce human machines unable to think for themselves. We have institutionally educated ourselves to be ignorant. For one to claim he or she is free, one has to be willing and free to learn and change. We must begin to educate ourselves now!
Let us stop the political rhetoric and tribal idealism. We must educate the poor about current social truths and not political agendas. Knowledge is a gift; let us use it to better the community and ourselves. Without us, there will not be a nation of Ethiopia that is free from global influences. Ethiopia’s next chapter must not be written in political manifestos but in an all-inclusive national ideology. It lies not in democracy and capitalism, but in the underlying freedom of our people.
Even Plato stated in the “Republic”, democracy as a favorite for an unreasonable regime and an ideal means of rule for politicians who could lead by confusing the citizens of a state. In addition he states the rich will remain rich while the poor continue to grow in numbers. Sound like Ethiopia? Let us curb our political ideology and start opening our minds to freethinking.
We must not only wait for civil war to revolutionize our county, or support only armed movements to see social uprising and change. Each and every one of us is responsible and has a place in the change that will come to our nation. Our knowledge is more powerful than a gun. Our love of Ethiopia and all Ethiopians is much more lethal than a bullet.
I am not out to change the world, but I will not sit in silence while my people are being lead to social and economical slaughter. I beg you to ask yourself, “What can I do to constructively change my people?” Question yourself to better understand your purpose and pledge to your country and people. If you are educated, especially in Ethiopia, you have, not only the national but the moral responsibility to speak. Our problem is that many of us attain higher education certificates, but very few of us are truly educated. To use one’s craft to speak and to be heard: that is sacrifice! That is love of one’s country.
If history ever forgives us for what we have done to this country, God will not!
A commentator for British newspaper The Independent laments about the Obama Administration’s hypocritical stand on the Egypt popular uprising in his latest report from Cairo. We heard that some in the Obama administration, such as Vice President Joe Biden, saying that Mubarak should not step aside. Joe Biden went so far as saying that Mubarak is not a dictator (read here). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears to be the only high level official in the U.S. who is having the moral fortitude to speak out in defense of the people of Egypt.
Death throes of a dictatorship in Egypt
The Independent newspaper writer Robert Fisk joins protesters atop a Cairo tank as the army shows signs of backing the people against Mubarak’s regime
By Robert Fisk
CAIRO — The Egyptian tanks, the delirious protesters sitting atop them, the flags, the 40,000 protesters weeping and crying and cheering in Freedom Square and praying around them, the Muslim Brotherhood official sitting amid the tank passengers. Should this be compared to the liberation of Bucharest? Climbing on to an American-made battle tank myself, I could only remember those wonderful films of the liberation of Paris. A few hundred metres away, Hosni Mubarak’s black-uniformed security police were still firing at demonstrators near the interior ministry. It was a wild, historical victory celebration, Mubarak’s own tanks freeing his capital from his own dictatorship.
In the pantomime world of Mubarak himself – and of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Washington – the man who still claims to be president of Egypt swore in the most preposterous choice of vice-president in an attempt to soften the fury of the protesters – Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s chief negotiator with Israel and his senior intelligence officer, a 75-year-old with years of visits to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and four heart attacks to his credit. How this elderly apparatchik might be expected to deal with the anger and joy of liberation of 80 million Egyptians is beyond imagination. When I told the demonstrators on the tank around me the news of Suleiman’s appointment, they burst into laughter.
Their crews, in battledress and smiling and in some cases clapping their hands, made no attempt to wipe off the graffiti that the crowds had spray-painted on their tanks. “Mubarak Out – Get Out”, and “Your regime is over, Mubarak” have now been plastered on almost every Egyptian tank on the streets of Cairo. On one of the tanks circling Freedom Square was a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Beltagi. Earlier, I had walked beside a convoy of tanks near the suburb of Garden City as crowds scrambled on to the machines to hand oranges to the crews, applauding them as Egyptian patriots. However crazed Mubarak’s choice of vice-president and his gradual appointment of a powerless new government of cronies, the streets of Cairo proved what the United States and EU leaders have simply failed to grasp. It is over.
Mubarak’s feeble attempts to claim that he must end violence on behalf of the Egyptian people – when his own security police have been responsible for most of the cruelty of the past five days – has elicited even further fury from those who have spent 30 years under his sometimes vicious dictatorship. For there are growing suspicions that much of the looting and arson was carried out by plainclothes cops – including the murder of 11 men in a rural village in the past 24 hours – in an attempt to destroy the integrity of the protesters campaigning to throw Mubarak out of power. The destruction of a number of communications centres by masked men – which must have been co-ordinated by some form of institution – has also raised suspicions that the plainclothes thugs who beat many of the demonstrators were to blame.
But the torching of police stations across Cairo and in Alexandria and Suez and other cities was obviously not carried out by plainclothes cops. Late on Friday, driving to Cairo 40 miles down the Alexandria highway, crowds of young men had lit fires across the highway and, when cars slowed down, demanded hundreds of dollars in cash. Yesterday morning, armed men were stealing cars from their owners in the centre of Cairo.
Infinitely more terrible was the vandalism at the Egyptian National Museum. After police abandoned this greatest of ancient treasuries, looters broke into the red-painted building and smashed 4,000-year-old pharaonic statues, Egyptian mummies and magnificent wooden boats, originally carved – complete with their miniature crews – to accompany kings to their graves. Glass cases containing priceless figurines were bashed in, the black-painted soldiers inside pushed over. Again, it must be added that there were rumours before the discovery that police caused this vandalism before they fled the museum on Friday night. Ghastly shades of the Baghdad museum in 2003. It wasn’t as bad as that looting, but it was a most awful archeological disaster.
In my night journey from 6th October City to the capital, I had to slow down when darkened vehicles loomed out of the darkness. They were smashed, glass scattered across the road, slovenly policemen pointing rifles at my headlights. One jeep was half burned out. They were the wreckage of the anti-riot police force which the protesters forced out of Cairo on Friday. Those same demonstrators last night formed a massive circle around Freedom Square to pray, “Allah Alakbar” thundering into the night air over the city.
And there are also calls for revenge. An al-Jazeera television crew found 23 bodies in the Alexandria mortuary, apparently shot by the police. Several had horrifically mutilated faces. Eleven more bodies were discovered in a Cairo mortuary, relatives gathering around their bloody remains and screaming for retaliation against the police.
Cairo now changes from joy to sullen anger within minutes. Yesterday morning, I walked across the Nile river bridge to watch the ruins of Mubarak’s 15-storey party headquarters burn. In front stood a vast poster advertising the benefits of the party – pictures of successful graduates, doctors and full employment, the promises which Mubarak’s party had failed to deliver in 30 years – outlined by the golden fires curling from the blackened windows of the party headquarters. Thousands of Egyptians stood on the river bridge and on the motorway flyovers to take pictures of the fiercely burning building – and of the middle-aged looters still stealing chairs and desks from inside.
Yet the moment a Danish television team arrived to film exactly the same scenes, they were berated by scores of people who said that they had no right to film the fires, insisting that Egyptians were proud people who would never steal or commit arson. This was to become a theme during the day: that reporters had no right to report anything about this “liberation” that might reflect badly upon it. Yet they were still remarkably friendly and – despite Obama’s pusillanimous statements on Friday night – there was not the slightest manifestation of hostility against the United States. “All we want – all – is Mubarak’s departure and new elections and our freedom and honour,” a 30-year-old psychiatrist told me. Behind her, crowds of young men were clearing up broken crash barriers and road intersection fences from the street – an ironic reflection on the well-known Cairo adage that Egyptians will never, ever clean their roads.
Mubarak’s allegation that these demonstrations and arson – this combination was a theme of his speech refusing to leave Egypt – were part of a “sinister plan” is clearly at the centre of his claim to continued world recognition. Indeed, Obama’s own response – about the need for reforms and an end to such violence – was an exact copy of all the lies Mubarak has been using to defend his regime for three decades. It was deeply amusing to Egyptians that Obama – in Cairo itself, after his election – had urged Arabs to grasp freedom and democracy. These aspirations disappeared entirely when he gave his tacit if uncomfortable support to the Egyptian president on Friday. The problem is the usual one: the lines of power and the lines of morality in Washington fail to intersect when US presidents have to deal with the Middle East. Moral leadership in America ceases to exist when the Arab and Israeli worlds have to be confronted.
And the Egyptian army is, needless to say, part of this equation. It receives much of the $1.3bn of annual aid from Washington. The commander of that army, General Tantawi – who just happened to be in Washington when the police tried to crush the demonstrators – has always been a very close personal friend of Mubarak. Not a good omen, perhaps, for the immediate future.
So the “liberation” of Cairo – where, grimly, there came news last night of the looting of the Qasr al-Aini hospital – has yet to run its full course. The end may be clear. The tragedy is not over.
Ethiopia under the 20-year-old brutal dictatorship ranks at the bottom on every thing, including in the number of social media usage. A statistics by Socialbakers.com shows (see below) that Facebook penetration in Ethiopia is only 0.28 percent, which is one of the lowest in Africa. Poor African nations such as Rwanda, Malwi and Togo have more Facebook penetration than Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi’s vampire regime is restricting Internet growth in Ethiopia to deny the people access to information, which is a key ingredient for building a free and democratic society. EthiopianReview.com and all other Ethiopian independent news web sites and blogs have been blocked in Ethiopia by Meles. .
Al Arabiya News Channel is reporting that Syrians are getting organized to launch protests against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, in Egypt the army ruled out use of force against civilians as a million people march and general strike are called for tomorrow by opposition groups, according to the BBC.
DUBAI (Al Arabiya) — Thousands of Syrians have joined a Facebook group to call for a protest against their president on Friday, February 4, echoing Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution and Egypt’s Day of Rage on January 25.
The group named “the Syria Revolution 2011,” is planning rallying young people in a march to protest against the Ba’thist regime led by Bashar al-Assad after Friday’s prayer.
The group described al-Assad’s rule as dictatorship and showed torture YouTube videos of political dissident in the country.
The group also called for civil disobedience, and encouraged “all of the brave Syrian youth, from all factions and social classes and from all provinces” to “not be silent about oppression.”
Against ‘revolution’
To counter the group and its plans, a another group was recently formed to support Assad and his regime.
“We love you” said a caption in bold red on the group’s profile which includes a picture of al-Assad.
The pro-Syrian president group called “The Syria Revolution 2011” group as “backward”.
The number of people joining both groups is constantly increasing and includes 6,586 people for “The Syria Revolution 2011” and 6,466 with pro-the Syrian president and his regime.
“One nation, one blood, one leader, one god,” said the pro al-Assad group.
Syria’s late President Hafiz al-Assad initially groomed his elder son Basil al-Assad to be the country’s future president, but Basil died in a car accident
Bashar al-Assad who had few political aspirations and was an ophthalmology graduate, inherited Syria’s presidency after his father’s death in 2000.
In 2007 Bashar was approved president for another seven-year term after he won a vote, in which had no challenger, by 97.6 of the votes, according to official figures.
A far cry from his father’s socialist rule, Bashar opened the country’s market but quashing political dissidents is still taking place.
According to Wiki “in contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an autocratic form of absolute rule by leadership unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state.” That is what we have in Ethiopia. That is what we are used to in Ethiopia. We have never known any other type of system.
Emperor Menilik is considered the father of modern day Ethiopia. He was crowned in 1889 and reined till 1910. His title was Neguse Negest or king of kings. He was followed by Haile Sellasie who acted as a regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1074. His title was “His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Elect of God” (Ge’ez ግርማዊ፡ ቀዳማዊ፡ አፄ፡ ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ፡ ሞዓ፡ አንበሳ፡ ዘእምነገደ፡ ይሁዳ፡ ንጉሠ፡ ነገሥት፡ ዘኢትዮጵያ፡ ሰዩመ፡ እግዚአብሔር; girmāwī ḳadāmāwī ‘aṣē ḫaile śelassie, mō’ā ‘ambassā ze’imneggede yehūda negus negast ze’ītyōṗṗyā, tsehume ‘igzī’a’bihēr)
The French absolute Monarch Louis the XIV of France defined the term when he said L’État, c’est moi (the state, it is me). All power was vested on the individual and the citizen is referred to as a subject.
Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam was the next de facto Emperor. His ascension to power was, as far as I am concerned definitely a freak accident. He was cunning enough to use ruthlessness as a calling card. We witnessed his purges. We became part of his convoluted worldview. We did a lot of harm to each other. Everybody carries a scar. Indifference carries its own baggage too. Colonel Mengistu and his minions abused us till his departure in 1991. If you are keeping count Mengistu precedes Ben Ali of Tunisia as the original deportee from his own country. He was thrown out. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is scheduled to join us the next few days. Frankly I am tired of welcoming tyrants. Hosni rest assured we are in no mood to furl the welcome mat. You are on your own.
Our current leader tormentor Meles Zenawi became President of the Transitional Government from 1991 to 1995 and has been the Prime Minister and kingmaker since 1996. He controls the army, banking thus the economy, the judiciary and the parliament (legislative body). He is the new emperor in a different guise. That is the condensed version of our history of the last one hundred twenty two years.
It looks like we are conditioned to accept the rule of a single individual. We are bred to follow power and authority. Subservient to someone because of age, wealth, education, heredity is part of our DNA. We invite what is known as ‘strong leader.’ We insist on it. The more abusive those leaders are the more our appreciation and respect out of fear.
This abusive relationship is not confined to the political realm alone. It permeates our social and family life too. We allow unscrupulous individuals to climb into position of leadership even in our civic and religious organizations. We know they are up to nothing good but we pretend, ignore and deny. We just wait for the crap to hit the fan and we come out of our hiding place and feign surprise. Our women tolerate their abusive partners; our children suffer under a suffocating and irrational family life.
This ugly trait we cultivate is carried over to the highest office in the land. Our leaders whether Emperors, solders or ordinary garden variety criminals are our own products. We gave birth to them. We coddled them, nurtured them and let them loose on ourselves. It looks like it is not them alone that have to change. We have to change too. We have to learn to respect our selves. We have to believe we deserve the best. How could we demand change when we ourselves are not willing to change? How could we respect strangers when we don’t respect those around us?
Our current Emperor is in a dilemma? We have allowed him to mistreat, abuse and kick us around for the last thirty years or more. He fine-tuned his style of bullying way back when he was an ordinary member of a study group. Now it has gone to his head and I am afraid he does not know the difference between right and wrong. There is no point in psychoanalysis. It is right in front of us for all to see. His habit of resorting to force at the drop of a hat, his tendency to be little others and his show of contempt for those that disagree with him is a glaring example of an individual with no moral compass. You cannot reason with such person.
Let us be clear that any show of good will and compromise is seen as a weakness by such individuals and will be dealt with harshly. Such people are not interested in just wining but require the absolute destruction of their perceived enemy. They get a jolt of adrenalin rush from delivering such a devastating blow. Do we need examples of such behavior? If you insist.
The utter humiliation of comrade in arms Tamrat Laine, the public flogging of Abate Kisho, the imprisonment of the whole clan of Seye Abraha and confiscation of their ill gotten wealth, the harsh treatment of Kinijit leaders and the over forty thousand young people in the aftermath of the 2005 elections and the re imprisonment of Bertukan are symptoms of a sick mind at work. The fact that the ‘leader’ was even keeping tab of Bertukan’s diet and weight is an indication of a very disturbed mind at work.
I dealt with dictatorship because of the current trend of emerging from the yoke of abuse and humiliation in our neighborhood. The example set by Tunisia knows no sign of slowing down. It took Tunisians twenty eight days to topple a twenty-three years old dictatorship. It looks like the Egyptians might do it in less than fifteen days. They were exactly in the same boat like us. Some pundits are trying to show how different we are. I disagree. Our similarities are more than our differences. All three dictators used fear as their potent weapon. All three used excessive force for minor offenses. Murdering, imprisoning or exiling opponents is common to all three. All three economies were on the verge of collapse.
Trying to compare who is the most autocratic between the three misfits is a useless exercise. All three would not blink when it comes to killing to stay in power. Ours is a little primitive due to the backward economic condition of our country. Using ethnic divide, economic disparity or education level is the hallmark of a dictatorship. Nothing-new there.
We learned from Tunisia that the yearning for freedom is a universal wish. We also found out that the people united speak with one loud voice. There was no lamentation regarding the lack of a viable opposition party or leader. No one except Ben Ali and company was worried what would come after the demise of the rotten system. There was no sign of lawless ness because there was a ‘void’. The dictator was sent packing and Tunisians are slowly trying to undo years of mismanagement.
We are learning additional lessons from our Egyptians brothers and sisters. We are beginning to witness the correct approach to dealing with the military. We are finding out the average solder is committed to protecting his country and flag not the tyrant. We are also watching closely the emergence of an independent individual to coordinate the various actors in this drama. Notice that he is someone that is not associated with the dictator or the opposition. It is a very interesting development.
It is a very important and timely lesson for our country. Some would like to scare us with the specter of a military dictatorship upon the demise of TPLF. Egypt is a good example of not looking at the military as a simple tool of the ruling class. It is a living organism with different independent parts not always controlled from the center. When it comes to our country what we see is a beautiful picture. Our job is to build on that discontent and appeal to the good in all of us. We know the Generals and officers are from the ruling ethnic group. Fortunately the ordinary foot solders are just like us. A rainbow of nations and nationalities.
Let us resolve to approach this situation with hope and anticipation of a better tomorrow. Let us ignore the naysayers, the scaremongers and the negative merchants. Our country is ripe for change. Our people are ready for change. Our situation cries out for change. We are going to bring about positive change. We are going to use every available means to help our people and ourselves to emerge as a shining light in East Africa. That is our destiny.
We are in the process of organizing a ‘peaceful occupation’ of Ethiopian Embassy’s all over the world. We are going to use ESAT, Facebook, our independent websites and Ginbot7 short wave radio to gather our forces. Our intention is to show the lack of democracy and civil rights in our ancient land. Our hope is those who are clinging to power will realize change is inevitable and they will see the writing on the wall and go wherever dictators go without a futile attempt to deny reality. We are not into revenge but are committed never to allow the rule of a single individual. We also realize those who still stand with abusers even at the last hour will not receive mercy from us. It is time all decide where they stand at this hour of change. Enough is enough.
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