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Skype and Ethiopia

By Yilma Bekele

The origins of the Internet can be traced to ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) that was funded by the US Department of Defense (DARPA) for use by its research labs in the 1960’s. The Internet as we know moved from connecting research institutions and Universities into commercial use in the middle of the 1980’s.

Today the Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. The beauty of the Internet is nobody really owns it. Every computer that is connected to the Internet is part of the network. Your laptop or desktop together with millions of private, public, academic, business, government networks forms part of this vast system of interconnected computers.

The Internet has revolutionized human communication like nothing before. It is the most outstanding innovation in human history regarding communication capability. Our lives have changed dramatically due to the Internet. The great economic boom of the 90’s all over the world can be traced to innovation that accompanied the Internet. Where does our Ethiopia fit in this human advancement story?

I am afraid we are absent or unaccounted for! We are not even in the periphery. Our participation in this humongous, game changer event is nothing to write home about. It is so embarrassing the best option is not to talk about it, discuss it or raise the issue. If our country was a computer it will be considered to be in hibernation mode, not on not off barely alive. The Meles regime and his TPLF party can get all the credit for condemning eighty million people to live in darkness. That is exactly where we find ourselves-in complete darkness and no chance of light at the end of the tunnel either. You think I am exaggerating and being so negative because I am filled with hate. I am afraid that is not so. Look at the table below and you be the judge my friend.

Country Internet users % Of Population Internet providers
Ethiopia 666,101 0.75 1
Ghana 2,081,056 8.55 12
Uganda 4,174,835 12.5 9
Kenya 8,568,890 20.98 15
Tanzania 4,608,218 11.0 17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users

See what I mean? Out of eighty million plus people only half a million Internet users. That leaves seventy nine million five hundred thousand in the dark. Why do you think this is so? Is it because we are poor? We are stupid? Uneducated? Unable to figure how it works? Not interested? Didn’t think it is important? Felt investment in such technology is a waste of time and resources? Or too busy developing other technology? Or you think it could it be due to lack of leadership? As people we are no different than Americans Europeans or our African neighbors. The only thing we see here is the quality of leadership that differentiates our country from others. The leaders set the pace, define the priorities and the people follow.

When it comes to the Internet our leader felt that is not a priority and that is not where our budget should be invested on. Why do you think Ato Meles and company felt the Internet not to be the place to invest and grow? The simple but obvious answer is the word ‘communication’. Communication is knowledge and knowledge is the first causality of a tyrannical regime. Keeping people in the dark is the main goal of a dictatorship. Illiterate people are docile. It is easy to manipulate a damned down population. Internet is the number one enemy of the Ethiopian government. Instead of laying fiber optic to speed up the wiring of our country the Meles regime invests the limited budget in blocking, censoring and spying on the citizen. The last two weeks have been a busy time to the TPLF regime. It has rolled out one draconian law after another to bully, intimidate and ride rough on our people. Here is the evidence.

Skype is a voice- over-Internet Protocol service and software application. Skype allows users to communicate over the Internet using voice, video and instant messaging. As of September of 2011 Skype has over six hundred million users worldwide. The Ethiopian government has made using Skype a crime punishable up to fifteen years in prison.

Tor (short for The onion router) is a system intended to enable online anonymity. The Tor project a 501(c) research/education nonprofit organization distributes the software free of charge. According to the wonderful people of Tor network their ‘client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers to conceal a user’s location or usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis.’ The Ethiopian government is actively blocking Tor network.

There are over eighty million Ethiopians. As of 2012 there are about a million fixed line service users and close to three million mobile users in Ethiopia. It is the lowest teledensity in Africa. There are less than half a million Internet users in Ethiopia and that is in the bottom even for Africa. That number constitutes .06% of the Ethiopian population.

Why is the Ethiopian government enacting such draconian law when you can clearly see Internet does not play any major role in the life of the citizen? Why is the government becoming the laughing stock of the planet by equating phone usage to committing murder? All indications are the issue is not about Skype or Tor but it is all about control and bullying into submission. It is all about instilling fear. Fear is the main currency of a dictator. They are not worried about the .06% but they are very much interested in showing the ninety nine percent who exactly is in charge. In your face is how they like to operate. They are saying we can do anything we want and tough luck there is nothing you can do about it!

Do you think they are crazy? I am afraid not. They have been getting away with that kind of attitude the last twenty years what makes you think it will be different this time? We will talk about it, we will gossip, we will condemn silently ( yechelema gelmecha) and life will go on as usual. Actually that is not true about all of us. There are a few working hard to circumvent this tragedy. Groups such as Ginbot7, OLF, ONLF, ALF, Andenet Party, our independent Web sites, ESAT among others are working day and night to teach, organize and help our people stand up to Woyane abuse.

There are different avenues to fight injustice. There are hundreds of ways to resist oppression. I will paraphrase two Chinese educators on this subject. According to Sun Tzu the ‘best defense is a good offense’ and Mao Zedong followed it with ‘the only real defense is active defense.’ meaning for the purpose of counter attacking and taking offense. I believe the current aggression against our people begs for a robust counter offense. Here I am speaking about cyber warfare.

It is about time our people developed this type of self-defense to protect our freedom. It is within our capability and it is our moral duty to protect our country and people. According to a recent Time magazine article that is what the US is helping the Syrian opposition with. Developing a cyber warfare capability. They are training the freedom fighters to resist the Assad regime in the art of circumvention technology. The use of encryption, SIM card in cheap burner phones that can easily be discarded and developing ‘Internet in a suitcase’ to provide Web access when Assad shuts it down is being explored. Apps are being developed that download a panic button that will instantly wipe out contacts and documents from smart phones and computers. They are experimenting with Apps that present a false screen when the wrong security code is entered and Apps that blur the faces of dissidents when posting videos and photos on line. Today the camera is as powerful as the AK47.

It is also important our highly educated lawyers and Human Rights advocates explore the concept of ‘I am just following order’ defense that is sure to be used by those that are doing the dirty work for the minority based illegal regime. Whereas the current Ethiopian Constitution is full of guarantees of rights and freedom to the citizen those that are killing, imprisoning, torturing, spying and using their know how to block and jam should be warned about accountability. They should be made aware of their oath to uphold the Constitution not the rule of one man or a single party. ‘I am just following order’ did not hold water in the Nuremberg trials of Nazi criminals.

Those educated Ethiopians that are enabling the regime to spy on fellow citizens, block Web sites, target emails and social media postings should be warned about the consequences of their actions. They are following illegal and immoral orders given by those that are using force and coercion to stay in power. Sooner or later this house of cards will come tumbling down and it will be time to answer for all those that used their technical know how to hurt their people. Blind allegiance is not a wining strategy or ignorance a valid defense. It is a shame some sell their soul to the devil for fame and fortune.

10 thoughts on “Skype and Ethiopia

  1. Country Internet users % Of Population Internet providers
    Ethiopia = 666,101
    Ghana = 2,081,056
    Uganda = 4,174,835
    Kenya = 8,568,890
    Tanzania = 4,608,218
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users

    This is very embarrassing! Ethiopian children are being left behind technologically and robbed of their future, not to mention the stigma attached to being the least internet-friendly nation in the world will rob them of their self–esteem and confidence in an era of major technological advances, where each person is required to have basic computer skills and internet access to successfully compete in today’s economy. UNFAIR!

    Like Professor Alemayoh said, Ethiopia is not poor, but poorly governed.

  2. Ato Elias,

    I have an answer:

    We busy forming,storming factions but not performing. If we are busy fighting each other? who is going to do the hard work? Technology is hardwork? No Technology is produced in Ethiopia. We import everything? We can not even repair anything? How the hell do we expect the country to get better? But leadership problem is to be blamed but this does not mean TPLF only has to bear the blame. TPLF could have played a good role? But TPLF decided to work with Chinese, Arabs, Indians, and to export kids and teenage girls to make money? Entrepreneurship is despised in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia if you work hard you will get killed and poisoned? Who is the hell is going to develop the country? I think we must blame now the Chinese, Indians, Arabs? Meles imported human resources instead of investing in his own citizens? did not Meles started by chasing 40 Professors from day one? We do not see what we do but we only see our land is left behind?

    In short: we are stupid because we fight for nothing. Time is precious but we have been gambling with time. Darkness continues. he country is blacked out from Technology. Technology is not translated in local knowledge. Meles Zenawi is importing english books which no one can translate them? So citizens spent their entire life studying english vocabulary. Technology is buried in the english langauge. Our people have digging into english to mine Technology? no one has succeeed yet to apply what is in the books. Books from Europe?

    Jegnaw replies:

    Gezaee
    Go and tel that to your TPLF looters and ins-lever of Ethiopian Women and sellers of the land “we are stupid because we are fight for nothing” we are not stupid fighting TPLF to liberate Ethiopia.you are not fulling any body heir Dud.

    and what happened you were telling us white/European were better than Ethiopian/black our women were the cheapest women in the world that we are back word and primitive why you want to associate with such people.i thought you were Oreo cookies.(black outside whit inside)in other word boot liker.

  3. I feel betrayed by wedi Zenawi. He knew that he is HIV positive and that his days are numbered but followed a policy of implosion. He had no thought of tolerance and what would happen to my people and my country tomorrow because he had no HOPE of tomorrow. His policy is “iney kemotkugn serdo ayibkel” this is literally true. Now I understand why clinically sick or morbidly ill politicians resign – because the policy they calculate should not be in terms of their life spans and the challenges they are in will affect their views to the world. Meles has not been honest and I see why he is always angry and vengeful since he does not care what the security and police and politicians will face tomorrow since he believes that he will not live to see judgment day and the rest of his followers will have to account for what they did. Now I understand why he is unduly following the politics of “Elih” and “Bitterness”. But this is not statesmanship and these are what he thought us. I feel betrayed by Meles and he should not have put the people of Tigray in such a hateful and reckless situation knowing well that he was calculating everything from the standpoint of his life span and not for generations to come. This is a betrayal of the highest order. One man being so important that the rest are expendable and worthless. Life is unfair. But this is worse than unfair!!!!!

    peace replies:

    Why would you believe in Meles from the get go when you know fully well he is alienating Tigrayan peple from Ethiopia? There were many signs that Meles/TPLF were not good for Ethiopia including Tigray.

    peace replies:

    Here is my guess for future of Ethiopia after Meles. There is no guarantee. The elite in the world will make sure some educated MBA, capitalist Ethiopian will be appointed to favor neoliberalism so that more corporations will go to Ethiopia throwing out the people of Ethiopia for their right to freedom to have livelihood in their own country. This for sure will happen. The oppositions are already controlled by outsiders also perhpas to continue the policy of Meles (Just like Obama is doing the policy of Bush) that benefits foreigners. Development without the participation of ALL Ethiopians is not development but neocolnialsim especially coprorations keep coming and taking over.

    So what kind of people should rule Ethiopia? That remains to be seen. Such discussions should take place every months or weeks throughout the diaspora where ever they are.

  4. Ato Yilma: Isn’t the USA the NUMBER ONE friend of the Tigre Ethnic Aprtheid regime in Ethiopia? There could be some benefit for the USA to help the Syrian fighter but I can’t see what it [USA] gains from helping poor black Ethiopians. Oh, by differentiating different categories of a data helps it to be easily understood. For example, in this article your main data header appears as (Country Internet users % Of Population Internet providers). That is obscure, a bit. It is better if you added comas between different categories. Alternatively, you could assign numbers or letters to categories. For example: Country, Internet users, % Of Population, Internet providers OR (a)Country (b) Internet users (c)% Of Population (d)Internet providers OR (1)Country (2)Internet users (3)% Of Population (4) Internet providers. Great article, though.

    peace replies:

    However we should not entirely USA or outsiders. We have seen repeatedly that US will never get involved if they see the people united and want change especially in public. Take a look at Egypt, the people speak one, with one flag, one voice and even the people are active publicly about the change they want. Because of this U.S or West will never do anything publicly in fact will help implement their wishes of course under neath they might pressure to pursue Western interests of course. However when they see weak divided nation, that is when they take advantage and they could always blame it on weak and divided etc. So, unless we have one strong voice, organized, disciplined, united, one flag and making lots of noise like Egypt does asking they should be counted in the world for democracy, enemies will continue to take advantage and divide the pople. The is where we Ethiopian are at. Not only are we divided, we can’t even organize properly in the diaspora, take a look at the football federation, easily divided in the diaspora and yet, we are talking about democracy in Ethiopia. We fell into the trap of TPLFs and others to divide us.

  5. THIS GUY SHOULD BE A WEB BLOGGER THAN A POLITICAL ANNALIST PER SAY.AFTER I HAVE READ HIS PREVIOUS WRITHING ON COUPLE OF ISSUES, I MADE MY CONCLUSION THAT THIS WRITER IS POORLY INFORMED.

  6. Well explaised, mr Yilma

    ”………Why do you think Ato Meles and company felt the Internet not to be the place to invest and grow? The simple but obvious answer is the word ‘communication’. Communication is knowledge and knowledge is the first causality of a tyrannical regime.

    Keeping people in the dark is the main goal of a dictatorship. Illiterate people are docile. It is easy to manipulate a damned down population.

    Internet is the number one enemy of the Ethiopian government.

    Instead of laying fiber optic to speed up the wiring of our country the Meles regime invests the limited budget in blocking, censoring and spying on the citizen. The last two weeks have been a busy time to the TPLF regime. It has rolled out one draconian law after another to bully, intimidate and ride rough on our people. Here is the evidence. ……”

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