The self-declared Tigray ethnic elites that engineered the ruling regime’s treachery have no choice but to surrender power as told over-and-over again. If their apologists can’t communicate this reality soon in a language they can understand they might as well dig them their grave and get it over with. But, they can no longer lie, forge, divide, threaten, jail, kill, bribe and robe their way out of their predicament.
by Teshome Debalke
Noting brings our people together like the aspiration to be free from tyranny and the spirit of unity in individual liberty, noting. Likewise, noting wreck that aspiration and sprit like our contemporary elites’ lust for power by playing us-against-them game to climb and stay in power, noting. This historical reality left Ethiopians without rights and liberties, insecure, divided and poor under treacherous regimes for far too long as many societies around the world.
Failing to institute democratic institutions to promote the rule of law and accountability and defend the people’s rights from tyranny, the ruling ethnic elites in particular and contemporary political elites in general choose to hijack the public space from the important discussions of democratic governance that matters the most for our people. Instead, wars of division by class, ethnicity, religion and region among Ethiopians and bargaining the political and economic rights of our people with each other and foreigners became their new ideology — leaving Ethiopians as pawns of their political and economic adventure at enormous costs to the lives, livelihoods, rights and liberties of our people and the interest of the nation.
Therefore, the blunder they perpetuated kept the people of Ethiopia in a limbo ever since we departed from our historical rulers of kings and nobilities that were entitled to rule by birth right to fall on modern day kings wannabes elites that claim entitled to rule by subversion or empty propaganda.
Clearly, no elites gone down to the bottom — institutionalizing the politics of ethnic divide and corruption to come to and remain in power than the ‘self-declared ‘Tigray’ ruling elites with no desire to surrender but, gabble up more power by all means necessary. Therefore, division-diversion and brutality-corruption became the only sure way they feel will guarantee them a hold on illegitimate power.
Their audacity to commit countless atrocities and racketeering in broad light in the name of Revolutionary Democracy and ethnic Federalism under a secret banner of Greater Tigray Empire illustrates their contempt to the people of Ethiopia and the indifference to the wellbeing of the nation unheard of in history. Likewise, their counterpart ethnic elites’ rhetoric to perpetuate more division not only helped but further fuels the fire of division to sustain the ruling ethnic tyranny at the expenses of our people’s freedom and democratic rights as it was intended. In other words, our people’s freedom and democratic rights became bargaining chips to the benefit of our contemporary elites’ lust for power and their enablers’ interest.
Such seditious behavior can only be possible from feeling superior of shallow knowledge or and a self-inflected inferiority complex to consent anything foreign is better than your own. The phenomenon that swept many of our contemporary elites’ mind in the last century not only undermined our glories history as independent people with wise leaders in their own rights but, sold the very sovereignty of our people for the highest foreign bidder.
Therefore, the handful core group of individuals and their pseudo-intellectual elites that are ruling the Great People and Nation of Ethiopia as their private domain and with the blessing of their foreign enablers are bargaining our people’s rights and sovereignty for anything that would sustain their power and corruption at all cost. But, the wickedness of TPLF’s elites goes much further and deeper than many thought. By entertaining to create a hollow ethnic empire out of the ashes of Ethiopia and rationalizing their treachery and corruption with barrage of incoherent propaganda they have gone to places where no elites have ever gone before in history to remain relevant.
The fact they created a criminal class to incriminate the people of Tigray they claim to liberate for the sole purpose of achieving their treachery is the worst betrayal ever seen since the Fascist’s Ashkaris sold out their own people. The fact they make up fairytale history out of a tin air for the sole purpose of creating animosity among Ethiopians to sustain their rule and accomplish their mission is the worst campaign since colonialists disfranchised Africans into ethnic enclaves to sustain their occupation. The fact they manufacture empty propaganda for the sole purpose of dividing the people and camouflaging their treachery is the worst form of deceit ever invented since the Nazi propaganda machine. The fact they segregate the most diverse people on the planet earth by half a dozen ethnic enclaves to suite their sedition is the worst form of malevolence since Apartheid South Africa regime. The fact they organize election for the sole purpose of legitimizing ethnic despotism and racketeering is the worst form of vote rigging never seen since the invention of modern election. The fact they lure investment for sole purpose of feeding their criminal class’ extortion is the worst form of racketeering never seen since the Italian Mafia, and on and on.
The question is why TPLF’s ethnic elites do it and their apologists cover it up? Could it be Ethiopians’ stanch historical enemies behind their treachery?
What the Egyptian Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis in his unprecedented solicitation to Ethiopian ethnic elites compiled by The Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia’s ‘Open Letter to Ethiopians, Africans and Associated Internet Website is a window of opportunity to see how Ethiopians stanch historical enemies are reaching out to our contemporary elites to cause havoc on their own people and nation.
No one knows how many groups receive similar solicitation from foreigners to instigate war against their own people. But, noting would prove the similarity of what the Egyptian genocidal man advocates and what TPLF’ ethnic elites did and continue to do to instigating war among Ethiopians to take apart 1000s of years of relationship and history in the name of ethnic Federalism on behalf of their enablers.
Though such treachery of aligning with foreign foes to undermine our people and nation isn’t new for Ethiopians that defeated every conceivable treachery in our extended history, it worth to note, TPLF’s elites’ silence regarding madmen like Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin confirms they are on the take to wage war among Ethiopians.
Sadly to say, there is no institution to follow up on foreign or domestic groups’ conspiracy against our people or nation nor the vast majority of Ethiopian elites putting up enough fight on their own on behalf of the people and the nation. Instead of setting up the necessary institutions to investigate and punish the offenders, either they are silent or simply chasing their own petty interest—leaving the heavy lifting for the few brave souls that put their lives and livelihoods online. It speaks volumes what our people are up against to own their freedom and democratic rights from homegrown treacherous elites serving tyranny and foreign interest or from the silence and apathy of the rest.
Despite the ruling elites’ impunity and the need to uproot the diminutive regime that survives in dividing and robbing the people, the need to recognize by one-and-all that Freedom, Democracy, Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law are not negotiable nor bargaining chips by the elites or anyone else as we are led to believe. These rights and protections are the pillar of liberty and part of human being’s destiny to thrive that must be institutionalized now than later so that the ruling elites’ offenses can be documented and prosecuted never to be repeated again by anyone in the future.
When Coalition for Unity and Democracy better known as Kinjit broke the cycle of empty promise peddling elites in the 2005 election the true color of our contemporary elites’ lust for power at any cost showed its ugly face. The fact the ruling ethnic elites choose to spill more blood than surrender for the will of the people exposed how far they would go not to let go of power that never belonged to them in the first place. The fact other elites stampede to save the ruling tyranny or clamber over petty issues not to defend the people’s will is enough to say where the source of tyranny and the lack of will to stand up for the rights and freedom of the people originates and where the struggle must be waged beyond the treacherous ruling ethnic elites.
Therefore, if liberty of the people and democratic rule are the end goals of the democratic struggle as it should, Ethiopians must institutionally sort out the good, the bad and the ugly behavior of our contemporary elites and deprive them hiding places starting from the ruling ethnic elites.
And, the only known method to do that is the presences of independent institutions that document the identity of the individuals and their offence to make them pay for their crimes against the people. It isn’t a question of why but when to declare; no one is above law and the rights and interest of the people to be immune from punishment and act up on it.
The question is where are the independent institutions that defend and protect the rights and interest of the people of Ethiopia and the affairs of the nation?
Meanwhile, the ugliness of the ruling ethnic elites caught up concealing their treachery, atrocities and corruption continued to hold Ethiopians hostage from coming together to institute democratic rule and to rid tyranny for good. The behavior of ethnic elites in the Diaspora, particularly those residing in the free world aiding and abiding the regime in their free will illustrates the depth of the delinquency is beyond the opportunist elites serving the regime at home.
Such callousness of enjoying the privileges free societies afford while frustrating the rights and freedoms of their own people on behalf of the ruling ethnic tyranny is a typical behavior of cowards that must be confronted institutionally to make them accountable. Their double life often motivated by corruption must be uprooted sooner than later to deter every elite not to bow for tyranny on the expenses of our people.
Therefore, TPLF led ethnic tyranny is leaning on the collective conspiracy and apathy of the elites not to have the courage to have principled stand on the rule of law to go after their offending peers that carry the regime on their shoulders. Bickering over anything else is a convenient way of avoiding the responsibility of instituting the rule of law and accountability for one-and-all.
At the meantime, cranking up more rifts between Amharas-Oromos and Muslims-Christians became the ruling ethnic elites’ last hope-against-all-hope to hold on illegitimate power and undermine the people will to come together to end the ethnic Apartheid regime’s rule.
It may appear it is working on the surface backed by barrage of TPLF’s elites’ empty propaganda but, the reality is most Ethiopians are related by blood and culture and are wise not to fall for the ploy as they continue to reject the regime treachery in every turn. And, once the silent majority finds a common advisory to unify on the rule of law and democracy the day of reckoning is not long to rid tyranny and its residual and bring about a lasting change Ethiopians yearn for.
Though playing ethnic politics to widen the animosity among Ethiopians come naturally for the treacherous groups and shouldn’t surprise anyone, such cowardly act is usually expected from foreign invaders not domestic opportunists. To add salt to the wounds, victimizing our people of the Muslim faith in the name of their Christian compatriots and vice versa confirms TPLF elites’ treachery is to please their foreign enablers unlike what we are led to believe. But again, when their power base emanate from foreign support than the people will it is inevitable and unavoidable.
Yet, the sad reality is the rest of our contemporary elites’ indifference to stand up in union to defend our people’s rights and liberty allowed the ruling elites to get away with ‘murder’ for far too long.
After four decades of modern tyranny perpetuated by our contemporary political elites, the only thing left for every Ethiopian is to demand accountability from everyone that governs, claim to liberate or advocate on behalf of the people to end the era impunity for good. Liberty and democracy or death is expected from every Ethiopian soul to put down the ruling ethnic tyranny and aspiring tyrants and opportunist once-and-for-all as many societies have done in many successful democracies around the world.
The reality is there is no us-against-us but us against tyranny. This historical reality seems to elude our ‘half-baked’ modern day political elites that equate freedom and democracy as some kind of commodity to be bargained as political currency. Therefore, they refused to free the public space for democratic discussion to bring together Ethiopians to institute the rule of law and accountability. Instead, they kept waging war against our common bonds and heritage by making up fairytale story, non-existence conflicts and a make-believe development sanctioned by stanch historical enemies of the people to keep us on suspense, insecure and divided to their political and economic end.
Therefore, depriving our contemporary elites’ hiding place of playing victims-victimizers ploy to thwart the democratic aspiration of our people to get to and remain in power is the first thing every conscientious Ethiopian can do to break the cycle of endless bickering they play with each other to justify their political relevance on the expenses of the rights and freedom of our people.
THE ERA OF KINGS AND NOBILITIES
One of the oldest nations in the world, Ethiopia has always been ruled by kings and nobilities for extended period. As any traditional society under national and regional monarchies, Ethiopians were subjects of the prevailing rulers as expected from any traditional society in the world. Therefore, there is no mystery people under monarchy rule are subjects of the rulers and the states are the property of the ruling monarchs. Thus, the transition from being subjects of traditional monarchy rule to citizens of representative democracy isn’t new and a natural evolution of any successful democracies in the world.
Therefore, unless our contemporary elites are bickering over one group is better or worse off subjects of our traditional rulers as they continue to do so; there is no other excuse to dwell on it over-and-over again other than to use it as meal ticket to acquire power by other than democratic means or to destroy the history of the people and the nation and rewrite it to their liking as the ruling ethnic elites labor to do so.
It is paramount Ethiopians close the good, the bad and the ugly chapter of our extended history of monarchies rule to deprive the elites an excuse and a hiding place from taking responsibility of instituting the unavoidable democratic rule.
THE ERA OF REVOLUTIONARY DERGE MARXIST ELITES
The Derg era elites’ political ‘adventure’ can be characterized as the war between various Marxist elites’ lust for power through class warfare than the democratic rights of our people as were led to believe.
Though the world was divided between the ideologies of the mostly democratic capitalist west and the ‘revolutionary’ Marxist east, the ruling elites’ venture to follow Marxism over democracy was the lust to centralize power than emancipate our people from the shackle of feudalism and the associated oppression. Notwithstanding the separatist movements’ agenda, the ruling elites ended up to be the worst nightmare Ethiopians have never seen in history with unspeakable atrocities and crimes against humanity and frustrated the badly needed democratic transition.
The opposing national or ethnic liberation revolutionary Marxist elites weren’t any better to bring about anything resembling democratic rule as we found out when Ethiopians remained venerable to the adventure of ruling ethnic elites at present.
The self-professed ethnic Tigray liberation elites that ‘occupied’ Ethiopia at present and the ‘Eritrean’ elites that broke away the province of Eritrea ended the Derg rule playing the same us-against-them ploy. Instead of class war ethnicity became their brand, and once again the democratic rights of the people fall on the hand of ethnic elites’ lust for power and corruption.
THE ERA OF TIGRAY LIBERATION MARXIST ELITES
The self-professed Tigray elites’ rule can be characterized as the war between the ruling ethnic elites and various national and ethnic movements’ elites. The ethnic warfare they created among Ethiopians as means to the end instituted ethnic Apartheid rule to sustain power.
There is no clear evidence what motivated the ‘Tigray’ liberating elites to wage us-against-them war against Ethiopians on the bases of ethnicity and on Ethiopia as ‘colonial power– as they referred the ancient nation. But, the record along their public statements and practices indicate Ethiopian’s stanch historical enemies are behind them. Close look to their track records narrated and documented by those that knew their subversion from the inside and outside speaks louder to their treason.
Thus, Tigray liberation elites not only proven to be yet another deadly outcome of our contemporary elites’ lust for power supported by enemies of Ethiopia to isolate and use the people in Tigray against the rest of Ethiopians but instituted ethnic Apartheid to thwart the democratic aspiration of Ethiopians for good — as we witnessed when they ascended to power and went on rampant of divisions, atrocities and robbery of the people in a cover of Federalism and Revolutionary Democracy.
The burning question is, who are the ruling TPLF’s elites that portrait themselves as liberators of Tigray and to declare ethnic war on the rest of Ethiopians and who is behind them?
Regardless of whether they are typical domestic power mongering elites or foreign mercenaries, once again Ethiopians democratic aspiration took another big blow.
Unfortunately, since Ethiopians departed from our extended traditional monarchy rule, drumming up victim-victimizer or us-against-them ploy of the elites left Ethiopians in the hand of self-professed Marxist revolutionary liberators of the people (victims) turn power mongering tyranny (victimizer) then and the self-professed ethnic liberators (victims) turn ethnic Apartheid tyranny (victimizer) now.
Therefore, it confirms our political elites’ behavior then or now is incompatible with the democratic aspiration of the people of Ethiopia. Even worst; they have no desire to give up the public space for democratic discussion as if their petty interest or quarrel overrides the people’s right to be ruled by democratic representation. It says more about their lust for power by any means as the motivating factor than anything else.
There is no question Ethiopians continue to be victims of our contemporary elites in general and the political elites’ doubletalk in particular that sustained tyrannical rule for far too long in cover of revolution and liberation to justify their relevancy and continued to disfranchise our society from coming together to establish democratic rule.
By far the elites surrounding the ruling ethnic tyranny are the lowest our contemporary elites came down in history. Thus, they continued searching for more victims and victimizers to sustain their illegitimate rule and corruption and reduced the public space as a playground of their dimwitted ethnic cadres with not much challenge from the rest.
The million dollar question remains; what does it take for the elites to establish democratic institutions that defends and protects the rights and interest of the people of Ethiopia and to make the violators accountable beyond the lust for power?
Until conscious Ethiopians institutionally deprive a hiding place for our contemporary elites’ lust for power and prestige other than through democratic means, our people will remain casualties of the political and economic adventure of the elites, in conflict with each other and subjects of the political elites in one form or another for the foreseeable future.
The good news is the democratic movement is taking a great leap to bring about a united front to dismantle tyranny once and for all. Likewise, the regime’s mindless elites’ are scrambling to save ethnic Apartheid tyranny to sustain their power and corruption. Unfortunately, drumming up ethnic and religious divide remains the most potent weapon the ruling ethnic elites and others have at their disposal to thwart the aspiration Ethiopians to be free from tyranny once-and-forever.
The newly formed Masreja Justice Center (www.masreja.com) is a good example of depriving the elites a hiding place by instituting accountability to end tyranny as we know it. More independent institutions in every sector are needed to clean up the mess the ruling elites created and to end the culture of impunity.
Once again, there is no us-against-us but only us-against-tyranny and, there is absolutely noting the dimwitted ruling ethnic elites of the regime or anyone else can do to change that reality and prevent the unavoidable down fall of ethnic tyranny and the coming of democratic rule.
The time is near; therefore check your ancestry well before you are used and abused by tribal opportunists. Ethiopia and Ethiopians bloodline runs from all angles of our great country unlike we are led to believe by barrage of propaganda, and the silent majority is slowly awakening to that reality.
Therefore, the self-declared Tigray ethnic elites that engineered the ruling tyranny’s crimes have no choice but to surrender power as told over-and-over again. If their apologists can’t communicate this reality in a language they can understand, they might as well dig them their grave and get it over with. But, they can no longer lie, fake, divide, threaten, jail, kill, bribe and robe their way out of their predicament.
There is no doubt Ethiopians will be free one way or another with the ingenuity of their children. If anyone has the illusion to believe the ruling ethnic tyranny hide-and-seek game or others maneuvering to thwart the people’s aspiration to be free will stop it; he or she must be stupid enough to understand the meaning of freedom or blind enough by lust for power and corruption to see it.
At the meantime, Ethiopians must be vigilant with the ruling ethnic elites and their fake ethnic opportunist cadres that promise ‘milk-and-honey’ to isolate and use our people against each other. No one should be allowed to get away with such treachery now or ever again and requires the rest of the silent elites to put aside their personal issue and step forward to join the democratic movement.
The article is dedicated for the true children of Ethiopia and their families that suffer the most in TPLF led ethnic Apartheid system. Ethiopians owe you gratitude for your sacrifice to our people and country as your forefathers did before you.
በምዘጋጅበት ሰኣት ዲሲ የሚኖሩ ጓደኞቼ የስንብት ፓርቲ ኣዘጋጅተው ጠሩኝ፡፡“የወጣው ሰው ሁሉ ወጥቶ በሚቀርበት በዚህ ቀውጢ ሰኣት ወደ ኣገርህ ለመመለስ ያሳየከው ቁርጠኝነት በጣም የሚያኮራ ነው” እያሉ ትከሻየን ተምተም ተምተም ኣረጉት፡፡ ሼም ይዞኝ ወደ ሸገር ተመለስሁ፡፡ ጸጸት የለበለበኝ ገና ኣውሮፕላኑ ሲነሣ ነው፡፡ እንድያውም ዱባይ ላይ ትራንዚት ስናደርግ ወደ ሳኡዲ ኣረብያ ልሸበልል ኣስቤ ነበር፡፡ የኣረብ ፖሊሶች በኮሌታየ ጠርዘው ኣስገቡኝ፡፡ “ኧረ ጎበዝ የንጉሥ ኣብደላ ቀብር ላይ ለመገኘት ነው” ብል ማን ሊሰማኝ፡፡ ሩቢላው ወደ ሸገር ሲወርድ ቁልቁል ኣገሬን ሾፍኳት፡፡ ልምላሜ የሚባል ነገር ኣልጣፈባትም ፡፡በርግጥ እንጦጦ ላይ የጥልያኑን ተጫዋች የባላቶሊን ቁንጮ የምታክል ጫካ ቀርታለች፡፡
