I read with amazement Adal Isaw’s March 29, 2010 article on TPLF’s mouthpiece (Aiga Forum) where he compared the challenge America’s democracy is facing from opposition to the challenge the TPLF’s dictatorship is facing from the "extreme elements" of the Ethiopian “opposition”. The writer bluffed how the United States should learn from TPLF’s handling of opposition in Ethiopia. What an absurd comparison!
What the writer has missed is the fact that the United States is a country governed by the rule of law, where every citizen has a right for the free expression of ideas including expressing opposition to rules, regulations and policies in a peaceful manner (health care policy or any other policy for that matter). There is no way the US government will follow the advice of Adal Isaw to crack down opposition expressed by the Tea Party groups against the health care bill. There were no incidents of detentions, killings or intimidations during the Tea Party group moments launched from civilian or non-civilian security forces.
As we witnessed in the aftermath of the Tea Party events against the health care bill, there have been a number of arguments freely expressed and public debates going on in favor of and against the movement's opinion in a civil discourse in all kinds of free media.
Can the writer give me a single example of an opposition rally in the last five years where Ethiopian "opposition" groups were allowed to freely express their opinion in public demonstrations? Can he give me a single instance, in the last five years, where Ethiopian citizens were allowed to publicly demand for even their basic rights for food, water, shelter, protection, security, job, association, etc, leave alone an expression of opposition to public policy in Ethiopia?
Since the TPLF’s reign of terror in Ethiopia in the last 20 years, there were probably not more than 20 opposition public rallies in Ethiopia and in 99 percent of the cases there were mass detentions, killings or intimidations of citizens. Opposition groups and citizens have always been cornered, ridiculed and cracked down by the TPLF gangsters, with no room for genuine debate and accommodation, resulting in an extreme form of polarization and the kind of quagmire the country is in today.
In the United States, in thousands of places from small towns to big cities, thousands of public rallies are heard where citizens voice their concerns and oppositions daily, public officials are obliged to listen to these concerns and make changes in their polices and practices, other wise they are held accountable and face consequences by being voted out during the regualr free and fair elections held at all levels in the country.
TPLF’s Ethiopia is not such a place to be compared to the US. In Ethiopia, there is no rule of law, no accountability, no free and fair election, no freedom. I can’t understand why in the first place the writer chose to compare American democracy to that of Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s system is dictatorship and that of USA is democracy. They are incomparable! Any attempt to do so is just a futile intellectual exercise!! And my fellow Adal Isaw knows it deep inside his heart! But he will also be held accountable for his misinformation on D-day!!!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
NO! To Sham Election in Ethiopia!!!
Please dear fellow Ethiopians, it is time to say NO to sham elections in Ethiopia under TPLF thugs!!
Remember, TPLF’s slogan closer to the 2005 election was an “errorless election”! (enken yelesh mircha)! In fact, that slogan just was a pretense to deceive the international community, not a genuine belief in democracy within the TPLF. They soon revealed that it was a terrible miscalculation on the part of the TPLF after witnessing their defeat in the aftermath of the election.
That was when they decided they would never repeat that miscalculation in any future “elections” in Ethiopia. If you remember, that was when dictator Meles Zenawi openly came up with the discredited idea of the “Developmental State” argument and he forcefully asserted that Ethiopia does not need a multiparty democracy, lest the long term “development” goal of TPLF be interrupted. Following that assertion there were numerous incidents where Meles and Co. strongly argued in favor of the developmental state theory and that they openly stated that liberal democracy posed danger for Ethiopia’s development and existence.
Remember dear fellow Ethiopians, at least for the purpose of pretending, prior to 2005 election, they were opening up some space for the opposition to express its position to the public and to campaign. After finding out that they lost that election to the opposition, TPLF’s actions were to completely close the little openings for fair opposition maneuvers.
You know what followed after the election: mass killings of innocent Ethiopians and opposition supporters, mass jailing of supporters including opposition leaders (CUD). For almost the five years following the 2005 election, TPLF demonstrated that it can no longer entertain the slightest effort to accommodate opposition in the country. In effect, it was accusing and in logger heads with independent and international human rights organizations, media and public institutions that criticized its handling of human rights in Ethiopia.
In the subsequent years that followed, TPLF thugs and their supporters more openly advanced their argument that liberal democracy and multiparty politics are detrimental to the Ethiopian polity and were indicating that the best system for Ethiopia is Revolutionary Democracy led by one party. They were also openly advocating that what Ethiopians need is development not democracy, accusing western democracies of sabotaging Ethiopia’s “democratic” process.
The TPLF thugs have clearly demonstrated that they would not entertain any challenge from opposition groups and rights advocates by enacting the draconian NGO law and the “terrorism law”.
Even in the most recent interview that dictator Meles gave to local reporters, he preemptively indicated that opposition members who are complaining of mistreatment by TPLF will be tried by his kangaroo court and will be sent to jail after the “election”. Hooray, the verdict is already made on the opposition by the “Prime Minister” Meles, who is also the “supreme judge”. He said that they will only be tolerated now so that TPLF is not implicated as disrupting the “election”. In effect, Meles told us that he is holding an “election” just for the rhetoric and drama, not for the meaning and substance. So why should we go to vote for an already won “election”?
It is big time to say NO to sham election in Ethiopia!!!
Remember, TPLF’s slogan closer to the 2005 election was an “errorless election”! (enken yelesh mircha)! In fact, that slogan just was a pretense to deceive the international community, not a genuine belief in democracy within the TPLF. They soon revealed that it was a terrible miscalculation on the part of the TPLF after witnessing their defeat in the aftermath of the election.
That was when they decided they would never repeat that miscalculation in any future “elections” in Ethiopia. If you remember, that was when dictator Meles Zenawi openly came up with the discredited idea of the “Developmental State” argument and he forcefully asserted that Ethiopia does not need a multiparty democracy, lest the long term “development” goal of TPLF be interrupted. Following that assertion there were numerous incidents where Meles and Co. strongly argued in favor of the developmental state theory and that they openly stated that liberal democracy posed danger for Ethiopia’s development and existence.
Remember dear fellow Ethiopians, at least for the purpose of pretending, prior to 2005 election, they were opening up some space for the opposition to express its position to the public and to campaign. After finding out that they lost that election to the opposition, TPLF’s actions were to completely close the little openings for fair opposition maneuvers.
You know what followed after the election: mass killings of innocent Ethiopians and opposition supporters, mass jailing of supporters including opposition leaders (CUD). For almost the five years following the 2005 election, TPLF demonstrated that it can no longer entertain the slightest effort to accommodate opposition in the country. In effect, it was accusing and in logger heads with independent and international human rights organizations, media and public institutions that criticized its handling of human rights in Ethiopia.
In the subsequent years that followed, TPLF thugs and their supporters more openly advanced their argument that liberal democracy and multiparty politics are detrimental to the Ethiopian polity and were indicating that the best system for Ethiopia is Revolutionary Democracy led by one party. They were also openly advocating that what Ethiopians need is development not democracy, accusing western democracies of sabotaging Ethiopia’s “democratic” process.
The TPLF thugs have clearly demonstrated that they would not entertain any challenge from opposition groups and rights advocates by enacting the draconian NGO law and the “terrorism law”.
Even in the most recent interview that dictator Meles gave to local reporters, he preemptively indicated that opposition members who are complaining of mistreatment by TPLF will be tried by his kangaroo court and will be sent to jail after the “election”. Hooray, the verdict is already made on the opposition by the “Prime Minister” Meles, who is also the “supreme judge”. He said that they will only be tolerated now so that TPLF is not implicated as disrupting the “election”. In effect, Meles told us that he is holding an “election” just for the rhetoric and drama, not for the meaning and substance. So why should we go to vote for an already won “election”?
It is big time to say NO to sham election in Ethiopia!!!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Why Expect Accountability from TPLF Dictators?
There was a lot of hype over the last week of TPLF’s illicit use of aid money to buy arms in the mid 1980s, while it was fighting to overthrow the then military government in Ethiopia. Since that news many have stated that for Ethiopians this revelation by the BBC was not a surprise at all.
I would even go further to say, it would be absurd to expect transparency and accountability from TPLF, whose ideology is still deeply rooted in Albanian Socialism, had come to power by the power of the bullet and is still ruling by the power of the bullet.
To this day, the TPLF thugs are the best experts in diverting donor money for unintended purposes in all sectors of the Ethiopian polity. Humanitarian and development aid, and loan monies are still siphoned continuously to fill the pockets of the TPLF thugs and to buy arms to intimidate and silence the the wider Ethiopian people and members and supporters of the opposition parties. Not only they use leaked donor money to silence Ethiopians at home, but also to prevent legislators in far away countries from passing laws that are not in their favor by paying lobbyists a generous sum of dollars.
The TPLF thugs believe their only accountability is to the international donor community and they believe they can always deceive them by using numbers. Woyane thugs are experts in putting arbitrary numbers in reports to convince the gullible or careless international community. We Ethiopians know that any figure used in any of the statistical reports in any sector of Woyane’s Ethiopia do not reflect reality! They are just arbitrary figures!!
But, though it has come late, it is good as it had rocked the dictatorial TPLF regime by exposing its secret deeds to the international public and policy makers. It would be even much appropriate if BBC could report not only of the past, but also the current abuses of famine aid money by the TPLF for political purposes.
We Ethiopians do not expect accountability from the TPLF dictators. The only way to freedom in Ethiopia today is fighting the Woyane by all means and removing them from power!! In fact their days are numbered!!
I would even go further to say, it would be absurd to expect transparency and accountability from TPLF, whose ideology is still deeply rooted in Albanian Socialism, had come to power by the power of the bullet and is still ruling by the power of the bullet.
To this day, the TPLF thugs are the best experts in diverting donor money for unintended purposes in all sectors of the Ethiopian polity. Humanitarian and development aid, and loan monies are still siphoned continuously to fill the pockets of the TPLF thugs and to buy arms to intimidate and silence the the wider Ethiopian people and members and supporters of the opposition parties. Not only they use leaked donor money to silence Ethiopians at home, but also to prevent legislators in far away countries from passing laws that are not in their favor by paying lobbyists a generous sum of dollars.
The TPLF thugs believe their only accountability is to the international donor community and they believe they can always deceive them by using numbers. Woyane thugs are experts in putting arbitrary numbers in reports to convince the gullible or careless international community. We Ethiopians know that any figure used in any of the statistical reports in any sector of Woyane’s Ethiopia do not reflect reality! They are just arbitrary figures!!
But, though it has come late, it is good as it had rocked the dictatorial TPLF regime by exposing its secret deeds to the international public and policy makers. It would be even much appropriate if BBC could report not only of the past, but also the current abuses of famine aid money by the TPLF for political purposes.
We Ethiopians do not expect accountability from the TPLF dictators. The only way to freedom in Ethiopia today is fighting the Woyane by all means and removing them from power!! In fact their days are numbered!!
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