Addis Neger

Melakou Tegegn
I believe deceit is behind the rhetoric about ‘transformation’. But, why resort to official and indeed risky campaign of deceit now? For one thing, between the two ‘selections’ of 2005 and 2010, Meles had been busy making sure that all opposition and critiques were silenced and dissolved all their institutions openly and deceptively [such as the NGO law] so that there is nobody in that country who will challenge or criticize his regime. He did that successfully with donors’ complicity and in the 2010 ‘selection’ in which he dared to claim victory with 96% in a country where his regime is the most hated institution. He planned it so well that the noise only comes from the Diaspora that does not have much impact on donors. The time of “thinking twice before speaking once” is gone as there are no outspoken opposition, advocacy groups and the private press.

Meles once told parliament that Ethiopian forces are not fighting in Somalia using condoms (imported using USAID money). Well, now we are no longer in as dim a light as we once were before this leak. The US was the driving force and, as such, the financier of the ‘”fantastic” Somalia job.

According to a cable dated January 31, 2007, The Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, told the Commander of CENTCOM, General John Abizaid, “The Somalia job is fantastic.”

There is nothing innocent about development, especially development in a politically tortured country like Ethiopia. What is happening in the capital and in the rest of the country is part of a larger and more fundamental process: the reconfiguration of state and society. This goes in line with EPRDF’s, and all revolutionary regimes’, idea of rupture with the past and their belief in a fundamental reorganization of the present-future. The danger is the process, and the end-product, have been less democratic, less developmental, and less empowering. It seems that there is little changing; power is still alluring in its violent magnificence; and the past, in its autocratic essences, is still invading and shaping the present….This is nothing peculiar to Ethiopia. It had happened and it is happening in Africa and in the rest of the developing world. The politics of urbanization and urban modernization constitutes and is constitutive of the political-economy of state making. In the Ethiopian case, what is taking place in Addis Ababa mirrors the larger processes at work nationally: the democratization of disempowerment, the disenfranchising of development.

Ironic enough, Ethiopia haunts its incumbent! A crude equivalent of a centre would be an “ande-hibret” party. It can be a center that holds: a con-societal entity whose scope and program are national but has ample room to address regional and ethnic sensitivities. Now, there is one wrong place to start such an experiment from: Marxism Leninism- the ideology which trumps individual rights and freedoms, popular consent, majoritarianism and the rule of law. An ideal place to start would be by asking how liberalism addressed issues of structural inequity (based on gender, race, ethnicity, etc). But left or right, Ethiopia deserves kudos for struggling to locate its center….Forty years down the line, we have realized that the center is not a ‘given’ but rather ‘earned’. Despite the entire pejorative connotation the ‘centre’ has in Ethiopia’s political history, I reckon it is time to have some “mehal sefaris”.

(ኤርሚያስ አማረ)
የአሁኑ የቅዱስ ጊዮርጊስ ስፖርት ክለብ ፕሬዝዳንት አቶ አብነት ገ/መስቀልም ይህን የፉክክር መሥመር በመከተል ዛሬ የይድነቃቸው ታሪክ ከአጎታቸው በላቀ መነገሩ ስለሚያማቸው በይድነቃቸው ዝና ላይ ውኃ የመቸለስ ሥራ የሚሠሩ ናቸው። አቶ አብነት ወደ ቅዱስ ጊዮርጊስ በሐላፊነት በ1993 ዓ.ም ከመጡ በኋላ በሸራተን አዲስ ከወዳጆቻቸው ጋራ በሚያከናውኗቸው ኢ-ወጋዊ የምሽት ውይይቶች ይህንኑ ስሜት የሚያንፀባርቅ እና የሚያጠናክር አስተያየት ሲሰጡ ይደመጣል። በአንድ ወቅት የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ቡድን አሠልጣኝ የነበሩ ባለሞያ (ስማቸው እንዳይገለጽ ጠይቀዋል) ተመሳሳይ አስተያየቶች ከአቶ አብነት አንደበት ሲወጡ እንዳደመጡ መስክረዋል፤ “አቶ ይድነቃቸው የአጎቴን ታሪክ አላግባብ ተሻምቷል” ሲሉ።