Wiring Ethiopian Diaspora through civic dialogue

By Alemayehu G. Mariam Seeking Paths to Ethiopian Diaspora Dialogue and Consultations (wu-yi-yit and me me-ka-ker) At the beginning of the year, we pledged to help initiate and sustain an Ethiopian Diaspora dialogue and consultation process with the aim of building broad consensus for collective action. We expressed our hope that with the proper groundwork…

Morgan Tsvangirai’s “Fierce Urgency of Now”!

By Alemayehu G. Mariam Zimbabwe Saved From the “Brink of a Dark Abyss” A year ago, Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round of presidential elections in Zimbabwe. He refused to participate in the run-off calling it a “violent sham” for which his supporters risked death by voting for him. Last week, Tsvangirai became prime minister…

The “bleeping” business of corruption

By Alemayehu G. Mariam The Audacity of Corruption: Illinois Style Corruption here, corruption there, corruption everywhere! It seems the worldwide business of corruption is recession-proof. Last week, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested on charges that he peddled the Senate seat held by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder. The foul-mouthed and self-indulgent governor…

The Horn of Fear

By Alemayehu G. Mariam Donkeys, Liars and War Criminals What a difference two years make! In December 2006, Zenawi invaded Somalia to save it from the “terrorist axis of evil” — Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and the Islamic Courts Union. In January 2007, he reassured the world, “We will be out of Somalia in a…

To catch an election thief

By Alemayehu G. Mariam Thief! Thief! Catch the election thief! The Constitutional Court of Thailand caught a boatload of election thieves last week. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his six-party governing coalition were convicted of theft of the December 2007 elections. They were found guilty of vote buying, vote rigging, conspiracies to defraud voters and…