Al Mariam’s Commentaries
A SECOND CALL TO ACTION A SECOND CALL TO ACTION Special note and request: I am asking my readers in the United States, particularly Ethiopian Americans in the great State of Florida to join me in advocating against confirmation of Gayle Smith who has been nominated to head the USAID. The United States Senate has independent…
A CALL TO ACTION Special note and request: I am asking my readers in the United States, particularly Ethiopian Americans in the great State of Texas and in the Washington metropolitan area, to join me in advocating against confirmation of Gayle Smith who has been nominated to head the USAID. The United States Senate has…
In May 2015, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Why Is the T-TPLF Afraid of Its Own Shadow?” In that commentary, I expressed puzzlement over the fact that supporters of the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) were telling me that T-TPLF leaders were scared _ _ _ _less in the run up to…
I wish all of my weekly Ethiopian readers throughout the world a happy and prosperous Ethiopian New Year. I join you joyfully in ringing in 2007 and ringing out 2008. For my Ethiopian readers in the United States, September 11 (Ethiopian New Year’s Day, Meskerem 1) is a festive day of celebration as well as…
Could a Little Big Man thunder to “Make America Great Again”? William Shakespeare in “Measure for Measure” spoke of the allure and corruption of power in the innocent and virtuous character of Isabella: “Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet, For every pelting, petty officer Would use his heaven…
Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” opens with the Duke of Orsino declaring to the assembled musicians, “If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it… The Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) has pulled out all the stops to stop Teddy Afro (Tewodros Kassahun) from playing on his music of…
Is the T-TPLF Ship of Hate (I mean state) sinking in an ocean of fear and loathing? The T-TPLF is the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front, the ruling criminal enterprise masquerading as a government in Ethiopia. This past May, the T-TPLF claimed to have won 100 percent of the 547 seats in its…
Donald Trump’s shtick is: “America needs to be respected again because the rest of the world has lost respect for America.” I don’t care much for The Donald. But his shtick gnaws away at my mind as I think over the disgraceful “red carpet” treatment President Barack Obama received last month when he visited Ethiopia,…
Kangaroo/monkey kourt (in)justice T-TPLF style Last week, young Ethiopian bloggers collectively known as “Zone 9 Bloggers” (named after a cell block holding political prisoners at the infamous Meles Zenawi Kality Prison, a few kilometers outside of the capital) returned to the kangaroo/monkey kourt system of the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF)…
The Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) has been pursuing a systematic program of religious persecution and fomenting religious antagonisms in Ethiopia for quite some time. After the T-TPLF seized power in 1991, it sought to ingratiate itself with the Ethiopian Muslim community by making symbolic gestures of equality and tolerance. The patronizing…
