Mereja.Forum

[Noble Amhara]

By Dawit W Giorgis

I mention Demara, because to me his story is the story of Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’ prime minister. Of course the setting is different and there are different motives behind his behavior, but several similarities indicate that Ethiopians and the international community have fallen victim to an elaborate charade created by this man.

Who knows what he is really like? Abiy can look like a compassionate, religious person, but at times he can also be brutal. One thing is becoming clearer as we try to understand him: he is a narcissist, and it is generally narcissists who become impostors. If they get into a leadership role, they believe that they alone know what is best, that everyone should trust them, that they can save the day. When narcissists become impostors, they become complicated people with a constant fear of failing or being exposed. Those fears can drive them to the extreme, leading them to act irrationally, contrary to common sense. They keep on lying, telling contradicting stories about themselves as they try to project a different image.

Ethiopia has seen leaders of all kinds in the past, but they were not con artists. Our leaders, with all their weaknesses and faults, held firmly to the idea of Ethiopian unity and were predictable. History might describe each one of them as kings or emperors but always as leaders with empathy and a full sense of patriotism. Not much is known about this man called Abiy Ahmed who just jumped into the political scene, but we do know that in no more than a year he has acted more and more like a dictator around whom the future of Ethiopia revolves.

In some ways all people have the propensity to become impostors. People’s public and private lives are often different. What we speak and teach in public or from the pulpit may be different from what we are like privately. When out in public, there is always the pressure to suppress our real selves.

Perhaps he is not so much an impostor as a sophist, as one commentator recently suggested. 6 The sophists were those men in ancient Greece who were good with words and could twist them whichever way they wanted to win an argument, playing on an audience’s emotion without any concern for the truth. His speech at his ascension to power galvanized almost the entire population, but in later months it became clear that he was adapting different speeches to different audiences. In his acceptance speech he glorified Emperor Menelik and Emperor Haile Selassie and repeated his praise on a few other occasions when addressing the public in Amharic, the official language. But when he addressed his Oromo constituency in Afaan Oromo he depicted these same leaders as enemies and, implicitly, the Amharas as oppressors. Perhaps he thought that in this way he could calm some of the political tensions in the country, but it has backfired, triggering fear of the “other” among Amharas, Tigrayans, and Oromos and elevating tensions to the breaking point. 7

PM Abiy’s most brazen act of deception was when he or his colleagues dreamed up a fake YouTube video with a bogus interviewer posing as a journalist from the Atlantic Magazine. The Prime Minister is very impressive and speaks with his usual eloquence about local and global affairs, but it was discovered that his replies were taken word-for-word from interviews with Henry Kissinger, an article by Russell Brand, and excerpts from the book Soft Power by Joseph Nye which Abiy is reading from a teleprompter! Or something similar.

Trying to answer the question why authoritarian leaders lie, Political Science Professor Xavier Marquez writes: Western political thought has three main arguments about why lying may be useful. First, some kinds of lies can hold political systems together: Myths such as Plato’s “Noble Lie” can cement shared values among citizens. Second, lies can be strategically valuable. This idea is represented by Machiavelli’s argument that princes should lie when necessary to achieve their goals. Finally, lies can cement the loyalty of subordinates.9

Over time these repeated lies and propaganda create a myth about the leadership like it has in North Korea and surprisingly in the most democratic country in the world, the USA under Trump. But lies will never prevent authoritarianism from collapsing. When the realities on the ground and the myth collide and when the lives of people are getting worse and not better, when even the most opportunistic of the elites cannot take it anymore, the system will fall apart and usually violently as it did in Libya, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and many other countries. Abiy’s obvious lies and the myth of prosperity that he is trying to create will soon collapse and give rise to chaos. That is beginning now in Ethiopia and the questions that are being asked are where the country is heading and whether there will be civil war( though many believe that there is already a civil war with Oromo extremists trying to exterminate and displace Amharas living in Oromia and the war between government and the rebels in Tigray who have also displaced hundreds of thousands of Amharas from their and are architects of the extermination of Amharas, an ideology embraced by Abiy Ahmed who took it to the extreme level) ) or whether the resilience and the ties that have bound the people for centuries are stronger than the fake narrative sponsored by the political leaders, primarily by the OLF (ODP) that Abiy leads and the TPLF.

No matter how much Abiy and his government try to distract people’s attention and no matter how much they try to destroy evidence, fabricate stories, and imprison or tarnish the images of those who tell the truth through his hired attack dogs, there will still be overwhelming evidence (video, interviews, images, prints, etc) to show the world that genocide and crimes against humanity were and are being committed in Ethiopia under his leadership and with his knowledge. Under an expedient international court with access to all the evidence his actions or inactions will put him and his senior government officials and his ‘republican guards ‘in prison for the rest of their lives if they survive the wrath of the people.

— The End–

[Sam Ebalalehu]

I think Dawit W Giorgis writes better than this : a freshman paper. There is no intellectual argument, just a cadre talk. It reads like a TPLF wishlist paper.

[Wedi]

God bless Dawit Wolde Giorgis. Great description of the greatest imposter of the world, Abiy Ahmed!!

[gearhead]

The house Galla is not an imposter. Rather, the mindless baboon has no self-identification whatsoever. He is a reacting animal who gets confused by stern rebuke or gets high off false adulation that comes by way of his handlers.

Dawit is basically hitting at the house galla's pressure.የእብድ አማራ ትእዛዝ ደሞ እራስህን ግደል ነወ!!

[sesame]

Abiy's problem is not narcissism; that is allowed in all politicians. Abiy's problem is immaturity, religion and lack of ruthlessness. He would be a great leader in a nation which is not beset by conflict. But in a country like Ethiopia with its multiple problems, the key one being the TPLF, what you need is a resolute leader who does not hesitate. Abiy has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. He could have finished the TPLF in 2020. Instead, he allowed the TPLF thugs to regroup. He could have gone into Tigray last November and taken Maichew and let the Tigrayans take care of the TPLF. By not doing that, he has given the TPLF thugs the opportunity to lie to their people that they withdrew willingly.

BTW, Dawit W/Giorgis makes the stupid mistake when he speaks of the videos showing Abiy mouthing Kissinger's words. Those were training videos leaked by Getachew Assefa to denigrate Abiy.

[gearhead]

ደደብ ናርሲሲስት አይሆንም ያለው ማነው? እብድ አማራ የሚነዳው የደደቦች ደደብ ቢኖር በጭጭብጨባ የሰከረው ናርሲሲስቱ አብይ አህመድ ነው!! ባይሆን ዳዊት እራሱ ናርሲሲስት ነው ቢባል ያስኬዳል!! በተረፈ ከእብድ አማራ ጠንቋዮቹ በቀር ማንንም የማይሰማው አብይ አህመድ ጭልጥ ያለ: ደማይድን በሽተኛ ነው!!

[Horus]

The well known infant cognition expert, professor Spelke of Harvard said that with language we can create anything. That is to say, we can assert anything without justifying facts to show the veracity our assertions. I remember around June 2021, Dawit W. Georgis appearing on Abebe Belew's program. Those were the days the Dawits, Tamirats, & the Yareds and the US were talking about regime change in Ethiopia. Dawit specifically stated that Amara people lacked leadership and he in so many ways stated that he wanted to be that missing leader. Then a long damaging expose of his father's role as a supporter of Italian colonialism (a banda) surfaced. Following that expose Dawit disappeared from the face of Ethiopian politics. This polemics against Abiy is the first since. All political ambitions are about power, money, fame and honor. But, a person of salt must support his assertions with facts. The fact that Dawit is unable to understand Abiy is Dawit's problem. If he considers himself an expert on things political, then it is his business to understand political personalities. How then is he going to oppose and remove abiy if he doesn't even understand him in the first place?

[sun]

Noble Amhara,

Is this Dawit Man you are talking about is the one whose father is said to be a loyal Italian Ashker (banda), when at the same time patriotic Oromos for example like general Abdisaa Aga of Wollegga were fighting the overarmed, overfed, over drunk arrogant Italian invaders on two continents and defeated them and through that rendering Italian Bandas jobless confused bums. I don't know if others have shared with you this info. ?

[kibramlak]

በፁሁፉ የሚለው መሬት ላይ ከሚታየው ጋር ይገናኛል ወይስ አይገናኝም ነው ጥያቄው መሆን ያለበት፣፣ He said he (Abiy) is imposter, Yes this is true (have seen and heard many of his own contradictions). He said about the killings and forceful evictions of Amhara, Yes (have seen this since he took power). He said about the Tigray war and the resulting damages in the regions, Yes (one must be idi@t to say I don't know this). The references are already in public views. What did you find in his writing that are something not truly happened ? I am curious to know....

I think Dawit W Giorgis writes better than this : a freshman paper. There is no intellectual argument, just a cadre talk. It reads like a TPLF wishlist paper.

[Noble Amhara]

Italianino your ancestors washed the dishes of italians in Asmera for 100 years OMG

Let alone when did i mention Ethio Italo war of WW2? Dont deflect the topic. You know 80% of Welega sided with Italians (Lutheran Converts) and only 10-20% Sided with Ethiopia based on circumstances. That is why Shane is Welegan Dembi Dollo! They never believed in Ethiopia

Noble Amhara,

Is this Dawit Man you are talking about is the one whose father is said to be a loyal Italian Ashker (banda), when at the same time patriotic Oromos for example like general Abdisaa Aga of Wollegga were fighting the overarmed, overfed, over drunk arrogant Italian invaders on two continents and defeated them and through that rendering Italian Bandas jobless confused bums. I don't know if others have shared with you this info. ?