Amb. Girma Birru and Solomon Tadesse: Two Sides of a Coin

October 10, 2014

by Mihret Feleke

This article is made possible after I heard the interviews given by the EPRDF Ambassador to the US Girma Birru who defended the actions and acclaimed the actions of his embassy staff Solomon Tadesse who shot fired at unarmed protestors in broad day light outside the embassy premises. I am not writing this article to dwell on what happened and deal with what should have been done. Rather, I was deeply ashamed by the Ambassadors repeated and relentless argument in the interview he gave afterwards that regarded the action of the gunman as proper and right while to the mind of all sane people it is none but an outrageous and illegal act never seen in the real world before.

Shame On Me For Being Proud of President Obama!

September 29, 2014

by Alemayehu G. Mariam*

I used to be proud of President Barack Obama

First, I am never proud of politicians. Second, I am never ashamed of politicians. I am often dismayed and even angry over things they did (said) or did not do (say). Mostly, I am critical of politicians on some issue of accountability or lack of transparency. I often rage against their corruption, hypocrisy, duplicity, cynicism, amorality and immorality. Perhaps I should not let them get my goat that way. After all, politicians and members of the world’s oldest profession share one thing in common.  They are shameless. I can’t help shaming shameless politicians. The question for me is not whether to shame or not to shame a politician but whether I should be ashamed of myself for being proud of a shameless politician.

Ethiopia/Eritrea-Anatomy of love/hate relationship

September 24, 2014

by Yilma Bekele

This issue of Eritrea has been with us for more than I can remember. In fact it is fair to say like most of you I have lived all my life being affected by the problem with our relatives to the North. Considering the life expectancy in our ancient land it would not be farfetched to conclude for the vast majority of our people the Eritrean question has been like an albatross hanging our neck stopping us from thinking in a straight and rational manner.

I am not a historian by training thus I would not attempt to explain what exactly happened a thousand years back not even as recent as a hundred year ago.

Imprisoning, Spying, Killing: What it takes to stay in power in Ethiopia

September 7th, 2014

Suppression of the innocent inside Ethiopia

by Graham Peebles | Dissidentvocie.com
September 4th, 2014

Wrapped in dishonesty, arrogance and paranoia, Ethiopia’s ruling regime (as all such brutal brigades), are following a nationwide policy of violent suppression and constitutional vandalism.
It was the 24th June – midsummer’s day – in the adopted homeland of Andargachew Tsige, when he was detained by ‘Yemeni officials’ (State heavies in suits) whilst transiting through Sana’a to Eritrea. The British citizen and leading Ethiopian political activist was quickly and quietly extradited to Addis Ababa where he was imprisoned on spurious charges of treason or some such trumped up, paranoid twaddle.

Getting to know me better

August 29, 2014

by Yilma Bekele

I am in the process of weaning myself from my daily dose of reading about the madness of Woyane. It is not easy. After over two decades of being visually, mentally and spiritually assaulted regarding the evil nature of the Tigray peoples liberation front I am desperately trying to go cold turkey. There was no one spared from informing me everything about the all-powerful, omnipotent Woyane and its evil ways. Even the ‘venerable’ VOA was caught spinning.

The Long, Long Way to a More Perfect Union in America

August 25, 2014

by Alemayehu G. Mariam*

On April 10, 1957, 28 year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) gave a speech at the St. Louis Freedom Rally in St. Louis, MO

 entitled, “A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations”. In his speech, MLK commended St. Louis for  integrating its schools in a “quiet and dignified manner”. He said St. Louis could teach the country much about improving race relations: “The Deep South have a great deal to learn from a city like St. Louis. It proves that integration can be brought into being without a lot of trouble, that it can be done smoothly and peacefully.” But MLK’s principal aim was to “grapple with a question that continually comes to [him]. And it is a question on the lips of men and women all over this nation. People all over are wondering about the question of progress in race relations. And they are asking, ‘Are we really making any progress?’”