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Ethiopian Review has been collecting suggestions on potential candidates for the next president of Ethiopia, if there is a free and fair election, and system is presidential, and not the current fake parliamentary. The response has been massive. Within the past 3 days we have received over 170 suggestions, out of which we have prepared a list of 15 candidates. Please vote above by clicking in the small box next to the name of the candidates you prefer. Vote for two candidates: President and Vice-President
As the numerous suggestions prove, Ethiopia is rich with able individuals who are well qualified to govern the country better than the current genocidal murderer in power. Meles Zenawi and gang are not governing the country. They are destroying Ethiopia piece by piece.
The candidates are from divers background — age, gender, ethnic, education, and profession wise. We would have liked to see more women in the list.
After you vote, please explain in the comment box below your reasons for the choice you made — campaign for your candidate.
Criminals such as Meles Zenawi and traitors such as Hailu Shawel have been disqualified from the list.
President Isaias Afwerki’s name came up several times. We could not include him in the list for the obvious reason. Let him confederate Ethiopia and Eritrea and he will be every one’s first choice. It’s within his power to do it.
Investment from China and other Asian countries was an important factor in several years of unprecedented growth in Africa before the global downturn hit.
It is very much seen as a critical driver for Africa’s future growth prospects as well.
China has repeatedly emphasised its commitment to Africa through the global troubles and is emerging even more solidly implanted on the continent now. Other Asian countries are also pushing hard, as a recent high-level Indian visit showed.
As one of the main links between Africa and Asia, Ethiopian Airlines offers an interesting indicator as to how the ties have held up and are expected to grow.
Early last year it was talking of cuts, but it is now at 14 flights a week to China and 12 to India. It is planning flights to more destinations in both countries.
Unlike many airlines elsewhere, it also managed to double its profits in its last business year.
Picture: A visitor walks past a map of Africa at the African Development Bank meeting in China in 2007. REUTERS/ Aly Song
Dear President Obama: I am writing this to you on behalf of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), a grassroots social justice movement whose mission is to mobilize Ethiopians in the Diaspora and within Ethiopia to unite across ethnic, regional, political and religious lines to confront the current system of injustice, repression and human rights abuses being carried out by the dictatorial regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and to bring about a more open, free and reconciled society in Ethiopia.
Our foundational principles are “putting humanity before ethnicity,” or any other distinctions– valuing all humankind—and standing up for the universal values of freedom, justice and respect for the human rights of others for “no one will be free until all are free.”
The looming crisis in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa can no longer be ignored or addressed through “behind-closed-doors” quiet diplomacy. Such diplomacy has essentially covered up the evil actions of one of the most repressive and brutal regimes in Africa. Peace and stability in the Horn will be impossible while he is in power even while millions are spent in its pursuit.
Meles is an “African strongman” and deserves, at least, the same approach as Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. The preferential treatment being given to this dictator, while condemning others for doing the same thing, is wrong. It will only further alienate the Ethiopian people and become a repeat of the mistakes of the past administrations.
The “dreams of our fathers” were for Africans to live in peace, harmony and with better opportunity; but unfortunately, American and Western foreign policies are now blocking Ethiopians from realizing these dreams by propping up this regime through huge amounts of financial and military aid as well as by protecting this regime’s “image” by not exposing their real nature. We do not expect your administration to do the work for us, but we do ask that free countries in the West stop being an obstacle to the democratic struggle of the people of Ethiopia.
Mr. President, you must choose between investing in the people or aligning with a so-called “US partner in our War on Terror” who is stirring up deep problems within Ethiopia. The damage being done by this regime within Ethiopia and the antagonism that most Ethiopians feel towards it and its supporters, may come back to undermine longer-term American national interests in the region.
Will your administration speak out loudly and clearly about the lack of democratic process in Ethiopia, about the pervasive politicization of justice and opportunity or about the gross violations of human rights that led to the referral of the case of Ethiopia to the International Criminal Court for investigation into multiple charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes? Will your administration call PM Meles Zenawi exactly what he is, a dictator who is terrorizing and repressing Ethiopia?
There is a short window of opportunity where such open support would make a dramatic difference to future relationships with the people of Ethiopia and that is now, within the next five months leading up to the Ethiopian National election. This is an opportunity to avert a possible crisis in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa by taking concrete steps to support the spread of freedom in the Horn of Africa, one of the most conflicted regions of the world. A free Ethiopia will make as much difference in bringing peace to this inter-related region as a brutal and conniving dictator has brought unrest to the region through fomenting division, conflict, violence and the radicalization of future terrorists.
Thus far, your administration’s policies, the same as during the Bush administration, have not shown support to this democratic movement of the Ethiopian people; nor has it helped to build democratic institutions like done in Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia and other places where the US empowered and funded them in the past. Even funding decisions made by the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC, which are influenced by the US State Department, along with other funders of democracy building, have either ignored Ethiopia or have given their funds to mostly Meles controlled look-alike organizations rather than to genuine democracy building non-governmental organizations and institutions who are truly committed to democratic principles. At the same time, many in the West have justified their alliance with a dictator as resulting from the lack of any other more viable alternative; however, Meles is determined to destroy any such alternatives and the West is unwilling to either condemn him for doing it or to invest in building up any such alternatives.
Instead, we only see a passive approach by your administration and this is the reason we are sending this letter to you. We know you must represent American national interests, but is it not possible to establish a relationship based on mutual respect that does not exploit the freedom, assets or lives of the other? We care about the future of Ethiopian citizens just like you care about the national interests of Americans. Can there not be some kind of mutually beneficial partnerships?
If US support of this TPLF regime is about AFRICOM being built in Ethiopia, the people of Ethiopia need to know. If your administration does this behind the backs of the people and the people are suffering as a result, the foundation will be on sand. If your administration is supporting Meles to root out terrorists while we are victims of internal terrorism, you are in the wrong and such a policy will eventually backfire. You should instead engage the people in this struggle; for we also yearn for peace in Ethiopia and in the Horn of Africa. It is our home and it matters more to us than to anyone that terrorism be stopped.
How can you hope that the Ethiopian regime you are supporting can actually bring about peace to America and the West through someone like Meles? Is Somalia or the Ogaden in southeastern Ethiopia going to be more free of terrorists or will it end up becoming more radicalized because of the tactics used—the alleged killing of some 20,000 or more civilians, the widespread starvation and displacement of the people, the burning of homes and crops, the widespread rape of women, the killing of livestock and the poisoning of their wells?
How does this build a better future for any of us? Meles’ actions, were they to occur here in the United States, could even radicalize farmers in Bismarck, North Dakota, teachers in Chicago, business owners in Dallas, scientists in Nebraska and stay- at- home moms in Oregon.
Your foreign policies in Ethiopia do not reflect the values of most Americans who may end up experiencing more anti-west sentiment because of them; however, few know the real story about what is going on because the press has been mostly silent. Why? Will your administration make a change we can believe in?
The Horn is full of life and people who are extending their hands to you and your administration. Will you reach outward to clasp their hands in yours? If your administration really wants an alliance with partners who can work with you for the improvement of sustainable peace in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, it has to be with the people.
We are speaking as Ethiopian Americans, who desire the same kinds of values, democracy, freedom and rule of law in Ethiopia that many of us have sought by coming to America and other western countries. We want to find peace, safety and security like anyone else and want to be part of the solution of ending terrorism in Ethiopia and the Horn. Most of us want this through peaceful means; using the ballot rather than the bullet; however, our efforts are being sabotaged.
In May of 2005, over a million Ethiopians came out in Addis Ababa to rally for “this change they could believe in.” It was one of the most peaceful rallies in Africa; no one was killed and no windows were broken. When the election took place, 26 millions came out to vote, but the election was stolen by Meles. When the people protested for their God-given rights and universal principles of justice, Meles’ security forces shot and killed 193 unarmed protesters. Over 50,000 protesters were arrested and detained. Opposition leaders were later imprisoned. All of this hardly made the news in America and the previous administration failed to make any public statement condemning the government’s actions. The silence acted as an endorsement, legitimizing and strengthening the unelected prime minister and his TPLF party.
Right now, the first woman to lead a major Ethiopian political party and also one of the most popular opposition leaders in Ethiopia, Ms. Birtukan Mideksa, is a prisoner of conscience. Other opposition leaders are being intimidated and harassed and the media is totally closed to anyone but the government. No one expects this coming election to be free and fair; yet, if Ethiopians are faced with another five years of tyranny, the already simmering anger and tensions may erupt into widespread violence, destabilizing Ethiopia and possibly the entire Horn.
Will your administration or others in the West support a democratic movement in Ethiopia or not? Truthfully, we are not hopeful, as history shows that the strongest countries of this world have repeatedly abused Africa; where they have economically flourished by working through African dictators to secure African resources even if it means trampling on the rights or selling out on the lives and futures of Africans. Some, who believe in the God-given inherent worth of all people, including Africans, have stood against the slavery of the past, but how about new variations of the same?
These are the greatest moral issues of our time. If we use the highest ideals in our rhetoric; yet, in the realpolitik of action, we betray the weaker in our global society simply because we are economically and militarily more powerful and can get away with it, history will judge us. In respect to Ethiopia, this has happened before.
In 1935, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations to take mandated action against Mussolini’s Italy for military aggression carried out against Ethiopians in an obscure desert region of southeastern Ethiopia.
Ironically, both Ethiopia and Italy were members of the League, formed with the explicit mission of protecting its membership against such aggression; first with sanctions and then with military intervention; however, at the first challenge, the League caved in to its ideals, showing that the interests of the most powerful came first. [1]
Fearing they would antagonize the Italian dictator when they felt they needed his support against Hitler, they sacrificed Ethiopia; only making superficial and toothless attempts to stop Italy. Their betrayal of the League of Nation’s expressed ideals emboldened Hitler to advance against them.
While the international community lost their political will to intervene in Ethiopia, in a Times magazine article from July 22, 1935 [2], it was reported that many African-Americans joined in the fight against Mussolini; even boycotting Italian gin in the cities of America, connecting “…every shorty [nip] of gin bought from Italian saloon-keepers” with “bullets bought by Mussolini to slaughter our brothers in Africa!”As the League of Nations chose their own national interests over their commitment to collective security of each other, they lifted even the very weak sanctions from Italy.
In response to this betrayal, Emperor Haile Selassie spoke these words; “I pray to Almighty God that he shall spare to the nations the terrible sufferings that have just been inflicted on my people…It is international morality that is at stake…should it happen that a strong government finds that it may with impunity destroy a small people, then the hour strikes for that weak people to appeal to the League to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment…I must still hold on until my tardy allies appear. If they never come, then I say prophetically and without bitterness: “the West will perish.”
Mr. President, the “fierce urgency of the now” is a moral crisis which will define the identity of who America is; not only in 2010, but in the future. Ethiopia is one of the arenas where this moral struggle is being played out. Will the US choose to follow the ideals upon which America and the West were founded or will America and the West desert its moral convictions, emboldening new terrorists as the entire world loses some of its strongest proponents for humankind? Weakened convictions make for weakened moral resolve and such resolve is the glue that holds in place a more secure global future.
The betrayal of Ethiopia in 1936 may not have seemed significant at the time, but it helped weaken the forces of good, forces that needed all their strength to face the onslaught of the coming years. Which side will your administration and others in the West choose—dictators or the people? What it at stake now may be more than we realize!
We look forward to your response and hope that we Ethiopians can build a true partnership based on mutual values, trust and respect.
Respectfully yours,
Obang Metho
Executive Director
Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia
PO Box 50561
Arlington, VA 22205
Phone: (202) 725-1616
Email: [email protected] www.solidaritymovement.org
This Letter has been CC to:
Vice President, Mr. Joseph Biden
Secretary Hilary Clinton, Department of State
Secretary Robert Gates, Department of Defense
General James Jones, National Security Advisor
Senator John Kerry, Chairman on Foreign Relations
Senator Richard G. Lugar, Ranking Member
House of Representatives, Donald Payne, Chairman on Africa
_______
[1] Information provided in the book, Why Europe Fights, by Walter Mills, 1940 (pages 124-152)
[2] Time magazine, International: Ethiopia’s Week, Monday, July 22, 1935
“Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive,” said Sir Walter Scott, the novelist and poet. Is there “famine” in Ethiopia, or not? Are large numbers of people “starving” there, or not? Is convulsive hunger a daily reality for the majority of Ethiopians, or not?
Ethiopian famine map
No one wants to use the “F” word to describe the millions of starving Ethiopians. In August 2008, the head of the dictatorship in Ethiopia flatly denied the existence of famine in a Time Magazine interview. Meles Zenawi explained, “Famine has wreaked havoc in Ethiopia for so long, it would be stupid not to be sensitive to the risk of such things occurring. But there has not been a famine on our watch – emergencies, but no famines.” Last week, the dictatorship’s “Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development”, Mitiku Kassa, reacting defensively to the latest Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNET) projections, was equally adamant: “In the Ethiopian context, there is no hunger, no famine… It is baseless [to claim famine], it is contrary to the situation on the ground. It is not evidence-based. The government is taking action to mitigate the problems.” This past October, Kassa claimed everything was under control because his government has launched a food security program to “enable chronic food insecure households attain sufficient assets and income level to get out of food insecurity and improve their resilience to shocks… and halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.”
But there is manifestly a “silent” famine and a “quiet” hunger haunting the land under Zenawi’s “watch.” In April, 2009, Zenawi gave an interview to David Frost of Al Jazeera in which he openly admitted that famine is rearing its ugly head once again in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. Frost asked: “Is there any danger that as a result of this [current] crises there could be famine like there was famine in 1984?” Zenawi responded:
Well, the famine of 1984 was precipitated by drought in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa in general. The famine that could emerge as a result of this [current] crises is likely to be silent across the continent in terms of not swaths of territory that are drought affected but people suffering hunger quietly across the continent. That is the most likely scenario as I see it.
So, if the famine Horseman of the Apocalypse is haunting Ethiopia and the continent, “silently” and “quietly”, why are we not sounding the alarm, ringing the bells and hollering for bloody help? Why are we quiet about the “quiet” hunger and silent about the “silent” famine enveloping Ethiopia today? Why?
It is mind-boggling that no one is making a big deal about the fact that famine and hunger are back in the saddle once more in Ethiopia. Ethiopians need help, and they need a lot of it fast and now. Of course, nothing more depressing than the sight, smell and experience of famine and hunger. For the second part of the 20th Century, much of the world believed the words “Ethiopia” and “famine” were synonymous. But it is unconscionable and criminal for officials to avoid using the “F” word to describe the forebodingly bleak food situation in Ethiopia today because they are concerned it would cast a “negative image” on them. Even the international experts have joined the local officials in boycotting the use of the “F” word. Just last week, the U.S.-funded FEWSNET declared that the majority of Ethiopians will be facing “food insecurity” (not hunger, not starvation, not famine) in the next six months. According to FEWSNET, because of poor harvests from the summer rains in 2009
as well as poor water availability and pasture regeneration in northern pastoral zones” [and coupled]with two consecutive poor belg cropping seasons… high staple food prices, poor livestock production, and reduced agricultural wages, [there will be an] elevated food insecurity over the coming six months [particularly in the] eastern marginal cropping areas in Tigray, Amhara, and Oromia, pastoral areas of Afar and northern and southeastern Somali region, Gambella region, and most low-lying areas of southern and central SNNPR…. In most areas of the country, food insecurity during the first half of 2010 is projected to be significantly worse than during the same period in 2009… Food security in eastern marginal cropping areas will likely deteriorate even further between July and September 2010. Overall, humanitarian assistance needs are expected to be very high.
Is it not a low-down dirty shame for international organizations, political leaders, officials and bureaucrats to use euphemisms to hide the ugly truth about famines and mass-scale hunger? These heartless crooks have invented a lexicography, a complete dictionary of mumbo-jumbo words and phrases to conceal the public fact that large numbers of people in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa are dying simply because they have nothing or very little food to eat. They talk about “food insecurity ”, “food scarcity”, “food insufficiency”, “food deprivation”, “severe food shortages”, “chronic dietary deficiency”, “endemic malnutrition” and so on just to avoid using the “F” word. FEWSNET has invented a ridiculous system of neologism (new words) to describe hungry people. Accordingly, there are people who are generally food secure, moderately food insecure, highly food insecure, extremely food insecure and those facing famine (see map above). Translated into ordinary language, these nonsensical categories seem to equate those who eat once a day as generally food secure, followed by the moderately secure who eat one meal every other day, the highly insecure who eat once every three days, the extremely insecure who eat once a week, and those in famine who never eat and therefore die from lack of food.
For crying out loud, what is wrong with calling a spade a spade!? Why do officials and experts beat around the bush when it comes to talking about hunger as hunger, starvation as starvation and famine as famine? Do they think they can sugarcoat the piercing pangs of hunger, the relentless pain of starvation and the total devastation of famine with sweet bureaucratic words and phrases?
As officials and bureaucrats quibble over which fancy words and phrases best describe the dismal food situation, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians are dying from plain, old fashioned hunger, starvation and famine. The point is there is famine in Ethiopia. One could disagree whether there are pockets of famine or large swaths of famine-stricken areas. One could argue whether 4.9, 6, 16 or 26 million people are affected by it. But there is no argument that there is famine; and this is not a matter for speculation, conjecture or exaggeration. It can be verified instantly. Let the international press go freely into the “drought affected” and “food insecure” areas and report what they find. For at least the past two years, they have been banned from entering these areas. Is there any doubt that they would reveal irrefutable evidence of famine on the scale of 1984-85 if they were allowed free access to these areas?
Obviously, it is embarrassing for a regime wafting on the euphoria of an “11 percent economic growth over the past 6 years” to admit famine. It is bad publicity for those claiming runaway economic growth to admit millions of their citizens are in the iron grip of a runaway famine. If the “F” word is used, then the donors would start asking questions, relief agencies would be scurrying to set up feeding stations, the international press would be demanding accountability and all hell could break loose. That is why the dictatorship in Ethiopia reacts reflexively and defensively whenever the “F” word is mentioned. They froth at the mouth condemning the international press for making “baseless” claims of famine, and castigate them for perpetuating “negative images” of the country merely because the international press insists on finding out verifiable facts about the food situation in the country. The fact of the matter is that unless action is not taken soon to openly and fully admit that large swaths of the Ethiopian countryside are in a state of famine, we should soon expect to see splattered across the globe’s newspapers pictures of Ethiopian infants with distended bellies, the skeletal figures of their nursing mothers and the sun-baked remains of the aged and the feeble on the parched land.
Denial of famine by totalitarian and dictatorial regimes is nothing new. During 1959-61, nearly 30 million Chinese starved to death in Mao’s Great Leap Forward program which uprooted millions of Chinese from the countryside for industrial production. Mao never acknowledged the existence of famine, nor did he make a serious effort to secure foreign food aid. Ironically, the Chinese Revolution had promised the peasants an end to famine. The Soviet Famines of 1921 and 1932-3 are classic case studies in official failure to prevent famine.
Why is it so difficult for dictatorships and other non-democratic systems to admit famine, make it part of the public discussion and debate and unabashedly seek help? Part of it has to do with image maintenance. Official admission of famine is the ultimate proof of governmental ineptitude and depraved indifference to the suffering of the people. But there is a more compelling explanation for dictators not to admit famine conditions in their countries. It has to do with a fundamental disconnect between the dictators and their subjects. As Nobel laureate Amartya Sen argued,
The direct penalties of a famine are borne by one group of people and political decisions are taken by another. The rulers never starve. But when a government is accountable to the local populace it too has good reasons to do its best to eradicate famines. Democracy, via electoral politics, passes on the price of famines to the rulers as well.
An examination of the history of famine in Ethiopia lends support to Sen’s theory. Emperor Haile Selassie lost his crown and life over famine in the early 1970s. He said he was just not aware of it. The military junta’s (Derg) denied there was famine in 1984/85 while it waged war and experimented with the long-discredited practice of collectivized agriculture. That famine accelerated the downfall of the Derg. The current dictators have opted to remain willfully blind, deaf and mute to the “silent” famine and “quiet” hunger that are destroying the people.
The official response to famines in Ethiopia over the past four decades has followed a predictable pattern: Step 1: Never plan to prevent famine. Step 2: Deny there is famine when there is famine. Step 3: Condemn and vilify anyone who sounds the early alarm warning on famine. Step 4: Admit “severe food shortages” (not famine) and blame the weather, and God for not sending rain. Step 5: Make frantic international emergency calls and announce that hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians are dying from famine. Step 6: Guilt-trip Western donors into providing food aid. Step 7: Accuse and vilify Western donors for not providing sufficient food aid and blame them for a runaway famine. Step 8: Tell the world they knew nothing about a creeping famine until it suddenly hit them like a thunderbolt. Step 9: Put on an elaborate dog-and-pony show about their famine relief efforts. Step 10: Go back to step 1. This has been the recurrent pattern of famine response in Ethiopia: Always too little, too late.
The fact of the matter is that famines are entirely avoidable as Sen has argued with substantial empirical evidence.
Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort. Not surprisingly, while India continued to have famines under British rule right up to independence … they disappeared suddenly with the establishment of a multiparty democracy and … a free press and an active political opposition constitute the best early-warning system a country threaten by famines can have.
There is another question that needs to be answered in connection with the “severe food shortages” in Ethiopia. Why are millions of fertile hectares of land under “lease” or sold outright to foreigners to feed millions continents away when millions of Ethiopians are starving? To paraphrase Sen, such a thing would be unthinkable in a functioning multiparty democracy!
With no pun intended, the “breadcrumbs” of famine (or as they euphemistically call it the “early warning signs”) are plain to see. There have been successive crop failures and poor rainfall; water availability is limited and staple food prices are soaring; livestock production is poor as is pasture regeneration. Deforestation, land degradation, overpopulation, pestilence and disease are widespread in the land. If it quacks like a duck, swims like a duck and walks like a duck, it is famine!
If those whose duty is to sound the alarm and get help are not willing to do their part, it is the moral responsibility and duty of every Ethiopian and compassionate human being anywhere to create public awareness of Ethiopia’s creeping famine and call for HELP! HELP! HELP!
“There has never been a famine in a functioning multiparty democracy.” Amartya Sen
(Alemayehu G. Mariam, is a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. He writes a regular blog on The Huffington Post, and his commentaries appear regularly on Pambazuka News and New American Media.)
A holiday greetings that was posted here earlier this week from Prof. Ephraim Isaac, a world renowned Ethiopian scholar, has generated some harsh criticisms and even insults. Many of the criticisms point out that the professor has not been speaking out against the Woyanne junta’s brutality against the people of Ethiopia. Some have also expressed anger that Prof. Ephraim did not support HR 2003.
It seems a lot of Ethiopians have misunderstood Prof. Ephraim’s recent involvements in mediating the release of political prisoners in Ethiopia and his approach to finding solutions for the political crisis.
I have known Prof. Ephraim personally for over 16 years and known about him much longer than that. He is one of the most honorable Ethiopians I have ever met in my life. I disagree with him on how he approaches the problems in Ethiopia. I believe that good people must speak out against evil. It would have been great for a person of his caliber to expose the unspeakable crimes that are being committed by the Woyanne junta in Ethiopia. His approach is different and has been consistent through out his life. He believes in mediation and reconciliation than exposition of injustice. He believes that for mediation to work, mediators should not take side or criticize any one. In traditional Ethiopian mediation, shimagilwoch (elders) who engage in shimgilina (mediation) do not point out the wrong doings of either party to the other. Instead they focus on forgiveness and reconciliation.
Such elders among past generations of Ethiopians were highly respected citizens. Elders were able to prevent wars and clashes between ethnic and religious groups in Ethiopia for centuries.
From all the unfair criticisms directed at Prof. Ephraim, it seems that the role of elders (shimagilewoch) has no respect any more in today’s Ethiopia. That is a tragedy by itself.
What makes Prof. Ephraim uniquely qualified as an elder and mediator is that he never utters any negative word about any one. It is not in his nature to do that. He is in good terms with every government, political party and leader in the Horn of Africa.
Just because he doesn’t talk in public about the human rights abuse and political prisoners in Ethiopia, it doesn’t mean he is not concerned. His own brother died in Woyanne prison several years ago as a political prisoner. A close friend of the professor told me a while ago that when Woyanne officials asked him why he didn’t tell them about his brother, his response was “how can I talk about my brother when there are thousands of others like him who are also in jail? All of them are my brothers.” He appealed to them to release all those who are unjustly imprisoned.
Individuals like Prof. Ephraim Isaac have an important role in any society, but particularly in a traumatized nation such as ours. Every body cannot be an activist or a freedom fighter. I personally cannot be like the professor. The role I chose for myself is to expose injustice, not to try to reconcile with perpetrators of crimes against humanity. I believe genocidal criminals like Meles and Bereket should be hanged in a public square. Prof. Ephraim’s approach is different, but it is a necessary one. When we acquire more guns than Woyanne, we need a mediator to talk Meles and gang into signing our terms of surrender.
I grew up during the reign of the Emperor. Everybody was afraid of HIM. Then came the Colonel and we had nothing but contempt for him. He was an impostor of no consequence. A rude chapter in our glorious past. Now we are stuck with yet another dictator of questionable deeds. He kills to gain respect. We neither respect him nor are we afraid of him. Our contempt has runnth over.
Chairman Bertukan, you are different. Thinking about you is a very confusing process. Sadness is the first emotion that grips you. The sadness is not for you. The sadness is for all of us. The living dead. The bystanders. The big liars. We pretend to care but we avoid to act. አስመሳዮች፣እግዚኦ ይባል፣
What do you think of us? I know you love us. Isn’t that why they locked you up? That is not such a crazy notion is it? Not really. They jailed you because they are threatened by the love and respect showed to you by the Ethiopian people. You managed to put the cadres in a big quandary. They can’t leave you alone but they can’t lock you up either. That is what you call a problem of Talmudic proportion. Cadre brain is overloaded and shows signs of overheating hence the pungent smoke. That is too much work for collective pea brain. We are talking milliwatts here. It is obvious. The odor of fear has gripped Arat Kilo.
There is a flurry of activity around the world regarding you. You have managed to stay current. You will be surprised by the amount of interest you have raised regarding the lack of freedom in Ethiopia. Your cause has been heard by non other than the US Congress. Your supporters in the US thank Congressman Donald Payne for championing the cause of freedom in the land of his ancestors. Congressman Chris Smith is another friend of Ethiopia. They fought hard for you. I am sure you remember the Hon. Ana Gomez member of the European Parliament. She is still committed to our cause. They have locked you in a dark room but as Abebe said you are a ‘Super Nova”. They say a super nova outshines an entire galaxy. That is what you have done. Amnesty International has declared you to be an important person to fight for. Human Right Watch has issued an alert regarding your condition. You are the Aung San Suu Kyi of Ethiopia.
I saved it for last. The most important people in this equation, your fellow citizens, they are in the fore front of keeping your name, your spirit, and your strong as iron principles in the lime light. There were memorials held in all six continents. Your scattered brethren rejoiced in your memory. It is never a sad event; rather it was a celebration of your leadership. Your resolve in the face of injustice, your cool demeanor under testing circumstances filled all of us with hope.
Your party and old friends informed the city of Addis Ababa their intentions to hold a candle light ceremony to commemorate your illegal incardination. Guess what, the City of Addis Ababa has sold the right to Meskel Square to a different entity. No one knows who the current owner of Meskel square is, thus the memorial was left in limbo. May be EFFORT owns it now. We will know when we see a tool booth to go to Bole. But the memorial was held. It was held in the hearts of Ethiopians all over. No one can stop that can they? The more they try the stronger our resistance.
I read the story on Ethiopia Zare web site (http://www.ethiopiazare.com/the-news/1-latest-news/712-birtukan-mideksa0 it was an insight into the complete brutality of the regime. It confirms the lawless nature of society under TPLF. It is nothing to shrug off. Your family, friends and supporters showed up Saturday morning to see you. They were told by the police/prison guard/ TPLF cadre that your allotted visiting hours was from 6PM to 7PM. When they showed up at 6 they were told you were not allowed visitors. Somehow they were granted a favor by allowing you to see your mother and daughter. Forty minutes was what you were allowed to be with your daughter and mother. Your four years old daughter was allowed 40 minutes to hold, kiss and talk to you. This is the enemy we are dealing with. Irrational, cruel inhuman and very petty.
The report said ሓሌ Hale cried on the way out. Actually she wailed like ‘an adult’ is what it said. She is surounded by loving family and a praying nation. Out of the four years of her life she has only spent one year with you. It must be hard on her. We all feel your family’s pain. Your strength is what keeps us going. I told you we are the weakest link. We feed of your resolve. We hear you are on hunger strike. The guards say you return the food sent to you. We worry but we understand.
This is the second time the dictator has jailed you. It looks like you have threatened him to the core. His emotions betray him when it come to you and Dr. Berhanu. His alpha male status is what he got going for him. You guys seem to ratlle that. His utterings regarding you betrays his deep emotions.There was a time when he refferd to you as ‘gelesbua’ ግለስቫ It was the perioed of denial. Nowdays he calls you by your first name. No Chairman Bertukan, no Judge Bertukan not even Weizero Bertukan. You are just plain Bertukan. Is that good? Does he think of you as a friend? Well I am sure that is not a good thing. He is considered highly toxic when it comes to friendship. The highway is litered with the dead and decapitated remains of his former friends. I have noticed you always refer to him as the PM but he does not seem to recogonize your title. I wonder why? Specially since you earned that title democratically.
Do you guys know each other? The Seye affair was classic Bertukan. Defiant! You forced him to show his dictatorial card. Changing the law to fit the crime is classic. And to do it in one weekend is just an increadable feat. That couldl easly qualify him for the dictators hall of fame.
I know he is familiar with Dr. Berhanu. I am sure he does not like him. He can’t silence him. He can’t even jail him but he wants to excuite him. Who said he lacks a sense of humor.
So you are in jail, Dr. Berhanu is awaiting the firing squad and Hailu Shawel is in Mekele campaigning. I saw Hailu’s video and I just sat there. All I could think is Meles got a new pet to play with. That must be his X-Mas present from Azeb. I guess he got tired of Ledetu. Use and discard, that is the Woyane way. Who needs recycling when you have so many hodams. I also noticed it was an orderly crowed wheras the attempt by your party to hold a meeting in Nazret was nothing but embarrassaing. I guess it is ok to speak Amharic in Mekele but not in Nazret. Poor Hailu was let loose in a sea of cadres. At long last he is with his kind. They must have have been laughing their ass off. The new freak is in town. The show will be screened for the ferenjis you can be sure of that.
The ferenjis are another matter. The US, Britain and Germany are at their old game again. The Chinese and even the Indians are enablers too. It has nothing to do with color, it is all about national interest. The only problem here is who is looking after our interest? I have some bad news for you. A few of our own people are part of the problem. They are anti woyane in public and investors at night. This holiday season while you are in kaliti they are dancing with the Sheik at the Shearton. Feeble minds are dangerous. Hodams are a curse. I am sure they present all sorts of theories and justifications for their betrayal. No matter, it is shameful, disgusting and short lived.
Do you think the regime is threatened a little less because you are in jail? Or do you think you guys are a shot across the bow. It is meant to be a warning. አባይን በጭልፋ( Nile with a spoon) is what comes to mind. It wouldn’t work. The contempt of the Ethiopian people twards TPLF/EPDRF and other garbage is such that nothing will stop the coming tsunami of rage. Since the dawn of time dictators have tried every immaginable method to rule by force. None have worked. That need of the human soul to be free is woven in our DNA. When we are free we thrive. Look at all the Ethiopians building a successful life where ever they have settled. We are no different from our cousins back home. We are just free to soar like an eagle.
We wish you a happy holiday. Your sacrifice is not in vain. Your people are waking up. The woyane game has run its course. There is no turning back. Your courageous stand is not about winning but it is all about doing what is right and moral. Winning will come. There is no question about that. Our wish and our prayer is to give all of us the strength to withstand this time of trial so our people and country will survive woyane madness.
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Investment from China and other Asian countries was an important factor in several years of unprecedented growth in Africa before the global downturn hit.
