Mereja.Forum

[ittuabafarda]

I read it in the news today that another head of a foreign has thrown his hat in the endeavor to find a peaceful solution to the deadly fracas that country is dealing with now. The president of Turkey has expressed his desire to help the warring protagonists to stop fighting first and come up with a median way leading to a lasting solution. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his country has stake in finding a solution in the conflict engulfing Ethiopia and he will never, ever endorse the idea of secession by those who wish it. Otherwise, it will be like someone behind a glass door throwing the first to start stone hurling contest. So I have more trust in him than those in Brussels. But the question is how far the commies in Mekele and Western Wallagaa will travel in that direction. Meanwhile, I will keep encouraging anyone in his/her attempt to help find peace in that glorious nation.

I have said this on many occasions in the past. Ethiopia is not the only country with so many ethnic groups. But it is the only ‘non-communist’ country where secession would be absolutely legal. Such leeway inscribed in its current constitution has been an enticing factor for those who dream of founding their own self defined separate republics. Such individuals and their cabals are driven by hatred towards others who they see as enemies and obstacles. The author has correctly revealed the fact that those murdered by OLF & TPLF also include Oromos and Tigrayans themselves. Who were those Oromos who were hacked, shot and stoned to death by their own Oromos? Those were upright Oromos who were protecting their innocent neighbors from the murderous mob incited by bigots including the OLA. Such ethnic based killings of innocent civilians are not limited to the two regions of Tigray and Oromia but it is out there lurking everywhere. Such incidences might have led some policy makers among the Powers to a consensus that concludes/stipulates that Ethiopia with its exploding population growth where the growing economy has not been able to keep the youth tied up working at factories and offices may be, may be it has reached a point where it would not be able to hold itself up in its current entity. Well I share that opinion as a possibility but not now because possible solutions have not been exhausted yet. I don’t endorse the breakup of that symbol of harmony as long as bigots remain who make the calls whose hands are drenched with human blood of innocent civilians. These bigots are still preaching an all out violence. What they hear from the West has been music to their ears. At least they haven’t heard that would be discouraging. And for now the carnage goes on.
I don't think PM Abiy is the problem as such he is the source of all the ills and evils that glorious is facing. The problems we see that is facing now did not suddenly pop up in April 2018. Their beginning goes way back.

In my opinion that country began heading into the wrong way beginning the mid 1960's due to stubborn behavior of its stakeholders. A culture of debate and compromise was present in that country even though in age old traditional ways but in that decade something lethal, something poisonous began leeching among the should-know-better. Violence became something to look for, was taken as the only problem solver and therefore the battle cry. Every that need to change was screamed at with 'Down' this and 'Down' that. Reformation was demonized and sneered at. Revolution was given a nick name 'overthrow the then status quo by violence means'. Class became not something to aspire for but something devilish to struggle among. I am not sure who in the right mind that will come to a negotiation table even to contemplate about it when he is being told 'I'm gonna gouge your eyes out, I'm gonna cut you up into pieces and toss you the hungry hyenas. That poison is nothing other than Marxism Leninism. Mao was added to that at a later date. That poison has not left that country, that love of my life, that gem of the colored alone even though it may manifest itself in different vocabuliers. The worst part of that poison is blazoned with a deadly concoction called ‘self determination up to and including secession’. In a country where one ethnic group is the only ethnic group in a given country or 80-90% of the population that may not be an issue at all. But in a country such as the country we all left in one piece can be deadly. It has become an incubator, breeder so to say, of murderous bigots. As they say, the genie is out of the bottle with just too many highly educated intellectuals incurably infected with it. That was what we have seen in that country which led to this bloody country in which our children are killing each other like rival prides of lionesses. Debre and cabal were told not to hold an election. No they said. They said it is in their rights to hold an election in their region because it was self determination including up to secession. It is right there in the constitution, baby!!! If you think of it what makes the need of my Itu clan totally different from that peasant or urban dweller in Tigray, Amhara, Sidama, Afar, Somali or any other region? Did my clan ask you for black milk from a green cow? Did that Amhara, Tigray or any other farmer tell me he wants the white grain instead of the brown one? No sir!! Their demand is fundamentally the same: The right to make a living where their individual rights are protected by the law of the land from Moyale to Adigrat and from Dewele to Asosa and no one will be allowed to be above the law. If the rights of the individual are protected by law those citizens will know to do the rest in pursuit of happiness. No one is standing in their way except these poisoned know-it-all bigots.

Ok bigots!! You can now find a high rise building with at least 14 storeys, go all the way up the top floor and jump to your demise!!! It ain't worth a living with such poisonous mouth you have.

[Wedi]

ittuabafarda i think you got it right.


Here is what President Vladimir Putin said about the the danger of ethnic federation and he blamed Lenin for implementing it in USSR!!

Vladimir Putin’s annual news conference December 19, 2019

President Vladimir Putin blames Lenin for his decision to tie ethnic groups to specific territories so they obtained the right to secede from the Soviet Union. President Putin clearly sees the danger of ethnic federation!!

Vladimir Putin’s annual news conference

*************

Andrei Kolesnikov: Good afternoon. Andrei Kolesnikov, Kommersant newspaper.

Mr President, I have two questions on the recent meeting of the Council for Civil Society and Human Rights. You spoke out about Vladimir Ulyanov as never before. You even brought up his nicknames, such as “Old Man” and “Lenin.”

Vladimir Putin: A pseudonym.

Andrei Kolesnikov: You said nicknames.

Vladimir Putin: As a matter of fact, it is all one and the same.

Andrei Kolesnikov: Party nicknames.

You accused him of breaking down a 1,000-year-old state. When you were saying this, you facial expression was close to rage, it seemed to me. Will anything come out of your comment? What would be a logical follow-up to these words? Removing Lenin’s body from the Mausoleum, at long last?

And the second question. At the same meeting, you had a debate with Alexander Sokurov on the title of the Hero of Russia, regarding Ramzan Kadyrov’s case. At that point your facial expression simply showed tolerance. Would you like to say something in this regard?

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: I prefer not to raise subjects of this kind, but since Mr Sokurov did, I had to respond, so now it seems that I have to set it out in more detail.

Regarding Lenin and his role in our history, and what I think about it, I believe that he was a revolutionary rather than a statesman.

When I talked about the 1,000-year history of our state, it was strictly centralised and unitary, as we all know. But what did Vladimir Lenin propose? He went even further than a federation and proposed a system that can be described as a confederation. It was his decision to tie ethnic groups to specific territories, so that they obtained the right to secede from the Soviet Union.

What happened was that a strictly centralised state was turned into a de facto confederation with the right of secession and with ethnic groups attached to specific territories. But these territories were divided in such a way that they did not always correspond and still do not correspond to where various ethnic groups traditionally lived. This is how cracks emerged that still linger in the relations between the former Soviet republics, and even within the Russian Federation. There are two thousand cracks of this kind, and letting them out of sight for even a second can have grave consequences. This is the first point I wanted to make.

By the way, Stalin was against such organisation. He even wrote an article on autonomy, but, eventually, adopted Lenin’s formula. The upshot? Just now, our colleague from Ukraine and I spoke about our relations. Back when the Soviet Union was created, original Russian territories that never had anything to do with Ukraine (the entire Black Sea region and Russia’s western lands) were transferred to Ukraine under a strange pretext of “increasing the percentage of the proletariat in Ukraine,” because Ukraine was a rural territory populated by petty-bourgeois-minded peasants, who were subjected to dispossession across the country. This was a somewhat odd decision. Nevertheless, it took place. We are now dealing with Vladimir Lenin’s legacy of state building.

What did they do? They tied the country’s future to their own party, and this tenet went from one Constitution to another. It was the main political force. As soon as the party started to crumble, the country followed. That is what I meant. I stick to this point of view to this day.

As you are aware, I worked in intelligence for a long time. It was an integral part of a much politicised organisation, the KGB, and I had my own ideas about our leaders and so on. But I know better today, and I understand that there are geopolitical considerations in addition to ideology. They were completely ignored during the creation of the Soviet Union. All this was much politicised at the time. To reiterate, the party began to fall apart, and that was the end of it – the country followed. This had to be prevented. This was a mistake. An absolute, cardinal and fundamental mistake in state building.

Now, with regard to the body. This is beside the point. I believe this subject should not be touched at all, at least as long as there are people, lots of them, who associate their lives and destinies, and certain achievements of the past, the Soviet years, with it. One way or another, the Soviet Union is certainly connected with Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the world proletariat. So, why delve deep into that? We just need to move forward and grow. That is all.
************************


Here is link for the translation of the whole conference
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/62366

[Noble Amhara]

itubafarada \

you are 100% right violence (qey shibir) is what cursed ethiopia for generations. this practice of violence comes from Mengistu HaileMariam that was power hungry and blood thirsty the other socialist groups used these terror methods.. weyane and oneg are working day and night to bring the dark days of Qey Shibir back.

[Wedi]

itubafarada \

you are 100% right violence (qey shibir) is what cursed Ethiopia for generations. this practice of violence comes from Mengistu HaileMariam that was power hungry and blood thirsty the other socialist groups used these terror methods.. weyane and oneg are working day and night to bring the dark days of Qey Shibir back.

Noble Amhara i think you got this one wrong. EPRP started "Nech shibir"/ White terror and then Mengistu started 'Qey shibir/Red terror to counterattack Nech shibir/ White terror. After that Ethiopia started to become a non-stoppable bloody country until today.

[Naga Tuma]

itubafarada \

you are 100% right violence (qey shibir) is what cursed Ethiopia for generations. this practice of violence comes from Mengistu HaileMariam that was power hungry and blood thirsty the other socialist groups used these terror methods.. weyane and oneg are working day and night to bring the dark days of Qey Shibir back.

Noble Amhara i think you got this one wrong. EPRP started "Nech shibir"/ White terror and then Mengistu started 'Qey shibir/Red terror to counterattack Nech shibir/ White terror. After that Ethiopia started to become a non-stoppable bloody country until today.

As a curious reader, I think that little knowledge is dangerous is a major factor. Curious reader because I can only read about it. Little knowledge because I can read that AAU was first established as a college in 1950, became a University in 1961, started to offer its Masters program in 1979 and its PhD program in 1987. In the meantime, it saw a student movement that became a major part of the 1974 revolution. To make it worse, it started its teachings in a foreign language, English, and that it was getting wind from distant lands about socialism of that era. It has been said that data speaks for itself and it seems to me that this can be a classic case where data speaks for itself even if many talk without producing relevant data.

I have also read that the motto of AAU is this: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

That is a good tall call. Heeding that call, I have just tried to prove if any of the national parties to the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia had any ill intent for Ethiopia. I failed to prove if any of them had it. The parties I quickly scanned include the Monarchy, the Student Movement, the Dergue, EPRP, MEISON, Echat, and EDU.

My failure to prove it suggests that the intuitive thinking that it was a tragedy in which no party may be singularly blamable or blameless is more likely. I think there is a good local word that can define it: ገመና። I don’t know it’s equivalent word in English.

[EPRDF]

I think there is a good local word that can define it: ገመና። I don’t know it’s equivalent word in English.

ገመና = PRIVACY

[Naga Tuma]

I think there is a good local word that can define it: ገመና። I don’t know it’s equivalent word in English.

ገመና = PRIVACY

I don’t think so.

[EPRDF]

I think there is a good local word that can define it: ገመና። I don’t know it’s equivalent word in English.

ገመና = PRIVACY

I don’t think so.

Privacy with negative connotation.
Example ገመናው ሲጋለጥ=የግል ምስጢሩ ሲጋለጥ =ቅሌቱ ሲጋለጥ something awful that happened in private.
The equivalent term is privacy.

[Naga Tuma]

I think there is a good local word that can define it: ገመና። I don’t know it’s equivalent word in English.

ገመና = PRIVACY

I don’t think so.

Privacy with negative connotation.
Example ገመናው ሲጋለጥ=የግል ምስጢሩ ሲጋለጥ =ቅሌቱ ሲጋለጥ something awful that happened in private.
The equivalent term is privacy.

I still don't think so. Note that something awful that happened doesn't mean it necessarily happened in privacy or that it is awful doesn't mean privacy. That it is awful is why it stays as your ገመና።

ገመና፣ ከን መና።

ቤተሰብ መሃል የሚቀር ስህተት ነዉ፣ እኔ እንደሚገባኝ ከሆነ። ደርቲ ላዉንደሪ ብትል የበለጠ ያሳምነኝ ነበር። ምስጥር ከስህተት ወይም ትራጄዲ ይለያል፣ እኔ እንደገባኝ ከሆነ።

[Wedi]

ገመና፣ ከን መና።

ገመና = misdeed, wrongdoing, sin

[Naga Tuma]

ገመና፣ ከን መና።

ገመና = misdeed, wrongdoing

Those are closer, even if each is a compound word. In addition, ገመና is a state of after the facts of actions, misdeeds, wrongdoings.

So, if the aftermath of the 1974 revolution can be characterized, at least remotely, as Ethiopia's ገመና, I rest my case.

[EPRDF]

Misdeed/wrongdoing የተሳሳተ ድርጊት ወይም መጥፎ ተግባር ብለን ማስቀመጥ ስንቸል ገመና ሊሆን ግን አይችልም። ገመና በድብቅ ለሆነና ታፍኖ ከተቀመጠ ነገር ጛር በቀጥታ የሚገናኝ ክስተት ነው። ።

የ74/66tu አብዮት ግብታዊ አብዮት ነበር። ሐገሪትዋ ለለውጥ ሳት ዘጋጅ፣ ምንም ዓይነት የተድራጀ የፖለቲካ ፓርቲ ሳይኖር፣ ሀገሪትዋን ከለውጥ ማግስት ተረክቦ ስርዓተ መንግስቱን ሊያስቀጥል የሚያስችል ኃይል ባልነበረበት ሁኔታ የፈነዳና ያስከተለው መዘዝም የከፋ የነበረ፣ ያም በግልፅ፣ በገሃድ የቀን ተቀን የነበረው ክስተትም በውስጥም በውጪም እየተታዘበና እየተዘገበ ያለፈ ጉዳይ ነው። ከገመና ጋር ምን አያገናኘውም።

ገመና፣ በግልም ይሁን በቡድን በድብቅ፣ በምስጢር ተፈፅሞ የኃላ ኃላ የተጋለጠ ጉዳይ ነው። ሌላ ምሳሌ, the Watergate scandal፣ የኒክሰን ገመና በዋተር ጌት ቅሌት ርዕስ ስር ተመዝግቦኣል። I rest my case too.

[ittuabafarda]

The Ethiopian youth of the 1960's was that generation ready to make changes because his/her country was so backward in the modern definition of the word, economically. It was not ready to accept its future in the setting of that time. How to achieve that, the methodology had not congealed yet when committed communist foreign instructors and professors were mistakenly hired by the country's sole university. Those professors were those former 'revolutionaries' who saw their communist parties and in some cases insurgents dealt telling blows in the countries they came from. We have seen some of how they were knowledgeable they were about the leaders every rebel groups and 'proletariat' parties. They knew who did what and when to the day, month and year. They had put all that in books for us to read. But first we have to pay premium price to get the books. Those commie professors were looking for blank board to spew their sick ideology all over and they found the raw minds of our gullible youth. I will give one example. One of my friends who also hailed from West Hararghe was trying to woo me into his new acquired demonic ideology of Marxism. That was around the very early 1970’s just a year or two before I left the Middle East. We talked about the ills that were holding back the old country. His choice was the same as most of the university student ‘activists’ of the era. The only solution to the myriad of problems that was grinding the people of that country was a violent overthrow of the then monarchy and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. And he tried to give me an example by way of the Peoples Republic of China. He gave one ‘striking’ example. He told me that China with a population of a billion people were going through one of the worst droughts in its entire history for 5 consecutive years and not a single, not one Chinese had died from starvation. I asked how did he find that out. He told me he heard that from one of his instructors. Please note that I used to read the actual accounts by those who fled to Hong Kong during Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ and ‘Cultural Revolution’ printed in various newspapers in Hong Kong when I was living in the former British Protectorate of Aden. My British teacher had a small library of books that includes magazines and periodicals of that time. Refugees from China were telling horrible stories of residents of entire villages dying from starvation. Later on it was told that in excess of 25 million Chinese citizens had died from starvation during the Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ demonic fatwa alone. A million people used to be just a snack for that worst goon ever crawled on this good earth. When I told him that account by refugees who survived the carnage he told me that was part of what he was told to tell others as ‘propaganda machination’ by ‘imperialists’. I still remember how enthusiastic my dear friend was telling that achievement by the ‘Chinese proletariat’. I tried but I was not able to convince him with my side of the real story of Mao’s China. So we went our ways. I moved here and he stayed. That dear friend of mine, that gullible young man with a university education, one of the cream puff of the society was one of those whose life was cut short by that demon Mengistu. I still mourn him and there is nothing I can do to bring him back. There were too many like him who perished in vain. There were others like him who I met here in the mid 1970’s who were followers of the same sick ideology. I still remember what one of them told me. He told me that his group had a well trained army to wage a successful warfare to overthrow the government and declare an egalitarian socialist state. He and his friends went back to wage a revolution and overthrow the regime by violent means. But later on I found out that the well trained army he was told existed was nothing more than 11 or 12 unarmed young people who the Eritrean rebels were using as cooks(fetch firewood and potable water). They went back and ended up waging battles with bare hands with well armed killing machine unleashed on them by the bloodthirsty Mengistu. Mind you those were honor students from various esteemed universities who had the intellectual horsepower to run any giant global corporations of our time. They were murdered in cold blood and their death was in vain. When I think about them I get enraged. They are dead and gone but the pathogen that infected them has stayed behind and still wreaking havoc in that country. Just like their contemporaries in other countries many of the survivors of the 1970’s carnage can now be seen as some of the worst bigots that country ever built. They had infected the generation after them with their twisted ideology. You can see them spewing around hatred among otherwise harmonious people there and here among us.