Ephrem Endale Contributer
Washington DC, New York, Toronto, Calgary, Brussels; Ethiopians are angry, and this time around they have taken to the streets to tell the world streets of major world cities, especially in the US.
The message was clear; “US and EU, Stop Interfering in Ethiopia’s Politics,” that was what the tens of thousands of Ethiopians saying, “Stay the hell out of our internal politics!
Even angrier protestors carried posters which read like, “America, get your house in order first and stay out of Ethiopia and Ethiopian politics!”
And there is the media; the ‘fairness’ of the mainstream international media is now clearer that it’s no more than an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ sort of bedtime story. “New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Stop Disseminating Fake News for Money.” It is all about that, isn’t it? It calls comes down to the good old money.
Look for all of us here on home ground, the Ethiopian community in the US played a big part in taking the Biden team into the White House. We recall social media postings calling for Ethiopians to go out vote and make sure Biden was in the oval office, where, of course, he’s now. But its views on the crisis in the northern part of our country took even us back here by surprise. “What! How can they do this to us? How can they
abandon us while we are trying to make sure law and order prevailed? Many believe that there is much misinformation and disinformation in that place. Maybe policy makers are deliberately being led astray by those who seem to have a bone or two to grind. An angry protestor’s poster said it all; “I regret my vote for democrats. It only brought back Rice #1 enemy of Ethiopia.”
They seem to be coming out of the woodwork
They throw you to the winds.
Imagine being with friends you trust with every cell in your body. You know the kind of friends who would go the extra mile to stand by you in times of your need. Those who’d never turn their backs on you and in fact jump out and confront you tormentor, “You touch him/her, and you’ll have to answer to me.” “Rain and shine,” you have long concluded, these I can sleep with my doors and windows open as long as they are around.
But in a move which practically shifts the position of you pumping heart by a few millimeters the unthinkable happens. They mug you! The very friends you trusted jump you when you least expect it and make you, the victim, the perpetrator! That’s what happened to our country. The very international bodies we believed did things rationally, never bowed t
disinformation and blatant rumors, proved to be otherwise. They drew their own battle lines, so to say, and buckled under the weight of disinformation while the facts are there on the ground for all to see.
The interesting thing is ours isn’t like the teenager who knocks somebody’s teeth out and wants you to come to his defense. It is not; Ethiopians are asking no one to defend them or anything like that. They are only saying “Put all your prejudices to rest and face the reality!” the reality is that this country witnessed one of the outrages of modern days when its Northern Command was overrun by the very people it was protecting and atrocities unfit even for the virtual flop action adventure picture of Hollywood.
This has been admitted by a spokesperson of the very perpetrators on camera! How can any sane person or body miss that? The guy was even boasting about ‘the campaign’ equating it to some military feat of the world hasn’t seen in recent times.
But the feat, if there was any, was barbarity even Graziani’s black shirts who flooded the streets of Addis with the blood of the innocent would envy. They were so bizarre even talking about them is uncomfortable to the point of giving headaches of migraine proportions.
And then there is the Maykadra which was even confirmed by international bodies at the initial stages, before even the Ethiopian forces went into the town! Over 1,300 mostly blue collar Amharas massacred for not what they did and but who they are. And now such a high office holder in ‘the leader of the free world’ talks of ‘ethnic cleansing’ while turning his back on the Mykadra mayhem! With mass graves still being discovered if that wasn’t ethnic cleansing then what is? If anyone’s understanding of ‘ethnic cleansing’ is a country’s efforts to ensure law and order well you can only throw up your rams and say, “Maybe nothing less than divine intervention would pump sense into them!”
There is one thing that is heard over and again; “The fernjis don’t seem to like us!” But most of really don’t care about who likes us or who hates us; we only want them to respect us and our rights to deal with our internal issues the way we see fit. THE WAY WE SEE FIT! That’s it. Trying to tell (is it ‘order!’) us as to which of us should out of which place is not only overstepping the very principle of keeping hands out of the internal affairs of sovereign countries, but also disrespect! No, it is not about them saying, “You people are nice, aren’t you?” It is about who have the guts enough to stand for the truth, It s about who really is willing to see the picture in its entirety and then come to informed decision. That’s the million dollar term… ‘Informed decision.’
When, if ever, will the Bias Stop!
The Ethiopian Herald March 14/2021