Happy to see opposition websites blocked in Ethiopia

A confession: And why I am happy that extremist Blogs & websites are blocked in Ethiopia

By Samuel. T

Nov 29, 2006 — My name is Samuel – a mixed Ethiopian of various ethnic groups from Oromo to Amhara and with a little of Afar and Tigrai. My only other wish in this case would have been to have a Somali bloodline in me so that I can represent every major group there is in Ethiopia. I am not just proud of my heritage, I am also proud of the current government and the hopeful future of my homeland Ethiopia. Sadly, I can not say the same about vocal Ethiopians outside Ethiopia, especially in Europe and America.

In democracy, there shouldn’t be censorship and all of us hate to lose our freedom of speech or any freedom for that matter. But when democracy & freedom of press are practiced without responsibility & with hate and radicalism, it becomes a right that doesn’t belong to its offenders and right that needs to be administered. Like a bunch of spoiled children, irresponsible journalists insulted our government, incriminated it, and called it names that describe the opposite of what our honorable EPRDF leaders stood for. They incited hatred and became the real enemies of our unity and progress. They abused their journalism rights, and became the symbol of hate speech and extremism. In same cases, they caused riots and provoked ethnic violence. Then they said “he did it”- “It was woyane’s fault!” Ironically, it was not Meles who uses the famous slogan “who did it?” in fact, it is the extremists that do every harm possible to Ethiopians & our young democracy and then ask “who did it?” Suddenly, their Amnesty International lobbies frame our government & people and as the result another roadblock to our young democracy erects based on propaganda. Still we tolerated them.

Then they exploited every natural disaster that they could find like scavengers. While our dedicated leaders, businessmen and laborers worked day and night to salvage our country from its economic ruins, these extremist media sources and political organizations work day and night to create propaganda and search for the worst possible news from Ethiopia. Good news from Ethiopia causes a heart attack for these extremists and they never report it, even if they do report one or two, it is to trick us to believing they are not bias. An old trick that never fools the educated and matured Ethiopians, but a trap for the young and new recruits. By using propaganda they influence innocent Ethiopians in the Diaspora. These innocent Ethiopians only wanted to help their country, but what they got was not direction to development projects. Instead they were told to boycott development projects. These Ethiopians only wanted to see a better Ethiopia with democracy & tolerance, but what they were showed was extremism and hatred. And it is not just containable hatred that they were taught; these were irreversible hate speeches, anti-government chants and ethnic insults that went down deep inside every bone of Ethiopian patriots as well as Tigrain Ethiopians who seem to be the ones who receive the most bashing. The hate, the insults, continued to justify the TPLF’s original mission of secession. These extremists accusing the “LF” part of TPLF became like a murderer accusing a bystander & asking why the bystander is bleeding after stabbing the bystander 100 times over and over. Despite being a mixed Ethiopian, I have never felt sadder for Tigrains than this year because of the bashing they have received. Some people wonder that, since Mengistu Haile Mariam killed more than half a million innocent Ethiopians, would Addis Ababa and Washington’s Ethiopians have embraced Meles Zenawi & TPLF as heroes in 1991 if Addis Ababa was 80% Tigre instead of 80% Amhara? For me, it is not a matter of wondering, it is a fact. I know it would have been the case. The way Meles Zenawi talks, the way he made Ethiopia friends with both the Eastern and Western world, the way democracy and peace surfaced all around the country, the way complete freedom of religion emerged, the way current policies empowered every ethnic group & removed oppression, the way the Constitution is used to free the citizen & rebuke the criminals, the way Ethiopia’s first ever mutli-party election was held, the way development projects initiated everywhere; I am 100% sure that Meles Zenawi would have been labeled as one of the greatest Ethiopian heroes if he was an Amhara instead of a Tigre.

What amazes me is that even though there are not many large Tigrain communities in America and Europe, it seems like in every Ethiopian website discussion boards and in every forum there are numerous Tigrains as well as numerous EPRDF supporters trying to calm down the extremists. Trying to tell them “let us come together” …“let us not fight” and “let us respect each other.” But all to no avail. The response, we, EPRDF supporters always got was always the same. No, “Meles is the devil”; woyane is that and this and that. Almost like we are not human, they say no one likes Meles. How does a population become “no one”? Are we EPRDF supporters not humans in America and Europe? Are the millions of Tigians in Ethiopia humans? Aren’t the millions of farmers & peasants that are the beneficiaries of Meles’s domestic policies considered humans? Do we not count any of them? Maybe it is time for the extremists to wake up and see the fact that there are hundreds of Tigres and ERPDF supporters standing up for the government inside YOUR OWN extremist websites, despite Tigrains having the lowest population presence in America and Europe. It is time that the extremists learn that saying “my way or the highway” will put Ethiopia in civil war and poverty for many years. It is time for the extremists to see that Tigrains as well as all of us EPRDF supporters will stand by our leaders thru thick and thin. It is time that the extremists see that Meles reaching out to other Ethiopians and reaching out to opposition supporters is not because he is weak; it is because one needs to appear weak for others to feel empowered. It is not an act of weakness, it is an act of humbleness that is necessary in order for Ethiopia to stop this cycle of hate speeches, ethnic insults, narrow nationalism, arrogance and propaganda. But as much as we try, extremists have stayed extremists. It doesn’t seem like they would change anytime soon. So the first solution is for moderate and innocent Ethiopians to stay away from these extremists. And in order to keep our country united, the other solution has been censoring or blocking these extremist websites and blogs.

You have to admit, such censorship looks like a genius technique and a great method on our government’s part, and especially it showed these last 10 days. It would have been devastating for Ethiopians in Ethiopia to be influenced to hate each other by these extremists in the face of such an aggression from the jihadists. These were the same jihadists that hijacked our peaceful, moderate Somali brothers and sisters.

Before I write more, I have to apologize for all EPRDF supporters! I have a confession to make for my beloved fellow Ethiopians in Ethiopia. I wasn’t thinking right twelve months ago. Last year, just like the opposition supporters, I was ignorant of the various irresponsible journalists. Just like the extremists AAPO, Derg, OLF & ONLF supporters, I was ignoring the numerous breaches caused by the journalists that are now paying the price in prison for being insensitive and provoking violence. I was completely blind to the violence inflamed by fanatics & irresponsible media and journalists. Now more than ever, I am proved WRONG and I was given the biggest wake up call anyone could ever receive. Recently reading how extremist websites treated our brothers and sisters in the armed forces like animals and like foreigners the last few days, I couldn’t ask for a better wake up call than this! I say thank you to Ethiopianreview.com for helping me see the reason why you are censored. Thank you to Ethiomedia.com for showing me why you are censored. The same way, thank you to nazret, to Ethioindex, Abugida, cyberethiopia, fettan, some blogs etc. It is now clear to me why the censorship was necessary in those cases.

Now some of these extremist Ethiopian websites even ignored the various statements by the Islamic courts who said they will take the Somali region of Ethiopia without the will of the Somalis as well as without the will of SPDP of the Ethiopian parliament. They ignored the jihad call that reflects an imported culture from outside Africa, not the moderate culture in Africa & Somalia. They ignored the various attacks in our lands and instead accused our government once again. Some even try to compare this battle to past wars, saying Ethiopia never invaded or wasn’t the aggressor before. I wonder if Emperor Haile Selassie would have used a different approach in the mid 1930s to avoid being occupied by Italy. Lets say he went back in time. If he knew, in advance, how to stop Italy before Italy could gain strength and attack Ethiopia deeper, would Haile Selassie have attacked & weakened Italy’s base or would Haile Selassie have let the same thing happen to Ethiopia & allow Italy to occupy Ethiopia? Clearly, if He knew how to he would have used it to save our country. Anyone that is able and smart would try to disable Italy’s strength. Fortunately, Meles Zenawi doesn’t have to go back in time to do this because the most united Ethiopian government of EPRDF is too powerful and since Ethiopia is able today, stopping the Jihadists from controlling the whole of Somalia is important. If the jihadists controlled the whole of Somalia, would they have suddenly abandoned their plan to take our Ogaden region as well as take more land and bring radicalized, politicized Islam? Evidently that is not the character of the jihadists. To claim anything else is madness. Only an anti-Ethiopian person would suggest Ethiopia to ignore while Jihadists spread all around her neighbor.

Anyway going back to the extremist & anti-Ethiopian groups, everyone knows Shabea controls AFD. But let’s forget about the dead AFD and be serious on the real issues. One thing that is certain is Shabea can not be everywhere else so these extremist Ethiopians saying so many anti-Ethiopian statements is, whether we like it or not, their own desire & stance! The desire and selfishness that made them put the interest & sovereignty of our country below the interest of their specific political parties. Their anti-Ethiopian statements and acts were the abomination of all abominations; the shame of all shames.

Despite all these bewildering actions by the extremists, all of us mixed Ethiopians and all others who support EPRDF and all Tigrains will & should stand strong and tolerate the insults and the hate speech. We should stay humble under such verbal abuse & hate speeches, and always focus on our goal to bring better democracy and more economic development. Why? Well, somebody has to do it. Somebody has to set the tone for a better Ethiopia. Not just for a better Ethiopia but also for a safer, stronger East Africa. Somebody has to stand up, take it all & be patient and tolerant. Otherwise, this sad rotation will continue, but the cycle of propaganda, hate and intolerance should never continue! It is a promise that all of us EPRDF supporters will and should make. We will stand strong despite all of this for the sake of our country and our unity. How Yohannes IV fought & defeated Egypt & the Mahdis for Ethiopia’s Sovereignty, when Menilik ignored Yohannes’s efforts is a sad memory & a sad reminder for some of you patriots, but let us all stay positive because the spirit of the Adwa will never die!

There is one last promise that I also want to make to the extremists today; that the opposition party that will take power from EPRDF will not be the best insulter or the best propaganda artist or the best hatemonger. (This means it will disqualify most of the radical opposition parties & websites that live and die by the number of videos they can compose on “You tube” to exploit natural disasters and ethnic conflicts for their political gain.) So the winner and the replacement of EPRDF will be the opposition party that takes the torch of tolerance, persistence, democracy and freedom from EPRDF and carry it to the next generation.

To conclude…meanwhile… one can’t help but admire this incredible plan by our government to censor these extremist media sources. I can’t even start to imagine into how many destructive tiny parts the Ethiopian population would have been cut apart in this vital time of the aggression by the Jihadists if these extremists were influencing our people. The hate speeches, propaganda and anti-Ethiopian statements of these extremist websites and blogs could have brought a big obstacle against the current voluntarily united Ethiopia & our peace if they were not blocked. So thank you Meles Zenawi, the parliament & representatives for censoring these websites.

*The author is a College Assistant professor based in Mary Land, USA. He can be reached at [email protected]