Ethiopians are not alone !!!

Tedla Asfaw

 

It is cloudy and raining in New York City this morning and expected to be the same the whole day, what a day makes a difference in spring here. Yesterday we had a fantastic mild sunny and bright Thursday for our rally and  I thank the Parks department for changing the earlier application for Friday because of Tibetans rally happened to be a socking one.

 

Our huge Ethiopian flag, 6ft by 4ft. did attract a lot of people mainly foreign tourists who came to visit UN and UN staffs who are going in and out for their business. Attracted by this colorful flag we had many who came to see our slogans that ranged from demand for the removal of TPLF and denouncing the killing that going in  Ethiopian Ogaden and Somalia.

 

Group of young women, college students, came and told us that they were aware of the Ogaden killing and abuse by the TPLF regime when they surf African web sites and support our rally for exposing this crime for many here who may not be aware of. We  met a man who worked in Somalia in Hargessa before the USA relief operation early in 1990s turned in to  catching " Adid" and ended up in a disaster. His message for Melese Zenawi was clear leave Somalia for Somalis.

 

We met also a senior reporter and informed us that a general council is debating Somalia on this same day and he is also well aware of what is going on in Ethiopia and we handed to him the press release of the third anniversary of our people victory over tyranny and what lies ahead for Ethiopia and the region.

 

The most dramatic moment of the day for us was our encounter with two Ethiopian women one old and one middle aged. The old women after briefly talking to us she went to the flag and kissed it. This dramatic love for Ethiopia in foreign land is indeed was inspirational for all of us. The other Ethiopian woman was from Gonder area who knows the land and the people very well.

 

She told us that Azeb Gola/Mesfin and her families were fascist Italian collaborators and what they are doing now to Ethiopia is revenge. Giving Ethiopian land is pay back time for Gonder area people first by incorporating their land known for producing cash crops like sesame  to Tigray region and then she said  now the second phase is to hand it to Sudan for future short and long term benefit for Melese and his buddies.

 

Ethiopians third anniversary of their electoral victory over TPLF was celebrated in front of UN and what we learned from this rally is that we have  many supporters in the world community from tourists coming to UN  including many who are working for UN that failed to live up to its foundation many years ago to stop wars and the suffering of people.

 

The rally for the cause of Ethiopia and our region must go on until our people got their right to protest freely in their own country and demand what is expected of their elected leaders and the international organizations. We should also  expose  Western countries like USA and Britain who are currently subsidizing state terrorism in Ethiopia. Britain's Gordon Brown is still not changing  Blair's policy and throwing money to the hyenas in Ethiopia and we hope Obam's presidency will throw out the failed policy of USA for the last sixteen years towards Ethiopia and start fresh.. 

Remembering martyr Asrat Woldeyese!!.

Tedla Asfaw

 

On May 14,1999 the day Haile Gebreselasse's Endurance movie was released in a movie theater near to  Lincoln Center in Manhattan, New York when I heard the sad news of the passing of Professor Asrat Woldeyese, the true son of Ethiopia, who challenged the TPLF leadership face to face from day one and was jailed for many years and died as a result of it nine years ago today.

 

I did not change my plan to watch endurance and in fact watching the movie and seeing the Ethiopian national flag wave high accompanied by our songs made me cry both for the victory of Haile and the passing of professor Asrat on that day, what a coincidence. I had not met this brave son of Ethiopia when he came to New York to expose the brutality of TPLF and the targetting of Amharas and call for Ethiopians to join him in his organization.

 

All Amhara Organization he led was a God send organization then to save many poor farmers who were killed for coming from wrong ethnic group and until now no one is charged for those crimes that was well documented. Who will forget those people thrown from mountain cliffs live? Had Asrat and few of his close allies  did not expose this crime for the world TPLF might have set a record for genocide even beating Rwanda's.

 

Nine years after he passed, the country he loved most,Ethiopia, is still run by warlords who now crosses international boundary to spread their terror after they were soundly defeated by popular vote three years ago and our peoples basic rights to speak, organize has been denied and are living under martial law.

 

The unity Asrat called then is still illusive and the bickering and fighting among political groups is still unsolved. On this ninth anniversary of the passing of Asrat and the third anniversary of Ethiopians people electoral victory over TPLF  we should honor him by mobilizing Ethiopians to hold each others hand and defeat the brutal regime of Melese Zenawi.

 

We are also expected to hear the formation of new movement led by Dr. Birhanu Nega on this day to add to many organizations we had in the Diaspora and time will tell if this one is different than the one we had in substance. What I believe we lack is to build bridges between nationalist organizations mainly OLF and ONLF and other multi ethnic organizations.

 

This division can only be bridged if we start working  together as brothers and sisters in common areas. This week celebration  which will start tomorrow and go on until Sunday is a good opportunity to come together as big family under one huge tent enough for all of us as long us we keep the TPLF agents away. There is a saying in Amharic, "Betebache Eyale Nethue Weha Ayetetame" meaning you can not drink  clean water while someone is stirring mud.

 

It is  common in many of Ethiopians culture to seat and talk and reach to someone when he or she is in trouble and mother Ethiopia is agonizing and she is in pain and need all her children today and she is calling each one of us. 

 

 

Rally at Ralph J. Bunche park in New York City

Tedla Asfaw


As we all are aware of, from May 15 - May 18 Ethiopians
in the Diaspora are showing solidarity with their
people and reach out to each other and move on the
spirit of May 15, 2005 where Ethiopians on their vote
back home shook the foundation of tyranny beyond
repair forever.

On this spirit, Ethiopians in New York Metropolitan
area and from New Jersey have organized a rally on May
15, 2008 on the third anniversary of our people
victory over TPLF tyranny.

Since then many lives have been lost and many jailed
including Teddy Afro loved by many Ethiopians for his
pro-Ethiopian songs. Moreover, the killing has been
exported to neighboring Somalia since December 2006
and to our Ogaden for a diversionary plot without
success in the name of war on terror financed by Bush
administration.

The victims of TPLF are all nationalities and we need
to come together to defeat this regime and the
separate ways we go to defeat the regime though has
weakened the regime there should be a united assault
to give a final blow and take our liberty from the
hands of homegrown fascists.

I call all Ethiopians to come on May 15, 2008 to the
famous site here in New York City where people of the
world gather to show their denunciation of terror and
tyranny.

All Ethiopians are invited to come to the Ralph J.
Bunche Park in front of Peace Form One obelisk at
First Avenue 42nd Street across the U.N headquarters
and celebrate our people victory three years ago over
tyranny.

The rally from 9 am to 2:30 pm is also a call for
political parties to form a united front against TPLF
and narrow differences among ourselves. As you know
the great obstacle of peace, TPLF, currently is  busy
in giving away Ethiopia's land for Sudan in exchange
of denying oppositions safe heaven to conduct their
struggle.

Our struggle against TPLF can not be won while some
fight and die and others look on sideline and it is
critical to hold each others hand and remove the
regime who is killing and abusing our people each day.

We are also condemning the illegal occupation of
Somalia and the killing of elderly, women and children
and show solidarity with fellow Somalis who are now
fighting to liberate their land from TPLF forces.

Come and participate on this rally at a critical time
our region and Ethiopia has been forced to after
Ethiopians rejected the brutal regime of Melese Zenawi
exactly three years ago.






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OLF denounces the illegal transaction of Ethiopian land !!!

Tedla Asfaw

 

OLF Amharic May 6 commented that the recent land
"transaction" between TPLF and Sudan is a mutual
agreement benefiting both regimes.

Sudan according to the commentary will hand opponents
to TPLF and make sure its land including the one it
was given by TPLF as a "gift" not to be used as a
military base by TPLF's opponents.

We have seen another deal between Puntland
administration,Somalia and TPLF that resulted to the
handling of ONLF high officials for exchange of guns.
There was no land transaction between Puntland and
TPLF this time because Puntland has no strong army to
challenge ONLF. However, we can not rule out that
possibility for the future.

The long term goal of the land "gift" to Sudan
according to the OLF commentary is to plant a long
term conflict between Sudan and Ethiopia mirroring the
Badme "fiasco" which took the lives of tens of
thousands of Ethiopians.

It went further and challenged all opponents of the
regime to come together and remove this regime to
detonate all the bombs planted inside and outside
Ethiopia before it takes our people and country for a
devastating conflict among ourselves and with
neighboring countries.

                      

                        






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