It is the right season to demand justice. It is the right time to demand respect for human rights and the rule of law. After the long draught of hopelessness and apathy, we are ready to flex our muscle and deliver a powerful punch. Why the optimism you might ask?
It is a good question. The answer is both simple and straightforward. Both internal and external conditions are favorable to us. Internally the economic hardship is taking a toll. Inflation is still in double digits, devaluation is rendering the Bir a useless currency and remittances that have been propping up the dying system have dried up. The illegal regime is forced into picking pockets of returnees to supplement its meager foreign currency reserves.
Externally the defeat of the republican administration in the US has dealt a heavy blow to ‘terrorist’ traders like the TPLF regime. The advent of Mr. Obama has become a game changer event. Democracy is in dictatorship is out, real verifiable election is in sham election is out in short reality is in vogue while fantasy and make believe is nothing but a pipe dream.
There is a Russian saying ‘A fish rots from the head’. It is Ethiopia in a nutshell. Any organization is a reflection of its leader. The TPLF type of leadership has run its course. It functioned when there was plenty to go around. The thieves did not have the time to fight over the loot. It worked when terror was deployed as a tool to intimidate and silence. Well there is no more to steal. The till is empty. Agazi militia, Federal Police or Kebele tugs have lost their aura of invincibility. Remember the last years of the Derg when the accusers walked with their head down in shame? It is déjà vu time again. It is the law of physics, what goes up must come down. It is independent of our will.
What happened in Adama last week was a reflection of a dying system. The last gasps of a disease ridden rotten fish flailing one last time. The eighteen years old society built on the concept of equality of nationalities was laid bare. Like we suspected Woyane was not building the future Ethiopian nation but rather a bunch of weak Bantustans ruled by mobs and zombies. This is the new improved Ethiopia, you stay on your side and I stay on my side. We thought Woyane wants to control what we say but now we also know they want to control in what language not to say it. Woyane never ceases to amaze. So in Adama you only speak Oromyea, in Tigrai conversation is allowed only in Tigregna, Amharic only in Gondar, Wolaita in Sodo and so forth. Can you watch Amharic News on TV in Sidamo? Can you think in Guragegna in Mekele? Where does all this madness stop?
Some body got to say it stops right here and right now! A lot have started to say enough is enough. But it takes time. Especially with us Ethiopians, time is a very fluid commodity. We are lackadaisical when it comes to time. Our philosophy could be summed up as ‘why do it today when it could be done tomorrow’. Some say it is good old responsibility avoidance. We also have a tendency to dump it on a higher power to shift blame. It is a good escape mechanism. It has not served us well. Indifference in the face of injustice is not a winning strategy.
No matter people are making noise. As our good brother Malcolm X said we are slowly but surely resolving to attain our dignity ‘by any means necessary’. It is about time all those that abhor injustice stand up and be counted. We in the Diaspora are the lucky ones that can say no. We speak because those at home are muzzled. For the vast majority life has become intolerable. Eating once a day has become a luxury. It is always surprising to hear our vistors talk upon their return from a trip back home. It is clear we see what we want to see. But on the other hand isn’t it true a hunger even by one is one too many hunger? How about by fourteen million? Does changing the description to malnutrition relive us of the responsibility?
Our people back home are fighting the injustice in many different ways. Silence, non-cooperation, sabotage, and exodus are some of the methods. None of them are healthy for a human being. It is not easy. Fighting a state organized for coercion is a formidable task. The Soviet Union lasted sixty-nine years. Eastern Europeans suffered for over forty years while the North Koreans are celebrating fifty-six years of misery.
We are on our thirty fifth year. Thirty-five years of destruction of the body and the spirit. Every household in Ethiopia has been negatively affected. No one escaped from this calamity. It is a miracle we survived intact. The Derg and the TPLF regime have done incalculable damage to our country. The TPLF regime is in league with the likes of Stalin, Pol Pot, Erich Honecker and Nicolae Ceauşescu. The hallmarks of a dictatorship include dividing people on tribal basis and encouraging difference, setting up a very lethal security apparatus that uses terror to create fear, pitting one group against another, state sponsored extortion and blackmail and hit squads that kill in broad day light. The TPLF regime in Ethiopia displays all these characteristics.
All the above dictators were forced out. Not one of them walked away peacefully. They all have an inglorious end. That is the way of dictatorship. It has to be nudged away.
That is the reason for the Washington DC march on Sunday, September 13. It is to nudge the Ethiopian dictator. It is a show of force. It is to remind President Obama the invaluable help he got from the Ethiopian community. We are pleased by the new emphasis on democracy, free elections and respect for basic human rights. We are hopeful the US will not turn a blind eye to the abuse of our people. We don’t expect the US, Western Europe or anyone else to do our battle. What we want them to do is stop enabling the minority government by granting aid, easy loans from IMF and World Bank and any kind of military assistance. We will do the rest.
The Washington DC march on September 13 is one aspect of our resistance to dictatorship. Attending the march is a civic responsibility. It is transforming word into action. It is showing love for ones country in a concrete way. Dress green yellow and red and carry green yellow and red. Turn Washington DC into a sea of green, yellow and red. Show the dictator that we will never ever submit to terror.
August 26th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Hopefully the march will be the time for unity of all forces of freedom and democracy, specially unity between Amhara democratic forces and Oromo freedom fighters. The question to be answered is: which type of unity?
- unity with Amharinya as the only federal language (status quo)?
- unity with Amharinya and Afaan Oromo?
- unity with English?
- unity with Amharinya, English and Afaan Oromo?
- unity with Afaan Oromo as the only federal language?
Enjoy it here:
“A new Ethiopia with Afaan Oromo as the National Language
It is clear that only Amhara elites and few Amharanized elites from other nations are against “ethnic” federalism and self-determination of nations. Genuine “ethnic” federalism is the compromise solution for all nations in the region to live together - achieving both national independence and regional integration. The position of Amhara elites regarding the federalism and self-determination made them to be not suitable to cooperate with the elites of other nations against TPLF regime. Amhara elites do prefer unconditional Ethiopian unity rather than self-determination as a precondition for the possible alliance to be forged between Amhara democratic forces and Oromo freedom fighters. Oromos tend to accept this precondition, only if Amhara elites also accept Oromos’ precondition aka making Afaan Oromo the only working language of the federation instead of Amharinya. Oromo elites make such a demand to make Amhara elites to notice how wrong is their cry for unity with Amharinya as the only federal language. Then, in a common house aka “NEW Ethiopia” they suggest to build, the working language must be only Afaan Oromo. Will they then stay to be pro Ethiopian unity and anti ethnicity, even if Amharinya will be demoted to only local language of Amhara region and if Afaan Oromo will be promoted to be the only working language of the Ethiopian federation? I am sure they will not! In case they will stay further to be pro-Ethiopianity and pro-unity as they seem to believe now, let’s then try this NEW version of Ethiopianity with Afaan Oromo instead of with Amharinya.
Read more:
http://www.ethioplanet.com/medrek
In short, the best instrument to compel Amhara elites so that they accept and respect the compromise solution aka genuine “ethnic” federalism and to make them recognize the right of nations to self-determination is to demote Amharinya to be the local language and promote Afaan Oromo to be the federal language, i.e a transformation of the empire to a NEW Ethiopia with Afaan Oromo as the National Language!”
August 26th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Yilma,
With great respect, where r u going to end up with ur hate and madness poltics against the Tigrians,
Most of your stories are fake, no evidence, just looks the same song for me
Trust me we r resilant, we will got give up for unfair reasons,
Open your eyes, look what is going on the economic side,
NO where to go by spreeding hate, don’t give logic for your hate, If you hate is Melese b/c he is Tigrian bad luck,
Some times it is imposible “to teach an old dog a new trick”, you grown up with hate you will die by hate
God bless Ethiopia
August 27th, 2009 at 2:26 am
Dear Yilma it is an excellent article and those of you who are against the woyane junta should participate in the September 13 dictator ship resistance and Show the dictator that we will never ever submit to terror.
August 27th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Good job Ato Yilma. We will be there on September 13th. We just have to keep pushing until every Ethiopian basic human right is respected. The so called “Habesha” and “Ogina” you are poster children of ethnocentrism. People with a mind set like yours are the reason why Africa in general Ethiopia in particular is way behind in everything. Sometimes I wonder if people like you are fully humans or sub humans. Why don’t you see your neighbor Somalia and learn that your kind of politics is a disaster. Why don’t you see the United States and learn how they manage to get where they are with all the diversity that they have? Which way do you want to go the Somalia way or the better way? You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. Look around you and think. Read books a little bit and think again for God sake. No wonder some think African’s are behind the curve when it comes to think rationally. Weyannes and all tribal morons are evidence for that…
August 27th, 2009 at 10:49 am
አማርኛ ከኦሮሞኛ ጋር በአንድነት ያገልግል የሚለው ሐሳብ በብዙ ኢትዮጵያውያን ተቀባይነት ያለው አማራጭ ይመስለኛል:: ቢሆንም ወያኔ ይሄን አማራጭ ተግባራዊ እንዲሆን በፍጹም አይፈልግም:: እንደሀሳብ እንካን ለማቅረብ ሞክሮ አያውቅም:: ይልቁን ኦሮሚኛ ተናጋሪዎችና አማርኛ ተናጋሪዎች ስምምነት ላይ ከደረሱ ወያኔ ዕድሜው ከቀናት እንደማያልፍ ስላወቀ: አዲስ ስልት ይዞ ብቅ ብላል: ይኅውም: አማሪኛ ቕንቕ በኦሮሚኛ መተካት አለበት የሚል:: ይህንን ሀሳብ የሚያቀርቡ ደግሞ አሮሞ መስለው የሚቀርቡ የወያኔ ካድሬዎች ናቸው:: አሁን አዲሱ ኦሮሞንና አማራን ለማናቆር የታቀደው ስልት ይሄ ነው:: አሮጌው የመከፋፈያ ስልት ስለተነቃበት አዲስ ዘዴ መቀየሱ ነው::
ኢትዮጵያውያን ምንጊዜም ሊያስታውሱት የሚገባው ነገር: ለሁላችን የሚበጀን አንድነት በነጻነትና በእኩልነት የሚለው መርህ ነው:: ማንኛውም ከነዚህ መርሆዎች ጋር የሚጋጭ ሐሳብ ከየትኛውም አቅጣጫ ይዘው የሚቀርቡ ሁሉ: መሰሪ ካድሬዎች: ወይም በስሜትና በጥላቻ የተወጠሩ አክራሪዎች ናቸው::
August 27th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Sami,
I believe you did not wake up today. Ethiopia was not in the hands of Oromos since its inception (3000 years or 100 years; take your choice). We are backward because we were led by incomopetent and chauvinistic aristocracy and feudal lords. Today people are angry at every thing that happened before and are not willing to give up hope of leading their own life. TPLF is a mafia group that is plundering the country while engaging in divide and rule. The major protaganists should have come together, patch their differences and march towards equality, justice for what had taken place and freedom from all forms of subjugation. Some extremist Amharas still believe that they are entitled to decide the fate of other nations in the country. Look at what you are saying. The damage that is coming down on the country is no worse for me as an oromo than it is for you. The sooner you accept that fact the better for the two nations. The status quo is untennable for most ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Things have to change and change is coming although it may seem uncomfortable.
So don’t blame others who have not been part of the system.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Sami well said! I hope amhara elites learn a great lesson in short time and join the camp of all oppressed nations againse sewu-bella Weyane! Here is what they need to enjoy;
“Persuading Amhara elites to accept and respect Self-determination
It is clear that only Amhara elites and few Amharanized elites from other nations are against “ethnic” federalism and self-determination of nations. Genuine “ethnic” federalism is the compromise solution for all nations in the region to live together - achieving both national independence and regional integration. The position of Amhara elites regarding the federalism and self-determination made them to be not suitable to cooperate with the elites of other nations against TPLF regime. Amhara elites do prefer unconditional Ethiopian unity rather than self-determination as a precondition for the possible alliance to be forged between Amhara democratic forces and Oromo freedom fighters. Oromos tend to accept this precondition, only if Amhara elites also accept Oromos’ precondition aka making Afaan Oromo the only working language of the federation instead of Amharinya. Oromo elites make such a demand to make Amhara elites to notice how wrong is their cry for unity with Amharinya as the only federal language. Then, in a common house aka “NEW Ethiopia” they suggest to build, the working language must be only Afaan Oromo. Will they then stay to be pro Ethiopian unity and anti ethnicity, even if Amharinya will be demoted to only local language of Amhara region and if Afaan Oromo will be promoted to be the only working language of the Ethiopian federation? I am sure they will not! In case they will stay further to be pro-Ethiopianity and pro-unity as they seem to believe now, let’s then try this NEW version of Ethiopianity with Afaan Oromo instead of with Amharinya.
After reading about and observing the imposition of Amharinya at the cost of Afaan Oromo in the past one century, I just couldn’t help, but think about the main mistake Ob Minilik Caala (Aste Minilik, ”our colonizer”), Ob Qusee Dinagde, Ob. Gobena Daacee and so on did. The main mistake they did was making Amharinya the national language of the empire they did build. Being Oromos, if they could have managed to make Afaan Oromo the national language of Ethiopian empire, now we Oromos were not the ones to fight for self-determination. The whole Finfinne and other “modern” peoples in the empire would have spoken Afaan Oromo, the whole diaspora Ethiopians now would have used Afaan Oromo, even all would have claimed to be Ethiopian which is equivalent to be Oromo, not Amhara as it is now.
At present, for Amhara elites to come to their senses and comprehend why we did say so, let’s look at the following fact in short. Almost 99.9% Amharas nowadays think they are pro-Ethiopianity and anti-“ethnicity” and with that they do think that they do have moral upper-hand. For them to develop another view, let’s demote Amharinya to the local language of only Amhara region and promote Afaan Oromo to the federal language. Till now, just based on the fact that Amharinya being the federal language, they used to cry about Ethiopianity, which in essence means actually Amharanet for they know how Amharanization is still going on. When we change the role of the two languages, I am sure Oromos will start to sing about Ethiopianity, which will be equivalent to Oromummaa and, of course, they will denounce “ethnicity”. Then, Amharas will start to defend themselves from Oromonization and will denounce Ethiopianity with only Afaan Oromo as the federal language and they will be automatically pro-“ethnicity”. So, we can see how simple it is to be a moralist without understanding the mechanism behind all what we do believe.
Oromos just asked Amhara elites to accept Afaan Oromo as the only federal language to neutralize their attempt of maintaining and talking about Ethiopian unity with Amharinya as the only working language of the federation and, of course, with that making Amharanization process as something normal to be accepted and lived by all nations in the region. Few Amhara elites demand that the public decide on which language to be the working language of the federation/union. But to ask the public to decide on the type of language to be used as the federal language, we first need to ask the public what type of sovereignty they want to build: “YES to Union” or “NO to Union!” Why doesn’t the democracy of Amhara elites include this? Some of these elites accuse Oromos to have grudge against Minilik. The resentment of Oromos against Minilik is fact, but not only that, unfortunately almost all Amhara elites now want to perpetuate the same policy of Minilik with a pretext of Ethiopian unity. Furthermore, some Amhara elites cry foul about a possible Oromo hegemony just for the fact that Oromos are demanding Afaan Oromo be the federal language. Oromo elites, who make such a demand, are not actually promoters of Oromo hegemony. But just to show Amhara elites how the reverse of the effort to dominate Oromos further can be painful to them, Oromo elites say: “if Amhara elites want Ethiopian unity (one common house), then they should see also what it looks like to be under Oromo domination replacing their own domination”. In general, why do Amhara elites talk and preach democracy, whereas they do exclude the right of the public to decide on its destiny per referendum aka self-determination? If they must think democratically as they usually claim to do, then they need to think that there is no half-baked democracy!
Oromo elites do argue that the main conflict factor in the region is the language factor! If Amhara elites disagree with this premise, then let’s try it practically: let’s demote Amharinya to only Amhara region and promote Afaan Oromo to the language of the federation! Surely Oromos will then accept the unconditional unity, which Amhara elites do demand and they will denounce “ethnicity” as well even can reject the right of nations to self-determination! Hopefully, Amhara elites will be ready to influence all their relatives to learn Afaan Oromo without any objection. Then, Oromos would be very happy if Amharas prefer not to fight for self-determination, but only struggle for democracy, unity, justice, equality, peace and prosperity.
Looking back to the history and trying to judge the status quo, all elites of each nation do have their own interpretation. Preferable is to look into the future and ask the question: what options regarding a solution for the language conflict do we have if we want to live together?
- Union of independent nations based on self-determination, all nations having their own languages in their respective national areas and using English as international communication language
- Unity in a federated Ethiopia with Afaan Oromo as the only federal language
- Unity with English as the only federal language
- Unity with Afaan Oromo and Amharinya as federal languages and
- Unity with Amharinya as the only federal language (the status quo which should be changed by any means as far as Oromos are concerned)
The pro-democracy Amhara elites seem to prefer the fourth option. They also started to see that the fifth option is the failed project. Oromo elites do suggest the first option as the best solution. But, if Amhara elites reject self-determination of nations and persist to have unconditional Ethiopian unity, then let them test the second option so that they can understand what it means to be called “Ethiopian” in such a condition, which means in reality Oromian, in contrast to the status quo where Ethiopian means Amharian! If Amhara elites reject the second option, it is then expected from them as educated gentle people to have an empathy for Oromo elites, who are rejecting the fifth option, instead of vilifying such Oromo elites as “exclusionists” as they usually seem to say. Why should Oromo elites be exclusionists for the sake of demanding this role exchange of the two languages, whereas Amhara elites have been seen as inclusive while just propagating the exclusive fifth option? To avoid such language conflict, then of course, it is also possible to opt for the third option, which is the most pragmatic choice in the already globalized world.
It is natural to ask, why did TPLF prefer and promote Amharinya at the cost of Afaan Oromo in the last 18 years. The answer is clear: TPLF wants that the conflict between the two BIG nations continue, so that it can rule further easily. Just because of the language privilege they had, Amharas are still seen as oppressive by almost all oppressed nations in the empire including Oromos, even though Amharas, nowadays, are as oppressed and exploited as other nations by Meles’ regime. TPLF could have solved this language conflict between Amharinya and Afaan Oromo by making either both of them the working language of the federation or by limiting both of them to their respective states and making only English the working language of the federation.
When we choose certain language as a common communication between different autonomous/independent nations, we need to consider its economical expediency and its international usage. Till now nations in the Ethiopian empire were obliged to learn Amharinya as the national language, because of the domination by Abyssinians (even including Tigreans who accepted Amharinya as the only federal language), who do endorse this language. It is clear why they do it, that is simply because of the political and economical advantage they do get. Here is one example to be taken in to consideration. Amharas usually cry for unconditional Ethiopian unity just for the reason that they know what an advantage they do have as far as Amharinya is the working language of the empire. Accordingly, they do oppose genuine “ethnic” federation just for it undermines their language domination.
The question to be asked by other nations now is: can the pro-democracy Amhara forces choose to settle for the alternative of using the language of all nations at their respective national areas or should Amharas be compelled to accept such a fact of allowing nations to use their respective languages as an alternative to Amhara elites’ refusal of recognizing a union based on self-determination? I know Weyanes will accept even an alternative of separation of nations to build their own independent states as soon as they sense that they may lose power in Finfinne palace.
To compel Amhara forces to accept a union based on the national self-determination, we just have to demote Amharinya to be used only in Amhara region and promote Afaan Oromo to be the federal language. Then, they will see that Ethiopianity will not be equivalent to Amharanet (as it is now), but it will be the same to Oromummaa. In such a scenario of Oromummaa being equivalent to Ethiopianity, Oromo freedom fighters will definitely start to be pro-Ethiopianity against “ethnicity” and then Amharas will begin to defend their identity by opting for self-determination of Amhara people, so that they support “ethnicity” and reject Ethiopianity aka Oromummaa. This way, Amhara elites can comprehend what it means to struggle for national independence with or without regional union.
The current attempt of Amhara elites to make both Afaan Oromo and Amharinya the national languages of Ethiopia, which they want to build in the future, is disadvantages for other smaller nations in the empire. Amhara elites opted to this alternative just to make Amharinya again be the language of all regions including Oromia, the option they don’t have now. As far as Oromos are concerned, Afaan Oromo being the federal working language is not bad, so long Amharinya will not be imposed on Oromia, but Amharinya should be the working language of only Amhara region and, of course, that of the federation besides Afaan Oromo.
For other nations in the empire, this may mean to learn four languages instead of the present only three. But I do argue that these nations need to learn only two languages: their own mother tongue and an international language aka English. Why should their children be obliged to learn Afaan Oromo and Amharinya and be stressed with additional useless languages, whereas Amhara children learn only Amharinya and English, so that being free from such stress. So my suggestion is that all children from all nations in the empire should have the privilege given to Amhara children: learn only their respective national language and an international language.
If Amhara elites come to their sense and learn to accept the common ground for all nations aka genuine “ethnic” federalism, it would have been very easy to forge an effective alliance of Amhara democratic forces and Oromo freedom fighters against the dictatorial TPLF regime. Just to clear the confusion produced by hitherto articles on similar topics, other names used for genuine “ethnic” federalism are: language-based federalism, internal self-determination, national independence with regional union, self rule with shared rule, national self determination with multi-national democracy, unity with liberty, union of independent nations, United States of Ethiopia, autonomous nations in federated Ethiopia, national independence in an integrated region (e.g independent Oromia in an integrated Ethiopia)… etc. In short, the best instrument to compel Amhara elites so that they accept and respect the compromise solution aka genuine “ethnic” federalism and to make them recognize the right of nations to self-determination is to demote Amharinya to be the local language and promote Afaan Oromo to be the federal language, i.e a transformation of the empire to a NEW Ethiopia with Afaan Oromo as the National Language!”
August 28th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Speaking of justice while the worst genocider in history, Memgistu Haile Mariam and his family are on free foot, is ridiculous. You should cll the international community to bring Mengistu Haile Mariam (The Butcher of Addis Abeba) to jistice. Otherwise no body will listen to you. The world is tired of you idiots, who do not know what justice is. Please be consistent and bring the murderer of Emperor Haile Selassie to justice. Emperor Haile Selassie liberated Africa from european colonialism. The Emperor was right in defending his regime, but wrong in slowing the reform.
The advisors to Mengistu who are on free foot should be arrested. Negede Gobeze, Mesfin Woldemariam, Hailu Shawel, Hailu Araya etc should be brought to justice. Ethiopia does not need them. Of course Meles Zenawi and co should be brought to justice too. The crimes of Meles Zenawi are political worse than Mengist. The movement should be against Mengistu, Meles Zenawi and Issayas Afewerki. Mengistu and his henchmen were politicallly right, but have murdeered innocent citizens and have to answer for these crimes before an international court.
August 28th, 2009 at 6:18 am
ወቅታዊው የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ጥያቄ የብሔራዊ ቋንቋ መነጋገሪያ ወይም መግባቢያ አይደለም:: ወቅታዊውና ቅድሚያ የሚሰጠው ጉዳይ:- ፋሽስት ወያኔን ጠራርጎ ማስወጣትና በምትኩ:- ታፍራና ተከብራ የልጆቿ አንድነት ነጻነትና ዲሞክራሲያዊ መብት የተከበረባትን በህዝቧ የተመረጠ መንግስት የሚመሰረትባት አንዲት “ኢትዮጵያ” አንድ ሃገርና አንድ ህዝብ መመስረት ነውና: የቋንቋም ሆነ ሌሎች ነገሮችን ፕሮፓጋንዳ የሚነዙት ሁሉ የማዘናጊያና ብሔረስብን ከብሔረስብ ለማናቆር የተፈጠረ ሴራ ነው:: ፋሽስት ወያኔ ከተወገደ በኋላ በህዝብ የተመረጠ መንግስት ነው ይህንን ለህዝብ የሚያቀርበውና ህዝብ የሚወስነው:: ይልቁንስ ከትግል ሳንዘናጋ የወያኔ ዘረኛ አገዛዝን በአንድነት ቆመን እናስወግድ::
ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ!!!
August 28th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
ትግሉ ማትኮር ያለበት ሻእብያንና ወያኔ ላይ መሆን አለበት. “እርትራውያን” ኢትዮጲያውያን መሆናችሁን መቀበል አለባችሁ. ኦነግም ኢትዮጲያዊ መሆኑን መቀበልላለበት. ለአንድ ኢትዮጲያ ሁላችንም እንቁም! አንሞኝ! አረቦችና አውሮጳውያን እየተጫወቱብን መሆኑን ተገንዘቡ!