The freedom torch from London arrived in Pittsburgh !!!!

Tedla Asfaw


Ethiopians protest at G20 gathering at Pittsburgh was live covered on ECADF yesterday afternoon and as far as I remember it is the fist live coverage on Internet of Ethiopians protest. The noisy crowd draw the attentions of local and foreign medias and this morning one of the local news papers reported about the protest. Major news media however concentrated on the anarchist battle with the police. Today there will be a big crowd of the Ethiopian North American Battalion who came to Pittsburgh as far as the west of USA and Canada.

The well disciplined and attractive Ethiopian protesters carry a lot of placards among many the most visible one was  Meles and Beshir's photo  with their victims bone on the background. It was creative and put the spotlight on Meles the darling of the west and Beshir the economic and military ally of China.

The talk of China signing to build dams in Ethiopia or the USA official found no ongoing genocide in Sudan is a known diversionary tactics not to held accountable these two butchers in Africa. it is all about greed and self interest which closed the eyes of most of the G20 members and the masses have to come out and expose this double standard in all avenues. Ethiopian protesters deserve Gold for exposing this crime and capture the attention of wide media.

Similar to the April G20 London protest this year the Ethiopian protest has reached to the ears of the rich and the powerful nations. The false promise of free election and human right training as has been used in the past is now recycled again to buy time and divide the momentum for real change in our country.

Who will forget the mass upheaval following the stolen election of May 2005 and the role played by USA and UK officials in Addis Ababa to buy time for Meles Zenawi and divide the opposition ? The upheaval in Addis five years ago was much bigger than this year election protest by Iranians. The only difference is that there were no USA and UK officials in Tehran to sabotage the upheavals.

The USA and UK administrations have to know one thing. Ethiopians do not need their help to change a government by their vote. A change we need from them is not to help the unelected killers, financially and militarily. Our people do not engage a war with both USA and UK and there is no reason to wage war indirectly on our people.

That was the message in April in London and that was the message in Pittsburgh yesterday and today. Obama has now replaced Bush so do Brown replacing Blair.However, the policy of these administrations hardly changes. The promising word of Obama on the Ghanaian Parliament last summer  has yet to be realized.

What we see in Ethiopia is the old way of staying in power until death or driven from power by gun. If change of administration is good for USA and UK I want to assure the allies of Meles that Ethiopians showed their desire five years ago only to get an "F" thanks to the USA and UK embassies in Addis Ababa to keep the man they chose for us.

Here is what happened last night on the G20 dinner in Pittsburgh. The awkward greeting of Azeb the wife of Meles  with the Obamas as reported by blogger most probably is a good opportunity for Obama wisely to share his wisdom. My brother and sister, twenty years in power is enough and probably has stressed your family and it is time to quit. It is not late to take such advice if there is anyone listening.

Meles and Mengistu, sounding, acting and ending the same way !!!

Tedla Asfaw


The man who has been in power for almost two decades, Meles Zenawi , seems to stay in power until he is forced out of power like his predecessor Mengistu Halilemariam. Meles Zenawi should thank Mengistu for handed him over millions of captive people who were terrorized and oppositions divided among themselves.

For the last eighteen years under Meles this equation hasn't changed. People have been terrorized and oppositions divided among themselves under Meles Zenawi.  The only change maybe, Mengistu's name is still be exploited by Meles like we heard him yesterday on news conference. The so called "oppositions" to  Meles' TPLF led by Seye and Gebru were accused of working under Mengistu's order to bring back the Workers Party of Ethiopia (WPE).

What a joke !! In fact Meles has been following on Mengistu's foot steps. Mengistu was liquidating his enemies as anti-Ethiopia secessionists while Meles is killing and terrorizing his opponents as anti-constitution and Dergists. Both wanted to stay in power by all means including making fake elections.

The fact of the matter is both believe Ethiopia will disappear if they are forced out of power. That is why Meles and his blind supporters spread their propaganda of keeping their prime minster to "finish" the job he started. They are pretty sure that Meles will win the coming fake election on landslide.

 Mengistu Hailemariam's  name which has been exploited very well in TPLF's jungle is now used once again to keep Meles in power for the coming years. Have we heard the Afghanistan leader Karazai using the coming back of Taliban to accuse his opponent in this week election ? Not at all, in fact the west is now accusing Karazi  who came to power with their guns for fraud election.

Why is then Meles bringing the name of Mengsitu Haliemariam to accuse his "opponents" ? Is Mengistu worst than Taliban when it comes to the western interest ? The tactic of Hutu VS Hutu which came to the attention of western supporters of the regime in the 2005 election was very embarrassing and a new tactic has to be formulated. However, bringing back Mengistu is a sign of desperation.

The 2010 fake election according to Meles Zenawi is between the bogey man Mengistu Hailemariam  supporters who are now organizing themselves under the banner of Mederek and TPLF a party of "development" and "stability". The terrorized masses will be told about the brutality of Mengistu Hailemariam more than two decades ago and the "freedom" and the stability of Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi.

The negative repercussion of the Kilil administration as a ticking time bomb for future conflicts according to the international group study brought also the anger of Meles Zenawi on his news conference yesterday and accused the international agency who prepared the report. The Mengistu followers are coming to take your right of living if you wish together under Ethiopia  or go your own way, independent Kilil,  that was guaranteed under the article 39 of the Ethiopian Constitution will be the rallying cry for Meles' fake election this summer.

We all know Ethiopia under Mengistu's  tyranny in the name of Ethiopian unity did much good to the ascending of Meles to his throne. If Ethiopians had succeeded in establishing a transitional popular government after the fall of King Haile Selasse following the Yekatit Yehizebe Ametse/revolution  more than four decades ago there wouldn't have been Mengistu and Meles to come to power..

The political problem we had more than four decades ago still hunt us. There is no united opposition to challenge Meles and his gangs. No wonder then revoking Mengistu's name which has served Meles very well  still is used to get sympathy from the western supporters of the regime to label the "opposition" as the hated Mengistu followers.

Forty years has passed but we are still here nothing has changed and the hope of peaceful transfer of power is not in vocabulary of the tyrants. For some Meles is on the path of the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaucescu, who was executed in 1989. However, most likely his fate might be like of his  predecessor Mengistu Hailemariam who is sounding, acting and most likeley end the same way.

The earth is not flat for our politicians

Tedla Asfaw


In early 1980s an Algerian female student I met in Belgium told me what she was told as a student in her native country about Ethiopians. " Ethiopians have been educated in school as the earth is flat" and  she questioned me if it is true. I explained to her that on my study before elementary school, Yeneta/teacher indeed told us that earth is flat with no limit.

In 2000 there was a book written by Thomas Friedman titled the earth is flat. However, there is a big difference between Yeneta's and Thomas flat earth. Yeneta's flat earth is beyond human knowledge while Thomas flat earth celebrates human technological development in the last twenty years.

Since 2000 China has been the dominant manufacturing giant while India became the brain power of the world. This flat world however turns into valleys and mountain  in the Middle East and Africa. For the last eighteen years Ethiopia under TPLF turns into the valley of disaster.

TPLF is boasting  the expansion of education at the same time educated Ethiopians who can make a big difference in educating the next generation have been in exiled in large number.  The  "educated people" back home let alone compete in the flat world they have not improved the life of their own people and our country is still known as a beggar nation.

The diaspora educated Ethiopians young and old have competed with the Chinese, Indians and others, have a success story to be told. When China and India excel Ethiopia under TPLF is waging an ethnic warfare to tear apart the fabric of our people by ethnic cleansing our only university.

The educators who were chased two decades ago are now educating many scientists in foreign country including some who are now leading us in manufacturing and information technology. As Mao destroyed the educated class in his cultural revolution ours made their own cultural revolution.

The TPLF cultural revolution has also taken a lesson from South Africa's apartheid, bantustaization/kilil and building a valley and wall among people. The fruits of knowledge from the flatness of the earth is under the control of TPLF with the help of the Chinese technology. Internet is filtered and our people are not benefiting at all from the information technology.

TPLF has also the strategy of building the Silicon Valley and Bangalore in its own kilil for future dominance. Large numbers of students sent to foreign country are recruited based on ethnicity. Some can succeed and most however are not ready for competition in many institutions where people are judged by their research not by their political inclinations.

The brain potential of Ethiopians in higher institutions transcends ethnicity. We have first class students and teachers of various ethnic backgrounds if they had a chance to make Ethiopia the next China and India combined. We can not say however  the same for our politicians. The diaspora politicians like their counter parts in Ethiopia are miserable and they are living in mountains and valleys.

They never see the earth as flat and always look up or down. Grab power or die fighting for it without thinking horizontally and learn from each other. The masses showed their wisdom in preparing a flat landscape for leaders to take charge. Ethiopian politicians have failed our people for the last four decades.

Year is changing but our politicians never change. Where is the potential of our leaders that we saw in science and technology in the diaspora and how comes we do not have tens or hundreds of politicians who think horizontally to charter our fate together ? Yes indeed the earth has been flattened in the last twenty years except Ethiopian politicians back home and here in diaspora who are still living in the vertical world.