Ethiopia and the next revolution

by Abebe Gellaw

Exactly a year ago, ESAT (Ethiopian Satellite Television) declared the death of Meles Zenawi. That was the most important breaking news in the last two decades. TPLF went into frenzy to bury the news under a barrage of counter-propaganda. Bereket Simon went on ETV to curse ESAT and reassure the nation that the “great leader” would return intact. The propaganda chief and his foot soldiers had already kept the local media extremely busy with so many bizarre stories.
The zeal to bury the truth was too evident to miss. But the spin and misinformation campaign got out of control beyond anyone could have imagined.  Addis Fortune, Addis Admas, Reporter, ETV, Walta…had all different versions of the same story. All of them said Meles was alive and kicking and was on his way back to his throne.
The lies were too fast to catch. Addis Admas, which has a bad habit of publishing fabrications, told us that Meles was working from the palace. Addis Fortune famously splashed its front page with a memorable headline: “Meles back in town.” But it was ESAT that accurately told the story that truly mattered. And then, Meles finally returned home in a coffin….It was a watershed moment for Ethiopia after the great demise of the late tyrant.
Frenzy attacks
After suffering for 21 years under the brutal grip and bouts of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopians had to witness a political melodrama.  The plot was twisted, the lies were sinister, the propaganda was shameless and the mass hysteria, carefully planned for weeks, was one of the worst in the world. Ethiopians were told to come out and shed their tears to bury the “great leader” who was feeding them lies, kicking, torturing and killing their children and nephews with tyrannical ruthlessness.
As the lead investigator to verify the death of the despot, I was focused on a leak from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG). Despite conflicting rumors, it was the most compelling and verifiable information one could get about the death of the despot at St. Luc University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium.
A few hours after ESAT’s breaking news on July 30, 2012, I published the story online, which was deliberately titled, “Meles Zenawi is dead”. The TPLF camp launched more savage campaigns, death threats, defamation and saber rattling. Tigrai Online took the lead in the frenzy attacks.
‘Dilwonberu Nega’, a certain TPLF scribbler and apologist, doodled and scribbled a lengthy piece full of insults on Tigrai Online.  “So Abebe “The foolish heart” and the gang of cowboy journalists at ESAT came up with a ‘brilliant’ idea of hoodwinking the international community by concocting a “Breaking News” on the “death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi…. ESAT’s future, as a result of its totally irresponsible act of concocting the death of Prime Minister Melees Sinai, is now vulnerable to a quick and painful death as people who have been contributing money to ESAT are bound to ask a justifiable question: Are they or Ethiopia getting value for their money? The answer is a big NO.”
While the foolhardy TPLF and its puppets are still confused and depressed, ESAT and the movements for change are gaining ground and building momentum. TPLF is still unsure of its future one year after the demise of the captain of the ship destined for a tragic wreck.
ICG’s report, “Ethiopia after Meles”, was written in July 2012 but the release had to be delayed until the official announcement. After exhaustive planning, TPLF decided to reveal its top secret that it could no longer keep. It admitted that the tyrant was dead on August 20, 2012, over five weeks after his demise. ICG released its analytic report the next day. We were vindicated again.
Cracking pyramid
ICG warned that the one-man regime, without its creator, could be unraveling sooner rather than later. “For more than two decades, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi managed Ethiopia’s political, ethnic and religious divides and adroitly kept the TFPL and EPRDF factions under tight control by concentrating power, gradually closing political space and stifling any dissent. His death poses serious risks to the ruling party’s tenure,” the report said.
ICG’s prediction was on target that reflects the current reality. “Deprived of its epicenter [Meles], the regime will find it very difficult to create a new centre of gravity. In the short-term, a TPLF-dominated transition will produce a weaker regime that probably will have to rely increasingly on repression to manage growing unrest.”

አስከፊው ስርዓት ከውስጥም ከውጭም ተወጥሯል።

    

አበራ ሽፈራዉ /ከጀርመን/
የኢትዬጵያን ሕዝብ ሰብአዊና ቁሳዊ መብቶች በነፆነት ትግል ሰበብ ሕወሐት ለአለፉት 39 ዓመታት ሲረግጥ ቆይቷል።በመግቢያዬ ላይ ሀሳቤን በዚህ መልክ እንዳጠቃልል ያደረገኝ ደግሞ ባለፉት 39 ዓመታት የተከናወኑትን መለስ ብዬ ሳያቸው ከሰመሗቸው፣ካየሗቸውና ካነበብኳቸዉ እንደተረዳሁት በእርግጥም  ኢትዬጵያውያን በነዚህ ዓመታት በሕወሐት የለየለትና መሰሪ ተግባር  የተነሳ ሲገደሉ፣ሲታሰሩ፣ሰብዓዊ መብታችን ሲረገጥና፤በነፆነት ሥም ብዙዎች በቀጥታም ሆነ በተዘዋዋሪ ለሕወሐት ጥቅም አስፈፃሚነት ሲሞቱ አልያም የጥቅሙ ተቀናቃኞች በሙሉ ሕይወታቸዉን ሲያጡ ቆይተዋል፤አለፍም ካለ ደግሞ ያፈሩትን ንብረትና ሀብትም ለማጣት ተገደዋል፣ተዘርፈዋል፣ ተነጥቀዋል ፤እምቢ ካሉም ለአንዴና ለመጨረሻ ጊዜ ከዚህ አለም በጥይት ተገድለው በሞት ተለይተዋል ።
ከደርግ መንግስት ዉድቀት በኋላም ለ22 ዓመታት የታየው ተጨባጭ ሁኔታ በርግጥም እነዚህ ሕወሐቶች የኢትዬጵያ ቀንደኛ ጠላቶች መሆናቸውን አለምንም እፍረትና ይሉኝታ ሲያቅዱና ሲተገብሩ ቆይተዋል፤አሁንም ቀጥለዋል፤ተዉ ያለም የሚጠብቀው እስር፣ግርፋት፣መሰደድና ሞት መሆኑ ለሁሉም ኢትዬጵያውያን ብቻ ሳይሆን ዓለም እያወቀው ያለ ጒዳይ ሆኗል።
የውጭ ሀገራት የዲኘሎማሲና የውጭ ግንኙነቱም በተወሰኑ የጥቅም ግንኙነት ላይ ብቻ ባተኮረና የኢትዬጵያን ሕዝብ ጥቅም ወደጐን በተወ መልኩ የተከናወነ ሆኖ ቆይቷል፤በውጭ ሀገራት የዲኘሎማሲ ማህበረሰብ የሠብአዊና የፍትሕ ጥያቄ ሲቀርብ ግን እርሱ የእኔ ጒዳይ ነው ተዉት እያለ የሰው ልጆችን ከሰብዓዊነት ውጭ በመጨቆን በዚህ ዘመን የማይጠበቅ የጭቆናና የብዝበዛ ስርዓት በመሆን ቀጥሏል፤በየትኛውም የዓለም ሀገራት የማይፈፀም ግፍ ዛሬ በኢትዬጵያ ይፈፀማል።
የኢትዬጵያ ሕዝብ የሚያታግለው ስለአጣ ብቻ ሳይሆን ለዘመናት ያካበተው ርህሩሕነት፣ቸርነት፣ቻይነት፣ይቅር ባይነት፣በመቻቻል አብሮ በጋራ መኖርንና መስማማትን ይዞ የኖረ ሕዝብ በመሆኑ ዛሬ ሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ እነዚህን ጠቃሚ የማህበራዊ አኗኗር እሴቶች ለመጣል እየሞከረ ይገኛል፤ይሁንና በሕዝቡ ላይ ከልክ ያለፈ ግፍ በመፈፀሙና እነዚህን ለአገሪቷም ሆነ ለመሪዎቿ የሚጠቅሙ የማህበራዊ አኗኗር እሴቶችን ከሕዝቡ ላይ ለመሸርሸር በመሞከሩ ዛሬ ሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግን ለመጋፈጥ ብዙዎች ወደ ትግሉ እየተቀላቀሉ ይገኛሉ።
ሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ከለየለት ጥፋቱ ለመመለስ ባለመፈለጉና የሕዝብን ትግስት እንደፈሪ በመቁጠሩ ዛሬ ውጥረቱ
በራሱ በሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ላይ ነግሷል፤ ወደደም ጠላም ተወጥሯል፤ሕዝቡ በድፍረት በሠላማዊ ሠልፍ ብቻ ለሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ጥላቻዉን እየገለፀ ይገኛል፤ይህም በሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ሠፈር ትልቅ ድንጋጤን በመፍጠሩ የዉጥረቱን መጠን ለመቀነስ የሚደረጒ ልዩልዩ ስብሰባዎችም ቢሆኑ ሌላ ተጨማሪ ድንጋጤን በገዢዎቻችን ሠፈር እየፈጠሩ ይገኛሉ።
ሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ የዲሞክራሲና የፍትህ ፅንሰ ሐሳቦች በፍፁም የማይገባዉና በ60ዎቹ የሶሻሊስት አስተሳሰቦች ተተብትቦ ፤በሰብአዊ ፍጥረት ላይ ባለዉ ንቀት የተነሳና ይኸዉ አሮጌ አስተሳሰቡ ዓለም ካለችበት ተጨባጭ ሁኔታ ጋር አብረዉ ሊጓዙ የሚችሉ ወጣቶችን ለመሰብሰብ ባለመቻሉ፣የአስተሳሰብ ለውጥ ለማምጣት ባለመፈለጉና በዚሁ አሮጌ አስተሳሰቦችና በጥላቻ ፖለቲካ በተመረዙ ሰዎች እየተመራ በመሆኑ ዛሬ ውጥረቱ በራሱ በድርጅቱ ዉስጥ እየሰፋ መምጣቱን ከራሱ ከድርጅቱ የሚወጡ መረጃዎች ያሳያሉ።
ዛሬ ኢትዬጵያ ግልፅ ባልሆነ መልኩ በተደራጁ ማፍያዎች እንደምትመራ ኢትዬጵያን ብቻ ሳይሆኑ የአለም መሪዎች ጭምር እያወቁ የመጡ ይመስላል።
በቅርቡ እንኳን በዩናይትድ ስቴት ኦፍ አሜሪካ በጁን 20,2013 በኮንግረስ ማን የተከበሩ ስሚዝ ሰብሳቢነት በኢትዩጵያ ባለው የሰብአዊ መብት አያያዝ ላይ ከመለስ በኋላ የምስክርነት ቃል መስማት በተከናወነበት ወቅት የተሰነዘሩት አስተየቶችና ለኢትዬጵያ መሪዎች ማነቆ የሚሆኑ ሕጐችን ለማውጣት ቃል መግባታቸዉን ስንመለከት አሜሪካ ከዚህ ስብሰባ በስተጀርባ በኢትዩጵያ ጉዳይ ላይ ያላትን ዕቅድ ለመተግበር መነሳቷን አልያም የሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ መሪዎች አካሄድ እንዳላስደሰታቸው ያመለክታል።
ባለፈው ሰሞን የኢትዩጵያ የልማት ድጋፍ ስጪ አገሮች አምባሳደሮች የሰማያዊ ፖርቲ አመራርን ለማነጋገርና አንዳንድ መረጃ ለመለዋወጥ ማቀዳቸውና መተግበራቸው ከሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ የይስሙላ ዴሞክራሲ ጋር ቅራኔ አንዳላቸውና በሕዝብ እንቅስቃሴም ዙሪያ የተለየ እይታ ይዘው መቅረባቸውን ፤እንዲሁም ለዘለቄታ ግንኙነታቸውና ጥቅሞቻቸው ሕዝብ ከጠላው ጋር መስራታቸው በታሪክ ሊያስጠይቃቸው እንደሚችል የገባቸውና ፤እነሱም ለውጥ ፈላጊ መሆናቸውን ማየት ይቻላል።
አውሮፓ ሕብረት የፖርላማ ተወካዬች በሰብአዊ መብት አያያዝ ዙሪያ ለመነጋገር በኢትዩጵያ ያደረጉትን ጉብኝት ብንመለከት ደግሞ «ኑና እዪ»  የተባሉ ይመስል ሕዝቡ ላይ ያለዉን ችግር እራሳቸው በቅርበት ያዩትና እራሳቸውን ጭምር ያሳዘናቸው መሆኑና ፤የኢትዩጵያ ችግር እምን ደረጃ እንደደረሰ ለመረዳት ችለዋል። እነዚህ የአውሮፓ ህብረት የፖርላማ አባላት ኢትዩጵያ በምን አይነት ሰዎች እንደምትመራ ለመረዳት እንደቻሉና የተለየ አግራሞት እንደፈጠረባቸዉ በቀላሉ መረዳት ይቻላል ፤ ከዚህም የተነሳ ይመስላል የህብረቱ አባላት የታሰሩ ጋዜጠኞችና የተቀዋሚ ፖለቲካ ፓርቲ አባላት ከስር እነዲለቀቁ ፣ሀሳብን በነፃነት የመግለጽ መብት እንዲከበር ፣የእምነትና የሀይማኖት ተቋማት መብትና ነፆነት እንዲከበር መግለጫ እስከማዉጣት የተገደዱት።
ይህ ብቻ አይደለም በሃገራችን በሁለቱ ትልልቅ የሐይማኖት ተቋማት አካባቢ ያለዉ « የፍትህ ያለህ » ጥያቄዎች በኢትዩጵያ መሪዎች ጆሮ ዳባ ልበስ ባይነት ችግሩ እየተባባሰ ለመፍታት ወደሚቸግር አቅጣጫ እየመጡ መሆኑ የየዕለት ዜናዎች ሆነዋል።
ሌላው የሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ባለስልጣናት በመላው ዓለም ከኢትዩጵያን ጋር በልዩ ልዩ ጉዳዮች ላይ ለመነጋገር በሚንቀሳቀሱበት ጊዜ የሚገጥማቸዉ ተቃዉሞ በሌሎች  አገሮች ህዝቦች የሌለ በመሆኑ ህወሃቶች ምን ያህል በአገራቸዉ ዜጎች ዘንድ የተኮንኑ ለመሆናቸዉና አመኔታ የማይጥልባቸው መሆኑ እየታወቀ መምጣቱና በኢትዩጵያ አስክፊዉ ስርአት መሪዎች አካባቢ ትልቅ ድንገጤን እየፈጠረ መምጣቱ የቅርብ ጊዜያት እዉነታዎች ናቸዉ።
በቅርብ ደግሞ በሶስቱ ዋናዋና በአገር ውስጥ የስላማዊ ትግል አራማጅ ፓርቲዎች ማለትም በሰማያዊ ፓርቲ፣በአንድነትና በመድረክ ላይ እየደረሰ ያለው የስም ማጥፋት ዘመቻ በህዝቡ ተቀባይነት ባይኖርዉም እንደለመደዉ ለጥቃት መዘጋጀቱንና በነዚህም ፓርቲዎች አባላተ ላይ እየደረሰ ያለዉ እስራትና ማዋከብ በሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ፓርቲ ላይ ትልቅ ውጥረትና ድንጋጤ መፍጠሩን ያመለክታል።
ሌላው በተለያዩ ጊዜያት ሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ለኤርትራ መንግስት የሚያቀርባችዉ በስጦታ የታጀቡ የንታረቅ ልምምጦች  ድንገት ሊነሳ የሚችል ጦርነት በስልጠናቸው ላይ የሚፈጥረዉ ችግር ትልቅ ፍርሃት እንደፈጠረባችውና ለስልጠናቸዉ ሲሉ የትኛውንም ነገር ለመስጠት መዘጋጀታቸዉን ያሳያል።
እነዚህ በገዢዉ ፓርቲ አካባቢ ያሉት ዉጥረቶች በስለላ መዋቅር ብዛት ፣ በስር ቤቶች ብዛት ፣ በወታደራዊ ትጥቅና ስልጠና ብዛት መፍትሄ  የማያገኙባቸዉ ዋናዋና ምክንያቶች ህዝቡ ክልክ ያለፈ ጭቆና ዉስጥ መዉደቁ ፣ግልጽ ዘር መድሎ መኖሩ፣ከፍተኛ የመንግስት ባለስልጣናት በሙስና መዘፈቃቸዉና የገዢዉ ፓርቲ ንግድ ተቋማት የንግድ ብዝበዛና ሌሎችም ህዝቡን ስላስመረረዉ ትግሉ የማይቆም ትግል መሆኑን ሁሉም ኢትዮዽያዊ እየተረዳ ያለው ሀቅ መሆኑም ጭምር ነው።
በአለፉት ዓመታት በዝርፊያ ፣በዘር ማጥፋት ተግባር ፣ ህዝቡን በማሰርና በመግደል፣በዘረኝነት መድሎ፣ በከፍተኛ ሙስና ተግባርና በሌሎችም ሀገርንና ህዝብን ሊጎዱ በሚችሉ ተግባራት ላይ መሰማራቱ ሊቀጥል እንደማይችል ሁሉም የተረዳዉ ሀቅ ሆኗል ።
ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች የስቪክ ማህበራትና ሌሎች የሀገሬ ጉዳይ ያገባኛል የሚሉ ሁሉ አሁን ኢትዩጵያ ካለችበት ሁኔታ አንፃር  ኢትዩጵያን ከለየለት ጭቆና ለማላቀቅ በሚደርገዉ ትግል ይበልጥ መስባስብ ፣መመካከርና የመፍትሄ አቅጣጫን አስቀምጦ መንቀሳቀስ ጊዜዉ የሚጠይቀዉ ጉዳይ በመሆኑና የሕወሐት/ኢሕሐዴግ ውጥረት በህዝቡና በሃገሪቷ ላይ ሌላ ተጨማሪ ችግር እንዳይፈጥር አስቀድሞ መከላከል ጠቃሚ ነው እላለሁ።
እግዚአብሔር ኢትዩጵያን ይባርክ!

Building Democratic Institutions on the grave of Woyane is the way forward

Woyane can no longer lie, jail, torture, kill, extort and rob its stay in power. And, Ethiopians can no longer continue to protest as hyphenated victims and extend the life of the regime. Whether we like it or not the solution is a united democratic front that will bring down tyranny on its knees. Civic societies and the independent Medias’ concerted effort to help build democratic institutions and follow-up on the criminal operatives of the ruling regime will go a long way to bring down tyranny for a lasting freedom and democratic rule.
by Teshome Debalke
From the outset it is worrying to see there are some people that still believe the self-declared minority ethnic regime can lie, jail, torture, kill, extorts and rob its stay in power. At this moment in history we shouldn’t be wasting our time arguing over what is obvious for one-and-all; the regime that pretends to be the government of Ethiopia is anything but a government. Call it mafia, mercenary, gang or simply a collection of warlords that divided the nation by ethnic territory; the chapter Woyane can be considered a government is closed and done with. What to do next with the ‘criminal enterprise’ is the question before Ethiopians?
Therefore, if there was disagreement among Ethiopians over the criminality of the ruling party we haven’t heard anyone, including the regime’s apologist claiming it is innocent of any of the crimes it is accused of committed. Nor we heard anyone calling for independent investigation to prove otherwise. In fact, the enormities of the crimes are so much so the regime and its apologist hoping against all hope is to cover-up the crimes and wishing some miracle to happen to prevent accountability and its demise. The apologists’ complete silence on the crimes of Woyane speaks louder than anything we can think of and validates their conspiracy to be part of the criminal enterprise.
On the other hand, Ethiopians can’t continue to protest as hyphenated victims our way out of ethnic tyranny.  Nor we can afford to claim we belong to our chosen hyphenated group or whatever Woyane designated for us and expect to be free from hyphenated ethnic tyranny. We defiantly can’t wish to bring about democratic rule as hyphenated Ethiopians.  As much as Woyane is stuck in its hyphenated ethnic criminality we can’t afford to be stuck as hyphenated victims and open more doors for the ‘minority’ regime and opportunists. It would be wise to understand; there is no hyphenated freedom or democracy but freedom and democracy period.
Therefore, until we join the democratic movement as united Ethiopians and begin building the necessary democratic institution we will be catering for tyranny without even knowing it. We must be part of the movement that wouldn’t settle for anything less than democratic rule. Otherwise, we will continue to go in circle with hyphenated ethnic tyranny or self appointed hyphenated opportunist to nowhere.
For example, we should look at the persistent movement of our people of the Muslim faith as part of the democratic struggle not as hyphenated (religious) freedom but freedom period. And, there should be no negotiation with tyranny on freedom but demand its surrender for the rule of law; as the movement repeatedly and without ambiguity has been communicating to the world. Nor we should open the door for tyranny and opportunists by hyphenating the struggle as we witnesses when scavengers want to take advantage of the movement.
Unity and ethnic tyranny