TPLF Tigrians are Rapping Women Monks in Waldeba Monastry June 29 2017

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Green Bay Press Gazette

(Photo: Adam Wesley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wi)

When the Taste of Ethiopia food truck first fired up its griddle last summer, Pat Joyce and his son, Tesfaye, saw the same scenario play out time and again.

A potential customer walks up, looks at the menu for a minute or two and then politely keeps on walking.

“That’s the most common one,” Tesfaye said. “You can kind of tell they don’t want to offend you, so they don’t tell you everything they’re thinking.”

At one point, Pat thought they might have to repaint the brightly colored trailer that features Ethiopian folk art by artist Spencer Young of Black Creek.

“They see Ethiopia and they see that folk art and, boom, they were either at the egg roll guy or the barbecue guy (food trucks),” Pat said. “But they’re getting it now.”

With nearly 900 followers on Facebook and a weekly presence at the farmers markets in the Broadway District, De Pere and Howard, Taste of Ethiopia is winning over curious diners — one taco at a time.

That’s the recommended $3 starter kit for people who want an introduction to the exotic Ethiopian spices that give distinctive flavor to the dishes — from loaded cheese fries with slow-cooked and seasoned steak, pork or chicken to deep-fried dessert pastries called sambusas to even an Ethiopian spin on the American grilled cheese.

“I joke around that we kind of slip these spices past them,” Pat said. “Once they try it, they’re just hooked.”

Profits go to Ethiopia

Getting local taste buds acclimated to Ethiopian-American fusion food is only part of the Joyces’ mission. The bigger one is back in Ethiopia, where Pat adopted Tesfaye and two of his siblings from an orphanage 10 years ago.

It was a life-changing trip for Pat, who worked for 30 years as a truck driver at KI and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay last year with a degree in social work.

He created Pay It Forward/Ethiopia Inc. as a nonprofit organization to help fund ministry work in the African country, where thousands of homeless children live in tunnels and sewers beneath the streets and in landfills in the capital city of Addis Ababa. All profits from the Taste of Ethiopia food truck go toward the ministry, with the ultimate goal of purchasing a second truck to send to Addis Ababa.

That truck would help to feed the street orphans and work with local service agencies, churches and other ministries to get them in safer situations and ultimately teach children how to grow their own grains or raise their own fish.

“You have a city that looks about the size of Milwaukee with the population of Hong Kong and just no resources,” Pat said. “So we want to get one of these to move from schoolyard to schoolyard and try to entice those little ones out there that are begging or stealing or foraging for food, and then work with the locals. There are some really good local ministries on the ground there.”

That Pat finds himself as chef of a food truck, inviting you to “take a deep whiff” of the seasoned clarified butter he makes himself, is something the De Pere father of six never imagined for himself. The learning curve has been substantial.

“I”m a truck driver. I’m not a bookkeeper. I’m not a business man. I’m not a restaurant owner. So we’re kind of stumbling around … but it’s working,” he said. “We finally are building it up.”

When Pat adopted Tesfaye, now 25, and his siblings, the family would make almost weekly trips to Milwaukee to eat at the city’s two Ethiopian restaurants. It was the closest place to get a fix for a taste of back home. One day, in passing, Tesfaye told his dad they should open an Ethiopian restaurant in Green Bay someday.

“I don’t where that came from, but it turned into this,” said Pat, laughing as he stood in the mobile kitchen preparing for the lunch-hour crowd on a recent Friday in downtown Green Bay.

“This” is a licensed, fully functional kitchen on wheels with the same permit as if Pat had opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant. It’s equipped with two 40-pound fryers, a 4-foot griddle, a double-deep oven, gas burners, a refrigerator, freezer, three dish-washing sinks, a hand-washing sink and a fire suppression system that’s required for anything that involves oil or butter.

It’s the spices that hook people

The truck is on the move five or six days every week, from its regular farmers market stints to church events to a couple of food truck weddings at Badger State Brewing Co. Mondays are usually reserved for restocking and food preparation for the week. It’s a busy day for Pat, who taught himself how to cook Ethiopian dishes by watching YouTube videos.

Early on, he was importing things like berbere awaze, a spicy simmer sauce, and niter kibbeh, the spiced clarified butter. Both were expensive. He now makes them himself, purchasing spices from a distributor in Kentucky who imports directly from Ethiopia.

On a day off, you’re likely to find Pat cooking down 10 pounds of carefully seasoned unsalted butter for eight hours and straining it through a cheesecloth. Or making wot, a stew of peppers, onions, garlic and other spices used as a marinade for the pork, chicken and steak that is slow-cooked for entrees like street tacos, deep-fried wraps and the Not-So-Ethiopian Shredded Pork Sammy.

Trial and error has helped him refine his recipes and focus the menu offerings, but there’s one thing he still hasn’t mastered: how to describe Ethiopian food to someone who has never tasted it.

“Indian food is the closest, but really it doesn’t taste anything like it. It’s spicy, but it’s not burn your mouth hot,” he said, noting that it pairs well with a cold craft beer. (He’s been known to swap tacos for a growler with the craft breweries he frequently partners with.)

There’s not a review on the Taste of Ethiopia Facebook page that doesn’t rave. Ninety percent of them from total strangers, Pat says.

“We’ve heard things like, ‘This sandwich has changed my life.’ Ridiculous reviews,” he said. “But even friends that are real conservative and don’t like spicy food or this or that, I coax them into trying it and it’s like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’ … I’m not boasting; it’s really the spices that do it.

“I think we’re getting closer to doing real authentic high-dollar plates. The foodies are starting to find us and they want the real deal,” said Pat, who hasn’t yet learned how to make injera, the spongy sourdough flatbread served in Ethiopia.

Menus change by month and by event. Sometimes more labor-intensive dishes are taken off to allow Pat, Tesfaye and Mulugeta Breecher, a 21-year-old Ethiopian-American who is also key to manning the truck, to serve more people faster. Whatever goes out the window has way of grabbing people’s attention.

“If the nachos go out the door and people start eating them, then we have a run of nachos. If our grilled cheese goes out, people look for that,” Pat said.

A big heart for little kids

When Tesfaye suggested opening an Ethiopian restaurant, he never had a food truck in mind, much less a nonprofit food truck. His dream was to make it as a soccer star and open his own orphanage. When he realized at the college level that soccer wasn’t his calling, his backup plan was to get an education, a good job and start that orphanage. He graduated with a degree in business last year from Wisconsin Lutheran College.

“And then this came along, and I figure this is the best way to do it, out here with the people, spending time outside, not trapped in the office and …. doing something good for people you want to help,” he said.

Tesfaye has been back to Ethiopia just once (two and a half years ago) since coming to Green Bay. He, Pat and Breecher hope to go back for a month or two this winter to get the second food truck set up. Pat is just starting the extensive paperwork to gain non-governmental organization status to make that a reality. It’s a process that will go to the Office of the Secretary of State of Wisconsin to Washington, D.C. to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.

It feels daunting at times.

“You have to remind yourself you’re doing it for a reason,” Pat said. “Anybody who has been to Ethiopia, pretty much all the parents I know who have been there, it’s just life-changing.”

“When you see something on TV and when you see it in person, that’s totally different,” Tesfaye said. “When he (Pat) came to get us, he saw everything he saw on TV in person and that changed him a lot. … He’s got a huge heart for little kids, like we all do. That’s the main driver, is the heart for the little ones.”

kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert

Where to get a Taste of Ethiopia

» 4-7 p.m. Tuesdays at Village of Howard Farmers Market, Cardinal Lane behind the Howard YMCA (no market on Fourth of July)

» 3-8 p.m. Wednesdays at Farmers Market on Broadway, Broadway District in downtown Green Bay

» 3-7 p.m. Thursdays at De Pere Farmers Market, George Street Landing

The post Taste of Ethiopia spices up Green Bay’s food truck scene appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News|Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Alemayehu G. Mariam

Author’s Note: This July 4th, I “celebrate” my eleventh year of writing uninterrupted weekly Monday commentaries.

On July 4, 2006, I formally and publicly declared my engagement in human rights advocacy, particularly Ethiopian human rights advocacy.  Tempus fugit (time flies)!

In a 7,860-word “manifesto” entitled, “Awakening Giant”, I explained why I decided to get involved in Ethiopia human rights advocacy and issued a plea to other Ethiopians to do the same. The “manifesto” was subtitled, “Can Ethiopians Living in America Make a Difference in their Homeland.”

In my “manifesto”, I declared the struggle for human rights in Ethiopia is a struggle to be won “not in battlefields soaked in blood and filled with corpses, but in the living hearts and thinking minds of men and women of goodwill.”

For the past eleven years, I have waged a struggle to win the hearts and minds of Ethiopians and people of good will throughout the world in my weekly Monday (and lately Thursdays and Fridays) commentaries (or as some affectionately call them “sermons”.)

I believe the struggle has been successful. The indisputable evidence of success is that the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) was forced to declare a “state of emergency.” When a regime loses the battle for hearts and minds, it does one and only one thing: Declare a state of emergency and hide behind a fortress (which the T-TPLF calls “command post”) and run an open air prison in a police state.

Some may believe T-TPLF state of emergency rule in Ethiopia shows the apex of T-TPLF  power, the ultimate manifestation of their exercise of complete control and authority.

I see the T-TPLF on its last legs.

I am reminded of a poignant remark Teddy Roosevelt in a speech (a worthwhile read) he gave on Labor Day in 1903: “The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.” So it has rung for the T-TPLF.

I am blessed to have had the opportunity to fight for human rights, democracy, the rule of law and freedom in Ethiopia and elsewhere with nothing more than my pen (more accurately, my computer keyboard) every single week for the past eleven years.

I still believe Edward Bulwer-Lytton is right in his expression of poetic wisdom: “True, This! —/ Beneath the rule of men entirely great/ The pen is mightier than the sword…/  To paralyse the Caesars, and to strike/The loud earth breathless! -…/”

Shakespeare was also right speaking through Rosencrantz in Hamlet, “… many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills and dare scarce come thither.”

I shall continue to heed Thomas Jefferson’s counsel (the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence) to Thomas Paine in 1796: “Go on doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword.”

No, the humming bird does not tire trying to put out the forest fire with droplets of water in its beak. It is a labor of love. This hummingbird shall continue to hum every Monday, Tuesday…

“A luta continua, vitória é certa.” (“The struggle continues, victory is certain”.)

=======================

Negotiating with the T-TPLF?

Recently, the Voice of America (Amharic) reported “16 Ethiopian opposition political parties agreed to discuss the anti-terrorism and other proclamations and 13 other agenda points including communications, press and charities and civic organizations” with the ruling regime in Ethiopia. I commented on the alleged “negotiations” in my June 25 commentary, “The Cruel Political Jokes of the T-TPLF in Ethiopia”.

In this commentary, I aim to apply basic “game theory” concepts to explore the possibilities of a “negotiation” between the T-TPLF and “opposition party leaders” and examine the range of strategic “moves” in what are certainly to be guaranteed zero-sum negotiation games in favor of the T-TPLF. (A list of potential T-TPLF negotiation strategies is discussed herein.)

Social science scholars use “game theory” to understand (ir)rational behavior in decision-making. Game theory “is the science of strategic thinking” and logical decision-making, and a methodology useful in developing desirable outcomes or “solutions” to specific decision problems.

Game theory has been applied extensively to examine and understand the dynamics of negotiations aimed at conflict resolution in a process of bargaining and compromising. Thomas Schelling, an eminent game theorist, explained the essence of game theory (without the complex mathematical models) as it applies to negotiations: “Two or more individuals have choices to make, preferences regarding the outcomes, and some knowledge of the choices available to each other and of each other’s preferences. The outcome depends on the choices that both of them make … There is no independently ‘best’ choice that one can make; it depends on what the others do.”

I would argue Shelling’s definition would apply universally except in zero-sum games where there is a single optimal strategy. In a zero-sum game, one “person” will lose and one person will always win. The win (+1) added to the loss (-1) equals zero. In other words, one side wins everything, the other side loses everything and total loss for one = total gain for the other.

The aim of most negotiations is generally to maximize one’s gains and minimize the opponent’s. Individuals, groups, states and other entities negotiate for a variety of reasons: to resolve conflict, to gain advantage, to achieve amicable relations, to maintain peace and avoid war and so on.  Successful negotiations often result when the parties operate on basic principles of fairness, good faith, trust, honesty, integrity, and a commitment to promote mutual benefit and satisfaction for a win-win outcome. But none of these parameters apply to zero-sum games.

The zero-sum election games of the T-TPLF

The T-TPLF claims it is in “negotiations”, “discussions”, “talks”, etc. with the opposition. Perhaps it is the “opposition leaders” who make such claims. For the T-TPLF, everything is a secret and words are used for the singular purpose of evasion and confusion.

For the purposes of this analysis, we shall assume the T-TPLF is in “negotiations” with the alleged “opposition leaders”. What does it mean to be in “negotiations” with the T-TPLF?

The T-TPLF has perfected the zero-sum game in Ethiopia over the past 26 years. Consider the following outcomes in the T-TPLF’s zero-sum election games.

In 2008, in “elections for regional parliaments, the EPRDF (the T-TPLF’s front organization) and its affiliates won 1,903 of 1,904 seats. In local and by-elections held in 2008, the EPRDF and its affiliates won all but four of 3.4 million contested seats.”  The T-TPLF “won” every seat but one. The opposition lost every seat but one.

In May 2010, the T-TPLF “won” all the seats in “parliament” by 99.6 percent (but one).  The opposition lost every seat but one.

In May 2015, the T-TPLF “won” 100% of the seats in “parliament”. The opposition lost every seats!!!

Such total and complete zero-sum electoral “victory” occurred in a country where there are 79 registered opposition political parties (players).

Such total and complete electoral “victory” occurred in a country where the real opposition party leaders are arrested on trumped up  terrorism charges and languish in official and secret T-TPLF prisons without due process of law for years.

The zero-sum negotiation games of the T-TPLF

The T-TPLF has played the same zero-sum games in its “negotiations” with the opposition, political prisoners and the loaners and donors.

In August 2007, the T-TPLF’s late thugmaster Meles Zenawi “pardoned” 38 opposition political leaders to “give impetus to political negotiations in Ethiopia after more than two years’ crisis and stalemate.” In October of that year,  “in spite of continuing negotiations between the government and the opposition , the political environment continued to deteriorate.” In that case, the T-TPLF had a double zero-sum game “win” in the negotiations: 1) by validating that the 38 railroaded leaders were actually criminals, and 2) by forcing them to “admit” crimes they never committed and “pardoning” them.

In 2009, the T-TPLF engaged in “negotiations” for the release of political prisoners, only after the political prisoners “had signed a paper admitting they tried to overthrow the government in an ‘unconstitutional’ manner.” Double zero-sum game win for the T-TPLF again.

In 2009, Zenawi led the African climate change negotiators to the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen and delivered a zero-sum ultimatum: Fork over $40 billion or we will “delegitimize you!” Zenawi blustered:

We will use our numbers to deligitimize any agreement that is not consistent with our minimal position… We are prepared to walk out of any negotiations that threatens to be another rape of our continent. The key thing for me is that Africa be compensated for the damage caused by global warming. Many institutions have tried to quantify that and they have come up with different figures. The sort of median figure would be in the range of 40 billion USD a year.

Zenawi really believed he could shakedown and rip off $40 billion from Western countries in a carbon blood extortion scheme.  Ahh!! Zenawi did not foresee the advent of Trump and the scrapping of the Paris Accords.

In 2010, the T-TPLF released Birtukan Midekssa, the first female Ethiopian political party leader, after she “apologized for denying being granted a pardon in 2007” and “imploring the prime minister to grant her a second pardon for her to be able to see her aging mother and child.” How denying an apology can be a crime is beyond me, but it was a double zero-sum game win for the T-TPLF.

In 2010, the T-TPLF engaged donors in “negotiations” to allow them to send election observers. The European Union sent observers and Zenawi called their report “useless trash that deserves to be thrown in the garbage”.  Zenawi’s T-TPLF declared it had “won” the 2010 zero-sum election by 99.6 percent.

In 2013, T-TPLF puppet prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Tedros (“Empty Suit”) Adhanom orchestrated an African Union treaty-cide unless the International Criminal Court (ICC) dismissed charges against criminals against humanity Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto. In his “negotiations” with the ICC, Adhanom demanded that “sitting Heads of State and Government should not be prosecuted while in office.”

Simply stated, either the ICC dismisses the cases against the two Kenyan criminals against humanity or Hailemariam and Adhanom will lead a mass walkout of the Rome Statute. There was no mass walkout but (as I correctly predicted a year in advance) and the ICC case against Kenyatta and Ruto was dismissed on manifestly dubious grounds.

Today, T-TPLF head honcho Debretsion says, “Ethnic federalism is equality. T-TPLF supremacy is nothing but a conspiracy. To say Tigreans are supreme (everywhere), that is not the reality. That is a zero. Zero.”

True. It is a zero. It’s all a zero-sum game for the T-TPLF.

Why is the T-TPLF “open” to “negotiations” in the middle of a “state of emergency”?

Why is the T-TPLF talking about “negotiations” with the “opposition” now? What is at stake for the T-TPLF in any “negotiations”? Why would the T-TPLF negotiate when it has all of the power? What is the incentive for the T-TPLF to negotiate?

It is interesting that the T-TPLF should seek “negotiations” at a time when the Ethiopian economy is in tatters and  spiraling downward as the cost of living is skyrocketing, famine is consuming some 8 million people, various regions of the country are effectively outside of T-TPLF rule, internal divisions within the T-TPLF are becoming more pronounced, increasing numbers of the rank and file soldiers are going AWOL and so on.

It does not seem to make much sense for the T-TPLF running a “state of emergency” regime to engage with the opposition let alone “negotiate”. The T-TPLF arrests, jails, massacres, tortures and violates innocent citizens at will. The T-TPLF runs an absolute Stalinist police state in Ethiopia today. Stalinist police states never negotiate, at least with words. They negotiate with the chatter of AK-47s and Soviet-era 7.62 general-purpose PKMN machine guns.

That is how the T-TPLF negotiated with the Irrecha Festival crowd in October 2016 in the town of Bishoftu, some 45 miles southeast of the capital Addis Ababa. An estimated 800 plus people celebrating a religious festival were massacred by T-TPLF troops and twice that number severely injured during that event.

What does it mean to “negotiate” with the T-TPLF under a state of emergency?

Isn’t the very idea of “negotiating” with the T-TPLF simply laughable? It is like hyenas negotiating with antelopes about dinner. Total win for hyenas, total loss for antelopes.

In 1985, Nelson Mandela issued a statement from his prison cell explaining why he cannot negotiate with the hyena minority white apartheid regime: “I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts….” How can “opposition party leaders” under a black hyena apartheid regime ruling by a draconian “state of emergency” decree?

In its zero-sum game, the T-TPLF is putting on “negotiations” as mere political drama. It is a show staged for the loaners and donors. I believe it is a show staged for the Trump Administration and calculatedly aimed at blunting the legislative efforts currently underway in the U.S. House and Senate.

I believe there are a bunch of reasons why the T-TPLF is talking “negotiations”.

The T-TPLF talks about “negotiations” with the “opposition” to stall real change and use it as a ploy to buy time. For instance, they want more time to “buy off” “Oromos” and destroy the alleged “Oromo-Amhara” alliance against their rule. The Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) saw right through the recent T-TPLF shenanigans when it declared in a statement: “Without addressing the long-awaited demand and legitimate grievances of the Oromo people regarding the precarious and problematic status of Addis Ababa, the document appears rather intended to sow the seeds of discord, suspicion and intercommunal mistrust by exploiting the apprehension of various stakeholders on the future of Addis Ababa.” The ODF urged, “Say NO to the divide and rule tactics designed to weaken your resolve. Say Never to all attempts at putting one against another. The only way forward is to stand firm and fight in unison to end this brutal dictatorship.”

The T-TPLF wants to buy more time to divide the “Amhara” opposition and wage a war of attrition against their resistance to T-TPLF rule.

The T-TPLF aims to hoodwink the loaners and donors into giving them more money and the word “negotiation: perks up the ears of the loaners and donors.

The T-TPLF wants to project a public relations image of being reasonable and amicable. They want to put on a kinder and gentler face and conceal their blood-soaked hands in a white glove.

The T-TPLF, in their infinitely diabolical way, also aim to neutralize and delegitimize the already weakened opposition and publicly make them their lackeys. What opposition leader would have any credibility in the eyes of the people negotiating with the T-TPLF?  “Opposition leaders” negotiating with the T-TPL is like antelope leaders negotiating with hyenas about what (who) to have for dinner.

As I argued in my 2009 commentary, “The Raw Machismo of Dictatorship”,  for the T-TPLF negotiation means playing a “zero-sum game”. They win all the time, everybody else loses every time. More bluntly, the T-TPLF negotiating strategy is, Might makes right. Alternatively, it is “My way or the highway… or jail!” No more questions.

The T-TPLF will negotiate in earnest only and only if two conditions are met: 1) They will remain the only dominant political and economic force in the country. 2) They are so concerned and fearful about losing political power that they want to use negotiations to buy time to re-establish their political and economic supremacy.

Stated simply, the T-TPLF has one and only one overriding rational interest in any negotiations: Remain in power in much the same way as they are now. For one more day. One more week. One more month. One more year. One more decade…

Negotiating with the T-TPLF  

The most important point to keep in mind about the “opposition” with whom the T-TPLF is negotiating with is the fact that they are handpicked and extremely vetted by the T-TPLF.  These “opposition leaders” are the handmaiden of the the T-TPLF just like the fake EPRDF coalition, the front organization for the T-TPLF. They are “opposition leaders” created of the T-TPLF, by the T-TPLF, for the T-TPLF to negotiate with. They are the second re-invention of the EPRDF.   They are fake opposition leaders. They know it. The people of Ethiopia know it. Above all, the T-TPLF knows it.

The real opposition party leaders are languishing in T-TPLF jails.

What is there for the fake “opposition leaders” to negotiate? They say they have “13 agenda items including the anti-terrorism law”.

The T-TPLF has openly declared it will never negotiate the issue of political prisoners because there are none in Ethiopia, as I discussed in  my commentary last week. Additionally, there will be no negotiations on real power sharing and human rights accountability.

For the T-TPLF to agree to negotiate the issue of political prisoners tantamount to giving up everything.

Political prisoners are the tip of the iceberg of T-TPLF dictatorial rule and kangaroo  justice system. To admit the existence of political prisoners is to a public confession of the non-existence of the rule of law. It is an admission of massive human rights violations, bad governance, corruption, etc.

That is why the T-TPLF guys go ape_ _ _t at the mere mention of the phrase “political prisoners”. Political prisoners represent the essence, the deep core of what is wrong with the T-TPLF.

Political prisoners are the 800-pound gorillas in the negotiating room. Any negotiations that does not start with the acknowledgment and release of the tens of thousands of political prisoners is just window dressing. Better yet, it’s horse_ _ _t!

T-TPLF negotiating strategy in its zero-sum game against the “opposition”

I believe the T-TPLF will use following strategies in one form or another in its zero-sum negotiations game with the opposition:

1) Negotiate from a position of strength and you will have no reason to negotiate and you are guaranteed victory every time.  The T-TPLF controls and owns everything: the political process, the economy, the civil service and the military. The opposition inside the country have have nothing, literally nothing. How can people who have nothing negotiate with people who have everything? How can antelopes negotiate with hyenas about the dinner menu?

2) Negotiations are essentially elaborate public relations games. That means window dressing negotiations and going through the motions of negotiations. The T-TPLF’s cardinal negotiation strategy and rule is: Negotiate without negotiating and bargain without bargaining.  In other words, pretend to be negotiating and bargaining with the opposition, but in the end make suckers out of them.

3) Avoid real negotiations at all costs, but engage in make-believe negotiations. Negotiation is a game of attrition and a process of wearing down the opponent to the point where s/he walks away giving you an opportunity to lay blame on them. The reason for this is simple. Negotiations are a slippery slope. Any concessions to the opposition will only open the floodgates to other concessions. If the T-TPLF negotiates and makes any concessions, even small ones, it will only encourage the “opposition” to demand more. If the T-TPLF gives in to one of the “13 agenda items”, the opposition will press for demand number two and three and so on. Where will it stop? It is all or nothing. Therefore, the T-TPLF will NEVER engage in real negotiations, only make-believe ones.

4) Negotiations should be used to bait and trap the opposition. The T-TPLF’s  history of negotiations shows that it likes to use a prolonged process of enticing, delaying and stringing  along the opposition until the moment the trap is sprung on them. For the T-TPLF negotiating with the “opposition” is like someone baiting a mousetrap with cheese to catch mice. The T-TPLF will put out all sorts of cheesy promises, commitments, assurances, etc., to attract the opposition to the “negotiating table” only to slam shut the trap on them in the end.

5) In negotiations, just as in ordinary politics, use ethnic politics, sectarianism, regionalism, etc. to divide and conquer the “opposition” negotiators. Consequently, the T-TPLF will throw crumbs to the various opposition leaders just to watch them fight and tear each other up. It is like the master throwing a bone to a bunch of hungry dogs. The dogs will kill each other to get a piece of the bone. That is how the T-TPLF sees the “opposition” negotiating with it.

6) Negotiations are weapons of mass public distraction and confusion. By talking “negotiations”, the T-TPLF hopes to create an atmosphere of hope and optimism of a negotiated settlement of disputes and lifting of the state of emergency. The T-TPLF hopes it can hoodwink the people into believing that this time it is for real. The T-TPLF will make the hard choices and make things right. That was exactly the promise the hyenas made to the antelopes before inviting them to dinner in their den.

7) Negotiations are for suckers (fools). I have said it for years that the T-TPLF slicksters believe they can outsmart, outmaneuver, out-trick and out-finesse their opposition any day of the week. The T-TPLF guys think of the “opposition leaders” as a bunch of cowards, fools and idiots. Susan Rice captured the essential attitude of the T-TPLF leaders in her eulogy of Meles in 2012 when she said Meles “liked to call” his opposition “fools, or “idiots”. The T-TPLF guys believe that they are negotiating with fools and idiots when they sit down with the opposition for their make-believe negotiations.

8) Negotiation is a competitive blood sport. For the T-TPLF, that means take the easy way first to bring pressure on the opposition to negotiate a deal.  If the “opposition” wants to play hardball, offer them rewards, money, jobs, business opportunities. If that does not work, threaten or slam them in jail for violating the  “anti-terrorism law”.

9) The purpose of negotiation is to cut down your opponent, not to cut a deal. That is the essence of the T-TPLF’s zero-sum game. The late Zenawi once said of the opposition, “We will crush them with our full force; they will all vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail forever.” The T-TPLF will crush anyone who is foolish enough to sit down and negotiate with them.

10) In negotiations, use them and lose them. The T-TPLF will use and lose the “opposition” negotiators as soon as it feels the “opposition” has served their purposes and more comfortable in their grip on power.

In the end, all “opposition” negotiators will be crushed by the T-TPLF. If they are lucky enough to walk away, they will do so empty-handed, heads hanging down and cursing themselves, “What damn fools we have been!” In the end, whatever make-believe deal is cut with the T-TPLF at “negotiations”, it will not amount to a hill of beans. It will not be worth the paper it is written on.

My answer to the “opposition” negotiating with the T-TPLF shall come in the memorable words of Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does.”

Unsolicited advice to any “opposition” negotiators: Understand  the T-TPLF’s zero-think and zero-sum gamesmanship and then just have fun

Anyone (opposition parties, donors, loaners, etc.) interested in “negotiating” with the T-TPLF must understand a few truths.

First the T-TPLF does not believe in a non zero-sum game in negotiations. They must win 100 percent of the time, just like they “won” the 2015 “elections” by 100 percent. That is because they perceive their opposition, the larger society, the donors and loaners as their enemies while sitting and plotting in their echo chamber of intrigue. They see compromising and give and take as a fatal weaknesses.

Second, the T-TPLF does not believe in a “win-win” strategy in which each side can gain some and lose some while minimizing losses and maximizing gains through a process of good faith bargaining, negotiation, compromise and conciliation. Negotiation for the T-TPLF is about one-upmanship. It is about hoodwinking and crushing the opposition.

Third, the T-TPLF practice zero-think. They see anyone else winning in any matter small or big (political or economic) as a devastating loss to them. They have a mindset of losers with a deeply ingrained conviction in their collective psyche that political opponents committed to democratic principles are mortal enemies, not merely political competitors.

Fourth, for those who suffer zero-think mindset, negotiations and competitive elections are not part of the  natural order of things in politics. Democratic politics of “you win some, lose some” is completely alien to them. The fact remains that as long as the T-TPLF prisoners of doubt and despair remain trapped in their echo chambers of intrigue chained to a zero-sum mindset of fear and loathing, there can be no real negotiations or political change; only missed opportunities.

Ironically, only losers play zero-sum games.

What is there to negotiate?

The T-TPLF has already stated there will be no negotiation on political prisoners, real power sharing leading to free and fair elections and human rights accountability.

That leaves only one item for negotiations: Negotiate an exit strategy for the T-TPLF ensuring a peaceful transfer of power without the politics of vengeance and revenge.

Of course, the T-TPLF will never negotiate a peaceful transition. That is because they believe they are untouchable; they believe they can use ethnic politics to keep the people divided and weak; they believe they can stay in power by making Ethiopia the killing fields of the 21st century.

The Proverb goes, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.” They said the Titanic cruise ship was unsinkable. When it hit an iceberg under the surface, it went down. The Titanic T-TPLF will also go down.

Only a Faustian bargain to be gained in a T-TPLF negotiation

My views on negotiations and bargaining with the T-TPLF are well-known.

In my 2009 commentary, “Loan Sharking Ethiopia’s Future!”, I warned, “Don’t make a pact with the devil!” I expounded on that theme in my August 2016 commentary, “Ethiopia: Beyond the Politics of Hate”.

The T-TPLF is willing, able and ready to make a Faustian deal with anyone, at any time and in any place! Goethe’s Dr. Faust made a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for wealth, success, worldly pleasures and power.

The T-TPLF is an equal opportunity Devil. The T-TPLF will promise and deliver wealth, success, worldly pleasures and power to anyone, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, religion, etc., who is prepared to sell his soul. The T-TPLF does not give a damn who you are and will make a deal with you at any cost provided, in the end, it gets your soul.

As Zenawi liked to say, loyalty to the T-TPLF is far more important to the T-TPLF than ethnicity, religion, education, work experience or anything else. Loyalty to the T-TPLF is the Devil’s  litmus test.

As to the T-TPLF’s new and improved 2017 “negotiations” with the “opposition”, I say it is  just the old Faustian scam with the Devil.

My advice to any “opposition negotiators” is, “The devil is in the T-TPLF details…”

NO NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE T-TPLF UNTIL ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE RELEASED.

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Originally published July 1, 2017 at 8:00 am Updated July 1, 2017 at 9:18 am

Starting Sunday, more than 30,000 people with Ethiopian ties will be in Renton for a weeklong soccer tournament that also offers a cherished celebration of Ethiopian culture through music, food and dance.

The Seattle Dashen soccer team, shown during a recent practice, is getting ready for the weeklong tournament and celebration of Ethiopian culture. The event will draw some 30,000 people with Ethiopian ties. The team name comes from the highest mountain in Ethiopia, Ras Dashen. (Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times)

Surafel Wodajo’s most cherished memory from his childhood in Ethiopia is sitting on the cement floor in his living room watching Zinedine Zidane, a French soccer star who was in an Italian league at the time, on his family’s black-and-white TV.

Armon Tenaw, who now plays on a team with Wodajo in Seattle, can’t pinpoint when he was introduced to the sport. It’s just always been there. He remembers playing on the streets, at school, everywhere.

Because in Ethiopia, soccer isn’t just a sport, it’s the sport.

Starting Sunday, Wodajo, Tenaw and more than 30,000 Ethiopians will be in a place where soccer is king and they are surrounded by their culture. For seven days, Renton Memorial Stadium will become an Ethiopian haven of music, food and dance thanks to the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America’s 34th annual soccer tournament.

“Soccer is the vehicle of bringing everybody together,” said Wodajo, a 27-year-old who plays for the Seattle Baro. “But really what it’s about is coming and celebrating being Ethiopian and enjoying our culture.”

Thirty-one men’s soccer teams from around North America, including the Seattle Baro and the Seattle Dashen, will play in the tournament that runs in conjunction with a cultural festival.

The weeklong event, which is returning to the Seattle area for the first time since 2004, serves as a reunion of sorts for Ethiopians across the continent. (According to a 2014 study, about 6,100 Seattle residents were born in Ethiopia.) Samson Ghanna, who spent four years on the Dashen team after he arrived in the United States nearly three decades ago, said at these tournaments he has run into old friends whom he previously believed to be dead.

Ghanna has been to about 10 ESFNA tournaments, and he always leaves feeling refreshed. For one week, it’s like being back in Ethiopia.

Sense of the familiar

With the ESFNA tournament fast approaching, the Dashen team has been practicing in North Seattle three times a week to get ready. On the field at practice, both Amharic and English are spoken. The Dashen team counts how many passes go from player to player across the circle without being touched by their teammates in the middle. They’ll count aloud in Amharic, then switch to English and back to Amharic again, usually for superstitious reasons when the warm-up game isn’t going well.

Teshome Negeri, one of the founding members of the Seattle Baro, pitched the team’s name as a way to honor his home country. The Baro River is the only navigable river in Ethiopia. The Dashen’s team name comes from the highest mountain in Ethiopia, Ras Dashen.

For these two Seattle teams, soccer has become a way to preserve their culture. The older players feel responsible to help pass down Ethiopian traditions to their teammates, some of whom only know life in the U.S.

“One of the things we’re trying to do on this team is also — the kids that are born here — to have that Ethiopian culture,” said Tadiwos Melashu, one of three captains for the Dashen.

Soccer served as a point of familiarity for some players who were new arrivals to the U.S. Landing in a new country can be “extremely terrifying,” Wodajo said. During his first month in the Seattle area, as a first-grader, he and his older sister were lost in SeaTac for two hours after they got off the school bus at the wrong stop. They didn’t know enough English to tell someone they needed help.

In October 2003, Melashu arrived in Seattle with his family on a Friday, staying with relatives. The next morning, Melashu’s cousin left to go play in a soccer game. Melashu went to watch. Since then — before he’d had his first breakfast in America — Melashu has been part of the Seattle Dashen team.

“This was my comfort zone until I got used to the whole American culture here,” Melashu said. “This feels (like) home.”

Moving to America

Many of these Ethiopian players came on diversity visas or they immigrated to the U.S. after family members became citizens. They came in search of opportunity.

“Let’s be real,” said Wodajo, who moved to the U.S. when he was 6. “Coming into probably the greatest empire this world has ever seen, why wouldn’t you (want to)? To me it’s a no-brainer.”

Wodajo’s mom didn’t initially want to apply for the diversity visa. It’s a process also known as the green-card lottery, which randomly selects immigrants to receive permanent residency in the U.S. She didn’t want to leave her family and everything she’d ever known, but eventually, the boss at her job convinced her to apply.

After their last trip to the U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa, where Wodajo’s family received the final thumbs-up in the extensive process of moving to the U.S., they went to a cafe and Wodajo ate his favorite meal — fish and kitfo, a type of raw beef. He remembers his parents tipping well that night.

Then, they sold all their belongings in 10 days, “like a going-out-of-business sale,” Wodajo said, laughing. They needed the money for plane tickets and visa application fees.

Wodajo eventually went to Pacific Lutheran University, where he also played soccer, and now he’s working in sales at a software company in Bellevue.

“We definitely have come a long way since we first got here with nothing to where we are now,” Wodajo said. “Just the opportunity we were given, we didn’t really take it for granted.”

For others, the journey was under more adverse situations. By the time Daniel Kore came to the U.S. in 1999, his father had been imprisoned multiple times because he was an air marshal under the previous regime, which had been overthrown in 1991. Simply being tied to his dad’s name could have landed Kore in jail, too.

Kore came to the Seattle area when he was 13 with his siblings on visitor visas, which usually last six months, because he said they were essentially “scared for our lives.” The visa expired, and after that, nobody apart from Kore’s family knew they didn’t have green cards.

Kore, who’s now 31 and vice president of the Seattle Dashen, ran cross-country and track at Cascade High School in Everett and started to receive scholarship offers, which he couldn’t accept without proving his residency status. As a senior, Kore was voted outstanding student-athlete of the year. He said that helped his case for receiving a green card after he graduated. Kore ran at a community college before getting injured and eventually graduating from UW.

Since being released from prison, Kore’s father has visited his son in Seattle three times — a surprise visit when Kore graduated high school in 2003, a short trip for Kore’s UW graduation and when Kore got married last year.

For the ESFNA tournament, Kore’s dad is back in Seattle.

Before Kore left Ethiopia, he visited his dad in jail and told him he was leaving the country. He remembers his dad crying. Kore’s dad told him how being in jail stripped him of everything — his money, his family, his life. But then he said, “knowledge is power” and that can’t be taken away.

“That never left me,” Kore said. “It got pretty emotional.”

Unlike many of his teammates, Kore did not play soccer as a kid. Kore only recently joined the Dashen team because the coach, one of Kore’s close friends, asked him to help build the team’s organizational structure.

As part of the team, Kore, now a technology consultant at Microsoft, recognizes that he’s in a position where he can mentor the younger players and help them through college applications, resumes and networking. Kore wants to emphasize the same principle that his dad once stressed to him.

“For us, to come all the way here and not do something good for your life, it has a little bit of pressure,” Melashu said. “There’s a high expectation from your parents. We’re not here for nothing. We’re here for a reason.”

Value of soccer

Back in Ethiopia, kids would usually play soccer on the streets with socks stuffed with old clothing acting as makeshift balls. They’d set the boundaries of the goals using rocks or shoes. Some would play barefooted.

That’s why soccer is a global game, Ghanna said. Fancy equipment and turf fields are optional. All that’s needed is a ball or anything that resembles one.

“Everybody plays in Africa,” Ghanna said. “The whole world plays soccer.”

For all the Dashen and Baro athletes, playing on the team lets them feel like they’re part of something. Their teammates understand and embrace the same culture and traditions.

And on the soccer field, their childhood game from Ethiopia intersects with their new lives in America, finally a piece of common ground.

“When you come here,” Kore said, “you feel alive.”

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The 34th ESFNA Annual Soccer Tournament & Cultural Festival officially opened in Seattle

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Interview with Mohamed Hassan SBS Amharic

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The Ethiopian Dialogue Forum (EDF) rejects the Tigray People’s Liberation Front  dominated council of Minsters  ploy of “weaponizing” its 1994 Constitution Article 49 (5) that provided “a special status”  to Oromia concerning Addis Ababa. The Article mentions “the special interest of the State of Oromia in Addis Ababa” and stated that “particulars will be determined by law.”  Twenty six (26) years later, the minsters council  chose an opportune time to issue a proclamation in response to the popular revolt by millions of people in the Oromo and Amhara regions. So this proclamation is an attempt to distract the public and pit the political opposition and social forces in Ethiopia one against the other.   It is a legislative device to divide and conquer and reap short terum political gains.

EDF contends that the Constitution itself was not drafted, and endorsed through a free and democratic process that involved all parties in Ethiopia. Instead it came about from a flawed process that barred multinational parties and patriotic Ethiopians from sitting on the Table and deciding the prospect of post-1991 Ethiopia. For the last several years opposition members and scholars argued that the ruling party must facilitate a constitutional amendment while the ruling party did not give adequate attention to this request.

Multiethnic democratic countries around the world use the constitutional preamble “We the people” to show their solidarity and unity, to approach their shared resources and to manifest a unified political and economic nation.  A few good examples are the United States, Australia and India.  Their Constitutions begin with introductions to their solidarity through the use of the simplest language to show they are living as one political and economic entity.

It is this fundamental principle of “We the people” that bestows political power to the hands of people from multiethnic countries, private citizens, whose consent yields democratic government through periodic provincial and national elections! Contrast this with the TPLF/EPRDF engineered Constitution of 1994 that established the current ethnic and linguistic federal system. Its preamble reads as follows:

“We, the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia:

Strongly committed, in full and free exercise of our right to self-determination, to building a political community founded on the rule of law and capable of ensuring a lasting peace, guaranteeing a democratic order, and advancing our economic and social development…

Fully cognizant that our common destiny can best be served by rectifying historically unjust relationships and by further promoting our shared interests; convinced that to live as one political and economic community is necessary in order to create sustainable and mutually supportive conditions for ensuring respect for our rights and freedoms and for the collective promotion of our interests.

The Ethiopian Constitution bestows authority and sovereignty to “Nations, Nationalities and People” rather than on Ethiopian citizens. As a consequence, the regional states or “Kilils” have evolved as “sovereign” entities with the powers to: a) define their boundaries and restrict ownership of natural resources, b) the movement of people, goods, and services. In so doing this constitution hampers the free flow of free and equal Ethiopian citizens with incredible talents, resources, technologies “segregating” them into ethno-regional provinces. This undermined national cohesion. It exacerbated ethnic tensions and conflicts. It served as the best tool of the TPLF elite to divide and rule all Ethiopians. In so doing the pursuit of the common good, the durability of Ethiopia as a country, and its socio-economic, political and environmental sustainability are severely diminished.

On the Fate and Rights of Addis Ababans

Central to this ploy of divide and rule is stocking suspicion and fear between the two largest ethnic groups, the Amhara and Oromo. Since early 2015, millions of Oromo and Amhara nationals showed fierce and bold determination to free themselves from the tyranny of the TPLF. The Amhara, especially youth in Gondar, expressed their solidarity to the Oromo youth and the public in Oromia reciprocated with a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. By stipulating and stressing about Oromo “special claims and demands” on Ethiopia’s bustling capital-Addis Ababa-the new proclamation aims to drive a wedge between Oromos and a multitude of Non-Oromo Ethiopians that call Addis Ababa home.  The diverse people of Addis Ababa have always yearned for unity and equality under the law where they see special interests as an unjust act.

Addis Ababa represents the future of Ethiopia where close to 5 million Ethiopians from all ethnic and religious groups live side by side. The city represents a global and inevitable trend, namely urbanization. For all its effort to ethnicize and provincialize, the TPLF cannot stop this national and global trend toward urban concentrations.  Greater urbanization means the rural poor will come forth to these spaces and a great Ethiopian mosaic shall emerge transcending ethnic, religious and linguistic barriers.  Increased urbanization also means the demand for food, safe drinking water, sanitation, energy, shelter, schools and other social and physical infrastructure increases. In due course, the Ethiopian governments will be forced to respond to the rise of such an urban cosmopolitan public that refuses to define itself only by its ethnic identity.  Addis Ababa represents the epitome of such a pan-Ethiopian political public. It is an Ethiopian tent built by the Ethiopian people and owned by all Ethiopians.

The Oromo people are part of this tent. Playing them against other fellow Ethiopians will not solve the root cause behind Oromo alienation in Ethiopia- Ethnic Based Authoritarianism. To our knowledge, the Oromo people who sacrificed their lives in defense of Ethiopia never asked for special preferential treatment. It is also true that no one asked the millions of Addis Ababa residents about their identity or the future fate of their city. EDF believes that similar to all other Ethiopian citizens, the Oromo people are demanding justice, and unfettered equality under the law and genuine democracy.  EDF also believes that respect of Oromo ethnic identity, history, traditions, cultures, socioeconomic and political rights and the use of their language is in the interest of all Ethiopians. These fundamental human and civil rights of the Oromo people should never be subject to negotiation. Authority should not be vested in the TPLF and its cronies to grant or to deny these fundamental rights.

The TPLF Constitution recognizes in Article 49 (1) that “Addis Ababa shall be the capital city of the Federal State.” Article 49 (2) recognizes the city’s autonomy. It reads, “The residents of Addis Ababa shall have a full measure of self-government. Particulars shall be determined by law.” This provision is however circumscribed by Article 49 (3) that “The Administration of Addis Ababa shall be responsible to the Federal Government.” In so doing, it effectively nullifies the right to self-rule and administration of nearly 5 million Ethiopians who call Addis Ababa their home. Residents of the city have literally no voice in policy and decision-making. The Constitution further stipulates in Article 49 (5) about the “special interests of the Oromia region with regard to Addis Ababa and its environs”. Who then is the “owner” and “governor” of Addis Ababa? It is the TPLF-dominated federal government that dictates policy and decision-making in Addis Ababa including the allocation of lands.

EDF believes that these constitutional provisions are developed in a flawed, and ambiguous manner to obfuscate the real hegemonic power in Ethiopia- the TPLF elite. The policy and structural problems that emerge with governing cities like Addis Ababa are therefore manifestations of the structural inequities and defects of the present ethno-federal arrangement. It therefore behooves each and every Ethiopian to ask the fundamental question of whether or not any special consideration and privilege granted by the ruling party aggravates ethnic hatred and division, or diminishes cohesion and synergy that are vital for a modern metropolis. EDF believes that the rights, interests and voices of the millions of Addis Ababans should therefore be heard, articulated and fought for.

A Call for Action  

The TPLF-led regime is in panic. The timing of the proclamation is self-serving and is intended to distract the Ethiopian people from the hard work of mobilizing themselves against one of the most repressive regimes on the planet today. The state of emergency has failed to enforce submission. To the contrary, Ethiopians express their anger, frustration, rejection and revulsion openly and without fear. EDF concludes that the new proclamation is another attempt to divide the Oromo people from other Ethiopians.

EDF is also confident that such gimmicks will not stop the inevitable- political transition in Ethiopia. Toward that end, however, Ethiopians must recognize the fundamental premise that the TPLF-led regime responds with cunning and manipulative tools whenever popular will threatens its existence. Unity of purpose and action, EDF asserts, is therefore essential to resist and triumph over TPLF’s age old tactic of divide and rule.

Finally, EDF genuinely believes that fundamental democratic change is imperative in Ethiopia. We therefore call on all Ethiopian civic, religious, political and professional groups as well as prominent individuals within and outside the country to set aside minor differences and work toward ushering a new democratic Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Dialogue Forum calls on the United Nations, donor nations and the international community as a whole to take action to defend peaceful political change and democratic reforms in Ethiopia.

Long Live Ethiopia!

Ethiopian Dialogue Forum (EDF)

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By Admassu Feleke

Many concerned Ethiopians have asked at one point or another how the current regime will come to an end. After predicting time and again that it would have a very short life, we have witnessed not only its survival but its prospering despite the antipathy, hostility and ill wish of the majority of Ethiopians. The reality is that half of today’s Ethiopian population has not known any government other than the EPRDF’s or TPLF’s. 26 years is an average time for a child to be born and reach marriageable age in most cultures. This is where we are now. A whole generation has come of age and a new generation is beginning under the banner of the current regime. And we see no imminent sign of regime end. However, we should make no mistake about it: it will meet its end if it continues with its suppressive and suffocating policies. As an old saying goes: you cannot continue to rule forever by threat alone. But speculating how this regime will meet its demise is no easy matter as it may seem. I shall attempt here to outline different scenarios on the ways in which the EPRDF/TPLF may end its reign. In doing so I am obviously drawing conclusions based on historical analogies from the recent past. I will proceed from the less likely scenario to the more probable one. And there is no rule that states that only one of these scenarios may come to pass. It is indeed perhaps more likely that some combination of these alternative scenarios may be the final outcome. Or in fact, there could be a totally different one beyond what I have been able to hypothesize here. Prediction of historical events, as we know, is more of a gambler’s game.

The first route to regime change that comes to mind is obviously armed struggle because it’s the path most trodden by all oppressed peoples. It usually starts not only because it is the only alternative when all things fail, but also because it is the only one which seems to rectify injustices suffered. Some courageous Ethiopians have now chosen this path because they feel that as things worsen, an increasingly large number of young people eager to see an end to the suppressive and divisive policies of the current regime will join their ranks. And eventually the government will be forced to the negotiating table or engage in a war that it cannot win. The history of past armed struggle may appear to validate their point; but we have also numerous example where liberations struggle have been conducted for decades without tangible success. From the practical stand point, I perceive several difficulties and dangers in choosing such route. First of all how realistic is it, in our day and age, to find a sufficient number of able bodied young fighters willing to sacrifice their future and lives for such a cause? Secondly, in our present world where one country, namely the United States of America, dominates the international balance of power, which country would be willing to support financially, or otherwise, an armed struggle to topple a Third World regime? Indeed one thing that the EPRDF/TPLF has done extremely well is garnering the support of not only China, but more importantly of the West by waging the West’s proxy wars against Islamic extremists in the region. How willing is the West to abandon its ally in the war against terror for an uncertain alternative? Moreover, there are also the additional problems of coordinating and perhaps unifying the forces of the various liberation forces. Given that this regime has been quite successful in sawing distrust and discord among the various nationalities, it is a matter of serious concern that a common agenda and common goals can be laid out for the various armed struggle groups to agree upon. Indeed this would constitute the first battle the liberation armies must win before any other one. Armed struggle can in theory be an agent of regime change, but contemporary history provides us with far more examples of disagreement and discord once power has been seized. Once the winning parties are in power, the prospect of power struggle among them is very real. And once the same vicious cycle is bound to restart.

The alternative to armed struggle is, logically speaking, peaceful struggle which consists in popular marches, demonstrations, media saturation, vigils and occupations of public spaces. The aim of such struggle is to cause the ruling regime to seat at the negotiation table and form a transitional government. From a rational stand point this would have been the most natural course of action everyone should pursue. Any government that is even mildly democratic would have been susceptible to establish some form of dialogue with the opposition. But what we have witnessed in Ethiopia in the past few months is sufficient to disabuse us of such an illusion. What we have observed with horror are the heartless, ruthless and indiscriminate beatings of unarmed demonstrators, their mass incarceration, and even killings. The popular demonstrations have had the effect of driving the regime to panic and declare a state of emergency, which continues to this day. By its very actions the regime has made it plainly clear that it has no intention of acknowledging that there is overwhelming discontent and desire for immediate change. It appears set to squash all dissent by any means at its disposal. It plans to silence all opposition voices, jail whomever it wishes, and govern unhindered until kingdom come. Continuing to advocate peaceful struggle to oppose a regime which is no longer pretending to be democratic would be tantamount to asking that many sacrifice their lives for nothing. I am skeptical, even though I would love to be proven wrong, that peaceful struggle would bring about change in Ethiopia.

And thus we are left only with two other options that I would like to lay down forthwith. The first one considers what remains within the power of the people to bring forth the end of this regime, the other what the regime can do to make an honorable quasi-exit. I would like to call the first one “concerted popular resistance”, and the second “gradual integration”. A concerted popular resistance is a form of non-violent struggle which incorporates all the peaceful means available to the common person to weaken and eventually bring about the end of the regime. It consists of civil disobedience, financial boycott, exposing the regimes actions, and also organizing peaceful demonstration when possible.

By civil disobedience I mean the refusal to participate in any and all political elections unless international credible observers can guarantee their process and outcome. Under this rubric, I will also add the refusal to self-incriminate oneself for acting to bring about change by peaceful means. An adjuvant tactic of civil disobedience is financial boycott. The regime has had a staying power thanks in no small part to its vast financial network. If everyone who opposes this regime were to refuse to do business in any form or shape with the corporations, businesses and persons belonging to or affiliated with the regime I believe we would witness tangible changes, and even openness to establish some form of communication. The third component of the non-violent struggle is exposing the regime’s violence and abuses perpetrated on the people and dissident groups. This demands that all information be documented and corroborated. That no hear-says or half-truths be passed as facts. The idea is to shame and discredit the regime until it loses all its credibility and is forced to come to its senses. A final and essential part of civil disobedience is of course mass popular marches. They should be held everywhere, in Ethiopia and wherever this regime is represented outside the country. I believe that this alternative has a better chance of succeeding – and I could be of course wrong – than picking up arms.

This regime has demonstrated time and again to possess an uncanny ability to survive despite all forms of opposition. But I don’t believe, especially now, that it can extend its life by making recourse to violence alone. Every time it meets peaceful resistance with fire, it will be shortening its days.  It is now that it has every opportunity to end the stalemate and trace a new course. It can do this by transforming itself from a narrow nationalist and ethnocentric party into a truly ideologically founded national party. This means promoting the equality of all the peoples of Ethiopia in every sense of the word, allowing the presence and freedom of all political groups throughout the country, allowing free and fair elections, freeing the press from all restrictions, protecting the human and civil rights of all citizens, upholding the rule of law, and creating a truly impartial military and security body. This should not imply the elimination of the rights and powers of the multitude of nationalities and ethnic groups, nor their rights to self-determination. As a famous scholar on Ethiopia once said: “Ethiopia is a mosaic of peoples”. And as such our political institutions must always reflect this fundamental fact. The question is really more about democratic governance and creating consensus about what kind of future we desire for the coming generation.

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Held at the Pan African University, Cameroon on June 11-14, 2017

Facilitated by Professor Mammo Muchie: DST/NRF Research Chair on Innovation and Development (TUT) (www.sarchi-steid.org.za) & www.africantalenthub.org

Background and Objectives

Follow online this INTENSIVE INTERACTIVE SEMINAR, On African Unity and Renaissance for an Integrated Development Held at the Pan African University, Cameroon on June 11-14, 2017 , Facilitated by Professor Mammo Muchie the AUSC Presidency’s Special Advisor For African Union Focal Point.; www.africanunionsc.org

Do Africans know who they are? Do they know where they come from? Are they learning about Africa without bias and prejudice? Do they also know where they have been and are, and do they know where they are going? Do they know their spiritual, knowledge and struggle heritages; and are they willing to know what they should have known about already, as Africans have been forced not to know about all the knowledge bequeathed from time immemorial. We will engage with all of you doctoral emerging scholars coming from different parts of Africa. What will be appropriate is to make your intellectual and learned engagements very interactive, where you all undertake research to find out why the Africa the palaeontologists have appreciated as the origin of humanity went through the process where the humanity of Africans was denied through slavery, colonialism and imperialism. More resources still flows out of Africa than what comes in from outside. Africa is a donator and it is not donated. Africa too develops those who claim to donate to Africa by huge amount of its wealth flowing out without interruption. Colonialism has not fully left Africa yet. The key issue is not to look back to this negative history and stay there. The main goal is for all Africans to engage with quality social capital with one another without fail in order to find new, creative and innovative ways to move forward and transcend the negative narrative by recognising, learning and comprehending the difficult journey that Africa has been through in history in order to make a new Africa that woks with full self-worth, dignity, independence and agency. How to build trust or social capital amongst Africans in order to make sure the African people are the main owners of Africa is critical to put as the priority in the Pan-African unity and renaissance agenda. Let you all become the Pan-African organic intellectuals to discover the workable routes to make Africa the wellbeing green zone of the world. Learning that diversity is an asset and not a liability by appreciating any differences whilst celebrating being African and human above all else should guide all to accelerate and fully realise African unity
for renaissance now and not tomorrow.

There will be eight lectures allocated as follows in each part below by focusing on Pan-Africanism, the spiritual, knowledge and struggles heritage and the need for African sustainable integrated development.

Part I. The First Day will be an interactive seminar on the link of Ethiopianism with Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance

a) Ethiopianism
b) Pan-Africanism
c) The African Renaissance

Part II; The second day will focus on moving away from Cognitive and Epistemological vice and invasion Africa faces to the African epistemological wealth, virtue & Justice

d) The African spiritual Contribution and knowledge and Science contributions
e) African contribution to science from the Science Wars Debate
f) The Struggle Heritage focusing on Haiti, South Africa, Ghana, the African Battle of Adwa that made Africa a victor not a victim and other struggles throughout the Africana world

Part III: The third half day will focus on ways of building the belated African Integrated Sustainable Development
g) Youth Employment and agriculture transformation
h) Making Unified pan-African Innovation system

Part IV: Assessment

All the doctoral students are expected to produce creative research papers that will be peer reviewed and the papers that pass the peer review will be published. As you all are doing your doctorate, the opportunity for you to engage in the inventive and creative spark by producing quality research that involves mainly the literature review related to the research work you plan to work on is critical. You are all expected to produce the research paper by the last week of July, 2017. Join to radiate intellectual spirit and energy now and Interact and network to create, invent, innovate and incubate to make Africa the talent hub and green zone and not the Sahara desert destination of the world. Good luck.

Recommended Reading
Mammo Muchie, Sanya Osha & Matlotleng P. Matlou (eds.) The Africana World: From Fragmentation to Unity and Renaissance, Aisa/Hsrc Publishers, 2012
Mammo Muchie, Vusi Gumede et al (eds.) Unite or Perish: Africa Fifty Years after the Founding of the OAU, AISA/HSRC Publishers, 2014
Mammo Muchie, Phindile Lukhele- Olorunju et al (eds.), The African Union Ten Years After: Solving African Problems with Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance, AISA/HSRC publishers, 2013
Mammo Muchie, Vusi Gumede, Samuel Oluruntoba & Nicasius Achu Check (eds.) Regenerating Africa: Bringing African Solutions to African Problems
Mammo Muchie, The Making of the Africa-Nation: Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance, Adonis Abbey Publishers, 2003
Mammo Muchie, Peter Gammeltoft & Bengt-Aake Lundvall (eds.) Putting Africa First: The Making of African Innovation Systems, Aalborg University Press, 2003
Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa (1876-1912), Clays Ltd, Britain, 1991
Kwesi Prah, The Africa Nation: The State of the Nation, The Centre of Advanced Studies of African Society, 2006
Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of the continent since Independence, Free Press, Britain, 2005
Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: Why Aid is not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa, Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin, 2009
Richard Dowden, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, Portobello Books Ltd., 2008, 2009
Julia Stewart, Stewart’s Quotable Africa, Penguin Books, 2004
Elegna M’buyinga, Pan-Africanism or Neo-Colonialism, Zed Press, 1982
Eddy Maloka (ed.) Africa’s Development Thinking since Independence: A Reader, AISA, 2002
Dani W. Nabudere, afrikology, Philosophy and Wholeness- an Epistemology, Aisa, 2011
Mammo Muchie, Towards Unified Theory of Pan-African innovation Systems and Integrated Development in Innovation Africa: Emerging Hubs of Excellence Edited by Olugbenga Adesida Geci Karuri-Sebina et al, Emerald Group Publishers, 2016
Mammo Muchie & A. Baskaran(ed), Education, Human Capital and Research Capacity for African Integrated Development, Africa World Press, 2017
Mammo Muchie & A. Baskaran (ed), African Economic Transformation in the Digital Age, Africa World Press, 2017
Mammo Muchie & A. Baskaran (ed), Solutions to Access Safe Drinking Water in Africa, World Press, 2017
Mammo Muchie & A. Baskaran (ed), Sectoral Innovation Systems in Africa, World Press, 2017
Re-thinking Africa’s development through the National Innovation System: M Muchie, Putting Africa first. The making of African Innovation Systems, Ibid.

The making of the Africa-nation: Pan-Africanism and the African renaissance: M Muchie, Adonis & Abbey Publishers

African integration and civil society: the case of the African Union: M Muchie, A Habib, V Padayachee, Transformation: critical perspectives on Southern Africa 61 (1), 3-24

Towards a unified conception of innovation systems.: A Baskaran, M Muchie, Institute for Economic Research on Innovation

Searching for opportunities for Sub-Saharan Africa’s renewal in the era of globalisation: M Muchie, Futures 32 (2), 131-147

An institutional perspective to challenges undermining innovation activities in Africa: S Mudombi, M Muchie, Innovation and Development 4 (2), 313-326

Challenges of African transformation: exploring through innovation approach: M Muchie, A Baskaran, African Books Collective

Innovation for sustainability: African and European perspectives”: M Muchie, A Baskaran African Books Collective

The Africana world: from fragmentation to unity and renaissance: M Muchie, S Osha, African Books Collective

Pan-Africanism: an idea whose time has come: M Muchie, Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 27 (2), 297-306

Towards a Theory for Reframing Pan-Africanism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come: M Muchie, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University

The African Union ten years after: Solving African problems with pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance: M Muchie, P Lukhele-Olorunju, OB Akpor, Africa Institute of South Africa

Neighbourhood System of Innovation: South Africa as a regional pole for economic development in Africa: E Kraemer-Mbula, M Muchie, Georgia Institute of Technology

Innovation Systems for ICT: The Case of Southern African Countries: E Kraemer-Mbula, M Muchie, Bridging the Digital Divide: Innovation Systems for ICT in Brazil, China

MOGES Abu Girma & MUCHIE Mammo : The Political Economy of Pan Africanism: Imagination and Renaissance , Paper
Some Useful Links
http://ela-newsportal.com/no-country-can-make-progress-on-the-basis-of-a-borrowed-language/
www.africantalenthub.org
http://www.africanunionsc.org/2016/11/all-african-youth-academicians-are.html
http://www.africanunionsc.org/2017/03/ausc-presidencys-special-advisor-for.html
http://www.africanunionsc.org/2016/11/the-ausc-presidencys-special-adviser.html
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rajs20/current
http://www.nesglobal.org/eejrif4/index.php?journal=admin
on the African talent Hub

A brainchild of Ethiopia’s significant scholar and Pan-Africanist Prof. Mammo Muchie’s, the African Talent Hub launched

keynote for ASSAF on Technology transfer

https://www.assaf.org.za/files/Conference%20Presentations/Technology%20TransferASSAFMMfinaldraft%20Mammo.pdf

Keynote in Senegal

http://interdisciplinarysolutions.org/2017/show/home

African Entrepreneurship Award

SOUTH AFRICA – The Land of Unexplored Talents

Approved by
H.E Iraguha Bandora Yves
President and Founder
African Union Students’ Council (AUSC)”For The Better Africa We Deserve”
Web:www.africanunionsc.org
E-mail:ausc.president.office@gmail.com
Whatsapp:+250736196204.

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By  Tesfaye Demmellash

I have in the past written about the mutual exclusions of patriotism and progressivism in the era of abyot in Ethiopia. That long era stretches from the time of the Student Movement through the blood thirsty tyranny of the Derg to the weird colonial-like dictatorship of Woyane “revolutionary democracy” over the last quarter century.

In that seemingly interminable zemen of revolution and its aftermath, professing progressive ideas and values while at the same time being an Ethiopian patriot has proven to be difficult. Indeed, a dynamic convergence of forward looking ideas and ye-ager fikir sentiments has been well-nigh impossible. But I believe such a fusion of our commitments to these, equally vital, elements of our national life is essential if Ethiopia is to thrive, not just survive.

If I am correct in this belief, a couple of related questions arise: how do we, as a nation, make the integration of patriotism and progressivism happen as it has never happened before? What are the conditions of its possibility at present? Or, how do we settle our intellectual and political accounts with the legacy of our “radical” progressive experience, whose continuing or residual effects are all around us today, largely in the form of divisive ethnopolitics? In this writing, I offer some critical thoughts seeking to contribute to the answers to these questions.

For the TPLF, the integration of forward looking ideas and ye-ager fikir remains anathema, something fundamentally at odds with the Front’s reason for being. Wedded from its inception to a retrograde, neo-feudal, regionalist, tribal political project, the TPLF has never had honest progressive intention for Ethiopia as one country. Quite the contrary. The integral transformation and development of the country has never been its motivation and goal. Nor have the Woyanes ever been patriotic in good faith, though they use “Ethiopia” cynically as a strategic subterfuge, as a political cover and resource for their project of the “liberation” of Tigray or the creation of “greater” Tigray.

The Revolution did produce many progressive patriots who sacrificed so much for the betterment of the lot of all Ethiopians regardless of ethnicity. But our culture of “teramaj” politica as a whole, including but not limited to that of the TPLF, has been inhospitable in thought and practice to the dynamic fusion of progressivism and patriotism under Ethiopian conditions. This is true, although the Woyane manifestation of the deeply problematic culture has been especially abhorrent. Admittedly, the nationally divisive partisan-tribal “revolutionary democracy” of the TPLF in particular has been the most perverse outcome or byproduct of the Ethiopian Revolution.

Still, long before the rise of the TPLF, championing universal ideas like freedom, democracy, and equality in the course of the Student Movement had already been marked by indifference, and often outright hostility, toward our national tradition.  The mutual exclusion of sensuous Ethiopian experience rooted in history and culturally arid intellectual socialization based on abstract ideology has its origins in that seminal social movement. The rest, as we know painfully well, is disappointing revolutionary history, made mainly by the successive dictatorships of the Derg and the Woyanes. This persistent condition has created and perpetuated Ethiopia’s long national crisis over the last several decades.

We should be careful, however, not to regard the Ethiopian experience, specifically our struggle today for national redemption, as necessarily incongruent with progressive values and commitments as such. We should not equate progressivism as a whole with its perverse partisan features or defective ethnic variants. That would be a mistake, not only in conceptual thought or in principle but also in strategic and practical terms related to the present struggle for our national salvation.

For there are alternative ways of embracing forward looking ideas. They range from the least reflective, most formulaic and nationally rootless, “globalized” ideological constructs that have had wide currency within the Ethiopian revolutionary tradition, to historically better informed, more thoughtful and enlightened approaches that have greater accommodative democratic resonance with our national values and experience.

I see possibilities of a fruitful symbiosis today between a big, hopeful patriotic heart and a skeptical, questioning, progressive mind. I imagine a politically productive dynamic between our feelings and thoughts which will figure centrally in Ethiopia’s rise and renewal. I envision the heat of patriotic passion being productively harnessed and given sustainable form and direction by the light of cool, strategic, progressive reason.

It is departing from this hopeful vision that I present the following fifteen critical notes on patriotism, progressivism, and ethnopolitics in Ethiopia today. I offer the notes as a spur to further thought and discussion in the Ethiopian opposition to TPLF tyranny. They are also intended to help prepare the political ground in the country for broad-based national consensus on the direction and strategies of Ethiopian renewal.

1. 1. Ethiopia/Ethiopiawinnet is not simply a repository of historic agerawi heritage and civilization but also a vital site of contemporary national growth and development. Having already undergone a revolution, it has the potential to evolve further and better, accommodating anew progressive change while enduring as the unique national entity that it is and has been for millennia.

Consequently, any Ethiopian patriot who wants to promote systemic political change in the country today and actively participate in such change must regard reconstructed progressivism as a crucial intellectual and political ally, a vital source of enlightened vision of national freedom and development.

What drives the contemporary Ethiopian movement for freedom and renewal is neither simply abstract political thought (centered on, say, “democracy,”) nor merely historical-cultural sources of nationality. Rather, it is an integral national experience which can absorb into itself new forward looking ideas and values. In the present Ethiopian struggle for change, there is significant conceptual and strategic innovation to be gained through a renewed convergence of patriotism and progressivism.

2. 2. However, a dynamic coming together of these two strands of our shared national life has not been possible in the course of the Revolution and its aftermath to-date. This is so largely because, given as they have been to “radical” excesses of social and ethnic engineering, revolutionary leaders, parties, and regimes lacked the intellectual disposition and resources for thinking broadly through the tension between progressivism and patriotism. Instead, they professed “progressivism” in grossly one-sided, abstract, formulaic and dogmatic terms, doing so in effect, if not always in intent, outside and against the Ethiopian national experience.

Under these circumstances, promoters and practitioners of teramaj politica in the country could make neither the Ethiopian national tradition nor progressivism itself the ground and object of their critical thought. Putting their blind, unreflective faith in such modernist idols as “revolution,” “science,” “democracy,” and “national self-determination,” they not only excluded ideas from our historic national sensibility and experience but also severely restricted the free flow and development of forward looking thought in Ethiopian politics and society.

The resulting nationally nihilistic, depthless radicalism has had significant implications for the articulation of progressivism, patriotism, and ethnopolitics in the Ethiopian context, as I note in the following critical theses.

3. 3. Progressive ideas have made themselves felt in our country largely as the simple negation or reverse of the sentiments and experience of Ethiopiawinnet. Practitioners of supposedly radical politics in the country generally tended to devalue Ethiopian nationhood as inauthentic or “fake” relative to the “nationality” of ethnic groups.

But, for all their “radicalism,” the ideas of the ultra-left in particular could not have been actually transformative of our national culture. This was because the ideas, such as they were, represented an approach to Ethiopian national culture that was grossly and summarily rejectionist, characterizing the culture as the sum of its limitations and problems, a “prison of nations,” nothing more or different.

Thus, an entire paradigm of leftist thought, whose offshoot TPLF/OLF ethnonationalist ideology is, imagined historic Ethiopia out of existence, telling us that real and valid national being lies only in articulated ideas of democracy and ethnonational “self-determination” or “liberation,” simply as a contemporary political project. In a boldfaced Orwellian reversal, an actually existent, though imperfect, nation-state is wished out of being while a merely aspirational ethnocentric “nationality” is declared to have real existence.

4. 4. Ethiopian progressive thought has been entangled in a web of contradictions: it has generally privileged ideology over history, promoting the overriding authoritarian power of sectarian and tribal ideologues over everyone else; yet, it has been bereft of relatively autonomous ideational content. Instead, as “radical” progressives, we have often passed our inert dogmatism off as commitment to high-minded principle.

Ethiopian progressives sought to enlighten and move “the broad masses” through ideas, but they didn’t allow the ideas they professed to convey logos or knowledge in their own terms, i.e. beyond the limits of narrow, exclusively partisan sense and meaning. The ideal purpose of Ethiopian progressivism was to cast the light of reason on our politics, to advance freedom and democracy in Ethiopia; in actuality, however, progressivism itself became a force of darkness, a means of rationalization of partisan-tribal repression and dictatorship.

The upshot is that notions like “democracy,” “equality,” “national self-determination,” “constitution,” and “federalism” under the Derg and/or Woyane regimes have had no reference to anything that has meaningful conceptual content and institutional reality. They are normatively empty rhetorical conceits of dictatorship.

5. 5. For a lot of patriotic Ethiopians, the historical and cultural sources of Ethiopiawinnet may loom larger than its contemporary ideas and validity, while for the nation’s many other citizens and some political entities Ethiopian nationality may be more significant as a contemporary civic and political achievement than as a structure of past events, deeds, accomplishments and cultural sources of identity.

However, neither aspect of our national tradition in and of itself adequately captures the meaning and realities of Ethiopian patriotism today. What is significant is not one or the other strand of our shared nationality taken singly, but the synergy produced by the fusion of both streams of Ethiopian national consciousness. History is not simply a record of our past achievements as a people; it is a vital constitutive part of contemporary Ethiopian national being and consciousness.

6. 6. As a structure of historical events, facts, deeds, accomplishments, and patriotic narratives, Ethiopiawinnet has had its native critics and objectors like other national cultures and civilizations. Here, we should distinguish between two types of objectors.

Namely, on one side are patriotic and progressive Ethiopian dissidents of various ethnic backgrounds who have sought in good faith, though not effectively, to engage our national tradition, seeking to bring about its integral transformation and development. And, on the other, we have protagonists of more or less separatist identity politics that have willfully and “radically” alienated themselves from Ethiopian nationhood, which they have wanted to undo.

The latter (we may characterize them as ethnopolitical “others”) are bent on undermining our shared nationality or, failing that, only accept Ethiopiawinnet grudgingly as nothing more than a collection of tribal kilils. The TPLF, the current “ruling” party (if one can call it that), belongs in this category of extremist objectors that are resentful and hostile toward Ethiopian multiethnic national culture. So do unreconstructed separatist factions or remnants of the OLF.

This distinction has strategic implications for the resistance in terms of building national consensus and coalitions toward post-communist and post-tribal Ethiopian transformation. Broad-based agerawi agreement can be built among patriots and reconstructed progressives of diverse ethnicities who operate in good faith within the parameters of commonly shared Ethiopian nationality and citizenship even as they disagree on matters of politics and policy.

But it is impossible to accommodate within such consensus ethnonationalist elements obsessed with separatist identity politics. The alliance of patriotic-progressive resistance forces has no choice but to do battle with these “others” on various fields of engagement and by various means in the most critical and systematic way it can.

7. 7. Love of country has its own challenges and drawbacks. Modes of patriotic concern and the ways in which patriotism is valued or approached differ with different parties, regimes, and interests. For example, the Woyanes have their own exclusively partisan sense of, and identification with, Ethiopia and Ethiopiawinnet. National sentiments and values can take liberal-democratic form or repressive-authoritarian shape. They can assume broadly trans-ethnic, civic mold or narrowly tribal pattern; and they can be expressed with honest or dishonest intention. Also, patriotism may be used by regimes and politicians to distract the attention of citizens from policy failures or limitations and internal problems.

Among individuals and groups motivated by honest nationalist intention, patriotism can be emotionally overcharged and at times impervious to reason and strategic intelligence. At a time today of challenging Ethiopian struggle for national survival against an enemy at once cunning and brutal, giving free rein to unthinking patriotic passion can be politically counterproductive, even if it seems psychologically compelling or satisfying.

This holds true, by the way, for ethnicism or identity politics too. Including, that is, current movements of some “activist” groups that overethnicize Amarannet even as they make good faith effort to protect the Amara people from brazen and insidious Woyane genocidal aggression.

That said, we should not forget that love of country is potentially a motive force of our struggle for national salvation, a source of uplifting energy, commitment, and action. If we shy away from reaffirming our national heritage and solidarity, doing so perhaps out of a misguided progressive conceit of “multiculturalism” or “political correctness,” we disable ourselves as a people and a nation. We lose our national élan. If we suppress or neutralize our patriotism, we lose the spirit, vitality and power of integral Ethiopiawinnet.

We thereby allow our shared nationality to be subjected to the nefarious machinations of hostile forces like the TPLF, Shabiya and their internal proxies and external allies or backers. We enable such forces to parasitize on Ethiopia, to hollow out from within her national life and spirit, to devalue her unique historical heritage, and to squander her material and cultural resources and strategic assets, all to the detriment of the interests of her citizens and distinct cultural communities.

8. 8. In coming to terms with and valuing who or what we are as a historic nation, we carry within our national being and consciousness contemporary ideas and values of freedom, equality, political pluralism, democracy, and cultural diversity. Yet, as a nation, we move forward integrally, not divided along ethnic lines into so many exclusive, island-like “nationalities” or “peoples,” with insular territorial kilils or enclaves to match.

Such entities are unreal, lacking as they do actually free or autonomous social-political agency. They are only passed off as “facts on the ground.” The reality claimed for them is just that, a claim. As such, it is contestable and potentially open to discussion, negotiation and transformation.

9. 9. There is little prospect of existing or emergent patriotic-progressive Ethiopian forces engaging unreconstructed partisans of separatist ethnic politics in principled dialogue and exchange of thoughts and views. One of the main reasons for this is that the “progressive” ideas such exclusive partisans formally profess cannot be opened for informed critical debate and discussion, since they are seized upon and deployed instrumentally as blunt ideological and rhetorical weapons in identity wars.

Universal, forward looking ideas professed under these circumstances have no function other than as mechanisms for projecting an imagined ethnocentric “nationality,” as devices for making aspirational claims of biherawi selfhood. In this way, broad-based ideas have been narrowed down to, or conflated with, exclusively sectarian assertions and constructs of identity politics.

For example, TPLF notions of “democracy” and “federalism” have no principled content or practical significance beyond the narrow, exclusive, authoritarian interpretation the Front gives them to suit its self-serving partisan and tribal purposes. Utterly meaningless and without value for Ethiopian politics, government and society generally, these notions constitute nothing but counterfeit ideological currency.

What this means is that, for TPLF partisans and other practitioners of identity politics, it is not the philosophical or historical contents of notions like “democracy” and “self-determination” that are important but the party or ethnic group which rhetorically and tactically “identifies” itself with such notions. Thus the overriding concern has been about who (or which group/tribe) expresses the idea of “democracy,” not what the idea itself signifies, either in principle and conceptual thought or in the Ethiopian national context.

Consequently, it has been hard to reason with such exclusively partisan ideological self-representations. How can an ethnic party or group that simply and immediately lays claim to the notion of “democracy” in framing its selfhood or in its self-identification be expected to let others question its view of that very notion? Wouldn’t that mean allowing its imagined “nationality” or “identity” to be questioned? Herein lie the underlying ideational and political limitations of ethnonationist “progressivism” in Ethiopia from the era of the Student Movement to the present.

Put differently, the problem has been that identity as politically imagined and wished for subjectivity or a construct of generic “revolutionary” ideology is confused with historically constituted social category, namely, with actual Ethiopian ethnic-cultural communities and their commonly shared as well as distinctive forms of self-identification. And the mix up of ideological and social categories has generally made the ideology at issue closed to enlightened debate, discussion, and reconstruction.

10. 10. Dissociating ethnocentrism as a category or system of ideas (particularly the residual Leninist-Stalinist constructs of ethnic partisans and elites) from the felt and lived self-identifications of actual Ethiopian cultural communities is imperative both as a matter of principle and in the struggle to save and renew Ethiopia.

The nation’s diverse, yet intersecting and overlapping communities can be identified locally and nationally in various ways, including shared history, common socio-economic interests, and trans-ethnic popular culture and spiritual life. Making all these sources and forms of community self-hood in Ethiopia extensions and objects of exclusive partisan or state ethnicism is not only undemocratic but also a gross contravention of the relative autonomy of the nation’s regions and localities and of the communities that dwell in them.

The old and still residually operative habit of “revolutionary” thought and practice in Ethiopia has resulted in the overpoliticization of ethnicity or in the overethnicization of local and regional identity. This deeply flawed yet predominant pattern of identity work should be deconstructed through a new progressive-patriotic ethos marked by what I would call ethnoscepticism.

In coining the term “ethnoscepticism,” I have in mind the all-round questioning and critique of ethnocentrism. I value and embrace ethnic-cultural diversity as constitutive of the Ethiopian national experience. But I regard the tradition of identity politics characteristic of such parties as the TPLF and the OLF (or what is left of it) not only wrong in its substantive views and arguments but fundamentally misconceived in equating an exclusively partisan ethnopolitical ideology simply and straightaway with national life, with the form, substance, and horizon of nationhood as such. In this, it is deeply mistaken.

11. 11. Part of the allure and absurdity of ethnocentrism in Ethiopia is thus its aspiration to maximize tribal identity out of all historical proportion, common sense, and socio-economic context or rationality. Its appeal, particularly to those engaged in exclusively partisan identity work aimed at creating petty tribal states, is related to the overpoliticization of ethnicity as separatist “nationality.”

The attractiveness of ethnonationalism is related to the conflation of aspirational identity constructed ideologically with the subjectivities of actually existing Ethiopian cultural communities. We see this (intended or unwitting) confusion in its most graphic form in the practically meaningless Stalinist dogma of “the rights of nations, nationalities, and peoples to self-determination up to and including secession.” This old and tired dogma has, for decades, made itself felt in Ethiopian politics through mind-numbing high rhetorical frequency, but it has never had the sense and feel of authenticity or reality.

Instead, the dogma signifies nothing but political fiction; the “rights” of which it speaks have always been unreal. Nor should we take the generic Leninist-Stalinist terms, “nations, nationalities, and peoples” at face value as social referents, as if they pick out or represent particular Ethiopian cultural communities in any descriptive or political sense. We know that the terms generally encode and rationalize single-party, authoritarian rule centered on ethnic identity, real and/or imagined.

It is worth stressing here that the overvaluation of ethnicity (as “nation”) in Ethiopia since the era of the Student Movement has not been an outcome simply of the identity work of tribal elites or partisans. Instead, it has more broadly been a mark of leftist political fashion in the country. The phenomenon is symptomatic of our troubled tradition of teramaj politica as a whole.

In effect, if not by design, the inordinate currency we have given in our progressive discourse to the ideological categories of “nations,” “nationalities,” and “peoples” can be said to represent within that discourse a conceptually inert formulaic “radicalism” aimed at delegitimizing trans-ethnic Ethiopian nationality. It signified a global, generic, fundamentalist progressivism divorced from historically informed and grounded Ethiopian political thought.

That said, we cannot deny that the tendency of old school “revolutionary” partisans of the TPLF and remnants of the OLF today to overvalue ethnicity politically has to do with wounded cultural pride, often reflecting a felt or perceived sense of being devalued or treated as inferior in one’s distinct culture and identity. Whether its sources and bases are historically real or mainly politically constructed, this feeling cannot be discounted.

12. 12. Yet we should recognize that the sentiment is connected to the perception (by unreconstructed practitioners of identity politics) of Tigres and Oromos as passive victims in the formation of the modern Ethiopian state, which is simply and falsely equated with “Amhara expansion.” What is conveniently denied or overlooked in this overdrawn ethnocentric narrative of victimhood is the active participation of heroic figures from the Tigre and Oromo communities in the making of modern Ethiopia as well as the fact of the multi-ethnic heritage of great Ethiopian national leaders, particularly Emperor Menelik II.

The fundamental problem here is that identity issues and problems, and the solutions proposed for them, are dissociated from broader social-structural contexts of movement, contact, and interaction of communities. This is particularly true of Amharas and Oromos.  The intersections, interpenetrations, and cultural exchanges of these two great communities are profoundly constitutive of historic and contemporary Ethiopia as a whole and of distinct regions and cultural identities within the country.

Contrary to these historical conditions of our shared nationality, supposedly revolutionary narratives of “self-determination” or “liberation” have constructed disparate island-like ethnic “selves” as focal points of partisan domination, identity work, and wished for tribal state formation. The TPLF has become master of ethnocraft in this sense, adept at engineering cultural identities in Ethiopia today, particularly targeting the Oromo and Amhara communities. The possible solidarity of these two intersecting Ethiopian communities constitutes a mortal danger to the partisan-tribal dictatorship of the Woyane party, and the Woyanes know it. And they will do everything they can to prevent its realization.

13. 13. In this connection, Amara distinctness is worth noting in particular. Woyane Tigres dream of reducing Amaras to just one among many other tribal groups in the country; they have sought to force Amarannet and Ethiopiawinnet But, if there is a distinct Ethiopian cultural community whose national identity or nationalism cannot be defined simply by ethnicity, it is the Amara people.

We as a community certainly have a right to defend ourselves by all means necessary against existential threats the TPLF and its proxies pose, and we should not hesitate to exercise that right whenever and wherever the need arises. But the continued survival and flourishing of Amaras (and of other cultural communities in the country) has a lot to do with maintaining cultural distinctness while strengthening civic unity and political solidarity with others through Ethiopiawinnet. Ultimately, we rise or fall together as Ethiopians. In the long run, the salvation of the Amara people will be achieved not in isolation from, or on the margins of, the Ethiopian experience but as integral and central to that experience. Ethiopiawinnet is deeply constitutive of Amara maninnet.

Even as we defend ourselves as a distinct community from TPLF predatory tribal aggression, we rely on Ethiopiawinnet for building patriotic-progressive coalitions and for cultivating needed allies and supporters near and far in the resistance against Woyane tyranny. As a vital part of Ethiopian national life, Amaras everywhere in the country confront a vengeful, scheming tribal enemy that harbors ill will towards us. It oppresses us not only by means state power, but through a network of local, national, regional, and global partners and allies. In doing so, it uses a wide range of ways and means, including coercion, espionage, political pressure,  programs and projects of economic “development,” cyber tools, media, and propaganda.

Against an enemy operating on such networked terrain, the Amara community cannot effectively engage even in self-defense by practicing identity tegadlo pure and simple, disregarding or ignoring its vital historic and contemporary ties with other Ethiopian communities. Instead, in struggling to neutralize, turn aside or unravel the TPLF network of domination, the Amara resistance should take full advantage of its broader Ethiopian heritage of standing up to enemies, foreign and domestic.

This means in part leveraging the values, resources and capabilities of Ethiopiawinnet existent in diverse communities and localities of the country. More broadly, it means building a strong coalition of patriotic and progressive forces linked to a countervailing network of regional and global sources of support.

But this cannot be done merely or primarily by practicing identity politics. The nation’s struggle against Woyane tyranny, at the center of which is the resistance of the Amara people, will require a renewed Ethiopian national vision, enlightened intellectual, political and moral leadership, a keen understanding of possibilities of trans-ethnic Ethiopian national consensus and solidarity, and strategic direction and resourcefulness.

14. 14. TPLF ethnocentrism is caught in a net of paradoxes: generally, it is marked by a contradictory assertion of egalitarian ideals and dictatorial power. Its ethnic “federalism” represents an imposition of centralized state power by a small party, locally based in a minority ethnic community, over much larger Ethiopian cultural communities.

Under these conditions, “national self-determination” as an egalitarian value or ideal is neutralized by its treatment as an object of tactical maneuvers and manipulations by the Woyane power hierarchy. We see here the paradox of distinct Ethiopian local communities being subjected to dictatorial power in their supposed act of self-determination. We witness the rhetorical or formal promotion of cultural identity and difference facilitating the pre-emptive suppression of actual diversity and local self-government brought about by the homogenizing effects of TPLF state ethnicism.

Formally, the Woyane regime obsesses about, and gives excessive attention to, ideologically pre-cooked ethnic identity. Yet, whatever distinct cultural community (say, the Amara, Oromo, Tigre or Gurage) is addressed in this way gets little or no attention in its own, actual, self-identification. It has little or no agency either in its bona fide autonomy or in its historic and contemporary ties and intersections with other Ethiopian communities.

As such, the TPLF state is a squanderer of Ethiopian social capital and national power. In fostering tribal division, it undermines both the national solidarity and cultural diversity of the Ethiopian people, for there is really no meaningful diversity to speak of without robust national unity. In its self-serving instrumentalization of ethnic identities, the Woyane dictatorship is socially and nationally wasteful in a double sense. The regime not only hinders the country’s diverse communities from gaining true local self-government, but also severely limits their capacity to benefit fully from larger material and cultural values the Ethiopian national experience affords.

Moreover, officially sanctioned tribal fragmentation of the country has created a fertile ground for economic inefficiencies, corruption, and uneven development against the interests of all citizens and cultural communities in the country. And most outrageously, aging TPLF tyrants preside over the subjection particularly of Amhara communities in various parts of Ethiopia to destructive ethnic cleansing and genocide or the threat of genocide.

Consequently, the institutionalized tribalism of the Woyane regime should be clearly distinguished from the actual ethnic and cultural practices of real Ethiopian communities. The identity politics of TPLF dictatorship is not a part of us as citizens and local communities. It is not our lived experience as Amaras, Oromos, Tigres, Gurages, Afars, and so on.

On the contrary, it is imposed on us, making us all its objects and extensions. Woyane bureaucratic tribalism has its own colonially inspired divide-and-dominate rationale, interests, institutions, and practices. All of these elements and features of TPLF state ethnicism have taken shape and come into play against the multiethnic Ethiopian national experience. Insofar as Woyane political ethnicism has continued to be ideologically connected to the Stalinist legacy, it has been dictatorial. And, as such, it remains a major enemy of democracy in Ethiopia.

Under these circumstances, political institutions and practices of the Woyane regime such as federalism, constitution, parliament, elections, democracy, and development are not simply instruments the regime uses to pursue and protect its partisan-tribal interests. They are authoritarian tools the Woyanes use to undermine Ethiopian national culture, to negate fundamentally what Ethiopia means to its citizens and diverse local and cultural communities.

In this regard, an issue that is worth exploring but often suppressed or ignored in narratives and practices of identity politics in Ethiopia is this: what has been the role or function of external factors or influences, colonial and post-colonial, in the formation of “local” ethnic identities in Ethiopia? What has been the impact of global and regional forces on the inflated political currency of ethnicism in the country in more recent decades? Broad and involved, these questions deserve close, critical study and analysis. Here, it is enough to make a few concluding observations by way of a fifteenth, and last, set of critical notes.

15. 15. Ethnic identities are commonly recognized by such relatively static or spontaneous markers as language, religion, cultural practice, physical appearance, and locality or place of dwelling. But, in a political-historical context, they are better understood dynamically as products of contacts and relations of native populations or localities with larger intervening forces. Forms of ethnicity or ethnicism can be seen as links in, and outcomes of, a long chain of local, national, regional, and global interactions, influences, and activities.

In this light, we can trace connections between, for example, the separatist identity politics of the OLF and the work of colonial and post-colonial era German missionaries and of other agents of European interests, notably, Baron Roman Prochazka of Austria, an anti-Ethiopia and anti-Amara Nazi figure who reportedly was the first to have spoken of the “self-determination of tribes in Abyssinia.” The dubious intentions of the seemingly OLF-supporting Shabiya dictatorship toward Ethiopia make up another major link in the chain.

We can further include here the connection between the Shabiya regime and Arab states’ goals in the Red Sea region and in the Horn of Africa, goals which have also generally contravened Ethiopian national interest. Western Marxist revolutionary ideology (specifically the Leninist-Stalinist dogma of “national self-determination”) also deserves mention as a significant link in the chain of locality-forming or identity-shaping external forces that have in more recent decades made themselves felt in Ethiopia.

This series of connections, which generally has tended to work at cross-purposes with Ethiopian national integration, thus represents more than the immediacies of OLF (or TPLF) partisans’ narratives of ethnic victimhood and related schemes of ethnocentric “national” self-definition and self-assertion. Instead, the links signify the overdetermination of OLF/TPLF ethnocentrism by various regional and global interests and influences. They point to a more complex and problematic political quality that has shaped the seemingly simple identity politics of both ethnic parties.

Not a brute empirical datum or a “reality on the ground” given naturally, then, “identity” or “locality” here is a political construct that has varying phenomenological character. That is to say, it can be variously perceived, defined, valued, and “realized” by competing or cooperating interests and forces.  Different interests may have differing locality/identity-shaping purposes, programs, and capabilities. Varying projects of ethnocentrism, say, those of the TPLF and the OLF, may use varying tactics and techniques of valorization or “nationalization” of ethnicity.

Among the ways and means of identity work the Woyane regime in particular employs are: demographic tactics (depopulation and resettlement schemes, ethnic cleansing, and so on); cultural politics, for example, interventions in the internal affairs of the nation’s religious communities; economic policies and instruments (“development” projects); gross ethnic corruption in education and professional training; and similarly wholesale tribal favoritism in appointments to positions of power and in the staffing and use of the institutions of the “federal” state, namely, its fiscal, financial, bureaucratic, intelligence, police, and military agencies.

All these factors add up to an onerous task for the Ethiopian opposition to Woyane tyranny. They pose difficult challenges for the articulation of the form and direction of the Ethiopian patriotic-progressive resistance against TPLF dictatorship, which is at once insidious and blatantly oppressive. Gaining an enlightened strategic grasp as well as a practical understanding of the challenges involved is a critical first step in waging a successful struggle toward Ethiopian freedom and renewal.

The post Fifteen Points: Thoughts on Progressivism, Patriotism and Ethnopolitics in Ethiopia appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News|Breaking News: Your right to know!.

The Ethiopian People’s Congress for United Struggle (SHENGO) rejects the latest ploy by  the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and its cronies to grant “preferential treatment and special privileges” to the Oromo people. This latest policy is intended to strengthen ethnic, social and political division and prolong TPLF hegemony.

For 27 years, the TPLF has managed to pit one ethnic group against another, all for its own narrow benefits. It has managed to persuade the global community that, without its political and economic hegemony, Ethiopia will balkanize and genocide would ensue. This ploy to crush freedom, justice, the rule of law and inclusive governance has enabled this group to survive, extract rent and amass wealth beyond imagination. The glitz that is Addis Ababa mirrors this wanton robbery by a small clique at the expense of the vast majority of Ethiopians.

Central to this ploy of divide and rule is the deliberate and systematic animosity, lack of mutual confidence and suspicion the TPLF and its ethnic elite allies continue to create between the two largest ethnic groups, the Amhara and Oromo. Since early 2015, millions of Oromo and Amhara nationals showed fierce and bold determination to free themselves from the ill-conceived ethnic “tumor,” to use Professor Paulos Milkias’s term, conceived, developed and propagated by the TPLF. These political machinations and the constant assessment (ግምገማ) carried out by the ruling party squandering enormous amounts of public resources have done little to nothing in alleviating the root causes of abject poverty, hunger, disease, disempowerment, displacement, institutional corruption, human capital flight, massive illicit outflow of funds and the worst form of repressive governance. The Amhara, especially youth in Gondar and Oromia reciprocated a spirit of brotherhood, sisterhood and commonality and challenged the TPLF-grip to its core.

Shengo contends that 27 years later, the TPLF is still a “front.” This “front” is still wedded to an anti-Ethiopia strategy of diminishing national unity with diversity. This “front” is used to governing and extracting wealth and riches without any form of competition. In response to the 2015-2016 uprising, the TPLF saw no other option but to come up with a new instrument of divide and rule by reverting to constitutional provisions that have made the entire federal government inept and dysfunctional. In the northern part of the country, it amassed a huge army supported by tanks, helicopter gunships and other heavy weapons with the sole purpose of “disarming” and crushing the indigenous population and forcing it into submission.

The core problem is not the evolution and identity of Addis Ababa where close to 5 million Ethiopians from all ethnic and religious groups live side by side. To our knowledge, the Oromo people who sacrificed their lives in defense of Ethiopia never asked for special preferential treatment. Addis Ababa is their city too. Addis Ababa belongs to all Ethiopians. The 5 million people who live in this city have enormous stake in its future. Sadly, no one asked them to have a say in the policy and decision-making that affect their lives.

We conclude from this that the decision is political.

Shengo believes that, in the same manner as all other Ethiopian citizens, the Oromo people demand and deserve justice, fair treatment and unfettered equality of opportunity under the law and genuine democracy. It goes without saying that respect of Oromo ethnic identity, history, traditions, cultures, socioeconomic and political rights and the use of their language is in the interest of all Ethiopians. These fundamental human and civil rights of the Oromo people should never be subject to negotiation. The TPLF and its narrow band of beneficiaries do not have the moral authority to grant or to deny these rights.

The sinister and cunning proclamation of “preferential treatment and special zones” for the Oromo population that is being propagated and imposed by the TPLF is simply a ploy to placate and to appease the population, defuse the popular outrage and resistance against the regime. In offering “preferential treatment and special zones” to the Oromo people, the TPLF schemes to create antagonism against the very people it purports to support. This is why this latest move is sinister (ተንኮል) that all Ethiopians must reject and condemn.

The deconstruction of Addis Ababa

In Shengo’s view, the deconstruction of Addis Ababa is a recipe for disaster for all ethnic groups and for Ethiopia. All capital cities in the world are a mosaic of people. Common attributes of such cities include “the right to private property” enshrined in Article 40 (1) of the 1994 Constitution. “Every Ethiopian citizen has the right to the ownership of private property. Unless prescribed otherwise by law on account of public interest, this right shall include the right to acquire, to use and, in a manner compatible with the rights of other citizens, to dispose of such property by sale or bequest or to transfer it otherwise.

Shengo wishes to draw the reader’s attention to the fundamental principle that urbanization is a powerful and unstoppable trend. It breaks barriers and creates greater commonality and solidarity among citizens. Addis Ababa is such a mosaic and diverse. Its future prosperity depends on mobility and innovation. Article 49 (1) recognizes that “Addis Ababa shall be the capital city of the Federal State.” As such, it belongs to all Ethiopians. Article 49 (2) recognizes the city’s autonomy. “The residents of Addis Ababa shall have a full measure of self-government. Particulars shall be determined by law.” This provision is however circumscribed by Article 49 (3). “The Administration of Addis Ababa shall be responsible to the Federal Government.” It is the TPLF-dominated federal government that dictates policy and decision-making including the allocation of lands.

In theory, the TPLF reverts to Article 49 (5) and argues that its proclamation is consistent with the Constitution that specifies the special interests of the Oromia region with regard to Addis Ababa and its environs. “The special interest of the State of Oromia in Addis Ababa, regarding the provision of social services or the utilization of natural resources and other similar matters, as well as joint administrative matters arising from the location of Addis Ababa within the State of Oromia, shall be respected….Particulars shall be determined by law.”

From the start, this constitutional provision is flawed and has been abused and misused by the TPLF to grab lands anywhere in the country. History tells us that Addis Ababa is located in the old province of Shoa. The ethnicization of the city was strengthened deliberately after the TPLF dominated EPRDF took power in 1991. The policy and structural problems that emerged are therefore a consequence ethnic-federalism that alienates citizens and bestows special rights and privileges on ethnic elites. It therefore behooves all Ethiopians to ask the fundamental question of whether or not any special consideration and privilege granted by the ruling party aggravates ethnic hatred and division, establishes precedents that the regime cannot control, diminishes cohesion and synergy that are vital for a modern metropolis; and undermines socioeconomic, political and environmental sustainability for all? Ethiopians should challenge the TPLF and its ethic allies and hold them accountable for the dire consequences.

In Shengo’s view, the unintended consequences of this sinister proclamation by the TPLF and its ethnic elite cronies are immense and consequential. The TPLF has utilized different tools for different occasions. Ethiopians would recall what the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in ensuring his party’s longevity and perpetuity. “It is possible to reduce your population as well as your land.” TPLF commandeered security forces murdered more than 1,000 innocent Oromo and Amhara nationals and imprisoned tens of thousands. The TPLF grabbed lands from Gondar and Wollo and incorporated them into Tigray. The TPLF transferred huge tracts of land to the Sudan. The TPLF made Ethiopia land locked. The TPLF is waging war against its own people in Gondar, Wollo, Gojjam and other localities. No one knows the number of civilians killed or being killed each day.

All told, the TPLF is determined to prolong its rule by eliminating others and by placating and appeasing Oromo citizens without addressing the root causes of defiance and protest, instability and massive human displacement. Repressive measures undermine mutual tolerance, peaceful coexistence, diversity and the evolution of a multiethnic and multi-religious democratic society that Ethiopia and Ethiopians deserve.

Shengo is enormously gratified that members of civil society, political organizations and prominent persons within the Oromo community have rejected the TPLF proclamation as “divisive,” evil and sinister. We share the views expressed that the proclamation fails to address the legitimate demands and grievances of the Oromo and other Ethiopians who continue to suffer under a brutal dictatorship. The proclamation ignores and fails to address the root and systemic causes that led to the popular revolt. Our response should be greater solidarity and unity; not submission.

A regime in panic

Shengo believes that the timing of the proclamation is self-serving and is intended to detract the Ethiopian people from the hard work of mobilizing themselves against one of the most repressive and cruel regimes on the planet today. Ethiopia is now ruled by the discredited TPLF security, special units and defense establishment. The emergency proclamation has failed to enforce submission. On the contrary, Ethiopians express their anger, frustration, rejection and revulsion openly and without fear. The new proclamation is therefore a camouflage to divide the Oromo people from other Ethiopians. We

Shengo therefore calls on Oromo and other Ethiopian opposition groups, civil society as well as prominent individuals that have been consistent in their condemnation of extrajudicial killings to unify their resources and advance the change and democratization process in our country. We are convinced that, together, we can save Ethiopia from balkanization and civil conflict.

Shengo notes with dismay that, having brought the country under a state of emergency, the  regime is “relaunching” state terrorism in two fronts: one against the Amhara, most notably the people of Gondar and the other against the Oromo people. It does the later through a cunning scheme modernization and empowerment. The proclamation provides policy guidance for the expansion of “transportation and health services, rapid economic development, and proper compensation” for those whose lands have been grabbed or annexed. Despite this appeasement both ethnic groups and the rest of Ethiopia share a common cause, a brutal and inhumane regime that will continue to kill and jail. The way out is not division but greater solidarity.

Shengo notes that, time and time again, the TPLF-led regime responds with cunning and manipulative tools whenever popular will threatens its existence. Since the Oromo uprising in 2015 followed by a similar resistance by the Amhara population, the vast majority of Ethiopians have demanded and continue to demand fundamental and not cosmetic change. We are gratified this outcry for change is widely shared by the world community, by individuals within the EPRDF and by several think tanks such as the Carnegie Endowment for Peace and the Fund for Peace.

Shengo concludes from this that the TPLF tactic of divide and rule has outlived its  utility function.

Last but not least, Shengo genuinely believes that fundamental democratic change is inevitable in Ethiopia.

We therefore call on all Ethiopian civic, religious, political and professional groups as well as prominent individuals within and outside the country to set aside minor differences and collaborate to dislodge the repressive and divisive regime.

Long Live Ethiopia!

The post Shengo’s Press Statement on TPLF’s Divisive Proclamation Why the TPLF Ploy Won’t Work This Time appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News|Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Vision Ethiopia, an independent network of Ethiopian scholars and professionals, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio (ESAT), is pleased to announce that the Fourth Conference will be held in Washington D.C. on September 16 and 17, 2017. We thank those who responded to our first call for papers which was issued on March 4, 20117. The second call is intended to provide a reminder to potential contributors, and a more focused list of transition issues that the conference aims to address. Abstract, and preferably the entire paper should be sent to visionethiopia2016@gmail.com on or before, August 20 2017. The theme of the conference is Building Democratic Institutions in Ethiopia.

Authors are reminded that the theme of the Fourth Conference builds upon the deliberations of the Third Conference that was held from October 23 to 24, 2016. At the Third Conference where more than 20 panelists and moderators and hundreds of participants were engaged, and conference resolved that there is an urgent need to build a road map for transition from conflict to a post-conflict constitution making order in Ethiopia. The communique of the conference highlighted the contemporary issues, assessed the challenges, and identified the actionable areas to realize the road map. Since October 2016 there have been a number of conferences and town hall meetings held by Ethiopians in various parts of the world. Alliances and counter alliances are being formed. As expected the ruling regime has had its own panel discussion to fight back the pressure and manage public and international opinion by defying, manipulating, and trying to capture the call for transition, while others perhaps inadvertently mimic the call for positioning themselves and remaining relevant. Vision Ethiopia notes these developments and encourages the engagement of the wider public in these important deliberations. Most conferences share the view that transition in Ethiopia is unavoidable.

The discourse has turned into the type of transition, how to make the transition inclusive, effective, relevant and capable to manage the various issues in Ethiopia while strengthening national unity and maintaining the territorial integrity of the country. It has also become important to take lessons from the 1975, 1991/92, and 2005 failed transitions. The question now is how to make the vehicles of transition and agents of change stronger. The myriad of political, economic, social, and security problems, coupled with the unrest, state of emergency, conflicts, tensions, drought, outmigration, internal displacement and the paralysis and tensions within the ruling regime, all indicate the need for a carefully planned change, that controls chaos.

The Fourth Conference aims at providing a forum for consolidating the discussion about the type of transition that is needed in Ethiopia. It addresses two critical issues that are the cornerstones of successful transitions: maintaining and strengthening national unity and creating, enabling and maintaining effective institutions. The continuity of the Ethiopian state, with its  territorial  integrity,  the  unity  of  its  diverse  population, and their democratic aspirations are critically dependent on the quality and strength of institutions that exist during and after the period of transition.

The protection and cultivation of an enduring and evolving national unity and sovereignty, through effective institutions, is the central tenet of a meaningful national discourse on transition. History, nostalgia and normative analysis of social and political orders must be separated from contemporary (real) politics. Self-determination becomes an empty idealization of a utopian state unless it is contextualized. Transition thus must not be defined as change of government or another meaningless election or a ritual copied from others. Formal and national institutions should have a number of attributes which should include, consistent with theory: shared national values, sets of functioning rules, ethical standards, procedures and norms designed to constrain offenders and those in authority, prevent cheating, system of entry to and exit from political office, defining the role of traditional authority/leadership, releasing the institutions of the modern state from their captured status, separation of powers, and mechanism for fending the tyranny of the state. Hence it is important to examine and understand what can go wrong in the transitioning processes. The process of transition is an important determinant of the outcome.

Authors are expected to use research and experience while analyzing a specific problem or series of problems. They need to contextualize their theories, and attempt to present the problem and solution dispassionately. With respect to specific topics, Vision Ethiopia would like speakers to focus on the following interconnected problems, and identify types of tried and tested transitions, and state why a specific type of transition is appropriate for today’s Ethiopia. Speakers can select sub topics of transition from the following. The list is indicative and by no means restrictive.

1. Comparative Constitutional Analysis: Constitutions & National Charters provide the broad framework of the political, legal, social, economic, and policy aspirations of a country and its transition framework. Setting and analyzing the constitutional/charter issues, provisions, priorities, challenges, and comparative context are important issues in drawing the road map and the transition to a post-conflict political order.
2. National Unity & Institutions: Outlining the mechanisms for maintaining and strengthening national unity through effective institutions. Which institutions (laws and organizations) have worked/failed in post-conflict countries? What are the lessons (if any) for Ethiopia?
3. Institutional Framework: Identifying existing formal and informal institutions that can be used for mediation, reconciliation, conflict management and resolution. How to connect truth and reconciliation with the various dimensions of justice?
4. The duration of the transition: How long/short should the transition period be? What are the determinants of shorter transition periods in militarized societies? What effective instruments can be put in place to prevent transitional/provisional governments from making themselves “permanent”? How does one minimize factors that make transitions periods unstable?
5. Policy and capacity Issues: What should be the economic, social, land and foreign policy of a transitional administration? How should it deal with priority issues of land, territorial disputes, drought, outbreak of diseases, and national crisis of outmigration and deportations of Ethiopians from various parts of the world?
6. Economic Policy Issues: Mechanisms for establishing fair, just and largely market-based economic institutions. Addressing mechanism for resolving property rights issues including ownership by political party affiliated economic entities and individuals and entities that serve as fronts; examination of the credibility of macro-economic and demographic statistics, the management and sustainability of sovereign
7. Management of conflicts and Conflict Prevention: Establishing the mechanism to prevent and control the escalation of conflict, including controlling irresponsible targeting of communities, as well as upholding values, customs, and traditional practices  that can be reflected in national identity/symbols and legal instruments so that conflict is controlled.
8. Corruption and state and regulation capture: Releasing the institutions of the state and the economy from capture and preventing future captures is critical for successful transition. What is the situation of corruption in Ethiopia and what are its manifestations? Using case methods speakers can identify political and economic corruption, economic crime, illicit financial flows, and the alleged widespread market rigging in the country? Corruption, state capture, contract awards and mega projects (e.g. dams, railway lines, sugar plantations, industrial parks, etc.), donor and tender “preneurship” are examples. How to complete strategic national projects (dams, railway lines, ) which are showing cost overruns and delays during the period of transition while controlling corruption? Using an institutional perspective, speakers can explain why the corruption watch dog became toothless and the Prime Minister’s statements ended up in thin air.
9. Freedom of Information and the Press: Establishing a dynamic system that ensures the legal and constitutional rights of citizens’ access to information and eliminating of censorship; ensuring pluralistic and responsible media that helps keep citizens informed; and empowering citizens to the freedom of information while at the same time controlling disinformation and “fake news”. Should Ethiopians (inside the country and out of the country) establish an independent media monitoring organization?
10. Civil Society Organizations: How to guarantee the emergence and protection of independent and vibrant civil societies that protect national and ethnic heritages, places of worships, civil and political rights, including the rights of labor, peasants, land lords and tenants, women, children, youth, minorities, the disabled, war veterans and victims of conflicts? How does one stop the penetration and capture of faith and other social organizations by the ruling regime and political parties?
11. Managing and Preventing Extremism: Establishing mechanisms that fend off against the spread of religious and cultural fundamentalism and extremism,   and legally restrain those  that attempt to fuse ethnicity and faith for advancing separatist agenda. What can be done to prevent extremist tendencies and behavior and to address the underlying factors in the country?
12. Human Resource Management and Equity: Promoting equal opportunities and inclusiveness in the national defense, security, police force establishments, including in their top brass, as well as other public institutions to reflect judicious participation by wide spectrum of the Ethiopian population. Reforming economic organizations, including party and state owned enterprises that provide employment shelters to specific ethnic or other social groups. Reforming exclusive regional “charity/development organizations” that serve as fronts, shadow government network and long arms of the ruling party. How to make the national defense, security, and police forces apolitical (loyal to the country and its people and not to a ruling party or the ruler), professional and free from corruption and prejudice? Identifying ways and means of integrating armed combatants to the national army; demilitarizing the country, mechanisms for handling victims of conflict, including former combatants, solders and war veterans;
13. Political Parties: Establishing a system of party politics based on political pluralism; a representative and effective electoral system that encourages regional parties (ethno-nationalist and faith based political organizations) to transform themselves into national parties, where factionalism and regionalism does not become a cause of instability. Analysis of existing legal and clandestine political parties and movements, by shapes, sizes, political programs and their membership and funding characteristics, and identifying where duplication and waste exists, and mechanism for reduction of their number by aligning and tweaking their programs so that personalities are not causes of How to minimize the incentive to create a party while respecting the civil and political rights of individuals and groups? Should there be a threshold of the number of political parties? If so what should be the criteria or would they simply vanish as time progresses?
14. Justice System Reforms and Independence: Establishing an independent, accountable and transparent national and  regional governance and justice system that fuses the trias politika doctrine (separation of powers) with local institutions (cultures, beliefs and cognitive systems), with role for traditional authority/polity (See also item #1 above). Who should interpret the constitution? The House or an independent constitutional court? How does one ensure the independence of the judiciary, the constitutional court and how does one make justice affordable and free from corruption?
15. Electoral System: Institutional frameworks that guarantee an unfettered free and fair electoral processes and popular participation in political issues and processes both at federal, regional and local levels; which type of electoral system is preferable for Ethiopia? Should voting be mandatory?
16. Diaspora Issues and Policy: Institutionalizing the role of the diaspora and its active engagement in the national economic, political, and social issues of the country. What is the size and capacity of the Ethiopian diaspora? What can the diaspora do to accelerate and support the transition and ending the state of emergency? What is the role of the diaspora in exacerbating illicit financial flows and black markets, land grab, the eviction of farmers from their ancestral lands? Why is the Ethiopian diaspora restricted from participating in the national voting for so long?
17. Territorial Dispute Management: Land shortage and administrative structures have brought territorial disputes. How should these disputes be resolved?
18. Population and Environmental Matters: Establishing the connections between political power, conflict, population policy /, economic growth and control of resources is important. Conflicts often start with grievances in poorer regions where population groups feel deprived while richer regions feel that their resources are unfairly being taken away from them by “others”. How should fiscal decentralization, environmental degradations, vulnerability of regions to climate change be managed in an environment of resurgent regional or ethno-nationalisms?

The main purpose of the Fourth Conference is to bring together researchers, professionals, political and rights activists, former civil servants and experts from different background and disciplines to deliberate, without fear or favor, on these and interrelated issues, and explore ways and approaches to make the transition successful. It requires redefining our isms and rethinking our collective future. The focus is on strengthening national unity through the creation, reform and strengthening of national institutions in Ethiopia. The Conference will facilitate discussion and debate on different ideas and approaches to be considered on the basis of their merit and analytical foundations and practicality. It is with this understanding that speakers and participants are encouraged to address the issues documented above, and present their thoughts to the Ethiopian public so that the direction and content of the transition towards post-conflict, stable and democratic political order is clearer and made understandable to the masses.

Papers may be written in either Amharic or English, follow acceptable reasoning and decorum. For the presentation, speakers are encouraged to communicate using language(s) that most of the audience at the conference venue and in Ethiopia comprehend. Speakers who want to use other languages must provide their own interpretation services. Papers must be short and to the point, and the message must be deliverable within 20 minutes. Please avoid jargon, foul and inflammatory language, and untested and anecdotal evidence.

The post Vision Ethiopia: Call for papers ‘Building Democratic Institutions in Ethiopia’ appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News|Breaking News: Your right to know!.

The World Heritage site draws visitors and pilgrims with its monolithic churches carved into the ground.

Jenna Belhumeur

Lalibela’s churches are situated in a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia, They are located amid a traditional village with circular-shaped dwellings called tukuls, where the people share their huts with their livestock at night. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

There are two main clusters of churches, one to the north and one to the south of the river Jordan. The 11th church is isolated from the others, but connected by a system of trenches. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

Legend says when King Lalibela had completed his churches, St George galloped up on a white steed. He was furious with the king for not dedicating a church to him, and the king ordered one more to be built in honour of Ethiopia’s patron saint. The horse left hoof prints on the passage leading to Biete Ghiorgis. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

Portuguese priest Francisco Alvares visited the churches in 1521 and labelled them a wonder of the world. He wrote in his journal, ‘I weary of writing more about these buildings, because it seems to me that I shall not be believed.’ [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

The original function of the site as a pilgrimage place still persists, with the faithful sometimes walking for days or weeks to make their way here. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

Prior to a church service, a priest swings a censer of frankincense, sending clouds sweet-scented smoke through the air. Lalibela’s churches have been in continuous use since their construction in the 12th century. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

A priest and pilgrims converse within a church compound. An estimated 40,000 workers were used in the construction of the churches. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

Biete Medhani Alem is believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world. The churches were not constructed in a traditional way, but rather built from the top down. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

Nuns pick rock and debris from piles of grain which will then be used to bake the holy bread. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

A priest sits outside Biete Abba Libanos reading a liturgy book written in Ge’ez, the ancient language of scripture in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

Each church has a resident priest, a highly regarded position. This priest shows off the ancient manuscripts still in immaculate condition that are stored inside. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

This drawing is over 800 years old. It depicts the story of Saint George slaying the dragon alongside an image of the Virgin Mary. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

Countless holes and cavities in the walls are used by hermits for sleep during festivals. Some have also been used as tombs. [Jenna Belhumeur/Al Jazeera]

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In fact, were it not for Trump’s long history of cheating, lying, and race-baiting, dementia would be the most acceptable excuse for his erratic behavior, gold fish-like attention span, and apparent disinterest in his job.

Of course, Trump’s despicable behavior is far from new, and even as he appears to be suffering the affects of age combined with poor diet and no exercise, he remains a singularly unsympathetic figure.

Like him or hate him, we should all be able to agree that a man who gets lost on the way to the car — while standing at the car — should not be Commander-in-Chief.

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Australia has had more than one royal prince visit in this past month and no, this one is not named Harry. With a grandfather known as the Rastafarian messiah, the exiled Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie of Ethiopia has a huge following around the world. He spoke to SBS Amharic during his recent tour of Australia, saying that the two countries have a surprising amount in common. “For me, my first scent of Australia was a scent of home.”

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Hiber Radio Weekly News – July 3rd, 2017

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Voice of Amara Radio – 05 July 2017

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Ed’s Note: The beautiful city of Harar, in Eastern Ethiopia, 522 km from the capital Addis Abeba, is celebrating the 1010 anniversary of its birth. In celebration of this event, we are re-publishing an article originally published on Addis Standard in March 2012.  

 Henok Wondyirad (PhD)

It is easy to think of the city of Harar as an old city of ruin, but easier to depart from it with a lasting taste of a city of harmony and love

Addis Abeba, July 06/2017 – When I first planned to go to Harar a few weeks ago, I never thought to experience anything new. All that I had imagined was an old city (probably half in ruin) surrounded by its inhabitants deeply addicted to khat (a mild narcotic) and Shisha (Hookah). On top of that, my previous information about the people of Harar, a city in the eastern part of Ethiopia some 522 km from Addis Abeba, was not a pleasant one. I heard that socially they were careless, less trustworthy and that they curse each other as if they are blessing one another.

But, there was also another legend I knew: Harar is a city of love.

Packing my stuff for the trip, all I was trying to do was paint a clear picture of Harar in my mind. I have tried to associate one story to another. I thought about my Harar born college roommate. I remember he was the best roommate in my time through college and that none of his personality traits fit to all the information I heard about the people of Harar.

So I thought all what I heard about that old city must be a prejudice. But I needed to see it firsthand. So off I went.

I arrived in the city of Harar early in the morning, so I took the chance to cruise through the streets by foot. Contrary to my expectation, the town was calm and has a graceful presence.

The city of Harar…

Harar is an ancient walled city (the old town is surrounded by five famous gates scattered in all four corners). It is also a city awash with medieval architectures unusual in most parts of Ethiopia. Harar is a lively city home to the Hararis, the Oromo and Aderes. But unlike other cities famous for their ancient history, Harar has a sense of quietness and relaxed atmosphere.

Most notably (apart from its walled gates built to protect the people of the city in the medieval times), Harar is a city home to the House of Arthur Rimbaud, the French poet and alleged arms dealer and the ancient mosque of Abul Bakir, a mosque which is said to be built some 1000 years ago. Abul Bakir is considered as holy as Mecca of Saudi Arabia for the Muslim population of Ethiopia. Interestingly though, Harar is also where Emperor Haile Selassie I, the last monarch to rule Ethiopia, grew up as a kid, although the ranch where he grew up is in a bad shape and unrecognizable.

One of the five gates often referred to by the locals is the gate through which Richard Burton, the 19^thcentury explorer, passed in 1855. It is said that Burton was the first white man to pass safely through the then closed city of Harar, which was already a holy city for Muslims. Unfortunately, any foreigner was regarded as an “infidel” and would be executed if found wandering around. There is a controversial account of how he managed to escape execution: he wrote he had successfully dressed as an Arab and used his flawless Arabic to communicate with the locals. The Aderes say they knew his identities all along but were impressed by his inquisitiveness to spare him of what would have easily been a gruesome end. Seeing their politeness to a stranger, it would be hard not to believe their side of story.

Wondering if it was not a good idea to cordon off the city of Harar as a designated ancient site, I left the main road and went through one of the high-walled road. To my surprise the walls and the surrounding roads are cleaner than the original picture I had tried to paint in my mind.

…its people

The next morning I had a chance to catch up with some of the Harari people. My original plan was to spend only the morning with them, but it was hard to stick with my plan. The people are completely different from other Ethiopians I have had a chance to meet elsewhere. Their heartwarming hospitality gave me the impression that I was only there to make them happy. They are forthcoming and they display some undeniable degree of honesty; but most importantly, they don’t seem to be bothered about the presence of a stranger in the midst of them.

All that what matters most to the people of Harar seems the present; many of them don’t seem to have the slightest worry about what tomorrow is or should be. No one seemed to be bothered to know where I came from and why. Unlike other places the city is packed with elderly people that know plenty of history about Harar, Ethiopia and the rest of their environs and are willing to share what they know with any stranger.

A display of contentedness and smile is what often accompanies the faces of everyone from the elderly to the young to the children on the streets of Harar. Most of the people are ready and willing to share their love, their house, their meals, and almost everything that belongs to them with a stranger.

…and the nights

Nightlife in Harar is unlike any other cities in Ethiopia when particularly such cities are Muslim dominated ones. It’s very easy to lose track of oneself while wondering from one bar to the next, which gave no indication whatsoever that the city is also home to more than 80 Mosques and a majority of Muslim community. It is almost like a divine lifestyle accompanied by the grace of the town that has so many untold stories and undiscovered treasures buried deep inside every individual and every curve in the city.

 Where Khat is a beautiful thing to do

Chewing khat (Chat, Qat), the mild narcotics widely common in Yemen, is an everyday ritual for almost everyone in Harar, a place where the best Khat bush is growing. Conspicuously, it is easier for a stranger to accept the humble invitation by the people of Harar, extended to everyone regardless of religion, ethnicity and gender, to chew khat  (ceremoniously or casually) than to shun. It is the best moment for easy socialization and a lasting memory of the times spent in Harar.

There are two ways to go about chewing Khat: many people in the streets of Harar go about doing their daily business while chewing the green leaf, (it is not unusual to see men of varied age smiling with a totally green, or worse dark, teeth and a cheek stuffed with ball of the green leaves of Khat); it is an unsightly way of looking at a man’s face, but it’s widely accepted. The most popular way of chewing Khat, particularly in the presence of a visitor, is one that is done in a more organized ceremony at a house decorated with Arabian mattresses where the men and the women lean on for hours and chew.

The side effects of Khat are hardly a topic in Harar. For an outsider like me, there is a direct relation between some of the unsettling acts of men in the streets of Harar and Khat, but the passionate people of Harar hardly draw a parallel between Khat and some of the mad men on the streets.

For now who cares? Recently, I am engaged in quite a few traveling adventures across Ethiopia. But I haven’t seen a city that, for some inexplicable reasons, gave me the beauty and the harmony of itself and that of its people all in one like the city of Harar did.

The lasting memory I have, as I prepare to leave the city, was not the image I had earlier painted in my mind of a city in ruin, but that of an unforgettable site and moment of the city of Harar and its people.  I don’t know about Paris, I have never been there, but Harar is a city of love.

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ESAT News (July 5, 2017)

Tadesse Biru Kersmo

A leading voice of dissent against the Ethiopian tyrannical regime and a pro-democracy campaigner who lives in exile in U.K. was granted bail after Scotland Yard charged him with terrorism offenses. His case was declared not suitable for a magistrate and was sent to a jury trial.

The charge against Tadesse Biru Kersmo include possession of articles about security, intelligence, urban guerrilla tactics and sniper manuals among others. His trips to Eritrea was also included in the charges but the description “attending a terrorist training camp,” in the British tabloid media has raised more questions than answers as the east African country has no such facility.

A judge concluded the case not suitable for trial before a magistrate and sent it to a jury trial.

“Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said the case was not suitable for trial before magistrates and sent the case to the Old Bailey for a jury trial. Kersmo was granted conditional bail subject to a £25,000 security and will next appear at the Old Bailey on July 20,” said a report by West Sussex County Times.

Tadesse Biru Kersmo is a pro-democracy advocate who writes and speaks against the Ethiopian brutal regime and teaches his people about how to stand up against tyranny. His computer was found to have been hacked by the Ethiopian regime, which led to a legal case against a regime known for using spyware, wiretapping and surveillance against pro-democracy activists and critical journalists. Kersemo escaped persecution by the Ethiopian regime and has lived in U.K. since 2009

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