19. April 2010 by Assimba.

April 18, 2010 at 9:09 pm (Commenatry)

By Hama Tuma

I am sure not many of you know the word bloviator–I did not till someone told me to check it in Google. It means pompous, someone who puffs his chest and makes boastful declarations. The word defines many Ethiopian pseudo and self declared intellectuals of our time. Of course, who is an intellectual is worthy of a debate these days. One who finished Scondary School? Anyone with a diploma or a degree from a foreign institution? Who? Anyone with that Dr or Professor tag? Any fool who speaks averagely coherent English? Anyone with delusions of grandeur? Feelings of elitism?

Sadly, the bloviators are too many. They start out with the assumption that speaking and writing English is expensive to begin with. Not for you and me poor souls with miserable monthly incomes if any. African intellectuals, totally brainwashed alas, boast: “we learnt at the foot of the white man” which, it seems, give them the right and capacity to tell a plant from afar by just sniffing at the air. Ethiopian intellectuals fall in the same pit: their credential is the foreign/ferenji degree, earned in most cases not even from credible or prestigious places, sometimes from correspondence  universities who will give you a degree even if you fail!(check Meles, Tamrat and other mentally challenged TPLF officials). Yet, the Dr or Professor tag is all, supreme, it tell us all to shut up and listen, the bloviators have a degree, they are “intellos” par excellence. Alas, they are shallow, ignoramus to boot, word spinners, not worth the ink on their so called degrees. Take time off to listen to any of the loud pal talk rooms and you will hear many not only punctuating but drowning their Amharic with English phrases. Words like State, information, intelligence, saboteur (actually said “sabotateur” by our hyphenated souls), agenda, diversify, struggle, oppression, etc are words that seem to have no Amharic equivalent.  I had previously attempted to call upon them to be modest and received a tongue lashing for may alleged “jealousy” concerning their degrees which, I am proud to say, will not accept even if offered on  a golden platter.

The half baked “bloviators” use English words to impress, to be unintelligible to my mother and yours, to be pompous. I wish I had written all this in Amharic but as I am trying to deal with those who write  and speak pompously in English I have chosen the foreign language and by implication cornered myself in the dilemma. Why can’t we write our pieces in our own language so that the majority of our people understand what we are trying to say? The hypocritical attempt is to be above the mundane as it were, to rise above the masses, to parade before them with puffed out chest, to show we know and do speak English and can write articles in it no matter the spelling and grammar errors. We boast and silence our own parents and people, and fools as we are we feel proud as we shame ourselves. Delusion is taken as knowledge, ignorance becomes wisdom and we deny our identity to find some mirage of a respect for our demeaned self. The more they bloviate, the more they become incomprehensible, shallow and hollow. The exercise is to say nothing in many words, to use phrases from the Thesaurus, to say perambulate instead of walk, to sound like a Southern USA fiery Baptist preacher, to pepper one’s articles with quotes and references that are either out of place or pedestrian. I remember one “bloviator” who had to refer to Galbraith or Tagore to tell us “yenat hod zingurgur new”. The worth of an intellectual is thus situated firmly in an Ivory Tower, away from the majority of the common people, saying not I fell but declaring my verticality changed to a horizontality. One Weyane scribe, a former “tiraz netek” of the bars in Washington, recently wrote from Addis Abeba a vitriolic attack against Isayas Afewerki (of course in English and  to please his Masters), and informed us of the need to “indigenize democracy in a collectivist African cultural matrix”. Now, what the hell does this mean other than bloviating over our heads parading as a deep thinker, philosopher and a master of the foreign language? There is another Ethiopian who writes incomprehensible regular columns and whom I tried to criticize mildly and provoked his adoring fans (who do not understand what he writes but admire him just for that) to attack me with venom. One asked me in anger “who are you?” and I must admit I was tempted to do a French on her and answer back “I am still searching for my identity” (the French like such replies and will not make it easy where they can complicate).  Fake through and through, inferiority complex of the highest order when our so called intellectuals (many have become professors recently by some collective baptism like the Moonies) look down upon our language, culture, heroes (every political pretender is taken as a Mandela if he or she lands in prison for a month or a year), and our own experience.

The bloviators are also official scribes of the dictatorship. One such pathetic person, a stain on the proud history of her martyred brothers and cousins, recently wrote the following effusive nonsense:

“It is such an incredible win and an amazing era for us to witness the open and fast gain of Ethiopia’s democracy these past eighteen years.  Never in the history of Ethiopia have we witnessed such an open dialogue.   A free expression of ideas among different parties is what we are witnessing for the fourth democratic election.  It is so heartwarming and encouraging for those of us that live outside Ethiopia to have the privilege of being eyewitnesses to the myriad developments that is going on in the country. Thanks to humanity’s elevation of technology we are privy to follow the events of the country on a daily basis” If this is not empty talk what is? Democracy and the Meles regime are anathema, incompatible, opposites. The regime she lauds is known as the predator of the free press, the enemy of free expression, a repressive one holding some thirty five thousand political prisoners behind bars, has committed many massacres, is the one that disappeared dozens in its dungeons and practices systematic and wide spread torture. That makes the woman who wrote the above eulogy either totally ignorant or a shameless sell out. She says nothing in so many words even if she may gain some favors from her Masters in Addis Abeba. The art of saying nothing in five hundred words is often mastered by bloviators and the state of our intellectuals is such that they have all become experts at it. They want to browbeat us with verbosity, with the usage of “hard” English phrases and concepts (which they use not in the correct sense but who cares?), with their determined refusal to use their own language to communicate. I must say I am not amongst those African authors who insist that writers must write in their mother tongue or stop writing ( though the usefulness  of communicating in one’s language cannot be denied) but the impact of a political message is if it reaches a broad cross section of the people and influences them. Last time I checked 95% of Ethiopians are not very familiar with the Queen’s English and if truth be told not many of our self declared intellectuals write proper grammatically correct English either, notwithstanding their tendency to resort to English when they could communicate better in their own language. I could even be mistaken in this assumption of mine as most of them have no clear idea of what they want to utter and whether they do it in English or Amharic ( or any other mother tongue) their mumbo jumbo is not saved from being just that.

Alas, to add insult to injury (be inkirt lye joro degif) our bloviating intellectuals are not funny. Just take the above crazy eulogy and try to say you find it funny. It is actually boring, pathetic, an example of dog- like snivelling and servitude not to say shameful narrow ethnic identification. In other contexts, bloviators can be funny–they are so ridiculous that they become clowns. He was not an intellectual per se but Debella Dinsa comes to mind while in the imperial regime Yilma Deressa was another example of the funny officials. Our present day official scribes cum intellectuals take themselves too seriously as they bloviate and thus are dour and never funny. Otherwise their declaration of democracy under Meles Zenawi should have cracked us up but they believe in it and so they squeeze out the funny in their declaration. George Bush and Rumsfeld were funny with their declarations., they pretended to believe their lies but we all knew they were playacting like their claim of WMDs in Iraq. Take Rumsfeld’s foray into The Unknown:
“As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don’t know
We don’t know.

—Feb. 12, 2002.

Is not this a gem? Such bloviators can and should flourish to give grim politics a funny tinge.

Meles Zenawi, who got his degrees from a correspondence course, also plays at being an intellectuals but his feeble bloviating come out disgusting and only fools take his street smart talk as a sign of intelligence.

The redefinition of the intellectual is called for in the Ethiopian context unless we confine ourselves to the basic definition of the intellectual as someone who attempts to speak English, tries to use confusing words, and is irredeemably alien to his own people and lies as a matter of routine. Come to think of it, this defines our intellectuals “indigenized in their own matrix”. Whatever that may mean of course.

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19. April 2010 by Assimba.

April 18, 2010 at 10:15 pm (Commenatry)

By Yelfiwos Wondaya

With all due respect, Dr. Hailu and nameless journalist, Reporter or what have you, every which way you spin it around, terrorism is terrorism. On the contrary, being selfless, generous, and brave in terms of fighting for the weak and vulnerable citizens, and being loyal to friends and causes, and taking a heroic measure as a result to reverse the terror acts unleashed against citizens in defense is moral and conscientious at any rate. Besides, a child killer who lost the battle in disgrace could not have no morale ground to accuse or convict a victim of his own success and would not be allowed to do so either. The declaration of Red Terror against humanity is found in written all over and still is fresh in the minds of all Ethiopians. But was there any declaration named “white Terror” made by any political entity ever against the public in Ethiopia? With all due respect, Dr. and nameless journalist can you come up with anything  printed then that said white terror aimed at massacring the public? Be that as it may, history has it that EPRP conducted itself with Dignity while Hirelings of the Military Junta the Dr. in question had been part of lost status, self-esteem and reputation till this very day. Cadres and kebelle officers were licensed none other than by Derg’s authorities to kill the generation. The Dr. in question was part and parcel of DERG’s executive body that enforced rules and gave orders to those foot soldiers to kill the generation indiscriminately. That is the fact! In other words, the Dr. in question together with his master lost power for another dictatorial regime. But shortly after Mengistu left for Harare and TPLF took over power in Addis Ababa, the Dr. in question continues to live without restrictions while the entire leadership of ESEPA sent to prison. Why?? Does it have anything to do with race or with being espionage from within ESEPA for woyane or both? I leave that for all to judge.  While in power, however, they were pledged to eliminate the entire youth and have done so, so to speak and that is what their history appears to be in a few words. The Bloody Butchers! Come what may, we shall never forget our history and must be told as it is now and as well must be passed down to the generation yet to come.

Yes, history has it that that nearly every family in Ethiopia was behind EPRP. The party that all cynics hate to death had also a total confidence in its ability to organize the youth and had enjoyed the support of the vast majority of Ethiopian people as opposed to those paid hirelings and doubting Thomases. In fact, it did not take him long to become big and wide in Ethiopian political landscape. EPRP moved swiftly and of course with a great deal of organizing skill and became a nightmare for DERG in no time.  EPRP proposed Provisional Government comprising different factions of different views including DERG and civil and professional  organizations like ETA and others to take place in Addis. On the other hand, DERG ignored the call and had set up PMAC single handedly. Meaning it ignored the call of EPRP and the youth at large and instead it had formed its own PMAC (Provisional Military Administrative Council) and continued to control the nation as a whole following a coup d’état it carried out against Hilesslase. And then the so-called PMAC (the Provisional Military Administrative Council) had formed SEDED and WOSELEAGUE as political wings under its own command. Since the Dr. in question was an intellectual himselfe would have been part of the Intellectuals and professionals groups called SEDED and WOSE LEAGUE that became DERG’s political wings overnight. Eventually, though both SEDED and WOSE LEAGUE happened to be at the core of DERG”S political helm and continued to train new recruits and expanded the operations of their own political units across the nation of Ethiopia. And in next to no time, MESON, ECHAT, and MALERED followed the series to join the club and had begun to slay the generation thereafter.

Realistically, though EPRP and the Youth were highly motivated by the lofty notion of Democracy, Land to the Tiller, unity based on equality and social-justice for all as opposed to that of hirelings’ falsified publications against EPRP. On the contrary however, Hirelings were motivated not by freedom but by money and power trip which are menial and unpleasant cause so to speak for one to die for.  As a result, the sphere of EPRP’S influence became invasive and persistent in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the Broad mass.  At the end of the day, however, hirelings realized that the pervasive nature of the moment led by EPRP was beyond them to control.  Wasn’t  that the reason why they became green-eyed and resentful and continue to be bitter about the same party called EPRP to this date? Be that as it may, the party that made all cynics felt devoid of love and grace had won the general level of confidence and optimism and mobilized the public at large and became far more formidable than the Military Regime and its hirelings. That was when the Dr. in question and his master felt that EPRP was embraced by the public at large and had gained far more superior willpower than their article of faith and direction as well. That was also when DERG had grown to be wary and nervous about the development it was forced to accept. Indeed, the sustained political advance of EPRP and the youth was not that easy for the military junta to ignore. So given that EPRP was highly embraced by the public at large, was there any reason why it had to unleash any terrorist act against the public? After all terrorism is defined as “Typically, they stage unexpected attacks on civilian targets, including embassies and airliners, with the aim of sowing fear and confusion”

The paranoid tendency rooted from DERGE’S character; a character it basically inherited from his combatant profession and post became evident when it employed an excessive force against the youth and has done all it can to destroy our generation. Literally though DERG began to take an arbitrary action against whoever it thought was against him without provocation. Afterward, the Military Junta in cooperation with those sub-groupings clustered beneath him under the umbrella of EMALEDH were also suspicious of any movement around them. They were totally shattered with fear of becoming secluded from the community and family of their own. Obviously though they knew that EPRP’s popularity was beyond them to avert. Worst of all, they even became more insane when learned that EPRP’S infiltrators inflicted every center of operation they were in to conduct their reign of terror against the public in general and the EPRP in particular. You see, Dr. Hailu, in this case it was the people in general and EPRP in particular that put a match to the burning oil and ignited the Revolution across the land of Ethiopia.  Consequently, turbulence among the youth, the intellectuals, workers and the peasants across the country reached a new pitch. It was due to this momentum though DERG launched a bloody campaign called Red Terror against the entire generation including the workers, the peasants, the educators, teachers and students across the country.

After all, power was what the junta was falling in love with and the cadres were there serving the powerhouse of DERG. The child killers were hired to follow DERG”S Loyal Order to kill the children and as well they were a core group assigned to control the community for the same Military Junta the Dr. in question had been part of. A Military Junta that merely knew how to hunt and kill its opponents, and the CADRES’ main line of duty was also nothing but stifling the voice of the public by guarding against the activities of the youth and of the EPRP. But to their disappointment, every which way the killers happened to spin around not only the humans, the birds and every moving creature in the land of Ethiopia were there to protest against their cruelty. As a result, the junta together with its several sub-groupings had grown to hate their ugly mirror-image when compared it with that of EPRP’S grace. The good reputation, the high opinion and the good name of EPRP won him recognition all over while the discarded and deprived cadres that the junta happened to fall in line with were became completely rootless. They were too weak to keep on harassing and irritating the hostile youth in every frightening neighborhood in which they were once treated as cynic and agnostic.  Isn’t that the reason why they became extinct along with the system they built in? Answer me if you can Dr. Hilu and Mr. Reporter Addisu.

Shortly after DERG brought the cynics together with the pretext of unity under the umbrella of EMALEDIH, which EPRP then dismissed it as of no use, was turned out to be a scene of carnage. Meaning DERG himself killed, imprisoned, tortured and abused them the same exact way it did to supporters and members of the EPRP. DERG has done so all these cruelties not in self-defense or with any other extenuating circumstances recognized by law but to monopoly power. Isn’t that what happened to those foot soldiers at the end? They were hired to kill the generation by the Dr. in question and his master and have been killed at the end none other than by the regime Dr. Hailu was  part of. That is the fact! And shortly after he wiped out those who resisted its power he converted others to be ESEPA and have them served to the last minute of his time in power. Well, for your surprise Dr. Hailu, the same cadres you hired to kill the generation had been heard of saying that EPRP & affiliates are praiseworthy for they died with their own belief and vision intact. They emulated EPRP with their own words at the end of their time. Too late! Dr. Hailu, the party you continue to hate remains strong and alive to this very day. But the rest are already no more to be seen in Ethiopian political landscape no more.

And yet, whoever was identified as member of anyone of those sub-groupings, and mouthpiece of the DERG as MESON, ECHAT, WOS_LEAG, SEDED Kebele Officers had been totally rejected by the mass and were totally graceless before the eyes of the entire community. And even they were subject to punishment and correction by non-other than their own family including and up to eviction. It was really more of a family matter and a neighborhood sort of link that made the movement led by EPRP unique at that point in time.

In conclusion, the Dr. in question together with his master used the entire apparatus and resources of the nation as a whole to kill the generation indiscriminately including their own loyal recruits and outstanding generals. Although some like to refuse to go along with this true picture of our recent history, we still have to tell it as it is so to pass the true version of our history to the younger generation and the generation yet to come. It was not even one or two organizations alone that had been wronged, mistreated and prosecuted by DERG and hirelings. It was rather the entire generation including hirelings themselves suffered torture and persecution at the end.  Young, old, male, female you name it were suffer Red Terror. And it is those cadres including those who are working both with the TPLF/EPRDF and the current oppositions that committed this horrendous human carnage against EPRP and the public at large. And yet, here they are running for power to carry out another round of terror campaign to finish the wounded victims. So at the end what made Dr. Hailu and hirelings more responsible is that they still are in the mood to kill the generation completely.

Justice shall prevail in the land of Ethiopia!

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