Ethiopia’s genocidal despot gave a short speech today at Columbia University, which was followed by 20 minutes of questions and answers. The whole program took less than 1 hour.
The University’s president, Lee Bollinger, did not show up at the meeting. Instead, following opening remarks by Provost Claude Steele, Meles was introduced by Prof. Joseph Stiglitz (read more about Stiglitz here).
The discredited professor, as expected, talked about Meles Zenawis’ achievements before inviting him to speak. But even Stiglitz was too timid to talk about Meles today. His remarks lasted only 2 minutes.
The meeting was attended by less than 50 individuals, while over 700 Ethiopians protested outside the University campus.
Read more report by Columbia Spectator here.
6:30 PM – The demonstration at Columbia against the despot in Ethiopia is now over. The protesters are dispersing. Today’s demonstration has been exceedingly successful in that it has educated Columbia University and others about Zenawi’s dictatorship and the devastation it has caused in Ethiopia, exposed the two professors who are cheerleaders to African tyrants, and brought together several Ethiopians for action. Let’s get prepared for more actions that will defeat and destroy the Woyanne junta.
5:15 PM – Woyanne supporters stage a counter demonstration. Columbia Spectator has reported that Meles’ speech lasted 20 minutes. Read here.
4:50 PM – Hundreds of Ethiopians are currently holding a protest rally at Columbia University in New York where Meles Zenawi is invited to speak. Across the street, about 50 Woyanne supporters accompanied by Solomon Qindibu Tekalign are singing Tigrigna songs in support of Meles.
3:47 PM – A large crowd of protesters have now gathered at 115th and Broadway. Their number is increasing as more Ethiopians are arriving by train and cars. Columbia students with ID card are allowed to enter the campus and they are staging their own protest against the despot in front of Lerner Hall near Ronne Arledge Auditorium.
2:30 PM – The first bus that left DC has arrived in New York. Three other buses from the DC Metro Area and 2 buses from Boston will arrive at Columbia in the next few minutes. About 50 Woyanne supporters are already there to support their boss. We have been informed that some of them are Ethiopian Airlines staff and security guards who flew with him from Addis Ababa. The Woyanne-controlled Ethiopian mission at the U.S. has been sending out instructions to supporters of the regime through out eastern U.S. to come to Columbia.
12:52 PM – Freedom riders head to New York to join the protest against Meles Zenawi at Columbia University. … more update in a few minutes.
The University’s media center told Ethiopian Review that the event will not be broadcast live today, but a video will be posted online in a couple of days.
12:20 PM – One of the 4 large buses that is taking protesters to New York has stopped for break in Delaware. Here Ethiopians pose for photos during the break.
11:05 AM – Ethiopian protesters inside a bus heading to New York’s Columbia University from Washington DC to confront fascist dictator Meles Zenawi. More update shortly…
10:35 AM – The buses that left DC and Virginia are now arriving in Delaware. Prof. Bhagwati of Columbia University sent this message today:
Congratulations to Professor Vestal whose track record on Human Rights, especially in Ethiopia, is praiseworthy. It is good that he has also spoken out.
He endorses (as I did) the idea that Universities should be free to invite even tyrants to their campuses but that this must be accompanied by tough debate with them on their abusive record, rather than by encomiums to them drafted by academic entrepreneurs with personal agendas.
Aside from removing such inappropriate “sucking up” and offensive material from his website, and investigating how it got there so he does not get snookered again, I think that it is enough for President Bollinger (who is a champion of liberal values) to avoid appearing at the event. [Many academics on campus happened to strongly disagree with him when he himself attended the talk and strongly condemned the President of Iran, leading to unfortunate divisions on campus.]
Warm good wishes,
Professor Bhagwati
University Professor, Economics and Law
9:20 AM – Three buses full of protesters have already left the DC Metro Area and are heading to New York to confront Ethiopia’s brutal dictator Meles Zenawi today. A fourth bus is about to leave. Some Ethiopians are driving their own cars and taking train. Columbia University, where Meles will be speaking, is bracing for a large protest rally… more update and photos in a few minutes
Ethiopian Review sources in Addis Ababa are reporting that Meles Zenawi’s Woyanne junta has blocked Columbia Spectator from being accessed in Ethiopia’s capital.
We have independently verified the report with multiple sources. In Bahr Dar and a few other cities, however, the web site can be accessed.
Columbia Spectator has taken a strong editorial position against Meles Zenawi’s human rights records, and posted a number of reports that are critical of University’s invitation to the despot.
Several Ethiopians used the opportunity provided by Columbia Spectator to voice their opinion (see here).
Blocking web sites is not new to the Meles regime. All major Ethiopian news web sites, including EthiopianReview.com, are blocked in Ethiopia, and since May 2010, Voice of America, DW (German Voice), and ESAT broadcasts have been jammed with a jamming station that was built by China at the cost of $250 million.
It’s ironic that as Columbia University prepares to host Meles Zenawi today, a web site that is run by Columbia student is being blocked in Ethiopia.
Columbia University has announced today that Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi is still scheduled to speak Wednesday at 4 PM, but the speech has been moved to a smaller venue, according to Columbia Spectator.
The University did not explain the reason for moving the venue from the stately Low Rotunda (see here) to the class-room-like Roone Arledge Auditorium (see here).
At least 3 buses will take off from Washington DC and Boston on Wednesday morning heading for New York carrying protesters. Others are planing to take train, plane and their own cars.
For more information or to assist the organizers by making financial donations, visit:
March4Freedom.org
Bus 1 (from Virginia) 8:00 am Southern Towers Depart from the parking lot at Southern Towers (in front of the Seven Eleven Store), Alexandria, VA
Bus 2 (from DC) 8:00 am Kidist Mariam Church, Departs from the parking lot at Kidist Mariam Church, Washington, DC.
For the bus leaving from Boston, call 617-785-5495
Facebook is also being used to mobilize protesters. A Facebook page that was setup by 2 Columbia students sent out 1,019 invitations so far (see here).
Ethiopian Review will report tomorrow’s activities live from Columbia University. Stay tuned.
The following is a letter by Prof. Theodore M. Vestal of Oklahoma State University to Columbia University president Lee Bollinger on the invitation of Ethiopia’s tyrant:
Dear President Bollinger:
I am a constitutional scholar who has admired your writing about First Amendment freedoms. I am also an Ethiopianist who must take strong exception to your posting an ill-advised encomium of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia prior to his speaking at the Columbia University World Leaders Forum on 22 September 2010.
I was pleased that the words of praise for the Ethiopian leader provided by the embassy of Ethiopia have been taken off the World Leaders Forum website, but the damage has been done. By publishing such editorial comment even for a short while, you have violated your own self-proclaimed neutrality of sticking to “basic factual information” in such activities. I hope the party responsible for demeaning Columbia University’s good name as a bastion of free speech will be appropriately disciplined and that you will have the courage to make such action known to the public.
The only way you can redeem the damaged reputation of the World Leaders Forum is by publicly making known the shortcomings of Prime Minister Meles and his government in your introductory remarks—a refutation similar to what you did in introducing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejab of Iran in 2007.
The deficits of democracy and abuse of human rights by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) are too well known and documented for you to miss. If you need additional information about the totalitarian practices of the Ethiopian leader you honor, please see my book, Ethiopia: A Post-Cold War African State (Praeger).
With best wishes,
Theodore M. Vestal, Ph.D.
On its Sunday editorial, Columbia Spectator has asked students at Columbia University to show care about Ethiopia and speak out against the despot, Meles Zenawi. The paper expressed its disappointment that Meles Zenawi’s visit to the campus is not receiving the kind of criticism that Iranian president Ahmadinejad faced three years ago:
Three years ago, College Walk was littered with stinging critiques of the president of Iran. The facade of Butler was plastered with controversial quotes from Ahmadinejad. There isn’t a large Ethiopian community at Columbia, but that doesn’t excuse us from examining that nation’s political strife. We should not direct our attention only toward leaders with big names or those who have said outrageous things.
The paper went on to urge that students at the campus to join Ethiopian activists at the planned protest rally:
Activists from outside Columbia have scheduled a protest here for the day of Zenawi’s speech. It would be a shame if no one within the gates raised a voice about this event.
Read the full editorial here.
