When I read Yilma Bekele’s response to this article under discussion I couldn’t help remembering what Professor Mesfin Woldemariam once mentioned about ZEMENE GRINBIT. It goes as such: “BE ZEMENE GRINBIT WUHA WEDE SHIKIB YIFESSAL!” - Literally the natural flow of water from its source is downstream. But we may come to a time when one try to assert to us that water actually flows upstream.
It really shocks me how fast we forget the terrible hardships and the life destructive experiences sons and daughters of Ethiopia have had since the 1970s by trying to be inspired by Issayas Afeworki – the man who grew-up and went to school in Dessie and Addis Ababa and yet refused literally to speak Amharic since he became EPLF leader. How can we forget the Ethiopian youth under EPRP that was literally haunted, hunted and killed for not immediately reacting in the positive for Eritrean nationality questions? How many of the EPPF supporters were eliminated for trying to independently conduct or operate their military operations from Eritrea? Why OLF and ONLF are still kept literally in Afeworki’s directives and servitude within Eritrea without raising a finger on their guns against TPLF for the last 18 years? How come Betinachew Tsigie and Berhanu Negadew who have gone through the agony of alliance with EPLF in the past still try to pull the rest of Ethiopians to the same trap once again? Who raised TPLF among us and planted in Addis Ababa as our head-master? Is it not Issayas Afeworki? Regardless of the temporary quarrel between EPLF and TPLF are they not still working against the national interests of Ethiopia by holding 80 million people land-locked simply by giving away Ethiopia’s legitimate access to the sea through Assab Port? So how do pro-Gunboat-7 guys tell us that it is OK to befriend ourselves with Issayas Afeworki? These are just riddles for us to resolve before it is too late. In fact, how can we trust these two fellows who have been roaming around so many organizations thus far and ramming by becoming disloyal to each to lead us to what they call movement for freedom and democracy? How can we trust these two fellows who find it so easy to lay their hats wherever they go and yet call it home without any reservation? Yesteryear they were EPRP. Yester-month they were TPLF. Yesterday they were KINIJIT. Today they are GUNBOAT-7. Tomorrow they are going to turn us all to join Shaabia. What a surprise! Unless we are the ZEMENE GRINBIT generation I don’t think we can lose our sense of direction and stand resolute as Ethiopians and at the same time Shaabiaits.