Dogs Keep Barking, Ethiopian Camel Keeps Walking on Medemer Avenue to the Polls

 

Exactly two weeks from today, June 21, 2021, Ethiopia will have its first historic free and fair election.

It is a day I have waited to see for a long time.

In 2010, the terrorist organization TPLF declared victory by claiming to have won 99.6 percent of the seats in Parliament. The U.S. merely expressed “some degree of remorse that the elections there were not up to international standards” and continued to support the TPLF

In May 2015, the TPLF declared victory by claiming to have won 100 percent of the parliamentary seats. President Barack Obama visited Ethiopia in July 2015 and declared the May “elections put forward a democratically elected government.” The U.S. continued to support the TPLF.

Since the TPLF seized power by force of arms in a U.S. facilitated “coup” in 1991, the U.S. has NEVER suggested or demanded that elections in Ethiopia be cancelled.

In 2021, the U.S. is calling for cancellation or postponement of the June election and for negotiations with the terrorist TPLF in Senate Resolution 97.

It is against this background that I feel especially proud and happy Ethiopia is having its first free and fair election on June 21, 202, even though I cannot vote.

I must confess is a crowning moment of pride and joy for me to be a witness to the dawn of democracy in Ethiopia from afar.

After all, I have toiled day and night, never taking a break, for 15 years to usher a new era of democracy in Ethiopia.

It is a journey I began in earnest in 2006.

I explained my reasons in my March 2007 in my “manifesto”, an allegorical commentary entitled, “The Hummingbird and the Forest Fire: A Diaspora Morality Tale.”

I wholeheartedly adopted the proclamation: “You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.”

I hectored, “In the struggle for human rights in Ethiopia, there is another choice, if you’d like. You can be a hummingbird. And you can hum all day and hum all night. Hum for freedom. Hum for democracy, and hum for the rights and dignity of all humankind.”

I must say over the past 15 years I have made many big dogs, domestic and foreign, uncomfortable. I have kept them scratching all day and all night. Never let them sleep. Biting the big bad TPLF wolf and humming my song of freedom, justice and democracy week after week.

Of course, there were those who laughed at the “crazy professor”. They said I was naïve and foolish to think the TPLF could be removed peacefully.

I remained true to my convictions. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Organized nonviolent resistance is the most powerful weapon that oppressed people can use in breaking loose  from the bondage of oppression.”

We got rid of the terrorist TPLF peacefully. But they came back armed to the teeth and tried a knock out punch by attacking the Ethiopian Northern Command.

In two weeks, we knocked their teeth out and kicked their butts and sent them packing to the rocks from which they crawled in 1991.

I always wanted to engage them in a battle of ideas. They never wanted to challenge me in the battle space of ideas.

They wanted to engage me in drag out, knock down mud fights.

Not once did I engage them in a mud fight following the adage, “’Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”

But for a decade and half, it was all about mind over matter to me. I don’t  mind and they  don’t matter.

I kept my shoulder to the grind and nose to the grindstone and kept on keeping on calling on anyone who had the guts and staying power to join me on the road to the New Ethiopia, the place I call the “Shining City Upon the Hill”.

It was pretty much a lonely walk.

Mandela wrote in his long walk to freedom, he “discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

So, it was with me. Week after week, I discovered there were more hills to climb.

That was the secret to my relentless and often lonesome walk and struggle for democracy in Ethiopia.

Along the way, I knew how things were going to shake out.

In February 2013, I spoke to the TPLF in a prophetic voice. Stop being evil or you will meet a terrible fate: “‘He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.’ Meles and his worshippers have profoundly troubled the Ethiopian house and they shall inherit the wind!

The wind has its voice if only we tune our hearts to its wavelength.

The TPLF was tone deaf to the whistling tsunami wind and waves of change bearing down on it.

I gave the TPLF a second stern and blunt warning that the “volcano that has remained dormant for the last 25 years is growling and grumbling” and the TPLF should “realize it is sitting on the cryptodome of the volcano. The heat and pressure is increasing inside the Ethiopian volcano as the TPLF  ramps up its oppression, repression, and brutality.” The volcano quietly blew its top in April 2018.

I gave my third and final warning to the TPLF in August 2020. “BELIEVE THE PEOPLE OF TIGRAY SHALL RISE AND THE TPLF WILL SOON FALL!”

Two months later in November 2020, the TPLF not only inherited the wind but was also gone with the wind.

The tornadic wind that blew away the TPLF has also brought a refreshing breeze of change.

In an unprecedented moment in history, Abiy Ahmed was elected prime minister as the TPLF watched in stunned disbelief.

In just a few months, PM Abiy proved himself to be a transformational leader.

In his first 180 days in office, PM Abiy had upended more than one half century of Ethiopian history.

Barely 18 months in office, PM Abiy had become a Nobel Peace Laureate.

So began a new era in Ethiopia best expressed in the paraphrased words of the Bard of Avon:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of Ethiopia;
And all the clouds that lour’d upon our Ethiopia house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

The June 21, 2021 election will be the sun that will shine on the darkness of tyranny, hatred and poverty that kept Ethiopia at the tail end of nations.

Will it be perfect?

I would argue it will likely be more perfect than a place where exactly one half of the voting population believes the “election was stolen”.

The crux of the matter is that only the people of Ethiopia, their National Elections Commission and Ethiopian courts have the ONLY power to declare whether an Ethiopian election is free and fair.

There have been concerted efforts to delegitimize the Ethiopian election.

The European Union invited itself to observe the elections, in clear violation of its own rules, and then left huffing and puffing because Ethiopia will not allow it to bring in its espionage electronic equipment and be the first to declare whether the election is free and fair.

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution declaring the “general elections in June 2021” will not “meet internationally accepted standards cannot be free and fair because of the erosion of political and civic space” and should be held after “cessation of all hostilities” and “national dialogue and reconciliation” with the assistance and direction of the U.S.

Donald Trump warned long before the November 2020 election, it was going to be stolen.

The Senate sponsors of S. Res 97 learned from the master: Delegitimize the June 2021 election before it takes place!

Susan Rice, the Duchess of Darkness, her policy bot (robot) Antony Blinken, along with Tedros Adhanom, TPLF diaspora mastermind and others undertook a massive conspiracy to create anxiety, fear, doubt, distrust and uncertainty about the election in the minds of the international community and undermine domestic and international confidence in the government of PM Abiy Ahmed.

The U.S. imposed “visa sanctions” and has promised to totally destroy Ethiopia by taking additional measures aimed at crippling the Ethiopian economy and society.

The U.S. and Egypt are working together to sabotage completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia’s ticket out of the darkness of poverty.

The U.S. and Egypt are supporting domestic terrorist groups in Ethiopia imposed to prevent the election from taking place and destabilize Ethiopia.

NATO is now threatening to invade Ethiopia on the pretext of “sexual violence” in Tigray region.

Reminiscing over my 15-year long walk to Ethiopian democracy

Following the election in 2005, the late Meles Zenawi ordered the massacre of hundreds of peaceful protesters and jailed tens of thousands.

The Meles Massacres changed my life.

Before the Meles Massacres, I was an academic and a defense lawyer with barely a passing interest in Ethiopian affairs or politics.

The Meles Massacres brought into sharp focus the realization that even though I had permanently moved out of Ethiopia, Ethiopia had not permanently moved out of me.

In fact, Ethiopia was always in my heart and mind.

As I wrote in my July 2006 commentary, “You can take the boy out of Ethiopia but you cannot take Ethiopia out of the boy.”

I thought if I ignored Ethiopia long enough and pretended she did not exist, she’d just leave me alone.

She did not.

Truth be told, I did not choose to become an advocate for the victims of the Meles Massacres, nor did I choose to become a human rights advocate.

Meles Zenawi “chose” me to become his nemesis when he ordered the massacre of those unarmed protesters in 2005!

The victims of the Meles Massacres chose me to become their witness and prosecutor in the court of world public opinion.

It has been said that in desperate times we either define the moment or the moment defines us. In my case, it was both.

After the Meles Massacres, I faced several stark defining choices:

1) pretend the massacres did not happen;
2) express fleeting private moral outrage and conveniently forget the whole thing;
3) hope someone will take up the cause of these victims of crimes against humanity and I can watch indifferently from the sidelines; or
4) take an active advocacy role and prosecute the criminals and their foreign supporters in the court of world public opinion.

I chose to take an advocacy role and prosecute the TPLF thugs in the court of world public opinion every week.

I was inspired by Albert Einstein’s memorable words, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

Ethiopia will not be destroyed by the TPLF and the rest of the other terrorists nor by their neocolonial sugar daddies.

Ethiopia will be destroyed by those who watch the evil doers, like me, without doing anything.

One man standing against EVIL certainly cannot win.

Of course, that depends on the definition of “win”.

To me, speaking truth to power is a win.

To me, lifting up truth crushed to earth is a win.

To me, truth always wins in the end.

But what can a college professor/defense lawyer do?

Well, profess and defend, of course!

So, I professed and defended using words as my choice of weapon and nonviolent resistance as my battle tactic.

So, in July 2012 I declared in prophetic voice:

The final struggle between the dictators who wield swords and the journalists who wield pens, pencils and computer keyboards will be decided in a war for the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people. I have no doubts whatsoever that the outcome of that war is foreordained. In fact, I believe that war has already been won. For as Edward Bulwer-Lytton penned in his verse, in the war between sword holders and penholders, final victory always goes to the penholders:

So wrote Edward Bulwer-Lytton:

‘True, This! –
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword.

I have used my pen/keyboard every week for the past 15 years to prosecute and convict the TPLF criminals and those who coddle them in the court of world public opinion.

The dogs will bark and even bite on the last mile in the Marathon for Ethiopian democracy on Medemer Avenue

As June 21, 2021 approaches, the dogs will continue to bark louder. They will yelp, howl and yapp.

They will continue to cry havoc (“genicide”, sexual violence” “ethnic violence”, etc.) and let slip their dogs of war.

They will continue to cry, “The Ethiopian Government must agree to a ceasefire and negotiate with the TPLF.”

But the TPLF is dead and gone with the wind.

What is left is a ragtag ghost army hiding in the rocks eating pebble sandwiches and disapora riffraff whose tongue “outvenoms all the worms of the Nile”, to borrow from the Bard of Avon.

They will also try to bite by pulling dirty tricks.

I fully expect the U.S.-E.U.-U.K.-NATO-Egypt axis to directly strike at or sponsor acts of terrorism to prevent or thwarts the election. 

I also fully expect the Axis to launch a massive disinformation campaign to discredit and delegitimize the election in the next few days. 

I expect a fully coordinated effort between the Axis and the Western media press-titutes, journaLIEsts, inside the beltway pseudointellectual think tankers and lobbyists to talk trash about the June 21 election and undermine public confidence. They will preemptively put out all sorts of nonsense about a “stolen election”, an election that “does not meet international (code for their own) standards. 

Their games of lies, damned lies and disinformation has not worked for the last 6 months. It will not work now.

It is in the nature of Evil never to sleep. That is why all Ethiopians must remain vigilant, on guard and on alert because EVIL lurks around.

 Ethiopians know where they are going and their destination on Medemer Avenue 

An old African saying teaches, “If you don’t know where you’re going, Any road will take you there.”

Today, Ethiopians not only know where they are going, they have a turn-by-turn roadmap.

Where do Ethiopians want to go? What is their final destination?

That Shining City Upon the Hill, that “Beloved Ethiopian Community”.

The same shining city upon the hill I spoke about in 2013 to be built by Ethiopia’s young people.

How do they get there and how will they build the city?

Use their Medemer EDPS (Medemer-Ethiopia Democracy Positioning System).

Plug in the coordinates for democracy, rule of law, equality, justice, etc., and press navigate.

How will they build the city?

Simply apply the Medemer equation.

The Medemer Road to the the Shining City Upon the Hill is a long one.

The Medemer Road is not straight and flat.

It winds and curves.

It has potholes and broken pavement.

But it is the only road that leads to the New Ethiopia, the Shining City Upon the Hill.

On June 21, 2021, Ethiopians will have a choice.

It is a choice they must make with extreme care and thought.

It is a choice between poverty and prosperity.

For millennia, Ethiopians have suffered the slings and arrows of abject poverty.

The time now is for prosperity.

With prosperity, Ethiopians can guarantee their unity in their divinity and affirm their humanity.

With prosperity, they can ensure their domestic tranquility.

With prosperity, they can build the “Beloved Ethiopian Community”.

With prosperity, they can have a government of accountability.

With prosperity, there will be a legacy of peace and justice to pass on for posterity.

So the choice is clear. Stay on the old and dilapidated road of poverty or zoom on the highway of prosperity!

The Medemer Road Taken

In my childhood, I liked to read poetry. I still do.

Robert Frost was one of my favorite poets.

His poem “The Road Not Taken” left a lasting impression on me.

In life, we often find ourselves at the fork in the road.

It is a road that splits in two directions. Good or evil. Love or hate. Justice or injustice. Dictatorship or democracy and so on.

We have a choice of living in truth or suffocating in lies.

We can serve our personal purposes or the greater purpose of mankind.

The easy road of all is to live in silence and unnoticed.

The easy road is to join the parade after the struggle is waged, the sacrifices made and victory won.

On June 21, 2021, Ethiopians will have a chance to take the old road that dead ends into poverty or choose the path of prosperity and zoom along the Medemer Highway.

I am proud and happy waiting for June 21, 2021 and will be watching with great expectation.

After the Ethiopian people decide on June 21, 2021, paraphrasing the words of Robert Frost:

… I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood in Ethiopia, and Ethiopians—
Ethiopians took the Medemer Road,
And that has made all the difference.

VOTE JUNE 21, 2021!

LET’S HOLD HANDS ON JUNE 21, 2021 AND CROSS THE LINE INTO THE VOTING BOOTH!

ETHIOPIANS UNITED CAN NEVER BE DEFEATED!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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