BY LEULSEGED WORKU
Addis is living exactly up to its name. An English equivalent of the Amharic word “Addis” can be “new”, “fresh”…. The metropolis’ famous place of large gathering, Meskel Square, and all the way through Churchill Avenue to Addis Ababa City Hall invokes thoughts in the mind of the viewer— “yes we can prosper”. It takes just months to refurbish both the square and the city hall.
The city’s streets are quite busy. For a visitor who likes navigating the thoroughfares on foot, apart from feeling at home, s/he may have a cup of organic Arabica coffee, hand-roasted and ground live at street corners in small shops or in ground floors of large shopping malls. This writer was enjoying the exuberance of the streets, parks and everything along the way.
At the same time, the writer had been touring through the imaginary streets of the “world” media. The narratives being manufactured on a daily basis on the streets of AP, AFP, CNN, BBC, The New York Times…portray the otherwise. How they are presenting us to the international community is so heart-wrenching. People on the other side of the globe who learn about our current affairs on the so-called streets of “global media” may think that everything is disarrayed in the country, and everything is turned upside down. Of course, as people and government, we are enforcing law, punishing outlaw terrorist group. But Ethiopia’s vehicle of prosperity is on its fast-paced track.
A one sided story is the main source of all forms of fallacies. This is still being witnessed through the Western media concerning Ethiopia and other countries. The funny part of this problem is, the fallacy is being committed by those groups or media houses that preached about the concept of “genuine journalistic ethics” and provide trainings on balanced reporting.
The old mentality of considering themselves as “Police man of the world” is still in its place. Using their Media, the West are still labeling any nation in the world as ineffective and chaotic if it is not willing to stoop for their neo-colonial strategy.
Whenever countries and leaders stood for their sovereignty and resist the West, they are always considered as a failed and disintegrated country; whenever the Western world fail to put their sacs of neo-colonial strategies on African nations they have their own ways of attacking that particular nation.
The Western medias be it BBC, the Guardian, CNN, AFP or others, have a tendency of assassinating the “character” of that particular nation that refuse to carry their ill-conceived goals. This is witnessed in different parts of the world where strong leadership refused to swing its tails for the West.
Despite the economic burden that resulted from COVID-19 (which is international by its nature) and the attempt of terrorist TPLF to spoil the peace of the nation, Ethiopia still breathes a clean air. The misty weather that Ethiopians are experiencing this rainy season will end soon and a bright season is to come on its heel. The foggy days are sure to end. The saying is every cloud has a silver lining. Is not it?
Ethiopians love their country. No matter what their situation is; no matter how the Western media present a biased portrayal of the people and the government, the truth prevails in the end, Ethiopia and Ethiopians will come out victorious.
Had it been for the portrayal of the western media, Ethiopia could not have participated in the recent Tokyo Olympics. Ethiopia welcomed the delegation warmly.
The result of the athletes may not satisfy all Ethiopians. This might be resulted from the previous experiences the nation had in the area of athletics medal records. However, the result is still satisfactory. Ethiopia has finished at the 56th place at the end of the game and fifth best among the 54 African nations that sent their teams to Tokyo Olympics. This is a great achievement by itself. Ethiopia`s athletes have represented their country not only like runners but also as diplomats. They have disproved the negative image that the Western media gave to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is not created out of the will of Western media or the propaganda of the terrorist TPLF. The nation is built out of the blood and sweat of her beloved children. As a land of origins, Ethiopia has managed to overcome almost all forms of challenges.
The recent mass mobilization to finalize GERD and support the National Defense Forces is a clear indication to this. Despite all the effort of anti- Ethiopian sentimental groups, Ethiopia is still flourishing. It has still kept its ancient glory. No junta or no Western propaganda would not cripple Ethiopia`s effort towards prosperity. No strong nation is built without challenges. The current storm the nation is passing through is neither permanent nor unassailable. The combined hands of Ethiopia are still strong to halt the storm.
The Ethiopian Herald August 14/2021
