“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”, decreed Maya Angelou, the great African American author, poet, dancer, actress and singer.
“I shall persevere!” wrote Eskinder Nega, the imprisoned and preeminent …
Blog Archives
“We Shall Persevere, Ethiopia!”
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Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia: Beyond the Hubris of Evil
When I wrote a commentary on the plight of the imprisoned 32-year old Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu last April, I titled it “The Audacity of Evil in Ethiopia.” At the time, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had
Tagged with: Eskinder Nega, Ethiopia News, reeyot alemu, reeyot alemu courage journalism award, reeyot alemu ethiopia, reeyot alemu free press, reeyot alemu hellman hammett award, reeyot alemu hunger strike, reeyot alemu international women’s media foundation, reeyot alemu iwmf, reeyot alemu jailed journalist, reeyot alemu political prisoner, reeyot alemu sakharov prize freedom thought, reeyot alemu world press freedom prize award, woubshet taye
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Corruption in the Ethiopian JUST US Sector
For the past several months, I have been commenting on the findings of the World Bank’s “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia”, a 448-page report covering eight sectors (health, education, rural water supply, justice, construction, land, telecommunications and mining). In …
Tagged with: alemayehu mariam, corruption world bank ethiopia justice sector, Eskinder Nega, ethiopia birtukan midekssa, ethiopia bribes, ethiopia cud kinijit, Ethiopia due process, Ethiopia Human Rights Violations, ethiopia independence judiciary, ethiopia justice system, Ethiopia Kangaroo Court, ethiopia muslim activists, ethiopia petty corruption ethiopia grand corruption, ethiopia police corruption, ethiopia police state, ethiopia terrorism, Ethiopia World Bank, orwell 1984 ministry of truth, reeyot alemu, tigrean people’s liberation front, TPLF ethiopia, woubshet taye
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Power Africa? Empower Africans!
Power, power, power…
When President Obama recently visited Africa, he announced a “Power Africa” initiative. In his Cape Town University speech, he proclaimed, “I am proud to announce a new initiative. We’ve been dealing with agriculture. We’ve been dealing with …
Tagged with: abubekar ahmed, africa power $7 billion, africa power outages blackouts, ahmedin jebel, alemayehu g mariam, america sanctions zimbabwe, andualem aragie, bekele gerba, corruption africa, corruption ethiopia, eskinder nega new york times, ethiopia nile dam, Ethiopian Political Prisoners, imani ghanaian center for policy and education, obama africa visit, obama cape town speech, obama power africa, olbana lelisa, politics, power problem africa, reeyot alemu, washington fellowship for young african leaders, woubshet taye, young african leaders initiative
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Obama came and saw but did he conquer Africa?
Alemayehu G Mariam
(This week my regular Monday commentary is presented for the second time in the form of a “flash drama” on Obama (a sub-genre of theatrical play sometimes described as a “ten minute one-act play”). The first “act” …
Tagged with: abubekar ahmed, afircan hippos, african cheetahs, african dictators tyrants, ahmedin jebel, andualem aragie, bekele gerba, Eskinder Nega, nelosn mandela sick, Obama, obama 7 billion africa, obama africa, obama africa policy, obama africa problem, obama africa youth, obama african dictators, obama caprtown speech, obama coming africa, obama nelson mandela, obama promises, obama soweto speech, olbana lelisa, politics, reeyot alemu, Robert Mugabe, wousbshet taye
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia: Shadowboxing Smoke and Mirrors
Meles Zenawi when he was alive and his apostles today (“Melesistas”) keep playing us in the Diaspora like a cheap fiddle. They make us screech, shriek, scream and shout by simply showing their mugs in our cities. How do they …
Tagged with: (b) (d), 15 u.s.c. 78o–5(a), 17 cfr 401.9, california corporations code section 25540, california corporations code sections 25110-25118, Eskinder Nega, ethiopia blue nile dam, Ethiopia Committee to Protect Journalists, ethiopia dams, Ethiopia Human Rights, Ethiopia Human Rights Watch, ethiopia power production, ethiopia selling unregistered securities, ethiopia villagization, Ethiopia World Bank, ethiopia world bank corruption, ethiopia zombies, ethiopian diaspora, ethiopian diaspora activists, fela kuti zombie, gene from dictatorship democracy, grand meles dam, melesistas meles, politics, reeyot alemu, section 20(b) securities act 1933, section 20(d) securities act 1933, section 8a securities act 1933, subd. (a), Water War Egypt Ethiopia, woubshet taye
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Watching American Diplocrisy in Ethiopia
America is Watching!?
Diplomacy by hypocrisy is “diplocrisy”.
Edmund Burke, the British statesman and philosopher, said “Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.” We’ve heard many promises on …
Tagged with: american diplocracy, committee to protect journalists reeyot alemu, committee to protect journalists woubshet taye, dietrich bonhoeffer silence evil, edmund burke hypocrisy, Eskinder Nega, ethiopia 2010 election, ethiopia abubekar ahmed, ethiopia ahmed mustafa, ethiopia ahmedin jebel, ethiopia bekele gerba, Ethiopia Committee to Protect Journalists, Ethiopia Development Assistance Group, ethiopia fools idiots, Ethiopia Human Rights Watch, ethiopia international aid, ethiopia olbana lelisa, george orwell big brother, george orwell oceana, human rights watch ogaden gambella, john kerry human rights, john kerry nicolás maduro election, meles zenawi prison kality, meles zenawi prison zewai, misuse american aid ethiopia, nero rome burn, obama accra speech, Obama Ethiopia, office of the inspector general usaid ethiopia audit, politics, reeyot alemu, robert lowell truth scaffold, sertkalem fasil, susan rice ethiopia, susan rice rwanda, u.s. state department human rights report 2013 ethiopia, white house statement venezuela election, wobshet taye
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
The Audacity of Evil in Ethiopia
Triumph of Evil?
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”, said Edmund Burke. But what happens when evil triumphs over a good young woman journalist named Reeyot Alemu in Ethiopia? Do good …
Tagged with: albert camus evil, alemayehu mariam, andualem aragie, aristotle nicomachean ethics, Birtukan Midekssa, Eskinder Nega, ethiopia berhan hailu, ethiopia committee protect journalists, ethiopia grand renaissance dam, evil edmund burke, holocaust, martin luther king evil, Meles Zenawi, meles zenawi prison kality, pen american center reeyot alemu, politics, questions 48 summa theologica, reeyot alemu, reeyot alemu amnesty international, reeyot alemu courage journalism, reeyot alemu international women media foundation, reeyot alemu unesco guillermo cano world press freedom prize 2013, rwanda genocide, rwandan gacaca courts, Serkalem Fasil, south africa truth and reconciliation commission, van allen radiation belt, woubshet taye
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia: Right in Prison, Wrong on the Throne
Last April, I wrote a “Special Tribute to My Personal Hero Eskinder Nega”. In that tribute, I groped for words as I tried to describe this common Ethiopian man of uncommon valor, an ordinary journalist of extraordinary integrity …
Tagged with: andualem aragie, anudalem aragie ethiopia political prisoner, birtukan mideksa al jazeera, birtukan mideksa political prisoner, charlayne hunter-gault eskinder nega, Eskinder Nega, eskinder nega carl bernstein, eskinder nega committee protect journalists, eskinder nega hellman hammet award, eskinder nega pen award, Ethiopia News, Ethiopia Political Prisoners, ethiopia ppress freedo, ethiopian government terrorism, evil wolf, good wolf, james russell lowell crisis, meles zenawi bank robber, meles zenawi prison kality, nelson mandela ethiopia, politics, reeyot alemu, reeyot alemu courage journalism award, reeyot alemu international women’s media foundation, senator patrick leahy eskinder nega, serkalem faisl ethiopia press, Serkalem Fasil, Temesgen Desalegn, temesgen desalegn ethiopia press, temesgen desalegn ethiopia press freedom, tigrayan peoples liberation movement terrorist organization, tribute eskinder nega, world press heroes eskinder nega, woubshet taye, woubshet taye ethiopia press freedom
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia: The Prototype African Police State
The sights and sounds of an African police state
When Erin Burnett of CNN visited Ethiopia in July 2012, she came face-to-face with the ugly face of an African police state:
…We saw what an African police state looked like
Tagged with: 2011 u.s. state department country reports on human rights practices ethiopia, 2013 world report, alan paton cry beloved country, alemayehu g mariam, Andualem Arage, andualem ayalew, Article 12 Ethiopia constitution, article 17 ethiopian constitution, article 7 (e) (g) rome statute, article 9 1948 universal declaration of human rights, article 9 international covenant on civil and political rights, Birtukan Judge, Birtukan Midekssa, birtukan prison, congressman christopher smith ethiopia, erin burnett cnn ethiopia, Eskinder Nega, Ethiopia accountability, ethiopia african police state, Ethiopia Apartheid, ethiopia arbitrary arrest detention, Ethiopia Corruption, ethiopia european union election observer group, ethiopia federal police, ethiopia hadid shafi ousman, ethiopia massacre 193, ethiopia meles radio mille collines, Ethiopia News, ethiopia police state, ethiopia robocops, ethiopia thug state, ethiopia zemedkun police chief, ethiopian muslims illegal search homes, international criminal court fatou b. bensouda, ken ohashi ethiopia, kinfemichael debebe, meles mel-welliana, meles police state, mitiku damte, nathnael mekonnen, politics, reeyot alemu, solomon kifle voice of america, voice of america ethiopia, woubshet taye, yeshiwas yehunalem, yohannes terefe, zerihun gebre-egziabher
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia 2013: Year of the Cheetah Generation
Year of the Cheetahs
2013 shall be the Year of Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation.
“The Cheetah Generation refers to the new and angry generation of young African graduates and professionals, who look at African issues and problems from a totally different
…
Tagged with: Addis Ababa, andualem aragie, bekele gerba, Eskinder Nega, ethio, ethiopia cheetah generation, ethiopia diaspora, ethiopia hajj mohamed seid, ethiopia national reconciliation, ethiopia neoliberalism, Ethiopia News, ethiopia united nations capital development fund, Ethiopia Youth, ethiopia youth literacy, ethiopia youth unemployment, George Ayittey, hippo generation, Meles Zenawi, olbana lelisa, reeyot alemu, Serkalem Fasil, Thugtatorship, woubshet alemu
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia’s Reeyot: “The Price for My Courage”
There are few things more difficult or dangerous than speaking truth to abusers of power. But for Reeyot Alemu, the 31 year-old young Ethiopian heroine of press freedom, no price is high enough to keep her from being “the voice
The Free Press in Ethiopia’s Kangaroo Kourts
Alemayehu G Mariam
The Triumph of Lies
Over the past six years, I have written numerous columns defending press freedom in Ethiopia. In a 2009 commentary entitled, “The Art of War on Ethiopia’s Independent Press”, I expressed …
Tagged with: al shebab, Andualem Arage, andualem aragie, andualem aragie. convicted, debebe bereded, donald booth us ambassador ethiopia, Eskinder Nega, eskinder nega ethiopia, ethio, ethiopia amnesty international, ethiopia anti-terrorism law, Ethiopia Committee to Protect Journalists, ethiopia journalsits, ethiopia kangaroo courts, ethiopia martin schibbye johan persson, Ethiopia News, hirut kifle, kafkaesque kangaroo kourts ethiopia, kinfemichael, Meles Zenawi, meles zenawi zenawi war free press, nathnael mekonnen, nathnael mekonnen gebre kidan, political prisoner ethiopia, reeyot alemu, senator patrick leahy ethiopia, temesgen desalegn feteh, woubshet taye, zerihun gebre-egziabher
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia: Kangaroo Justice for Two Swedish Journalists
Alemayehu G. Mariam
Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye in Kangaroo Court
The old adage is that “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Could it be said equally that arrogance excuses ignorance of the law? Dictator-in-chief Meles Zenawi recently proclaimed …
Tagged with: african charter on human and people’s rights art. 7 (b), Awramba Times, Birtukan Midekssa, Bulcha Demeksa, diktat, dr. negasso gidada president, Eskinder Nega, Ethiopia 2005 Elections, ethiopia constitution art. 13 (2), ethiopia crimes against humanity, ethiopia cud, ethiopia geneva convention, Ethiopia Human Rights Watch, ethiopia lundin petroleum, ethiopia terrorism, ethiopia u.s. state department country reports on human rights practices, ethiopia war crimes, ethiopian constitution under art. 20 (3), freelance journalism, freelance swedish journalists, Ginbot 7, international covenant on civil and political rights art. 14 (2), johan persson, Kangaroo Court, martin schibbye, ogaden national liberation front, ONLF, politics, presumption of innocence, reeyot alemu, shimeles kemal, sweden ethiopia, swedish foreign minister carl bildt, universal declaration of human rights art. 11, woubshet taye
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News