Standing Out of the Shadows of Tyranny: A Guest Post

(One good thing about having your own blog is you can do whatever strikes your fancy. Of course, readers are free to go elsewhere if your sense of propriety is out of wack or if you fancy foolish notions. All of this is my intro to something this site had not engaged in in the past. For the first time (but hopefully not for the last time) we are posting a piece authored by someone else.

We had priviously posted notes received from this guest in the comments section of this site. The author submitted the current post as a comment. However, we felt that the piece should be read by as many of our visitors as possible and so we are posting it on its own.)

A New Comment on "You Can Fool a Lot of People For a Long Time!" by H. Gabriel

Dear Eth4life;

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the Ethiopia we should work on leaving behind for our children. I fully agree with you. As you said, "They deserve to stand in the sun light out of the shadows of tyranny". You also raised a critical question that was also raised in a previous posting by One Ethiopia. What can each one of us do today (not tomorrow) to enhance the democratic process in Ethiopia? Here are my thoughts:

1. Support CUDP and UEDF financially, politically and in every way we can. At this point in time, I don't see other organizations that are struggling for a democratic federal Ethiopia where the right of the individual as well as the group is respected. These two organizations (for the most part) are being led by people who have been committed to the democratic process in Ethiopia. They have been and continue to pay the "price for freedom". Eth4Life is right that freedom is not free. We can actively be part of these organizations or at least support them financially. If we have doubt about their Support Organizations in the Diaspora, we can indirectly send the money to members in Ethiopia and/or others who are at the mercy of the EPRDF for their daily bread.

2. Support all the free press. We need to understand that there needs to be a big enough tent to accommodate even those who we may not agree with. If Ethiopian Review seems "out there" sometimes, we should still appreciate the big picture. This guy is at least walking the walk even though sometimes it is hard to tell which way he is going. Sometimes it appears his fingers are typing the words before his brain processes the ramifications of what he is saying. After all the inappropriate comments he made about Berhanu Nega, I still have not seen a public apology. Anyway, we should support him, since he is providing an invaluable service in the fight against the tyranny of the EPRDF. Actually, Mengistu was a tyrant. Afeworqi is a tyrant. Meles is worse than a tyrant. He wants to kill the spirit of a nation he is supposed to lead. He loath and despise what Ethiopia means to most of the people that inhabit the land. Much better writers than me have vividly described what Meles means to Ethiopia, so I won't waste you time here. We should also encourage others to come into the field; Internet, print as well as radio and TV. They can be local in the diaspora or targeted to Ethiopia. We can support them financially and make them viable businesses.

3. Fully and actively engage by non violent means in the fight against the EPRDF. Implement the directives that were given by the CUDP as a starting point. Improvise and be imaginative. I just read today about the incident at the Stadium. Can you imagine of the impact if everybody in the stadium gets up and turn their back as a symbolic gesture in a big match attended by Meles and his cronies. Can you imagine if everybody at church one Sunday all over Addis hymns "Egzio meharene christos" as a protest at the same time. The same at the Mosques during Friday prayers. However, we need to organize such activities in a clandestine manner so we don't have the fiasco of hooting the horn during the OAU summit. I believe the beginning of the end has already begun for the EPRDF. In the next six month we will start seeing this minister and that minister jumping ship. Eventually, Meles might join the Derg members in the Italian embassy. His fathers dream will be fulfilled if the Italians give him citizenship. At this point, my concern is what happens next? What kind of transition are we going to have? Are we going to have a Rwanda like transition orchestrated by the EPRDF/OLF and all the other LF's or are we going to be ready to take this opportunity to be free? The only way we can have a smooth transition to democracy is by actively supporting the organizations we believe can bring democratic governance. As I said above, the only two I see are CUDP and UEDF. We need to race against time so we are not caught with our pants down again. Agitate and organize. The EPRDF is using its SS (Agazi) troops because it does not trust the non Tigrai troops. These other troops have mothers and fathers , brother and sisters that are suffering. They are not immune to the anguish in every corner of the nation. CUDP and UEDF should actively recruit these men so when the time comes, they know which side they will be standing on.

By the way, I am getting a complex not having a handle like you guys (Eth4Life and OneEthiopia). Maybe I will be EthioForever. I think Meles already has EthioHate, EthioDestroy (sounds like a Humvee with a bunch of Agazi troops) and EthioDivide. Berhanu Nega has EthioSave and EthioLove and Birtukan Mideksa has EthioBeautiful and EthioCourage.