What is it the Ghanaians got, We ain’t got?

By Alemayehu G. Mariam The Triumph of Multiparty Democracy in Ghana Ghana has become the poster country for the triumph of multiparty democracy, stability and economic growth in Africa; and sadly, Ethiopia has been rendered the iconic failed African state ruled by a one-man, one-party dictatorship with widespread human rights violation. President Obama traveled to…

Hero vs Zero

By Alemayehu G. Mariam Doublethink, Doublespeak George Orwell may have understated the situation in the Big Brother totalitarian state of Nineteen Eighty Four: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” He would be amused to learn that in the police state of Two Thousand and Nine Ethiopia, Big Brother has been unceremoniously replaced…

Torture Inc. (Ethiopia)

Alemayehu G. Mariam Inside the Torture Chambers of the Dictatorship in Ethiopia Last week, Barry Malone of the Reuters news agency reported that families of the suspects allegedly involved in a “terror network” against the dictatorship in Ethiopia told him that some of their loved ones had “been tortured and are injured. They have been…

Inside the Barley Republic: Ethiopia’s land on fire sale

By Alemayehu G. Mariam Our (Home) land on Fire sale A while back, the capo di tutti capi (the “boss of bosses”) of the dictatorship in Ethiopia rebuked Congressman Donald Payne for pushing H.R. 2003 (“Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act”). He quipped with his signature sarcasm, “Ethiopia, this government and this country, are incapable, unwilling…

Endgame!

Alemayehu G. Mariam Human Rights and Fairy Tales For the past several weeks, the noise machine of the dictatorship in Ethiopia has been in overdrive reacting to human rights findings made against it in the February 29, 2009 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report. The official spokesmen of the dictatorship angrily denounced the alleged inaccuracies…

Crimes of Willful Ignorance

Alemayehu G. Mariam Barking Up the Wrong Tree This past week, the attack dogs of the dictatorship in Ethiopia were unleashed against Amnesty International (AI) because that organization had requested publication of the names of suspects arrested for allegedly conspiring to assassinate high officials and blow up government buildings. Ermiyas Legesse, a “State Minister of…