Finally, Ethiopians will go to the polls tomorrow; whatever the outcome, whatever transpires, it’s bound to be an eventful day. A day we’d be talking about for quite some time. Littered with all kinds of stumbling blocks the voyage has been anything but comfortable. Whatever our political preferences I think we derive a collective pat on the back for making it this far. Had things been what the doomsday reporting of some sections of the global media reported they would be, the story would have been different, paragraph and chapter.
There will be more tall tales once the elections pass irrespective of which way the wind blows. You can bet on that! Despite how things go, be sure the postelection narratives have already been signed and sealed in some Western media newsrooms. For them the battle lines were drawn far back.
Of course, in these times of uncertainty we can’t tell what will happen once the verdict of the Ethiopian people is in. But one thing is sure, the simple fact we’ve come this far might send some scouring for their painkillers. Remember! We’ve even been told to postpone elections by the very politicians who have done a very bad job of handling theirs! They telling us how to conduct our own affairs, the arrogance isn’t lost on anyone.
It might be difficult to talk with total certainty as to how tomorrow’s election will come out in the end. But one thing the ‘experts on Ethiopia’ said will happen, didn’t; the pre-election disturbances. Who knows, maybe there are those who failed to do their homework or were prevented from doing them!
Funny that all that comes from those corridors of power are things which sound like, “We’re right you’re wrong.” Mind you, we are ‘the agenda;’ we are the ones refusing to be put on the chopping block; yet, they tell us, “We’re right, you’re wrong.”
We say, “Now that you’ve finished your part, we’ve our stories to tell. Ready?”
“Oh really!”
“Really.”
“Look, it is us who call the shots here. You tell your story when we say tell your story.” And then comes the cold shoulder. That’s how weird world has become to be. They shut us out from international platforms, from the mainstream media and from wherever we can get the chance of making our point. The hypocrisy is astounding! And what is more astounding is that it’s being displayed in the guise of, ‘wishing the good of us!’
Still, we’ll tell our story our own way; and do we have one, earth-moving story to tell! Hey, in case you self-declared ‘saviors of the world’ out there missed out on current affairs, tomorrow millions of Ethiopians will go to the poll. Surprised! No wonder you are. We could just imagine the “Hell no!” reverberating form the corridors of those who are acting as if they own us! You don’t! So don’t you think is high time you detoxified your system from those recurring colonial genes!
All they have been doing is cutting the ground from under our feet. As world affairs seem to be moving these days, talk of international camaraderie is nothing but one hell of a sham. Groups who should have carried their own crosses try to tell us how to carry ours, plunging their noses where they aren’t wanted. One of factors driving the hate-Ethiopian campaigning of certain sections of the global media is ignorance. Willful ignorance for the most part, you can say.
Look, no one is claiming our problems are easy. No one is saying its business as usual up north or elsewhere in the country. But things have turned so weird some media people who have put their heads above the crowd as ‘activists’ and not professionals when it comes to Ethiopian matters, have started posting pictures of the early 1970s famine! How inconsiderate can one be! Why’d they do that! Because they are playing the ‘scare the hell out of them’ card, that’s why. Because they’re laying the groundwork for already written and edited future narratives of some catastrophe, that’s why. The ‘hate tone’ of so-called ‘reports’ is so telling, it doesn’t leave anyone in any doubt as to the fact that sinister conspiracies are in play behind the eye-catching headlines.
It seems every other guy or group feels entitled to dip their fingers into this country’s internal affairs. Some ‘League’ which in its midst have those not known for anything that comes any close to human rights and democratic governance, has the bile to tell us what we do! Shouldn’t they first get their own houses in order! What will they be telling their people, “We kicked the $%# of Ethiopians, and you should give us the credit?” To tell you what your people will say, “But, you’re kicking our $%# like anything has ever been kicked before!”
These days there is nothing you can take for granted when it comes to the behavior of the global media and those who try to bulldoze their way into where they are neither needed nor wanted. You never know how this world really works until the gatecrashers come calling with all the arrogance, hypocrisy and, yes, the camouflaged racist attitudes.
If the amount of money you throw at the lobbyists and media people, and not the truth you hold that makes your day how can anyone in the right senses expect fair treatment! How can truth see the light of day when the ‘experts on Ethiopia’ are those who have never set foot in this part of the world! Someone should tell those guys tomorrow when truth forces itself out into the public, all their dirty linen would be out in the open. “What! All this time they haven’t been doing their laundry all this time!” Accountability is one concept which is denied its rightful place in this age of uncertainty. In fact, the rich and the powerful are acting as if they are immune from accountability. Believe me the sun will regain its rightful place and we’ll be seen in our real colors.
Tomorrow, all of us know, is a day to be handled with care!
The Ethiopian herald June 19/2021