Carpe Diem Ethiopia

We were grieved to learn of the untimely death of Anthony Mitchell this past weekend . We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, children, and all his friends and colleagues at Associated Press. Anthony Mitchell was a true friend of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Last year, in Suffocated , we wrote the following on the EPRDF’s expulsion of the journalist, whose only crime was to report the truth: We are incensed over Anthony Mitchell's expulsion, the jailing of Ethiopian journalists, and the consequence of these draconian measures to the freedom of thought and expression in Ethiopia . It is one thing for a government to kick out a foreign journalist on grounds of national security threat. But a decision to render a journalist persona non grata for merely " disseminat[ing] information bent on tarnishing the image of the country " brings us closer to the type of tyranny that made Jefferson lose sleep. And Ethiopians, withered by years of governmental repressio...

Let’s start with the numbers : In a country of 73 million only 113,000 or (0.2%) of Ethiopians have access to the internet ( 2005 figures ). Compare this number with another African country with an almost identical population—Egypt: population—72 million, internet users—5,000,000 (21.1%). Other African countries with pathetic Ethiopia-like numbers include the Democratic Republic of Congo (58 million; 50,000 users (0.2%), Tanzania (38M, 333,000 users (1.5%); Eritrea, well, you can check the numbers at the Internet World Stats site. The company provides interesting and at times surprising breakdowns of internet users in every country in the world. Meles Zenawi apparently experiences digital dreams . As recently as August 2005 cyber cracker Zenawi sounded like Bill Gates: I want to see ICT [information communications technology] pervade all our activities as a government, not just in the urban areas. We want to connect all our villages in two to three years. All education services, l...

Senator Barack Obama's decision this morning to throw his hat in the presidential race is a significant moment in this nation's history. In MLK, Jr., Ethiopia, and Protest Politics , we honored the work and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., and in so doing, recognized the numerous legislative and judicial victories scored by African-Americans in the last century (to name a few, voting rights , access to education , health care, housing, public benefits, employment , and affirmative action ). The African-American struggle for equality clearly made America live up to the promises of liberty and justice its founders promised to the governed in 1787 . Beyond the historic significance of Obama’s announcement, the Illinois senator’s candidacy will allow registered African-American voters (including Ethiopia-Americans) in the Democratic Party a clear alternative to the carpet-bagging junior senator from our favorite state in the Union. Yes, Hillary Clinton and her arrogant a...

So we started the New Year with images of a botched cell phone-recorded hanging of a man a few months shy of his seventieth birthday shooting through a trap door while attempting to drown out the taunting jeers of an angry mob with his own incantations of an incomplete death prayer. By turning a judicially sanctioned execution into a degrading display of vengeance, the Iraqi government failed to seize a momentous occasion to show one of the worst offenders of human rights the dignity of death he denied to millions of Iraqis, Iranians, and Kuwaitis during his quarter-century rule. The Butcher of Bagdad certainly did not deserve to be afforded dignity in his last hours but it is not unreasonable to expect a young democracy emerging from decades of bloodshed to use every opportunity to teach those it governs the virtues of justice and forgiveness. We recognize the Iraq war is highly divisive and many, including those in the Ethiopian-American community, are frustrated about this...

The farthest I traveled outside Addis Ababa before I left Ethiopia as a teen was to Langano. I don’t think I’m alone in this; most native Addis Ababans belong in this group. In 1997 I went on a backpacking trip across Ethiopia that lasted almost a year. I returned broke and having pissed off my family that sent hard-earned cash to a sera fet hippie- biTé . The last leg of my trip took me from Gonder and I ended up in Yeha . I looked forward to visiting Axum, ground zero to Ethiopia’s 3000-year history. The dusty Gonder-Axum road was spectacular and the holy city even more. I took dozens of photographs of Tsion-Mariam for my mother and Ezana’s rock for my more historically astute pops. But the Axum sojourn ended up being more than a voyage back to Byzantine Ethiopia: I struck a two-week friendship with a one-eyed eight-fingered former TPLF fighter. In 2003 I took my family on the historic tour and during our stay in Axum found out that Tewelde (a name he gave me but his wife called...

It's easy to get lost in the numbers—no less than two million Iraqis died under Saddam Hussien’s watch. Images of Kurdish children lying prostrate, dead on the spot they breathed Saddam’s deadly mustard gas—the same biological weapon used by fascist Italy against Ethiopian villagers in 1935—show one of the most horrific acts of brutality known to mankind. The Butcher of Bagdad’s 1986-88 chemical and biological weapon attacks on thousands of innocent Iraqis in Halabja and al-Anfal are only a few examples of his systematic campaign to exterminate opposition to his brutal twenty-five year rule. In various postings, we have stated our support for the war on terror. We are convinced that the dictator’s quarter-century rule needed to come to an end. In the long run, his removal from power will allow Iraqis the opportunity to build a nation based on tolerance and respect for the rule of law. We are further convinced that despite the US-led coalition’s failure to secure t...

I was surprised to hear someone mention her name at the December 2005 wedding that brought me to the country that birthed me. It took me a full week to find her number and when I called her, she screamed. I think, in joy. I promised to visit her and her husband and their two children the following day. But she asked me to come as early as I could because she needed to attend an arba in her neighborhood (the 40-day anniversary of a person’s death remembered by a prayer and renewed mourning). “Addis Ababa is amazing, so beautiful,” she said, almost in a whisper. Seeing her for the first time in two decades had been surreal. As was the sight of her children, two girls who looked like carbon copies of herself. And nothing like the strange husband of hers who eyed me suspiciously. I kept thinking thank you Jesus the children don't look like you. Her words broke the silence that had set between us since we left her home. The neighborhood where we grew up ...