By Nuradin Jilani www.ogaden.com In March 2009 the former bureau head of Information, Culture & Tourism of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia (SRS) Mr. Guled Casowe, who is now in jail charged with ‘crimes against culture and religion,’ told the VOA Somali Service in an interview that his ministry was planning to exhume the [...]

12 September marked 34 years since the assassination of South African black consciousness leader Steve Biko. Steve taught us that there is no reason to expect the struggle for liberation to proceed in a one-to-one, immediate and linear trajectory. Imrann Moosa remembers his legacy.

(by Messay Kebede)
I may disappoint many people when I say that in today’s Ethiopia I do not see the gathering of democratic forces, but that of resentment, suspicion, and hostility. The idea of a grand coalition is just an attempt to channel these negative forces into a protracted process of mutual accommodation and thrust (in lieu of distrust and dethronement of one group by another). I may disappoint even more when I state that I refuse to posit democracy in terms of either/or, that is, in terms cornering Ethiopians to say “democracy now or nothing else.” With due respect to my critics, as a long and evolutionary process, democracy grows out of authoritarianism. When one thinks in terms of process versus leap into the unknown, change is never either this or that; rather, it is this and that, to wit, a transition.

(አበበች በላቸው) መቸም በቱንዝያ እና በግብጽ የተነሳው ሕዝባዊ አብዮት የሁለቱን አገሮች አምባገነን ገዥዎች ከገለበጠ ወዲህ ጭቆናና እና ድህነት በሰፈነበት አገር ሁሉ ስለሕዝባዊ ዐመፅ አስፈላጊነት እና ተገቢነት ብዙ ተጽፏል። ከእነዚህ አገሮች አንዷ ኢትዮጵያ እንደመኾኗ በርካታ ኢትዮጵያውያን ሕዝባዊ ዐመፅ በአገራችን ሊነሳ እንደሚችል እና መነሳትም እንዳለበት ጽፈዋል። እንዲያውም ሕዝባዊ ዐመፅ አይቀሬነቱ ተተርኮለታል። አልፎ ተርፎም አንዳንዶች መለስ ዜናዊ እንዴት [...]

(Melakou Tegegn)
The events in Tunisia should interest us, Ethiopians, a great deal indeed. Sometime back, there was a report somewhere that Meles’ regime was studying the system in Tunisia as a successful case of a one-party state. Undoubtedly, Meles should be the most disappointed person by what happened in Tunisia yesterday. His idol, Ben Ali, the champion of one-party state who also claimed elections victory by more than 86% (he seems to be a bit more modest than Meles who claimed a 99.6% victory) has just been swept away by a revolution that was ignited less than a month ago. If Ben Ali with 86% claims of election victory is swept away, what can happen to Meles who unashamedly claimed a 96% victory? Under Ben Ali’s rule, expressions of opposition was extremely rare that the international community wrongly considered it as one of the most stable with a dynamic economy.

It strikes me as preposterously self-serving that the by-laws and 501(c) are invoked to justify a decision whose roots can be traced to, yes, money. Honoring a politician with an impeccable pedigree of human rights activism does not change a non-profit association into a politically-affiliated group. It is not an endorsement of the political group to which the honored politician belongs.

I suppose he could offer Columbians a hell of a seminar on dictatorial self-preservation—on how to install puppet governments in neighboring nations with the military and diplomatic blessing of the most powerful country on earth; on how to violently steal elections while provoking minimal global outcry; on how to run a country that’s 171st on the UN’s Human Development Index.

I will not be surprised if the Front transforms itself to a united national party along the lines of CCP, CCM, BDP or its immediate Ethiopian predecessor, the WPE! Given its record of staggering pragmatism (Remember the premier’s frequent remark that EPRDF never repeats its mistakes!), the Front does have the courage to reinvent itself like this. This may turn the table on all pan-Ethiopian opposition parties pulling the carpet from beneath, while satiating the ethno-nationalists by retaining the current ethno-federal structure of the country. The massive influx of the urban voters to support (be it out of conviction or provision) and comprise the EPRDF could serve as one possible trigger of such a phenomenon. The jury is out to find the verdict but still all eyes are on Leviathan.

The fact that opposition forces were not able to see the extremist strategy of the TPLF and presented themselves divided, while still hoping that people will vote as they did in 2005 despite the changed conditions, constituted grave miscalculations allowing us to speak of defeat. Blaming the defeat on the EPRDF, that is, on the winner, does not make much sense, since it is hardly able to bring out anything other than the manner opposition leaders have been fooled. Moreover, to make somebody else responsible for our failings prevents us from having a critical look at ourselves. What we need now is to turn defeat into victory by assessing weaknesses and devising a new strategy.

The specter of war and famine is an architecture of blackmail. Fear and distortions are its underpinning. Emancipation should begin with its dismantling and this can come from at least two sources, among others. One is the economic and political liberation of the peasant. In a country where land and famine are used as a political resource, the ending of famine which entails the liberation of land and the empowerment of the peasant means the beginning of the end of tyranny

By Nuradin Jilani www.ogaden.com In March 2009 the former bureau head of Information, Culture & Tourism of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia (SRS) Mr. Guled Casowe, who is now in jail charged with ‘crimes against culture and religion,’ told the VOA Somali Service in an interview that his ministry was planning to exhume the [...]

12 September marked 34 years since the assassination of South African black consciousness leader Steve Biko. Steve taught us that there is no reason to expect the struggle for liberation to proceed in a one-to-one, immediate and linear trajectory. Imrann Moosa remembers his legacy.

(by Messay Kebede)
I may disappoint many people when I say that in today’s Ethiopia I do not see the gathering of democratic forces, but that of resentment, suspicion, and hostility. The idea of a grand coalition is just an attempt to channel these negative forces into a protracted process of mutual accommodation and thrust (in lieu of distrust and dethronement of one group by another). I may disappoint even more when I state that I refuse to posit democracy in terms of either/or, that is, in terms cornering Ethiopians to say “democracy now or nothing else.” With due respect to my critics, as a long and evolutionary process, democracy grows out of authoritarianism. When one thinks in terms of process versus leap into the unknown, change is never either this or that; rather, it is this and that, to wit, a transition.

(አበበች በላቸው) መቸም በቱንዝያ እና በግብጽ የተነሳው ሕዝባዊ አብዮት የሁለቱን አገሮች አምባገነን ገዥዎች ከገለበጠ ወዲህ ጭቆናና እና ድህነት በሰፈነበት አገር ሁሉ ስለሕዝባዊ ዐመፅ አስፈላጊነት እና ተገቢነት ብዙ ተጽፏል። ከእነዚህ አገሮች አንዷ ኢትዮጵያ እንደመኾኗ በርካታ ኢትዮጵያውያን ሕዝባዊ ዐመፅ በአገራችን ሊነሳ እንደሚችል እና መነሳትም እንዳለበት ጽፈዋል። እንዲያውም ሕዝባዊ ዐመፅ አይቀሬነቱ ተተርኮለታል። አልፎ ተርፎም አንዳንዶች መለስ ዜናዊ እንዴት [...]

(Melakou Tegegn)
The events in Tunisia should interest us, Ethiopians, a great deal indeed. Sometime back, there was a report somewhere that Meles’ regime was studying the system in Tunisia as a successful case of a one-party state. Undoubtedly, Meles should be the most disappointed person by what happened in Tunisia yesterday. His idol, Ben Ali, the champion of one-party state who also claimed elections victory by more than 86% (he seems to be a bit more modest than Meles who claimed a 99.6% victory) has just been swept away by a revolution that was ignited less than a month ago. If Ben Ali with 86% claims of election victory is swept away, what can happen to Meles who unashamedly claimed a 96% victory? Under Ben Ali’s rule, expressions of opposition was extremely rare that the international community wrongly considered it as one of the most stable with a dynamic economy.

It strikes me as preposterously self-serving that the by-laws and 501(c) are invoked to justify a decision whose roots can be traced to, yes, money. Honoring a politician with an impeccable pedigree of human rights activism does not change a non-profit association into a politically-affiliated group. It is not an endorsement of the political group to which the honored politician belongs.

I suppose he could offer Columbians a hell of a seminar on dictatorial self-preservation—on how to install puppet governments in neighboring nations with the military and diplomatic blessing of the most powerful country on earth; on how to violently steal elections while provoking minimal global outcry; on how to run a country that’s 171st on the UN’s Human Development Index.

I will not be surprised if the Front transforms itself to a united national party along the lines of CCP, CCM, BDP or its immediate Ethiopian predecessor, the WPE! Given its record of staggering pragmatism (Remember the premier’s frequent remark that EPRDF never repeats its mistakes!), the Front does have the courage to reinvent itself like this. This may turn the table on all pan-Ethiopian opposition parties pulling the carpet from beneath, while satiating the ethno-nationalists by retaining the current ethno-federal structure of the country. The massive influx of the urban voters to support (be it out of conviction or provision) and comprise the EPRDF could serve as one possible trigger of such a phenomenon. The jury is out to find the verdict but still all eyes are on Leviathan.

The fact that opposition forces were not able to see the extremist strategy of the TPLF and presented themselves divided, while still hoping that people will vote as they did in 2005 despite the changed conditions, constituted grave miscalculations allowing us to speak of defeat. Blaming the defeat on the EPRDF, that is, on the winner, does not make much sense, since it is hardly able to bring out anything other than the manner opposition leaders have been fooled. Moreover, to make somebody else responsible for our failings prevents us from having a critical look at ourselves. What we need now is to turn defeat into victory by assessing weaknesses and devising a new strategy.

The specter of war and famine is an architecture of blackmail. Fear and distortions are its underpinning. Emancipation should begin with its dismantling and this can come from at least two sources, among others. One is the economic and political liberation of the peasant. In a country where land and famine are used as a political resource, the ending of famine which entails the liberation of land and the empowerment of the peasant means the beginning of the end of tyranny