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"The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being." - Lech Walesa

Saturday 4 January 2014

Ethiopia: Dark side of Oromo expansions and Menelik conquests

Ethiopia: Dark side of Oromo expansions and Menelik conquestsJanuary 3, 2014

by Abera Tola
Through out history; people have migrated and expanded seeking greener pastures and more land. Globally, most countries have endured and were created thru expansions, wars, assimilation, migration; slavery etc. Even the most developed countries in the world today have dark pasts. For example; millions of Native Americans were exterminated or removed from their homelands while millions more African-Americans underwent the most cruel slavery in world history before the great democracy; the USA; was born. If not for the gradual improvement of human rights in America and its military superiority triggering an economic powerhouse; United States would have been just another poor country facing fragmentation and internal division due to its dark history of conquest and slavery. While Ethiopia did not have as much a bloody history as America; it did experience some conflicts and small level of slavery.

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Ethiopian journalist sentenced to more than two years in jail – CPJ

Nairobi, December 30, 2013-An Ethiopian court convicted a journalist on December 25 on the charge of spreading false rumors and sentenced him to two years and nine months in prison, according to local journalists.
The First Instance Court in Hawassa, capital of the state of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regions, convicted Asfaw Berhanu, former contributor to the private bilingual paper The Reporter, in connection with a September 4 article he wrote for thepublicationthat claimed three state government officials had been removed from their posts, local journalists said.
The officials had not actually been dismissed from their posts, the sources said. TheReporter issued a front-page retraction in its next edition and dismissed Asfaw, ReporterManaging Director Kaleyesus Berkeley said.
Asfaw is being held in Hawassa Prison, local journalists said. He plans to appeal the sentence, the same sources said.
“Asfaw Berhanu should not be jailed for making a mistake, especially after the Reporterapologized and issued a retraction,” said CPJ East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes.

Monday 30 December 2013

2013: The Year of Ethiopia’s Rising Cheetahs in Review

Semayawi (Blue) Party led thousands of young protesters in EthiopiaDecember 29, 2013

In January 2013, I proclaimed, “2013 shall be the Year of Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation.” I promised “to make my full contribution to uplift and support Ethiopia’s youth and to challenge them to rise up to newer heights.” They rose to greater heights. I pledged to “reach out to them, teach them and preach to them”. I feel proud that I was able to deliver on my promise. In December 2013, I was delighted and immensely gratified to stand with Yilikal Getnet, Chairman of Ethiopia’s Semayawi (Blue) Party in Arlington, VA and show my solidarity with Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation (young people).

Sunday 29 December 2013

Global Poverty and Post-colonial “Development Agendas”: Ethiopia and the West

Global Poverty and Post-colonial “Development Agendas”: Ethiopia and the WestBy Paul O’Keeffe - Global Research, December 09, 2013 –
When one thinks of the word ’agenda’ a few obvious  meanings may come to mind – a list of things to do, a plan for a meeting, a goal to achieve or perhaps even an ideology. In the context of international development aid an agenda often means something altogether very different  – a plan or goal that guides someone’s behaviour and is often not explicitly stated. Development aid agendas do not always reflect the needs and desires of the people they propose to serve. More often than not development agendas serve those who institute and organise them. Be it international development donors or governments who receive billions in aid subsidies, development aid and assistance is hardly ever free from condition or expectation on either the donor or receiver side.
The world of international aid is a multi-trillion dollar exercise with transactions affecting every country on earth. Some give, some receive, some give and receive, but all are involved in aid flows that are ultimately held up as virtuous considerations of man to fellow man.