BBC News

Twelve people have been arrested after the London terror attack which left seven people dead and 48 injured.

The arrests in Barking, east London, followed a raid at a flat belonging to one of the three attackers.

A white van hit pedestrians on London Bridge at about 22:00 BST on Saturday, then three men got out and stabbed people in nearby Borough Market. They were shot dead by police minutes later.

Condemning the attack, Theresa May said it was “time to say enough is enough”.

Controlled explosions were also carried out at the flat in Barking on Sunday morning.

According to neighbours, the dead attacker had lived there for about three years and was married with two children.

It is the third terror attack in the UK in three months, following the car and knife attack in Westminster in March, which left five people dead, and the Manchester bombing less than two weeks ago, in which 22 people were killed.

Most political parties have suspended national general election campaigning, but the prime minister said full campaigning would resume on Monday and the general election would go ahead as planned on Thursday.

• Latest updates
• What we know so far
• In pictures: Attack aftermath
• London Bridge: The morning after
• Full coverage: London attack

Eyewitnesses to the attack described seeing a van travelling at high speed along London Bridge, hitting pedestrians, before crashing close to the Barrowboy and Banker pub.

Three men then got out wearing fake bomb vests and began attacking people in the nearby market – an area known for its bars and restaurants, which were busy on a warm summer evening.

Four police officers who tried to stop the attack were among those injured, two of them seriously.

One of them was an off-duty officer and amateur rugby player who tackled one of the terrorists, suffering stab wounds.

Another, a British Transport Police officer who joined the force less than two years ago, took on the attackers armed with only his baton.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick praised their “extraordinary bravery”.

The three suspects were eventually shot dead within eight minutes of the first 999 call being received.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Among the main developments:

• More than 80 medics were sent to the scene. The injured, some of them in critical condition, are being treated in five London hospitals
• The Met Police has set up a casualty bureau on 0800 096 1233 and 020 7158 0197 for people concerned about friends or relatives
• Two Australian citizens “have been directly impacted,” says the country’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
• Four French citizens have been injured, one seriously, according to foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
• There will be a minute’s silence on Tuesday at 11:00 BST in remembrance of those who lost their lives and all others affected by the attacks, Downing Street has said
• Prime Minister Theresa May has made a private visit to King’s College Hospital in south London to visit the injured

BBC reporter Holly Jones, who was on the bridge, said the van was “probably travelling at about 50 miles an hour” and hit “five or six people”.

According to another witness, Eric, the men inside jumped out once the van crashed and “ran towards the people that they nearly ran over”.

“[Then] they literally just started kicking them, punching them, they took out knives… it was a rampage really,” he said.

One man, Gerard, told the BBC he saw a woman being stabbed “10 or 15 times” by men shouting “This is for Allah”.

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Steven Gibbs, who was drinking in a pub metres from the scene, told the BBC: “A black cab drove past and the driver shouted, ‘Terrorist attack, run!’

“I stood up to take a look and then all of a sudden there were gunshots. Lots of people were screaming.”

#SofaforLondon

Hundreds of people were left stranded after being unable to return to their homes and hotels.

As with the Manchester attack, there were stories of Londoners coming to each other’s aide, offering free taxi rides, free accommodation or just the opportunity to call friends and family – many using the hashtag on social media #sofaforLondon.

Speaking in Downing Street after a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee, the prime minister said the country “cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are”.

“We believe we are experiencing a new trend in the threat we face as terrorism breeds terrorism,” she said.

Mrs May said the counter-terrorism strategy would be reviewed and the UK would work with other countries to prevent the internet being a “safe space” for terrorists.

She said there was “too much tolerance of extremism in our country” and while it would involve “some difficult and embarrassing conversations”, that must change.

• BBC reporter sees van hitting pedestrians
• Panic and bravery: What people saw
• World leaders condemn incident
• Grande concert goes ahead in Manchester

The country’s terror level remains at severe – meaning an attack is highly likely – but has not been raised to critical as it was after the Manchester Arena bombing.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: “We’re staying at severe because we think they have got all the main perpetrators.”

Inspired by IS: By Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent

All through the night supporters of so-called Islamic State have been celebrating the London attack, even before any claim has been made by IS.

There was never much doubt either in their minds, or in those of British counter-terrorism officials, that this was a jihadist attack inspired by IS.

It follows a widely-circulated propaganda message put out by the group on social media urging its followers to attack civilians in the West using trucks, knives or guns.

The message makes reference to the current Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Last year attacks intensified during this month with deaths resulting in Istanbul, Dhaka and Baghdad.

Some analysts see this as a last desperate bid by IS to its supporters, following multiple setbacks in the Middle East where its self-proclaimed caliphate is shrinking fast.

However, the ideology of IS is likely to survive those defeats and will continue to fuel terrorist attacks around the world.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the capital remained the “safest global city” and would not be cowed by terrorism.

Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said Muslims everywhere were “outraged and disgusted at these cowards who once again have destroyed the lives of our fellow Britons”.

He added: “That this should happen in this month of Ramadan, when many Muslims were praying and fasting only goes to show that these people respect neither life nor faith.”

New normal: Dominic Casciani, BBC home affairs correspondent

Image copyrightREUTERS

With three attacks in three months, terrorism against soft targets is beginning to feel, to some people, like the new normal.

The brutal reality is that this kind of threat is absolutely typical of what jihadists sought to achieve in all their attacks across Europe.

Since 2013 security services in the UK have foiled 18 plots. A large proportion of those have involved suspects who set out to commit acts of violence similar to the attack on Westminster Bridge and London Bridge.

Plans to use bombs, such as at Manchester Arena, are rarer because plotters need to have the technical skills for such an appalling attack – but attacking people with cars and knives is far easier and has long been encouraged by so-called Islamic State and other jihadists.

The aim of the three attackers last night is abundantly clear – not only did they want to kill, but they wanted to lose their own lives.

They would’ve known full well that attacking people in the street would draw armed police in their direction and the fake bomb belts they were wearing would, in their own warped minds, hasten their demise.

The police are asking anyone with photographs or videos of the incident to upload them here.

The area around the attack scene remains cordoned off, with London Bridge closed. Neighbouring Southwark Bridge has now reopened.

Many other roads, including Borough High Street and Lower Thames Street, are also closed, and trains are not stopping at London Bridge rail station or Tube station.

Image copyrightH. ATTAI

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image copyrightPA

Were you in the area? Have you seen what has happened? If you are willing to do so, share with us by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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Author’s Note: Last week, Vision of Humanity issued its 2017 Global Peace Index (GPI).  Its report on Ethiopia is certainly the most distressing though unequivocal, straightforward and clear-cut. The state of peace worsened in Ethiopia more than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa, and arguably the rest of the world.

For someone who is completing his second decade of unrelenting and unwavering struggle for human rights and peaceful change in Ethiopia, the GPI report is heartbreaking and mournful.

Reading between the lines is my profession. When I read the words “the state of peace has worsened in Ethiopia more than any other country”, I know what exactly what that means. I know what the opposite of the absence of civil peace is. When the state of civil peace in Ethiopia is in such dire and grave peril, the unthinkable becomes more real by the day.

I want to think only about civil peace in Ethiopia. Nothing else. I dream of peace and brotherhood and sisterhood among the diverse people of Ethiopia. Peace with equality and justice for all. Peace and understanding without force. Peace offerings among all people of Ethiopia. Peaceful resistance.

I dream of a peaceful Ethiopia where everyone greets each other with “Salam” and “Shalom. I believe all humanity “must turn from evil and do good [and] seek peace and pursue it”, for the “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

I don’t like George Orwell’s 1984 declaration, “War is peace.”

I much prefer Jimi Hendrix’s formulation from the days of my youth, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

I believe when the power of love overcomes the love of power, Ethiopia will know peace.

In this commentary, I review the latest findings of the various indices on Ethiopia. Peace is a many-splendoured thing.

What do the “Indices” have to say about Ethiopia?

Is there hope for peaceful change in Ethiopia?

Global Peace Index 2017

Last week, Vision of Humanity issued its 2017 Global Peace Index  (GPI). Ethiopia was #1 on the list of “Top Five Fallers”, followed by Burundi, Saudi Arabia, Mali and Lesotho.

GPI provides “a comprehensive analysis of the state of peace in the world”.

GPI reports the “world slightly improved in peace last year” but the “score for sub-Saharan Africa was influenced by deteriorations in various countries—notably Ethiopia, which worsened more than any other country, reflecting a state of emergency imposed in October 2016 following violent demonstrations.” (Emphasis added.)

Simply stated, the state of peace is in its most precarious and risky state in Ethiopia.

I have been warning for some time that the black apartheid system set up by the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Party (T-TPLF) has set Ethiopia on a trajectory to civil war. (That is the 600-pound gorilla in the room few dare to talk about openly.) That is why the GPI report is so worrisome and painful to me. It gnaws at my own deep concerns and anxieties about the current state of peace in Ethiopia.

In my December 2016 commentary, I bluntly asked, “Is Ethiopia going in the direction of a civil war?”

In my April 9 commentary, I warned that unlike the masters of apartheid in South Africa who made peace in the nick of time, time to make peace in Ethiopia is running out fast for the T-TPLF.

In my commentary in The Hill last month, I urged passage of the pending human rights bill in the U.S. Congress because “Ethiopia is at a tipping point” now. It is clear what the tipping point is. It is that point of no return.

Failed (Fragile) States Index 2017

Ethiopia is ranked 15^th failed state out of  178 on the Failed States Index (FSI) and is rated as “High Alert”. It is #1 on the list of “Most Worsened Country in 2017” in terms of “susceptibility to instability”  and “fractionalization and group grievance”.

The FSI is “an assessment of 178 countries based on twelve social, economic, and political indicators that quantify pressures experienced by countries, and thus their susceptibility to instability.”

The FSI devotes a full chapter focusing on Ethiopia (at p. 13) and concludes, “Ethiopia’s overall Fragile States Index (FSI) score has been incrementally worsening over the past decade, moving from 95.3 in 2007, to a score of 101.1 in this year’s 2017 index, with Ethiopia — along with Mexico — being the most worsened country over the past year.”

The FSI points out that, “Tigray elites are perceived to still hold significant political power within the essentially one -party state. Military leadership has also been dominated by Tigrayans, which makes perceptions of Tigray influence within the state apparatus all the more unpalatable to populations that feel increasingly excluded.”

Corruption Perception Index 2016 and Global Financial Integrity

Ethiopia is ranked 108 out of 176 countries on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

The CPI ranks countries “by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.”  The CPI generally defines corruption as “the misuse of public power for private benefit.”

According to CPI, Ethiopia “is among the top ten African countries by cumulative illicit financial flows related to trade mispricing. This amount may be much higher if funds from corruption and other criminal activities are considered.”

According to Global Financial Integrity (GFI)  “illicit financial flows out of Ethiopia nearly doubled to US$3.26 Billion in 2009 over the previous year, with corruption, kickbacks and bribery accounting for the vast majority of that increase.” GFI reported, “Ethiopia  lost US$11.7 billion to illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2009.”

U.N. Human Development Index 2017

Ethiopia ranks 174 out of 188 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index (HDI).

The adult literacy rate in Ethiopia is 49.1 percent.  Government expenditure on education (as % of GDP) is 4.5. Expected years of schooling (years) is 8.4. The population with at least some secondary education (% aged 25 and older) is 15.8. The pupil-teacher ratio, primary school (number of pupils per teacher) is 64. The primary school dropout rate (% of primary school cohort) is a mind-boggling 63.4.

The HDI is a “measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living.”

Economist Democracy Index 2017

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index  (DI) scores 167 countries on a scale of 0 to 10 based on 60 indicators. The indicators are grouped into five different categories measuring pluralism, civil liberties, and political culture.

Ethiopia scores 3.73 on the D.I. and is classified as “authoritarian”.

According to DI, the authoritarian “nations are often absolute dictatorships” with “some conventional institutions of democracy”. Ethiopia scores at the bottom because  “infringements and abuses of civil liberties are commonplace, elections- if they take place- are not fair and free, the media is often state-owned or controlled by groups associated with the ruling regime, the judiciary is not independent, and there is omnipresent censorship and suppression of governmental criticism.”

The T-TPLF is an absolute dictatorship which clings to power by an emergency decree.

Economic Freedom of the World Index (EFI) 2016

Ethiopia is classified as “Least Free” on the EFI with a score of 5.60 out of 10. Ethiopia ranked 145 out of 159 countries.

Economic freedom is defined as “(1) personal choice, (2) voluntary exchange coordinated by markets, (3) freedom to enter and compete in markets, and (4) protection of persons and their property from aggression by others.”

To earn high ratings on the EFI, among other things,  “a country must provide secure protection of privately owned property, a legal system that treats all equally, even-handed enforcement of contracts, and a stable monetary environment.”

Ethiopia was classified as Least Free on the DI because Ethiopians have little economic freedom when they acquire property. They are often subjected to the use of force, fraud, or theft in property acquisitions and there is little protection from physical invasions by others.

Countries that enjoy high levels of economic freedom manifest “higher average income per person, higher income of the poorest 10%, higher life expectancy, higher literacy, lower infant mortality, higher access to water sources and less corruption.” Because Ethiopia has low levels of economic freedom, it scores very low on measures of literacy, life expectancy and infant mortality. 

Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index 2016 (BSI)

Ethiopia is in the rump of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index (BTI).

On “Political Transformation”,  Ethiopia scored 3.23 (113 out of 129 countries). On “Economic Transformation” Ethiopia scored 3.86 (109 out of 129 countries) followed by 3.48 on the “management index” (108 out of 129).

The BTI analyzes and evaluates the quality of democracy, viability of market economy and political management in 129 developing and transition countries. It “measures successes and setbacks on the path toward a democracy based on the rule of law and a socially responsible market economy.”

The BTI’s detailed and extraordinarily revealing report calls Ethiopia a “façade democracy” and makes certain keen observations:

Ethiopia ‘remains one of Africa’s poorest countries, with a third of the population still living below the poverty line, and its regime is one of the continent’s most authoritarian in character. Between five and seven million people require emergency (donor) food aid throughout the year.’

Ethiopia ‘continues to be categorized as an authoritarian state, a category it shares with neighboring states including Eritrea and Sudan.’

Official results show that the governing-party coalition under the leadership of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) secured a 99% majority in the 2010 polls.

The increased incidence of government land-grabbing activities – the lease of land previously used by smallholders and pastoralists to foreign investment and agrobusiness companies – has prompted heavy unrest in Gambela, in Oromo and other regions. In the western Gambela region, as many as 70,000 people have been forced to move as a result. Women’s rights are protected by legislation, but are routinely violated in practice.

The national parliament (in which the opposition parties held just a single seat during the period under review) is regarded as a rubber-stamp institution, without any influence on decision-making processes within the EPRDF, the sole ruling party for 24 years.

The government maintains a network of paid informants, and opposition politicians have accused the government of tapping their telephones. It is therefore unrealistic to expect that elected parliamentarians can freely and fairly participate in law-making.

Ethiopia does not have an independent judiciary with the ability and autonomy to interpret, monitor and review existing laws, legislation and policies. Access to fair and timely justice for citizens, at least as conventionally defined by legal experts, cannot be said to exist. In general, there are no judges able to render decisions free from the influence of the main political-party leaders, despite these jurists’ professionalism and sincerity. The independence of the judiciary, formally guaranteed by the constitution, is significantly impaired by political authorities and the high levels of corruption. High-level judges are usually appointed or approved by the government.  The judiciary functions in ways that usually support the political stances and policies of the government. Pro-government bias is evident in political and media-freedom cases, as well as in business disputes.

Officeholders who break the law and engage in corruption are generally not adequately prosecuted, especially when they belong to the ruling party (EPRDF). In some cases, “disloyal” civil servants are subject to legal action. Corruption remains a significant problem in Ethiopia due to the lack of checks and balances in the governing system. EPRDF officials reportedly receive preferential access to credit, land leases and jobs.

Although the political system consists formally of an elected parliament based on (unfair) competition between several parties, Ethiopia must be regarded as a “facade democracy.” The legally elected institutions are in fact part of an authoritarian system that does not offer citizens a free choice between competing political parties. Since 2005, the government has harassed and imprisoned political opponents, journalists and members of the Muslim population.

Freedom in the World Index 2017 (FWI)

In the Freedom in the World Index,  Ethiopia received an aggregate score of 12/100 (0=least free; 100=most free).

On “Freedom”, Ethiopia was rated 6.5/7; and on “Civil “Liberties” 6/7 (1=most free; 7=least free)

Freedom in the World is an annual survey “that measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territories around the world.”

Multidimensional Poverty Index 2016 (MPI)

Ethiopia ranks 174 out of 185 countries on the MPI.

MPI defines poverty not only by income but a variety of other  “factors that constitute poor people’s experience of deprivation – such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standard, lack of income (as one of several factors considered), disempowerment, poor quality of work and threat from violence.”

According to MPI, life expectancy in Ethiopia is 64.6 years. The expected years of schooling is reported at 8.4 years.

Ethiopia has a Geni coefficient of 33.2.

The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality in society. (A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, e.g. where everyone has the same income; and a Gini coefficient of 1 (or 100%) expresses maximal inequality among values).

On the gender development index, Ethiopia scores 0.842 and ranks  174/185.

The Ethiopian population living below the poverty line ($1.90 per day) was reported at 35.3% for 2005-2014.

The Ethiopian “population in severe multidimensional poverty” is a staggering 67%.

Freedom on the Net Index 2016 (FNI)

On the Freedom on the Net Index, Ethiopia’s overall score is 83/100 (0=most free; 100= least free).

Ethiopia is one of the least connected countries in the world with an internet penetration rate of only 12 percent, according to 2015 data from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

FNI reported, “A handful of signal stations service the entire country, resulting in network congestion and frequent disconnection.  In a typical small town, individuals often hike to the top of the nearest hill to find a mobile phone signal.”

On obstacles to internet access, Ethiopia received a score of 23/25; limits on content 28/35 and violations of users rights 32/40.

Freedom House which publishes the FNI “assesses each country’s degree of political freedoms and civil liberties, monitor censorship, intimidation and violence against journalists, and public access to information.”

FNI noted, “The legal environment for internet freedom became more restrictive under the Computer Crime Proclamation enacted in June 2016, which criminalizes defamation and incitement. The proclamation also strengthens the government’s surveillance capabilities by enabling real-time monitoring or interception of communications.”

FNI reported that “authorities frequently shutdown local and national internet and mobile phone networks and social media to prevent citizens from communicating about the protests.  The Ethiopian government’s monopolistic control over the country’s telecommunications infrastructure via EthioTelecom enables it to restrict information flows and access to internet and mobile phone services.”

Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2017 (RWBI)

Ethiopia ranked 150/180 with a score 50.34 on the RWBI.

The RWBI is based on a survey conducted by Reporters Without Borders covering issues of  “freedom, pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, infrastructure,  penalties for press offences, existence of a state monopoly and other related factors.”

The RWBI reports that the regime in Ethiopia uses “terrorism charges to systematically silence the media.” Journalists are sentenced to long prison terms and the “anti-terrorism law” has been used to “hold journalists without trial for extended periods.” According to the RWBI, “there has been little improvement since the purges that led to the closure of six newspapers in 2014 and drove around 30 journalists into exile. Indeed, the state of emergency proclaimed in 2016 goes so far as to ban Ethiopians from looking at certain media outlets. Additionally, the Internet and social networks were often disconnected in 2016. Physical and verbal threats, arbitrary trials, and convictions are all used to silence the media.”

Freedom House Freedom of the Press 2017 (PHFP)

Ethiopia received a total score of  86/100 (0=Most Free, 100=Least Free) on the PHFP.

On the “legal environment” of the press, the score was 29/30. On “political environment”, the score was 38/40.

PHFP reported,

Ethiopia was the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia’s media environment is one of the most restrictive in sub-Saharan Africa. The government of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn continues to use the country’s harsh antiterrorism law and other legal measures to silence critical journalists and bloggers. As of December 2016, Ethiopia was detaining 16 journalists, making it the fifth-worst jailer of journalists in the world and the second-worst in sub-Saharan Africa, after Eritrea. In addition to the use of harsh laws, the government employs a variety of other strategies to maintain a stranglehold on the flow of information, including outright censorship of newspapers and the internet, arbitrary detention and intimidation of journalists and online writers, and heavy taxation on the publishing process.

What is the price of peace in Ethiopia?

Will Ethiopia go the way of peace thorugh atonement and reconciliation or take the path of civil war and bloodshed?

President John F. Kennedy warned that, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

Nelson Mandela taught that the choice of violent revolution is exclusively in the hands of the oppressor and the oppressed merely imitate the oppressor in the choice of the means of struggle.  Mandela explained (forward clip to 13:39 min.) in 2000:

The methods of political action which are used by the oppressed people are determined by the oppressor himself. If the oppressor uses dialogue, persuasion, talking to the other, the oppressed people will do precisely the same. But if the oppressor decides to tighten oppression and to resort to violence, what he is saying to the oppressed is if you want to change your method, your condition, do exactly what I am doing. So in many cases those people who are being condemned for violence are doing nothing else. They are replying, responding to what the oppressor is doing…. Generally speaking, it doesn’t mean that a person because a person believes that freedom comes through the barrel of a gun, that person is wrong. He is merely responding to the situation in which he and his community finds himself or herself.  (Emphasis added.)

So, whether the future of Ethiopia will be decided by dialogue, persuasion and talking to each other or in a civil war is entirely in the hands of the T-TPLF.

My dream for Ethiopia is merely a reflection of Mandela’s dream for Africa: “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself. I dream of the realization of unity of Africa whereby its leaders, some of whom are highly competent and experienced, can unite in their efforts to improve and to solve the problems of Africa.”

Ethiopians united can never be defeated!!!

The time for peace, dialogue, persuasion and talking to each other in Ethiopia is NOW.

Or never!

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By Guy Ryder

Addis Abeba, June 05/2017 – Climate change is the result of human activity. That activity is, for the most part, work or work-related. It is only logical then that the world of work has a key role to play in finding a solution to this pressing issue.

Guy Ryder

The power of climate change to damage infrastructure, disrupt businesses and destroy jobs and livelihoods has been well-demonstrated. We are confronted with these challenges on an unprecedented scale and on a daily basis.

Both businesses and workers are being affected. This is particularly the case for the working poor, the self-employed, and those in informal, seasonal and casual work, who often lack adequate social protection and who have limited alternative income opportunities. They are also highly dependent on climate sensitive resources, such as local water and food supplies.

But the world does not have to choose between job creation and preserving the environment. Environmental sustainability is a must, including from a labour market perspective.

Challenges and opportunities

True, on the way to a more sustainable economy many types of jobs that exist today – especially in highly polluting or energy intensive activities – will disappear. Others will be replaced or adapted. But new jobs will be created as well.

Greener economies can be engines of growth, both in advanced and developing economies. They can generate decent green jobs that contribute significantly to climate mitigation and adaptation, but also to poverty eradication and social inclusion.

This trend is already underway. The International Renewable Energy Agency says that in 2015 employment in renewable energy reached 8.1 million, a 5 per cent increase over the previous year. Sectors like forestry, energy, recycling, transport and agriculture are likely to gain a lot from the transition to a green economy.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, a shift to more sustainable practices in agriculture – which includes a high proportion of the global workforce and where decent work deficits are widespread and severe – has the potential to create over 200 million more full-time jobs by 2050.

But the challenge is not just about creating more jobs. It’s the quality of those jobs that counts, too. Sustainable development must be pursued in full regard to its social and economic dimensions, not only its environmental consequences. Otherwise the transition to a green economy will be anything but just.

How do we get there?

If our aim is a successful, just transition to a green economy, then we need predictable and appropriate regulation. Governments must work closely with employers’ and workers’ organizations to ensure this happens. In fact, this will be one of the main issues under discussion at the International Labor Conference, which begins on June 5^th.

Skills development and social protection are two further ingredients for a just transition, as they have a proven record in facilitating socially acceptable and beneficial change at work.

Finally, climate change does not respect borders nor institutional silos. We need governments and the different organizations of the multilateral system working together coherently for common objectives. This is necessary not only to achieve a just transition but most importantly to achieve all 17 inter-related goals of the UN 2030 Development Agenda.

The cost of inaction

Ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth. That was the stark warning issued by the UK’s Stern Review over a decade ago. Since then, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found incontrovertible evidence that human-induced climate change is well underway and warned of the consequences of failing to limit global temperature rise to at most 2° Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

This bleak outlook is confirmed by many other studies, including the ILO’s Global Linkages model, which predicts a drop in productivity levels of 2.4 per cent by 2030 and 7.2 per cent by 2050 under the business as usual scenario.

The positive news is that we know where we want to go and how to get there. The Paris Agreement (in which the international community agreed to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2° Celsius over pre-industrial levels) and the 2030 Development Agenda have defined the intended destination, and a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies has been accepted as a key reference point for the route to be taken.

But knowing the destination and the road to follow is not enough. We need the political will to keep us going. A greener future will not be decent by default, but by design. So let’s not just mark World Environment Day. Let’s make it a reason to put our political will into action. The future of our jobs, and of our children, relies on it.

Ed’s Note: Guy Ryder Director-General of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Addis Standard received the commentary from ILO

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Daily Maverick

This past month we have met countless women and children in the Somali region of Ethiopia who have made astonishing efforts to combat the debilitating drought that is afflicting the area. We saw families displaying incredible strength and resourcefulness. What we didn’t see was a humanitarian catastrophe like the ones that happened in generations past, because the progress made by these families mirrors that made by Ethiopia in response to food insecurity and drought over the last two decades. Ethiopia now has both the determination and the ability to help its people cope better with a disaster. By OMAR ABDI and RAMIRO ARMANDO DE OLIVERIA LOPES DA SILVA

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The mere fact that 94% of Ethiopia’s population is governed by the leaders of 6% of the population is something that should befuddle anyone with a modicum of intelligence. I know that our intellectuals have explained to us why such a situation has come to be, and why it continues to exist after 26 long years. But they can’t seem to be able to explain away why the peoples of Ethiopia who are said to be outraged appear to be so paralyzed from taking the next obvious step: open raging rebellion to overthrow this minority government. I do not deny of course that the current regime as well as the previous one has put in place certain mechanisms, historical and otherwise, to frustrate any open rebellion.

To begin, the Derg regime has eroded the very core of Ethiopia’s nationalist ethos and mutual trust of the people by pitting citizens against one another. It created a culture of distrust, suspicion and cruelty through the Red Terror and beyond. This has prepared for the current regime an ideal terrain to do whatever it wanted and fancied. In other words, the Derg has left a frustrated, disunited and emasculated people whose desire for peace and tranquility at any cost and under any circumstance has left it even more disposed and vulnerable to further abuse and contempt by the current regime.

The main culprit for our lack of a sense of outrage at any event is without a doubt the EPRDF or more appropriately the TPLF. This party has governed the country inspired by one ancient principle: Divide and Rule. From the moment they stepped in the Capital and took hold of the mass media to this very day their message has been un-abashed and un-ambiguous: You are not one nation and should not behave like one. And so they went on an aggressive and ugly campaign to revive and exploit the dormant historical animosities that existed among the various nationalities and ethnicities of Ethiopia. To be sure these historical animus among the peoples of Ethiopia were not extraordinary, nor much less of a sinister origin. In other words they are not the result of genocide as in Ruanda or Armenia. They were rather of the garden variety one encounters in most nations where ethnic diversity exists. True there have been unhealthy, prejudiced, mean-spirited and even discriminatory practices. But nothing to warrant an outright war. If there was indeed outrage it was against an entrenched feudal system. And the Revolution arose precisely against it, and changed the course of our history.

The imperial regimes that preceded the Derg, and even the Derg itself has always tried to or at least tried to appear to be more inclusive, even though it never quite succeeded. But this current regime has been if anything very clear with its intention: It manifestly wanted discord, suspicion and non-cooperation to persist to assure itself permanent survival. And to a large extent it has succeeded. Ethiopians, especially her two major ethnic branches, which together exceed 70% of the entire population of the country, have continued to glower at each other over their trenches. As long as this situation endures, the governing regime is assured to rule for another generation. The Derg had the various liberation fronts wars to justify its continuance in power. The TPLF has to continue feeding the dangerous fire of ethnic animus to hold on to power. But are we to continue to be played by these unscrupulous purveyors of narrow tribalism? Or are we to oppose them as a united front? The choice is ours.

I know that the current generation living both overseas and at home is rather lulled by the apparent economic prosperity that this regime claims as its chief achievement. The educated youth had been the primary agent of change during the Revolution. The current youth on the other hand appears to be rather absorbed by economic ambition and short term gain. Opportunism has replaced outrage. Short term gain has taken center stage. Struggle for country and kin is simply a non-factor in the youth’s vision of the future. Yet if the young believe in true equality among all nations and ethnicities of Ethiopia, if true prosperity founded on the natural wealth of the country and not based on borrowed money and foreign capital is to emerge, if true inclusive democracy is to be founded on the ashes of the present regime, the involvement of Ethiopia’s youth is simply indispensable. The young have to choose whether they want to scrap the bottom of the barrel, “eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table”, or seat as masters of the table partaking of the banquet, it is a choice they only can make, and live with. I know from observing recent world events that a sense of hot outrage would have filled any youth of any nation on this planet, if it were forced to live in circumstances similar to ours. And yet we proceed as if what is going on in Ethiopia seems to happen in a neighboring universe.

Don’t rush to label me a “provocateur” and an instigator of a war I can’t partake in. Yes war should always be held as a last resort when all options fail. It should be held as a stick over the head of our oppressors, so that they know we are serious in our demands. In truth I am calling for a collective and unified political action of the entire peoples, nations and nationalities of Ethiopia (as this regime likes to parcel us) to unseat this profoundly unjust, repressive and arrogant regime. And to replace it with one that will become a beacon for generations to come. Remember that as long as we remain divided along ethnic and ideological lines we are simply extending the life of this parasitic regime. We have to set aside, at least until this regime’s demise, our differences and disagreements, and join our political and organizational capital to overthrow and replace this regime of Apartheid. We must do it or we are condemned to permanent subservience.

Source- Addissu Admas

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Interview with Kidane Alemayehu SBS Amharic

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Professor Fikre Tolesa sppeech at Book Signing Event in Minnesota

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Aidan Quigley
Newsweek

AP Photo/David Goldman A voter steps into a voting booth to mark his ballot at a polling site for the New Hampshire primary, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, in Nashua, N.H.

Russian Military Intelligence attempted to cyberattack a U.S. voting software supplier and more than 100 local election officials in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election, The Intercept reported Monday.

According to an NSA document acquired by the Intercept, Russian Military Intelligence cyberattacked a U.S. voting software supplier, using information gained in that attack to “launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations.”

The NSA document did not reach a conclusion on if the interference had any impact on the outcome of the election. While there’s no indication in the report that voting machines or the result of the election was tampered with, it is the first report of its type that raises serious questions that Russian hackers attempted to breach the voting system.

The report comes amid the growing scandal regarding investigations into President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian attempts to influence the result of the election. Although the intelligence community has reached the conclusion that Russia did try to influence the results of the election in Trump’s favor, the president has called the ongoing investigation a “witch hunt.”

It also comes days before former FBI Director James Comey’s highly anticipated congressional testimony, scheduled for Thursday. Comey was fired by the president in May and his testimony is expected to center around his interactions with the president and memos he reportedly wrote after discussions with the president. According to media reports, Trump told Comey that he hoped Comey would drop the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

© Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin RTX3937QRussian President Vladimir Putin has widely mocked questions when asked if Russia attempted to influence the election. Putin told NBC’s Megyn Kelly that the American media had “created a sensation out of nothing” and was using the allegations as “a weapon of war against the current president.”

The NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on The Intercept’s report but asked the publication not to publish the story and for some redactions after The Intercept made clear it was planning on publishing.

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ESAT DC Daily News Mon 05 Jun 2017

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ESAT News (June 6, 2017)

At least 60 political prisoners were freed after anti-regime forces opened fire at a prison in north Gondar in town called Chinfaz Silara. One prison officer was killed and three others were injured.

ESAT’s sources say armed men belonging to Patriotic Ginbot 7, a group fighting the Ethiopian regime freed the political prisoners in Silara town after five hours of shootout with prison police.

A freed prisoner who spoke to ESAT on the phone from Gondar said the overwhelming majority of prisoners were jailed for allegedly being members of Patriotic Ginbot 7. He said the shootout began at about 10 p.m. on Monday and lasted till 3 a.m. One person was injured on the PG7 side and the police officers were forced to retreat.

PG7 claimed that its forces have in recent weeks escalated their attack targeting regime’s army and prisons where political prisoners were held.

On Sunday, Chairman of PG7, Prof. Berhanu Nega disclosed that regime forces have been dealt with a serious blow in a two-day fight in Gondar last week. Nega said that last week’s attack was one of the serious blows to the regime since the start of the armed struggle. He said the regime deployed thousands of its forces to crush freedom fighters led by his group, but instead sustained a major defeat in localities called Ajere and Janora in North Gondar as well as well as in Kemkem and Belesa in the south.

He said the fight against the tyrannical regime will continue till the Ethiopian people reclaim their freedom.

There has been no confirmation or denial of the incident by the regime so far.

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Air Cargo News

The humanitarian shipment is loaded on Ethiopian’s 18th B787 at Seattle

Ethiopian Airlines has flown 6.5 tons of humanitarian relief cargo from Seattle to Ethiopia on behalf of Conscience International (CI), Horn of Africa Neonatal Development Services and Seattle Alliance Outreach (SAO).

The carrier picked up the shipment, bound for St Paul’s Hospital and Bahir Dar University College of Medicine & Health Sciences, when it took delivery of another Boeing 787 aircraft – its 18th – from the Seattle-based manufacturer, as part of its fleet modernisation programme.

Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam commented: “This round of our humanitarian delivery is a continuation of our commendable collaboration with Boeing that has served as a source of vital service for our community and neighbouring countries as well.”

The carrier’s 19th B787 is due for delivery by the end of this month (June) and will carry medical equipment and supplies for St Paul’s Hospital.

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–An urgent plea to change the paradigm of thinking– Aklog Birara (Dr)

Over the past quarter century, the narrow nationality based narrative of negating Ethiopia’s remarkable history as an independent political entity embracing a diverse population and religious community; and degrading its world renowned continuity as a beacon of freedom for all black and colonized people everywhere has been pronounced by the TPLF as anathema to both democracy, inclusive, sustainable and equitable development. The TPLF that wields political, economic, spiritual and institutional dominance today over Ethiopia’s 104 million people wants us to believe that its political and economic development architecture can lead all Ethiopians to the “Promised Land.” This make-believe narrative of divide and rule is deceptive and has only served the cunning TPLF and its allies while marginalizing millions. Ethiopia’s continuity is imperative for all its diverse population.

The challenge before us is to provide a compelling narrative on political, social, economic and spiritual inclusion and a democratic architecture to sustain it perpetually. A truly democratic and inclusive state and government avert constant civil conflict, reduces waste and corruption and engenders sustainable development by including all citizens.

Last year’s revolt in Oromia, Amhara, Konso and other places should have informed each and every one of us that the current system is both degrading, dehumanizing and anti-democratic. Renaissance without public voice and participation is a joke. Equally compelling is the premise that Ethiopia’s demise will serve the cause of freedom and democracy for any group. Secession and sectarianism have never proven to be a panacea for social ills. Somalia illustrates the fallacy. By all measurements and indicators the TPLF cunning policy of harmony and renaissance to advance ethnic equality while crushing freedom and equality has instead created an unequal and unjust social system and deep mistrust among citizens in which a narrow band of ethnic elites or state thieves led by the TPLF have literally captured Ethiopia’s fiscal, financial and natural resources for the benefit of those in power.

Those in power are buffeted by a whole set of global actors (investors, diplomats, foundations, NGOs, the UN system) whose national interests are intrinsically connected with the TPLF and its coalition of beneficiaries within the EPRDF. Who then protects the interests of the Ethiopian people?

The TPLF is remarkably adept at persuading and endearing these actors that it serves a global good by fighting terrorism in the Horn of Africa. In the process, the TPLF sacrifices Ethiopian soldiers to preserve its hegemony while enriching its club of robbers and Mafia like thieves big time. In the process, what is abnormal is normalized and sold in the market place of ideas and diplomacy. Trust me; there are buyers of this fallacy.

Readers would recall a Forbes commentary that admonished these thieves of state and questioned the audacity of the group to ask for $1 billion in support of drought victims. How does one justify more aid when the entire $30 billion Americans offered the regime was taken out of Ethiopia illicitly? What guarantee is there that the next quarter century won’t be the same as the last that is characterized by suffocating and inept governance, waste of public funds, untold atrocities, killings, maiming, torture, forcible disappearances of and imprisonments of thousands, institutionalized and state sponsored or atleast condoned theft and graft? Ethiopians need freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights more than they need handouts. This is a system of incurable diseases!!!

The argument in this paper is that ethnic divide and rule won’t serve any person or group. The global community, especially Western governments are wrong to assume that the current regime that crushes dissent is a reliable long term ally against fundamentalism and terrorism in the Horn of Africa. In fact, the current system breeds these. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace presents Western governments and actors a compelling picture that Ethiopia is sliding into fragility further and deeper than ever before. It is happening in front of Western eyes. “The EPRDF position of power remains fundamentally fragile owning primarily to the internal contradictions of the EPRDF regime” itself.

Central to this fragility is the unresolved and simmering issue of lack of freedom and respect for human dignity and rights that continue to serve as the hallmark of the regime. A regime that crushes the human spirit cannot renew society. A regime that bolsters hatred debilitates creativity and productivity.

No amount of self-assessment and self-criticism (ግምገማ) by the regime itself would address the root causes that compelled the TPLF to declare a state of emergency and renew it. No amount of economic transformation and renaissance would empower citizens who cannot bargain or negotiate their fate and make their lives better. No amount of public preaching would feed those who go hungry or are sick or have no proper shelter or whose children have to flee Ethiopia in search of better alternatives. No amount of self-aggrandizement and IMF led celebration of growth without equity would change the structure of the Ethiopian economy and raise per capita income from the current $795 per annum compared to Kenya’s at $1, 516 per annum. No annual celebration by TPLF embassies squandering public funds to honor make-believe growth would change the fact that 750,000 Ethiopians are stuck in Saudi Arabia again because there is no Ethiopian government that cares for them or wants them back in their home country. The TPLF and its allies have literally nothing better to offer them.

Is this not a shame for all Ethiopians regardless of ethnic affiliation?

This is where the UN Declaration of Human Rights comes in handy. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Chair of the UN Commission that wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 put it succinctly and clearly. “In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” The key to realizing human dignity is a “concerted,” coordinated and sustained effort by all Ethiopian citizens who place a premium on human worth and dignity!!

So, why are we Ethiopians oblivious to the notion that “every man, woman and child seeks justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination” in all Ethiopia if not in all the world? Does it make any difference whether the person is Amhara, Oromo, Konso, Afar, Gurage, Annuak or other? The binding narrative is the universality of human dignity and justice irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliation. The sooner we embrace and internalize this narrative by setting differences aside the better for all Ethiopians and for Ethiopia.

It saddens me to no end that we go to the U.S. Congress and other human rights forums with separate flags and identities. This diminishes our capacity and resolve to stand up for justice and genuine equality under the law.

Who benefits? It is the illegitimate TPLF and its cohorts that benefit. Why?

The one group that rules Ethiopia today with an iron fist and benefits materially from this assault is the TPLF. Because we are divided along ethnic and religious lines, one of the pillars of support of the TPLF, namely, namely, Western governments were for too long convinced that Ethiopia does not have a viable alternative. A dictatorship is preferable to that of potential chaos. This is no longer true. There are encouraging signs that Ethiopians within and outside the country who are making every effort to bring about a unity of purpose and the organizational means to deliver results on the ground. People have no choice but to rise up as they did last year.

The road ahead is not easy; but is brighter than ever before. However hard it might be, fundamental change must come from each one of us. We must be ambassadors of change!!

What we can do together

The global system is not created for the weak and for the fragmented and divided. It never was and never will be. The TPLF led and dominated police state has gotten away with murder because we are weak, fragmented and divided. We are often beguiled by the superficial and material. The agenda we follow is made by the oppressive regime that kills, maims, murders, tortures and imprisons our “brothers and sisters.” In many respects we do not have anyone else to blame but ourselves.

The cohort of TPLF supporters, including the U.S. A. side with and provide security and military assistance to the police state because they are afraid that Ethiopia will be the next Somalia, Sudan or Syria. I do not blame them for serving their own national interests first. Dictatorships are more often than not more reliable allies of Western democracies than nascent civil societies and weak opposition parties. It is the present that guides policies. Egypt’s Morsi failed to represent all Egyptians; and in his place Sisi emerged as a nationalist leader against terrorism. Russia is hardly an example of democracy; but it is a nuclear super power that America cannot dictate. Cuba is a one party state that Obama embraced to the American fold. It is self-interest that dictates policy.

The UN Security Council that governs the UN Human Rights Council and Commission has a hard time distinguishing what is in the interest of the Council and the real interests of hundreds of millions of people who suffer under a variety of dictatorships. Choices in policy are dictated by members of the Security Council on the basis of national interests and at a cost of human dignity and human rights.

As the UN Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley wrote in a Washington Post editorial comment, the Human Rights Council is often marred by its membership of dictatorships such as Venezuela, Cuba and Ethiopia that commit crimes against humanity and violate human rights on a recurrent basis. How do they get away with these violations? Because they are part and parcel of the Council’s decision making body. They cannot make judgements against their own self interests.

In fact, they spend resources defending their positions with impunity. “When the world’s preeminent human rights body is turned into a haven for dictators, the idea of international cooperation in support of human dignity is discredited. Cynicism grows.” Ethiopia is among the “havens for dictators” that America continues to support. It is therefore our obligation to form a coalition and change diplomacy at its core.

If human rights is to have meaning; those who are victims of the TPLF and its allies must be resolute and fight in unison. It is then that the world body would begin to recognize them; respect them; listen to them; and take them seriously. This is the reason why I would argue that a divided and fragmented opposition and advocacy won’t be taken seriously. For once, let us think outside the box. Let us also stop abusing and misusing social media to spread hate and division among Ethiopians. It only serves the TPLF and its allies.

In the meantime, the reader should understand that the TPLF led regime continues to use public funds to feed global cohorts with poison pills that paint a dark and ominous picture that without the TPLF the country would fall apart. Ethiopia won’t disappear unless we become willing partners of its demise!!

The TPLF narrative of Ethiopia’s demise without the TPLF is in itself insulting for a country that has immense and diverse human capital capable of running the country better than the regime. Potential is meaningless unless it is unified and transformed into a social force of sustained and coordinated advocacy in support of those who are dying for human dignity, inclusion, justice, the rule of law and democracy. There is No other choice than a unity of purpose and a resolution to act.

It is time that, together, we offer a more compelling alternative than periodic shouts, protests and endless meetings. United, Ethiopians can accelerate the democratization process. United Western democracies will have an optimal choice of an anchor country named Ethiopia with it immense human and other natural resources capital that can contain extremism, fundamentalism and terrorism not only in the Horn of Africa but in the entire Africa.

United Ethiopia will serve as a land of opportunity for all its citizens rather than a country mired in destitution and perpetual dependency!!

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Addis Ababa – Ethiopians were still unable to surf the web via mobile networks on Tuesday, despite government claims the nationwide internet shutdown, which began a week ago, had been lifted. Africa’s second most-populous country turned off its internet access without warning or explanation last week, briefly depriving even diplomatic buildings, like the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa and the headquarters of the African Union, of internet access.

While service to those two institutions was restored and subscribers to broadband internet say they are now able to get online, access via mobile data – which is most used by businesses and individuals – was still unavailable.

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WEDNESDAY: In Northern Virginia, Tom Perriello to Visit Low-Income Senior Center, Tour Immigrant-Owned Small Businesses, Attend Leesburg Town Hall Hosted by Local Progressive Groups

Perriello to Highlight Plans for More Inclusive Virginia Economy In Falls Church

During Leesburg Town Hall, Perriello to Emphasize Importance of Translating Progressive Movement Activism Into Meaningful Political Action

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Football | Afcon 2017

Ethiopia will be heading to Ghana for their African Nations Cup qualifier in Kumasi with just two foreign-based payers in their squad, relying heavily on call-ups from St George, who are unbeaten in the African Champions League.

Newly appointed coach Ashenafi Bekele called up only the Egypt-based duo of Shemeles Bekele and Oumed Okuri for the Group F game on Sunday. Oumed has scored nine goals in all competitions for El Entag El Harby this seaosn

Abdurahman Mubarak, Ame Mohammed and Awet GebreMikael were handed a first call up to the national team.

The squad also includes Getaneh Kebede, who previously played in South Africa, and Salahdin Said, who is back at St George after a spell in Egypt.

He is the top scorer in this year’s Champions League and got the winning goal on Saturday when the Addis Ababa outfit beat AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Groiup C.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Lealem Birhanu (Sidama Coffee), Abel Mamo (Mekelakeya), Teklemariam Shanko (Addis Ababa Ketema)Jemal Tassew (Jimma Aba Coffee)

Defenders: Tesfaye Bekele (Adama Ketema), Awot Gebremikael (Ethio-Electric), Mujib Kassim (Adama Ketema), Abdulkerim Mohammed, Ahmed Reshid (both Ethiopia Coffee), Asechalew Tamene (St George), Addis Tesfaye (Mekelakeya), Aneteneh Tesfaye (Sidama Bunna), Seyoum Tesfaye (Dedebit)

Midfielders: Menetesnot Adane (St George), Ephrem Ashamo (Dedebit), Shemeles Bekele (Petrojet, Egypt), Shemekit Gugesa (Dedebit), Biruk Kalbore (Adama Ketema), Gadissa Mebrate (Hawassa Ketema), Tadele Mengesha (ArbaMinch Ketema), Mulualem Mesfin (Sidama Coffee), Gatoch Panom (Ethiopia Coffee), Natnael Zeleke (St George)

Forwards: Addis Gidey (Sidama Coffee), Getaneh Kebede (Dedebit), Ame Mohammed (Jimma Aba Coffee), Abdulrahman Mubarak (Fasil Ketema), Oumed Okuri (El-Entag El-Harby, Egypt), Salahdin Said (St George).

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Teddy Afro told BBC Africa “All my music is based on love

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ESAT Daily News Amsterdam June 07,2017

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Law Office of
JOSEPH A. BLASZKOW
www.alexandriainjuryattorney.com
85 S. Bragg Street # 404
Alexandria, VA 22312
(703) 879-5910

Practicing in Virginia, Maryland, D.C.:202-347-8211
and the District of Columbia Fax: 571-335-4646

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MONTGOMERY COUNTY JURY RESOLVES DISPUTE

Following a two-day jury trial in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, in Rockville, Maryland, a verdict was entered on June 6, 2017, in a lawsuit between two Silver Spring Ethiopian businesswomen. Haregewohyen Azalew, represented by Joseph A. Blaszkow, of Alexandria, Virginia, had sued Zenebech Mengitsu, for failing to make periodic payments under a Management Agreement by which Azalew had hired Mengitsu to manage the operations of the Wesenyelesh International Market in Silver Spring, Maryland. Mengitsu had responded to the Azalew lawsuit with a counterclaim accusing Azalew of breach of contract, theft of property and monies, and fraud.

The jury verdict awarded damages to Plaintiff Azalew in the amount of $17,600.00, and rejected the Mengistu counterclaim. According to Blaszkow, the verdict was for the full amount that Azalew had sought, and completely vindicates her claims. Ms. Azalew has been the proprietor of the Wesenyelesh International Market since 2007.

Contact:
Joseph A. Blaszkow
J.Blaszkow@Blaszkow.com
85 S. Bragg Street – Suite 404
Alexandria, VA 22312
www.AlexandriaInjuryAttorney.Com
703-879-5910

ENDS

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Hidden Fighters

© Molly Crabapple

Molly Crabapple No. 35

THEY EXIST NOW MOSTLY IN ARCHIVES. Photos show a beautiful young woman bent over an operating table, staring toward the camera with a mixture of defiance and exhaustion. A man in a sweater adorned with the Lion of Judah jauntily holds his flight helmet in one hand. A military commander points into the distance of a rocky Spanish valley. Salaria Kea, John Robinson, Oliver Law: they’re three of the tens of thousands of black Americans who, a year before the Abraham Lincoln Brigade turned up as defenders of Republican Spain, protested, fundraised, and fought to save Ethiopia from Fascism, in an episode that even leftists have forgotten.

In 1934, Ethiopia was one of just two African countries that had never been colonized by Europe, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Ethiopian emperor Menelik II had trounced Italian invaders in 1896, and nearly four decades later, the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini yearned to avenge his imperial homeland’s “humiliation.” That December, Mussolini’s forces provoked a confrontation at Walwal, on the border between Ethiopia and Italian-held Somaliland.

Though Ethiopia belonged to the League of Nations, France and Britain had little desire to protect their fellow member state—especially when they were still hoping to persuade Mussolini to join an alliance against Nazi Germany. Why expend their continental political capital for a poor African nation? The United States still thought Fascism could be a decent bulwark against the Red Menace, and so jealously guarded its neutrality. Even the Soviet Union, which paid lip service to Ethiopian independence, was shown by the New York Times to have made a killing by exporting supplies to the camps of would-be occupying Italian forces in Africa.

Though only five years old at the time of the war, playwright Lorraine Hansberry later wrote, “I remember the newsreels of the Ethiopian war, and the feeling of outrage. . . . Fighters with spears and our people in a passion over it, my mother attacking the Pope blessing the Italian troops going off to slay the Ethiopians.” Black Americans like Hansberry were one of the few groups in the United States who recognized Fascism’s dangers. Even before Hannah Arendt, they saw the clear line that led from the horrors of European imperialism to the puffed-up violence of a Mussolini, and they would not allow Il Duce to swallow the cultured, defiant, and ancient country that they admired. Langston Hughes captured the sentiment in “Ballad of Ethiopia”: “All you colored peoples/ Be a man at last/ Say to Mussolini/ No! You shall not pass.”

“Death to Fascism!”

That spring, as Mussolini prepared for war in typically self-dramatizing fashion, black Pan-Africanists, Communists, churchgoers, and union members all sprang into action, in protests that raged across the United States. In May, after a black protester threw a brick through the window of an Italian-owned store in Harlem, police fired into a crowd of four hundred demonstrators—“rioters,” in the words of the New York Times—and wounded a man in the leg. During a June demonstration in Chicago, two young women, one black and one Jewish, chained themselves in front of the Italian consulate; signs that read “Hands off Ethiopia” hung across their chests. A local paper noted that Chicago had denied organizers a permit on the pretext that “Negroes in Chicago had no need to be worried about what was going on over in Europe.” To the city government, black internationalism was a more immediate threat than Fascist Italy.

In August, twenty thousand black and white protesters marched through Harlem chanting “Death to Fascism!” and “Italian and Negro people, unite in a common front against war!” Union leaders, Communists, Pan-Africanists, priests, and the Rabbi Michael Alpert all delivered speeches before the Harlem rally—days after a hundred black and pro-Fascist Italian residents battled each other with homemade weapons in the streets of Jersey City. Black Communist Party members in Harlem and Chicago’s South Side organized the Joint Committee for the Defense of Ethiopia, and on August 31, 1934, Communist organizer Harry Haywood defied rampant police violence to lead a series of spontaneous demonstrations that blocked traffic and burned Mussolini in effigy. In his memoir, Haywood wrote that “the defense of Ethiopia had now become a fight for the streets of Chicago.” Communist-organized dock workers refused to load Italian ships. In the famous, aptly named Abyssinian Baptist Church, Adam Clayton Powell raised funds for Ethiopia while delivering passionate speeches in support of the country’s resistance to Fascism.

Despite such stirring shows of national solidarity, only one black American ever made it to Ethiopia. On May 2, 1935, pilot John Robinson boarded a train out of Chicago—the first leg of a month-long journey to Addis Ababa. At the age of twenty-nine, Robinson was already a pioneer. Forbidden from attending the Curtiss-Wright School of Aviation because of his race, he worked as the school’s janitor in order to sit in on classes, and then used the knowledge to lead a group that built its own plane. This feat netted him a place as the school’s first black student. Robinson opened the Challenger Air Pilots’ Association, a black flying club, and then an airfield for black pilots. As chronicled in Phillip Thomas Tucker’s biography, Father of the Tuskegee Airmen, John C. Robinson, he later convinced the Tuskegee Institute to open an aviation school, where he planned to serve as an instructor.

However, the rapid escalation of the colonial wars in Africa upset those plans. Committed to Pan-Africanism, obsessed with flight, and disgusted with Europe’s abandonment of a fellow League of Nations member, John Robinson gave up his career to answer emperor Haile Selassie’s call for skilled technicians. “The League of Nations is just another White man’s bluff,” Robinson later wrote. “White people will always stick together when it comes to the color question.” In August, Selassie appointed Robinson head of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force. His fleet consisted of eleven planes, and only eight of those were able to fly.

“[Robinson’s] flying ability has electrified the populace,” reported the New York Timesafter he was appointed to the position, but the aviator was locked in a battle with time. As he frantically drilled a tiny band of Ethiopian pilots, Mussolini amassed three hundred thousand troops along the border. With Ethiopia suffering from an arms embargo by Britain, Robinson repaired, begged, and smuggled a dozen more planes into the country over the course of the war. Ironically, Nazi Germany supplied some armaments to Selassie’s monarchy; they wanted to distract Mussolini as they prepared for the Anschluss in Austria.

On September 28, the day Haile Selassie mobilized the country, Ethiopia had 13 planes to Italy’s 595, 4 tanks to Italy’s 795, and only enough rifles to arm half its fighters. Ethiopia had no weapons factories, no one to grant it loans, and a League of Nations rhetorically committed to its collective security that, in reality, shrugged with contempt at the prospect of Ethiopia’s own Anschluss. Desperate, Selassie gave the order: on pain of death, every woman without a baby, and every man or boy old enough to hold a spear, must head to Addis Ababa.

Total-War Trial Run

On October 3, Italian warplanes began to bomb the small Ethiopian market town of Adwa.

In that town, in 1896, Ethiopian emperor Menelik II had once decimated Italy’s invading army—but this time, Mussolini made no formal declaration of war. The Fascists announced their presence with carnage. Italian planes pummeled a hospital and strafed civilians while Ethiopian fighters futilely fired their rifles at the sky. “I saw a squad of soldiers standing in the street dumbfounded, looking at the airplanes. They had their swords raised in their hands,” Robinson told a war correspondent after his narrow escape from Adwa. The Fascists thrilled to their slaughter. “I expected huge explosions like the ones you see in American films,” whined Vittorio Mussolini, one of the Fascist leader’s sons who took part in the battle. “The little houses of the Abyssinians gave no satisfaction to a bombardier.”

Two years before the Luftwaffe and the Aviazione Legionaria massacred up to sixteen hundred Spanish villagers in Guernica, Italy unleashed total aerial bombardment against civilians. In one span of thirty minutes, Italian planes dropped a thousand bombs on Dessie, the northern city where Selassie had moved his headquarters. Italy’s Regia Aeronautica pounded Ethiopia without pause, in what Selassie called an attempt to “exterminate man and beast.” Incendiary bombs razed villages and grazing cattle. Mustard gas fell from the sky in a burning rain. Mustard gas, which sears human skin into excruciating chemical blisters, is banned by the Geneva Conventions, but Spain had already used it against Moroccan civilians during the Rif rebellion in the 1920s, and in Ethiopia, Italy deployed it even against Red Cross field hospitals. Firebombing, blitzkrieg, lethal gas assaults on civilians: the tools Fascists tested against Africans would soon be used, on an equally bloody scale, in Europe.

More anti-Fascist protests broke out in New York and Chicago. Police dispersed a hundred female university students from a picket line in front of New York’s Italian consulate. “Down with Italian Fascism!” they chanted. In Harlem, police broke up a four-hundred-person demonstration they termed a riot, injuring and arresting a protester who waved an Ethiopian flag. Organizations including the Pan-African Reconstruction Association and the Negro World Alliance recruited thousands of black men willing to fight. News footage from the time shows a massive line of Harlem residents, elegantly dressed in suits and fedoras, signing up as Ethiopian volunteers.

But thanks to diplomatic interference from Washington, their efforts were for naught. Desperate to hew to the mid-thirties posture of neutrality before the burgeoning Fascist threat, the U.S. government pressured Selassie to reject potential volunteers, whom it then threatened with jail, fines, and loss of citizenship. What’s more, due to the grim logic of institutional racism, many African Americans simply lacked the financial means or bureaucratic documents to travel to Ethiopia; in Mississippi, for instance, some black babies were not even granted birth certificates.

Though they lacked planes, bombs, and sufficient bullets (many soldiers received only sixty to last them the war), the Ethiopian army held off the Italians for seven brutal months. In planes fit only for ferrying supplies, Robinson evaded and sometimes battled sleek Italian warplanes as he transported critical provisions and personnel. But ultimately, bravery is little match for gas and bombs. On April 30, 1936, with the entire Ethiopian Air Force destroyed and the country days from surrender, Robinson took one of the last trains out of Addis Ababa. Beneath his boots crunched leaflets demanding that government leaders in Addis Ababa submit or see their capital city bombed to the ground.

Robinson’s lungs were damaged from three mustard gas attacks; his arm bore the scars of Italian bullets. He was the only American who served through the entire Italo-Ethiopian War. When Robinson’s boat docked in New York, two thousand admirers greeted him as a hero.

Homefront Fascism

On June 30, 1936, emperor Haile Selassie stood before the League of Nations and begged its member nations to end their appeasement of Fascism. “Today it is us,” he supposedly said as he left the podium. “Tomorrow it will be you.” Eighteen days later, Fascist generals launched a revolt against the elected government of Spain.

There’s no need here to describe the details of the most mythologized war in modern leftist history, except to note that of the ninety black Americans who volunteered to defend the besieged Spanish Republic, many were veteran activists for Ethiopia (a dynamic explored by Robin D. G. Kelley in Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class).

In his memoir, From Mississippi to Madrid, Abraham Lincoln Brigade driver James Yates described passing out anti-war leaflets and collecting donations for Ethiopian war survivors. “I was more than ready to go to Ethiopia,” he wrote. A character in a short story by Lincoln Brigade veteran Oscar Hunter gave this explanation for his decision to fight in Spain: “This ain’t Ethiopia but it’ll do.” With fellow Harlem nurses, Salaria Kea raised funds for a seventy-five-bed field hospital in Ethiopia, and then unsuccessfully applied to join the Ethiopian army. The next year, she sailed for Spain as the only black woman in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Oliver Law, perhaps the Brigade’s most celebrated member, led the Chicago Communist Party’s “Hands off Ethiopia” campaign. As a black Communist organizer, Law had been a frequent target of Chicago’s notoriously brutal police force; in 1930, Chicago cops left him hospitalized after apprehending him during an unemployment protest he had organized. Police arrested Law again weeks before he left for Spain—this time because he spoke at a demonstration for Ethiopia. In Spain, Law rose to the rank of captain of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade—the first time a black American had ever commanded a racially mixed unit. Days later, he bled to death on Mosquito Hill, mortally wounded as he led a charge against Franco’s armies.

If black Americans recognized the dangers of Fascism abroad early, it was because they knew it all too well in its American guise. They saw Mussolini’s Blackshirts reflected in the white hoods of the Klan, and Hitler’s Jew-baiting mirrored by the systematic violence of Jim Crow. While much of the world slept, they fought Fascists in the streets of Jersey City, in the Ethiopian sky, and in the dirt of the Jarama Valley.

Crawford Morgan, a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, put it this way: “Being aware of what the Fascist Italian government did to the Ethiopians, and also the way that I and all the rest of the Negroes in this country have been treated ever since slavery, I figured I had a pretty good idea of what fascism was. . . . I got a chance to fight it there with bullets and I went there and fought it with bullets. If I get a chance to fight it with bullets again, I will fight it with bullets again.

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Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

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