By Daniel Tesfaye
First of all, I would like to thank Addis Voice for posting Samuel Gebru’s piece, Media Jamming and the Constitution. While Samuel started by raising an important issue, i.e. the violation of the constitution in relation to freedom of expression, the writer fell off track in the last laps of his essay.
According to him, certain elements in the Diaspora including the VOA of America are guilty of instigating hatred toward ethnic Tigrians. I believe that this is outrageously distorted as the perception of being hated may only come from guilt trip on the part of those who are colluding with the tyrannical regime.
It is an open secret that the Meles regime has thrived by fanning ethnic animosity and division among the people of Ethiopia. As a consequence of its misguided policy, TPLF and its supporters have been exposed down to their bone marrow and the hatred they desire to spread have backfired on them. Being stung with their own poison, TPLF and its sympathisers may cry foul due to their self-inflicted injuries but that will never change the reality on the ground.
In today Ethiopia, there is a minority government that aspires to make every Ethiopian its servant and slave with no dignity and freedom. As a young man, Samuel Gebrue, who aspires to be Prime Minister of Ethiopia, should learn how to accept the reality no matter how unpalatable it could be. The Voice of America, at a time when all forms of media have been under attack and muffled, has been trying its level best to give a true voice that reflects the reality in Ethiopia. Some people may feel that the bitter truth is tantamount to genocide. That is their perception and problem, not that of VOA or ESAT.
Samuel must learn to stand for the truth without changing a horse in the middle of a river. Unfortunately, his piece, though appreciable for raising critical issues, lost its true message at the end. Alas! The conclusion of an essay is more important than the beginning. For that reason, Samuel failed a critical test by not telling the truth, the whole truth. Half the truth isn’t good enough.
The efforts of the Meles regime to jam radio broadcasts and more recently the Ethiopian Satellite Television are not only dictatorial but also illegal. Since Meles came to power, there is only one man who has guaranteed himself unfettered vulgarity even in his own rubber-stamping parliament. Because of his excessive paranoia, Meles wants to be the only person who controls what we read, write, speak and listen to. That "lucky man" who has full guaratee of freedom of vulgar speech is no one but himself and his life is a testimony to this fact
Fortunately, so many dictators have tried but most of them have fallen down one by one. It is quite inevitable that the regime of Meles Zenawi is only waiting for its turn. Sooner or later, he will fall down too. But whatever will happen history will never forget all the atrocities of an unbridled tyranny. In any case, let there come the end of tyranny that badly misrepresents humanity throughout the world.
First of all, I would like to thank Addis Voice for posting Samuel Gebru’s piece, Media Jamming and the Constitution. While Samuel started by raising an important issue, i.e. the violation of the constitution in relation to freedom of expression, the writer fell off track in the last laps of his essay.
According to him, certain elements in the Diaspora including the VOA of America are guilty of instigating hatred toward ethnic Tigrians. I believe that this is outrageously distorted as the perception of being hated may only come from guilt trip on the part of those who are colluding with the tyrannical regime.
It is an open secret that the Meles regime has thrived by fanning ethnic animosity and division among the people of Ethiopia. As a consequence of its misguided policy, TPLF and its supporters have been exposed down to their bone marrow and the hatred they desire to spread have backfired on them. Being stung with their own poison, TPLF and its sympathisers may cry foul due to their self-inflicted injuries but that will never change the reality on the ground.
In today Ethiopia, there is a minority government that aspires to make every Ethiopian its servant and slave with no dignity and freedom. As a young man, Samuel Gebrue, who aspires to be Prime Minister of Ethiopia, should learn how to accept the reality no matter how unpalatable it could be. The Voice of America, at a time when all forms of media have been under attack and muffled, has been trying its level best to give a true voice that reflects the reality in Ethiopia. Some people may feel that the bitter truth is tantamount to genocide. That is their perception and problem, not that of VOA or ESAT.
Samuel must learn to stand for the truth without changing a horse in the middle of a river. Unfortunately, his piece, though appreciable for raising critical issues, lost its true message at the end. Alas! The conclusion of an essay is more important than the beginning. For that reason, Samuel failed a critical test by not telling the truth, the whole truth. Half the truth isn’t good enough.
The efforts of the Meles regime to jam radio broadcasts and more recently the Ethiopian Satellite Television are not only dictatorial but also illegal. Since Meles came to power, there is only one man who has guaranteed himself unfettered vulgarity even in his own rubber-stamping parliament. Because of his excessive paranoia, Meles wants to be the only person who controls what we read, write, speak and listen to. That "lucky man" who has full guaratee of freedom of vulgar speech is no one but himself and his life is a testimony to this fact
Fortunately, so many dictators have tried but most of them have fallen down one by one. It is quite inevitable that the regime of Meles Zenawi is only waiting for its turn. Sooner or later, he will fall down too. But whatever will happen history will never forget all the atrocities of an unbridled tyranny. In any case, let there come the end of tyranny that badly misrepresents humanity throughout the world.
