Celebrating Independence Day 2020 in America and Ethiopia!

Happy July 4th to all!

On July 4, 2006, in a comment entitled, “Awakening Giant!”, I asked:

CAN ETHIOPIANS AND ETHIOPIAN AMERICANS LIVING IN AMERICA MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR HOMELAND?

On July 4, 2020, I answer that question with the fierce urgency of now.

Now is the time for all diaspora Ethiopians to come to the aid of their country!

Ethiopia has remained independent for thousands of years. Ethiopian’s rugged terrain and the unconquerable spirit of its people has kept many invaders at bay.

Indeed, Ethiopia is the only African country that has never been colonized.

Italy tried to colonize Ethiopia during the European “scramble for Africa” but suffered a humiliating defeat in 1896 which was reprised in 1941 during Italy’s second attempt.

The Egyptians also tried tampering with Ethiopia’s independence by controlling the Nile River and making Ethiopia a “water colony”. They too suffered humiliating defeats in 1875-76 and left with their tails between their legs.

In 2020, Ethiopia’s independence is facing an existential threat.

Every day, Egypt sounds the drumbeat of war and bugles its army to ready itself for war if Ethiopia “takes one drop of water from the Nile River.”

Egypt has sailed the seven seas to find allies who will help her bring Ethiopia to its knees.

Egypt unsuccessfully connived with the Trump administration to force Ethiopia to sign an agreement on the Nile that will sell Ethiopia’s independence down the (Nile) river.

When Ethiopia defended its independence and asserted its sovereignty over the Nile, Egypt tried to put Ethiopia on trial in the U.N. Security Council.

Egypt has arranged with the World Bank and the International monetary Fund to deny Ethiopia loans and other financial assistance to pressure her to sign an agreement.

Egypt has conspired with terrorists in Ethiopia to spark an ethnic civil war hoping that will prevent the initial filling of the GERD this month.

Egypt’s efforts to deprive Ethiopia its sovereign right to independently use Nile River waters reasonably, equitably and without causing significant harm to other downstream countries has failed.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is the ultimate symbol of Ethiopia’s independence.

The GERD will liberate Ethiopia’s 115 million people from abject poverty.

The GERD will open the floodgates of prosperity for 115 million people.

The GERD will be proof of Ethiopia’s independent identity and indomitability.

When the English colonial subjects in North America declared independence in 1776, Ethiopia was a thriving independent kingdom ruled by Emperor Tekle Haimanot II.

In the Declaration of Independence, the American revolutionists proclaimed their independence from British colonial rule. “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States,” wrote Thomas Jefferson.

The Declaration of Independence, a document that inspired Ho Chi Minh to rid French colonialism from Vietnam to African liberation movements, is a timeless political statement affirming the fact that no nation shall be subjected to oppression, exploitation and depredation by another.

I was so inspired by the American Declaration of Independence that I wrote my own “Declaration in Defense of Human Rights in Ethiopia” on July 4, 2007 patterned after the American Declaration, co-signed by 74 individuals.

I celebrate today the ideals enshrined in the American Declaration of Independence: That all men, and emphatically all women, indeed all human beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Independence and sovereignty are two sides of the same coin.

There are many who say no African country today is truly free or independent.

African countries are manipulated and controlled in a neocolonial system in which they depend on their former colonizers for aid, trade and loans.

Africa has been described as the “beggar continent” and beggars depend on their benefactors for their daily bread.

Ethiopia aims to declare its independence from beggary, poverty and privation by producing hydropower not just for itself but also for its neighbors.

The GERD shall power regional prosperity and banish poverty.

The GERD shall liberate Ethiopia from a fate of perpetual panhandling of neocolonial powers and their multilateral lending institutions.

When the GERD begins its initial filling this month, it will be one small step for Ethiopia and one giant leap out of poverty for a maligned continent of beggars.

Now is the time for all diaspora Ethiopians to come to the aid of their country!

Now is the time for all diaspora Ethiopians to come to together and defend Ethiopia’s independence against hydro-colonialism.

Now is the time for all diaspora Ethiopians to stand up, speak up and shout out for the heavens to hear:

 “INDEPENDENT ETHIOPIA TODAY. INDEPENDENT ETHIOPIA TOMORROW. INDEPENDENT ETHIOPIA FOREVER!” 

Ethiopians united shall never be defeated.

Ethiopians united shall always maintain their independence.

One GERD for all Ethiopians. All Ethiopians for one GERD.

JOIN ME DIASPORA ETHIOPIANS IN CELEBRATING THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JULY 2020 AS “GERD INDEPENDENCE FROM POVERTY MONTH.”