Al Mariam’s Commentaries Archive
12 Oct 2019
Innovating the Developmental State Through Homegrown Economic Reform?
This op-ed piece appeared in Fortune, “the largest English weekly in Ethiopia” on October 13, 2019. “Innovating the Developmental State Through Homegrown Economic Reform?” CLICK HERE: Home Grown Econ Reform Fortune or COPY AND PASTE in your browser) on the link below to access op-ed: Click to access Home-Grown-Econ-Reform-Fortune.pdf
06 Oct 2019
Open Letter to Susan Hypocrit E Rice: People Who Live in Glass Houses Should Not Throw Stones
Lo and behold! The woman who laughed at the desecration of democracy in Ethiopia now rises to defend it in America Last week, Susan Elizabeth Rice, President Obama’s former National Security Advisor and top confidant was ragging on President Donald Trump as the “destroyer of American democracy from within” as she hawked her book “Tough
29 Sep 2019
The AMAZING Taye Bogale: A Force of Nature on the Ethiopian Intellectual Landscape
Battle of the social media troglodytes and the intellectual In this commentary, I salute and pay tribute to Taye Bogale. It is hard for me to describe Taye Bogale, whom I have neither met or spoken. But his name may be telling: Taye (He is seen) and Bogale (burst of brilliance as in lightning). He
27 Sep 2019
SECOND Call for Volunteers to Join the Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund’s Project Review Team (PRT)
When EDTF first issued a call for proposals in July 2019, we expected to receive two or three dozen proposals. We did not expect to receive some 300 plus proposals from a diverse group of civil society and NGO groups. Currently, we have quite a few experts in a variety of fields on board already.
23 Sep 2019
Xeno(Afro)Phobia in South Africa, Ethnophobia in Ethiopia?
In the interest of full disclosure, I have a special place in my heart for Nelson Mandela and South Africa. That is understandable because Mandela in his autobiography, “The Long Walk to Freedom” wrote: Ethiopia always has a special place in my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a
16 Sep 2019
The Peace Dividend of Abiy Ahmed’s Global Diplomacy in Ethiopia
Africa’s First Responder for Peace, Ethiopia’s Globetrotter for Investment and Hardest Working Man in Politics We are beginning to see hard evidence of PM Abiy Ahmed’s return on investments in domestic and regional peace initiatives, good governance and structural reforms and his unrelenting campaign to change the global image of Ethiopia as a land of
11 Sep 2019
9/11- A Date That Shall Live in Infamy in America and in Glory in Ethiopia and Eritrea
Author’s Note: Today, September 11 (12), 2019 is Meskerem1, Ethiopian New Year’s Day (Enqutatash “gift of jewels”). I wish all Ethiopians a HAPPY, PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS MEDEMER NEW YEAR. Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar consisting of 12 months of 30 days with a 5 or 6 day “13th month” (leap year, this year). The Ethiopian
07 Sep 2019
Herman Cohen, I Accept Your Apology Though It Comes More Than Two Months Late!
More than two months after Herman Cohen made his unprovoked, depravedly hateful and arrogantly insulting comments about the Amhara people, he has issued a Twitter apology “about the pain and discomfort I caused within the Amhara community”. On June 26, 2019, I wrote a commentary entitled “Herman (Harm Man) Cohen’s Second “Coup” in Ethiopia? We Demand
25 Aug 2019
Hope Springs Eternal in Africa With Leaders Like Abiy Ahmed!
Africa’s “first responder” does it again! Last week, Sudan was pulled from the brink of disaster when the “military council and the main opposition coalition signed a power-sharing deal paving the way for transition to civilian rule.” The agreement was brokered, not by the U.N. or the usual Western powers who have long played the role of
11 Aug 2019
Raising the White Flag! The Power of Medemer and the “Disarming of the Ethiopia Opposition”?
Is PM Abiy Ahmed winning the battle (of ideas) for hearts and minds? In an interview, a self-styled journalist-cum-former-regime official-turned-opposition activist and avowed opponent of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pointedly accused PM Abiy Ahmed of having vanquished his legion of opposition by persuading them to quaff a “special drink that strikes their cerebellum and makes