Weekly News from Finote Democracy: Voice of the Ethiopian Unity Radio (26 February 2011)

Zim atibelegn

 

 

Experts and Gibberish in the Ethiopian, Egyptian, Tunisian, Libyan and Western context

By Hama Tuma (Source: www.afrik-news.com):  The poetic rhetoric of some American officials in the face of complex political issues tend bring gist to the mill of the satirist. “Some of the leaders we support may be bastards but they are OUR bastards” Kirkpatrick’s statement, notwithstanding its brutally direct tone, sets precedence for a famous contradictory declaration from Henry Kissinger: "if people are foolish enough to elect left wing leaders we cannot let them have their say." Refusing to be left out of the equation, Donald Rumsfeld declared: “As we know, there are known unknowns, the one’s we don’t know, we don’t know”. But, that was before Sarah Palin took the top spot, kicking out Miss South Carolina 2007, with her Egypt-America relations arguments...

There Goes the Neighborhood

Khalil Bendib

“And nobody yet has, nobody yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and no, not, not real enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from DC in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And, in these areas that are so volatile right now, because obviously it’s not just Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And, we do not have all that information yet.”

Quintessentially Palin! The lexical college should consider the name Palin as a synonym for gibberish, feverish gibberish. But notwithstanding the fact that these words were uttered by Palin, the gibberish is indicative of the general commotion that has befallen Western countries following the historic popular protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria… As the pawns and stooges tumble down from the pinnacles of autocracy, as once "stable" allies stumble into the recesses of history’s dustbins, as real democracy shakes the hypocritical world of diplomacy, no one can blame Sarah Palin for plagiarizing Miss South Carolina 2007.

Before Mubarak’s fall, an Egyptian opposition group leader is reported to have journeyed to Washington to warn American Congressmen and the CIA that Mubarak would not reach the 2011 general election… He was was not a Western expert. His words were dismissed. Indeed, the powers that be, or experts, as it were, lost in the illusion of diplomatic hypocrisy and out of touch with the common people as they feed on caviar and champagne have often dismissed real issues as surreal. With the help of "experts" top officials have more often than not failed to fathom what desperation among the populace feels like… And when they deal with vital issues, altruism is not the driving force. Autocrats buttress their power through populist acts with the help of... experts!

When Meles of Ethiopia and Isayas of Eritrea went to war and led more than 130,000 people to their untimely graves, many so-called experts had argued that the flash point of the conflict (Badme) was close to the port of Assab which Ethiopia, and not Meles Zenawi who stood for the interest of Eritrea, his mother’s country, was supposedly in dire need of. Self declared experts like Paul Henze and John Pendergast had labeled all opposition as Amhara and nostalgic of the fallen regime and missed the vital and core fact that the majority of Ethiopians could not stand the regime. The same can be said of Egyptians and Tunisians who while suffering under Mubarak and Ben Ali, enjoyed analysis from U.S. and French experts who were far removed from their plight; Experts who painlessly showered the two dictators with accolades. Hard fact. It took a Revolution to make the West understand.

Western experts on Africa are endowed with brains that favor a superb patchwork of vocabulary accompanied by inch-deep-analysis that usually result in analysis-paralysis due to the fact that, besides their unrealistic and incompartible Western logic, they are not conversant with the core of local culture and history. Back in my University days, many decades ago, research assignments turned in by students would end up gracing the pages of books "authored" by our British or American lecturers and professors, two of who have become the-Ethiopian-experts par excellence! Recently, many have written with certainty that the Janjaweeds in the Sudan were “white” Arabs waging ruthless wars against Black Africans, presumably Christians, in Darfur! Does it, all things considered, come as a surprise when Joe Biden confuses Somalia and Darfur. Who cares anyway? Same difference, Joe!

In the Ethiopian context, the Europeans and Americans who adopted pet liberation movements as their own went out of their way to present a well to do ruling people called the Amhara (actually very impoverished like all others) oppressing the majority of Oromos, Tigres and more. The barrage was overwhelming and even Ethiopia herself was labeled an invention. But let’s not only demonize those Western experts who engage in gibberish and present their inch-deep analysis as expertise. Some Africans have jumped onto the bandwagon as well and turned a once simple act of sieving out excellently written but sorrowfully stupid analysis into a cumbersome affair. While some Ethiopians have began writing astonishing manuals on how to overthrow Meles Zenawi, following the Egyptian and Tunisian revolts, it is almost impossible for their countrymen to guess which manual contains the right modus operandi.

Uganda, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Cameroon, Djibouti, Algeria...

And having legalized his next five year term, adding to his 25 years in power, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, without fear of reprisal, bluntly said that no mass uprising would occur in Uganda as we will "bundle them into jails. And that will be the end of the story!" Museveni also stated clearly that he is not ready to give up power because he has not achieved his objectives to build Uganda into what he wants it to be like. Yes, Museveni, like his Northern African counterparts, is the only Ugandan citizen with the God-given talent to lead Ugandans. Ugandans are too stupid to govern themselves into prosperity without him! His Gaddafi-like assumption, not mine…

While these experts argue that despots ensure stability, they totally ignore to recognize the sorrowful state of good-governance; human rights and the rule of law. Many French experts on Ivory Coast and Tunisia told the world that Gbagbo will definitely win the election and that Ben Ali had the situation under control. These experts have subtly contributed in the newfound culture of constitutional manipulation by African presidents, ordinary people like anyone of us who after lapping up a few of the intoxicating beverages of power decide that they want to run for president for as many terms as their old legs can carry them.

Museveni of Uganda, Bouteflika of Algeria, Biya of Cameroon, Gelleh of Djibouti, not to forget the ousted Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, to cite but a few, have ably corrupted democracy in Africa into a slimy sickening electoral democracy. A strange and free-less democracy that those seemingly bankrolled experts, just like Lenin’s useful idiots, have applauded.

All trees have bark
All dogs bark
Therefore all dogs are trees!

But times are changing and the pawns are falling one after another. Bahrain’s repressive and discriminatory regime, notoriously known for torturing political prisoners, is cracking under the pressure of mass protests. And Gaddafi’s incoherent speeches — a bizarre cocktail of bloodthirstiness, power drunkenness, insanity and a will to destroy his country — have finally served as the wind beneath the wings of change. The experts who claimed that Libya did not present the same dynamics as Tunisia and Egypt, the same experts who said the Northern African revolution won’t have a domino effect, the same experts who strangely juxtaposed North Africa and homogeneous satellite countries of the former Soviet Union and dismissed the wind of political change in the Arab world, are all been proven wrong.

Be afraid, Be very afraid

Saleh, Bouteflika, Omar Gelleh and Gaddafi are reeling under serious pressure with mass demonstrations called by opposition groups. The shrapnel from Tunisia’s explosive popular uprising is wounding many Middle Eastern autocrats with Djibouti threatening to pass the virus on to Ethiopia and Eritrea. Indeed, although Ethiopia does not share the same dynamics with Egypt in spite of having shared the Nile and much of their history together, the Horn of Africa country is being closely monitored.

In general however, Africa suffers from a pandemic of lies and a bunch of brainwashed elites. I remember Milton Alimadi’s controversy with the New York Times and this was what he wrote:

“When African countries began gaining independence in the 1960s from former colonial power, Great Britain, The New York Times sent Homer Bigart, the famous two-time Pulitzer winning reporter to cover the transition. In Ghana, Bigart wasn’t impressed by independence hero Kwame Nkrumah, as a letter he sent to Times foreign editor Emanuel Freedman in January 1960 reveals:

“I’m afraid I cannot work up any enthusiasm for the emerging republics,” Bigart wrote. “The politicians are either crooks or mystics. Dr. Nkrumah is a Henry Wallace in burnt cork. I vastly prefer the primitive bush people. After all, cannibalism may be the logical antidote to this population explosion everyone talks about.” The haughtily humble words of an expert.

No More Lies about Africa is a valuable book written by Musamali Nangol, a Pan Africanist born under a Mango tree as he liked to put it. He tried to expose and deny weight to the very many lies spread by so called experts whom our new elites worship, unfortunately. The present Guinean leader, Alpha Conde, has reportedly invited George Soros to advise him on how to get the Guinean economy on its feet. Others before him had diligently listened to the IMF hoping its prescriptions would cure their economic malaise. As the saying goes, the naive sheep spends the whole day in the company of its butcher.

In Ethiopia and Somalia, to mention just two, clan and ethnic conflicts are fanned by urban intellectuals. Barbarians in modern garbs. The experts have their field day as Africa is presented as endemically tribalist to the core. Non Africans at the shores of Lampadusa are presented as Africans. Strangely, while the opposite is true, people are not interested in hearing that no African, besides exceptional cases, goes to India or China to look for greener pastures. According to Fatou Diome, it is never said that whilst Europeans are trying to stop poor African immigrants flocking into Europe, educated Africans who have been painfully nurtured by their struggling systems are being uprooted from their countries to buttress the development of already rich European countries. "Who will develop their economic and political systems"? "Are the poor Africans not going where their sources of livelihood are found?".

It is an open secret that most rich European families of yesteryear, and for that matter today, made their fortunes in the same Africa that has graced sensational media screens with its misery; An albatross that has feed experts from many international NGOs with millions of dollars. Rhetoric! Misery for money; the new gold rush.

Unauthorized republication of this article without the express permission of Afrik-news.com or Afrik.com is prohibited. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Afrik-news.com or Afrik.com.

Alarm over the fate of Ethiopian refugees in Libyan jails

ALARM OVER THE FATE OF ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES IN LIBYAN JAILS

February 24/2011

In the deserts of Libya hundreds of Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees have been languishing in containers and other holding cells. With the crisis in Libya and the claims that mercenaries holding Ethiopian passports have been arrested in Benghazi and other places there is a strong fear that Ethiopian refugees may be targeted for mob violence. SOCEPP calls on the UNHCR to assure the safety of the refugees and asks the countries evacuating their nationals to do the same for the refugees in the desert prisons.

The Libyan regime has in the past proved to be a racist one and it has mistreated “black Africans” with contempt. The Libyan society shares the prejudice and the recent

claims that “African mercenaries” (including some with Ethiopian passports) have been

used by the Khadafy regime to kill protesters can possibly fuel a violent backlash against Ethiopian refugees in Tripoli, El Beida and other places.

SOCEPP calls on the UNHCR and Western countries to assure the safety of the

refugees in Libyan prisons and towns.

In search of an African revolution

International media is following protests across the 'Arab world' but ignoring those in Africa.

By Azad Essa

Must a revolt be filmed and photographed to succeed? [EPA]

Demonstrations are continuing across the Middle East, interrupted only by the call for prayer when protesters fall to their knees on cheap carpets and straw mats and the riot police take a tea break. Egypt, in particular, with its scenes of unrelenting protesters staying put in Tahrir Square, playing guitars, singing, treating the injured and generally making Gandhi’s famous salt march of the 1940s look like an act of terror, captured the imagination of an international media and audience more familiar with the stereotype of Muslim youth blowing themselves and others up.

A non-violent revolution was turning the nation full circle, much to the admiration of the rest of the world.

"I think Egypt's cultural significance and massive population were very important factors in ensuring media coverage," says Ethan Zuckerman, the co-founder of Global Voices, an international community of online activists.

"International audiences know at least a few facts about Egypt, which makes it easier for them to connect to news there," he says, drawing a comparison with Bahrain, a country Zuckerman says few Americans would be able to locate on a map.

Zuckerman also believes that media organisations were in part motivated by a "sense of guilt" over their failure to effectively cover the Tunisian revolution and were, therefore, playing "catch up" in Egypt.

"Popular revolutions make for great TV," he adds. "The imagery from Tahrir square in particular was very powerful and led to a story that was easy for global media to cover closely."

The African Egypt versus the Arab Egypt

Egypt was suddenly a sexy topic. But, despite the fact that the rich banks of the Nile are sourced from central Africa, the world looked upon the uprising in Egypt solely as a Middle Eastern issue and commentators scrambled to predict what it would mean for the rest of the Arab world and, of course, Israel. Few seemed to care that Egypt was also part of Africa, a continent with a billion people, most living under despotic regimes and suffering economic strife and political suppression just like their Egyptian neighbours.

"Egypt is in Africa. We should not fool about with the attempts of the North to segregate the countries of North Africa from the rest of the continent," says Firoze Manji, the editor of Pambazuka Online, an advocacy website for social justice in Africa. "Their histories have been intertwined for millennia. Some Egyptians may not feel they are Africans, but that is neither here nor there. They are part of the heritage of the continent."

And, just like much of the rest of the world, Africans watched events unfold in Cairo with great interest. "There is little doubt that people [in Africa] are watching with enthusiasm what is going on in the Middle East, and drawing inspiration from that for their own struggles," says Manji.

He argues that globalisation and the accompanying economic liberalisation has created circumstances in which the people of the global South share very similar experiences: "Increasing pauperisation, growing unemployment, declining power to hold their governments to account, declining income from agricultural production, increasing accumulation by dispossession - something that is growing on a vast scale - and increasing willingness of governments to comply with the political and economic wishes of the North.

"In that sense, people in Africa recognise the experiences of citizens in the Middle East. There is enormous potential for solidarity to grow out from that. In any case, where does Africa end and the Middle East begin?"

Rallying cry

The ‘trouble’ that started in Tunisia (another African country) when street vendor Mohamed Bouzazi’s self-immolation articulated the frustrations of a nation spread to Algeria (yes, another African country), Yemen and Bahrain just as Hosni Mubarak made himself comfortable at a Sharm el Sheik spa.

Meanwhile, in 'darkest Africa', far away from the media cameras, reports surfaced of political unrest in a West African country called Gabon. With little geo-political importance, news organisations seem largely oblivious to the drama that began unfolding on January 29, when the opposition protested against Ali Bhongo Odhimba’s government, whom they accuse of hijacking recent elections. The demonstrators demanded free elections and the security forces duly stepped in to lay those ambitions to rest. The clashes between protesters and police that followed show few signs of relenting.

"The events in Tunisia and Egypt have become, within Africa, a rallying cry for any number of opposition leaders, everyday people harbouring grievances and political opportunists looking to liken their country's regimes to those of Ben Ali or Hosni Mubarak," says Drew Hinshaw, an American journalist based in West Africa. "In some cases that comparison is outrageous, but in all too many it is more than fair.

"Look at Gabon, a tragically under-developed oil exporter whose GDP per capita is more than twice that of Egypt's but whose people are living on wages that make Egypt look like the land of full employment.

"The Bhongo family has run that country for four decades, since before Mubarak ran nothing larger than an air force base, and yet they're still there. You can understand why the country's opposition is calling for new rounds of Egypt-like protests after seeing what Egypt and Tunisia were able to achieve."

Elsewhere on the continent protests have broken out in Khartoum, Sudan where students held Egypt-inspired demonstrations against proposed cuts to subsidies on petroleum products and sugar. Following the protests there on January 30, CPJ reported that staff from the weekly Al-Midan were arrested for covering the event.

Ethiopian media have also reported that police there detained the well-known journalist Eskinder Nega for "attempts to incite" Egypt-style protests. In Cameroon, the Social Democratic Front Party has said that the country might experience an uprising similar to those in North Africa if the government does not slash food prices.

"There are lots of Africans too who are young, unemployed, who see very few prospects for their future in countries ruled by the same old political elite that have ruled for 25 or 30 or 35 years," says CSM Africa bureau chief Scott Baldauf.

"I think all the same issues in Egypt are also present in other countries. You have leaders who have hung onto power for decades and who think the country can only function if they are in charge. A young Zimbabwean would understand the frustration of a young Egyptian."

Divide and rule

Sure, the continent is vast and acts of dissent and their subsequent suppression are the bread and butter of some oppressive African states. But just as self-immolation was not new in Tunisia, discontentment and rising restlessness is not alien to Africans. In the past three years, there been violent service delivery protests in South Africa and food riots in Cameroon, Madagascar, Mozambique and Senegal.

But whether the simmering discontent in Africa will result in protests on the scale of those in Egypt remains to be seen.

"All the same dry wood of bad governance is stacked in many African countries, waiting for a match to set it alight," says Baldauf. "But it takes leadership. It takes civil society organisation," something the CSM Africa bureau chief fears countries south of the Sahara do not have at the same levels as their North African neighbours.

Emmanuel Kisiangani, a senior researcher at the African Conflict Prevention Programme (ACCP) at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa, believes the difference in the success levels of protests in North and sub-Saharan Africa can be attributed in part to the ethnic make-up of the respective regions.

"In most of the countries that have had fairly 'successful riots' the societies are fairly homogeneous compared to sub-Saharan Africa where there are a multiplicity of ethnic groups that are themselves very polarised. In sub-Saharan Africa, where governments have been able to divide people along ethnic-political lines, it becomes easier to hijack an uprising because of ethnic differences, unlike in North Africa."

'Where is Anderson Cooper?'

Egypt and Tunisia may have been the catalysts for demonstrations across the Arab world, but will those ripples spread into the rest of Africa as well and, if they do, will the international media and its audience even notice?

"What the continent lacks is media coverage," says Hinshaw. "There's no powerhouse media for the region like Al Jazeera, while European and American media routinely reduce a conflict like [that in] Ivory Coast or Eastern Congo to a one-sentence news blurb at the bottom of the screen."

Hinshaw is particularly troubled by the failure of the international media to pay due attention to events in Ivory Coast, where the UN estimates that at least 300 people have died and the opposition puts the figure at 500.

"With due deference to the bravery of the Egyptian demonstrators, protesters who gathered this weekend in Abidjan [in Ivory Coast] aren't up against a military that safeguards them - it shoots at them.

"The country's economy has been coughing up blood since November, with banks shutting by the day, businesses closing by the hour and thousands of families fleeing their homes," he continues. "And in all of this where is Anderson Cooper? Where is Nicolas Kristof? Why is Bahrain a front page news story while Ivory Coast is something buried at the bottom of the news stack?"

The journalist is equally as disappointed in world leaders. "This Friday, Barack Obama publicly condemned the use of violence in Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. When was the last time you saw Obama come out and make a statement on Ivory Coast? Or Eastern Congo? Or Djibouti, where 20,000 people protested this weekend according to the opposition?

"The problem is that most American media compulsively ignore everything south of the Sahara and north of Johannesburg. A demonstration has to be filmed, photographed, streamed live into the offices of foreign leaders to achieve everything Egypt's achieved."

Nanjala, a political analyst at the University of Oxford, suggests this journalistic shortcoming stems from journalists' tendency "to favour explanations that fit the whole 'failing Africa' narrative".

Filling a void

So with traditional media seemingly failing Africa, will social media fill the void?

Much has already been written about the plethora of social media networks that both helped engineer protests and, crucially, amplified them across cyber-space. Online-activists, sitting behind fibre optic cables and flat screens, collated and disseminated updates, photographs and video and played the role of subversive hero from the comfort of their homes. Of course, not all Tweets or Facebook uploads came from pyjama-clad revolutionaries far from the scene of the action - an internet-savvy generation of Egyptians was also able to keep the world updated with information from the ground.

"It's not clear to me that social media played a massive role in organising protests," says Zuckerman. "[But] I do think it played a critical role in helping expose those protests to a global audience, particularly in Tunisia, where the media environment was so constrained."

So, could the same thing happen in Africa?

"I think it's important to keep in mind that African youth are far more plugged in than most people realise. The spread in mobile phones has made it possible for people to connect to applications like Facebook or Twitter on their telephones," says Nanjala, adding: "At the same time, I think most analysts are overstating the influence of social media on the protests.

"The most significant political movements in Africa and in other places have occurred independently of social media - the struggles for independence, the struggles against apartheid and racism in Southern Africa. Where people need or desire to be organised they will do independently of the technology around them."

Baldauf concurs: "In every country you see greater and greater access to the internet and greater access to cell phone networks. I remember getting stuck on a muddy road in Eastern Congo, out where the FDLR [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda] controls the mining industry. We had to stay the night in a village, the guests of a lovely old man in his mud hut. It was [at] the end of the world, but to get a phone call off to my wife and my editor, I just had to walk out of the hut and use my cell phone."

An important year

2011 is an important year for Africa. Elections are scheduled in more than 20 countries across the continent, including Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

But as food prices continue to rise and economic hardship tightens its grip on the region, it is plausible to imagine Africans revolting and using means other than the often meaningless ballot box to remove their leaders.

"What people want is the democratisation of society, of production, of the economy, and indeed all aspects of life," says Manji. "What they are being offered instead is the ballot box."

But, Manji adds: "Elections don't address the fundamental problems that people face. Elections on their own do nothing to enable ordinary people to be able to determine their own destiny. "

This, according to Kisiangani, is because "the process of democratisation in many African countries seems more illusory than fundamental".

Gabon, Zimbabwe, even Ethiopia may never have the online reach enjoyed by Egyptians, and the scale of solidarity through linguistic and cultural symmetry may not allow their calls to reach the same number of internet users. But this does not mean that a similar desire for change is not brewing, nor that the traditional media and online community are justified in ignoring it.

Screens were put up in Tahrir Square broadcasting Al Jazeera’s coverage of the protests back to the protesters. It is difficult to qualify the role of social media in the popular uprisings gaining momentum across the Arab world, but it is even more difficult to quantify the effect of the perception of being ignored, of not being watched, discussed and, well, retweeted to the throngs of others needing to be heard.

Ignoring the developments in Africa is to miss the half the story.

"The protests have created the 'hope' that ordinary people can define their political destiny," says Kisiangani. "The uprisings ... are making people on the continent become conscious about their abilities to define their political destinies."

Assimba Paltalk Room program on Saturday, 26 February 2011

My civilized neighbour and face book

 

 

 

A, B & C: What is in Egypt?

 

 

The last call

 

Meles and Gaddafi-partners in crime.

By Yilma Bekele

Meles & Gaddafi partners in crime

They say ‘in any relationship, if one party wants a change, that party needs to instigate change.’ The Tunisian people felt change was necessary. The Egyptian people agreed. The Libyans, Yemenis, Algerians, Bahrinians and the Iranians are in the process of adapting the Tunisian model.

They wanted change because hopelessness and apathy were becoming the hallmark of the society their crude leaders were building. Today is like yesterday and tomorrow will be more of the same. They felt that is no way to build a country. They felt change was in order.

Ben Ali of Tunisia abused his people for over twenty years while Mubarak lingered around for thirty years. They both used the formidable power of the state for coercion. Both have no qualms about killing, jailing, bankrupting, exiling those they deemed a threat. As usual the difference between one dictator and another is in the degrees of their insanity and selfishness. If you notice both did not have any problem about sacrificing their close friends when the going got tough.

The Tunisians got the ball rolling. They had a lot of help. The rich experience of the Serbian youth movement called ‘Otpor’ with contribution from the ‘Academy of Change’ from Egypt was instrumental in the Tunisian victory. Their elegant design was based on the teachings of Gandhi, MLK and a generous dose of Gene Sharp.

The Egyptians were relentless in their pursuit of freedom. The chaotic situation we witnessed on television was a well-choreographed play directed behind the scene. The youth leaders were simple and clear on their demands. The ouster of the dictator was the core of their demands. As usual the dictator tried to pacify by promising to loosen his grip. Too little too late should be inscribed on his gravestone. He tried every trick in the book to deflect attention away from his failures. No stone was left unturned to find a way out of this calamity. He dusted old tricks from the attic, borrowed some from fellow tyrants, went along with enablers advice, invented a few himself but nothing seems to work this time.

Two lessons stand out when we look at the ‘uprising’ in both countries. Galvanizing the ‘youth’ was key. Their perseverance when faced by supposedly formidable coercive state power was vital. The fact that the leaders of the movement were those in their thirties was refreshing and a game changer. Both Ben Ali and Mubarak are incapable of understanding the fury of the youth. They were confused and unable to process the information that their subjects were rejecting them and have learnt the language of saying ‘No’ and ‘Enough’.

As an Ethiopian I was awe struck. I laughed at the obstinate Mubarak acting belligerent as he was un robed in public, I cried for those that lost their life for their country, I was filled with joy when I witnessed the raw hunger for freedom and dignity and I fantasized about the tsunami hitting my home land. The last two months have stirred our passion for freedom and self-determination.

So when is ‘people power’ scheduled to arrive in East Africa is a good question. The short answer is now. The freedom train is now boarding. It is up to each individual to board or not. The train will leave soon with or without any one of us. This train requires no fossil fuel. This train runs on raw human energy. It is the ultimate ‘green energy’ train. It is renewable, sustainable and abundant. Our freedom train is equipped with a large sweep in front of it. It sweeps tyrants, dictators and bullies out of sight.

Freedom train is coming to Ethiopia. This is the third appearance of the train in our country. We allowed some undesirable elements to board the last two times. They were able to contaminate the train with their toxic presence and hijack our precious cargo. Our train was derailed.

The Tunisians and Egyptians developed a new vaccine to overcome Fear. Fear is what paralyzes us. Fear is our number one enemy. We spend too much time trying to design a perfect plan. Fear compels us to fret about the little details even before we take the firs step. We worry about the so-called lack of unity, we stress regarding the absence of a strong leader, we exaggerate the might of the enemy and we freeze with a sack full of uncertainty. Fear is our number one enemy. 

Did you notice how centralized power was in both Tunisia and Egypt? Did you see both were one man shows? Does this kind of arrangement ring a bell? When we said Meles’s Ethiopia was a one man show people doubted us. Tunisia and Egypt proved dictatorship is a solo affair. You slay the head and the body flails around. The yes people, the sycophants and the spineless around the tyrant burn away like the morning dew.

Today we got a reversal of circumstances. Ato Meles is the one in FEAR. He is the one unable to sleep. The last two months have been a time of round the clock meetings with his fellow criminals. Like Ben Ali and Mubarak he has been pouring over plans on how to instill more fear on his people. He has been working over time to transfer his overwhelming and paralyzing fear on to us. He has sent his Kebele tugs to warn mothers about the fate of their children if they dare to emulate Tunisia or Egypt and now Libya.  He has indicated that snipers are stationed on top of every building and his Agazi force is deployed in every intersection. He has promised salary increases. He has invested on more technology to block our ESAT transmission, switched off the Internet and directed his agents in the Diaspora to shout louder and create confusion. He is a picture of a cornered rat.

What is clear is that internally weak regimes like Woyane do not become passive and tolerant when confronted but rather turn to proven method of belligerency. Notice Ben Ali killed a few, Mubarak sent hired tugs and the Monarchs of Bahrain went to the extreme to preserve their lifestyle and ultimately their neck and today tyrant Gaddafi has upped the ante by using helicopters and fighter jets against his own people. 

Our tyrant who is in the same league as Gaddafi will not leave silently. Our little tyrant got lots of issues hanging around his neck. Our tyrant has spilled blood. His 2005 murder was duly noted by judge Woldemichael Meshesha. His ruthless act in the Ogaden has been complied and preserved by Human Right Watch. His massacre in Gambella will never be forgotten thanks to my friend Obang.

So one might ask what next? How do we get out of this nightmare? Let us just agree our leader for life does not have any incentive to leave gracefully. On the other hand the society he has built is not sustainable nor is it desirable. Twenty years have proven he is not capable of building a just and free society. No matter what yardstick one uses to measure progress his attempt has been an abject failure. Twenty years into his leadership we are still confronted with over two million in imminent starvation, double digits of unemployment and runaway inflation. The only accomplishment the TPLF regime boasts of is real estate development, even that is the result of Diaspora investment not home grown achievement.

What is needed today is a day, a week, and a month of ‘rage’ against Woyane brutality. Who better to do that than our young ones? Who better to lead us than our young and smart children? Our young people have a glorious history to fall back on. The young people of Ethiopia have always been instruments of change. I know the shoes left behind by the University and high school students of the 60’s and 70’s is hard to fill.

Despite the over forty years of anarchy and destruction our youth have stayed focused. Their strength is displayed all around us. The fact they have survived against all odds despite Woyane bullying is testimonial to their resiliency. All you have to do is look at those that have stayed at home. They wake up everyday in that hostile and hopeless Woyane environment but still manage to eek out a living. They leave no stone unturned in their attempt to make sense of a life that shows no promise of a better tomorrow.

We should also celebrate the determination of those that leave their family and their country to find a better life. How could we forget those that cross the shark infested waters to reach Yemen or those that drown in the process? We will always remember those that cross our frontiers in their trek to unknown destinations. They cross the jungles of Africa, find a miraculous way to fly to South America and cross the US borders by foot, containers trucks and any means to find a better life. Our young ones have been tested by Woyane caused calamity and emerged stronger and wiser.  

It is part of Woyane strategy to marginalize the youth by subscribing and encouraging a culture of apathy. The rise in consumption of Khat, a known narcotic and importation of degenerate culture is part of Woyane’s plan to contaminate our culture and identity. The Ethiopian youth have to overcome that. Rest assured our young ones are strong. Twenty years of organized propaganda to belittle our history, revise our glorious past, turn one ethnic against another have fallen on deaf ears.

Those of us in the Diaspora will continue our cry on behalf of our people that are silenced by the illegal regime. We will march, sign petitions, contribute money and work with Senators and Representatives to force the terrorist regime to relinquish power peacefully.

We urge the opposition to refrain from unilateral negotiations with the illegal regime. We want to put the opposition on notice that listening to the foreign diplomats and sitting down with the murderer regime is not part of our strategy to get rid of this cancer imposed on us. If the opposition wants to be included in this journey of liberation we are embarking, we hope they will read the heartbeat of our people and include the young people in their delebrations. If the opposition party’s want respect from us then we expect that they will keep in mind that our respect is earned. It is not a right but a privilege. We hope the debacle of unilateral action like the recent election will not be repeated.

We are certain Ato Meles will follow the footsteps of Gaddafi and unleash unprecedented terror on our people. He will use ethnic divide, religious divide any and all divisive issues to confuse and set us up against each other. We are hopeful that we have learned a lesson from our mistakes in the past and refrain from cannibalizing each other but rather aim our collective fury at the evil regime.

Yes we can, yes we will Ethiopia will be free, that no one can change. 

US Peace Council Statement on Egypt: Victory Achieved, but the Struggle Against Imperialism Continues

February 12, 2011

On February 11, 2011, the heroic and united people of Egypt spearheaded by the deeply disenchanted youth of that country — dealt a serious blow to the interests and policies of the imperialist powers, especially that of the United States, in Africa and the Middle East. With this victory, Hosni Mubarak joined the rest of the deposed imperialist puppets, in the dustbin of history.

The US Peace Council congratulates the people of Egypt for this tremendous victory and expresses its deepest solidarity and support for their continuing struggles for independence, peace, freedom and social justice.

Yet, despite this great victory, the people’s struggle is far from over. Although Mubarak has departed, the entrenched military and security apparatus of the Egyptian police state is still intact. Power has been transferred to the Egyptian armed forces, which has had 30 years of subservient ties to the US military and which is charged with defending the interests of the United States and Israel in the Middle East.

However, with this popular victory, the US imperialism and the Egyptian military are now faced with an irreconcilable dilemma: respecting the genuine democratic rights and aspirations of the Egyptian people, or continuing to protect the repressive imperialist policies of United States, its European allies, and Israel in the region. With the transfer of power to the Egyptian armed forces, the period of pretence to neutrality has come to an end for the Egyptian Army. The Army must now decide which side it is on: US imperialism or the Egyptian people. Either way, the Middle East will not remain the same.

At present, the US is following a policy of containment of the people’s movement. The plan is to create a façade of democratic state while preserving the existing imperialistic military, security and economic arrangements. Clearly, such containment is contrary to the interests and demands of the Egyptian people and can only lead to additional confrontations and bloodshed. It can only spread the movement to the rest of the region.

Alternatively, the establishment of a genuinely democratic state in Egypt, based on the true national interests and aspirations of the Egyptian people, will undoubtedly lead to a loss of total US and Israeli control over the region. It will mark the beginning of the end for the imperialist domination of the Middle East.

It is for this reason that the US Peace Council, along with all freedom- and peace-loving people of the world, follows the events in Egypt with great concern. The first phase of struggle has ended in the victory of the Egyptian people, but their struggle for genuine democracy continues.

A concerted effort in support of the anti-imperialist struggles of the peoples of Egypt and the Middle East is needed. The US Peace Council calls upon its allies in the peace movement to redouble their organized efforts in support of the rightful struggles of the people of Egypt and the Middle East and demand that:

The US stop interfering in the internal affairs of Egypt, including use of direct military threats, manipulating the political process through funding or otherwise lending support to pro-US “opposition” figures, groups, NGOs and parties whose objective is to undermine people’s revolution.

President Obama immediately issue an executive order to stop all financial aid to the Egyptian military.

Mubarak’s bank accounts be immediately frozen and all the monies taken from the country be returned.

Trials be held for those who have committed crimes against the Egyptian people, including those who are still in power.

An end to the US-endorsed blockage of peaceful exchange between Egypt and the Palestinian people.

The United Nations guarantee the integrity, impartiality and freedom of the upcoming elections in Egypt.

For a genuine democracy to be established in Egypt, the people must be able to exercise their will through a truly free and impartial election. Undoubtedly, such an election cannot be carried out by a government that is controlled by the military and the officials of the Mubarak regime. This makes the immediate transfer of power to a new pro-people interim civilian government necessary. The US Peace Council declares its full support for the struggles of the Egyptian people to achieve true democracy in their country.


                                US Peace Council
                                P.O. Box 3105
                                New Haven, Connecticut 06515 USA
                                Telephone 203 387-0370
                                Fax 203 297-2539
                                E-mail Amistad.nai@rcn.com

EPRP Statement Calling Upon Ethiopians to Stand Against Foreign Interference to Incapacitate Revolution in Ethiopia

Weekly News from the Finote-Democracy: Voice of the Ethiopian Unity Radio

AGAINST ALL FOREIGN MILITARY PRESENCE ON ETHIOPIAN SOIL

AGAINST ALL FOREIGN MILITARY PRESENCE ON ETHIOPIAN SOIL

February 19, 2011

The recent report that the US Air Force is currently upgrading the Arba Minch airport has raised the issue of foreign military presence and bases in Ethiopia. The issue at this time mainly concerns Washington.

For the EPRP, the sovereignty of Ethiopia concerns more than the principle of non alignment to which Ethiopia as a country has adhered to since the fifties. The sovereignty of Ethiopia is a non negotiable fundamental principle and the existence of  foreign military bases or armies on Ethiopian soil are a negation of this principle and a violation of the rights and dignity of Ethiopians. This being the case, the EPRP, since its formation, has opposed the existence of any foreign military base in Ethiopia and in this respect had opposed the Kagnew US military base in Asmara, the Soviet military bases on Ethiopian territory and is now opposed to this glaring mortgaging of the country to a foreign power. In this line, the EPRP has also strongly opposed the ceding of Ethiopian land to the Sudan and the leasing or ill disguised sale of Ethiopian land to foreign firms that not only destroy forests but are also taking away their produce to their own lands or for sale abroad. 

The EPRP calls on the USA to remove its military presence/bases in Ethiopia and vigorously condemns the traitorous regime of Meles Zenawi for letting Ethiopia’s sovereignty be violated in several ways.

36 Years of the TPLF and 35 (plus) Years of Meles Zenawi: The reign of a serial mass murderer

By:

Tesfay Atsbeha

Kahsay Berhe

February 18, 2011

For the TPLF the month of February is officially a month of its birth day celebrations. The real celebration behind the veil of the birth day is actually the propaganda of the regime to exploit the emotions of Ethiopians, especially Tigrayans who lost their loved ones during the armed struggle, play the big benefactor for removing the military dictatorship and justify its “entitlement” to stay in power.

This recurring celebration will end up with the end of the regime, because there will not be any legacy left worth remembering in connection with the birth day of the TPLF. This event is neither connected with independence from colonial rule nor has it brought any social justice; it is simply a victory of an evil over another evil. Small extremist Tigrayan nationalist elements may continue to boast of the military exploits of the TPLF even in the future, but the future will belong to those who stand for the unity of the Ethiopian people, the respect of human and democratic rights, the supremacy of law and the prevalence of justice. No rational person in his/her right mind will defend the anti-Ethiopian, barbaric, deceitful and corrupt system of Meles in the future.

While the criminals and beneficiaries of the tyranny pay lip service to the deceased in order to dupe the innocent and maintain their own privileges and safety, a small segment of the people supports them out of respect for the “martyrs” and due to angst of the unknown, which it fears may follow. This is the Satanist segment, for it, in line with the old pessimistic adage, prefers the known Satan to the unknown Angel. Another segment, without the mood for celebration, remembers similar martyrs who lost their lives and whose history has been ruined by the crimes of those who came to power and stuck to it for almost a generation. According to the latter, which can be called the falsifier segment, the victory of the Front has been hijacked and therefore the real TPLF does not exist anymore.

The Satanist lacks clarity of aim, confidence in the future and a sense of justice transcending ethnicity. The segment of the falsifier is distorting the objective facts that the leadership of the TPLF never practiced transparency, accountability and justice during the armed struggle. It is also denying the fact that Meles and cohorts notwithstanding their negligible role for the success of the armed struggle nevertheless controlled the TPLF, molded its undemocratic culture, deprived the members of the organization of their voice in decision making, decided on its aims and policies and used it as an instrument to fulfill their wishes from the beginning.

Meles was not in the leadership of the TPLF on 18 February 1975, when the Front formally started the armed struggle, but he was befriended with those who became members of the CC in the first year and became one of the protagonists who could influence the aims and activities of the Front before he was officially a member of the CC. Meles has been destroying innocent human lives for more than 35 years.

As we tried in the last consecutive years to portray the phenomenon of Meles as the tyranny of a traitor, the fulfillment of two major conditions contributed to this unique occurrence. Firstly, his anti-Ethiopian aim was facilitated by the creation of the TPLF as an Ethnic organization; and secondly, the vulnerability of our society to fall victim to the tyranny of a single person was effectively exploited by Meles to seize absolute power. He got the collaboration of the CC to isolate the rank-and-file-members and deprive them of all their human and democratic rights, thus creating an army of sycophants who do not try to get their own rights respected, let alone stand for the rights of the people. Then, he got rid of his actual and potential contenders within the CC and politburo and monopolized power in the TPLF. The absolute power of Meles in the politburo of the TPLF led automatically to his absolute power in the TPLF in the EPRDF, in Tigray and then in the whole of Ethiopia.

It is our worst tradition in Ethiopia to be tyrannized by a single person who exercises absolute power and Meles is not an exception in this case, but in his anti-Ethiopian views and actions. Why do some Ethiopian pundits wake up after every major event, like the sham elections and discover anew the degeneration of the system to tyranny, when tyranny was never abolished in the first place? Some individuals from the opposition may get parliamentary seats or be denied of any seats with the permission of Meles. These changes in form do not affect the system.

As we express our appreciation for the human and matured decision of the Tunisian and Egyptian armed forces not to shoot at their own people, we must remind the present Ethiopian armed forces that those of them who have not yet committed crimes against humanity on the orders of the tyrant should desist from doing similar things and defend their people. Meles, the serial murderer and those who executed his orders will one day be brought to court for the massacres of unarmed Ethiopians:

1.) In 1991 in Addis Ababa,

2.) in 1993 in Addis Ababa,

3.) In 2001 in Addis Ababa,

4.) In 2002 in Awassa,

5.) In 2003 in Gambella,

6.) In June 2005 in Addis Ababa,

7.) In November 2005 in Addis Ababa and, for murders of many more individual Ethiopians.

Hawarya's interview with Ato Fassika Belete of the EPRP

Massive protest in Djibouti, Police fire at protesters

February 18th, 2011

(Bloomberg) — Djibouti opposition groups will meet today to decide what step to take next after police allegedly fired on demonstrators yesterday, injuring at least two of them, an opposition leader said.

“The situation is very bad,” Ismail Guedi Hared, president of the Union for a Democratic Alternative, said by phone late yesterday. The police “used tear gas and they shot in every direction. I know two people are in hospital.”

In Djibouti, the Horn of Africa nation that hosts the only U.S. military base on the continent, President Ismail Guelleh’s People’s Rally for Progress party has ruled since independence in 1977. The 63- year-old leader, who was first elected in 1999, amended the constitution in March to allow him to extend his rule by two more six-year terms.

Yesterday’s protest turned violent near the Hassan Guled stadium in the capital, Djibouti, Hared said. Live ammunition was used by both sides and a crowd of about 100 demonstrators threw stones at the police after leaders of the protest were escorted away, according to the Djibouti-based website Djibouti24.

“The police are confronting demonstrators,” Mohamed Daoud Chehem, head of the Djibouti Party for Development, said by phone from the protest yesterday. “They have opened fire,” he said, without being able to specify if anyone was injured or what type of ammunition was used.

Chehem said that as many as 20,000 people had joined the protest against Guelleh. The country has a population of about 860,000.

Exiled Djiboutian opposition leader Abdourahman Boreh, who is currently in London, said the demonstrations may continue.

“We will see how it goes,” Boreh said yesterday. “This is the first day. We will see how the government reacts.”

Last month, Boreh called for elections scheduled for April to be delayed by as much as a year and for international monitors to oversee an electoral roll that includes 130,000 to 140,000 of the population of about 865,000.

Djibouti ranks 148th out of 169 countries in the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, education and living standards.

U.S. Concerns

“We’re closely monitoring, keeping an eye on developments, especially as they relate to any forces we may have in the region,” Pentagon spokesman, Marine Corps Colonel David Lapin, told reporters yesterday.

The U.S has had a base in Djibouti since 2001, while former colonial power France also has 3,000 troops stationed in the country, which is smaller than the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The republic borders the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and is seen as a strategic location in the U.S.-led fight against terrorism and piracy.

An Article from Henock Yeshetla

Open letter to Ethiopians in Ohio