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Professor Alemayehu G. MariamJune 28th, 2010

Note: This is my fourth commentary on the theme, “Where do we go from here?” following the rigged elections in Ethiopia last month in which the ruling dictatorship won by 99.6 percent[1]. In this piece, I express deep anguish over the enormous problems and challenges faced by Ethiopia’s youth, and urge them to emancipate their minds and work collectively to build the “future country of Ethiopia” that Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia’s foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, dreamed about.

June 26th, 2010

With crises of population and resources upstream, there is now deadlock over who owns the Nile

Simon Kitra’s back garden looks out over the world’s second-largest freshwater lake. His front lawn opens onto the world’s longest river. If the 20-year-old Ugandan fisherman needs reminding of where his tiny island is, he can look up to the pink obelisk on the hillside, marking where the British explorer John Hanning Speke, sextant in hand, stood in 1862 to ascertain the point where Lake Victoria begins to empty — the source of the Nile.

Eskinder Nega | June 25th, 2010

Barley a month after the nonsensical 99 % “win” by the EPRDF in this year’s election, gloom has set in stalwartly even in the midst EPRDF’s happy-go-lucky adherents.

The extremist’s dependably silly proclivity for melodrama is also considerably diminished. (EPRDF extremists constitute an amorphous entity unofficially steered by Berekt Simon.) And with federal police and kebele officials shamefully avoiding eye contact with Addis residents, the distressing impact of the election’s “results” seem to be more perceptible on EPRDF’s grassroots than either the opposition or the general public. “This is the first election that has delegitimized the EPRDF in the eyes of its grassroots members,” says a pundit. “No one is really trying to defend it. This is a significant and unforeseen development.” And with Ambassadorships around the world, as opposed to cabinet positions, transformed in to the most coveted postings for senior government and party leaders, the potency of the EPRDF, as many of its critics keenly contnd with increasing intensity, seem to be no more the eternal disarray of opposition groups. Alas, the morale of the opposition is in no superior standing; but at least they affably concede to that much. But the election “result” has triggered the underlying covet for change within the public—as many in the EPRDF feared and many in the opposition had yearned.

June 24th, 2010

Foreign policy magazine had an article by Professor George Ayittey titled “The worst of the worst-bad dude dictators and general coconut heads.

” As an Ethiopian I was sold by the title. I knew I was in familiar territory. That is one category we can claim ownership. There are a few human experiences that are sort of associated with our country. It is like when you mention marathon or distance running the first thing that comes to mind is mother Ethiopia and her barefoot runners. That is good. On the other hand say famine or starvation the face presented is that of an Ethiopian. That is bad.

BBC News | July 12, 2010

The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has said it was behind twin blasts which hit the Ugandan capital Kampala on Sunday, killing 74 people.
A spokesman for the group, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, threatened more attacks in a statement in Mogadishu.
Police said the bombings targeted football fans watching the World Cup final.
A Ugandan official said a Somali's head was found at the scene of one blast, and he may have been a suicide bomber.
Ugandan peacekeepers are in Somalia, and al-Shabab has previously threatened Kampala.
"Al-Shabab was behind the two bomb blasts in Uganda," Ali Mohamud Rage said.

Alemayehu G.Mariam June 28th, 2010 Note: This is my fourth commentary on the theme, “Where do we go from here?” following the rigged elections in Ethiopia last month in which the ruling dictatorship won by 99.6 percent[1]. In this piece, I express deep anguish over the enormous problems and challenges faced by Ethiopia’s youth, and urge them to emancipate their minds and work collectively to build the “future country of Ethiopia” that Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia’s foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, dreamed about.

Own the Youth, Gain the Future

In 1935, Adolf Hitler delivered a speech at the Reichsparteitag (national party convention) in which he declared, “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” By impregnating German youth with Nazi ideology and unleashing them on the world, Hitler believed he could perpetuate the Third Reich for a thousand years. Creating an indoctrinated and brainwashed youth is the impossible dream of all dictators and tyrannical regimes. The Soviets created the Young Pioneers and Komsomols to integrate youth into the party structure and tighten their control over the population. In China, Mao’s anchored his theory of “permanent revolution” in the mass mobilization of youth; and in the late 1960s he formed the Red Guards to implement his Cultural Revolution.

Dictator Meles Zenawi has been invited to attend the G20 summit scheduled to take place in Toronto, Canada on June 26 and 27, 2010.

On Saturday, June 26th, 2010, starting at 9 am, Canadians, Canadians of Ethiopian origin and other human rights advocates will stage a protest rally at Queen’s Park, in Toronto, Canada to further expose the atrocities committed by Mr. Zenawi‘s government on the people of Ethiopia.

ለኢትዮጵያ ምድር ሰላምና ለሕዝቦችዋ ነጻነት የትጥቅ ትግል በምንም ዓይነት መልኩ አማራጭ መንገድ ሊሆን እንደማይችል ቀደም ስል ባበረከትኳቸው በርከት ያሉ ጽሑፎችና እንዲሁም ብዙሐኑ ሀገር ወዳድ በውስጥም በውጭም የሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውን በብዕራቸው አማካኝነት በአፅንዖት ገልጸዋል እነሆም በተጠናከረ መልኩ ለኢትዮጵያ ምድር ብቸኛ መፍትሔው ሰላማዊ ትግል መሆኑን እየገለጹ ይገኛሉ።

ወደ ዝርዝር ሐተታዬ ከመዝለቄ በፊት በማስቀደም ሁሉም እንደ ደመና ሲበተኑ እንደ ጥላ ሲያልፉና እንደ መጎናጸፍያ ሲያረጁ ዘመናትን እያሳለፈ ዘመንን ተሻግሮ የሚሻገር መጻህፍትን ተንተርሼ ወቅቱን እና ሰዓቱን አስመልክቼ ግላዊ አመለካከቴን የማንጸባርቅበት ትልቅ ዕድል በማግኘቴ የሰዎች ነጻ ሃሳብ ለማንሸራሸር ስለ ተደራጁ የአማርኛ-እንግሊዝኛ ድህረ ገጾችን ከልብ ለማመስገን እወዳለሁ። በመቀጠል ታላቁ የዓለማችን ፀሐፌ ተውኔት ዊልያም ሼክስፔር “የእውነት መጨረሻ ቁጣ ነው” እንዳለው ምንም በጥቂቶች ዘንድ የማይፈለግ ፀጉር የሚያስነጭ መራር መልዕክት ቢሆንም በዛሬው ዕለት ሁላችንን ሀገር ወዳዶች ኢትዮጵያውያን ተጠቃሚዎች ያደርገናል፤ ሀገራችንም በገዛ እጃችን ከማውደምና ከማፍረስም ይተርፋ በማለት “ከተማን በደም ለሚመሰርት ወዮለት!” በሚል ርዕስ ተመልሼ መጥቻለሁ።

አንባቢ ሆይ! ልንሰማው የሚገባን እውነት ሆኖ ሳለ መስማት ስለማንፈልገው ዓበይት ርዕሰ ጉዳዮች እያነሳሁ ማተቴ ምን ያህል ዋጋ እንደሚያስከፍል በመዘንጋት አይደለም። ስላለኝ የተገለጠ ክርስቲያናዊና ፖለቲካዊ አቋም ግልጽ ባለመልኩ ሳስቀምጥና ስገልጽም ይህን ተከትሎ ሊመጣብኝ ስለሚችለው አለመግባባትን የሚፈጥራቸው ሁሉ ግምት ውስጥ በማስገባትና ኃላፊነት በመውሰድም ጭምር ነው። በመሰረቱ በምንም ዓይነት ሞቲቭ ይነገር ከማንምም አፍና ብዕር ይውጣ ይፃፍ የሚረባና የሚጠቅም ገንቢ ሂስ እስከሆነ ድረስ ነቀፋና ወቀሳ የምጠላ በረባም ባልረባም የተወለድኩባት ቀን የምራገም ዓይነት ሰውም አይደለሁም።
የሚረባኝኝ ስቋጥር አላስፈላጊ ሆኖ ያገኘሁት ደግሞ በፈገግታ አልፈዋለሁ ለምን? የመጻፍ መብቴን ተጠቅሜ የማምንበትን በነጻነት መልዕክቴን እንዳስተላለፍኩ ሁሉ ማንም ጽሑፌን ያነበበ አካል ደግሞ ያመነበትን የማለትና ምላሽ የመስጠት ባለ ሙሉ መብት ነው ብዬ ስለማምን ነው። ይህ በእንዲህ ሆኖ ሳለ ግላዊ መንፈሳዊና ፖለቲካዊ አመለካከቴን ተከትሎ ባልተገራ ብዕር ስለሚጻፉ ጥበብን እና ማስተዋልን እጅግ ስለተለዩባቸው ስፍር ቁጥር የሌላቸው በኢ-ሜይል አድራሻዬ ስለ ሚላኩ ዛቻዎች ማስፈራሪያዎችና ልክ የሌላቸው ልቅ ስድቦች ሁኜ እስካልተገኘሁ ድረስ ሽንጤን ገትሬ ንጽህናዬን ለማረጋገጥ የምሞግትበት አንዳች ምክንያት እንደ ሌለኝ ስገልጽ በታልቅ ትህትናና አክብሮት ነው።

June,23 2010 One of the main oppositions in Ethiopia the All Ethiopia Unity Organization (AEUO) on Tuesday said it had rejected the election result announced by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) as the election process failed to implement the electoral law signed by political parties.

NEBE on Monday announced the final result of the national elections held on May 23, in which the ruling party EPRDF has gained land slide victory across the country.