Most locations are just bland places. There is not much variation in the topography. Look at Google satellite map of Africa and you will see what I mean. Endless flat land, a stretch of desert, an occasional river or a few hills is the norm. Our Ethiopia is different. In the North we have the Semen Mountains rearing high as if trying to reach heaven. With their rugged nature and sharp escarpments they kept us safe for centuries. They were our natural defense. The North is keeper of our old history. With its exotic monasteries, ancient obelisks it is here Jesus walked and Mohamed (may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) sent his family for safety.
In the East our low lands are as fierce as the warriors they give birth to. There is no place lower than Afar depression on mother Earth. Loo and behold today it is considered the birthplace of the Human race. It is here mankind is thought to have become bipedal.
The West is where the mighty Nile flows with our water and soil to nurture that other civilization in the land of the Pharos and the great pyramids. It is also home to the famous tropical forests of Gambella and every animal life one can think of. With its lush landscape and colorful people this is where man feels one with nature.
The South is where God took his sweet time to create paradise. Who would deny that after visiting the Rift Valley? The lakes of Langano, Shala and Hawasa, the caves of Wolayeta, the natural splendor of Arba Minch, the hot springs of Wondo Genet make a grownup cry with joy. Our creator blessed us with beauty and wealth when he made our home.
The South is also where God’s curse has befallen us for all our sins. He sent us Meles Zenawi to teach us the price of vanity. I am really sorry to write in such a way in this week of Easter. But truth has to be told. Meles Zenawi is a curse on the land of the Habeshas. Such venomous hate one might say. I believe I am entitled to that. For twenty years the regime has rained death and destruction on our land and people. I am not imaging it. All what I say is verifiable fact and recorded history. Spare me your tolerance and indignation please. You wouldn’t think that if you stand in the shoes of the discarded and displaced.
You see my friend our TPLF leaders grew up isolated and alone in their little hamlets up north. There was no diversity. To Adwa and vicinity as Gertrude Stein will say ‘there is no there, there.’ That is why when they conquered our country they did not know what to do with the South. The diversity confounded our warriors. They know that they hated the Amhara, they loathed the Oromo, they were not really concerned about the Afar, the Gambellan, or the Somali but the South was a foreign land to our northern warriors. That is why when they created the Bantustans they lumped all the Southerners into one big bowl and named it ‘Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region.’ What a defangled name is what comes to mind when you hear this twisted designation.
The South is where TPLF asserted total control unlike in the other Bantustans. The South is where Meles Zenawi exercises his renowned divide and rule principles as an art. TPLF arrived with ready-made political Parties for every Bantustan they created. Local faces were chosen from the prisoners of war they have acquired during their struggle. The puppets were already versed in accepting their TPLF masters as the final word on any and all issues. Thus all the local boys were assigned a baby sitter or a minder from Adwa. The South has Abate Kisho a Sidama with Bitew Belay as the real power. Corporal Kuma Demeksa of Oromia was taken under the wing of Solomon Tsimo and Hilawi Yesuf lorded it over Addisu Legesse in the Amhara Bantustan.
Abate Kisho was a simple sports teacher from the town of Leku near Yirgalem. He was not at all ready for prime time and it showed. He even has the audacity to side with one faction over the other during the TPLF drama. It was pathetic to see Meles haul his ass to jail with some trumped up charge. The current Foreign Minster replaced him as the new toy. By 2001 the Sidama people were becoming hip to this patronizing practice and demanded a certain amount of autonomy or self-administration as granted by the Constitution. Meles replied with tough love and sent his Agazi forces to teach them a lesson. Even the US State Department noted this wanton murder of unarmed protesters in Hawasa. Melese Marimo the vice president and perpetrator of this crime was rewarded for his ordering of the massacre by being sent to South Africa as an Ambassador, of course with the First Secretary a TPLF cadre in charge. That is the normal operating procedure in all the Embassies.
The issue percolated and during the election of 2005 the Southerners answered by siding with CUD (Kinijit) and were able to trounce the regime’s candidates. In 2006 Meles convened a meeting in Hawasa and was able to mollify the locals with some bizarre actions. The renaming of ‘Southern University’ to ‘Hawasa University’ was seen as a triumph of Sidama assertiveness. The current puppet Shiferaw Shigute was crowned as the new face of Southern independence. Abate Kisho was released from Federal prison and sent back home poor but alive and a good symbol of what could happen when natives fill their head with funny notion of being equal.
Of course the raping and pillage of the south continued unabated. There was no stone left unturned to cultivate animosity between the different tribes and keep them at each others throat. The Sidamas were made to compete with the Wolaitas, the Siltes were divorced from the Gurages, and the Konsos were made to envy the Derasas etc. etc. The cadres encouraged turmoil and civil war. As in the rest of our country Southern Ethiopia was full of drama with the TPLF active in every village fanning the hate flame.
Ethiopianess was discouraged while allegiance to tribe was glorified. Meles and company have done their homework in how to create havoc on our country while in their caves. They did not dream of building hospitals, schools or factories but were busy drawing maps, creating language barriers and perfecting the Kilil concept. The South was their dream come true. Our common language was their first casualty. It was deemed inappropriate. Trained teachers were sent away to their respective Bantustans and the English alphabet became the language of the schools in Sidama. Without adequate preparation, without trained teachers, without books available the Southern children were left to fend for themselves. It was sad to witness a simple application that has to be written in one language to be translated to another when it reaches Hawasa the capital city. The South was made unable to communicate within its own Bantustan. It was a crime. The TPLF party was the orchestrator of such tragedy.
Shiferaw Shigute is the Frankenstein monster Meles created. He is the son of Meles Zenawi. Like his parent he is devoid of empathy and proud of his betrayal of his people. Look at him closely and you will see Meles – indifferent, arrogant and know it all. From his expensive Savile raw suit with matching ties to his air of superiority he is the kind that makes his maker proud. When his own Party found him guilty of abuse of power and voted to oust him, our fearless step child thumbed his nose at the assembly and said “I did not do this alone, we shared the money with the wife of the Prime Minister, Mrs. Azeb Mesfin. If we are going to be accountable, we should both judged by the law. If we have to return the Birr, we both have to return it” and stormed out of the meeting. His stepfather reversed the decision of the assembly. Like father like son! It is Shiferaw Shigute practicing ethnic cleansing today or rather it is Meles Zenawi using his toy boy that is displacing our people. It is the concept of Kilil coming home to roost.
Why am I going thru all this recounting our ugly history is a valid question? It is because the past is important to avoid making the same mistakes again. We learn so we don’t repeat that which has not worked. I am not obsessing about the things that we cannot control but rather I am hoping we learn from it so we can focus on tomorrow where we have the power to build a better Ethiopia. The do’s and don’ts of today are based on the lesson from the success and failures of yesterday.
Thus we learn from human history to see what works and what to avoid. The quest for liberation and a building a better Ethiopia for all will be accomplished if based on that principle. Each and every one of us is the building stone for it to succeed. Some folks were upset because I criticized a few physicians for their enabling activity regarding building a ‘referral hospital’ in our country. People feel upset when asked to boycott Ethiopian Airlines or avoid drinking Woyane beer. We advocate such action not out of hate but precisely because such form of ‘peaceful resistance’ have proven to work. There was a time when the West led by Britain and the US tried to justify their investment in South Africa by claiming they were creating jobs for the poor African masses. It was not true. They were realizing huge profit from slave labor.
What did Black South African say about that? Steven Biko, the charismatic young leader wrote ‘those who professed to worry over Blacks suffering if the economy deteriorated had missed the point. We’re already suffering’ He often reminded us ‘those who live in constant fear of being shot, beaten, or detained without charge, for those whose children already live in abject poverty and near starvation, an economic downturn is not the major area of concern.’ Nobel Laureate Albert Lutuli, president of the African National Congress in one of his speeches said:
“The economic boycott of South Africa will entail undoubted hardship for African. We do not doubt that. But if it is a method which shortens the day of bloodshed, the suffering to us will be a price we are willing to pay.”
We are not saying anything different. Your investment in Meles’s land scheme, your patronizing Meles’s Airlines, your partying in Alamudi’s hotels, your support of the so-called hospital is hurting our people. No need to qualify it with good and bad investment, it all goes to the same pot.
As some of us are preparing to celebrate Easter let us not forget what it really means. Easter is Jesus Christ’s victory over death. It is a time of renewal and rebirth. Let us work for the rebirth of our glorious history. Let us resurrect the spirit of our forefathers that stood united and were able to hand us a proud history. Our love for each other our tolerance of the little imperfections in each of us is what our country needs in this time of hopelessness and apathy. Happy Easter.
The Woyanne junta continues to commit horrible atrocities against Ethiopians with {www:impunity}. The recent ethnic cleansing campaign against the Amhara, Gambella and Afar people is not surprising because nothing has been done when khat-addicted dictator Meles Zenawi waged a war of genocide against fellow Ethiopians in Ogaden, filled Ethiopian prisons with Oromos, stolen elections, destroyed historic monasteries, sold Ethiopian fertile land to foreign investors at {www:basement bargain} prices, etc.
The Woyanne tribal junta is doing all this not because it is a superior power. It is a regime that survives on foreign handouts! Woyanne is peeing on us because we allowed it to do so. We finance its crimes against us by paying tax, buying goods and services from Woyanne-controlled businesses, socializing with Woyanne members whose hands are socked with the blood of our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.
We can stop the Woyanne junta dead if we are really serious. One of the first things we can do to stop Woyanne is to wage a worldwide economic boycott campaign and target its revenue sources.
One of the biggest hard currency earning enterprises for the tribal junta is Ethiopian Airlines. Currently there are serious discussions going on about boycotting Ethiopian Airlines and this coming Saturday, for the first time, several Ethiopian media representatives will propose a set of actions. [see here]
Ethiopian Airlines is Ethiopian only in name. From the CEO down it is controlled by central committee members of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne). Many of the Ethiopian pilots are leaving and being replaced by foreigners who are hired at double the salary. The sales, maintenance, and all other parts of the company are staffed with Woyanne members.
Since the Woyanne took over the airline, domestic flights drastically decreased while flights to Tigray region expanded {www:manyfold}.
In 2010, the airline generated USD$1.3 billion for the junta. This money is being used to fuel the Woyanne killing and torture machine.
I heard some individuals saying that Ethiopian Airlines should not be boycotted since it carries the Ethiopian national flag around the world. This argument doesn’t work any more, because at the current pace, there will be no nation called Ethiopia if we allow Woyanne to remain in power. When Meles and gang implement Article 39 of their constitution, Ethiopian Airlines will be renamed Greater Tigray Airlines.
Let’s stop bitching and take action. Starve the Woyanne beast by drying its sources of income.
Top PEN Prize to Honor Eskinder Nega, Jailed Ethiopian Journalist and Blogger
Leading Free Expression Advocate on Trial for Terrorism
New York City, April 12, 2012—PEN American Center today named Eskinder Nega, a journalist and dissident blogger in Ethiopia, as the recipient of its 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Nega, a leading advocate for press freedom and freedom of expression in Ethiopia, was arrested on September 14, 2011, and is currently being tried under the country’s sweeping anti-terror legislation, which criminalizes any reporting deemed to “encourage” or “provide moral support” to groups and causes which the government considers to be “terrorist.” He could face the death penalty if convicted.
The award, which honors international writers who have been persecuted or imprisoned for exercising or defending the right to freedom of expression, will be presented at PEN’s Annual Gala on May 1, 2012, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
“The Ethiopian writer Eskinder Nega is that bravest and most admirable of writers, one who picked up his pen to write things that he knew would surely put him at grave risk,” said Peter Godwin, president of PEN American Center. “Yet he did so nonetheless. And indeed he fell victim to exactly the measures he was highlighting, Ethiopia’s draconian ‘’anti terrorism’ laws that criminalize critical commentary. This is at least the seventh time that the government of Meles Zenawi has detained Eskinder Nega in an effort to muzzle him. Yet Nega has continued his spirited pursuit of freedom of expression. Such humbling courage makes Nega a hugely deserving recipient of the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.”
Eskinder Nega has been publishing articles critical of the government since 1993, when he opened his first newspaper, Ethiopis, which was soon shut down by authorities. He was the general manager of Serkalem Publishing House, which published the newspapers Asqual, Satenaw, and Menelik, all of which are now banned in Ethiopia. He has also been a columnist for the monthly magazine Change and for the U.S.-based news forum EthioMedia, which are also banned. He has been detained at least seven times under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, including in 2005, when he and his journalist wife Serkalem Fasil were imprisoned for 17 months on treason charges for their critical reporting on the government’s violent crackdown of protests following disputed elections, and briefly in February 2011 for “attempts to incite Egyptian and Tunisian-like protests in Ethiopia” after he published articles on the Arab Spring. Their newspapers have been shut down and Nega has been denied a license to practice journalism since 2005, yet he has continued to publish columns critical of the government’s human rights record and calling for an end to political repression and corruption.
Nega was again arrested on September 14, 2011, after he published a column questioning the government’s claim that a number of journalists it had detained were suspected terrorists, and for criticizing the arrest of well-known Ethiopian actor and government critic Debebe Eshetu on terror charges earlier that week. Shortly after his arrest, Nega was charged with affiliation with the banned political party Ginbot 7, which the Ethiopian government considers a terrorist organization. On November 10, Nega was charged and further accused of plotting with and receiving weapons and explosives from neighboring Eritrea to carry out terrorist attacks in Ethiopia. State television portrayed Nega and other political prisoners as “spies for foreign forces.” He is currently being held in Maekelawi Prison in Addis Ababa, where detainees are reportedly often ill-treated and tortured.
PEN, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and many other international organizations have long been concerned about Ethiopia’s use of anti-terrorism legislation to justify the jailing of journalists and members of the political opposition. Eskinder Nega’s trial on charges under the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, which covers the “planning preparation, conspiracy, incitement, and attempt” of terrorist acts, illustrates this trend. During his trial, which opened on March 6, 2012, the prosecution has presented evidence that consisted of nearly inaudible recordings of telephone conversations and other comments and a video of a town hall meeting in which Nega discusses the differences between Arab countries and Ethiopia. Nega took the stand on March 28 and denied all charges against him, saying he has never conspired to overthrow the government through violence and admitting only to reporting on the Arab Spring and speculating on whether a similar movement could take place in Ethiopia. Serkalem Fasil, who was the recipient of the 2007 Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, maintained that her husband is “a journalist, not a member of a political party.”
In announcing the award today in New York, Freedom to Write Program Director Larry Siems praised Eskinder Nega’s “courageous use of the written word to advocate on behalf of his fellow journalists and citizens.”
“Nega’s critiques of the Zenawi government go back two decades, and in recent years he has written fearlessly about the need for peaceful democratic transition and about the fate of other journalists unjustly silenced under the pretense of fighting terrorism,” Siems said. “Now as he faces the same fate, in no small part because he spoke out on their behalf, he continues to press for freedom of expression from behind bars. He is truly an extraordinary individual and we are proud to be able to award him this honor.”
Siems joined Godwin in urging the Obama administration to press Ethiopian authorities to halt the use of anti-terror legislation to target journalists for their legitimate work and release Eskinder Nega, one of the most visible symbols of the Ethiopian government’s persistent press freedom violations, and all other journalists jailed under national security laws in violation of their right to freedom of expression.
Writer, historian and PEN Member Barbara Goldsmith underwrites the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. This is the 26th year the award has honored an international literary figure who has been persecuted or imprisoned for exercising or defending the right to freedom of expression. Candidates are nominated by PEN International and any of its 145 constituent PEN centers around the world, and screened by PEN American Center and an Advisory Board comprising some of the most distinguished experts in the field. The Advisory Board for the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award includes Carroll Bogert, Deputy Executive Director for External Relations at Human Rights Watch; Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation; Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, International Vice President of PEN International and PEN American Center Trustee; Aryeh Neier, former president of the Open Society Foundation; and Joel Simon, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Freedom to Write Award is an extension of PEN’s year-round advocacy on behalf of the more than 900 writers and journalists who are currently threatened or in prison. Forty-six women and men have received the award since 1987; 33 of the 37 honorees who were in prison at the time they were honored were subsequently released.
PEN American Center is the largest of the 145 centers of PEN International, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. The Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their profession. For more information on PEN’s work, please visit www.pen.org
The recent ethnic cleansing of 78,000 Ethiopians of the Amhara ethnic group from southern Ethiopia by the Woyanne junta is a horrible crime. Ethiopian Review has been reporting similar {www:ethnic cleansing} campaigns against other Ethiopian ethnic groups, particularly the Ogaden and Gambella over the past several years. How is it that Meles Zenawi and his Woyanne junta are able to commit such atrocities against millions of Ethiopians?
I’m not providing any new fact when I tell you that the main culprits of these horrors are other Amharas — those Amharas, Oromos, Ogadenis, Gembellas and other ethnic groups who obey the Woyanne rule, who socialize with Woyanne members, who pay tax to the Woyanne regime, who fly Ethiopian Airlines, who drink Al Amoudi’s Pepsi, who socialize with Woyanne members, who go to Ethiopia from the Diaspora and try to open businesses or buy properties… all these individuals are knowingly or unknowingly contributing to the crime of ethnic cleansing and genocide against their own ethnic groups.
One of the Woyanne junta cheerleaders, Mimi Sebhatu, who hosts a radio program in Addis Ababa, said in an interview yesterday that the Amharas who were expelled from the south are illegals. Mimi is half Amhara and her husband Zerihun Teshome, who is an adviser to Bereket Simon, is full Amhara, and yet she calls Amharas “illegals” in their own country. These anti-Amhara Woyanne collaborators must be condemned and ostracized until they are brought to justice for aiding and abetting the Woyanne ethnic cleansing campaigns.
We don’t necessarily need to shoot bullets at Woyanne to stop it from committing injustice against us. What we need is to STOP doing business with Woyanne-affiliated businesses that fuel its machinery of repression.
One of these businesses is Ethiopian Airlines, which has become a major cash cow for the Woyanne junta. If you have to travel to Ethiopia, pay a little extra money and take Lufthansa or any of the other airlines that fly to Ethiopia.
The other major sources of income for Woyannes are those Ethiopians in the Diaspora who go to Ethiopia for vacation or try to open businesses there. They are collaborators in Woyanne’s atrocities, including the recent ethnic cleansing campaigns against Amharas and Gambellas, as well as the ongoing war of genocide in Ogaden.
Saudi agent Al Amoudi is currently trying to hijack or split up and destroy the recently liberated Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA). Many of the players and business owners he is inviting to participate in the event are Amharas and Oromos who seem to be saying, “I don’t give a *** if Al Amoudi is looting Ethiopia and trafficking our sisters to the Middle East to work in slave-like conditions.
Let’s stop cursing Woyanne and take concrete steps to weaken and kill it. Start from the collaborators — hodam Amharas and Oromos who are cannibalizing their own people.
“The people occupying the plateau of the Blue Nile are conscious of a glorious past and proudly call themselves Ethiopians.” – Elise Reclus, Philosopher
Ethiopian ethnic-based political elites, most prominently, the champion of ethnic politics and business, TPLF Inc., were always bent on shredding to pieces our commonalities, shared history and common identity as Ethiopians of all shades, colors, languages and faiths, from their {www:inception}. They embraced the {www:Apartheid} like formula of separation and legalized ethnic-federalism. They were determined to de-institutionalize and de-capitalize Ethiopian society by dismantling social relations among the population. This is the thesis of this analytical piece. As a result of their secret and coded arrangements intended solely to serve them financially and economically, they sowed the seeds of revenge and fear among the population. Youth are forced to belong to the governing party if they wish to secure a job, a home or further education. A network of spies has infested the entire society: one spy for 5 people. As a result, the country that stood as symbol of independence, honor, dignity and pride for people of color around the globe is now the center of the grossest human rights violations on this planet. TPLF Inc. is determined to obliterate the past, present and future of all people who call themselves “Ethiopians.” This is happening in front of our eyes. As far as I know, de-institutionalization and social de-capitalization of Ethiopian society started when TPLF Inc. took power 21 years ago, with a plan set ahead of political capture; and continues at a faster pace today. The champions of ethnic politics and business do not do this alone. They recruit other non-Tigreans to do their work for them. What we witness now is implementation of the sinister strategy using land and other economic resources to dispossess and expel.
Wherever one looks, {www:dispossession}, expulsions and human cruelty from government agents are widespread: the Afar, Beni-Shangul Gumuz, Gambella, Gondar, Lower Omo Valley, Oromia and SNNP regions and sub-regions are at the center. In this entire onslaught against the Ethiopian people, there is overwhelming documentary evidence that shows that the Amharic speaking population is singled out as ‘enemy’ number one. Why the differentiation? This group is identified by TPLF Inc. and the country’s traditional adversaries as nationalist, that is, as Ethiopian more than its label as Amhara. I documented this in my book, Waves, two years ago and forewarned that TPLF Inc. will continue its relentless campaign to dislodge this and other nationalist oriented members of society using ethnic-federalism and decentralized decision making as the driver. Using this mode of government arrangements, TPLF Inc. tries to camouflage its misdeeds by using surrogates. We know that, Amharic speaking or other surrogates have little or no power. They submit and follow orders. Authority comes from the top. The continued expulsion of Amharic speaking Ethiopians from the lands they use and from the neighbors with whom they coexist peacefully and amicably reflects this sinister arrangement. TPLF Inc. does this against its own constitution. Article 32 (1) says: “Every Ethiopian citizen or any other person legally in Ethiopia has the right to freedom of movement anywhere within the national territory, to choose freely his place of residence anywhere in the national territory, and to leave the country.” What a joke? People naively wonder why the outside world, especially donors and diplomats with stake in Ethiopia do not react to this façade?
Although this is not the purpose of this piece, I should like to share my take on the matter again. British and American policy makers, the two largest sources of bilateral aid to Ethiopia, know that the TPLF Corporate group is anathema to their own values of the rule of law, human freedom, free enterprise and a semblance of democracy, for example, checks and balances and political pluralism. Why do they support a repressive regime that portends insecurity and instability in the long-run? Why do they refuse a movement toward globally accepted norms of humane institutions, decency, fair play, openness and the like? In my view and the views of other prominent international experts on the subject, democratic reconstruction and reconfiguration are secondary to their national interests of security and stability in the Horn of Africa. In other words, they are willing and ready to sacrifice their core values to serve their own narrow and short-term national interests of averting terrorism and instability in the Horn of Africa as they have done in the rest of the world. This is why Ethiopian opposition groups cannot afford to operate in their own silos. They need to cooperate and show credibility that they stand for a bigger cause than narrow or parochial interests.
Like us, the world community looks at the faces of innocent children and women forcibly expelled from their farmlands and properties where their forefathers worked and lived for 100 years plus, in Benji Maji, Southern Ethiopia. Like us, those whose profession is to monitor the Horn know that theirs is a fresh and ugly testimony and reminder of how far ethnic politics and business in Ethiopia would go to bring havoc to this ancient land. They know that, with a stroke of an order–no doubt emanating from the highest levels of the governing party–children and women and poor farmers were herded like sheep in their own country by their own government and forcibly expelled from their homes. They know that neighbors were awed but could do nothing in the country of fear and revenge. The {www:bewilderment} in the faces of the children and women are graphic and speak louder than my capacity to write about them; and the cruelty and brutality of a regime that has literally gone wild and mad. These Ethiopians could be our children, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers and or relatives. It does not matter. They are, first and foremost human beings and Ethiopians who deserve treatment with honor and dignity. Their expulsion is ours too. Donors and diplomats in Addis Ababa know all of this; but cannot say much because it does not affect their interests. It is up to us to make them understand and to draw them to our side.
TPLF Inc.’s ethnic politics and business robbed these Ethiopians displaced from their homes, of their humanity, dignity and honor. Trust me. Regardless of ethnic, religious, ideological or demographic affiliation, it is our own common humanity, dignity and honor that are robbed and are being undone by tribal elite that have no decency or humanity to speak of. No doubt in my mind that the leaders of the regime would find excuses for this too. They will blame someone else for the mess. I am not entirely clear where this unprecedented assault on the Ethiopian people is heading and where it will lead and to what end? Some in the diplomatic and donor community are weary but are not speaking out. I am wearily reminded of the civil war in Liberia, the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, genocide in Rwanda and the collapse of Somalia. If you are not; you must be either naïve or believe in miracles or support the status quo or do not simply care. I and others witnessed the horrors in Liberia where people were hacked like wild animals or in Rwanda where nearly a million people lost their lives because of their ethnic affiliation should worry that the same could happen in our country. It is not an exaggeration to put the pieces together by connecting the dots of cruelty and inhumanity and by arriving at a larger and ominous picture that seems to emerge. When people’s very survival is at stake, patience is not perpetual. TPLF Inc. and its ethnic elite collaborators seem to be determined to push the entire country into the abyss. Donors and diplomats in Addis Ababa know this but do not see an alternative that gives them confidence and comfort. We need to rise up and show that we can offer an alternative by cooperating once and for all.
In my view, the plight of the Amhara is not a single ethnic dilemma. Amharic speaking people have been suffering ever since TPLF Inc. took power. I contend with full confidence that that the Amhara ‘problem’ is an Ethiopian dilemma. Depopulating areas where Amharic speakers live is a strategic way of weakening this ethnic group and Ethiopia. Why do you think the number of this nationality group shows a decrease from year to year? Some are forced to abandon their national origin and accept a new one. Review the data in the old Arusie region and you will find a decrease. Where did the Amharic speakers go? I like to proceed with the bigger picture though. The plight of the tribes in the Omo Valley being forced out of their ancestral homes is not solely their problem. It is an Ethiopian problem. The eviction of Anuak, Afar and Somali from their lands to make room for a narrow band of emerging ethnic capitalists and foreign governments and firms from 36 countries is not an Anuak or Afar or Somali problem. It is an Ethiopian problem. The rape of Somali girls and women and the destruction of villages and property is not a Somali problem. It is an Ethiopian problem. The transfer of lands in Waldiba on which monks depend, to TPLF Inc. firms and or the state within a state called MIDROC is not a Gondar problem. It is an Ethiopian one. No matter the location or the population, it is Ethiopia and Ethiopians who are under the gun. Thus, it behooves all Ethiopians to respond not as members of this or that ethnic or religious group but as Ethiopians. This is our only salvation as people. We either rise in unison as Ethiopians; or we will all perish together. We can never allow this to occur. It is not the legacy we would want to leave. Is it?
As I saw the video clips of innocent and frightened children, girls and women, I kept thinking that only an invading army would do this to Ethiopians. I am reminded that even invading armies from the colonial era were civilized and humane enough to differentiate the innocent from those who dissent. Children and women and poor farmers who work hard to earn a living are not a threat to the governing party. Their forcible expulsion is a form of ethnic cleansing and therefore a crime against humanity. Only Apartheid conducted an identical system of political and economic capture that expelled blacks and herded and concentrated them in their own “homelands or Bantustans.” This way, it is easier to monitor, subjugate and control them. TPLF Inc. does not have the moral courage or commitment to differentiate between those who dissent against it and those who live and work peacefully and legally in different parts of the country.
Ironically, Tigreans are free to live and work anywhere in Ethiopia. They are state sponsored and can own property anywhere in the country. A recent informal survey from a reliable group shows that in the city of Gondar, close to 50 percent of the population is now Tigrean as are more than 75 percent of major enterprises. Here is the difference. The Amharic speaking population of the city treats them as Ethiopians. No Tigrean national I am aware of has been expelled from the so-called Amhara region. This is the good news and Tigreans should condemn a ruling clique that abuses their name and expels people on the basis of ethnic and or linguistic affinity. For this reason alone, Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people do not deserve Apartheid like system that dispossesses and expels any or one group of people forcibly from any part of the country on the basis of linguistic and or tribal origin. Ethiopians must stand up and reject this regressive policy and the occurrences it triggers. They must recognize and appreciate the notion that inhumanity of man to man is not an Ethiopian popular tradition or value. It is not our heritage. It is the tradition of tyrants and dictators perfected by TPLF Inc. in other words; it is a governance and system’s issue.
Is our history as cruel as TPLF Inc. manifests it?
I should like to take the reader back to a snippet of history to strengthen my argument. TPLF Inc. rejects the evolution of the country it defines as a “prison of nations, nationalities and peoples,” for which it is the proclaimed liberator. These narrow-minded, clubby and family centered minority ethnic elite try to compel innocent and self-serving people alike to believe that our identity should be defined narrowly in tribal and linguistic terms. It uses emotions to drive its political and economic agenda on the rest of us. The reader knows that people enjoy different identities for different reasons. I will identify some of my own: am a professional in development, have a higher degree and was and or is a banker, professor, writer, belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, am a father, a husband and my linguistic affiliation is to Amharic and regional origin, Gondar. Of these, which one do you think is the identity that I cherish most and share or have in common with millions? It is this. I am an Ethiopian and have a great deal in common with Ethiopians than other people in the world. I presume most of us who hail from Ethiopia have numerous identities but believe in the notion that we are Ethiopians or people of Ethiopian origin. It is this core value that will save us.
The singular identity that binds us together regardless of different affiliations is that we belong to a country called Ethiopia. Hence, our commonality is expressed as Ethiopians and or as people of Ethiopian origin. TPLF Inc. wants us to sink to the bottom and think and organize ourselves as Amharic speakers or an Amhara ethnic group. I caution my compatriots that this is a tempting trap to which we should not sink. We need to be strategic and take the higher road of our historical and legitimate identity as Ethiopians. Let me elaborate within the context of today’s global community in which the TPLF Inc. formula is totally against the tide.
Who in the world would find it credible if I told (in official travels with the World Bank) a Chinese or a Brazilian or a Nigerian or a Norwegian at their respective airports that I am an Amharic speaking Gondarie? Wouldn’t the person find it incredible if I told him or her that I cannot live and or work in any part of Ethiopia because of my linguistic or ethnic affiliation? TPLF Inc. has reduced us to this low level. It is this emotionally driven and politically motivated identity that TPLF Inc. imposes on most of us. Some accept the new norm because of fear. Some accept it because of greed. Others accept it because of ignorance. Still others accept it because they believe in it. No matter the motive, TPLF Inc. wants us to believe that it is implementing Apartheid like formula on behalf of ‘oppressed nations, nationalities and people.’ The intent is to undermine Ethiopian unity and identity. The acid test of being an Ethiopian is the possibility of living and working in any part of Ethiopia. Otherwise, our commonality becomes meaningless regardless of the propaganda propagated by TPLF Inc. that we should all buy Renaissance Bonds and send our hard earned monies in support of a regime that does not allow us to fulfill our potential in our own country. Just think of this. The governing party that champions Ethiopian nationalism when it suits its interests still calls itself by its origin, Tigray People’s Liberation Front? Liberation from who is now a legitimate question. The reader knows the answer and the purpose.
The Greeks looked up to ancient Ethiopia and called it the common cradle of mankind. Among other things, they contended that ancient Egyptians “derived their civilization and religions from Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Ptolemaic (Greek) writers and philosophers felt and wrote that “Ethiopians were the first men that ever lived.” Martin Bernal’s “Black Athena: the Afro-Asiatic roots of classical civilization,” provides rich data and information on the richness of Ethiopian history; and, more important on the movement and on the interconnectedness of most Ethiopians for thousands of years. Interconnectedness of Ethiopians has now been validated through archaeological findings that confirm that Ethiopia is indeed the origin of humankind. In their highly acclaimed book, “Lucy (Dinknesh): The Beginnings of Humankind,” Donald Johansson and Maitland Edey, document the dramatic discovery of Lucy’s (Dinknesh’s) “completeness in the history of hominid fossil collection.” Dinknesh’s (Lucy’s) discovery did not happen by accident. It is a tribute to the farsightedness of Emperor Haile Selassie, who, in the 1950s–during a visit to Kenya–invited Western Anthropologists to explore fossils in Ethiopia and granted the requisite permits. The Omo valley expedition lasted from 1967 to 1977 and resulted in the finding of Dinknesh (Lucy). “There could no longer be any argument about that, or conjecture over whether a certain leg bone and a certain skull did or did not belong the same individual (Dinknesh). Here they were, together in one unbelievable skeleton.”
Dinknesh refers to a country known for thousands of years as Ethiopia, home of our common humanity as Ethiopians. If we are indeed the origin of mankind, possess an incontestable long history and have served as a home to different ethnic and religious groups for thousands of years, who is responsible for reducing us to identify one another as members of a tribe or a linguistic group rather than as Ethiopians? It is the EPLF, TPLF and other ethnic-based liberation fronts who wish us harm. It is also their foreign sponsors that continue to be inimical to a strong, unified and prosperous Ethiopia. As the champion of ethnic politics and business (the two are linked), TPLF Inc. is determined to obliterate this common humanity that the Ethiopian people have shared for thousands of years. This commonality has been strengthened generation after generation through marriages, economic and religious interactions, migration of people from South to North, from North to South, from East to West and from West to East and many in between. This is why I contend that Ethiopia and Ethiopians are the pace-setters of what is now commonly known as globalization. This phenomenon began as a result of human mobility from Ethiopia and the rest of Africa to the rest of the globe. Before Ethiopians moved across the globe, they spread within Ethiopia. Their linkages are thus incontestable.
Ethiopian identity and globalizing influence that TPLF Inc. wishes to undo by rewriting our entire history and reducing it to just 100 years to suit it, and by spreading the venom of ethnic revenge and hate are not confined to the story of Dinknesh, although hers is the foundation of our humanity. Herodotus, the Greek historian documented that Ethiopians reached out to the rest of the world through trade in spices and ivory far beyond Egypt and the Gulf. Ethiopians are said to have moved to and served in Persian armies. “The Eastern Ethiopians—for there were two sorts of Ethiopians in the army—served in the Indian army.” Here is the key though. “These were just like the Southern Ethiopians, except for their language and their hair; their hair is straight.” Threads that bind Ethiopians among one another through marriages, social and economic interactions, religious practices, localities and regions are rooted in our past. With its ups and downs and imperfections and manifestations of gross injustice, our past is the foundation of our present and future. In light of this, our diversity is nothing new. It has always been there. The trick is to harness it for the better.
Yet, our political leaders and institutions failed to use our diversity creatively and constructively in building an enduring, just and all inclusive society. Experts foreign and domestic recognize our history and diversity as sources of uniqueness and strength rather than as liabilities. Under TPLF Inc., both history and diversity are liabilities. These are used as political tools to create and deepen wedges to divide us, frighten us, exploit us and create animosities among us.
TPLF Inc. forces us to forget the assets and treasures that emanate from our roots and the uniqueness that our forefathers left for us. One additional example cements this point. In the 19th century, M. Le Jean, French, said this. “Ethiopia, even during its state of greatest decadence, offers to the unprejudiced traveler, the elements of an advanced social order. Feudality certainly exists there, but scarcely to a greater extent than in England…the administrative machinery is simple…is property well defined; individual rights are guaranteed by appeal to the Emperor; commerce is protected; and political vengeance and horrors of war in a great measure neutralized…” Can you say the same about the Meles Zenawi Government today? I cannot. The evidence is overwhelmingly oppressive and repressive. This is why revenge, fear and expulsion come naturally to the governing clique.
What can and should we do?
There is a great deal we can and should do. The starting point is for each of us and for our communities to believe and commit to preserving this ancient land and to frame an alternative that will accommodate the needs and interests of all its members. Our individual and collective responsibility is, first and foremost, to halt this frightening phenomenon of fear, ethnic divide and repression that–if not halted now–is likely to destroy all of us. We must determine that we do not wish to witness another Liberia, Rwanda or Somalia in Africa. TPLF Inc. and other surrogate ethnic-based parties use language and or other differences as a criterion to implant fear and revenge; to discriminate and expel as if we are not of the same diverse family; and to undo what has been built by all Ethiopians over thousands of years. Our ability and readiness to embrace one another and to stand for one another; and to reject ethnic divide is the starting point. We can do this wherever we are and in numerous ways.
This is the big picture I should like to implant in the reader’s mind. We need to reject the Apartheid like system that drives little children and mothers, old people and poor farmers from their homes and farms and from their neighbors. In part two of this commentary, I will provide a specific example of the horrors of ethnic cleansing and civil wars that entail irreparable damage regardless of the temporary strength of a ruling group.
4/4/2012
The second in this series will be posted next week
On the weekend of March 24, 2012, the Woyanne ambassador in Washington DC, Girma Birru, held a meeting with over 70 exiled Ethiopian physicians who reside in the US. As reported by Ethiopian Review previously, the objective of the meeting in Alexandria, Virginia, was to discuss about a plan to build a private referral hospital in Ethiopia, but the hidden agenda is for the Woyanne junta to the doctors for its crude propaganda at home.
The doctors had initially planned the hospital project as a private enterprise and formed an organization named “Ethiopian American Doctors Group EADG.” However, as in every Ethiopian organization, Woyanne agents did not waste time to infiltrate the group with the help of some opportunist individuals. Now, EADG is fully controlled by Woyanne junta agents, including Henock Gebregziabher, Getachew Hagos, Mezgebe Berhe, Abiy Mekoya Gebreselassie Nida, and former physician of Meles Zenawi, Mulai Teklu Yohannes.
Some of the doctors have withdrawn their membership after they found out about Woyanne’s involvement.
Ethiopian Review obtained a list of current active members of the EADG.
