PART II (succession of Friday’s edition)
Posted in Al Mariam’s Commentaries)
True power comes from the ballot box and convincing ideas
My Ethiopian Compatriots: YOU NOW HAVE THE BALLOT IN YOUR HANDS!
It is the most powerful political weapon ever created by humankind. The old slogan about political power growing out of the barrel of the gun has no place in the 21st century. On November 3, 2020, the TPLF tried to grab power by the barrel of the gun and ended up in the trash bin of history.
Today, the TPLF’s hired guns kill innocent people believing they can grab power by the barrel of the gun. They too will be dumped on the trash heap of history. So, there is only one way in and out of political power.
That is the way of the ballot!
That is the way of winning the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people!
So, the collective task of all Ethiopians, including those in the diaspora, should be to ensure the June 5, 2021 election will be “free and fair”. “Free and fair election” is not a campaign slogan. It is an objective standard.
The U.N. and its agencies have their standards for “free and fair election” as do the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the African Union. I am proud to say I have my own standards for “free and fair” election in Ethiopia.
Reduced to its bare essentials, to have a free and fair election certain preconditions must be met: citizens must, as a civic duty and moral imperative, exercise their right to vote; the political space must be open for political parties to work and campaign freely; an independent election commission must be established to independently and impartially administer elections as well as an independent and impartial judiciary to deal with election disputes; political parties must be able to assemble peacefully; a robust, independent, professional and responsible media must inform the public on the issues and civil society institutions must support democratic practices (not act as unofficial political parties).
Of course, there are many other elements, constitutional and political, that must be met in order to have a free and fair election such as secret ballot, orderly voter registration process to prevent voter fraud, election observers and other similar requirements.
I have been waiting to see a free and fair election in Ethiopia for decades. I have written about free and fair election in dozens of commentaries over the past decade and half. Let us be realistic. The June 5, 2021 election will not be perfect. In just the past few months, America with its touted 234-year democratic election process has shown us how imperfect an election can be.
Donald Trump trumpeting his claim of “stolen election” nearly destroyed the temple of American representative democracy when his “Proud Boys and Girls” attacked the Capitol. Trump made America the election laughingstock of the world. Of course, Ethiopia is no stranger to stolen elections. The TPLF has been Election Theft, Inc. in Ethiopia for decades.
The TPLF stole the 2005 election in broad daylight and jailed leaders and members of rival parties. To add insult to injury, the TPLF claimed to have won 99.6 percent of the parliamentary seats in 2010. In 2015, the TPLF claimed to have won 100 percent of the seats and got President Barack Obama and his National Security Advisor Susan Rice to certify it as “democratic”.
It breaks my heart to realize that the right to vote should have been most sacred for a black president and a black woman advisor. Unfortunately, when they reached the sky, they forgot their roots.
Ethiopians: Vote and defeat the enemies of Ethiopian democracy!
There are many domestic and foreign enemies of democracy in Ethiopia. Today, the remnants of the dead and gone TPLF and their Western supporters, including the old guard corporate media “prostitutes”, “K” Street Washington lobbyists, inside the Washington beltway think tanks pseudo intellectuals and others have weaponized lies and disinformation to sabotage democracy in Ethiopia. Today, there are terrorists killing innocent Ethiopians believing they can stop the June 5 election and plunge Ethiopia into ethnic and religious civil war.
THEY WILL FAIL!
The ballot is the stake that can put to permanent rest the vampires who spill innocent blood in Ethiopia. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that,” said Dr. King. I say, we cannot drive out the Forces of Darkness in Ethiopia by going to the Dark Side of the Bullet. Ethiopians must be on the Light Side of the Ballot to drive out the Dark Side of the Bullet and become beacons of humanity, unity and prosperity.
Ethiopia at peace…: Let us build the New Ethiopia, the New City upon the Hill, one ballot at a time
In July 2012, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Dreams of an Ethiopia at Peace”:
It is time to replace bitterness with reconciliation; hate with love that heals the community; revenge with forgiveness; despair with hope; hurt with healing; fear with courage; division with unity; doubt with faith; shame with honor; deceit with candor and sincerity; anger with reason; cruelty with kindness and caring; enmity with friendship; duplicity with openness; complacency with action; indifference with passion; incivility with gracefulness; suspicion with trust; selfishness with altruism; dishonesty with integrity; convenience with virtue; cunning with scruples; ignorance with knowledge; benightedness with imagination; acrimony with civility, desire with fulfillment and sniping and carping with broad national dialogue. The time to talk and act is now!
The time is at hand for our dreams of an Ethiopia at peace. That is why every eligible Ethiopian must register and vote on June 5, 2021. Let there be no doubt! Democracy will come to Ethiopia just like we will finish the GERD.
The Forces of Darkness within and without Ethiopia cannot stop it. The June 5 election will be held. June 5, 2021 shall be the day we officially break ground for the building of the New Ethiopia, that City upon the Hill shining over Africa and the world.
June 5, 2021 shall live in glory in Ethiopian history.
June 5, 2021 shall be a scared date when all Ethiopians – men and women, young and old, Christian and Muslim, rich and poor, the educated and uneducated, the urban and rural – will come together and take a vow to beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; to pledge Ethiopian shall not lift up sword against another Ethiopia, neither shall future generations learn war; to commit to the Way of the Ballot and forever forsake the way of the bullet and build a rainbow nation at peace with itself and its neighbors.
I say to the People of Ethiopia, “Register to vote. Vote on June 5, 2021.” Teach those who have chosen the evil path of the bullet, the ballot is mightier than bullet. To the young people of Ethiopia, I say “ROCK THE VOTE!”
Ethiopian 6th General Elections NEBE logo
BY ALMARIAM
The Ethiopian Herald May 16/2021
