EITI or Clare’s Corruption Club?

 Clare Short has won! Congratulations, Clare! Brava! Last week, Clare Short, Chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), succeeded in bullying the EITI Board members into voting to admit the ruling regime in Ethiopia into her Club.  She did it the old-fashioned way— arm-twisting, browbeating, bulldozing, rear-end kicking, a little bit of jawboning and…

Ethiopia: Profiles in Journalistic Courage

Originally appeared in the Huffington Post on  11/14/2010 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ethiopia-profiles-in-jour_b_783372.html Honor Thy Independent Journalists I often write about the trials and tribulations of Ethiopia’s independent journalists, sometimes in tones of lamentation[1], other times in wistful philosophical reflection[2]. I have always defended the constitutional and human rights of Ethiopian citizens “to seek, receive and impart information and…