Racketeering: The Political Philosophy of Tyranny

The first week of December was notable for the lack of news on the home front. Given the precarious situation the country finds itself in, the brevity of news can be disconcerting to say the least. The gag order issued by the Great Leader right after his second manic episode, prohibiting the publication of anything regarding the views and conditions of the leaders of the opposition and/or of the population together with the detention of nearly all independent minded editors, reporters and publishers of the private press, has left us looking for news in every nook and cranny for something anything on the conditions of our country and our people. The situation got so desperate, I even scanned the pages of WIC and ENA hoping to find bits of reporting I could decode to get a sense of what is really going on in the country.

In that state of semi-desperation, I stumbled on to the website of the once great Addis Fortune. It is there that I came upon an entry that gave me a clue that the dearth of news was beginning to un-nerve even those who were responsible for the situation in the first place. Apparently, the Great Leader and his adjutants are a bit worried that there has not been any good news about their fiefdom published by any organ other than those owned, operated or directly controlled by the ministry of disinformation. The December 4 issue of Fortune reports that the Great Leader and his boys had found the place so unbearably quiet that they embarked on the task of creating news, even if by trickery and racketeering.

This once great paper to which I once contributed several entries, run(http://www.addisfortune.com/web_issue/news/news_013.htm), an interesting story under the heading Ethiopian Returnees in Defense of Foreign Aid to Ethiopia – a story that bares the souls of the Great Leader and his minions. As expected, the author took great pains not to antagonize those who hold the power to harm his person, his employment condition and his family members. However, he could not succeed in completely sanitizing this amazing story.

It pertains to a meeting of three dozen or so Ethiopians who had returned from abroad to establish business interests. These are what the paper refers to as returnees, even though some among those named in the story are at best regular visitors to Ethiopia with residences abroad. But, that is not what this story is about.

The story was about the familiar con job of the Great Leader. These individuals had been hoodwinked into assembling at a hotel for the reported purpose of discussing with representatives of the Great Leader any problems they might be facing. However, just like the good old days at the wooyiyit kibeb, as the meeting began, the plants among them and the cadres of the Great One began talking about the worldwide movement of Ethiopian patriots.

Apparently, the meeting quickly moved into a formal discussion of the merits of the effort of Ethiopians abroad to bring the injustice transpiring in Ethiopia to the attention of the world. Then, quite suddenly, one of the plants among those gathered proposed a resolution condemning the call made by Ethiopians abroad for friendly nations to stop providing the tyrant with the material means for oppressing his subjects. Just like that, those who assembled to discuss the country’s economic policy framework, unanimously passed a resolution which condemns their fellow citizens for standing up for their country.

According to Fortune, the returnees passed a unanimous resolution which stating "we call on our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora to desist from such a negative and counterproductive campaign". Stunned at the turn of events, several of them spoke with the paper after the session was over, complaining that they were set-up to take part in a sting operation. A participant who told Fortune that “he thought the meeting was called to discuss the problems the returnee community is facing during this time of crises stated that "we were literally coaxed into agreeing on the resolution. If this is what they wanted, we were not in a position to go against it."”

In free societies, this is called racketeering: forcing individuals to engage in an activity against their freewill through bribery, fraud and intimidation. The story reported here is a perfect example of racketeering, exhibiting every aspect of this definition. True to form, the Great Leader is not beyond bribing even his own underlings if it serves a particular purpose. In this case, you have these individuals who took great risk packing up and returning home and exposing their resources to the whims of a most whimsical government. Such individuals are bound to be susceptible both to negative and positive enticements. Given the personal stakes for these individuals, bribery as well as intimidation can be effective tools. It is obvious some of the returnees were afforded one of these options and others the alternative. And of course, in true Meles form, most of the returnees were simply duped into taking part in something totally unanticipated. This is of course the gang which perfected the bait and switch tactic of negotiation. One only need to recall the numerous false offers of negotiation during the last 6 months to appreciate how effective this tactic can be when deployed against trusting subjects, a common attribute of our people.

Speaking of Fortune, it pains me to see that once pioneering publication, squeezed and reduced by the regime into a shadow of its former independent self. I find it distressing to read not only its editorials but even the news it purports to report. The December 4th edition of Fortune is a perfect example of a paper whose independent spirit is nearly extinguished by the heavy hands of the regime. It ran an editorial on the need for reconciliation between the government and the (http://www.addisfortune.com/web_issue/editor_note.htm) opposition – a timely and noble topic for the paper to address at this point in our history. Regrettably, the way the editors run roughshod with the constitution and the record of the last 6 months and tiptoe around issues trying to pick and chose “safe” language only serves to illustrate the cloud of fear and uncertainty under which they operate.

In one outburst that cries desperately for clarity, brevity and honesty, it states that “aside from what is possible for the ruling party to do legally, it (the EPRDF) has the not so attractive option of trying to encourage - even after all these upheavals - the resurgence of an opposition force that could unquestioningly accept the legitimacy and authority of the constitutionally based institutions, including parliament, the national electoral board and the judiciary.” Of course readers know that opposition forces and the people of Ethiopia need tolerance, not encouragement, to be a force to contend with. The editors of Fortune know this fact as well as the next guy. They also know that a government does not gain legitimate authority because it has the right to kill, incarcerate or deport those who resist it. A government earns its legitimacy when it is seconded or deputized by the people to act on their behalf. To be legitimate, a government has to be designated the Inderasae of the people.

During a moment of high risk candor, Fortune continued, “the EPRDF-led government appears to be in a better position now than at any previous time to push its political arch-rivals to accept this in exchange for them to be integrated back into the political system under a mutually understood formula.” I for one am not in a position to know whether the leaders of the opposition who have been incarcerated for 6 weeks and incessantly harassed for 5 months before that are so broken that they would accept an offer to be “integrated into the political system” in exchange of their recognition of the legitimacy of the EPRDF. Nor am I in a position to judge them should they decide to take this or any other extraordinary step to save their lives in these extraordinary times. I suspect the editors of Fortune are far better informed than I about what is contemplated by those in authority. I find it interesting that they consider this to be a credible scenario.

Perhaps as pay back for the candor, Fortune writes “this formula could make clear that the opposition camp and their sympathizers will stop their… demonising (sic) of the EPRDF, and will abandon their exaggerated rhetoric and highly destructive and often ill-informed campaigns.” If this is what it takes, then integration is overpriced. It also seems to me that Fortune is paying too high a price for candor.

Over the weekend, I stumbled into The Manitoban, a newspaper of the University of Manitoba, a Canadian university. The paper quoted Ato Tamrat Giorgis, the editor of Fortune in a story it ran on press freedom (http://umanitoba.ca/manitoban/2005-2006/1207/1621.ethiopia.information.shortage.php)

in Ethiopia. The Manitoban writes “he (Tamirat) said that, “technically and legally,” no newspapers have been shut down. Instead, many newspaper editors went into hiding as a result of the government’s published “Wanted List,” even though they were not identified on it.” The Manitoban further quotes Tamirat as stating that “the newspapers that have been indirectly shut down, he said, are: “completely confused, misinformed at large — shadow journalism.”

Speaking about his paper, Tamirat stated “we try to be as objective as possible, and therefore I don’t think the government has any reason to have any problem [with Fortune],” he noted. Some people even suggest that the publication has taken a stance that is ‘soft’ with the government on several issues — but Giorgis said that Fortune is not considered to be completely pro-government.”

I suppose Ato Tamirat believes that knowing that Fortune is not “completely pro-government” makes his readers feel more secure. Having lived in Ethiopia during Mengistu’s reign of terror, I cannot judge him because I do not walk in his shoes. But, it is a sad commentary on the conditions in Ethiopia for a “newsman” to feel that he has to earn his freedom by acting as though he is a paid cadre of the regime he fears so much.