By Yilma Bekele.

According to ESAT the FBI has foiled an attempt by the Ethiopian government to assassinate Ato Abebe Gelaw. Goosh Abera and his accomplices are under custody. Please note here I said the Ethiopian government since there seems to be no thin line between the TPLF party and the government. Why am I not surprised? I am not surprised because for the TPLF violence is sanctioned by the party leaders as a legitimate tool to achieve political, economic and military dominance.    The following weeks as we look closely at Goosh Abera and his criminal friends and the FBI presents a psychological profile of the alleged conspirators we are sure to find out certain telltale signs about TPLF and their bizarre psychopathic behavior. Individuals like Goosh are most probably equipped with basic rudimentary education if any and survive by their wit and ethnic fueled bravado. In Ethiopia they are known for carrying weapons conspicuously, brandishing them at will and revealing in their thuggish behavior. They are the kind that administers summary judgment on street corners, bars and clubs.    

How was TPLF Chairman, the recently departed Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi able to achieve this goal in Ethiopia? The simple truth is by using violence to silence, intimidate, and eliminate his and the party’s actual or perceived enemies using any means necessary.  You do not need to be a Sherlock Holmes to detect this pungent smell of gun powder around most Woyanes.   Mengistu Hailemariam prepared the perfect ground for TPLF to flourish. He has already disarmed the population, delegitimized the family system and used the lowest denominators to be in charge of the Kebeles. TPLF inherited a demoralized, confused and tired population to mold in its own image.  

The first target of this terrorist organization was the educated citizen. The University was stripped of its most experienced and independent thinkers. By ’94 the University was a former ghost of itself. The political system was dealt in a harsh way. Professor Asrat was murdered in the most inhumane way possible. Teachers President Assefa Maru was shot against a wall execution style. Masses of independent publication owners, editors and reporters were brutally beaten, murdered, bankrupted, intimidated, exiled or killed even in exile. Bank employees were fired in masse, telecommunication workers were discarded teachers and their unions were digested even Chamber of Commerce was not immune from TPLF take over. One thread common to all is that none of them were acquired peacefully. Violence was the main calling card of the TPLF. Every opportunity he got the sick dictator used to trash our country and our history and every opportunity they got his security department used to bully, intimidate and made to cower with fear. My dear fellow citizens, you know there is nothing new in what I am telling you. Some have witnessed it, plenty have experienced it and a vast majority would try not to think about it. The shame is unbearable.  

One thing about TPLF is it is not a behind the curtain type of organization. It practically advertises every hit and all illegal acts. They use their criminal action to send a clear message to the citizen. That is why they insist that all are aware and versed on their mode of operation. They use their Television news, their newspapers and radio to send warning messages before they take action. When the unthinkable happens some are heard to say ‘he/she was warned but refused to listen-they deserve it!”  You see the victim assumes the blame.     They have been systematically killing any and all emerging Ethiopians. They have goon squads that go around intimidating anybody they perceive to be a challenge. They use beating and flogging opponents to shame them in front of family, friends and a whole village. They use blackmail as a tool. They use the law to break the law. Meles used to amend the Constitution in a weekend. Even the Constitution is not worth any respect. Once you trash the Constitution what is on your way?  

That is what the FBI s telling us. Their dirty deeds have arrived in America. Under Meles they were content in infiltrating our organizations such as Political Party support groups, Eders, Churches, Sport organization and disrupting from the inside. There is no Organization in North America that has not been a victim of TPLF insider disruption. They are crafty, relentless and completely understand our frame of mind. They exploit our ignorance, selfishness and greed to keep us in a daze.  The new TPLF leaders are a little bit reckless. I understand that too. It comes out of desperation. The group is under tremendous pressure. The late dictator I am afraid was a very selfish person. The sun revolved around him. When he left the light went dim. I do not think any social or military organization can take credit for the current upheaval. In my humble opinion the stink is coming from inside. I agree things are getting ripe on the outside and that could intensify the pressure inside the TPLF bowl. I am afraid the last CEO did not really care to what came after him. He was too busy surviving from day to day in this shark infested pond that he did not have the time and luxury to bother with outcome. He left an army with too many generals.  Here in America there is a saying ‘all chiefs and no Indians.’ Debretsion, Bereket, Sebhat, Gebru, Abbay and a bunch of tin pot Generals are on their own trying to carve the biggest pie for themselves.   

This desperate act of attempt to assassinate Ato Abebe here in the US is the work of a mad man. If the group was trying to send a message about the long arm of TPLF it is a very stupid and crazy gesture. We have been complaining about their disruptive activities in our midst but this mission of trying to kill is a little concerning. There is no question the FBI will get to the bottom of this incident. It should be treated as act of terrorism by a government and investigated to the full extent of the law and let the chips fall where they may.   I am sure the alleged conspirator will name names and tell us who gave the order for such criminal act. I doubt one individual will take it upon himself to take such mission. The Ethiopian Government under Dictator Meles routinely used to kill, rough up and intimidate its opponents in the African countries they are exiled to. The new guys are a little daring. Prime Minister Debretsion and security chief Workeneh Gebehu Should be interviewed about the work of their agents and made to take responsibility for their actions. We hope the US government will take the necessary action of baring all Ethiopian Government officials and family members from entering the country before everything is known about this conspiracy to commit crime in the US. We should demand the US government protect us from the monsters they have been coddling.   

This definitely is not their first time committing crime here in the US. They have been using every legal and illegal means to harass, bankrupt and shut down Ethiopian Review Web site. They have employed what is known as denial of service attacks (DDoS Attack) to block ER and various Web sites, they have hired attorneys to intimidate ER publisher and are present in every of our Churches sawing dissent and negativity.  As Ethiopians in exile we should take the actions of these criminals seriously. It is true there is no criminal without the victim. Sometimes it is unfortunate things happen but you really can’t leave your door open and cry about being robbed do you? It is time we accept responsibility. The Ethiopian people that are facing the brunt of TPLF abuse should wake up and face their coward enemies. By now it should be clear silence is not the answer. The one year anniversary by our Muslim citizens is clear indication the regime does not listen to reason. The steadfastness of our Muslim brethren should be applauded and emulated by the rest of us. The call by our Orthodox church in exile for every one of us to safeguard our religion and our country is a timely reminder.    

The fact that we have muscle now is a very empowering feeling. The cooperation between Ginbot7, Afar Front, anti Woyane activists in Tigrai, OLF, Patriotic Front and the formation of Ginbo7 Forces is the right direction considering the nature of TPLF. As I said before leveling the playing field is called for. That is one small step for our Fronts and one giant step for Ethiopia.  As for the Diaspora it is time we stop enriching the coffers of the evil regime. Any kind of involvement in their Ponzi scheme adds one day more to their life. As there is no little pregnancy there is no such thing as a little investment. It has to be a clean and complete break. This Abesha way of qualifying our illegal act is not good for our future. Your selfish action is hurting us and we ask you stop it. It is like MLK said ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’  It is something to think about.  

We feel the pain and hurt of our friend Abebe and his family. He has never threatened those that have hounded him and his family from his beloved homeland. His only weapon is his pen and pencil and the power of reason to resolve contradictions. Exiling him was not enough. Now they want to kill him in cold blood. That is the only language they speak. They have killed so many but they are unable to understand their violence has not resolved any of the outstanding issues. Don’t they see it? Don’t they know there are a lot more Abebebes as there were plenty of Asrats, Assefas, Eskindirs, Reyots? When is this madness going to stop? When is our country going to be a citadel of peace and harmony instead of a poster child for famine and civil war?  You know what no one gives you your freedom. You have to snatch it from those that want to make you their slave. No oppressor has ever said enough, I am going to leave you alone here go in peace. No, every oppressor faced by human kind was compelled to relinquish power by force. Not reason but force. The French revolution, the American revolution, the Russian revolution, the Chinese revolution, the South African revolution are all examples of the citizens taking matters into his hands and forcing the oppressor to step aside. Woyane dogs are not going to wake up one morning and pack and leave. You and I have to push them out. That is the only proven way. Anything else invites more abuse.      

By Hama Tuma 

This article is provoked by a recent article in the German Der Spiegel under the title of “Ethiopian Kids using Tablets to Teach Themselves”. This is how the magazine article told the story: 

“A US aid organization has handed children in the remote Ethiopian village of Wenchi tablet computers in an experiment aimed at enabling them to teach themselves. They are now speaking their first words of English — without ever having encountered a teacher”. 

The Charity business is funny in a cruel way. Giving a handful of Ethiopian rural kids Tablets is as bad and ridiculous as the used soaps sent to Uganda, the spiced ham sent to Muslim Asian Tsunami survivors, dog food to Kenya, and the knickers for Africa and bras for Haiti programs.  Just give Tablets to Ethiopian kids and they will have no need for teachers and to hell with the already reduced budget for education. It is a novel idea and the Tablet/computer idea for Ethiopian kids, which will make teachers irrelevant, belongs to the new America Messiah called Matt Keller who works for the “One Laptop Per Child” NGO and states that this way the kids can just leap into the information age. The harshly criticized Chinese Great Leap Foreword was more realistic and to the point. 

Recently, African singers made a sort of “We are the world song “to collect fund” to buy heaters for the poor in Norway (oh yes, there are poor people in Norway!). It was a well aimed spoof much like the late Idi Amin collecting goats, sheep and food aid for the malnourished British in England. Such spoofs are vendetta par excellence on the White so called do gooders who consider Africans are like babies who need white caretakers through out their lives. Some of these nannies are called Bob Geldof, Bono, World Vision, Oxfam and even belong to the UN itself… They are like worms festering in places and mess of misery, using images of children surrounded by flies, with bloated stomachs and weeping to the cameras their publicity stunts. Save a child, sponsor a child, buy one of our goods and we will send another free to the starving shoeless Third World—we have heard it all actually. In some African countries, some UN agencies and NGOs are effective cover for the CIA and western intelligence agencies. Just check Darfur, South Sudan, and Eastern Congo. All such places have their celebrity adopters.  Kony 2012 was a sad joke of an initiative. George Clooney cries for Darfur. Ben Affleck is for Zaire or the DRC.  Bill Clinton is for Haiti.  Even the fellow called 50 Cents who voted for Romney went to Dolow, Somalia, for the World Food Program. For some of these people the whole thing is called a “hug vacation “. You go with your expensive safari suit, hug a few people, look sad, and talk to the press and presto you figure as a messiah for the impoverished Africans. The victims are rats and guinea pigs in the whole experiment and operation anyway. 

It is a business and millions are made from the charity business. Most of the money often goes back to the donor countries. Western youths get employment, are well paid and act as Masters over us all. Some of the NGOs are filled with conmen, inept and fakes. There are of course others who really feel and think that they are really doing well.  Much as we respect their fine sentiments, they are on the wrong path. Swedow who wanted to send Africa a million T-shirts, Keller who wants to send more and more PCs to Ethiopian rural kids so that they can learn without a teacher at all, those who want to send us used shoes,  those who send us expired medicines,  those  who send us used clothes (the used clothes business has caused a 40% decline in apparel production in Africa) are all suffering from what one critic called “ white savior industrial complex” as exhibited so blatantly by the likes of Geldof, Bono, Jolie or Clooney. Some of these are people with huge mansions bought at a price that passes the health and education budget of quite a few African countries. Some of them buy some of our children and they think they own us. Imagine the problem of Africans being having T shirts, used shoes, old pants, Tablets, used soaps and other such nonsense! 

The Der Spiegel report states “Keller, 48, is a thoughtful American in safari pants. The villagers refer to him as the “ferenji,” or white man. Everything has changed in Wenchi since he began making his occasional visits to the village”. 

It is always the white Messiah who saves the African. Colonialism reborn, the thieving white missionary, the cruel Bwana with the colonial hat and boots and, never forget, the whip and the gun. The so called saviors of Africa have their own interest be it personal, financial or colonial. Some are naïve enough to believe that without confronting the basic problems of Africans they can bandage minor wounds and solve it all. Unfortunately some foolish Africans also imagine that without fundamental change they can defeat the malaise that has gripped and debilitated Africa. Corruption, bad governance, the absence of rule of law, gross violation of human rights, sale of fertile land to foreigners, displacement of the poor people, subservience to western and Chinese imperialism, the disaster of neo liberalism and capitalism—now these are the main problems. Millions of children sleep on the streets, denied education and their childhood, This is one  gross problem Keller should have considered inn relation to the why of it all instead of going to a small rural village, handing out Tablets and claiming a miracle and projecting himself as a pioneer and liberator. By the way, how many days a week does the small village of Wenchi get electricity? 

Oh yes, charity is a business. It is also a fame machine for actors and singers who are actually doing their thing within the framework of official American or Western politics. Why the silence on the repression in Ethiopia? Why the little concern for Eastern Congo (more than 5 million killed as western companies hungry for coltan and other minerals finance murderers and rapists) and the hue and cry against Beshir of the Sudan whom the ICC wants to arrest? Who said we Africans need used underwear, shoes and soaps? Did we ask them to come and buy our children thereby making the regimes who sell our children richer? 

But then again there is another way of seeing the whole thing. 47 Tablets in the hands of Ethiopians may bring about a revolution. No teachers needed at all- the kids are said to be speaking English. And of you speak English you are educated and way up on the ladder of “civilization “. Haiti is still waiting for the promised aid but they are being sent bras. The problem of African women is not the lack of knickers at all. As things stand there are presently more than 300 NGOs in Juba, South Sudan–our condolences to the citizens. They should demand for more Tablets and not for help to get more schools and power for their development. Alas, aid is political as we all know. The Yemeni ambassador to the UN who voted against the war in Iraq was told by the US ambassador, Thomas Pickering, that the “no” will cost Yemen a lot –US aid consequently stopped its operations in Yemen. NGOs are mostly political; even human rights organizations are under the heel of or infiltrated to their noses by western intelligence agencies.  The world is complicated and charity a cruel business, and pity the naïve ones who believe otherwise.

The role model of 4 Ethiopian Professors (AMMM)

By Obo Arada Shawl

December 31, 2012 

Introduction

Political opposition is a healthy condition. Even better would be a political proposition as it enhances problem solving mechanisms. Four Professors have been impacting subtle views on college students, bureaucrats and among intellectual circles. Their seemingly revolutionary opinions have detracted the true process of democracy since the 1960s. Their simple opposition against individuals had earned them popularity. 

As a consequence, the so-called popularity has misled hundreds of alliterate; illiterate and even literate Eathiopians to follow their footsteps. Historically speaking hundreds, if not thousands are acting as a copycat in the role modeling of these four Professors.  

What are the magic formulae that these professors possess that other leaders do not? Why are they so much important to deal with them? And who are they? 

Because of their educational career, date of birth and their desire for social status, the four Professors were posed to liberate Eathiopians (Eritreans and Ethiopians) from ignorance of political culture. However, contrary to their followers’ expectation, these Professors have been making political conditions for Eritreans and Ethiopians worst than the previous decade. I am afraid that the political heritage of these professors may continue in the next decade as they are all alive and kicking. 

In the next few pages, I will attempt to examine the nature of their involvement and the delivery of their career service towards secrecy and conspiracy of Eritreans and Ethiopians along the Revolutionary process. 

Background Information: Crown and Cross: cc

Professional career in Ethiopia was little known. Unlike these Professors, the majority of Ethiopian and Eritrean public servants were allowed only to give allegiance to the symbol of the Crown and to the value of the Cross. The Ethiopian Revolution, however, declared the Crown and the Cross as null and void. The government structure and the significance of the Cross were replaced by another CC (Central Committee). 

To this day, it is a repeat of sad story to tell that the structures of all political parties including the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia have remained unchanged. They all recycle around the concept of Central Committee which is the antithesis of DEMOCRACIA. 

Tilling the land, traditional herding, serving kings and Egziabher were the prime occupation of most Ethiopian populace. Teaching, working in either government or in factories was of recent phenomena. Those who were outside agriculture, herding, serving courts or churches would call their occupation as

• students for life
• philosopher/teacher or
• Seekers of alms.

Such was the career, if we can dare to call them careers, for the youth and for the urban until the academic profession came into the scene. 

In the academic institution, there were two types of lecturers – foreigners and Ethiopians. Unlike the Ethiopians, the foreigners took lecturing seriously as an academic profession. For the Ethiopian Professors, however, it became a symbol of status in the society.  

Why were the Ethiopians not serious about their profession? One major reason was the lack of academic freedom. On campus, there was academic freedom, to be sure. The other reason was that creativity was forbidden in the whole country and so it was part of not allowed to do primary research. 

For whatever reason, one can find out from historical documents whether Eathiopian lecturers, including the four Professors have authored serious books or had dissertations published. We all know that was all political and that was perhaps why the Geographer, the philosopher, the Doctor and the scientist turn into politicians. The question is politicians who can solve problems or create extra problems. That was and is my concern.  

As to those Eathiopians who were denied of professional careers, they turned to political activism, volunteers of all kinds and others became seekers for truth. In other words, they had to rebel with a cause. The cause was to change the status quo of the then Eathiopia. 

 The Eway Revolution: conspiracy and Corporation: cc

The Ethiopian Revolution was meant to change the above history and heritage (HH). Colleges and universities were meant to lead the way for change. The challenge was rested on the shoulders of college students and lecturers.  

Fortunately or unfortunately, the task of educating or motivating the youth of Eathiopia solely rested on the student body of the Colleges and University. It took many years of hard work and intelligence to organize the student union locally and internationally. Thus the Ethiopian Revolution was evolved with huge sacrifices of all kinds. 

What is missing now, is the untold story of all those who had sacrificed their lives, who had lost their career opportunities, and those who were disfranchised by their families. 

Who were/are these people? In my opinion, they were/are those college students unionized or not who have been enrolled in colleges and high schools since the 1960s to the 1990s and even beyond. Unlike the Professors, these radical students led the student movement in terms of opening up the culture of conspiracy of the Crown and the fight against transnational corporations also labeled as Capitalist and Socialist Imperialism.  

The Eway Revolution was a genuine struggle for change. Peace in Eritrea and DEMOCRACIA in Ethiopia were proposed by the Student Movement. The Eway Revolution was simultaneously taking place in Ethiopia as well as in Eritrea. 

The Ethiopian Revolution that was led by the DERG was not the same thing as the Eway Revolution. Many people seem to misconstrue the truth.

Foreign inspired Revolution: confusion and capitulation: cc

Were these students could be able to dismantle the Crown by themselves without the support of others? Conspirators and supporters of the Crown allege that the student body was run by foreign agents such as the CIA of America and KGB of Russia. How nice conspiracy, a balancing act. The real truth was that the student leaders meticulously articulated the conditions of the then Ethiopia and its past. Their communication was through various means including personal touch. Whoever led the Revolution, the Crown collapsed on its own weight.  

A classical example of failure by the Crown was not to recognize Sylvia Pankhurst as a world citizen. She had worked more than the emperor himself for the freedom of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. The same failure of recognition was denied to General Ode Wingate. 

The Student Movement whether in Ethiopia or Eritrea was in pursuit of Truth? What was truth at the time may seem “unintelligent” in today’s Ethiopia. American students were viewed worldwide in their pursuit of happiness whereas the Eathiopian students were “bent” to find the truth. By inference, seeking the truth will lead to happiness. That was the reasoning behind all Eathiopian student movements. The question was and is that whether our Professors are/were in the same page.   

If it were not for our Professors confusion and capitulation, the Student Movement would have led us to the truth which would held everybody united. Of course, the primary task of the student leaders was first to identify its citizenship. By citizenship it meant to be open about “who we are and where we want to go.” Our Professors did not want to reveal not only from where they came but where they needed to go, i.e. from one’s locality to internationalism. Their careers would have helped them but it did not. And so their agitation was against the elements that were open with their past and who had vision for the future of Ethiopia.  

Eathiopian Student Movement demanded for freedom and liberty and not cultural change. These Professors began to display behavioral change that at times was “incompatible” with Eathiopian cultural values. I am not condoning their change of behavior. The student movement’s priority was to struggle for freedom of speech, writing, assembly and movement from place to place. The time was not for personal behavior, it was for collective action. A time for commitment either to become a citizen of a united country or to be a follower of bully imperialist worlds was required. There was no other choice for Ethiopia.

Citizenship and Commitment’s

Citizenship, on a collective level, is

• The ability to defend one’s nation
• The freedom for a rational thought

On an individual level, it is

• The ability to decide what is best for oneself
• A stake in one’s country and

The lack of the above mentioned factors has lead to the demise of the ancient regime and demanded a new approach to Ethiopian Citizenship. 

The symbol of Crown (C) was buried while the other twin (C), the Cross is still well and alive. Why? 

It is a common knowledge that the other factor for equality among Ethiopians is humanity that is derived from the value of the Cross. Nowadays, the value of the Cross is being examined by many Eritreans and Ethiopians. However, this is not something to be defined by politicians or the clergy. I believe it rests with the realm of each citizen. But citizenship should have emanated from the office of the Crown. It did not happen and it is not happening. 

Now, student activists and progressive lecturers behind the scene were busing themselves to erase the significance of the Cross or replace it by something else. An ideological, a theological or a political war was set on, albeit clandestinely. In other words, the role of politicians, economists and philosophers as professional career came into the scene to replace the Crown or the Cross by structuring models for Central Committee. 

Let us see who these Professors were/are.

The Role of 4 Professors in Citizenship advocacy

Understanding our past and debating our current affairs will assist us to move forward. For such prospect, the four professors’ role in the history of politics and revolution of both Eritrea and Ethiopia will bring a significant contribution negatively or positively.  

Who are these professors? Why they are relevant in today’s Ethiopia?They are Andreas, Mesfin, Mesfin and Messai. They are relevant because they are all alive and still remain activists. 

The TPLF in Ethiopia claims that it has successfully changed occupation of Tigrians in Tigrai and it can do so in the rest of Ethiopia. The PFDJ in Eritrea also claims that it’s changing the nomads into settled agriculturists whereas the urban dwellers are in the process of becoming professional soldiers. The PFDJ claims that this process can be done by advocating democracy and justice.  

But again people outside the circles of TPLF and PFDJ still remind me of the famous quotation from a British writer that “a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which is not there.” 

The DERG, EPRP and other relevant organizations have struggled to change the policies and politics of Ethiopia. Due to their credit, the DERG and EPRP have succeeded to change the process of career occupation in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Their role was one of a system mainly of the Crown and not of the Cross. It is arguable that the Military Junta of Menghistu and some leaders of EPRP have followed a strict rule of Command and Control (CC) structured means of leadership. But that does not mean that their followers know and accept the structure of Central Committee. One group (the DERG) was in power while the other (EPRP) was outside the power of governance. Besides, both were in the midst of turmoil. There was no peace in Eritrea or security in Ethiopia. 

It was either a struggle for democracy or counter democracy fueled by fascistic nature of the military. 

It is in this area of contention that I want to point out the merits and demerits of Professors Mesfin Wolde Mariam, Messai Kebede, Andreas Eshete and Mesfin Araya vis-à-vis the Eway Revolution 

Geography and Philosophy:  Professors Mesfin and Messai

I abhorred geography class. In my high school, I began to dislike geography class for two simple reasons. On one hand, an Australian teacher knew very little about geography while on the other, a geography teacher from England had too much detail about the world but not about Ethiopia.  

When I joined the Addis Ababa College, I intended to take courses from the department of Geography but many of my senior students discouraged me because of Professor Mesfin’s. At the time, I did not know whether it was because of his credential or pattern of behavior. 

After college, I came to appreciate the physical geography of Eritrea and Ethiopia together. I have crisscross from the town of Moyale, at the southern tip of Ethiopia, to Karora, in the northern end of Eritrea; and from the port of Assab in the east to Kurmuk in the west. The Nile Basin, the Red Sea Corridor and the Rift Valley all entice me to death. I wished that Geography class was a compulsory subject to all Eathiopian students. 

What is Geography, by the way? Why is it so important to study? Does the lack of knowledge in Geography put Eathiopians at loggerheads? Definitely, we all were at a very vulnerable position of not knowing our own localities, physically or politically. 

Geography is unique in bridging the social sciences with the natural sciences i.e. physical geography.  

Human Geography concerns with the dynamics of cultural societies and economies while physical geography concerns with understanding of the dynamics of physical landscapes and environment. 

Technically it is an education for life and for living. Geography whether gained through formal education, travel, fieldwork or expedition may help people to be more socially and environmentally sensitive. Those who are informed about geography have become responsible citizens and employees. For Geography, according to Wikipedia, is the science that studies the lands, the inhabitants, and all features of the Earth. 

Human survival depends on physical or relational space. The whole world fights to either assert his/her identity or to possess a passport to travel. Both the ID and the PASSPORT are the major instruments for existence. Other than these two, all other requirements are just gimmicks of various kinds. 

So what was the subject matter and who were the people that would have helped Eathiopians to assert their origin and destination?  

In the forefront, just as we had depended for centuries on the Crown and on the Cross, after the Ethiopian Revolution, we were to rely on both Geography and Philosophy. 

The role of Professor Mesfin W. Mariam in the realm of Geography and Professor Messai Kebede’s in Philosophy were necessary to ease the national confrontation.  

Instead, both Professors chose to join the war of destruction/attrition.   

What did Professor Mesfin do to help us understand ourselves and our environment? He kept us in the dark by keeping himself aloof and secretive. He did not want to be a liberated man in the sense that he was unwilling to tell the student body where he came from and where he wanted to go. He used to simply hide his ID and his Passport. 

What about Messai Kebede? Who is he and what is his title? According to written documents, he was educated in France and now he is teaching in Dayton, Ohio. Student evaluation indicates that he is not happy to teach. Obviously, he is used to dictate using the gun instead of the pen. Messai Kebede is a philosopher and what is that? 

 Philosophy “is an academic discipline that exercises reason and logic in an attempt to understand reality and answer fundamental questions about knowledge, life, morality and human nature. Love of wisdom or fundamental truth.” 

A set of views and theories of a particular philosophy concerning such study or an aspect of it has been deciphered by most Eathiopian PhDs (doctors).  Professor Messai Kebede was the master of all our PhDs. It is my contention that Professor Messai Kebede did neither pursue the love of wisdom nor seek the truth.  

Like his colleague Professor Mesfin W. Mariam, he also opposed the true Eway Revolution but supported the foreign imposed Revolution of the Soviet Union. 

Since both Geography and Philosophy were very critical subject matters both Professor Mesfin W. Mariam and Professor Messai Kebede were positioned very critically to educate Eathiopians about their citizenship and the world they want to live in. The tools of identity via Geography and the passport for moving forward with philosophy were in their hands. Instead of proposing they chose to oppose and to this day, they are doing it. I don’t know what their personal problem is.  

Could it be an identity crisis or a cultural crisis? The sooner, the better for it resolves many of our own problems. The physical Geography of Eritrea and Ethiopia; the human knowledge as accumulated by the Tewahdo Churches should be the guiding principles for these two professors. By following these principles, many hundreds if not thousand of youth will benefit from their path, the path of proposition instead of opposition. 

I appeal to both masters of Geography and Philosophy write some kind of autography or a memoire of their ገድል so that others may follow. 

Political Literature and Culture: Professors Andreas and Mesfin

These two professors have been together since kindergarten days. The only difference is that they obtained their first degrees in America and in Ethiopia respectively. 

• Both Professors never grew up to enjoy their birth villages
• Both were born for leadership as indicated by their DOB
• Both have participated in student movements, one local the other in foreign
• Both are good in communication, one in written the other in verbal
• Both are shallow in Geography and Philosophy
• Both lead simple and humble life style
• Both have little love for money but lot of for politics and fun
• Both never wrote books
• Both blames their colleagues, Andy blames BMR and Mesfin PIA
• Both earned Ph.D.
• One is tenured professor, the other is not
• One capitulates, the other stagnates
• One opens his background, the other hides his background

From these ten similarities and three differences, one can evaluate the contributions of each Professor in the annals of Eathiopian Revolution. The youth of Eritrea and Ethiopia can definitely learn some lesson from both Professors in terms of political literature and culture.  

Concluding Remarks: Resignation and Retirement

For whatever reasons, college and university students had attacked, at times in a wild manner, both Professors Mesfin and Messai. In return the two Professors had resorted not only to be arrogant professors but also indulge to go into other fields of study such as politics, sociology, and psychology and recently to Human Rights and History. 

But deep in them, like many Eathiopian intellectuals, I feel they had grudges towards their colleagues and friends. I personally know that Professor Mesfin W.M. has a personal grudge against Tsegeye G. Medhin alias DEBTERAW. Professor Mesfin considers DEBTERAW as his intellectual antagonist. 

This is unhealthy condition politically and unwarranted investment in the next world for the Professor. I hope he becomes a citizen of Eathiopia by asking EGZIABHER for forgiveness and an apology to his soul mate DEBTERAW.   

As to Professor Mesai Kebede, he thinks that the dislocation of Eathiopians were the result of radical college students. He is forgetting that he was a member of organized killers and hooligans. I think he should be grateful for the victims of the Red Terror. No one is up for their stories. The voice of the Professor is heard and that of the victims is silenced. What a travesty! 

In the same way, Professor Andreas Eshete’s pet noire was Berhane Meskel Redda. BMR was the single intellectual who challenged Andreas’s education including English literature. To this day, Andreas wishes to bury the intellectual capacity of Berhane Meskel Redda. It is a sad story to tell. We cannot build political institutions unless and otherwise, Professor Andreas halts his personal attack on BMR and reveals his bio or writes his autobiography to the public. The challenge between this two was not personal, rather it was a contention between an educated Ethiopian versus an educated Eathiopian. Or alternatively, Andreas is a m’hur akal ምሁር አካል  whereas Berhane Meskel Redda was a Tsinhate m’hur akal   ፅንሐተ ምሁር 

Professor Mesfin Araya, on the other hand, is bitter on President Issaias. The Professor may have issues on the conduct of the Eway Revolution but it is not to be taken personally. In fact, Mesfin has carried out the Program of EPLF all the way to New York. Professor Mesfin Araya was nominated to be a political officer for Eritrean student association but he could not carry out EPLF’s political agenda. Why?  The majority of Eritreans were not ready for democracy. Theirs was a national colonial question. Professor Mesfin’s agenda was a democratic revolution, it was incompatible program of action and he has to resign from his position. 

To sum up, all four Professors have been in the struggle for change. They have done their part whether for themselves or for the country as a whole. No one disputes this. And no one should be praised or blamed for all the past. It is history. But history teaches us a lesson and we all want the lesson – the lesson of wisdom and truth. 

The lesson of WISDOM is expected from the relatively old Professors Mesfin W. Mariam and Messai Kebede. 

The other lesson is about TRUTH and it is to be retrieved from the relatively young Professor Andreas Eshete and Mesfin Araya. As a communicator of oral and written history, we demand their biography and memoire of revolutionary struggle. 

Let us hope for a better political program.  The year 2013 has something of value to all of them and us.  

It is time for the 4 Professors to propose not to oppose. Professors should take the lead. 

TRUTH WILL PREVAIL 

For comments and questionsoboardashawl@gmail.com  

Dear webmaster, What is going on?​

By Tulu Forca

I am so alarmed by your selection of web postings recently. You seemed to have forgotten or some emerging lack of oversight in editorializing what is fit to print in the martyrs page.  Are you competing with other web sites to attract audiences AND PANDER TO THE NEED Of THE READERS or STICK TO YOUR GUN-that is to your founding principle?

*What moved me to action to scribble this angry email is the coverage you gave for the recently “setup” bogus gorilla force adorned by  the article a  Yilma Bekele, who at last revealed his true color-stealth g7, as A TRIUMPH AND BREAKTHROUGH IN THE ANNALS  of Ethiopian HISTORY.  SHAME ON YOU!!!! FOR LETTING THE G7 APPEASERS AND APOLOGISTS DANCE ON THE GRAVE OF THE MARTYRS PAGE.  I have sent the copy of this to ESPIC forum and will campaign to protest to stop you from misusing and abusing Assimba page . I urge you to remove the posting with apology to the martyrs and survivors of the Red Terror. Do not give me the “democratic” or your  “independence” from “EPRP structure” mantra to cover under.

That is not good enough  reason for you to jump from being a great advocates of Ethiopian sovereignty and particularly the  Assimba pal talk room including the web site that has shown tremendous effort in exposing the g7 and and its subversive leaders mission in the diaspora and its divisive anti EPRP full court campaign. What happened from that valiant effort and the founding principle of the very nature of Assimba.org to this total capitulationist stand.

Something g7 did that radically change its former self that we are not aware or privy to?.   All this has to be looked into. In the mean time I am lodging my protest to you, dear webmaster.* * *

*Ethiopia shall prevail!*

*(tulu)*

*PS: for obvious reason I used nick name*

by Walle Engedayehu, Ph.D.

Introduction

In this brief commentary, the writer attempts to show the extent to which the recently-concluded peace and unity mediation of bringing the two EOTC Holy Synods into one was doomed from the start, and why it miserably failed despite the gallant effort of the mediators. Furthermore, the author posits that the time is now ripe for the “neutral” EOTCs to join their sister churches of the Holy Synod in exile in light of the failure of the peace mission. Using the facts that came to light during the course of the mediation, the writer makes an objective assessment of the issues affecting the status of unity within the EOTC, both in the Diaspora and in Ethiopia. Critical for this analysis are recent reports that have characterized both the haste with which the Home Synod is preparing to install a new Patriarch in Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian government’s continued policy of meddling in the affairs of the Church. This turn of event has come despite the seemingly promising pronouncement made by the representatives of the two squabbling Holy Synods in the aftermath of their peace and unity confab in Dallas, Texas.

The Context and Failure of the Mediation Mission

During the last three years, peace and unity mediators, consisting of concerned EOTC clergymen assisted by a few members of the laity, have made a genuine effort to bring the division between the two Holy Synods to a close, while aiming to restore the sanctity of the Church that has been severely damaged by the division. However, the three rounds of talks that took place in the U.S. did not substantively alter the status of the schism within the Church, which has profoundly bedeviled it for more than two decades. The major cause of the division, of course, was the Ethiopian regime’s installment of the late Abune Paulos in 1991 as the Patriarch of the EOTC illegally and in contravention of the Orthodox canon law. This was done by replacing Archbishop Abune Merkorios, the reigning Head of the Church at the time. The government’s action led subsequently to the establishment, in North America, of a Synod in exile led by the dethroned Patriarch, with a group of Archbishops and other clergymen supporting his cause. Since then, the Church has been in a state of paralysis, as EOTCs throughout the Diaspora became highly consumed with the crisis, and, in many cases, even embroiled with further division of their own, as they became either the supporters of the Synod in exile or of the Synod at home. Some among these churches also took a neutral stand, which has no canonical basis in Oriental Orthodoxy, to which all EOTCs are supposed to prescribe in theory as well as in practice.   

The breakthrough that was expected of the meeting between the teams of the representatives of the two Holy Synods in Dallas in the first week of December 2012 never materialized. Nonetheless, the members of the Council of Peace and Unity of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church should still be applauded for their effort. In retrospect, however, their mission was simply based on what may be termed as “wishful thinking,” which in essence was an exaggerated sense of faith and trust in the role that mediation has played historically to resolve disputes in Ethiopia. At the same time, the mediators seemed to have failed in recognizing this fact: the prevalence in Ethiopia today, and for the most part during the last 21 years, of a regime that gives not even an inch of compromise on anything that has the potential of changing the status quo, which, in effect, means maintaining the supremacy of its minority rule over all other Ethiopian ethnic groups without any limit to its domination. In other words, the mediators were under the false illusion that the members of the Holy Synod in Ethiopia were free to determine the fate of the return of the exiled Patriarch without realizing that the regime has been the driving force, all along, in determining whether Patriarch Abune Merkorios was to be reinstated to his former position or not. It has become clearer to all keen observers now that the regime has its own Patriarch in mind. The fact that the Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF)-dominated government in Addis Ababa had made the decision to install a Patriarch of its choice, replacing the deceased Abune Paulos, a Tigrean, with another of the same ethnicity, was in itself the cause d’être for the failure of the peace and unity mediation.

This is not, however, to deny the fact that there are among the esteemed Fathers of the Holy Synod in Ethiopia who have a genuine interest in ending the divide within the EOTC, and their wish is naturally the return of the exiled Patriarch to his rightful place. But this group may either have been outnumbered by those following the regime’s directives or simply have now succumbed to the pressure placed upon them by the government to go along with the regime’s wishes. Whether this is the case or not, time only will tell. Yet there is concrete evidence pointing to the fact— supported by the latest reports in Ethiopian websites quoting independent and reliable sources within the Synod in Ethiopia— that the Holy Synod in Addis Ababa is indeed on the verge of choosing the 6^th Patriarch of the EOTC. This, of course, would be contrary to the spirit and terms of the joint communiqué announced by the representatives of the two holy Synods after the meeting in Dallas. That communiqué noted that another round of mediation would take place in January in Los Angeles to continue the peace process. In light of the new developments in Addis Ababa, however, whether such a meeting will be held as scheduled remains to be seen.

As of late, it has been reported that a division has emerged within the Addis Ababa Synod itself between those wanting to withhold the election of a new Patriarch until the outcome of the fourth mediation meeting, and those who are advocates of the government’s wish and thus proceeding with the anointment of a successor to the late Abune Paulos. At the time of this writing, the latter group, which appears to be the majority within the Holy Synod, has reportedly the upper hand in the rivalry that seems to be unraveling. The regime’s mighty pressure on the Synod’s membership to follow the “official line” on the selection of the Patriarch may have played a major part in this instance.    

The mediators ultimately found out, along with the overly anxious faithful of the Church, that the Holy Synod in Ethiopia has violated the terms of the agreement that the envoys from Addis Ababa signed jointly with their counterparts from the Exiled Synod. One among the terms was the cessation of any provocative action by each Synod that will lead to the demise of the talks. After finding the sad news that the Synod in Addis Ababa was getting ready to conduct the election of the Patriarch, which they viewed as a clear violation of the terms of the agreement reached at the talks, the mediators issued a public statement on December 21, 2012 that criticized the move to do so. In the statement, they clearly lamented that the effort they had invested was in vain, adding that the promise to keep the talks going was highjacked by a group within the Addis Ababa Holy Synod that was determined to elect a new Patriarch contrary to the spirit and terms of the agreement made at the meeting in Dallas. However, the mediators avoided in their pronouncement the regime’s “secretive hand” in the matter, knowing well that such a public communiqué blaming the regime for the standoff would be politically “suicidal.”     

What next for the “Neutral” EOTCs in the Diaspora?

The precarious position under which the neutral EOTCs in the Diaspora find themselves is hard to dissect thoroughly in an opinion as limited in scope as this one is. What is at stake, however, is that the time has become ripe for the so-called neutral EOTCs to take the righteous course of action and remain within the realm of legitimacy, as followers of Oriental Orthodoxy. In this regard, only two options are available to these churches: joining the Exiled Synod, or choosing the Home Synod by default. Neutrality should no longer be an option for these churches from hereon, and never should have been in the first place. Yet, in the view of this writer, the neutral churches would be better off seeking a formal affiliation with the Synod in Exile for several practical reasons, which will be made clear in the paragraphs below.

Indeed, recent events associated with the reconciliation effort for peace and unity within the Church have not only brought more clarity about the forced removal of the exiled Patriarch by the regime in power, but also debunked many of the falsehoods that were propagated against those Fathers who created the Exiled Synod in North America. The issues that were raised by opponents of the Exiled Synod, many of whom are among the leadership of the neutral churches in the Diaspora, have been fully addressed. Most if not all had justified their neutrality based on the erroneous assumption or using the pretext that the exiled Patriarch had vacated his seat on his own will due to illness, which was unmistakably a government-concocted public disclosure that has since been found to be baseless.

During the last two years, several pieces of evidence corroborating the real causes of the dethronement of Patriarch Abune Merkorios have been made public, thanks to several Ethiopian-based websites and other forms of media in the West. More troublesome is also the regime’s covert intervention in the selection of yet another Patriarch of its own liking, an act which is increasingly becoming distressful to the faithful in the Diaspora as well in Ethiopia. Given these facts, any recognition of or association with a government-controlled Holy Synod in Addis Ababa would be tantamount to accepting the rule of dictatorship in Ethiopia. Above all, it would not be in the long-term interest of the unaffiliated churches to remain neutral, nor would it be a defensible choice for them to recognize the Addis Ababa Synod at this time.

The need to align the neutral churches with the Exiled Synod can be reasonably justified on both religious and political grounds. Since politics and religion are interwoven in the Ethiopian socio-political dynamics, as they are in all countries regardless of size and location, the justification to unite against regime injustice in society must supersede all aspects of group differences. Since the start of the split in the Holy Synod of the EOTC, the religious argument for neutrality used by the independent churches has stemmed from the belief that no two Holy Synods can legitimately exist at the same time. While recognizing the rightful place of Abune Merkorios as the reigning Patriarch of the EOTC, they were equally opposed to his flight from a possible persecution to which he could have been subjected under the regime that orchestrated his removal. They felt that the Patriarch should have remained at home and stood up to the government even by sacrificing his own life for the sake and honor of the Church.

Looking it at from a religious point of view, the argument that the Head of the EOTC should sacrifice his life “to make a point” is one that makes little sense. Given the potential that, if  Abune Merkorios had remained inside Ethiopia, he would have been “eliminated” by the government to smooth the pathway for the regime’s handpicked Abune Paulos, one then wonders about the benefit that would have been gained by challenging the rulers at that time. As the “dagger or sword” of the regime was pointed at the Patriarch’s head, his handlers wisely took the safest and humanly possible course of action—escorting him to his temporary exile in Kenya. In essence, his flight into exile did deny the full legitimacy of Abune Paulos’s installment as the 5^th Patriarch of the EOTC. Still, under no circumstances would there have been any religious justification for Abune Merkorios to remain in his native land under a threat of persecution or even outright elimination in ways that the 2^nd Patriarch, Abune Tewofilos, met his fate at the hands of the Derg. No purpose would have been served for Abune Merkorios to possibly die in vain just to create a room for the ascension of Abune Paulos to the throne. Neither our Creator nor a true believer of Orthodox Christianity would condone the sacrifice of one’s life to make a “political statement,” which would have been the case in this instance.   

With the recent death of Abune Paulos, many of the Ethiopian Orthodox faithful in the Diaspora were expressing hope that the unity of the Church under the remaining Patriarch would be restored and that the division among the EOTCs outside Ethiopia would also be an issue of the past. By and large, this would have fulfilled the desire of the entire Orthodox community, which has despondently agonized over the years with the highly unpopular split of the EOTC. However, it now appears that the unity demanded by the faithful has become once again more elusive, at least by the time of this writing. The main culprit for this is again the regime in Ethiopia, which has created the hurdle against reconciliation, peace and unity within the troubled Church. The long-awaited unity could surely have come about with the return of the exiled Patriarch, who has repeatedly expressed his wish to re-assume his former position and bring the schism within the Church to an end.  

It is against this backdrop that the neutral churches must make the bona fide choice and become once again compliant with the principles and creed of the Orthodox faith, which could only be accomplished by doing away with neutrality as they know it. The neutral churches must be mindful of the government’s yearning to choose yet another Patriarch, as it did 21 years ago. As the regime’s role in this matter becomes more evident in the weeks to come, the potentiality of being affiliated with the Addis Ababa Synod would be tenuous at best and objectionable at worst. This would be definitely an option for supporters of the regime, not for its opponents. It is an option that could also further beget turmoil within the Diaspora churches, since the legality of installing another Patriarch while the one dethroned is still alive would be an issue that would not go away easily. Thus, it would be advisable for the neutral churches to think this through and make the right call based of the circumstances that have emerged since the death of Abune Paulos. Again, the most practical alternative for them would be to make room for rapprochement with the distinguished Fathers of the Exiled Synod. It would be to everyone’s interest to ensure that the unity of the Church in the Diaspora at least is maintained while looking to a future of unity of the Church under circumstances favorable to such an eventuality. In this writer’s opinion, it would be unreasonable to think that the unity of the Church would ever come in the foreseeable future unless the grip of minority ethnic power is loosened and inclusiveness, as opposed to exclusiveness, becomes the guiding principle of rulership in Ethiopia once again.

The political dimension of doing away with neutrality and joining the Exiled Synod-affiliated churches by the neutral churches could have a far important implication for the struggle against minority ethnic oligarchy in Ethiopia, as well. The faithful, whether their affiliation is with the Diaspora neutral churches or with those of the Exiled Synod-affiliated ones, as a whole are unhappy about governance in their country of birth. Many who are politically savvy and take a proactive stand on the pitfalls of ethnic-based federalism in Ethiopia know too well that to bring a lasting peace and a democratic rule in Ethiopia, the opposition must put pressure on the regime in power, so the ruling elites can be forced into negotiation to map out the future of the country and be made to opt for inclusiveness rather than for exclusiveness or monopoly of power. The regime’s practices of governance have strikingly demonstrated control and dominance of all facets of the Ethiopian society during its more than two-decade of rule over the Horn of Africa country. This has come at the expense of disunity among the government’s opposition, both at home and abroad. Unity throughout the Diaspora among opponents of the regime has been elusive so far, although as of late there are some positive indications that several organized groups are now coalescing around common national issues and developing gradually and solidly into a collective force to be reckoned with. As they become more aware that disunity within the Diaspora opposition has only helped the regime in Ethiopia to solidify its position of dominance while thwarting any possible pressure on it, they are now keen to come to together to collectively use all of the means at their disposal to push for the desirable regime change in Ethiopia.    

In order to have the struggle for democracy and against ethnic minority rule bear fruit, the forces of opposition in the Diaspora must work in unison without the divisiveness that has beleaguered the Ethiopian Diaspora communities throughout the world for so long. Among the root causes of this disunity is the lack of harmony among the EOTCs across North America and elsewhere. If all the churches, especially those claiming to be neutral, were to come under the umbrella of the Holy Synod in exile, the potential benefit to the unity of the Diaspora opposition could be immeasurable. Mobilizing support and leveraging resources for a common goal would be immensely enhanced, as would be diplomatic pressure on foreign governments supporting the regime at home. When this is matched with the interests of other non-Orthodox groups who share the political objectives of their brethren within the Orthodox community, the unity in diversity that could be marshaled against the regime would be insurmountable. The opposition can only be effective and have a meaningful force of power and influence, so long as such a unity is forged and put to effective use to bring about the needed change in Ethiopia.

It is no secret that the faithful within the many if not all neutral churches are avowed opponents of the ethnically-based political system that has been imposed on Ethiopians by the regime in power. They are equally saddened to find that the centuries-old Orthodox Church there has been under an enormous distress following the taking of power by the regime that uses ethnicity as the driving force of political decision-making, nation-building, and social re-reengineering. The more the neutral churches see the government’s domination of faith-groups in Ethiopia, their more likely their interest intersects not only with their brethren in the Orthodox faith, but also with those of other Christian denominations, as well with the followers of the Muslim faith.  The unity within the Orthodox community in the Diaspora is therefore is one without which the struggle for democracy and rule of law can be waged in full force; and that unity could come about with the neutral churches abandoning the unorthodox practice of neutrality on faith, particularly in one that has never been the case in its storied existence since the 4^th century A.D.  

Conclusion

In this review, two interrelated points have been made with respect to the EOTC: explaining the futility of the mediation mission undertaken by a group of mediators, who made the noble endeavor to bring about reconciliation between the two rival EOTC Synods; and, more importantly, giving reasons for why the neutral EOTCs in the Diaspora should join the Holy Synod in exile should the regime in Ethiopia make good on getting a new Patriarch of its choosing elected, as expected. On the second point, in particular, the paper attempted to make a strong case for affiliation by neutral churches with the Synod in exile, arguing that the alternative would be neither religiously defensible nor politically palatable in light of minority-based authoritarian governance in Ethiopia. After all, the EOTC has seemingly become an appendage of the regime— one that is overwhelmingly detested by the Diaspora Orthodox community, as well as by followers of other faiths. The writer persuasively advances the notion that the neutral churches should abandon their neutrality, both as a protest against installation of a new Patriarch while another is alive, and the government’s continued intransigence against peaceful change in Ethiopia through negotiation and compromise. It has been further argued that unity among all the Diaspora EOTCs under the umbrella of the Synod in exile better serves both the political and religious objectives of the Orthodox Ethiopian Diaspora community, as we face a regime that continues to rule by force rather than through dialogue and political transparency.    

 By Yilma Bekele

The press release was short and to the point. It was only six paragraphs long and was written in a matter of fact way. There were no trumpets blaring, no press conference with TV lights and no lavish dinner to commemorate the event. The announcement reminded me of the proverb ‘best things come in small packages.’ So it was without much fanfare I read the most important announcement on Abbay Media and Quatero. Tucked among the news was the announcement regarding the formation of Ginbot 7 Popular Force (GPF)

It is vintage G7. Doing what needs to be done in a deliberate and intelligent manner. Since their inception the folks of G7 have gone about building their organization, finding common ground with others and laying a firm and solid foundation to move our quest for freedom and dignity in a purposeful manner. Their accomplishment the last four years speaks volumes to their ability as leaders of a new style of struggle that is beginning to bear fruit.

As the establishment of ESAT was a game changer, as the successful meeting of mind with the OLF was a ground shaking event this announcement regarding the formation of Ginbot 7 Popular Forces is a monumental achievement in the annals of our struggle. It is a milestone in the evolution of our struggle to be free and democratic.

It is a brand new day in Ethiopia. Our struggle is entering a new phase. It is a necessary phase imposed upon our people by the belligerent and lawless regime. It was not an easy decision for the Front to make. No one relishes the idea of an armed confrontation especially with one’s own brothers and sisters but there comes a time when self-preservation becomes a vital issue. The short announcement makes that fact clear.

The TPLF regime has been in power for over twenty years now. The last twenty years have been a period of destabilization, conflict and agony for our people. No one can deny that. The result of this chaotic and illegal system is laid in front of us. Despite the much heralded so called ‘economic miracle’ thrown on our face our country is mired in famine and poverty, our children are scattered all over the world, our daughters are enslaved in the Middle East by the thousands, our people are denied the simple luxury of reading a free paper or listening to independent news and our jails are filled by innocent victims of a mad system.

This is what makes the formation of GPF a must and important component of our struggle. The Ethiopian people have tried every avenue open to let the regime know that the monopoly of power is not conducive to a just and harmonious system. Our people have bent backwards to accommodate the regime to change its aggressive ways. International organizations such as the European Union and others have tried to mediate. The arrogant and petty government has shown complete disregard to our needs and concerns.   

That is why I wrote ‘leveling the playing field’ in the title. Violence is a two way street. Up until now the TPLF regime has the monopoly of violence. It has used it with impunity. The late dictator even used to taunt as to try fighting back. We are patient people. But despite the failings of the last few years we are also brave people. At long last we have decided to stand our ground and defend our people from evil. Self-defense is a God given right to every human being. It is time we in Ethiopia exercise that right.

We celebrate those that are still trying to let the TPLF regime know their peaceful intentions to bring change. It is to no one’s interest to shed blood in anger. The death of a single Ethiopian should be avoided at all cost. That can only happen when there is the rule of law in the country we call Ethiopia. It could not come about by a government based on a single ethnic group, by a government hell bent on monopolizing army, commerce, communications and politics by a chosen few.

GPF is our shield. GPF will prove to the arrogant TPLF army and security there will be consequences to aggression. As anything started by the seasoned leaders of Ginbot 7 there is no question GPF will prove itself to be a worthy child of Tewodros, Yohanes, Minilik, Aba Jifar, Tona and many other patriots. There is no question in my mind that the Ethiopian people will take GPF into their fold, love and nurture it. Our wish has been fulfilled and TPLF nightmare has just started.

There will be those that will try to belittle our effort and mock our resolve. Some will accuse the Diaspora of fanning the flames of war. No matter the die has been cast and the long journey has started. It is sad that in this day and age we have to pick up arms instead of the ballot to bring change. But one cannot choose his battle. This has been forced upon us. We have waited too long to respond in kind. Once we have started the process our job is to try to make it a short and less costly endeavor. Our responsibility is to encourage, support in any way possible and push our family, friends and the international community to stand with us at this time of great need.

We salute the combatants of GPF for their sacrifice on our behalf.  We want them to know they are in our hearts and minds every waking moment of our life. We promise we will do all that we could in our part to help them achieve the goal of liberating our mother land from the clutches of darkness. Forward with the brave sons and daughters of Ethiopia, we your people in exile raise our hands in salute and shout so all can hear ‘Ethiopia is rising and a new day has begun!!!’ May you march in triumph as your ancestors did thru the millennium.    

Hama Tuma

An art is an art. You may be gifted or talented or just a hard working chap but there are some of us who insist that the art of ruling by distraction requires that you be an African in the first place. The art of ruling by destruction is universal and mastered by the West too but the fine art of distraction is beyond the capacity of the non-Africans. Blessed be Mother Africa!

The art of ruling by distraction is an African talent mastered today by the likes of Yoweri Museveni, Jacob Zuma, the late and unlamented Meles Zenawi, Paul Biya, Kabila Junior, the new Pharaoh in Cairo, Ali Bongo,  Mugabe  and more. It is a fine art of taking the attention of the people from REAL issues unto the non important ones. Take Jacob Zuma who is facing a challenge to his ANC chairman post (we can bet he will win) and the big uproar he generated about a cartoon made of him in his naked state. The newspaper that printed it was put under siege and all of a sudden the genitalia of Zuma became so important that serious issues ( like the minors’ strike, the economic penury and the vast corruption like Zuma having his private house built by public money) were all relegated to secondary status. The distraction is made easier and effective because, in most African countries where dictators rule, the mass media is on the whole dominated by the State which, again in most cases, is dominated totally by one man—the president or the prime minister as the case maybe. Moreover, a people preoccupied on survival would hardly be focused on other things anyway unless it manages to break out and confront the main causes for its miserable existence under malevolent cliques.

If, for example, we are to listen to the President, ministers and the parliament of Uganda we would be excused if we conclude that the problem of that country once called the pearl of Africa is not corruption, nepotism and / or dictatorship but a handful of gays, Gay bashing in Africa is part tradition and macho culture and part political distraction undertaken by the leaders of Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, etc… In reality, the hue and cry about gays is a non issue. Africa has more threats than some people with their own sexual proclivities. The leaders of Africa who make gays the issue are actually indulging in the politics of distraction. Take the so called “new leaders of Africa” hailed by the central character of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. None of them has proved to be new, original or even democratic. But all have turned out to be tyrants kneeling in front of the superpower. Dictators and pseudo monarchs, corrupt to the core. But then again once can quote the Ghanaian leader Kufuor and declare (as we say after washing one’s eye with salt) that the “perception of corruption does not mean that corruption really exists”.  Nigeria loses more than $ 10 billion every year to corruption. Under the late Meles Zenawi, who was unable to swindle death, Ethiopia lost 15 billion dollars with the tyrant and his wife taking 2-3 billion dollars. As a whole, Africa loses some 150 billion dollars per year because of corruption. Paul Biya of the Cameroon, one of the most corrupt tyrants in Africa (he is said to have more than a hundred foreign bank accounts) spent a million Euro for a summer vacation in France that did not even last a month. Idris Deby of Chad paid a 27 million dollars dowry for his fourth wife, the daughter of a Janjaweed chief. The wife of Meles Zenawi, the Queen of predators and thieves, spent a million euro in Spain on shopping alone.  Ali Bongo, a former aspirant Gabonese James Brown and the country’s president today (as one African writer put it, a man born into and raised in corruption) pretends that he is indeed fighting corruption. Alpha Conde, the pseudo progressive who had promised a new beginning for Guinea, has now practically taken into his, and his clan’s hands, the mineral riches of that hapless country. The West is complacent as the stolen money often finds its way to its own banks. All these thugs need a side show to benumb the people and to turn the peoples’ attention elsewhere. Hence, the art of ruling by distraction, an art reaching perfection by African dictators– just you wait and see as the arrogant and racist Chinese may have a lesson or two learn.

The present tyrants and official robbers have a repertoire they can draw from. We have had fantastic showmen like Idi Amin (the King of Scotland), Emperor Bokassa (Africa’s Napoleon) and Sese Seko Mobutu (the cock of all Africa), who were all big “actors” when compared to their drab and pale shadows today. Tyrants who rule for decades claim they are really democratic and the elect of the people. However, almost all practice not only the brutal act of theft and corruption but the fine art of distraction. This art requires from the tyrants no shame at all, a rigid control of the mass media, a developed penchant for lying and a very good list of scapegoats and excuses. Many books of excuses exist in the world at large but few are fit for the situation confronting the African tyrant and that is why we should demand our tyrants to write the definitive book and teach the West and the East on the originality of distraction African style. For example, war with a neighbour has grown thin in the Horn though Rwanda and Uganda still practice it. The campaign against gays has worked but that is also becoming a déjà vu. Much as I detested the dead dictator in Addis Abeba he was a master of the distraction art. The Arab Spring and the wind of revolution (now aborted) blowing far and wild and Meles came up with the idea of a Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile (what we call Abaye).

He launched a vast money raising campaign accompanied by a concerted propaganda of an Egyptian possible invasion or attack. So much so otherwise intelligent people got drunk on the fake nationalism of Meles. The fools parted from their money and common sense—they were distracted.  What famine? Ethiopians just do not know how to eat properly and to diet. What invasion? We just crossed the border with Somalia.  Blame the West for the famine and economic disaster and claim boldly a 12% economic rise annually. Who cares if the reality and the claims do not match, the aim is to feed-cow dung cooked statistics and lies and to distract. Listen to the wife of the late Meles claiming she has little or no money to pay for her children’s schooling—hard pressed Ethiopians almost volunteered to make a collection for her. All that was and is a gem! The practitioner of the distraction art should not be afraid of the illogical or the ill conceived. On the contrary, the   expert practitioner will launch one ill conceived cover up after another and confound the populace into believing that the tyrant is a Saint with very good intentions for his country and people. There were and there are people who really liked Mobutu, Bokassa, Mengistu (who still lives in Mugabe’s capital), Meles and Omar Bongo to mention but a few.  Go figure! How distracted can you get?

The ability to lie boldly, to declare the bull pregnant, to say corruption is just a perception, to attack  the neighbor, colonialism,  imperialism, and now the Chinese, to say the gays are behind all the society’s’ malaise, to blame the opposition for all the difficulty in the country, to claim I am poor with just a few hundred millions whisked away, and through it all to maneuver within the lies calmly, boldly, and sanctimoniously so much so that the people cry our Long Live Papa. It does not matter of you are small like Burundi and Rwanda or Djibouti and Gambia or impoverished big like Ethiopia the tyrant should boast of making his country a middle class country come five years, of being a regional power and as they like to say a power base. No qualms. Let them foreigners laugh and smirk but the targets will lap it all like the proverbial poor man who consumes butter in his dream and hopes he will have no constipation because of his real hunger. I do have many suggestions to make on how to play the distraction game but here is not the place to divulge them prior to selling them off to the needy tyrants. After all, distraction is profitable, it is a sleeping pill for the masses and do not expect from me a Marx like quotation about opium of the people. Our times are intolerant as you all know and come to think of it distraction and religion can rhyme. But who I to probe this further!

Au revoir as the French would say when the going gets tough or as one African politician said: if you believe the promises of tyrants you have only yourself to blame. If you are distracted you will be destructed. That is the truth.

By Yilma Bekele

Good news is always welcome. Then there is the extraordinarily good news that jars you from your slumber. And when the good news happens right around Christmas there is nothing one can do other than put more log in the fire place, take a generous helping of the twelve year old scotch light up a fat Cohibas and sit back with Cheshire cat smile imprinted on ones face. That is what I wanted to do yesterday if only I had a fireplace, aged scotch or a fat cigar. Not to worry I had the good news and it brought a wide smile.

The good news is the exit of Susan Rice from the idea of becoming the Secretary of State. Poor Susan, she did not even get nominated but they dangled her name out there to be trashed and mangled. They found out she is toxic. It looks like contemplating Susan Rice as foreign policy maker brought queasiness and nausea to some king makers.

Susan’s demise woke me up. The last few weeks I was in ‘Ground hog day’ land. Have you watched the movie ‘Ground Hog Day’? That was what I felt like. In that story the main character finds himself repeating the same day again and again. That is our country Ethiopia in a nutshell. The same crap story told over and over again until we become numb to it.

In the movie Phil the main character comes to face with his shallow and indifferent existence and is compelled to make amends. He was able to break the loop of indifference, apathy and selfishness.  You know what my ultimate fear is? As an Ethiopian, it is to think that we are unable to get out of this loser loop we are wallowing for the last few decades.

We pride ourselves as being the oldest Nation State in history. We are quick to point out that we were never colonized. Both are commendable feats. The issue facing us now is what has that got to do with today. Those past accomplishments though daring have no relevance to the situation we are in now. Where exactly are we at today? We are with all due respect technologically backward, quality of life at the bottom any human achievement, a very inadequate educational and health system, an oppressive and lawless political arrangement and the epicenter of famine and starvation.

No need to deny that, no need to cringe and totally useless not to face realty. Unless one comes face to face with one’s ailment solution cannot be found. The first step towards recovery is realizing we have a problem and it is the cause of the many difficulties faced by our country and people. The best approach to bring about change is to look at the specific problems our behavior is causing and tackle that. For example being a coward makes us bow to authority, lack of character makes us lie and cheat to each other, our problem with low self-esteem makes us indifferent to the plight of fellow countrymen, our selfish attitude works against our own self-interest in the long run and we play the blame game to distance ourselves from the problem at hand and avoid responsibility. .       

The last few months have been trying times extraordinaire. It was like we were caught in a vortex, meaning a whirling mass of nothingness coming at us from all sides.  I am of course talking about the US presidential elections and my Ethiopian brethren’s behavior here in good old America. I am sure glad it is over. The unbridled enthusiasm of my fellow Ethiopians escapes any and all explanations.  Some were consumed by it, a few were stressed out plenty were hating on the Republican Party while lost souls like myself were diving for cover. It was not easy. There was no place to hide.

 It was an impossible mission trying to get a response why my friends were gung ho about Barrack Obamas reelection. To tell you the truth I had nothing against it. At the same time I did not find any reason to be frenzied or extremely emotional either.  Of course I will vote for him if given the chance but I wouldn’t be twisted out of shape or lose any sleep regarding the outcome if different.

Please note here that I am speaking as an Ethiopian since choosing someone is based on purely selfish needs. What is he gona do for me is the only question the average person asks of a candidate unless of course one is altruistic and I am afraid that is not what most people are.  Most Americans voted for candidate Obama because he promised to lower taxes for the middle class, bring immigration reform, set a dead line regarding the country’s involvement in Afghanistan, killed Osama and seemed to have a functional family. Mr. Romney’s constant foot in the mouth situation and show of absolute detachment from reality was a great help towards Mr. Obama’s reelection attempt.

The crucial question to an Ethiopian is of course what is he going to do for my country Ethiopia? That was what I wanted to be addressed when conversing with my Ethiopian-American family and friends. If their support is due to the fact that he is the son of Africa or he shows empathy towards the middle class I completely agree. My problem was when a few want to drag poor Ethiopia into the equation and claim his reelection will help our country. As they say the devil is in the details and here is one situation where the truth does not jive with reality.

Four years ago Mr. Obama appeared on the scene as the messenger of change. In all his speeches he made it clear that the US under his leadership will stand with the down trodden and the oppressed in a new kind of way. Upon being elected that was his message when he toured the Middle East and that was his message to his African family when he made a brief stopover in Ghana.  We were overjoyed when he put dictators everywhere on notice that their days of horror is over. Here is a long excerpt from President Obama’s speech to Africans from Accra, Ghana in July of 2009.

“We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans…..First, we must support strong and sustainable democratic governments……

As I said in Cairo, each nation gives life to democracy in its own way, and in line with its own traditions. But history offers a clear verdict: governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable, and more successful than governments that do not.

This is about more than holding elections – it’s also about what happens between them. Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end…. But I can promise you this: America will be with you. As a partner. As a friend.”

Beautifully said don’t you think so? No one could have said it better. I distinctly remember the time and place when I read that speech, would it be too much to reveal that it gave me mental orgasm? If mere words can intoxicate this was it. I cried. At last, I said a friend in a place of power, my prayers have been answered.  

I waited and waited and waited some more. I told myself may be next week, next month you think next year?  Unfortunately what Mr. Obama says and what President Obama does is not the same thing. There is a dis-connect between words and deeds. “Barack Obama became a less ideological but more effective version of George W Bush,” said Professor Aaron Miller, a vice-president at the Woodrow Wilson Centre. How true.

Thus the coddling of dictators continued unabated, the use of drones to kill from afar got accelerated and the marginalization of Africa did not cease. My country Ethiopia became a pawn in America’s war with its enemies. My dictator was invited to sit alongside his masters, the enablers that choose not to see what he was doing to my country as long as he served their purpose.

President Obama’s State department never stopped detailing the crimes of the dictator against his people while President Obama’s Pentagon was generous in furnishing weapons, transportation and training to those who use it against the same people and commit the crimes to be recited by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the victims themselves.  And most of all Mr. Obama’s rhetoric against dictators, deniers of freedom and human right abusers never stopped.

Thus when my Ethiopian American friends were moving heaven and earth to get their candidate reelected I wondered why? What would the other guy running for the office do different than what is being done to us now? If they are supporting the President as an American citizen I understand but why are they throwing the word Ethiopian in front of their designation. That is not fair. To show them that they actually do not matter the newly re-elected President threw Susan Rice at us as a thank you prize. Take that my Ethiopian-American constituent.  

Wait a minute isn’t this the same Susan Rice that insulted Meles Zenawi’s victims as fools? Is it the Susan Rice that travelled all the way to Addis to vouch the humanity of the butcher and mad man? Yes the one and only Susan Rice that went to Harlem to preach at the war lord’s memorial. Of course there is more to her than that. During the second term of Bill Clinton’s Presidency our Susan Rice was Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and how do you think she showed her love to Africa? It was by friending characters such as Rwanda’s Kagame, Uganda’s Museveni, Ethiopia’s Zenawi, and Congo’s Kabila. Could you think of any loathsome characters as these? The five dysfunctional sycophants are responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Africans and Susan Rice shares the credit and blame.

Rumor had it Mr. Obama might nominate Susan Rice to be the next Secretary of State. Shall we say the response has been heartwarming to a marginalized Ethiopian? I have been sitting back and enjoying the dictator lover twist in the wind. Her recent problem started when Obama’s White House used her as a ‘fall guy’ for the Benghazi attack. She was paraded out with false intelligence to keep Mr. Obama out the headlines for the debacle during the election. Our intelligent and highly educated friend went on national TV distorting the truth and reality since making shit up is nothing new to her. I very much enjoy our ‘idiotic and foolish’ friend travelling from one Senator’s office to another with her tail between her legs begging for love. Watching her swatted like a pesky fly is as far as I am concerned a priceless sight.   

The one thing I find curious is that when recounting her shortcomings no one seems to mention her love of dictators and mad Africans as worthwhile failing. They talk about her miserable performance at the UN, her Benghazi disinformation campaign and even her investment in the oil pipe line deal but nothing about her involvement in the Rwanda massacre, not a whisper regarding her friendship with the Ethiopian criminal PM and her love for African dictators. It shows you how much we matter.

So a few of my Ethiopian friends started a petition to let Mr. Obama know what they think of the lady. I mean she insulted our struggle for freedom, she mocked us and she did it all in public. It is like one of us calling Martin Luther king a fool or Malcolm X an idiot. How many Ethiopians do you think signed the petition? A minuscule amount did.

Why do you think that is so? You think it is due to that little sickness I mentioned earlier? The matter of low self-esteem, Cowardice, selfishness and ignorance all rolled in one?  Thus we campaigned for Mr. Obama so he can look after our interest and when he acts against it we are afraid to say wait a minute that is not why we elected you! I don’t see labor unions, women’s organizations, Hispanic groups playing dead when their interest is threatened. What is it about us that is willing to make excuse when stepped on?

You see that same trait is displayed in our National politics. We are willing to dance with the criminals in powers as long as they throw a piece of land, cheap hotels and brothels to frequent when we visit home. When exactly did we become a nation of lemmings? Watch the YouTube video link at the end and you can see what I mean. Guess what there must be some kind of power that looks after us. The fact that every Christmas the giving to our nation and people never stops is one clue. Three years ago ESAT was established, a year ago OLF denounced the separate trail and joined the mother fold and this year the giving has been a little overwhelming. The sudden death of Dictator Meles Zenawi and the faux patriarch and now Susan Rice’s humiliation begs for an answer. Despite our cheap character and betrayal of our motherland those that harm or conspire to hurt good old Ethiopia live to regret their transgressions. It looks like harming our mother comes with ugly consequences.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOOs8MaR1YM&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYP1Tjgt1Ao

By Ashao Tewolde – December 13, 2012

On public Holidays

On Thanks Giving Day, in a form of email, I asked several friends, relatives and my readers whether Ethiopians or Eritreans have a “Thanks Giving Day” or for that matter public holidays. I did this to find out whether there is a correlation between political unity and public holiday. The responses were alarming, the Eritreans gave me May 24, as a day for national holiday, and the Ethiopians gave me a mixed bag of holidays ranging from religious holiday to the battle of Adwa. Some Americans told me of July 4 as a public holiday.

But my question was about Civil Society’s Holiday which is by consent. I did not ask for State Holiday which is by coercion or the holiday Market which is by exchange.

These responses do indicate the complexity of Eritrean-Ethiopian-American communities’ status and position on culture and its impact on communities and societies.

Every era has its own utopian possibilities. EYONA movement has its chance to make lives more bearable if not comfortable through traditional culture and technology. There is no secret in that if one’s community or nation does not have public holiday, there is little hope for moving backward let alone forward. The EAthiopian community could benefit to learn and re-learn the lesson of cultural history.

The practice of ዘር History-Culture by both governments in Ethiopia and Eritrea do not reflect of the Civil Society neither of Eritrea nor of Ethiopia. Culturally speaking, the Abyssinian community has well recognized cultural values, heroes/ines, rituals and symbols. The real Eway Revolution was about prioritizing or reordering these concepts. We all remember the deceased Melese’s label of Ethiopian flag as a simple cloth.

The leaders of EPLF and TPLF seem to reject the cultural history of Eritrea and Ethiopia and appear to adopt revolutionary culture of the Chinese and some abstract theories from here and there. But no matter what their ideological leanings, it is no secret that they are in power due to their followers own culture of symbols of Arts. The Abyssinian culture of art, music, dance and food were behind their success stories. Their military success was neither due to Mao’s and Hoja’s ideologies nor due to military hardware but due to the traditional culture of Abyssinia i.e. Eritrea and Ethiopia. No one denies that the Abyssinian culture of food, music, dance and art is powerful. It is a take it or leave it situation…

Some of us do all remember, when the Military Junta of Menghistu Haile Mariam came to power, the first thing he was receiving some advice from the foreign educated elites of Ethiopia – was to disrespect Ethiopian culture. Due to the credit of EPRP leaders, their followers were not allowed to disrespect or change the culture of any Ethiopian community or society. They use to say, “Like language, culture is born, grow and die on its own accord without interference.”

The current regimes of Eritrea and Ethiopia are daily displaying the cultural values of their people via TV and other media. Cultural values are not meant to be displayed unwontedly but to preserve or to export. It is not for sale in cash but is meant to inspire or impact. What is more, the Abyssinian culture could not be manipulated from the Board Room. The leaders of EPLF and TPLF should better grasp cultural value of Eritrea and Ethiopia – the sooner the better.

Ethiopian and Eritrean nationals in the Diaspora can choose which culture to adapt to whereas the people inside the respective countries do seem lost to track their own cultural choice. The current imposition of culture is not different from that of the DERG era. For forty years, cultural imposition did not work the same way that imposition of religion did not work in a thousand years. Diaspora communities have choices to negotiate the value of cultural change. Let the adult keep what is ours and let the youth embrace theirs and see which one is beneficial to US and ME.

That is the challenge of choice for all people in Diaspora communities whether in Europe, Australia, Asia, Middle East or Canada. Here in America, initiatives have begun.

Proposal for 2013

African American youth will have a chance to participate in the fusion of culture that will take place in March 2013 between Eritreans and Ethiopians. The Youth will be defined along the ages of eighteen and thirty four.

Why is that important to take place? Where is it going to happen? And how is it to be conducted? These and other important questions have been posed to me after I wrote the article on fusion of cultural communities.

The main rationale of cultural unity is that culture matters in any society let alone in America. The American youth has its own individualistic culture; the Eritrean youth has its family culture while the Ethiopian youth depend on its community value. These and other social and economic values need to be synchronized for the global associational values.

However, these global associations cannot take place in a vacuum. “My space”, “face-book”, “tweeting” and other social networks have helped the youth to be free and vulnerable at the same time.  The time has come to help the vulnerable groups before they become dangerous to themselves, in the case of African-American, to their families in the case of Eritreans and communities in the case of Ethiopians.

EYONA will deliver service and history to these age groups in face-to-face format. The struggle by African American for Civil Rights, the liberation for Nazanet & Harnet by the Eritreans and the value of keeping Independence by the Ethiopians will be the basis for cultural fusion.

The pilot project is taking place in Washington DC.

HAPPY Birth days for all of us

ስብእና ለተወለደ ትውልድ

For questions and concerns

woldetewolde@yahoo.com

By Oash Tewolde

December 3, 2012

A quarter of a century ago, an Ethiopian scientist asked me “to sum up” the Eathiopian Student Movement. He asked me this question because at the time, I had written an article on how the Ethiopian college student movement was initiated. My writing was based on college presidential campaign speech entitled “Right is Might versus Might is Right?” As we now know, Asmara’s call for struggle has emanated from the premise of “might is right” while in Addis Ababa, the Word was “right is might.”

Readers can take their own conclusions. As to my friend, the scientist, he moved to Ethiopia for good, right after the joint forces of EPLF and TPLF entered Asmara and Addis Ababa respectively. However, currently, I am told that he is back to the United States for resettlement. I intend to meet him and find his “sum up” on the ground.

Another quarter century is passing by without any conclusion of movement. The EPLF has changed its name to Eritrean Front for Democracy and Justice (EPDJ) and the TPLF incorporated itself as Ethiopian People Democratic Front (EPRDF). The EPLF prides itself that it is serving the Truth. What ‘truth’ is in today’s world? The leadership of EPDJ needs to tell how and when truth will be served as opposed to claiming that they are serving truth. After all, truth hardly dwells in vacuum. The correct way is to tell and show for whom the bell tolls.

The TPLF also laurels itself on transforming poverty. What is poverty? Does poverty depend on food, consumer or durable goods? The concept of poverty envisaged by the TPLF leaders is incompatible with the Ethiopian peasants. It is a common knowledge that Ethiopians live historically on Dega, Weina or Kola regions. Of course, the majority of them inhabit the Weina Dega climatic zone. By Ethiopian standard, these are not considered poverty stricken. Those who live on the Dega are naturally healthy and happy until the pursuers of Truth and Poverty came to their habitation.

Those who inhabit the lowlands of Eathiopia traditionally were nomadic. It is also true that these people suffer from malaria and their cattle from tse tse fly which is deadly. But nowadays, their land has become desirable thanks for the innovation of technology.

So the question of Truth and Poverty are not the real obstacles to the Eathiopian populace. It lies somewhere else. In this and in subsequent articles especially during the 2013, I want to deal with the issues and ideas that became hindrance to our moving forward.

The Student Movement be it in Eritrea or Ethiopia has played a major role in the political, social and cultural matters. The “might versus right“debate that was initiated in the 1960’s would have been a clear solution had it not been hijacked by the TPLF and EPLF adherents.

The simple and immediate issue that comes to one’s mind and heart is the fact that the Ethiopian Revolution and the Eritrean War was obscure. War is not the same thing with that of Revolution.

The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) had a clear agenda for war. It was based on a colonial theory of liberation.  According to ELF leaders, Eritrea should be independent from colonial masters of Italy or Imperialism however, we define it and were to achieve Independence (mind you not Harnet & Nazanet); the Front was destined to carry war on colonialism before the issues of freedom and liberty. It was a question of prioritizing for them.

Revolution for the ELF leaders was secondary issue despite many denials by some writers on the subject. The EPLF on the other hand, had no clarity on its objectives. The EPLF leaders did not separate the colonial theory of liberation from the true nature of the Ethiopian Revolution which I call the Eway Revolution. It took some forty years for someone like Tesfai Temnewo to come out and to testify the path of EPLF Revolution. Mr. Temnewo forcefully narrates the innuendoes, lies and rumors that abound among EPLF members and fighters.

According to Tesfai, only less than a dozen people died for their beliefs and convictions of Ideology. The rest were either succumb to fear or slaughtered like mute sheep as a result of lies and conspiracy. For what? It was purported for Independence and not for freedom and liberty as the truth seekers wanted us to believe. Thanks for Tesfai Temnewo for having to disclose to us that Essais was elected one time and as such he has continued to exercise his elected power. And we all have read Essais’s declared objective in “WE and Our Objective” although frankly it was very hard to understand even for an educated let alone for the uninitiated labeled as Hafash. I think the author knows what he wrote. If it is Essais’s dogma as was claimed by many that he wrote it, and then I believe he is carrying his mission in order to accomplish his vision in accordance to his own strategy and understanding and we should not blame him for that. The opposition did not get it and we did not get it. Period. It is like my scientist friend who did not understand the Eway Revolution. The Ethiopian Revolution cannot be arrested and sum it up. It is a continuum process.

What we get from Tesfai is the fact that Essais is still an elected leader since day one. I believe Eritreans especially his comrades in arms are incapable to impeach him for he is faring in terms of corruption better than his colleagues. My own understanding is that opposition groups can bring alternative to his dogma of power based on Chinese PLA. Can we learn from the current 18^th Congress of Peoples’ China? I believe we can at least to sum up their way of doing business and politics.

What about the TPLF’s war on poverty? Do we believe it? The people of Tigrai were told that they will be liberated from the Amhara domination. What domination? The Amhara populace was poverty stricken themselves. The people of Tigrai did not struggle only for liberation but also for honor, value and purity. The leadership not only lied to their own people but also to all Ethiopians and Eritreans alike. They said they believed in Eritrean Colonialism but they participated in the elimination of ELF, the true holder of Colonial Theory. The TPLF claimed to believe in the true Ethiopian Revolution and yet, they have killed the Ethiopian Revolution. They lied and lied to the bitter end until grabbing power as in the Melese case. And now they will continue to lie and cheat until the name Ethiopia is erased from the map of the Earth and that the majority of Eathiopians will become a minority in their land if not in their country.  

So what is the solution? My own opinion is that the Student Movement has to finish or ‘sum up’ what was started by its predecessor. The student members of the time have now matured and have become professionals, diplomats and politicians. The next generation of student movement should focus on education, training and voting (ETV).

It is imperative to ask what the objective of the Eritrean/Ethiopian youth organization in North America also known as EYONA. This student youth organization will continue to pursue the true nature of Ethiopian Revolution a.k.a. Eway Revolution.

This Youth will understand the difference among all three successful Revolutions. The Russian Revolution led by the Bolsheviks, the Chinese Revolution led by PLA and the American Revolution that was led by the 13 colonial states of America. In my own opinion, these three Revolutions are the only ones to be emulated by the Eathiopian youths worth in the annals of history. Of course, the fourth one which I am very much interested to impart to Eritrean and Ethiopian youth is the Eway Revolution which started in the 1960 and still continues to the present day Ethiopia and Eritrea.

What is this Eway Revolution? Is it one way ticket? Is it backward, downward, upward or forward as in President Obama’s slogan? Time will show in which direction the Eway Revolution will head. A preliminary sense of direction will be revealed in year 2013. There is an early indication that it will take the format of the American Revolution. Let the old generation of Student Movement pass the baton to the new ones for the new ones have access to all information and knowledge. We can only give them wisdom without strings attached. The history of Eway Revolution although fifty years old has an added advantage of a prominent wars – the war of Aduwa. Revolution and War should be separated. We should not be confused by the elites and Ph.D. of Eritrea and Ethiopia as we are being confused by the patrons of the current Orthodox churches. We had enough of confusion. The tools of communication should be carefully chosen. One of our instruments of communication is to comprehend culture – not the Eword, the Written, the Mword or 3^rd word but the real way of life of the alliterate and the illiterate of Latin alphabet and the literate of Geez.

Truth will prevail.

For questions and answers

oboaradashawl@gmail.com