Addis Neger

After noticing the level to which the integrity of the country’s budget system was compromised, Paddy Ashdown, the man who worked as the international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, concluded that what Bosnia needed were not doctors without borders, but accountants without borders. A post-Meles government should hope that the first help it gets is from statisticians without borders to clean the statistical mess we are in.

But the report even goes beyond the cases of discrimination and details instances of after-the-fact punishment – denying aid to those who opposed the government in the past. For an Ethiopian farmer who lives in extreme poverty, denying these services basically means destroying her livelihood, deliberately and systematically starving her. Let me apply here the Abraham Lincoln moral heuristic. “If slavery is not wrong,” Lincoln said, “nothing is wrong.” If this is not repression, Mr Ambassador, nothing is.

It is really troublesome that even HRW, an organization which has systematically exposed the real face of the Ethiopian government for years, succumbs to the “development rhetoric” so readily. In its choice of title and inside the 105-page report, the rights group seems to be implicitly suggesting that Ethiopia is a repressive but developmental state. This is not true.

Relentless and fearless, Dagnachew has treated the Birtukan case as an emblem of the struggle of people who aspire to live with their heads up, in freedom, and a state that wants to subjugate. Modesty might have stopped him from putting himself in that category, but there is little doubt that he has said “no” with honor, rigor and wit.

በዕድሜ ጠና ያሉ የቤተሰቡ አባላት ለእርድ የተዘጋጀውን ከብት ጀርባ እየዳበሱ ረዣዥም ምርቃቶችን ያዥጎደጉዳሉ፤ አገሩ ሰላም እንዲኾን፣ ሳር ቅጠሉ ፍሬ እንዲያፈራ፣ ልጆቻቸው በአውሮፕላን የሚመላለሱ አስመጪ እና ላኪ እንዲኾኑ አጥብቀው ይማጸናሉ። “ማርያም አጊ ትበል፤ ገብሬል አጊ ይበል፣ ጎርጊስ አጊ ይበል…” እያሉ። ክብ ቅርጽ ሠርቶ የተሰበሰበው ቤተሰብ የሽማግሌዎቹ ፀሎት መሬት ጠብ እንዳይል እጁን ዘርግቶ “አሜን!” እያለ ይቀበላል። በተሳተፍኩባቸው የምርቃት እና የእርድ ሥነ-ሥርዐቶች ሁሉ ግን ቀልቤን የሳበኝ በየምርቃቱ ሾልከው የሚገቡ ፖለቲካዊ የሚመስል ይዘት ያላቸው ፀሎቶች ናቸው። ለምሳሌ በብዙዎቹ የእርድ ሥነ ሥርዐቶች “ኤርችትኡት የገነታ ያብቋን” የምትል ዐረፍተ ነገር ሰምቻለሁ። “ሰውየውን ለእናት አገሩ ያብቃው” እንደማለት ነው። ማን ነው ሰውየው?

“…በሀገሬ ላይ ያጠፋሁት ጥፋት ካለ የኢትዮጵያን ሕዝብ እግር ሥር ወድቄ ይቅርታ እጠይቃለሁ” ስዬ አብርሃ

“ታማኝ ተቃዋሚዎች ቀን ቀን ከእኛ ጋር ይውላሉ፣ ማታ ማታ ደግሞ ኢህአዴግ ኪስ ውስጥ ያድራሉ” መረራ ጉዲና

“መድረክ ኢህአዴግን ያስደነገጠና ያደናበረ ፓርቲ ነው” ገብሩ አስራት

The EPRDF’s “developmental and democratic art” too has tried to develop its national form with socialist content, just as juche realism did. Though the form is quite different, the content is similar. This document also highlights the perceived weak spots within most of Addis Ababa’s artistic institutions. For instance, the Addis Ababa Youth and Children’s Theater of Arat Kilo received the suggestion that “in the future, this institution must display works of art which could teach the essence of democracy, good governance and the importance of development for children.“

In Addis Ababa, a youngster visiting a kiosk may say, “I need a cigarette.” In Mekelle, another youngster of the same age visiting a photo-shop may say, “Nay Meles photo Habini?” (“Do you mind giving me a photo of Meles?”) Both will find what they seek. Some years ago, passport-size photos of the premier sold for 1.50 Birr in Mekelle. Now, considering the higher rates of inflation, the price is 3 Birr. But the gaze of the man in the photo remains steady, not owning up to the inflation that brought such great social upheaval, including the doubling in price of his own photo.

(Special Coverage On the State of Ethiopian Free Press )

After 2007 when the theology of EPRDF overtly changed, its mechanism for dealing with the media also changed, growing ever more systematic. As some pundits claimed, the major shift lay not only in its approach to the media in particular, but in its approach to all independent voices. Ato Meles dreams of a country of one party and ideology. For him and the party, they argued, democracy has only instrumental value–to purge other democratic forces and voices from the scene, using “democratic means”

I have been surprised that what I saw as the main topic of my article hasn’t been commented by anybody. Shall I consider this as another proof of the gap I mentioned between the politicized urban elite and the mass of the Ethiopian population, the farmers? What I tried to demonstrate was that the outcome of the 2010 elections had been definitively set since the end of 2005, and that it is not mainly due, as commonly explained, to the “weakness” of the opposition, the intensification of the regime’s authoritarianism since 2008 (the laws about NGO’s, the press, “anti-terrorism”), or even the repression of the opposition’s operatives during the electoral campaign.