24. June 2010 by Assimba.

By Yilma Bekele

Foreign policy magazine had an article by Professor George Ayittey titled “The worst of the worst-bad dude dictators and general coconut heads.” As an Ethiopian I was sold by the title. I knew I was in familiar territory. That is one category we can claim ownership. There are a few human experiences that are sort of associated with our country. It is like when you mention marathon or distance running the first thing that comes to mind is mother Ethiopia and her barefoot runners. That is good. On the other hand say famine or starvation the face presented is that of an Ethiopian. That is bad.

Thus I was sure that Professor Ayittey’s article was such a place where our country will outshine the competition. Yes sir, we will make them eat dust. Gentlemen rev your engines here comes the most important list. This special list contains 23 autocrats that control 1.9 billion people. Here is how he started his article:

I call these revolutionaries-turned-tyrants “crocodile liberators,” joining the ranks of other fine specimens: the Swiss bank socialists who force the people to pay for economic losses while stashing personal gains abroad, the quack revolutionaries who betray the ideals that brought them to power, and the briefcase bandits who simply pillage and steal. Here’s my list of the world’s worst dictators. I have ranked them based on ignoble qualities of perfidy, cultural betrayal, and economic devastation. If this account of their evils makes you cringe, just imagine living under their rule.

That is just page one. So I shout hurry up with the list and turn the page over. Number one is Kim Jung IL of North Korea. It is ok no surprise here. Kim Jung is a formidable tyrant with some sort of crude Nuclear weapon by his bedside. Guess who comes next. Freaking Mugabe, that is who. I was a little disappointed but continued turning the page. The picture was that of General Than Shwe of Burma. He looks like some character from Disney with all the self- awarded medals covering half his chest. No mention of us. Next is none other than our neighbor General Al Bashir of Sudan.

Well you should see my disappointment. Why do you do this to me Professor, I plead. Are you trying to take the only thing we got going for us? The professor is very cruel. He ranked some dentist turned tyrant from Turkmenistan as number six, followed by our neighbor from the north Isaiyas Afworki, coming at number eight is a ‘ruthless thug’ from Uzbekistan, and Ahmadinejad of Iran taking the number nine spot. Our dear leader for life, architect of 99.6% victory Prime Minister Meles is ranked number ten.

To say I was furious is an under statement. I was crushed. I Googled Professor George B.N. Ayittey’s name. I wanted to know what beef he got with mother Ethiopia. What is going on here? What kind of joke is the professor playing on us? I can understand number three, may be number four but number ten seems a little harsh to me.

This does not bode well to either the Prime Minister or his TPLF cadres. They have been sharpening their craft for the last twenty-five years and all they got to show for it is lousy number ten ranking? I do believe the Professor is trying to make them the laughing stock of the country if not the neighborhood. Have you ever heard of respect for number ten?

As a self-respecting loyal subject of number ten I fired off an email to the good professor. I told him in no uncertain terms that we take offense to that. I understand we might not brandish Nuclear weapons like ‘Dear Leader’ Kim but we make it up with other cowardly acts. Just take the ranking of those crude Generals from Burma as number two. What do they got that we don’t have? For starters they have the Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi but we got Bertukan Mediksa. That is a wash. On the other hand while Aung San Suu Kyi is under a house arrest, Judge Bertukan is in solitary confinement at the rat infested Kaliti Prison. Surely number ten gets extra points for that.

Number ten has sacrificed over eighty thousand subjects in the Eritrean war with another ten thousand or more in Somalia and various other conflicts, can the Burmese tyrants equal that? They don’t even have the balls to start a war with their neighbors. Give me a break professor. The lower ranking of Mugabe and Al Bashir is further insult that should not go un noticed. When it comes to terrorizing ones own population they can’t even hold a candle to number ten. We are talking about targeted shooting of unarmed peaceful demonstrators in broad daylight, imprisonment of over forty thousand suspected opposition sympathizers and incarceration of the entire opposition party leaders. None of the two tin pot dictators can boast of such a feat. A few unorganized acts of terror here and there but I doubt they have a well-equipped Agazi force at their disposal.

I am really surprised that of all the glorious achievements by number ten the Professor saw fit to mention the following:

Worse than the former Marxist dictator he ousted nearly two decades ago, Zenawi has clamped down on the opposition, stifled all dissent, and rigged elections. Like a true Marxist revolutionary, Zenawi has stashed millions in foreign banks and acquired mansions in Maryland and London in his wife’s name, according to the opposition 

I tend to disagree. I would like to think murder and genocide will out rank simple thievery in the scheme of criminal acts. I also think those properties are a ruse to camouflage the real location of the retirement venue. As you know both countries have no qualms regarding shipping former tyrants to The Hague, thus I would think number ten is aiming for either Shanghai or Pyongyang.

Further more do you see any of the other contestants at the G20 meeting anywhere? No sir, it is number ten that shows up consistently. The fact that he has noting of value to contribute hasn’t stopped him from hobnobbing with elected leaders. It is not lost on the organizers that number ten’s presence gives vibrancy to a boring and uneventful gathering. It is also true that the organizers reserve a special section for the Ethiopian Diaspora to vent out while forcing number ten to crawl down in the back seat. Master Card is doing a commercial based on this true story. According to reliable sources the ad campaign goes like this:

Plane ticket to Toronto- $1500.00

First class Hotel- $2000.00/night

Limousine rental $500.00/day

The look on number ten hiding in his limo driving by angry Ethiopians: priceless.

There is some things money can’t buy, for everything else there is MasterCard!

In the name of fairness and decency we ask Professor Ayittey to revise his list and restore our well-deserved ranking. Number ten is getting ready to take the oath of office after the grueling campaign and we hope this ranking will not deter the Mugabes, Al Bashirs and other highly rated misfits from skipping the ceremony. Some are claiming that the lower ranking is a conspiracy by Ethiopian haters to discredit numbers ten’s glorious achievement, but I wouldn’t go that far. I urge the Professor to reconsider. You can read his article by clicking at the following site.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/21/the_worst_of_the_worst?page=0,0

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11. June 2010 by Assimba.

“You can take me out of Ethiopia, but you can’t take Ethiopia out of me”
Please take your time to read the article.
Thank you.

Many Ethiopians and those interested in Ethiopia have asked themselves over the years why Ethiopians cannot get along, or why Ethiopian organizations, groups, or collectives seem to not work very well. Indeed, over the past few decades, we have seen countless Ethiopian collectives of all types split apart, disbanded, abandoned, rendered ineffective, or operating inefficiently, often because of intra-group conflict-conflict among the membership-and an inability to practice effective conflict resolution

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For example, consider the state of Ethiopian Orthodox churches in the Diaspora, which for various reasons happen to be the strongest voluntary organizations in the community. It is fair to say that at least half these churches have experienced serious conflict leading to break-ups. And much of this conflict is not substantive - not due to political or theological differences. A priest, during a recent sermon, remarked that nearly all the large North American cities have Ethiopian Orthodox churches. “What else do they have in common?” he asked the congregation. The answer was quick - “Feuds!”

I believe that the propensity for conflict and the lack of tools and capacity for conflict resolution are fundamental reasons for Ethiopia ’s poverty and underdevelopment. Endless feuding and infighting from the grassroots level upwards have made it difficult for Ethiopians to build and sustain the social capital and institutions necessary for development. I think it is imperative that academicians and development practitioners make awareness of intra-group conflict a top priority for study and intervention. But before I make my case, I would like to describe the nature of the problem in greater detail. Here are a few interesting points.

First, the intra-group conflicts we see in Ethiopian collectives are seldom caused by differences in ideology, organizational structure, or other substantive reasons. Nor are they confined to organizations whose members come from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives. Indeed, virulent conflicts occur in apparently homogeneous groups whose memberships have not only similar ideologies, but similar frames of reference, perspectives, and interests.

Another interesting point is that such conflicts occur just as much in the Ethiopian Diaspora as they do in Ethiopia . This is interesting because in the Diaspora, factors such as poverty, various types of oppression, lack of education, etc., do not exist.

Finally, intra-group conflicts are found in all types of Ethiopian collectives. We can observe chronic feuding and infighting in families, extended families, non-political civic organizations such as professional associations, religious institutions, local community and charity organizations, as well as political associations.

So, why is there so much intra-group conflict characterized by personal feuds and infighting in Ethiopian society? And when there is conflict, why is conflict resolution so difficult? One explanation is that we have been brought up in an environment where certain dysfunctional behaviors that hamper effective communication, cause conflict, and hinder conflict resolution are the norm. Below is a list of some of these behaviors that I have observed. I ask readers to reflect on whether you have seen them in yourself, in others, in meetings, and other group settings.

Personalization of issues

This is when we are unable to conceptually distinguish between people and their ideas or thoughts. For example, if someone objects to a suggestion I make, I see the objection as personal attack, not as a simple difference of opinion. In response to the perceived personal attack, I respond with a personal attack, instead of discussing the issues. Hence, the initial disagreement over ideas turns into a personal struggle, and because it is a personal struggle where pride and survival are at stake, we end up unable to constructively ‘agree to disagree’. Groups whose members find it difficult to ‘agree to disagree’ become paralyzed by feuding and infighting and eventually collapse.

Parochialism

We tend to irrationally favor those from our own kin-family, village, team, and ethnic group-no matter what the cost. That is, if a person from my kin has a conflict with someone outside my kin, I automatically favor my colleague, no matter what the substance of the disagreement. Furthermore, I extend the conflict to a dislike of the stranger and his entire kin-his family, friends, place of employment, ethnic group, etc. This is the root of blood feuds.

Parochialism within organizations leads to ineffectiveness, as decisions are made based on who supports the decisions, rather than on their merit. It also leads to organizations being split into smaller and smaller factions, and eventually collapsing. An organization may split into two main factions. Factions will develop within those factions, and further splitting will occur, until the organization fails.

Chronic suspicion and mistrust

We view each other first and foremost as potential threats. With such a heightened level of threat-awareness, any idea or thought, no matter how innocuous, is quickly considered to have negative ulterior motives behind it. Even the most innocent comments by the closest of friends can be misinterpreted as sinister, resulting in the breakup of relationships. This behavior is a fundamental cause of conflict in a group setting. No group can be effective without trust.

Paranoia

As we view everyone as a threat, we tend to disproportionately develop a paranoid outlook in our interaction with others, with the ‘threat’ foremost in our minds in our interactions. This paranoia, in a group setting, results in organizational paralysis with everyone looking over their shoulder and hesitant, instead of working towards the common goal.

Lack of empathy and empathetic understanding

Empathy, the ability to identify with or understand others’ situation, feelings, and actions, is critical for effective communication and teamwork. However, in our society, we are not sensitized to the importance of empathy. We do not ask questions such as ‘what in his background might have caused him to react this way’, or ‘what would I have done in his shoes’. This leads us to make erroneous judgments based on incomplete understanding, which in turn leads to confusion and conflict within groups.

Lack of suspending judgment or giving others the benefit of the doubt

Suspending judgment is fundamental to effective communication. However, due to our suspicious nature and lack of empathetic understanding, we have a tendency to judge and not give others the benefit of the doubt. If someone does something we do not understand, we do not say, ‘Perhaps there is something he knows that I don’t,’ or ‘Let me wait and see before making a judgment.’ We judge hastily, without taking time to examine all possibilities. This results in erroneous judgments and personal conflicts.

Character assassination

Rather than addressing conflict directly, we spread rumors and innuendo about those with whom we disagree. We engage in character assassination because we know that it is an effective weapon in our society. Since we do not give each other the benefit of the doubt, we tend to believe bad things about others! A strategy of muddying someones reputation will render them useless, as people will simply have had their existing suspicions confirmed.

Lack of openness

Openness facilitates effective communication. As Ethiopians, we are not open and forthcoming about our thoughts and expect the same guarded approach from others. This is related to our lack of empathy, which makes us afraid of being judged hastily and incorrectly if we speak openly. This fear causes us to be vague, unclear, and non-committal, which inevitably leads to communication gaps and communication breakdown, as others persistently try to interpret the hidden meaning of what is said, and often end up interpreting negatively and incorrectly. Lack of openness leads to misunderstanding and ultimately conflict.

Holding grudges

We tend to chronically hold on to personal grudges. Understanding or forgiveness of perceived affronts is seen as weakness, as it is assumed that everyone is and remains to be a threat. In a group setting, there are bound to be conflicts, and if people hold on to grudges, there can be no effective teamwork.

Envy

We hate it when others are better off than we are in any context, but instead of struggling to improve our own lot, we work to reduce others’! This comes from our ingrained perception that everything in life is a zero-sum game. If someone is rich, it is because another is poor. If someone is happy, it is because another is sad. It is as if the world has been allotted a fixed amount of wealth, happiness, etc., and it has been ordained that everyone should have more or less the same amount. Failing this, the ones with more must have committed some kind of crime to improve their lot and the ones who have less must be cursed.

Stubbornness and lack of compromise

Because of our zero-sum view of the world, compromise is seen as a weakness. We do not understand the concept of compromise as a building block for future win-win endeavors. Instead, compromise is seen as a loss forever.

I am sure that all of us have seen first hand these behaviors manifested in our various collectives, from families to religious groups to political organizations. Many of us in the Diaspora have been exposed to non-Ethiopian collectives where, generally speaking, such conflicts occur far less often. We have also observed that these collectives are, as a result, far more effective and efficient than Ethiopian collectives.

It is crucial that we find a way to raise awareness that intra-group conflict is a fundamental barrier to development, to put an end to our dysfunctional group behaviors, and to promote positive, constructive behaviors that reduce conflict, increase our capacity for conflict resolution, and increase our collective propensity (tendency) for cooperation.

To this end, as a first step, I suggest that all of us look inward and self-reflect, try to identify these behaviors in ourselves, and then try to change our thoughts and actions in ways that help us reduce the conflict in our own lives, and in those of our families, friends, and acquaintances.

My second suggestion is that there should be a collective attempt to stigmatize dysfunctional behaviors in our everyday lives. For example, we must make it unacceptable to attack anyone personally instead of addressing issues. We must not only refuse to listen to character assassination, but openly chastise (discipline) and correct those who do it - in a charitable and constructive manner, of course. We have to keep in mind that most of us engage in such behavior almost unknowingly, because of the culture we have grown up in. Unless sensitized to the ramifications of such speech and actions, we cannot become fully aware of the consequences.

Finally, I suggest that academicians, development practitioners, and institutions make the topic of dysfunctional behaviors, social norms conducive (encouraging) to development, social capital, and the like, a priority for research and action.

Salaam Yitbarek works for Statistics Canada in Ottawa , Canada . He is also a research fellow at the Ethiopian Institute for Nonviolence Education and Peace Studies (EINEPS)

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5. June 2010 by Assimba.

My friend came from out of town for a visit. I took him around to all the tourist places, including our local Museum of Modern Art. Lucky for us there was a Picasso exhibit the critics were raving about. It was a delight to view Picasso’s work in living color.

I was transfixed by the painting ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ or the chicks from d’ Avignon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chicks-from-avignon.jpg)

Even though Picasso denied it, this work shows a strong resemblance to African art. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is the maestro at his best. By some it is considered his most daring and outrageous work. The use of bold colors and brash diagonal lines makes the painting full of activity and perpetual motion. Pablo Picasso was a genius. Looking at Les Demoiselles d’Avignon one is left with the impression that Picasso was developing a new means of artistic expression. He is considered a maestro or ‘king of his craft.’

Then it came to me. I know some one that fits the description. It is no other than our dear leader for life Meles Zenawi. Picasso used his god given talent to bring joy to humanity while Meles uses his devil inspired negatively charged machinations to create chaos, mistrust and uncertainty to his subjects. The maestro, our very own ‘prince of darkness.’

It was a sad realization but nevertheless a realization that will at eat my heart for the next two weeks. No matter how hard I tried to push it out of my head, it wouldn’t go away. I have to admit it was an apt comparison. There was no escaping from the fact that we are witnessing the scientific evolution of the ‘art of terror’ and our very own Meles Zenawi is achieving the rank of maestro in his chosen field. OK I concede, we can qualify it by creating a new classification of ‘mal maestro’. It must be a proud moment for his friends and family. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some just cheat, lie, push, shove, and kill just to make it. We have a winner amongst us.

Bestowing the title of maestro on our ‘Dear leader’ might be offensive to some. But ladies and gentlemen, if you will forgive me, I don’t see anything wrong in giving credit where credit is due. The tightly choreographed play that passed for a democratic and free election is worthy of mention in any history book. Mal maestro sounds like a perfect title to me. Our friend Picasso introduced the African sense of unrestricted vibrant wild energy into the ‘Cubist’ style of the time. Last weekend humanity watched in living color the modern drama of unabashed robbery as witnessed by distinguished guests from Europe and Africa. The opposition candidates were led to the sacrificial pooling booth accompanied by neatly dressed and well-fed toy solders adorned in their best-imported uniforms.

Just to add a little bit of drama our mal maestro erected video cameras in every major corners to watch, record and intimidate while a low flying helicopter supposedly equipped with video camera and automatic weapons was thrown in for special effect. The 2010 fourth general election in Ethiopia is another milestone in our history that will be judged as the best work of mal maestro Meles Zenawi by generations to come.

It took five years of preparation to put paint to canvas, and come up with such glorious achievement of 99.6% purity. Many have tried it but none have achieved such pure nirvana. Sudan’s Al Bashir was awe stricken, Zimbabwe’s Mugabe was flabbergasted, Mymar’s nameless Generals demanded the blueprint, and the Chinese Communist Party was humbled. Iran’s Ahmadinejad called a cabinet meeting upon hearing such colossal achievement, and Kyrgyzstan’s petty tyrant is said to have wept openly from his hiding place in Belarus. Solomon Tekaligne is right ‘the eye browed’ one is one cool hombre.

Watching the mal maestro at work is a delight. Professionals make a difficult task look so easy. The election drama was played out to a mesmerized audience with such passion that it left the feeble opposition dumbstruck and shell-shocked. Mal maestro Meles displayed such bold moves as TV debates in undisclosed location to be edited and broadcasted at a later time. His use of vibrant colors full of energy was evident in his ‘warning’ of contestants that they will be held liable for their negative uttering regarding his policy. The only location they could campaign without being taunted, beaten or abused was thousands of miles away in North America among non-voting supporters. Even there, they were reminded of the penalty of ‘mis- speaking’ that will await them. They were forced to relearn the art of speaking without saying anything of value. The fact that the opposition sacrificed a few die-hards was compared to the 2005 election and declared an improvement.

Our mal maestro was so sure of success that he organized a victory celebration before the ballots were in. The neat beautiful tri-color posters were printed months back, the participants paid ahead and the beautiful dais at Meskel Square lit with special lighting. The bulletproof vest was adorned with a casual jacket, the baseball hat was lined with silk and the big Israeli gun was brought out openly to make a bold statement of ‘don’t thread on me.’ The picture of the little dictator behind the bulletproof glass in front of his adoring fans was a symbol of our insanity taken to a higher level.

Mal maestro Meles is not faint hearted. That is his undoing. Why pussyfoot around when you can overwhelm and relieve the peasants of their misery is his motto. He is daring but lacks wisdom. Crude is the word I am looking for. He is void of ingenuity, creativity and nuance. A wise person searches a clever way out of an unpleasant situation. Our mal maestro is not blessed with subtlety. By any standards a blunt force such as 99.6% is the least elegant solution. It is like calling upon the US Air Force to settle a bar room brawl.

What did his subjects do, you might ask? I will try to answer that delicately. For a people who have been trampled upon for the last thirty years, we have developed a very fragile ego. Who would blame us if we turn around and fault ourselves? Victim blaming certainly did not start with us. Didn’t the Europeans blame Africans for the slave trade? Didn’t Hitler blame the Jews for his atrocities? Didn’t Meles blame Kinijit for planning Interhamwe? Well it is no surprise that some are blaming the opposition for losing.

Please tell me something new. Isn’t self-flagellation our national past time? No one can surpass Ethiopians in that field. We leave our homeland empty handed, we settle in strange places, we build a life, we raise a family and we still bad mouth each other. Do you notice that we live together in humongous apartment complexes, eat Tibs and Kitfo in our own restaurants, buy insurance from our cousins but without pause, we talk about the uselessness of Abeshas. Why stop there while you are at it why not blame the University massacre, the war with Eritrea, the genocide in Hawasa, Ogaden and Gambella the over 40% unemployment, the debacle of Gibe Dam and other mal maestros misdeeds on the opposition. Hey why not include the lack of rain in the mix. That should show everybody the only smart choice is the gang from Adwa.

So how did we deal with our current debacle? I am afraid I have nothing positive to report. We have decided to direct the rage on each other. Our programming was so complete we were ready to accept any crumbs thrown by the mal maestro. The contestants openly admitted the impossibility of wining. The issue was presented how much less was acceptable. Talks about low expectations, our gallant parties were reduced to dampening the enthusiasm of some of their hotheaded supporters that took the fake election to heart.

Where do we go from here? Do we go back to old habit of passing the blame around, knocking each other down and hiding our head under the sand or try something new for a change. Something like looking at the glass half full rather than half empty. Do we dare building on what we have instead of raising the bar so high and setting ourselves for another failure?

I am an optimist. I see the glass half full. I believe the mal maestro due to arrogance of power or the freelance nature of his well-trained zombie cadres committed a slight error. 99.6% was not the intention. But you can’t undue what is already done. He has made it difficult to his foreign benefactors to turn the usual blind eye. So they will complain a little, wring their hands a little and advise his victims to be a little patient. Some of us have already started to crow about the few isolated statements foreign office junior officials regarding the lack of ‘level playing field’ yadi yada. We seem to revelle when the Ferenjis tell us how brutal the mal maestro is. Ferenjis enable the victimizer then tell us how painful it is.

Now the ball is in our court so to say. The opposition that entered this unequal competition has indicated that they do not accept the results and are asking for a ‘new vote’. It is very unlikely that would happen. They have no leverage to force the regime to listen to them. The ‘peaceful’ struggle they waged is all carrot no stick. They have not prepared or educated their supporters in the wonderful art of civil disobedience and boycott. It looks like they compromised their principles on the assumption they will be allowed a few seats. Mal maestro pulled the rug from under them. Can they recover is a good question. But their silence and disorientation the last few days does not bode well to the pro democracy forces.

We will argue for some time if their participation helped or hurt the movement.

On the other hand it is about time groups that have charted a different path show they got tooth, that we can and we will bite back. We want our own ‘shock and awe’ moment. The time for talk is over. Baby steps are not the solution. Condemnations, outrage, anger are so yesterday. Today should be ‘look mom I can stand up with no support’ display moment. It is to show the world we are not dead, that we are capable of sacrifice and when we set our minds to the task we can do it! The issue is not how strong the enemy is but how committed we are for freedom. It is about hitting them in their most vulnerable spots and creating uncertainty and doubt. It is about finding the weakest link in the chain and breaking it. Their benefactors will abandon them the first whiff of trouble. Our people will rally around the first inkling of trouble brewing. We ask someone to step forward and do the maestro a favor. He is tired, let us relieve him of such a heavy burden of bullying eighty million souls and let him get his deserved rest in a four by six room at Kaliti. We will include weight watchers manual in case of a few kilos from such comfort.

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3. June 2010 by Assimba.

Fretsidiq Fekade

A receipt of acknowledgment to insufficient and misguided TPLF’s code of conduct yields a landslide victory to the self-declared and illegitimate regime . A political process carried out by a single authoritarian directive, to unequivocally serve its own interest and deliberate more insult to receptive oppositions. Bereft of candid vision , it mainly been a primary contention that guarantees the continuance of state enterprise and its existing power. TPLF’S govt. unlawful and arbitrary policy, practically unchallenged by the oppositions beyond rhetoric; more to it, less scrutinized and no effort made to resist in the process , certainly made possible the actor to ride on safe venue. Its crystal clear that Weyane launched a preemptive strike on both sides of the isles by presenting “the new deal“ in the name of code of conduct.  In short, the master of deception had declared victory prior to the election.  The later has simply been a show case to dissuade the “runner ups” from further taking center stage on the political platform. It was by far a grandiose do over in the history of TPLF political struggle; if one seriously looks into where the result points to. It is a synonym to obscene gesture the middle finger to mean I don’t give a flying f.  Thus spoke Weyane, call me any epithet, nonetheless, I am that finger points to your rear. Sorry…, you have been dozed off, that’s who I was, that’s who I am, and that’s who I will be.

In the absence of authentic opportunities and in the realm of unjust and unbalanced political space, the delirious oppositions hoodwinked by Weyane’s “ amicable” language of “election”. knowing this self- conducted election from the outset never instituted the principle of democracy, luck would have said it!, the slumber political experts amongst the oppositions were even convinced as such that would bring forth a solid outcome. The old saying “ yemilushion besemash gebeya balwetash”, or else if you were to know what has been said about you (fool !), you had better stayed home. While lost in translation as to how define the incumbent or else steadfastly probe into the deep-seated intrinsic identity of the ruling party, on contrary, entrenched into the uncharted territory of Weyane under the guise of “election,” with blurred vision and less audacity, culminated in a historical embarrassment . Would have been great if the oppositions had
known weyane thoroughly besides its superficial identity!!

If logical argument put in place let alone the indisputable reality unfolds before our eyes, how in the earth one can deny the nature of tyrants?  Is there any natural affinity for oil to mix with water if they find themselves together in one place? They may claim to have shared same container but doesn’t mean relate to one another via their predisposed quality. By the same token, it can be said an entity with despotic qualities and attributes cant relate its ethos or social context with one diametrically oppose it. By sheer chance or stroke of luck, or opportunity presents itself for each one randomly associate; it is inevitable their co-existence is short lived. Weyane has been adamant all the way through its political life to pronounce judgment when it comes to those stand against its view. Therefore all have been recognized enemies according to its ideology- revolutionary democracy. Point blank. Never been witnessed to vainly wasted a fraction of a second or giving a second thought to retract itself from such and such labeling . But for the most hallucinated oppositions to give a definitive look to weyane up until I write this last word is unimaginable.  What has been more clear is oppositions prefer to meander in  futile political course to define weyane as an enemy and denounce its rubber stamp constitution; before winning one parliamentary seat!

Same old fashioned exchanges of rhetoric and discourse between the junta and the oppositions, wasting time in futile parliamentary theater and so forth, is like Albert Camus’s expression of “ an absurd reasoning”. Rolling a rock up a mountain which would roll back down before one get it to the peak . There is no quick philosophical or political fix for the problems born out of the womb of TPLF. It is this same rock which one roll up and down to no avail. The political parties are condemned by the gods of TPLF govt. to the endless frivolous task of rolling this rock.

If our endeavor is more to be participants of a weyane drama, we may as well dare not say freedom fighters or agents for courageous people of Ethiopia. The people deserves leaders and representatives who can stand out as an emblem of liberty. Our people deserve to have politicians who can roll up a rock to the mountain and claim all vantage points with courage. Our people deserve to keep off those smooth political persona who strive for keeping their absurd soul alive.  It wasn’t a remote past for courageous Ethiopians to raise their voice before their slaughters- the voice which remains overwhelmingly in the conscious of many- tiglu new hiwete!
Weyane conducted election more to dishonor Ethiopians and reclaim its dictatorial run-of-the-mill governance. As simple as that. Needless to say more about its undemocratic and nontransparent mod-us operand i. Weyane has been always on top of its game, no one can play the rules of games on its own turf. Everything was done as business as usual and an attempt to mystify the process is nothing more than to introduce the most familiar. Same can be said to the oppositions; being duped by lunatics time and again is a habitual stuff.

A new, perhaps, most determined political movement must be galvanized with “ enough is enough” dictum to rid off the mobsters! No more same old propaganda is required, no more unique degree of political intelligence is anticipated, no pseudo-political farce is accepted, no more riddles and prose to be scribbled, no more to be confused by insensitive political opinions-if genuinely desired to emancipate Ethiopians from ethnocentric regime- we must bravely fight with one accord and one spirit against weyane. With all our ability, by all means necessary, lets do the best we can to save Ethiopia.
“All is despair,
Not much to repair.
Dwell in the insignificance,
Wandering in the realm of menace.
Too shallow to redirect the course.
Ignorance begets pseudo intellectuals
Wisdom hasn’t left footprints,
‘cause the spirit has been annihilated,
And the body is mutilated.

The mother of all
Left to work alone.
Her redemption and resilience
Slowed by vain politics.
Save me, she spoke,
To those being betrayed
By chance and opportunity;
Your politics is of pure unity
Your objective is not of conspiracy.”
Ethiopia will prevail!

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