Posts

Showing posts from March, 2014

Is this the most farcical use of taxpayers’ money ever: Ethiopian gets legal aid from UK – to sue us for giving aid to… Ethiopia

Image
by Ian Birrell Mail Online The farmer claims aid is funding a despotic one-party state in his country Alleges regime is forcing thousands from their land using murder and rape Prime Minister David Cameron says donations are a mark of compassion If farmer is successful, Ministers might have to review overseas donations Gift: Prime Minister David Cameron claims the donations are a mark of Britain’s compassion An Ethiopian farmer has been given legal aid in the UK to sue Britain – because he claims millions of pounds sent by the UK to his country is supporting a brutal regime that has ruined his life. He says UK taxpayers’ money – £1.3 billion over the five years of the coalition Government – is funding a despotic one-party state in his country that is forcing thousands of villagers such as him from their land using murder, torture and rape. The landmark case is highly embarrassing for the Government, which has poured vast amounts of extra cash into foreign ai

Ethiopia: Telecom Surveillance Chills Rights

Foreign Technology Used to Spy on Opposition inside Country, Abroad (Berlin) – The Ethiopian government is using foreign technology to bolster its widespread telecom surveillance of opposition activists and journalists both in Ethiopia and abroad. The 100-page report , “‘ They Know Everything We Do’: Telecom and Internet Surveillance in Ethiopia ,” details the technologies the Ethiopian government has acquired from several countries and uses to facilitate surveillance of perceived political opponents inside the country and among the diaspora. The government’s surveillance practices violate the rights to freedom of expression, association, and access to information. The government’s monopoly over all mobile and Internet services through its sole, state-owned telecom operator, Ethio Telecom, facilitates abuse of surveillance powers. “The Ethiopian government is using control of its telecom system as a tool to silence dissenting voices,” said Arvind Ganesan , business and human right

በዓለም ዓቀፍ የሴቶች ቀን ዝክር፤ በእህቶቻችን ኮርተናል! (ግንቦት 7)

Image
ለዘንድሮው ዓለም ዓቀፍ የሴቶች ቀን መታሰቢያ በአዲስ አበባ ከተማ በተደረገው የሩጫ ትዕይንት ላይ ወጣት ሴቶች ባሳዩት ልበ ሙሉነት ኮርተናል። የሩጫውን ትዕይንት አስታከው፣ በአብዛኛው የሰማያዊ ፓርቲ አባላት እንደሆኑ የተነገረላቸው ወጣት ሴቶች ለፍትህ፣ ለነፃነት፣ ለህሊና እስረኞች መፈታት እና ለሀገር አንድነት ድምፃቸውን ከፍ አድረገው ጮኸዋል፤ ዘምረዋል። እነዚህ ወጣት ሴቶች በሥርዓቱ ምን ያህል እንደተማረሩ በቃላትም በአካል ንቅናቄም አሳይተዋል። ዘረኛውና ፋሽስቱ ወያኔ ግን “ለምን ተቃወማችሁኝ” ብሎ አስሯቸዋል፤ ከፊሎቹም የደረሱበት አይታወቅም። በእህቶቻችን ቆራጥነት ኮርተናል፤ በወያኔ የፈሪ ዱላ ደግሞ ተቆጥተናል። በ1997 እና 98 “የወላጆቻችን ድምጽ ይከበር” ያሉ ሕፃናትን የጨፈጨፈው ወያኔ በ2006 ወጣት ሴቶችን ከማሰቃየት ይመለሳል ብለን አናምንም። ወያኔ እስካልተወገደ ድረስ የፈሪ ዱላው የማይቀር ነገር ነው። የወንዶቹን ያህል የተዘገበ አይሁን እንጂ በክፉም በደጉም ሴቶች ያልተሳተፉበት የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ የለም። የቅርብ ጊዜ ታሪካችንን እንኳን ብናይ በፋሽስት ወረራ ወቅት ኢትዮጵያዊያን ሴቶች በአርበኝነት ዘምተው አዋግተዋል፤ ተዋግተዋል። በተለያዩ ምክንያቶች መዝመት ያልቻሉት ደግሞ በውስጥ አርበኝነት ተሰልፈው የጠላት ምስጢሮች ለአርበኞች እንዲደርሱ በማድረግ ከፍተኛ ጀብዱዎችን ፈጽመዋል። ከፋሺስት ወረራ ወዲህ በነበሩ ዓመታት ውስጥም ለፍትህ እና ለነፃነት በተደረጉ ተጋድሎዎች ሴቶች ጉልህ ተሳትፎ ነበራቸው። በተማሪዎች ትግል ውስጥ ለምሳሌ፣ ወጣት ሴቶች በአመራር ደረጃ በመሳተፍ ትግሉን መርተዋል፤ የሕይወት መስዋዕትነት ጭምር ከፍለዋል። ከዚያ ወዲህም በነበሩት ዓመታት በኢሕአፓ እና ሌሎችም ድርጅቶች አመራርና አባልነት ተሳትፈው ከፍተኛ ተጋድሎ ያደረጉ ኢትዮ

Blue Party’s executives and female members are being accused of freedom of expression!

Image
BlueParty Ethiopia Early in the morning many gathered at the compound of the court house. The appearance was expected to be held at 10:00AM yet only the men arrived. It took the police about an hour after to bring the girls. Most were worried. Then we heard they were being forced to change their shirts that they put on. But they refused to change. After some quarrel at the police station finally they arrived at the court house at 11:08AM. The court house was full of people, some even stood and it was quite humid. After the judge took his place the ones stood were much in number than those who sat. The attorney of the suspected and The Inspector how is handling the case stood by the sides; amid was Blue Party’s young members and leaders of high position. The case was of course presented 5 days ago and ended with denying a bail for the young activists and members of the party because they were believed to terrorize and as well suspected of disturbance on Women’s Great Run which ende

How About Aiding Freedom Instead of Autocrats?

Image
by William Easterly The Wall Street Journal - Meles Zenawi, use to systematically withhold aid-financed famine relief from anyone not belonging to the ruling party. - The U.S. has given more than $1 billion to dictator-ruled Tajikistan, one of many nations in the aid blind spot. Western sympathizers with Ukraine might be surprised to learn that the U.S. government is supporting Russian-backed autocrats against the opposition in other countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. An example is Tajikistan, the fief of long-standing dictator Emomali Rahmon. U.S. economic aid to Tajikistan has totaled more than $1 billion since President Rahmon took power in 1992. Aid from all Western donors accounts for nearly 10% of Tajikistan’s economy and covers most government spending by Mr. Rahmon—whose brutal repression of the opposition was condemned by the State Department, not for the first time, in its annual rights report earlier this month. Tajikistan illustrates a wider phenom

በዴሞክራሲ” ስም የሚደረግ የመሬት ነጠቃና የዘር ማጥፋት ወንጀል በኢትዮጵያ

Image
" በዚሁ ከቀጠለ አገሪቷ ወደ እርስበርስ ግጭት ማምራቷ አይቀሬ ነው"                                  March 11, 2014 በአይነቱ የመጀመርያ የሆነ የውይይት መድረክ የካቲት 27 2006 ዓም /March 6, 2014/ በኦስሎ፣ ኖርዌይ ከተማ ተደረገ። Frontline Club Oslo በተባለ ድርጅት አማካኝነት በኢትዮጵያ በዴሞክራሲ ስም እየተካሄደ ያለውን የመሬት ነጠቃ እና የዘር ማጥፋት ወንጀል በተመለከተ ለጉዳዩ ቅርበት ያላቸውን አካላት በመጥራት ሰፋ ያለ ውይይት ተደርጓል። በስብሰባውም ላይም ከውጭ ጉዳይና ከሌሎች መስሪያ ቤቶች፣ ከዩኒቨርሲቲ፣ ከመንግስታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶች፣ በኦስሎ የሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን እንዲሁም ለጉዳዩ ቅርበት ያላችው አካላት ተገኝተዋል። ስብሰባውን የጠራው ድርጅት በመወከል ስብሰባውን በንግግር የከፈቱት ማርየስ ቮንዳርፈር እንደተናገሩት Fronline Club የተባለ ድርጅት በኦስሎ የተቋቋመው በያዝነው ዓመት ሲሆን አላማውም በዓለምአቀፍ ታዋቂ የፊልም እና የፎቶግራፍ ባለሙያዎችን፣ ጋዜጠኞችን፣ እና ምሁራንን በመጋበዝ በወቅታዊ ጉዳዮች ዙሪያ ውይይቶች እና ዶክመንተሪ ፊልሞችን ማቅረብ መሆኑን ገልጸዋል። የዓመቱ ስራውንም የጀመረው በዚሁ በኢትዮጵያ ጉዳይ ላይ እንደሆነ ተመልክቷል። ኢህአዴግ ስልጣን ከያዘበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ በሰብዓዊ እና ዴሞክራሲያዊ መብቶች አያያዝ ዙሪያ ጠንካራ ነቀፋና ተቃውሞ ያልተለየው መሆኑ ይታወቃል። የዚህም ውይይት ዋና አላማ በሰብዓዊና ዴሞክራሲያዊ መብቶች ዙሪያ

Mr. Obang Metho Address Norwegian Civil Society

Image
Ethiopia—An Abusive Home for its People? A review of the difficult conditions of life in Ethiopia leading to the large exodus of its people to other parts of the world and their hope for Ethiopia’s transformation. I want to thank Frontline Club Oslo, New Frontiers, Norwegian activists, Solveig Syversen, who invited me, Marius von der Fehr, our moderator, and all of those people involved in organizing today’s event. It is an honor to be part of this public discussion on Ethiopia, entitled: In the Name of Democracy: Land Grabbing and Genocide in Ethiopia. Norwegians are known to be some of the most socially conscious and peace-loving people in the world. I give my sincere thanks to the Norwegian people who are attending today and to all Norwegians who have opened up their arms to welcome foreigners, including thousands of Ethiopians who have decided to make Norway their second home or those who are still in the process of seeking asylum. Although Norway is a relatively small count