April 18, 2012

One-people; one country! One man; one vote!

Ethiopia was betrayed by the League of Nations (LoN) and the Fascist Italian Forces unleashed a naked aggression replete with grave violation of human rights, war crimes, crimes against humanity including genocide. Some Western powers in the LoN even encouraged the Fascist Mussolini to enter Addis Ababa and consummate his occupation and carry on with his ‘civilizing’ mission with the blessing of the Pope at the Vatican. But his brutal action of a savage was in sharp contrast to the humane handling of the prisoners of war of Fascist Italy at the hands of God fearing pious Ethiopians.

I am elated, humbled and mesmerized by the heroic deeds of the young patriots who had never met before converging from distant places on the soil of Tigray to fight the Fascist invaders and showing mercy to captured soldiers of the ruthless enemy. The grand question is what kind of a formidable force brought Abichu, Amdetsion, Gashu, Haptom and Worku together to accomplish such unimaginable feats? What motivated the bare-footed, ill-trained, poorly equipped Ethiopian militias, including those from as far as Kembatta, to travel for six to seven months mostly on foot to Tigray and give hell to Marshall Marshal Badoglio – supreme commander of the invading Italian Fascist Army? They all vowed in the name of Immiye Menelik II to crush the Fascist invaders hell-bent on enslaving the Ethiopian people. For more information, readers are referred to my article titled “Top patriot Abichu & his wartime heroic compatriots” dated 24 February 2012 and posted on most democratic websites.

The people of Ethiopia spontaneously and enthusiastically responded to the call of Immye Menilik to mobilize for the Battle of Adwa; and similarly to the call of leaders during the war with Somalia and Eritrea, subsequently. This phenomenon has been enigmatic to political scientists accustomed to hearing Ethiopians mention the name of their region of birth as their country when asked where they are from.
In view of the paragraphs above, Ethiopia is one country and we are one people with unbreakably intertwined cultural diversity. Culture is dynamic and will change in favor of strengthening our bond – for our common humanity transcend our ethnicity. Ways we do things change with progress in science and technology; new words infiltrate our languages and enrich our vocabularies; some languages die and new ones are created – the case in point being for example: the relatively recently created Swahili is lingua franca in East Africa; Latin and Geez are limited to liturgical prayers church services; few in our generation know that Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is almost dead although He has over a billion followers and counting. It is predicted that far fewer languages will be spoken in our world by the turn of this century. But Zenawi wants credit by fooling nationalities as their defender to remain with harmful cultural practices that may not stand the test of time.
One man one vote is our best choice to live together in harmony, dignity and prosperity. The one and only one challenge for all of us is how we can pull ourselves out of abject poverty with inclusive democratic participation of all ethnic groups. The point is that we have to be prepared for and be willing to accept change for it is inevitable. Let graduates of Dedebit stay fossilized in their worn out theory of Nations and Nationalities, which its author Stalin himself refused to honor but instead sent secession seekers into internal exile or prison in Siberia.

Unrewarded contribution to world peace & national liberation

Ethiopia fulfilled her mandates in Korea and the Congo as part of her obligations under collective security of the United Nations.

Ethiopia actively opposed secession in Africa advocating status quo to colonial boundaries for the sake of forming the OAU

It is a matter of record that Ethiopia played vanguard roles in rendering genuine assistance to liberation movements in almost all black African countries except Liberia, which was independent. Students from liberation groups from Angola, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe et al received training in Ethiopia. The irreplaceable Prime Minister of Ethiopia, the late Aklilu Hapte Wold, strongly argued in favor of independence for Somalia. The Dergue regime strongly supported the independence of Djibouti; it gave substantial support and training to freedom fighters of Zimbabwe and Angola. What did Ethiopia get out of all the positive contributions aforementioned except morale satisfaction? Isn’t Ethiopia still a victim of global injustice? Didn’t Siad Barre incessantly accuse Ethiopia as a colonizer – eventually invading our motherland at a time he considered propitious immediately after the fall of the Imperial regime taking advantage of internal division within our country and the execution of top officials by the Dergue regime?

As usual, however, Ethiopians set aside their domestic differences and dealt a heavy blow to the invading army of Barre that eventually led to his downfall.

Zenawi went to the extreme in ethnic cleansing

The tyrant has reached a point of no return in his heinous crimes. The recent ethnic cleansing of the Amharas from Gura Ferda in Southern Ethiopia is yet another shocking addition to his already repugnant similar heinous crimes well known to and condemned by the international community. This bestial act in the long list of terrorism perpetrated by the TPLF regime requires urgent retaliation to stop it by pulverizing the inner kleptocratic clique of Zenawi. Thereafter, a lean and cost-effective government must be constituted to replace the bloated administration of the of TPLF regime feeding 5.7 million parasitic cadres.

Conclusion

The international community has so far failed to reciprocate for what Ethiopia has contributed to world peace and the liberation of black African states. Our country is on the verge of destruction. Ethnic cleansing is a sure thing rearing its ugly head. We are alone in our fight for freedom, dignity, and sovereignty in this troubled world where moral laws have been shoved to the backburner.

At this critical time of fast approaching the dead end for a peaceful democratic change, there is a lesson for us in this quotation by Sir Winston Churchill: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves”.

So, my fellow Ethiopians, let us admit that we had, due to lack of unity, forfeited many a time our golden chance when victory could have been sure and not too costly. Nevertheless we must without further delay meticulously plan, organize and mobilize in order to launch a highly coordinated thunderous civil disobedience nationwide at home and to hold protest demonstrations in the Diaspora including making diplomatic representations for our just cause. And do so not forgetting that Ethiopians as young as Abichu, Amdetsion, Gashu, Haptom, Worku and the leader of the 15,000 strong militia from Kembatta chose to fight Fascist Italy fiercely with determination to die than live in slavery. The young patriots created their command structure, formed a team, and chose their commander Abichu. This concept of centralized command was one of the decisive factors for their success.

What do you say folks? Is it not our turn to emulate the example of our heroic militia?

Mobilization requires resources in manpower and logistics. Remember our heroic militia had to provide resources of their own to travel for up to 6-7 months to meet the Fascist enemy in Tigray. Ask whether we are not better off to unite similarly and hit back at tyrant Zenawi who had publicly called us his enemies by snapping our call for peaceful change through civilized dialogue? Don’t you think it is time that the opposition chose a transitional leader?

Scholars live in trepidation; their exodus is rampant; wide spread corruption is crippling economic growth and degrading moral; the youth are forced to live under the umbrella of a single party; most unemployed youth have become drug addicts; health services are so poor and unable to check the spread of disease; the making of a personality cult is soaring. We must therefore act as a united people to get out of the quagmire to which our inaction has put us into.

Let us make a solemn pledge that in all cases where any ethnic group is a Zenawi-sponsored victim of terrorism, eviction or intimidation each of us is a member of that group. The Amharas were victims of genocide in Arbagugu once and they are victims of cleansing now in Gura Farda; so I am an Amhara of Oromo origin. The Anuak were once victims of genocide and now they are victims of eviction from their ancestral home; so I am an Anuak. The Ogadenese are victims of carpet bombing and artillery barrage; so I am an Ogadeni. The Afars are victims of eviction from their ancestral home; so I am an Afari. Ancient Christian Monasteries such as Waldba, Zequala and Asebot are under threat of extinction; so I condemn the unholy act in the strongest term in much the same I would have done for holy sites of Judaic and Muslim religious faiths.

LONG LIVE THE EXEMPLARY PATRIOTIC SPIRIT OF ABICHU AND HIS COMPATRIOTS!

LONG LIVE ETHIOPA!!!
Release all political prisoners in Ethiopia including Andualem Aragie, Iskinder Nega, Nathnael et al
robele_ababya@yahoo.com

Last week I had an opportunity to address a town hall meeting in Seattle sponsored by the Ethiopian Public Forum in Seattle (EPFS), a civil society organization dedicated to promoting broad dialogue, debate and discussion on Ethiopia’s future. I was asked to articulate my views on Ethiopia’s transition from dictatorships to democracy in light of my recent emphatic commentaries on the subject.

My views on Ethiopia’s transition to democracy originate in and are shaped by my own deepening concerns over the massive, sustained and gross human rights violations in that country. My active involvement in Ethiopian “affairs” and human rights advocacy dates back to 2005 when troops under the direct personal command and control of Meles Zenawi massacred 193 unarmed protesters and wounded 763 others.  Prior to 2005, my interest in Ethiopian “affairs” was academic and involved editorial work in the publication of a scholarly journal and a popular magazine on Ethiopia. The 2005 massacres presented me several stark choices: pretend the massacres did not happen; express fleeting private moral outrage and conveniently forget the whole thing; hope someone will take up the cause of these victims of crimes against humanity, or take an active advocacy role and speak truth to those who abuse and misuse power. I embraced the old saying, “The only thing necessary for the persistence of evil is for enough good people to do nothing.” I chose to become a human rights defender and advocate.

Democracy (at least in its liberal form) is a form of government based on popular sovereignty (supremacy of the people), but it is an empty  shell if it is not infused with the values of freedom (of association, expression, press), and respect for human rights and accountability (rule of law, independent judiciary, transparency and free and fair elections including  competitive political parties and civil society organizations). Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights forges the link between democracy and human rights: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections…” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights enshrines a host of political rights and civil liberties which provide the foundation for meaningful and functioning democracies. More narrowly, I regard the struggle for human rights in Ethiopia to be a struggle for democracy and vice versa. That is why I am interested in Ethiopia’s smooth transition from dictatorship to democracy; for I believe that if there is a successful democratic transition in Ethiopia, human rights will be protected, promoted and defended.

The Bridge on the Road  to Democracy

We can conceive of the transition from dictatorship to democracy as a metaphorical journey on the road to progress, freedom and human enlightenment (democracy) or a regression to tyranny, subjugation and bondage (dictatorship). Societies and nations move along this road in either direction. Dictatorships can be transformed into democracies and vice versa. But the transition takes place on a bridge that connects the road from dictatorship to democracy. It is on this bridge that the the destinies of nations and societies, great and small, are made and unmade. If the transition on the bridge is orderly, purposeful and skillfully managed, then democracy could become a reality. If it is chaotic, contentious and combative, there will be no crossing the bridge, only pedaling back to dictatorship. My concern is what could happen on the bridge linking dictatorship to democracy in Ethiopia when that time comes to pass.

I believe Ethiopia is rapidly advancing towards that bridge on the road to democracy hastened by a wide variety of factors: The regime has no legitimacy despite its ridiculous claim that it won 99.6 percent of the parliamentary seats. The economy is in shambles. “Ethiopia had the second-highest inflation rate in [2011], when it peaked at 40.6 percent, according to Addis Ababa-based research group Access Capital SC”. Last month, the IMF reported, “Ethiopia still faces significant challenges, in particular containing still-high inflation, raising savings, and meeting enormous investment needs.” Last year, the IMF warned, “High inflation is undermining poverty reduction efforts. A highly distorted monetary policy represents a severe drag on growth and is undermining macroeconomic stability. Ethiopia’s approach to industrial development is largely ineffective given the extremely low level of manufacturing and industrial development, low productivity levels, and persistent trade deficit.”

The visceral anti-regime attitude is palpable throughout the country and magnified more conspicuously in the regime’s massive crackdown and repression. The displacement of large numbers of people in what some have called “ethnic cleansing” seems to have crystallized definite patterns of antagonism towards the regime from all sides. The complete closure of political space has spawned fear and loathing in the population. The disparity between the ruling regime and its supporters and the masses continues to fuel massive discontent. The regime is completely bereft of any new or creative ideas to overcome the complex social, political and economic  problems proliferating in the society; and the cosmetic PR about building dams and expanding investments to mask basic problems has drawn more opposition and ridicule domestically and from external sources. In sum, the evidence and signs of decay in the regime are manifest and numerous. Whether collapse comes from internal implosion, popular uprising or other factors cannot be predicted.

A Bridge Too Near

If we accept the philosophical principle that human history is essentially a struggle for freedom and against tyranny and dictatorship, then the natural human tendency is to seek freedom and avoid tyranny. Tyrants and dictators believe that they can always stifle the people’s yearning for freedom through the use of force or corruption. But the inexorable march towards freedom imposes its own immutable historical  laws on tyrants. The foremost law of dictatorships and tyrants is that they always fall. As Gandhi noted: “All through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always.” Just over the past year, we have seen dictators fall like dominoes in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. The impulse for freedom and human dignity could no longer be contained by the secret police and the armed forces of the dictators in these countries.

The second law is that fallen dictatorships always leave behind chaos, conflict and strife. That has been amply demonstrated in the wake of the “Arab Spring”. The third law is that the outcome of the fall of dictatorships is unpredictable. To be sure, the fall of dictatorships does not guarantee the rise of democracy. In fact, more likely than not, it often leads to the rise of another dictatorship because, more often than not, those who seek to dethrone the dictators aim to enthrone themselves and continue to do business as usual. Stated differently, new bottle old wine.

The fourth law is that some dictators will fight to the end to avoid a fall and cling to power; others are more calculating, cunning and rational. When the jig is up, some dictators will fight and others will catch the next flight.  Ben Ali of Tunisia caught the first plane out to Saudi Arabia. Ali Saleh of Yemen fought even after he was singed and disfigured in a rocket attack on his palace. This past February Zenawi granted him asylum after Saleh was denied entry in every other country where he sought refuge. Gadhafi fought to the bitter end until he was captured in a tunnel and killed like a sewer rat. Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire also fought to cling to  power until he was collared like a street thug and turned over to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity. Bashir al-Assad continues to fight and cling to power as his security forces kill, maim and displace thousands of Syrians.

The fifth law is that the transition between the fall of dictatorships and transition to democracy can be managed to minimize the effects of the first four laws. The fifth law applies to the bridge on which the transition from dictatorship to democracy takes place and is the most critical phase in determining the destiny of Ethiopia for generations to come. The first four laws are historically predetermined, but the fifth law is entirely in our hands.

Chaos Creates Ideal Conditions for (Power) Thieves

On the bridge to democracy, there is often a collision between individuals and groups doggedly pursuing power, the common people tired of those who abuse and misuse power and the dictators who want to cling to power.  The chaos that occurs on the transitional bridge from dictatorship to democracy creates the ideal conditions for the hijacking of political power, theft of democracy and the reinstitution of dictatorship in the name of democracy. There is an instructive Ethiopian adage that helps explain this situation more clearly: “Helter-skelter creates ideal conditions for thieves (gir gir le leba yimechal)”.

On the bridge to democracy, all sorts of actors and players will crawl out of the wood work to jockey for power. All sorts of intrigues, power games and shenanigans will be played out. A probable scenario based on historical evidence in Ethiopia suggests the following: Major outside forces will attempt to control and manage the transitional bridge, the transitional period and the transition itself. They will present themselves as “mediators”, offer their resources to manage the transition by managing the stakeholders. They will likely activate their prearranged “leaders” and groups and stage a transitional drama for the general public who are only too happy to see the end of dictatorship and wishfully hopeful of a new democratic beginning. In such a situation, the “mediators” will be in the driver seat of the transitional bus. They will transport the passengers over the bridge to wherever they want.

The military (at least the leadership) will seek to grab political power with the excuse that there is a need to maintain law and order during the transitional period and with false promises of elections and accountability for corruption and human rights violations in an attempt to win public and donor support. If the military intervenes in the transitional process, there will be no transition, only consolidation of military power over civilians. Political parties will regroup and prepare for a power play. Repressed internal forces will likely resurface after the fall of dictatorship to assert their interests and take a seat at the bargaining table. They will try to take advantage of the transitional chaos to position themselves for power and flex their muscles to demonstrate their intentions. New groups will be constituted and present themselves as power contenders and stakeholders. Regional powers will seek a role in the transition to determine an outcome that is favorable to them. Supporters of the fallen dictatorship will try to regroup and reclaim power, or more likely realign themselves with any group they believe will protect their interests and shield them from accountability.

As the various groups jockey for power and influence, the people will be mere pawns in a gambling game of power theft. They will be mobilized along ethnic, linguistic, religious, regional and communal lines. Historic grievance will be unearthed, threats of secession and acts of insurgency will be undertaken, mutual recriminations, accusations and denunciations will dominate the public airwaves. In the end, the people will be left holding a bag filled with confusion, despair, misery, hardship and heartbreak.

On the chaotic (gir gir) transitional bridge, one thing will surely occur: A power vacuum. It is in the chaos and power vacuum that a few calculating and well-organized groups and individuals will execute a well-planned strategy to swiftly capture the ultimate prize of political power and thwart the transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

We need to plan for the inevitable, inescapable and unstoppable transition of Ethiopia from dictatorship to democracy. Dictatorship will end in Ethiopia. It is only a matter of when. Democracy will also rise in Ethiopia. It is a matter of how and what type. Let me use another Ethiopian adage to make my point clear: “Sergena meta, berbere kentisu.” (The wedding party has arrived, let us begin to prepare the meal.) The point is that it necessary to begin a purposeful dialogue and plan ahead about the prerequisites for an effective and smooth transition to democratic governance now, not when the dictatorship falls.

I believe dialogue needs to begin now on at least four major issue areas: 1) how to engage and increase the capacity of key stakeholders in identify potential triggers of violence during political transitions and preventing them; 2) identifying and devising strategies and opportunities for reducing ethnic, religious and communal tension and conflict in anticipation of a transition; 3) enhancing the role of civil society institutions in facilitating public engagement and interaction during the transitional period, and 4) anticipating critical constitutional issues that could significantly impair the transitional process.

The failure to plan for an inevitable opportunity for democratic transition is tantamount to planning to thwart democracy and depraved indifference to the reinstitution of another dictatorship. We must learn from recent historical experience. The Libyans failed to plan for a transition and expediently (with the aid of outside “mediators’) united to bring down the Gadhafi dictatorship. Today, Libya appears to be teetering on the precipice of  tribal warfare and deeply beset by political, regional and political antagonisms. Tunisia seems to be doing much better both because Ben Ali left quickly which made the transitional period easier and also because the military was noticeably absent in the transitional process.

Egypt seems stuck on the transitional bridge. After the young demonstrators mobilized to end Mubarak’s dictatorship with great sacrifice, they were sidelined by the very military that kept Mubarak in power for decades. Civil society organizations which were the driving forces of the revolution are now facing persecution and repression by the military. Egypt’s presidential election is scheduled for May but last week an Egyptian administrative court suspended the 100-member constitutional assembly which was supposed to draft a new constitution for post-dictatorship Egypt.

The suspension has thrown things into a tizzy and tensions are growing between the various secular and Islamist groups and the ruling military council which currently holds power. Having a new president without a constitution (worse yet with the old constitution) is like putting the cart before the horse. But there are real problems with the constitutional assembly that is dominated by members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafist Nour party (who hold a majority in parliament). Secularist members and even Islamic and Christian representatives withdrew from the assembly reading the handwriting on the wall.  Women were grossly under-represented on the assembly as were representatives of civil society institutions. Few of the assembly members had adequate knowledge of constitutional law to participate in meaningful drafting of such an important document. Beyond fair representation of stakeholders, there are some deeply divisive issues of constitutional significance in Egypt. The major one is the role of Islamic law (Sharia) in the new constitution. What safeguards will be in place to protect individual freedoms, women’s rights and the rights of religious minorities and other groups? Ethiopians can learn a great deal from the Egyptian transitional experience.

Who Should Lead the Dialogue on the Transition from Dictatorship to Democracy?

Conventional wisdom says the important task of managing the transition from dictatorship to democracy should be left to the elites—the politicians, party leaders, bureaucrats, academics and other institutional leaders. They are believed to have the best and the brightest ideas for developing the “roadmap” and “action plans’ for a transition to democracy. But for there to be a truly a  successful transition followed by a durable democracy, the dialogue base must be expanded to broadly include civil society organizations, human rights advocacy groups, women and the youth. In fact, the likelihood of a successful transition is increased manifold if civil society organization, advocacy groups, women and youth take a leading role. The reasons are self-evident. Civil society organizations are critical to civil engagement and citizen action for participatory democracy. They are important in facilitating broad-based mobilization in a transitional period and in ensuring responsive governance in the post-transition period. They are also most effective in giving voice to the poor, the minorities and the vulnerable.

The youth are important because the future belongs to them. As George Ayittey explains, there are two generations in Africa: the Cheetah Generation and the Hippo Generation. “Cheetahs seek knowledge, innovation and look for solutions to their problems while Hippos blame others, seek handouts and generally drive our continent to the ground… The Cheetah Generation is a new breed of Africans who brook no nonsense about corruption. They understand what accountability and democracy is. They are not gonna wait for government to do things for them… Africa’s salvation rests on the backs of these cheetahs.” Ethiopia’s salvation rests in the palms of these Cheetahs.

Women need to be given a prominent role in the transitional dialogue because they have been historically ignored, discounted, overlooked and forgotten though they represent one-half of the population. There could be no true democracy where there is no gender equality, and that is one of the glaring inequalities in Ethiopia today. The evidence is incontrovertible that Ethiopian women today suffer significant sociocultural and economic discrimination and have far fewer opportunities than men for personal growth, education, and employment. But women’s involvement in the transitional dialogue is vital because they bring their own unique insights and perspectives to the problems. I believe women have special leadership qualities which are vital to democratic transition and governance. On balance, they tend to be more honest, intelligent, understanding and trusting than men. They are more compassionate than men and more likely to negotiate and compromise. But we will never know know the leadership potential of Ethiopian women because few have been given a chance to prove themselves. They must have a major role in the dialogue on Ethiopia’s transition from dictatorship to democracy.

From One Transitional Bridge to Many Permanent Bridges

All of the dialogue on Ethiopia’s transition to democracy must serve to build bridges across the ethnic divides, the religious chasms, linguistic and cultural cleavages and geographic differences. The dialogue ultimately must lead to a national consensus on a vision of democracy — which I hope will lead to the creation of a government that always fears the people and a political system where the people never fear their government – which promotes peace, understanding and reconciliation of the people of Ethiopia.

So, let the dialogue, discussions and debates continue in the town halls, in the streets, parks and public squares, the villages and hamlets, the neighborhoods, the newspapers, the offices, the youth and women’s organizations, trade and farmers’ associations, meeting halls, the stadiums, restaurants, schools and universities, courthouses and parliaments and on the radio, television, the webpages, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Skype, instant messaging, blog pages and by email…

Let’s get to work building bridges that connect people all across the Land of Thirteen Months of Sunshine!!! 

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic and

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/   and

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

History Keeps Repeating Itself in Ethiopia

Last week, the Voice of America Amharic radio program reported on the forced official removal (“displacement”) of a large number of people e from the southern part of Ethiopia. According to the report, numerous Amhara farming families from the town of Gura Ferda were ordered by local officials to pack up and go back to their “kilil” ethnic homeland. A number of these displaced persons told the VOA that they were summoned by local officials and ordered  to “leave their lands” and get out of town before sundown. Many of them were born in the area or had lived there for decades. Before leaving, the victims of official displacement were required to sign an official document which stated that they had “illegally acquired, held and farmed land in the area” and now are voluntarily returning it to the local administration. Hundreds of displaced families left town headed to the capital of Addis Ababa to petition Zenawi’s regime for redress of grievances. As they gathered outside the “Parliament”, they were rounded up by security officials and trucked out to parts unknown. A representative of Zenawi’s regime told the VOA she knows nothing about the situation and that an investigation is underway. In the recent past, tens of thousands of other citizens have reportedly been removed from Benji Maji Zone in the “Southern Nations” region.

Forced removal of populations (under different designations “resettlement”,”villagisation”, “displacement”, etc.) has a sinister and ugly history in Ethiopia. In the past few years, Zenawi’s regime has undertaken a massive program of “villagization” (permanent removal of local populations from ancestral lands) in the Gambella region in Western Ethiopia to make way for the Indian agrobuiness multinational Karuturi and other “investors”. Zenawi’s top agriculture official said “there is no movement of population” in Gambella. But that is contradicted by a UNICEF field study which concluded:

The deracination [uprooting from ancestral lands] of indigenous people  that is evident in rural areas of Gambella is extreme. It is very likely that      Anuak (and possibly other indigenous minorities) culture will      completely disappear in the not-so-distant future. Cultural survival,  autonomy, rights of self-determination and self-governance are all legitimate issues for these indigenous groups, and these are all      enshrined by international covenants and United Nations bodies – but all are meaningless in Gambella today.

The military junta (Derg) that ruled Ethiopia from the mid-1970s until 1991 used “resettlement” as a political and tactical counter-insurgency weapon. The Derg “resettled” populations in rebel-controlled areas in the  north of the country to create military buffer zones and to deny the insurgents  local support.  At the onset of the 1984 famine, the Derg initiated a resettlement program for 1.5 million people from insurgent-controlled and drought-affected northern regions to the south and southwest of the country. The Derg claimed the people were relocating voluntarily. Tens of thousands of people died in that resettlement program from illness and starvation. Families were separated as people fled the ill-equipped and ill-managed resettlement centers.

Ironically, the northern insurgents, who have now wielded power in Ethiopia for the past 21 years, condemned the Derg and characterized the “resettlement” centers as “concentration” camps.  In 2012, the very leaders who fought against such inhuman practices have become the chief architects and engineers of a new and systematic program of forced resettlement and transfer of population in Ethiopia. It seems history repeats itself over and over again in Ethiopia. But for the record, “deportation or forcible transfer of population”, (defined as “forced displacement by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds without grounds permitted under international law”)  is one of the specified crimes against humanity under the Article 7(d) of the Rome Statute.

Kililistans and Bantustans

For the past two decades, Zenawi has been repackaging an atavistic style of  tribal politics in a fancy wrapper called “ethnic federalism.” He has managed to segregate the Ethiopian people by ethno-tribal classifications  and corralled them like cattle into  grotesque regional political units called “kilils” (literally means “reservation”; semantically, the word also suggests the notion of an exclusion zone, an enclave). “Kilil” is basically a kinder-and-gentler form of Apartheid-style Bantustans (“black African tribal homelands”). The ideology of “kililism” shares many of the attributes of Apartheid’s “Bantustanism”. Both ideologies aim to concentrate members of designated ethnic groups into “homelands” by creating ethnically homogenous territories which could ultimately morph into  “autonomous” nation states. Zenawi made sure to insert Article 39 in the Ethiopian Constitution which provides: “Every nation, nationality or people in Ethiopia shall have the unrestricted right to self-determination up to secession.” In other words, the “kilils” could secede and become sovereign nations, which was precisely the ultimate aim of the Bantustans.

But there are many other similarities. One of the major policy aims of “Bantustanization” was to make South Africa’s blacks nationals of the homelands instead of the nation of South Africa. By politically disempowering them and diminishing their national citizenship and human rights to travel freely and establish residence in any part of the country, Bantustanization effectively atomized black African communities. The forced removal of  disapproved ethnic groups from the southern part of Ethiopia accomplishes the same purpose. “Bantustanization” was based on forced relocation of the black African population from different parts of South Africa to the “homelands”.  It aimed at eventually accommodating every black person in South Africa into one of the 10 “homelands”. Kililism has effectively achieved that objective by corralling Ethiopians in 11 “regional states” (kililistans) organized exclusively on the basis of ethnicity. “Bantustanization” was used strategically to prevent alliances between the various African ethnic groups. It was an effective tool of the Apartheid government’s policy of divide and rule to cling to power. “Kililism” serves the same purpose in Ethiopia today to the point where a handful of individuals exercise absolute power .  According to the International Crises Group, (a research organization that gives advice to the United Nations, European Union and World Bank):

Once close to their rural Tigrayan constituency, the TPLF and the  EPRDF top leaderships now largely operate in seclusion from the general public. This has led to a situation in which an increasingly smaller number of politicians – the TPLF executive committee and the  prime minister’s immediate advisers – decide the political fate of the country.

Playing the Ethnic Card to Divide and Misrule 

My basic belief is that tyranny, despotism and dictatorship thrive and flourish when the people are disunited and fragmented particularly along ethnic lines and the tyrants and their supporters maintain their ironclad unity.  Ethnicity in Ethiopia, as in other parts of Africa, is a source of division, weakness, conflict and violence. Unity is a source of strength, harmony, peace and reconciliation. African dictators have used ethnicity as a powerful weapon to divide and rule.

In October 2011, I wrote a weekly commentary about the “ultimate weapon found in the arsenal of tyrants and despots– divide and misrule”:

For the past two decades, the maxim of those who have rivetedthemselves to the platform of power in Ethiopia has been: “We, the rulers of the people, in order to form a more perfect disunion…” They    have put to use the ultimate weapon found in the arsenal of tyranny and despotism. They have divided and misruled, divided and subjugated,             and divided and parceled away the land in bits, pieces and chunks.        They have managed to systematically divide the people by region, city,  town and even neighborhood. They have succeeded in dividing the             people by corralling them into homelands (Bantustans) in the name of “ethnic federalism”. They have sought to divide the people by language and religion, and even rupture the bonds of affection between Ethiopians living in the country and those in the Diaspora.

This past January I wrote a commentary encouraging all Ethiopians to unite around a common purpose and destiny and celebrate the very idea of unity among peoples of a nation and warned of the dire consequences of failing to bridge the artificially manufactured ethnic divide: “A nation divided by race, tribe and ethnicity is doomed to poverty, ignorance and strife. I have always marveled at the majestic opening phrases in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a perfect Union…”

Overcoming Identity Politics in the Transition to Democracy 

In the transition from dictatorship to democracy, one of the greatest challenges Ethiopians will face is the problem of identity politics at the ideological level and “kililism” at the structural  and constitutional levels. One could surmise that the current political rationale for “kililism” could create a chaotic, if temporary, situation in the transition  to democracy and potentially impair much needed efforts to create national unity, preserve the country’s territorial integrity and guarantee its political sovereignty.  The challenge, in my view, is how to transform the politics of  identity and ethnicity into a dialogue over  strengthening national unity and furthering the common cause of our humanity through cooperation, accommodation and reconciliation (while avoiding the path to conflict and violence).

The threshold issue for me is whether it is productive to play Zenawi’s “ethnic card” game. He has used it as an effective tool to justify his one-man, one-party divide and misrule.  He has used the “ethnic card” to anger and distract his opponents and divert public attention from the desperate  economic situation in the country (“a recent report by the Addis Ababa-based research group Access Capital SC stated, ‘Ethiopia had the second-highest inflation rate in the world last year, when it peaked at 40.6 percent’”). It is best to leave the ethnic polarization game to Zenawi and focus on ethnic reconciliation, cooperation and collaboration.

There is much social scientific literature to suggest that “identities are constructed and can be deconstructed and reconstructed anew”. In other words, ethnic identity like other forms of identity is malleable. It can be transformed over time by processes of immigration, marriage, education, national integration, nation-building, economic development and other factors. (Zenawi’s antidote to this process is segregation of people in kililistans where there will be little opportunity for “ethnic fusion” or assimilation.)  Often, ethnic identity trumps all other issues and leads to conflicts where there is an absence of social and legal justice, poor governance and denial of the equal protection of the laws and opportunities. The real challenge for Ethiopia’s opposition political leaders, scholars, elites and ordinary folks today is to re-conceptualize the politics of identity which  for so long has been based on historical and current grievances to a politics based on promoting and implementing human rights values. I believe a paradigm shift in the way we understand and discuss the question of ethnic identity; and that necessitates first and foremost a change in the very language of communication we use to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct  ethnicity and its associated social, economic and political problems.

Inventing a New Language for a New Identity

I have previously argued for and proposed a new “language” for dialogue on the question of ethnicity in Ethiopia. (I even “invented” words (neologisms) for the occasion, one of the privileges of an academician.) I find it necessary to re-articulate those ideas once again.  I view ethnicity as the flip side of the coin of unity. The coalescence of ethnic groups is the fabric of unity in any nation.  When subnational groups are fragmented, divided and are at odds with each other, a nation faces the threat of disintegration. Zenawi sees Ethiopia as a collection of 9 distinct and autonomous kilils. In other words, Ethiopia for Zenawi is a patchwork of “nations and nationalities” that have very little in common (a convenient cover for divide and rule) and with mutually exclusive interests. We believe Ethiopia is a variegated mosaic of multiculturalism where all citizens have the same rights, freedoms,  opportunities and protections under the law. They can live, work, play and pray in any part of their country without any limitations or restrictions whatsoever!

In the transition from dictatorship to democracy, it will be necessary to build a new kind of unity based on our common humanity. This special unity is grounded in a fundamental belief that our common bonds of humanity are greater than the sum of our bonds of ethnicity, nationality and communality. Our common yearning for freedom, democracy and human rights is greater than our narrow ethnic interests. Our commitment to each other’s human dignity is nobler than the arrogant ethnic identity.

Unity that is based on our common humanity draws not only on universal ethical and moral values but also on the African ethic of  “Ubuntu”, often used by Nelson Mandela to teach us about the essence of human existence: “A person is a person because of other people. You can do nothing if you don’t get the support of other people.” “Ubunity” is unity that requires us to see each other as brothers and sisters and relate to each other on the basis of the principles of sharing, caring, trust, tolerance, honesty and morality. We do not see each other with a colored ethnic lens that filters for Oromo, Amhara, Tigrean, Gurage and so on but with a clear lens that is calibrated to illuminate justice, equality and fairness. The special unity of which I speak is also grounded in an unshakeable belief that our individual liberty must be protected against those who commit crimes against humanity and acts of atrocity, sneer at public accountability and abuse their authority and act beyond the limits of  constitutionality.

I ask all Ethiopians to strive for a special kind of unity which I call both “humunity” and “younity”. “Huminity” is unity based not on ethnicity or nationality but on a blend of core universal values of human dignity and the African ethic of “ubunity”.  It requires individual moral commitment  to respect and uphold human rights, an allegiance to the rule of law, a belief in the consent of the people as the only legitimate basis of power, and strict adherence to principles of constitutional governance, accountability and transparency. If we could develop wide and deep consensus on these values, we would have achieved unity of thought, purpose and consciousness, the prerequisites to all other forms of unity. More importantly, if f we put these values into action by defending the rights of victims of human rights abuses, working for improvements in the observance of human rights conventions, organizing, teaching and preparing the youth for a democratic society, exposing corruption and abuse of power, strengthening our interpersonal relations across ethnic, religious and class lines, we will have achieved unity in action and deeds. Is it not true that the things that divide us, sow discord and hatred amongst us are rooted in and fester because of the very absence of these universal values in our lives?

Tyrants divide the people by magnifying the smallest of differences. Often, the people fall prey to the schemes of tyrants and sing their songs of discord and division. But in my conception of “huminity”, it is possible to have diversity of opinion, views and approaches because I believe “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.” If we embrace and practice the universal principles of human rights, we will realize that it is not about our ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, region or anything else, but what we can do collectively and individually to remove the yoke of oppression and tyranny, institute democracy and the rule of law to uphold human dignity.

My conception of “younity” is a simple idea about you and I together standing up to tyranny, corruption and abuse of power. It is based on the notion that each one of us is a link in a long chain of both oppression and freedom. Our yearning for freedom welds the links in the chain of unity; tyranny melts the links. I believe we all have an individual civic and moral duty to strengthen the links and bonds of unity in the Ethiopian people by embracing and practicing the core values of human dignity and rights. Political leaders must adopt a new and more powerful language of “huminity” to bring the people of divergent views together. Religious leaders must speak of “huminity” in the language of divinity. They should preach and pray for unity. Civic leaders must speak up and advocate for “huminity”. Academics must teach the ways of “huminity” to the youth; and the youth must teach the older generation of the necessity of “huminity” for a new and enlightened Ethiopian community. Most importantly, ordinary people in the street must speak in the language of our common humanity (ubunity) to achieve ultimate unity.

Playing the ethnic card game with Zenawi is to fall victim to destructive identity politics that breeds division, hatred, conflict, and cynicism. We can choose to play Zenawi’s zero-sum ethnic card game (a game in which he always wins and we always lose) and express outrage over the spectacle he has created in Gura Ferda, Gambella, Benj Maji and wherever else. But we can also rise above ethnicity and the politics of identity and help build a national Ethiopian identity. But how…?

“Establish New Relationships, Devoid of any Resentment and Hostility” 

The most direct way to build a new national identity is to establish new relationships and discard the old and tired ways of hatred and domination. We must look to a vision of Ethiopia that is not only free of dictatorship and tyranny but also united. On the occasion of the establishment of the permanent headquarters of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa on May 25, 1963, H.I.M. Haile Selassie made the most compelling case for African unity. One-half century later, that same message rings true for Ethiopia:

We look to the vision of an Africa not merely free but united. In facingthis new challenge, we can take comfort and encouragement from thelessons of the past. We know that there are differences among us.Africans enjoy different cultures, distinctive values, special attributes. But we also know that unity can be and has been attained among men of the most disparate origins, that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacle to the coming together of peoples. History teaches us that unity is strength, and cautions us to   submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for common  goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to true African brotherhood and unity…. Our efforts as free men must be to establish new relationships, devoid of any resentment and hostility, restored to our belief and faith in ourselves as individuals, dealing on a basis of equality with other equally free peoples.

Close ranks regardless of ethnicity or regionality; reaffirm our basic humanity in our Ethiopianity; renounce our old enmity; openly declare our steadfast unity and trumpet our Ethiopian nationality at every opportunity. Let us strive to establish a new identity in Ethiopian unity!

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic and

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/   and

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

የኢትዮጵያ ሽግግር ወደ ዴሞክራሲና የማንነት ፖለቲካ

April 9th, 2012 | |

ከፕሮፌሰር ዓለማየሁ ገብረማርያም

(ትርጉም ከነጻነት ለሃገሬ)

በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ራሱን ይደጋግመዋል

ባለፈው ሳምንት የአሜሪካን ድምጽ የአማርኛው ፕሮግራም ዘገባ ከሃገሪቱ ደቡባዊ ክፍል በግዳጅ ከቀዬአቸው የተፈናቀሉትን በርካታ ኢትዮጵያዊያንን የሚመለከት ነበር፡፡ በዘገባው መሰረት፤ ከዚሁ ከደቡባዊ ክልል በጉራ ፈርዳ በግብርና ይተዳደሩ የነበሩ በርካታ የአማራ ተወላጆች በአካባባዊ ባለስልጣናት ንብረታቸውን ይዘው በአስቸኳይ ከአካባቢው ለቀው ወደ ‹‹ሞት ወረዳ›› የቀድሞ ቀያቸው እንዲሄዱ ለዳግም ስደት ተዳርገዋል፡፡ ለአሜሪካን ድምጽ በሰጡት የአቤቱታና የሰሚ ያለህ እሪታቸው በአካባባዊ ባለስልጣናት ተጠርተው የእርሻ ቦታቸውን በመልቀቅ፤ ቤተሰባቸውንና ጓዛቸውን ይዘው አካባቢውን ከጸሃይ ጥልቀት በፊት ለቀው እንዲወጡ መመርያ ተሰጥተዋል፡፡ አብዛኛዎቹ እነዚህ ተፈናቃዮች፤ በዚያው ተወልደው ያደጉና ቀሪዎቹ ደግሞ ለዓመታት ኑሯቸውን የመሰረቱ ናቸው፡፡ ስርአት ያጣው የመፈናቀል ዕጣ የደረሰባቸው ቤተሰቦች፤ መኖርያቸውን አላግባብ ይዘነው የነበረ በመሆኑ አሁን በፈቃደኝነት ለአካባቢው መስተዳደር በፈቃደኝነት መልሰናል የሚል የመስተዳድሩን ሰነድ በግድ እንዲፈርሙ መገደዳቸውን ገልጸዋል፡፡ በመቶ የሚቆጠሩ እነዚህ የመከራና የግፍ በደል ተሸካሚ ተፈናቃዮች ና ቤተሰቦቻቸው አካባቢውን በመልቀቅ አቤቱታቸውን ለመለስ ዜናዊ ለማሰማትና የአካባቢው መስተዳድሮች የጣሉባቸውን የመፈናቀል በደል እንዲያስነሳላቸው ለመጠየቅ ወደ አዲስ አበባ አቅንተዋል፡፡ ለአቤቱታ አገር ቆርጠው በዜግነት መብታቸው ለመጠቀምና አቤቱታ ለማሰማት ከፓርላማው በር ላይ የተሰበሰቡት አቤት ባዮች፤ አቤቱታቸው በመደመጥ ፈንታ በደህንነት ተከበው ተበድለው እንደበዳይ በመኪና ተጫነው ወደ አልታወቀ ቦታ ተወስደዋል፡፡ የመለስ ዜናውም ተወካይ ለአሜሪካን ድምጽ በሰጠችው መግለጫ ስለተባለው ጉዳይ ምንም የሚያውቁት ነገር እንደሌለና ጉዳዩን ለማጣራት ግን ሂደት መቀጠሉን ተናግራለች፡፡ በዚህ በኩል ደህነንት ማዘዝ በአሜሪካን ድምጽ በኩል ደሞ ጉዳይ ማጣራት ምን የሚሉት ቅልመዳ ነው? በቅርቡ በአሰርት ሺህ የሚቆጠሩ ዜጎች በአካባቢው ባለስልጣናት ትእዛዝ በጉልበት ከደቡብ ሕዝቦች ማስተዳደር ባንቺ ማጂ ዞን መፈናቀላቸው ይታወቃል፡፡

የሕዝቦች ግዳጃዊ መፈናቀል (<<ሰፈራ>> መንደር ምስረታ›› ‹‹የአካባቢ ለውጥ›› ወ ዘ ተ ር ፈ ………) በኢትዮጵያ አስከፊና ዘግናኝ ታሪክ ያለው ነው፡፡ የመለስ አገዛዝ በመንደር ምስረታ ስም በርካታ ፕሮግራሞችን በማካሄድ፤(ቋሚ የሆነ ከትውልድ ቦታ ንቅለትና ስደት) በደቡባዊ የሃገሪቱ ክፍል በጋምቤላ ነዋሪዎችን አፈናቅሎ የሕንድ ስሪት ለሆነው ለካሪቱሪና ለሌሎችም ኢንቬስተሮች በዜጎች ስደት ላይ ያበበ ንግድ ማካሄዱን የመለስ ገዢ መንግሥት ይክዳል፤ የመለስም ከፍተኛ የእርሻ ባለስልጣን ‹‹የስደት እንቅስቃሴ በጋምቤላ ጨርሶ የለም›› ቢልም የዩኒሴፍ የአካባቢ ጥናት ግን የሚከተለውን ይላል

ነዋሪ ዜጎችን ማፈናቀሉ (ከቅድመ ስሪታቸው ማፈናቀል) በጋምቤላ መጠኑን የሳተና ምክንያተዊነቱም የማያሳምን ነው፡፡ በቅርቡም የአኝዋኮች (ሌሎችም በቁጥር አናሳ ዘሮች)ባህል ጨርሶ እንደሚጠፋ አያጠራጥርም፡፡ ባህላዊ ደህንነት፤ራስን መቻልና ራስን ማስተዳደር፤ ለነዚህ ዜጎች መብታቸውና ሊከበርላቸውም የሚገባ የነሱነታቸው መገለጫ ነው፡፡ በዓለም አቀፍ ህጋግትም ጥበቃ ሊደረግላቸው ቢደነገግም በጋምቤላ ግን ትርጉሙ ጠፍቶ የግፍ መንደር እየሆነ ዜጎችም የግፍ ተጠቂ በመሆን ላይ ናቸው፡፡

ኢትዮጵያን የገዛው የደርግ መንግሥት ኢትዮጵያን ከ1970 እስከ 1991 ድረስ ሲገዛ ሠፈራን ለፖለቲካው መጠቀሚያ በማድረግ ሰርቶበታል፡፡ደርግ ህወሃት በያዛቸው መንደሮች የተገደዱ ሠፋሪዎችን በማሰማራት ለወያኔ ድጋፍ ለማሳጣትና ለሚሰነዘርበት ጥቃት መከላከያ አድረጓቸው ነበር፡፡በ1984 ዓም በተከሰተው ችጋር ሳቢያ ደርግ የ1.5 ሚሊዮን የተገዳጅ ሰፋሪዎችን በወያኔ ከተያዙና ለችጋር ከተጋለጡ ሰሜናዊ አካባቢዎች ወደ ደቡብና ደቡባዊ ምእራብ አካባቢዎች አሰፈረ፡፡ በዚህም ጊዜ ደርግ ሰፋሪዎቹ ያለምንም ማስገደድ በፈቃደኝነት ሰፈራውን ተቀላቅለዋል ብሎ ነበር፡፡ በዚሁ የሰፈራ ፕሮግራም በህመምና በችጋር በሺህ የሚቆጠሩ ወገኖች በሞት ተቀጥፈዋል፡፡ከዚህ መከራ ከከበበው ያልተሟላ ሰፈራ መንድርም ለመሸሽ ጉዞ የጀመሩት ኢትዮጵያዊያን ከቤተሰቦቻቸው ተለያይተው ለሞት ተዳርገዋል፡፡

የሚያስገርመው ግን የሰሜኖቹ የትላንት ተዋጊዎችና ላለፈው 21 ዓመታት ኢትዮጵያን ለመግዛት የበቁት መለሳዊ ገዢዎች ደርግንና የሰፈራ ፕሮግራሙን ‹‹የማፈኛ አስር ጣቢያ›› (“concentration” camps) በማለት ያወግዝና ያንቋሽሽ ነበር፡፡ እነዚህ ሰፋሪዎች ወደ ትውልድ መንደራቸው ጨርሶ እንደማይመለሱና (እትብታቸው ከተቀብረበት)ከመንደራቸው መለያየታቸውን ያናፍስና ያወግዝ ነበር፡፡ በ2012 ደግሞ እነዚሁ የግዴታ መፈናቀልና ሰፈራ ተቃዋሚ የነበሩት የአሁኖቹ ገዢዎች ዜጎችን ከመኖርያ ቀዬአቸው አስገድዶ ለማፈናቀልና ካለፈው በባሰና ነከፋ መልኩ መድረሻ ለማሳጣት የሚካሄደውን እቅድ ቀዳሚ መሃነዲሶች ሆነው በመንደፍና አዲስና እኩይ ዘዴ በመጠቀም ዜጎችን ያለአግባብ በማፈናቀል ዘመቻ ላይ ናቸው፡፡ ታሪክ በኢትዮጵያ እራሱን ደግሞ ደግግሞ ያሳያል ማለት ይቻላል፡፡ በአርቲክል 7 (d) የሮም ስታቸር መሰረት የሕዝቦች የዓለም አቀፍ ሕግ ከሚፈቅደው ውጪ በግዴታ ማፈናቀል እንደ ኢሰብአዊ ድርጊት የተመዘገበ ወንጀል ነው፡፡

ክልልና ባንቱስታንነት

ላለፉት በርካታ የግዛት ዓመታት መለስ ዜናዊ ጠብ የማይለውን ‹‹የዘር ፌዴራሊዝምን›› በአንጸባራቂ መጠቅለያ አሳምሮ ለማቅረብ እየጣረ ነው፡፡ የዘር መከፋፈያ አጠራር በመስጠት ኢትዮጵያዊያንን ለያይቶ በፈጠረው የፖለቲካ አጠራር እንደ ከብት በመደልደል፤ ክልል በማለት መድቧል፡፡ (የዚህም ትክክለኛ ትርጉሙ የተከለለ ማለት ሲሆን ቃሉም ታጥሮ የተከለለ ማለትም ነው፡፡ ክልል በአፓርታይድ ዘመን የነበረውን የዘር ልዩነት ባንቱስታኒዝም ለመፈረጅ የተጠቀሙበት ቃልን ይመሳሰላል፡፡የክልላዊነት ፍልስፍና ከደቡብ አፍሪካው ባንቱስታኒዝም ጋር ተመሳሳይነት አለው፡፡ ሁለቱም ፍልስፍናዎች የተወሰኑ ብሄሮችን ለማግለልና በተከለላቸው አካባቢ ብቻ ተገድበው እንዲኖሩ በማድረግ በጊዜ ሂደትም የራሳቸውን ግዛት ለመፍጠር እንዲችሉ ለጥፋት የሚያነሳሳ ሂደት ነው፡፡ መለስ ዜናዊ ሆን ብሎና በቅድሚያ ሊፈጸምና ኢትዮጵያን ለማዳከም የሚያስችለውን እኩይ ተግባር በማለም አንቀጽ 39ኝን የመገንጠል መብት የሚፈቅደውን አስቀምጧል፡፡ማለትም ክልሎች ቀስ በቀስ የራሳቸው መንግስትን ለመፍጠር ይበቃሉ፡፡ የባንቱስታንም አመሰራረትና ሂደቱመም ይህንኑ ለመተግበር ነበር፡፡

ከዚህ ባለፈም የሚመሳሉበት በርካታ ሁኔታ አለ፡፡ የባንቱስታን ቀዳሚ ፖሊሲም ጥቁር አፍሪካውያንን የደቡብ አፍሪካ ዜጎች ከማድረግ ይልቅ የአንድ መንደርና አካባቢ ነዋሪዎች ለማድረግና ደቡብ አፍሪካን የነጮች ግዛት አድርጎ ለማስቀጠል የታቀደ ሴራ ነበር፡፡ በዚህም የፖለቲካ መብታቸውን በማፈንና በመንሳት፤ብሔራዊ መብታቸውን በመንጠቅና በማሳጣት፤ በነጻ በሃገሪቱ መንቀሳቀስን፤ ሰብአዊ መብታቸውን በአጠቃላይ የዜግነታቸውን መብት በመግታት፤ ባንቱስታኒዝም ጥቁር አፍሪካውያንን ነጻነት ነስቶ አገቷቸው ነበር፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ ደቡባዊ ግዛት በመካሄድ ላይ ያለው የአስገድዶ ማፈናቀል ተግባር ባንቱስታኒዝም በደቡብ አፍሪካ የፈጸመውን ኢሰብአዊ ተግባር የሚያከናውን ክልል የሚባል ትርጉም የተሰጠው ነው፡፡ ክልላዊነትም ኢትዮጵያን በዘጠኝ ክልላዊ መንግሥት በሚል ቦታ በዘር ድልድል ቆራርጦ በደቡብ አፍሪካ አፓርታይድ ጥቁር አፍሪካዊያንን አግልሎ ሥላጣኑን እስከዘለቄታው ለማቆየት እንደተጠቀመበት ሁሉ በኢትዮጵያም ለመሰል ግባር ውሏል፡፡ International Crises Group, (a research organization that gives advice to the United Nations, European Union and World Bank):

የህወሃትና የኢህአዴግ አንድ ወቅት ከትግራይ የገጠር ነዋሪ ጋር የነበራቸውን ቅርብ ትስስርና ግንኙነት እርግፍ አድርገው በመተው አሁን ከሕዝቡ ተለይተው በመግዛት ላይ ናቸው፡፡ይህም አናሳ የሁኑት የፖለቲካ ባለስልጣናት የህወሃት ሥራ አስፈጻሚ አባላትና በተለይም ጠቅላይ ሚኒስተሩ ናቸው የሃገሪቱን የፖለቲካ እንቅስቃሴ የሚወስኑት›› በማለት ያረጋግጣል፡፡

የጎሳ ፖለቲካ ካርታ ጨዋታ ያብቃለት

በኦክቶበር 2011 በሳምንታዊ መጣጥፌ ላይ የጨቃኞችና አምባገነኖችና ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ገዢዎች የመሳርያ ግምጃ ቤት ውስጠ የሚገኘውን የመጨረሻ መሳርያቸውን ከፋፍሎ በግፍ መግዛትን አስመልክቼ ጽፌ ነበር፡፡

ላለፉት በርካታ ዓመታት፤በኢትዮጵያ የሥልጣን ወንበር ላይ የተኮፈሱት ገዢዎች እምነታቸው ወይም ዓላማቸው ‹‹እኛ የሕዝቡ መሪዎች በጣም ጋጠ ወጥ የሆነውን አገዛዝ ለመመስረት…………..›› በግምጃ ቤታቸው ያስቀመጡትን የግፍና የጭካኔ አገዛዛቸውን ተግባራዊ አድርገዋል፡፡ ሕዝቡን በዘርና በብሄር፤ በከተማው፤ በመንደር፤ዝቅ ብሎም በጉርብትና መከፋፈል ችለዋል፡፡ የብሔር ፌዴራሊዝም በሚል የተንኮል ድልድል በአካባቢ ሊገድቧቸው በቅተዋል፡፡ሕብረተሰቡን በቋንቋና በሃይማኖት፤ የኖረ ቁርኝታቸውን ለመበጠስና በሃገር ውስጥና በውጪ ያለውን ኢትዮጵያዊ ለማለያየት ጥረት አድርገዋል፡፡

ባለፈው ጃንዋሪ መጣጥፌ ላይ ኢትዮጵያዊያን ሁሉ አንድ እንዲሆኑና ለአንድ ዓላማ በመሰለፍ፤ በገዢዎች የተፈበረከውን ድውይ የሆነ አስተሳሰብ ያዘለውን የዘር የጎሳና የመንደር፤ የሃይሞነትና የብሄር መከፋፈልን አፍርሰን በአንድነት በኢትዮጵያዊነት በመቆም የአንድነት ድልድይ መልሰን በመገንባት ከድህነት ከችጋር ከእርዛት ከመሃይምነት እንድንላቀቅ ጠይቄ ነበር፡፡ ዘወትር የአሜሪካን ሕገመንግሥት መግቢያው ላይ የሰፈረውን ‹‹እኛ የአሜሪካን ሕዝቦች፤ትክክለኛውንና የማይነቃነቃውን አንድነታችንን ለመፍጠር…….››የሚለውን ሳነብ በዚህ ግዙፍ አባባል ልቤ ይሞላል፡፡

የዘር ፖለቲካን ድል በመንሳት ወደ ዴሞክራሲ የሚደረግ ሽግግር

ከዲክተቴርሽፕ ወደ ዴሞክራሲ በሚደረግ ሽግግር ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ሊያጋጠም የሚችለው ችግር፤በላዕላይ መዋቅሩ የተጋረደው የዘር ፖለቲካና የክልላዊነት ድልድል ነው፡፡አንዳንድ ሰዎች የክልሊዝም ፍልስፍና በሃገሪቱ ውስጥ ብጥብጥን ወቅታዊም ቢሆን፤ያለመረጋጋትን ሁኔታ በሽግግሩ ወቅት ብቻ ሳይሆን፤አንድነትን በማጠናከሩና ወደ ቀድሞው ህዝባዊ አንድነትና መግባባት መመለሱንና የኢትዮጵያን የፖለቲካ ነጻነት ሊሞግት እንደሚችል ይገምታሉ፡፡ በኔ ግምት የዚህ ግብግብ የማንነትን ፖለቲካና የዘር ጣያቄ ብሔራዊ አንድነትን ለማጠናከር፤ሰብአዊ ክብርን በረጋ መግባባት ለማጎልበት (በዚህም ግጭትንና ሕገወጥነትን በማስወገድ) የሚያስችል ሁኔታ ማመቻቸት ነው፡፡

ለኔ ዋነኛውና መሰረታዊው ጉዳይ፤የመለስ ዜናዊ ‹‹የዘር ፖለቲካ የካርታ ጨዋታን›› መጫወቱ ውጤታማ ነው ወይ የሚለው ነው፡፡ ካገሪቱን ቅጥና አመራር ለማሳጣትና የራሱን አንድ ሰው አንድ ፓርቲ አገዛዝ ለመምራት ትክክለኛ ነው ብሎ በማመንና ለሱ እስከተስማማው ድረስ ሃገሪቱንና ሕዝቡን ከምንም ሳይቆጥር በማንአለብኝነት ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ስርአቱ ተጠቅሞበታ ል፡፡ ይህን‹‹የዘር ቁማር መጫወቻ ካርታውን›› ተቀናቃኞቹን ለማንበርከክና ለብስጭት ለመዳረግ፤በሃገሪቱ በከፍተኛ ደረጃ እየናረ ያለውን የኑሮ ውድነት ከሕዝቡ ሃሳብ ለማራቅና ለማረሳሳት፤ (ተቀማጭነቱ በአዲስ አበባ የሆነው አክሴስ ካፒታል የሼር ኩባንያ ባለፈው ዓመት ጥንቅሩ ኢትዮጵያ በዓለም የዋጋ መዋዠቅ 40.6 በመድረስ ሁለተኛውን ደረጃ ይዛለች ብሏል) የዘር ክፍፍሉን ጨዋታ ለመለስ ተዉን በመምረጥ እኛ በዜጎች መሃል የዕርቀ ሰላምና የመግባባት የብልጽግና ውህደት በመፍጠሩ ላይ እናትኩር ፡፡

የማንነት መገለጫ ይገነባል፤ዳግምም ተሸሽሎ ይገነባል፤እንደገናም ለተሸለ ይገነባል፡፡ ይህንንም የሚያሳዩና ህብረተሰቡን የሚጠቅሙ በርካታ ሳይንሳዊና ጥናታዊ ጽሁፎች አሉ፡፡ በሌላ መልኩም የብሄር ማንነት እንደማንኛውም ማንነት ተለዋዋጭ ነው፡፡በስደት፤ በጋብቻ፤በትምህርት በመቀላቀል አንድነት በሚመሰረትበት ሁኔታ፤በኤኮኖሚ እድገትና በመሳሰሉት ሊለዋጥ ይችላል ማለት ነው፡፡ብዙ ጊዜ የህብረተሰብና ሕጋዊ ፍትህ በማይኖርበት ወቅት፤ የህግ ልዕልና በእኩልነት በማይኖርበት፤ደካማ አስተዳደር ባለበት፤ዘረኛነት ይጠነክርና ግጭት ሊከሰት ይችላል፡፡ለኢትዮጵያ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲ መሪዎች፤ለምሁራንእና ለሌሎችም ትልቁ ፈተና የዘር ፖለቲካንና ባለፈውም ሆነ በአሁኑ ሁኔታ የተፈጠረውን አለመግባባትና የገዢዎች የመኖር ዋስትና ያሉትን ጥላቻ በማሰወገድ በሰበአዊ መብቶች ላይ በተመሰረተ መግባባት ላይ ማተኮር ነው፡፡ በኔ እምነትም ማንኛውንም ነገር ለሃገርና ለሕዝብ መጠቀሚያ ለማድረግ የሚቻለው በቅድሚያ ልዩነታችንን በመንቀስ ወደእንድነት የምንመጣበትን ውይይት ለማካሄድ የውይይቱን አካሄድና መግቢያና መውጫውን በመስማማት ፈቃደኛነትን በማስቀደም ብቻ ነው፡፡ለዚህም የሚረዳን በቅድሚያ ዘር የሚለውን ለመነጋገርያ በሚጠቅምና በሚያግባባ ትርጉሙ ላይ መስማማት፡፡

ለማንነት አዲስ ቃል መፍጠር

በኢትዮጵያ ስለተከሰተው የዘረኛነት ሁኔታን በተመለከተ ቀደም ባለው ጊዜ ይህን ሁኔታ ሊያወያይ የሚችል አንድ አዲስ ‹‹ቋንቋ›› እንዲፈጠር ሃሳብና ሊሆን ይገባል በሚልም ሃሳብ አቅርቤ ነበር፡፡ ለጊዜው (ቃሉንም ኒዎሎጊዝምስ ብዬው ነበር) ዋናው እምነቴም ፈላጭ ቆራጭ አገዛዝና ጭቆና የበለጠ እየደረጁና እየተንሰራፉ የሚሄዱት ሕዝቡ አንድነት ሲያጣና ሲራራቅ፤ በዘርና በጎሳ ተለያይቶ ጎሪጥ ሲተያይ መሆኑን አመላክቼ ነበር፡፡አንድነት የጠንካሬ፤የአብሮነት፤የሰላም እና የእርቀ ሰላም መሰረት ነው፡፡የአፍሪካ ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ጭራቃዊ ገዢዎች በዘር መከፋፈልን ከፍፍለው ለመግዛት መጠቀሚያ መሳርያቸው አድርገው ተጠቅመውበታል፡፡

እኔ ዘረኝነትን እንደ አንድ ሳንቲም የአንድነት ሌላው ገጽታ ነው የማየው፡፡የጎሳዎች ስብስብ የብሔራዊ አንድነት ውበትና ቅርጽ ነው፡፡አንድነት የመበታተን አደጋ የማያጋጥመው በብሔረሰቦች መሃል አለመጣጣምና መግባባት ሲጠፋ ነው፡፡ መለስያዊው የዘር አመለካከት ግን ኢትዮጵያን እንደ 9 የተለያዩ ብሔረሰቦች መመልከትና ክልሎች ብሎ ማስቀመጥ ነው፡፡ ክልል የሚለው ቃል በራሱ መታገትን፤ መገደብን፤ መራራቅን አመላካች ነው፡፡መለስም እንደሚያምነውና እንደሚመኘው ኢትዮጵያ የአንድ ሕዝብ ሃገር ሳትሆን በብሔር ብሔረሰቦች ተገጣጥማ ሲያስፈልግ የምትበታተን፤ ሕዝቦቿም አንድ የሚያደርጋቸው ምንም ፋይዳ የሚሞላ ጉዳይ እንደሌላቸው ነው፡፡(ይህ ደሞ ከፋፍሎ ለመግዛት ዋነኛው ሽፋንና መሳርያም ነው) በኛ እምነት ግን ኢትዮጵያውያን ሁሉም በአንድ ጥላ ስር የሚኖሩ፤ በአንድነታቸው የሚያምኑ፤ የሁሉም የሕግ ጥበቃ ከአድልዎ የጸዳና ሚዛናዊ የሆነ፤ኢትዮጵያም በዳበሩና ብዛት ባላቸው ባህሎች ተሳስሮና ተፋቅሮ የኖረ የሚኖርና በመኖርም ላይ ያለ ሕዝብ ሃገር ናት፡፡ ሕዝቡ በሃገሪቱ ዙርያ ገብ ያለ አንዳች ተጽእኖ፤ገደብ በፍቅር በመግባባት በመተሳሰሰብና በመስራት የሚኖሩ ናቸው፡፡

በሁላችንም ሰብአዊነት ላይ የተመሰረተ አዲስ አይነት አንድነት በመፍጠር ነው ከተጫነብን አረመኔያዊ የፈላጭ ቆራጭ የባርነት አገዛዝ ወደ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሥርአት መሸጋገር ያለብን፡፡ይህም የተለየ አንድነት፤የሚቆምበት ዋናው መደብ የሁላችንም የጋያ ፕሮፓጋንዳ ከሆነው ዘረኝነት የበለጠ ዋጋ ያለው ሲሆን ነው፡፡ ሁላችንም ለሰብአዊ ክብር ያለብን ቃልኪዳናዊ ግዴታ ቅጥ ካጣውና መላቢስ ከሆነው የአንድ ዘር ግነትና ጋጠ ወጥነት የበለጠ ዋጋ እንዳለው አምነን መቀበል ነው፡፡ በከፍተኛ መመርያና፤ እምነት ላይ የተመሰረተ ነውና፡፡ አፍሪካዊ በሆነው አባባልና አጠራር ላይ ኔልሰን ማንዴላ እንደሚሉትና የሰውን ልጅ አፈጣጠር በሚያስረዳው መልኩ የአፍሪካን የተለያዩ ዘሮች ዩቡንቱ “Ubuntu” ብለን መጥራት እንችላለን፡፡ ሰው ሰው መሆን የሚችለው ሌሎች ሰብአዊ ፍጡሮች ሲኖሩ ነው፡፡ የሌሎችን ሰዎች ድጋፍና ይሁንታ እስካለገኘን ድረስ አንዳችም ነገር መከወን አንችልም፡፡ዩብዩኒቲ፤ እያንዳንዳችን እንደወንድማማች፤እህትማማች፤አንዳችን ስለአንዳችን ማሰብን መተሳሰብን፤መተማመንን፤ መቻቻልን፤የሞራል ግዴታን የምናከብርበት ነው፡፡ አንዳችን ሌላውን እየለየ በጎጂ ጎኑ በሚያሳየን የተቀባና በሰዎች ተንኮል የተፈበረከ መነጽር ኦሮሞውን ለብቻ ትግሬውን ለብቻ አማራውን ለብቻ፤ ደቡቡን ለብቻ ጉራጌውን ለብቻ፤ በዘር ሸንሽኖ እንደቅርጫ ስጋ የሚያሳየንን መለሳዊ አመለካከት በመምረጥ ጨርሶ ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ይልቁንስ ሁሉም በአንድ የሚኖርባትን ሃገርና በፍቅርና በመግባባት ተከባብሮ የሞነር ህዝብ፤ፍትህና እኩልነት የጋራቸው የሆኑ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የሚኖሩባትን ኢትዮጵያ መልሰን መገንባት ነው፡፡

ሁሉንም ኢትዮጵያዊያን የምጠይቀው፤ ለዚህ ልዩ አንድነታችን መቆም እንድንችል ነው፡፡ይህንንም አንድነት እኔ ሁሙኒቲ “humunity”እና ዩዩኒተ “younity” እለዋለሁ፡፡ሁሙኒቲ በዘር ላይ ተመሰረተ አንድነት ዜግነት ሳይሆን በዓለም አቀፍ ህግጋት ሰብአዊ ክብር ላይ የተመሰረተ ነው፡፡ሰብአዊ መብቶችን የማክበር ግዴታ ያለበትናነው፡፡ሰብአዊ መብትን፤ ፍትሀን በእኩልነት የሚያስቀምጥ ለሕግ የበላይነት መገዛትን የሚወስን ነው፡፡የማንኛውም የስልጣን መሰረት ሕዝባዊ ይሁንታና በዚህም የተዋቀረው ሕገመንግስት በመመርያነት የሚተገበርበት፤ ተጠያቂነትን፤ ግልጽነትን፤በግዳጅ የሚያስቀምጥም ነው፡፡ እነዚህን ወደ ተግባር መለወጥ ከቻልን የተበዳዮችን መብት በማስጠበቅ፤የሰብአዊ መብት የተነፈጉትን ብናከብርላቸው፤ ምንጊዜም እንዳይጠሱና እንዳየበጣጠሱ፤ገደብ ብናደርግላቸው፤ሕብረተሰቡን ስለነዚህ ቀዳሚ ተግባራት በሚገባ እንዲያውቃቸውና እንዲንከባከባቸው እንዲጠብቃቸው በማስተማር በእውቀት ብናበለጽገው ፤ ወጣቱን ተተኪ ትውልድም ዴሞክራሲያዊ ለሆነ ሁኔታ ብናዘጋጀው፤ሙስናን፤ በስልጣን አለአግባብ በማን አለብኝነት መባለግን፤ በመታገል በዜጎች መሃል የጠበቀና የማይበጠስ አንድነት በመፍጠር አንድነትን በተግባርና በሃቅ ላይ አስቀምጠን የጋራ ንብረታችን ማድረግ እንችላለን፡፡ እነዚህ ውድ የሆኑ ዋጋዎቻቸው የማይተመን ጉዳዮች ከጎደሉብን ግን መለያየትና አለመግባባት ቤታቸውን ይሰሩብናል፡፡

አረመኔ ገዢዎች ጥቃቅን ልዩነቶቹን በማጉላትና በማባዛት ሕዝቡን ይከፋፍሉታል፤ ሕዝቡም በሚገባ ሳያውቀውና ሳያገናዝበው በሚመቱት የመለያየት ከበሮ ድምጽ በመመራት ለዜማቸው ይጨፍራል፡፡ በኔ የሁሙኒቲ “huminity” እምነት ግን የአመለካከት ልዩነት፤እምነት ሊኖር ይችላል፤የአመለካከት ልዩነት ደግሞ የእምነት ልዩነት ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ዓለምአቀፋዊውን የሰብአዊ መብት ብንመለከት ስለኛ ዘር፤ ዜግነት፤ቋንቋ ሃይማኖት ወይም ሌላ ጉዳይ ሳይሆን፤ የጭቆናንና የክፉአረመኔያዊ ገዢዎችን አስኳል በመንቀል የዴሞክራሲ ስርአትን በመገንባት ለሕግ የበላይነት ተገዢነትን ማዳበር ነው፡፡

የ ዮዩኒቲ “younity” ግንዛቤዬ እኔና እርስዎ ነአንድነትና በቆራጥነት ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ገዢዎችንና ጭቆናቸውን በህብረት ለመታገል መነሳታችን ነው፡ የእምነታችን መመስረቻም፤እያንዳንዳችን ለጭቆና ማበቃትና ለነጻነት በረጂሙ የተሳሰርን የነዚህ ሁኔታዎች መገናኛ ቁልፎች መሆናችን ነው፡፡ ለነጻነት ያለን ፍላጎትም ከአንደንነት ሰንሰነለት ጋር ያቆራኘንና ጭቆናን ለማጥፋት መንገድ ይሆነናል፡፡ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የሆንን ሁሉ የሰብአዊ መብትን መከበር፤ በሚገባ አውቀንና አሳውቀን ልንጠብቀው ይገባናል፡፡የፖለቲካ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎችም ህብረተሰቡ አመለካከቱ አንድ እንዲሆንና አዲስ የሁሚኒቴ “huminity” አስተሳሰቡን እንዲያዳብር የማድረግ ሃላፊነት ይጠበቅባቸዋል፡፡የሲቪክ ማህበረሰቦች ለዚሁ ሁሙኒቲ ጥብቅና መቆም፤ምሁራን የዚህን መንገድና ቋንቋ በማስተማር የተለያየ አመለካከት ያላቸውን ማቀራረብ ይኖርባቸዋል፡፡ ወጣቱ ትውልድም ለቀደምት ትውልድ የሁሙቲን አስፈላጊነት በማስተማር ለአዲስና ለብሩህ ተስፋ ኢትዮጵያ መመስረት ማዘጋጀት አለበት፡፡ ለዘለቄታው አንድነት ማረጋገጫ ደግሞ ማንኛውም ተራው ዜጋ የሁላችንም በሚሆነው ሰብአዊነት ዩብዩኒቲ (ubunity) ቋንቋ መነጋር አለበት፡፡

አፍሪካውያን ቅኝ ገዢውን ስርአት እና አፓርታይድን በጨቋኝ ስርአት ላይ ግንባር ሲፈጥሩ አሸነፉትና ጣሉት፡፡በቅርቡም የግብጽ፤ የቱኒዚያ፤ የሊቢያ፤ ዜጎች ‹በሕብረት ጸንቶ የቆመን ሕዝብ የሚያሸንፈው ሃይል የለም›› የሚለውን በተግባርና በቆራጥነታቸው አረጋግጠዋል፡፡ ሕብረትና አንድነት የማጣት ዋጋው ደግሞ ለመከራ መጋለጥ፤ለብዝበዛ መዳረግ፤ለመለያየት መንገድ መክፈት፤ መሳርያ መሆን ነው፡፡ ምርጫችን ሁልጊዜ ማልቀስ፤ ዘወትር ማውራት፤ በየቦታው ለችግር መጋለጥ፤ በፍርሃት መታሰር ሊሆን ይችላል፡፡ እርስ በርሳችን በመናቆር፤ አንዳችን አንዳችንን በማጥላላት፤ ለጥቅምና ለቁራሽ ስንል ወገንን ማሳለፍ፤ እራሳችንን ለማቆየት ብዙዎችን መክዳት የሚያስከትለው ውጤት ግን መብትን በማጣት ለባርነት መዳረግን ነው፡፡ አለያም ዩብዩኒቲ፤ ሁሙኒቲ፤ እና ዮዩኒቲ የአንድነትን ጎዳና መምረጥ ነው፡፡ ሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊያን በእህትማማችነትና በወንድማማችነት መንፈስ መሰባሰብ አለብን፡፡የዘርን የሃይሞነትን፤የቋንቋን እና ሌሎችንም ልዩነታችንን በመቻቻልና በማስወገድ ተቀናጅተን የጥንቱን አንድነታችንን በመከባበርና በመተሳሰብ መመለስ ይኖርብናል

የመለስን የዘር ፖለቲካ ካርታ ለመጫወት ፈቃደኛ መሆን ማለት ለጥፋት ወደሚዳርግ ልዩነት፤የዘር ፖለቲካ፤አለመግባባትና መናቆር፤መዳረግ ነው፡፡በጉራ ፈርዳ፤ በጋምቤላ፤በቤንች ማጂ፤እና በሌሎችም ቦታዎች መለስ ላስከተለውና በሕዝቡ ላይ ስለጫነው የግፍ ቀንበር ደጋግመን ልንረግመውና ልናወግዘው እንችላለን፡፡ ግን ከዚያ ባለፈም ከዘር ፖለቲካ ተገልለን፤ የአንድነታችን የሆነችውን ኢትዮጵያን መገንባት እንችላለን፡፡ ግን እንዴት………?

ከቁጡነት፤ ከጥላቻ፤ ከክፋት የጸዳ አዲስ ብሔራዊ ግንኙነት መፍጠር

አዲስ ብሔራዊ አንድነትን ለመገንባት ቀጥተኛውና አመቺው መንገድ፤የቆየውንና ጊዜው ያለፈበትን በጥላቻና በጀብደኝነት ላይ ተመስርቶ የነበረውን አንድነት በመተው ነው፡፡የአፍሪካ አንድነት ቋሚ ጸ/ቤት በሜይ 1963 በአዲስ አበባ በተመሰረተበት ወቅት ግርማዊ ቀዳማዊ ኃይለሥላሴ የአፍሪካ አንድነት ያስፈለገበትን ዋነኛ ምክንያት አስረድተው ነበር፡፡ በዚያን ጊዜ ከግማሽ ምአት በፊት የተሰነዘረው አስተያየት አሁን መልሶ በኢትዮጵያ ላይ እያጉረመረመ ነው፡፡

ስለአፍሪካ አንድ መሆን ስናስብ ስለነጻነት ብቻ ሳይሆን ስለአንድነትም ነው፡፡ይህ አዲስ ፈተና ሲቀርብልን ከአለፈው ትምህርት በመውሰድ ተስፋና መበረታታት ይሰማናል፡፡በመሃላችን ልዩነት እንዳለ አይታበልም፡፡እኛ አፍሪካውያን የተለያየ በሃልን እናስተናግዳለን፡፡……………. እንደ ነጻ ሰዎች የእኛ ጥረታችን አዲስ ግንኙነት ለመፍጠር መጣር ሊሆን ተገቢ ነው፡፡…….ብለው ነበር፡፡

ጎሰኛነትን ወይም ዘረኝነትን በማግለል፤ በግልጽ የጠበቀ አንድነታችንን በማሳወቅና በማረጋገጥ ባጋጠመን እድልና ቦታ ሁሉ የኢትዮጵያዊነት እምቢልታችንን ከፍ አድርገን በማሰማት በኢትዮጵያችን ሰብአዊነትን ባረጋገጠ መልኩ ኢትዮጵየዊነትን መገንባት ነው፡፡ ከጥርጣሬና ከጥላቻ የጸዳ አዲስ አንድነትና ግንኙነት እንገንባ……….

(ይቀጥላል)

April 08 ,  2012

It is written in the Holy Bible in Ecclesiastic 3: 1 that: “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens”

How long ago was is it since us Ethiopians said ENOUGH! of TPLF regime’s multiple cruelties amounting to those of the ruthless invader Mussolini? When is the intense hatred for the Amharas, contempt for the Oromos and other ethnic groups going to end? When is trading in the name of the valiant people of Tigray going to end? Why has the Zenawi regime adopted Mussolini’s strategy of total subjugation of the Amharas and the Oromos in particular?

Zenawi has yet again set in motion his grand design for incurably breaking the back of the Amharas and Oromos in tandem and proceed with bringing the rest of the ethnic groups to complete submission to the misrule of the regime.

The vindictive Italian Fascist, after forty years of sophisticated preparation, invaded Ethiopia with far superior modern military weapons and highly trained army that was no match in numbers to the ill-trained, poorly equipped and bare-footed peasant militia but determined to die for their dignity, creed, family values, their land and property, and independence of their motherland. It was during this war that the Italian Fascist invaders dropped leaflets from the air flying over villages in Tigray condemning the Amharas and Oromos and strictly warning the villagers not to cooperate with their militia in any way or face severe punishment.

In the circumstances, time has come for the Amharas and Oromos to set their relatively petty rivalry for power aside and collaborate in order to avert the grave simmering prospect of living in slavery – ironically in the country for which their ancestors had so bravely fought and jealously guarded its independence as vividly demonstrated in the Battle of Adwa that marked the humiliation of Italy, drew respect of the surprised European powers, and became a beacon of hope for all black people living in bondage in the Diaspora. Is it not time more than any other time to wake up to the danger of extinction?

Hypocrisy y of some Western powers:
In my letter of 19-Feb-09 to Secretary Clinton I wrote: “In the recent campaign unprecedented for the long time it took and the money spent, I was torn between the wish to see the first woman or the first African American in the White House. It is now history that Barack Obama won and other contenders bowed out gracefully setting a spectacular example to the international community which I believe hold you with high esteem for your spirited campaign for Candidate Obama to win the Presidency.”

And look at the above photograph for what I got in return to my remark, which on hindsight was a hyperbole. There is no mistaking the intimacy between the duos. But what was the warm handshaking and beaming smile about? My guess is that puppet Zenawi is saying aloud Bingo! Mission accomplished! Readers may make their own guesses.
President George W. Bush reneged on his promise not to collaborate with dictators. Secretary Clinton with her smile and warm handshake extended to genocidal tyrant is vindicating that reneging on promises was right; desperate dictators do things including torture and rendition legally barred in the United States.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stood, side by side with tyrant Zenawi, on the hallowed ground of Meneliks’s City to renounce the Human Rights Bill HR2003 unanimously approved by the exalted House of Representatives of the United States Congress. She contradicted African- Americans and the Black Caucus in the House who supported the Bill from its inception to its approval. The smiling Secretary Rice posed for a photograph with the tyrant standing on her side. Her denouncing of HR2003 in Addis Ababa – lacked statesmanship and decorum and exposed her insensitivity to the agony, grief and wailing of mothers of the martyrs of June and November 2005 in the aftermath of the historic election decisively won by the opposition and ruthlessly stolen by the ruling party of the despotic ruler.
Ambassadors Aurelia Brazil and Vicki Huddleston complained about what they called ‘vitriolic’ attack on Zenawi by opposition bloggers, but disregarded the execution of peaceful protesters by trigger happy security forces under his direct command of Zenawi. Susan Rice showed her support for the tyrant by the intimate photograph with him. Jundiai Frazer kept silent all along – perhaps spellbound by Zenawi’s divide-and- rule atrocities like the other senior diplomats in the State Department.
Regarding British policy, I quote the following two paragraphs from my article written regarding the terrorist incident in London in 2005:
“I sincerely and strongly deplore the abortive bombing of London transport system on the 21st of July 2005, following the first devastating attack (on 07 July 2005) on the system that sadly claimed 56 lives and caused injuries to hundreds of innocent people. It is morally right that both terrorist attacks drew a chorus of condemnation from the international community.”
“The position taken by the British government over the shooting of the Brazilian is in sharp contrast to the red carpet treatment at the G8 Summit accorded to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who has ordered the execution of 40 innocent civilians in cold blood, thrown thousands into jail under harsh conditions, and made many to suffer mental and physical tortures. Meles the butcher, has neither apologized to the families of the bereaved and the Ethiopian people nor instituted his promised ‘investigation’ into the heinous crime attributed to state-sponsored violence orchestrated by the very few innermost clique of Stalinists in his TPLF regime. I do not know whether Prime Minister Tony Blair has even privately regretted for inviting the tyrant Meles to the G8 Summit where the killer basked in the lavish functions of powerful world leaders exchanging smiles and champagne toasts even as atrocities in Ethiopia were taking their tolls. I doubt whether the British Prime Minister would help end tyranny in Ethiopia.”
PM Tony Blair’s successors pursue the policy of their predecessor on Ethiopia!
AU’s Impotence versus. Ethiopian Election 2005
On that historic day of 07 May 2005 a truly mammoth crowd estimated at 2.5 – 3 million inundated the streets and squares of Addis Ababa to support the now defunct Kinijit Party (Coalition for Unity and Democracy). That sea of humanity was acclaimed internationally for its magnificent display of decorum and civility; it ended peacefully without a single incident of violence.

The unprecedented massive support for Kinijit was followed by an unprecedented turn out of massive voters for the election of 15 May 2005 in which the ruling party suffered a convincing defeat failing to win a single vote in Addis Ababa where the AU Headquarters is located. Tyrant Meles unconstitutionally declared a state of emergency and swiftly implemented his plan B: killing close to 200 peaceful protesters by trained snipers; throwing the true victors to the infamous Kaliti filthy prison; incarcerating tens of thousands of opposition supports, mostly young where their heads were shaven with unsterilized blades without regard to widespread STDs of that time; votes were stolen and his party declared victory overriding its even its hand-picked electoral commission announced the results.
The African Union shamefully pronounced the election free and fair and recognized the TPLF party as the winner. What is even more shocking is that one of the senior diplomats of the AU hailing from Rwanda overstepped diplomatic norms and blamed the opposition in public for the popular unrest in the aftermath of the election marked by gruesome atrocities. It is a shame that this Rwandan forgot so soon, in the comfort of luxury that dollar-paid diplomats enjoy in Addis Ababa, the close to one million victims of genocide in his country.

It is time, more than any other time, for the Amharas and Oromos in particular, for their own sake in self-defense, to combine their overwhelming numbers to deter the deadly threat posed against them; and to save the priceless heritage bequeathed by their ancestors in exemplary collaboration.

Let us say NO to ethnic cleansing; let us be proud that Ethiopia was the first country to develop systems of law by which to be governed; let us believe in ourselves as equals regardless of the chronological order of settling of our ancestors in Ethiopia; let us believe in our irreversible bond crowned by inter-marriage and multiple common values. It is our duty to preserve the sanctity of our places of worship in churches, mosques & synagogues in Ethiopia! So help us the Almighty God of the Universe!

LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!!
Release all political prisoners in Ethiopia including
robele_ababya@yahoo.com

The dismal performance of the African Union, since its establishment officially in Durban on the 9th of July 2002, is a burning issue especially to genuine intellectuals who have the interests of Africa at heart and the young generation who see their future blighted due to rampant corruption, inept leadership, contagious dictatorial rule and robbery of votes set in motion by the TPLF regime and spreading for example to Kenya and Zimbabwe whose leaders sought to emulate the method applied by Meles Zenawi in the aftermath of the 15 May 2005 Ethiopian election. It is my contention that failure on the part of the AU Leadership to condemn the illegitimate regime of Meles set a bad precedence ushering in an era of instability and abject poverty in countries under despotic rulers.

This piece is mainly meant for young readers that have stake in the background and performance of political institutions that define their future.

In fairness to the defunct OAU

I was still young when the now defunct Organization of African Unity was founded in Addis Ababa by 32 independent States on 25 May 1963. I was naïve in matters of politics at the time but I am a little wiser now to appreciate its detrimental effect in the hands of despotic leaders.

I recall the debate of the pros and cons of creating the OAU. There were outright oppositions by pundits on the payroll of foreign powers to the point of ridiculing it. On the other hand there were concerns in good faith that it was premature to embark on the exercise in view of the diverse cultures of the African people and grand size of the developing continent with pathetic transportation network and poor economy coupled with the intrigue of some diehard colonial masters to nip the Organization in the bud.

To be fair the OAU performed beyond expectations, against many odds, in fuelling the liberation struggle giving birth to independent states to the delight of jubilant others to welcome and register them as fellow members. I thank God that I saw this history of liberation struggle in the making.

It makes me proud as it does millions of my fellow citizens that the Headquarters of the OAU was decided to be located in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, founded by Emperor Menelik II – the Victor of the Battle of Adwa over Italy. This convincing victory over the evil forces of Italy in its own right became the beacon of hope for all black people in the Diaspora lending hope, inspiration and confidence to their struggle for freedom and independence. The seat of the OAU in our capital city is a living tribute also to the foresight and arduous work of Emperor Haile Selassie.

Ethiopia is also a founding member of the United Nations when Emperor Haile Selassie was at the helm of power. His Majesty was loyal to the UN and OAU Charters to the core. As part of commitment to Collective Security under the UN elite Ethiopian battalions were sent to Korea and Congo where they received glowing accolades for their professional acumen; a small military contingent was sent to Nigeria during the civil war incited by Biafra seeking cessation; the Emperor dispatched the Air Force to assist President Nyerere when the unity of Tanzania was threatened by an uprising in Zanzibar. Several liberation movement fighters including the distinguished Statesman Nelson Mandela were trained in Ethiopia

Ethiopians are proud for the significant contribution their country had made to the noble struggle against colonialism and to the cause of unity when that is threatened by internal strife.

The foresight, intelligence, revolutionary fervor and commitment of some of the founders of the OAU such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana did not go well with diehard colonial masters addicted to sucking the wealth of the continent and slave labor of its people. They used every intrigue to undermine the Organization and some greedy leaders fell willing preys to those intrigues. The greed spread like cancer to the point of making the Organization impotent and good governance a mockery. In spite of all these, the OAU did commendably well.

Negative side of OAU

The bad governance seen in Ethiopia for the last 18 years needs to be singled out for its detrimental consequences not only to Ethiopia but also to the stability of the entire region of the Horn of Africa. Cardinal examples are:

Despite the fact that Ethiopia sacrificed her meager resources to help others gain their independence and maintain their territorial integrity in keeping with the OAU Charter, not a single member of the Organization whispered a word in public when Eritrea ceded from Ethiopia leaving it a land-locked country. Those who said anything in private blamed the cessation on the ruling TPLF regime who strongly solicited for that to happen;

Cessation of Eritrea brought neither respect to the OAU nor stability to the Horn of Africa. The fratricidal war of 1998 – 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea claimed 100 000 thousand lives on both sides not to speak of the number of injuries colossal damage to the economy, and danger to regional peace.

The OAU was unable to stop the carnage on both sides. Ethiopia’s contribution, as enumerated in the foregoing paragraphs, to the struggle for independence of fellow Africans under the yoke of imperialism unfortunately got little reciprocation – perhaps also partly because of the divisive exotic ideology intruding into our unique culture. .

In full view of the AU

The TPLF regime was convincingly and overwhelmingly beaten at the polls in the historic election of 15 May 2005. Meles Zenawi unconstitutionally declared a state of emergency; votes were stolen and his party declared victory even before his electoral commission began to announce the results. The true victors of the election were brutally thrown into jail including the charismatic and intelligent Judge Birtukan Mideksa who is back again to that filthy jail for the second time.

What is really shocking is that the African Union which had sent its observers to the above said election pronounced the election free and fair and recognized the TPLF party as the winner. What is even more shocking is that one of the senior diplomats of the AU hailing from Rwanda overstepped diplomatic norms and blamed the opposition in public for the popular unrest in the aftermath of the election during which close to 200 were executed in cold blood and tens of thousands of mostly young Ethiopians were crammed into filthy jails with their heads shaved with un-sterilized razors. It is a shame that this Rwandan forgot so soon, in the comfort of luxury that dollar-paid diplomats enjoy in Addis Ababa, the close to one million victims of genocide in his country due to utterly bad governance of the kind exercised by TPLF by deliberately inciting and exacerbating ethnic and religious differences in a tolerant country where unity in diversity had lived in exemplary relative harmony for centuries.

When pressure was mounting on it to relax the political space by allowing the state monopoly of all pillars of democracy, the ruling regime unleashed naked invasion of Somalia to divert attention from domestic problems. This unprecedented invasion in the name of Ethiopia caused draconian damage to the lives of our Somali neighbors and left a deep wound that will take decades to heal. Sadly, however, the AU publicly sanctioned this brutal invasion on grounds that the regime had the right to defend itself.

The invading TPLF army was expelled from Somalia in defeat leaving the future stability of that country uncertain. The Meles army must have lost several of its soldiers, otherwise Meles would have bragged by revealing the loss of just a few. The refusal by the tyrant Meles to disclose the information to his own rubber-stamp parliament is utter contempt to: globally recognized democratic norms; the Ethiopian people; and the families of the dead and wounded in the war of aggression against Somalia.

History will hold the AU Leaders in part responsible for the humanitarian suffering of mammoth proportion such as the one that had occurred on their watch.

Ethiopians live in a large prison; our Somali brothers and sisters should not hold the rest of us responsible for we are denied of democratic rights to demonstrate publicly against the excesses of the brutal TPLF regime.

The debate on foreign aid

Donors claim that Africa received over one trillion US dollars in aid over the last 50 years. Still the continent carries a heavy debt estimated at 350 billion US dollars. The question is where has all that money gone. The popular belief is that more than 80% found its way back to the donors and the remaining went to the pockets of corrupt leaders or squandered on military weapons and training of subservient security forces answerable to their corrupt masters.

One would share the belief of Professor George Ayittey (prominent Ghanaian Professor of Economics at the American University) that “Africa would be better served by building accountable democratic institutions such as
• An independent media
• An independent central bank
• An independent judiciary (e.g. rule of law)
• Neutral and professional armed forces
• An efficient civil service
• An independent electoral commission”.

Obviously none of the above exists in Ethiopia today under the secretive Stalinist regime of Meles Zenawi who stands among the worst dictators in the world.

Appeal to AU Leadership

The young generation has lost trust in the AU Leadership for all the reasons stated in the foregoing paragraphs. Corruption and wastage of money on security forces accountable to despotic leaders have dashed the hope of our young generation for a bright future in a prosperous and democratic continent endowed with enormous natural resources. The scramble by external powers for these resources is too obvious to state. The pervasive influence of neo-colonialism is being felt, but we have not prepared our citizens to counter it. With all due respect, the fault lies with the AU Leadership for failing to promote democratic culture and expedite the advent of a strong collaborative union in the best interest of all the citizens of the AU member States.

The hope of the young generation, Judge Birtukan Mideksa, was a child when Meles was a loyal disciple of Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Enver Hoxha. He was leading brain-washed peasants trained to kill their equally ignorant counterparts under the communist regime of Mengistu Hailemariam. She has nothing to do with the political mess created by successive regimes under which she grew up to emerge in her own right as a principled, intelligent and fair Judge as well as an able courageous and charismatic leader in the quest of the Ethiopian people for unity, justice and democracy. These national values being pursued in earnest by the people are odds with the atrocities being perpetrated by the brutal regime of Meles.

Judge Birtukan symbolizes a ray of hope for young generations. She is the leader of a popular political party committed to peaceful struggle for change. Her imprisonment for the second time leaving her four year old daughter in the care of over seventy years old mother is cruel because she has done nothing wrong except telling the whole truth which the Ethiopian people are entitled to know. She did not break any law; she is jailed in breach of the constitution which the ruling regime repeatedly breaks in full view of the AU and the international community.

Hundreds of political prisoners are held throughout Ethiopia. It is an open secret that political prisoners of the Oromo ethnic origin are the overwhelming occupants of filthy prisons infested with bugs and rodents.

The AU Leadership should not hide behind diplomatic veil and keep silent on the basic issues of grave violation of human rights perpetrated against Judge Birtukan and all political prisoners. The Leadership should openly condemn their jailors in breach of the constitution and demand unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners.

The AU Leadership is morally and legally bound to reverse the destructive trend of bad governance which has had dire effect on the progress of the continent.

Zero tolerance for those holding political prisoners!

LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!!!
Robele Ababya (robele_ababya@yahoo.com)

On November 11, 2011 Yenesew Gebre was driven to kill himself on behalf of all suffering Ethiopians. He killed himself out of love for his people and country. He made the ultimate sacrifice to wake us up so we can see what it means to be humiliated in your own home. Love can be expressed in so many different ways. Yenesew’s method was that of a teacher. That is what he was in real life. Yenesew was a shepherd and an example setter to his people.

On March 24, 2012 Ethiopian Review reported about exiled Ethiopian physicians holding a meeting in Virginia, US to raise money to invest in a referral hospital in Ethiopia. A very laudable act you might say. They must love their country and people so much that even after being kicked out, exiled or driven off from their homeland they were willing to help. Isn’t that a sign of generosity and love? I agree. There is nothing like giving. Aren’t we such a blessed people to have caring individuals among us?

Wait a minute, let us not put the cart in front of the horse please. Everything has a context otherwise it is meaningless. Our physicians ‘love’ for country has to be put in its context so we can really understand and appreciate their ‘selfless’ act. This is where the problem rears its head. They say the devil is in the details and it is nowhere true than in this instance. Our physician’s act is nothing more than a cheap trick to pad their bank account while looking selfless and honorable. Their act is that of a charlatan. They are trying to get advantage using deception. It is petty theft and nothing more than the act of a common criminal.

How sad coming from people of such high knowledge that have taken the oath to do good. Well they are Ethiopians aren’t they; the rules don’t work in the land of TPLF Ethiopia. Being a physician is a sign of high achievement. It requires sacrifice, dedication and plenty of work. It is an honorable profession. Doctors are held in high esteem and it is every mother’s dream for her baby. They teach you how to cure the sick in medical school. They make you a technician of the human body. The engineer build bridges, the architect designs house, the mechanic fixes engines, the chauffer drives a car, the physician cures people, the politician leads and the shoeshine cleans shoes. All are expert in their field. It is the contribution of each that makes a society work in harmony.

We put physicians on a pedestal. We ascribe a certain amount of higher intelligence to the doctor. That is more so in a backward society like ours. It is not healthy. We confuse education with common sense. One might be trained to be nuclear scientist but the possibility is there that the individual might be void of common sense or social grace. Those that have spent a major portion of their life pursuing a single goal can sometimes loose sight of the bigger picture.

When it comes to our learned compatriots we are dealing with two aspects of this myopic situation. There are some that are truly attracted to do good and help their people. At he same time there are those that will betray their people for thirty pieces. Isn’t that the situation we got here?

That is what I believe. In a country where one man surrounded with his ethnic group and lords it over eighty million others, in a place where one is judged by his blood line instead of his deeds, in a location where no one is allowed to speak or associate freely and in a land where the young and able are forced to leave due to lack of opportunity our esteemed doctors are collecting money to enable the evil doer.

None other than Ato Girma Birru – our Oromo Ambassador, called them into a meeting. I know it is rude to identify an individual by his ethnic affiliation on the other hand Ato Girma owes his position due to his ethnic identity. He was the token OPDO Minster in the TPLF cabinet and today he is the token representative in the US. Before his assignment to his new job he was Minster of Industry and Commerce in emerging democratic Ethiopia. Makes you wonder what he did all day doesn’t it? When you consider that he was a simple student like the rest of us before the arrival of TPLF and today he counts as one of the richest individuals in the country you know what he was busy at in his position. The well-dressed and manicured Ambassador is a picture of well-fed and modern Ethiopian.

Our physicians are the symptom of the disease afflicting our country. We focus on them because they are an easy target to identify. But this disease of discounting Ethiopia is nothing new. It has been going on for so long that it has become part of us. We all have become numb to being humiliated, trampled upon and discarded. No need to point our fingers at the greedy doctors when every house is a source of this virus of selfishness and greed. I do not mean to insult you my dear Ethiopian but isn’t time we reflect on our actions?

Tell me who buys stolen plots of land? Who flies Ethiopian Airlines? Who party’s in Addis among the starving? Who invests in hotels and brothels from Mekele to Moyale? Who turns a blind eye when the Anuaks are massacred in Gambella, the Amharas displaced from Benji Maji, the Oromos imprisoned in mass, the little girls sold into slavery in the Middle East? Don’t tell me you did not know. You knew but you choose to keep silent.

We choose to be upset because Hillary Clinton sat with the monster in Arat Kilo. We seethed with anger because the little dictator inserts himself in every international meeting, we blow our tops when Gambella is leased to grow rice, Professor Asrat was murdered, teacher Assefa Maru is gunned down, Kinijit is imprisoned and elections are stolen. It took all five minutes to cool us down. Our anger was not real. It did not come from deep. Surface anger is so pathetic don’t you think so?

Our esteemed physicians came to the west because they could not serve the people that paid for their training while working under the existing regime. Unfortunately they forget why they were driven away. They are just showing us how self-centered and idiots they are. Doctors without borders are in Ogaden tending to the deliberately starved, they are in the rift valley helping the intentionally marginalized and our doctors were assembled in Virginia to serve the less than one percent. Shame is an understatement. When did we loose our moral compass is a valid question?

You know what it took me along time to push send after I wrote this piece. I was worried offending you. I felt like I am not a good ‘chewa’ Ethiopian, being rude and confrontational is not our style. Then the picture of the displaced came to me. I saw the children from Benji Maji left to be homeless. I remembered my sister Alem Dechasa alone and helpless in Lebanon. I thought of my people in the jungles of Central Africa to be eaten by wild animals or drawn into harms way in other peoples’ conflict or imprisoned in Yemen and I said enough is enough. I have no reason to please no one.

I have bad news for you my people. Freedom cannot be outsourced. The Americans, the British nor the Norwegians are going to liberate you. Liberation comes from deep inside. It comes from being true to your self. It comes from caring for other as you care for yourself. How could you save others when you are sinking your self? As for our physicians that are deluding themselves about helping our people I have one message for them-kindly shove your PhD’s where the sun does not shine and take two aspirins for the pain. The physical pain will go away but the mental anguish caused by your betrayal will never leave you, ever.

As for me my friends, I am working overtime to bring this nightmare to an end. I support Ginbot 7, I am energized by the new OLF, I help ESAT and I am always there to expose Woyane atrocity every chance I get. I teach people on the goings in my homeland. I write my Congress representative to remind them of the plight of my people and I will never rest until this cancer is wiped out from my body politic. Sometimes the going gets rough, the road seems impassable but no one promised me a jolly ride. The fact that some individuals or groups betray our trust is no reason to resign and go home. I just reengineer and thrust on because the liberation of my country and people cannot be dumped onto others. What about you are you just complaining insistently, blaming others or are you becoming part of the problem like our educated but reality challenged physicians? It is a choice you have to make.

Dear Rev. Tveit and Religious Leader:

We in the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), a social justice movement of ethnically and religiously diverse Ethiopians,  come to you as freedom-seeking people who believe peace can only come to Ethiopia and beyond when we value the God-given humanity in each one of us and uphold the right to one’s own beliefs and religious practices.  Read More