Through the Eyes of the Abstained By Mulubrhan Tsehaye July 07, 2007 Nothing that comes out of the Diaspora extremists’ mouths about Ethiopia is surprising anymore this days for we have heard it all: Ethiopia is under economic and political gloom caused by the ruling party, CUD has won the 2005 election, people are tortured and massacred every minute, Hailu Shawel and the likes are special breed Ethiopians who are God-chosen to rule the nation, Tigray is the most privileged region, the coming Ethiopian millennium is of the ruling party’s making, the Ethiopian orthodox church has turned into Woyanne, the war against terrorism in Somalia is a diversion of the nation’s attention, the list just goes on and on. One would hope that by now, these disillusioned Diaspora Kinijit blind supporters would wake up from their fantasy world of power grabbing through the back door and would realize that the game of deception and cry-foul is over. How hard is to realize that Ethiopia is a big country with more than 77 million people of various nationalities and it takes more than a hasty support of down town Addis Ababa for any political party to claim victory and try to jump to crown itself to power. One would thus hope that their repeated failing experience would be of any help to realize that in Ethiopia, any political entity that fails to recognize the core political issue of years of ethnic discrimination in the country and the incalculable sacrifices the nations and nationalities paid to break the long-standing political and economic mistreatment during the previous regimes is always doomed to fail and fail miserably. Spreading hate propaganda and spewing ethnic venom towards those proud nationalities who have done so much for the country has clearly lead them nowhere but to their demise. It is indeed very sad that the Diaspora hate mongers although demised and in disarray, still to this day, don’t seem to have learned that Ethiopia is Ethiopia because of all the colorful and diverse people it is comprised of and its political, social and economic betterment can only materialized through a proportional representation of every citizen of every ethnic group. CUD’s malicious campaign to seize power through violence and hate propaganda about two years ago under the disguise of a peaceful democratic election in the country has failed to materialize and eventually lead them to where they are now, in total disarray and in Kaliti prison cells. And shortly after that, as we all know, it didn’t take long to witness the final demise of the Diaspora hate mongers, the driving engine of Hailu Shawel’s fantasy. For those of us who were cutely aware of the true nature of the ethnically polarized Diaspora movement of hate and vengeance, this didn’t come as a surprise for it was crystal clear that the exiled, power-addicted ex-members of the previous brutal regimes were in it for their own self-serving purpose of short-term financial gains and of course, the fantasy of shortcut reinstatement of themselves to the crown of rulers. Nevertheless, for their disillusioned Diaspora supporters, it was painful to face the ugly truth of this hidden march. The whole fiasco was unveiled as the major players became greedier and failed to agree in sharing the newly found wealth that was collected from the vast disillusioned supporters. The final chapter was closed and the noisy tower went crashing when the vicious feud among the factions erupted out in the open and eventually lead to their disarray and self-destruction. As they say, the ship has finally sunk and the fantasy of carrying the Kinijit’s torch of hate to the Minilk palace has long gone only to become a sad episode of history. Since then the so-called Diaspora Kinijit support has become merely a spirit of various dysfunctional personally owned factions under the command of the sadistic regime of Shaibya. Disappointed and disheartened, the general atmosphere of the vast blind Diaspora followers today remains in a state of depression and resignation without the slightest clue as to who or which faction to cheer on. As to the few disarrayed residues of the once noisy fanatics, they are simply gasping for the last breath of their political life and the hope of learning from their past mistakes that brought them to their knees is virtually nonexistent for they still remain the same sick, hate mongers who simply are blinded by unimaginable greed for power that is contaminated by a deeply seated ethnic polarization. The Few Tigrean Mercenaries For some time now, as we all know, there are few Tigrean characters in the Diaspora who like to portray themselves as ultra-nationalists and political rescuers of the people of Tigray from the jaw of TPLF, as they put it. As one listens to their outlandish radio interviews and reads their worthless pieces of writings, it is at times very hard to believe for some of us as to how low some of these individuals are prepared to go just to appease their masters from whom they hoped to get some power leftovers in the event those masters are reinstated back to the Minilik palace. These tail-wagging individuals/groups who are usually either ex-beneficiaries of the previous brutal regimes or ex-members of the TPLF who were expelled or left for personal reasons have been busy dumping the usual propaganda of fear and despair through their lie-fabricating web sites and affiliated propaganda radio programs in an attempt to persuade the Tigrean community that the fundamental principles of the fallen heroes and heroines and the history of the extraordinary bravery and the incredible sacrifices during the challenging years of struggle for justice and democracy were nothing but fraud, divisive and unpatriotic. They usually present themselves as individuals who knew the ins-and-outs of the organization and its leadership and then spew their usual fictitious accounts and worthless political analyses that are mainly designed to create suspicion on the whole historic struggle for justice as if it was a work of few personalities. They have been shamelessly preaching that the 17-year struggle of the people of Tigray and the devastation they endured were perpetrated so few manipulative individual politicians would be instated to power. We have been observing them at the forefront of the relentless campaign for some time now to portray their political masters, the Kinijit leaders, the vary same politicians who are known for their deep hate towards the people of Tigray as the sole hope of democracy and social justice in the future Ethiopia. As one wonders about these mercenaries’ behaviors, a popular short moral story that is often told in Tigray comes to mind: one of two best friends commits a crime and asks his best friend to falsely testify for him in court. Excited and eager to appease his criminal friend, the friend goes and falsely testifies that his best friend didn’t commit the crime he was accused of. As they were walking home, looking for some kind of recognition or gratitude perhaps, the friend who falsely testified exclaims to the criminal: did you see how good a friend I am to falsely testify for you? The criminal friend then responded: yes, I did but I also learned how untrustworthy you are as a person. It is an insult to the public’s intelligence for these mercenaries to even contemplate that they can just deceive the public into embracing the rather hate mongering CUD leaders in or outside the country and their ethnically polarized policies, the vary same extremists who have been passionately preaching and promoting plain racism and hate against the people of Tigray simply because their adversaries happen to be affiliated to that region. It would be perhaps too much ask to expect for these mercenaries to eventually come to realization that the Tigrean community is disgusted and repulsed by their despicable and opportunistic crusade of deception. Regardless of how loud they squeal however, their dreams will remain merely a hollow fantasy, and they will certainly end up disappointing their masters for reality seems to have evaded them. This said however, it is obvious that criticism towards any defective policies of any ruling party is a very crucial element in the process of democratic governance. An active participation of all citizens of all walks of life is also another very important part of a democratic process. It is thus within their rights to take whatever political stance they choose or whoever politician they choose to idolize. Although credits ought be recognized where they are due and there are many sectors where the current leaders of Ethiopia are doing a commendable job including in the areas like broadening education, improving infrastructure, development of cities like Addis Ababa, fighting terrorism and the overall poverty reduction endeavors, the ruling party has its own share of deficiencies in many sectors and the Tigrean community has been not short of its own dissatisfactions including the infamous premature abortion of the Ethiopia’s military advances during the 1998-2000 war with Shaibya and the mishandling of the regime of Shaibya thereafter, the unjust court delay of some of the very decorated ex-members of the TPLF such as Sieye Abraha, Bitew Belai and others, and of course, the reluctance to allow any main stream oppositions in Tigray, just to mention a few. It is one thing to criticize individual political characters you happen to dislike or specific polices that you disagree with but to try to undermine and possibly deny the history of the incalculable devastation that took the lives of thousands of young Tigreans and the historic gallantry of those heroes and heroines who gave their precious lives for peace and social justice is deplorable and simply morally incomprehensible. The bottom line is, although it has all sorts of deficiencies and numerous weaknesses, out of all the currently operating political parties, TPLF remains the only formidable political party that is relatively capable of representing and defending the political and economic interest of the people of Tigray. Now, does this statement mean that the people of Tigray don’t have all kinds of grievances against TPLF’s policies or their ineffective implementations? Absolutely not, actually far from it. Although more has to be done, many people have been airing their dissatisfactions in various occasions without any hesitation. What the statement means is that while the people of Tigray have been craving for alternative policies other than what they have got so they can compare and pick, by all accounts, political parties like Kinijit and its leadership can never be an option of alternative representation for the people of Tigray. Kinijit has proven conclusively to the people of Tigray and other ethnic groups that except the usual spewing venom of hate and their usual blind opposition to the existing ethnic federalism, they have failed miserably to lay out any type of short-term or long-term political vision that would tackle the longstanding social, economic and cultural issues of all the Ethiopian people of different backgrounds. The one important thing that ought to be crystal clear to those mercenaries who might otherwise be delusional is that for many Ethiopians, especially for those of Tigrean origin, the word Woyanne or TPLF has a special place in their hearts for it exemplifies the remarkable determination and unflinching resilience of the people of Tigray in the face of death and devastation, the incalculable human suffering and sacrifices and of course, the glory of victory over those who seemed indestructible and the reinstatement of our people’s dignity. It can never be overstated to those who are trying to erase or undermine history that the people of Tigray have endured indescribable travesty of justice for many years and underwent through unimaginable atrocities over the years of struggle. Tigray has buried its finest sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers in the thick bushes, high mountains, deep valleys and the ragged terrains of its soil to get where it currently is. The absolute determination and remarkable bravery of those young men and women who never hesitated to pay the ultimate price was not derived from a zeal for war or from some kind of religious fanaticism, as we observe in some areas these days, but rather from a profound desire to liberate their people from the jaws of brutality and endless discrimination and agony. The willingness to commit themselves to a very long and hard course of suffering without being able to foresee whether they will be lucky enough to survive and see the end, or pay the ultimate sacrifice along the way is rather a striking gallantry and an unimaginable intrepidity. This certainly is, by any measure, a unique personal valor only the very few exceptional human beings possess. For those of us who were old enough to witness the extraordinary and extremely devoted sons and daughters of Tigray perform the remarkable heroism to perfection and pay the ultimate human price, there is no day that goes by without wondering what might have become of them today had they lived: perhaps they would have headed back to their farms, or their old high schools, colleges, universities, and most importantly, to being sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers or mothers. We always imagine them as political leaders, lawyers, teachers, engineers, and as we do so, we feel the immense loss more profoundly, and our sorrow deepens. Yes, they are not with us anymore but their patriotic deeds and selfless gesture has become a symbol of national pride that has helped our society move forward, and profoundly changed the course of history of our nation. The flame of memory of those fine citizens thus will burn in the hearts of everyone of us eternally. While this is the hard core tale on the ground, it is obvious that there are those who have been determined to undermine and possibly destroy the remarkable gallantry of Tigray and cover up the fresh graves of the thousands of fallen heroes and heroines for peace and social justice. It is for this important reason that we ought to stand firm in one voice and expose those among us who have been busy undermining the immense price paid and the remarkable victory achieved. At end of the day however, no matter how misleading and disingenuous they could be, nothing they say or do is going to diminish the historic deeds of those heroes and heroines. Regardless of its shortcomings and imperfections, to many, the words "Woyanne/TPLF" and "liberation" are right next to each other in the dictionary. Those compatriots who sacrificed their lives and left this world too young deserve nothing but a medal of honor, a humble tribute, our greatest respect and the most profound and enduring gratitude of our nation. And we shall never, ever forget the debt that we owe to them for they represent the very best of us. Feed back is always appreciated at: mulu07@mts.net Home