A friend of mine, a naturalized American, asks in a Facebook post… “Have we become the fifty-first state?” referring to the State Department’s ‘condemnation’ of Deacon Daniel Kibret’s speech, so horribly misinterpreted the innocent soul might wider. “Are they messing with our vocabulary now?” Of course, things have been getting so bizarre, so uncommon and, yes, so ‘mysterious’ lately we’re learning the hard way not to be surprised, let alone being shocked. No wonder many Ethiopian Americans feel being let down and to the wolves by the system they help carry all the way to power.
They thought it was time for genuine pragmatism and critical thinking to reign; little did they know the details were in the shadows. Look When a government agency of the most powerful country on earth issues a statement CONDEMNING the personal speech of an Ethiopian citizen you can’t help wondering what’s cooking I that behind the curtain kitchen. What is very inconsiderate and brings up issues of hidden motives is that even if they ‘needed’ to do it like some ‘Mother of all exceptions’ they could have taken a few more minutes to check and recheck if only to avoid such a humiliating statement. Believe me in the dog-eat-dog world of global politics such ‘exceptions’ would come knocking sooner or later.
Look the main issue here isn’t the misinterpretation of some terms or phrases. It is the very act of the officials which don’t seem to shy away from flexing their muscles at a poor country whose only crimes are trying to ensure its sovereignty and territorial integrity and also trying to lift its suffering citizens out of poverty. But the condemnation isn’t what the condemnation is about! For several months now this ha country and its people have been called all kinds of names, to the point of a western-based ‘journalist’ posting the national tricolor with a donkey pasted on it. Statements have been coming out from the spokesman, who seems to have proved the darling of all the Ethiopia-bashers that their goal was to break up this ancient nation of thousands of years and no one blinked! Let that ‘journalist’ do that to the stars and the stripes the hue and cry would have been so loud other sounds would have been muted.
They say words bite, and some bite real hard when they do. Can anyone with all their screws intact imagine poor, underdeveloped Ethiopia with a thousand and one emergencies of its own on its mind being “a threat to the national interest of the US?” And ‘BOOM!’ sanctions! Now we have become so accustomed to that WMD in letters, who knows we might be put on the black list for saying our thoughts if they don’t like them. Ethiopia a threat to the national interest of the US!
My friend’s question “Have we become the fifty-first state?” hits the nail on the head.
During the military rule three decades back the then leader said something that could resonate now; with much push coming from Washington, he said something like, “They would like to tell us what to have for breakfast.”
“Why! What did we do wrong?” When, oh the angels of Seven Heavens, did defending your territorial integrity and people become a threat to the national interests of another nation, lands, seas and oceans away! Look, presently much of the world might be silent for the obvious reason of fearing retribution. But make no mistake about it, it’s watching, Oh, yes, it is watching! And because we’re ‘threats’ so the sanctions!
Sanctioned for defending this ancient and proud nation and its people!
Sanctioned for calling for justice!
Sanctioned for calling the butchers of Mykadra to be brought to justice!
Sanctioned for demanding fair and equal treatment in an international body we helped form!
Sanctioned for saying “No!” to colonialist tendencies if some quarters of the international community!
Sanctioned for, despite all the sledgehammers and what have you thrown at us keeping our head high refusing to be no one’s second fiddle player!
Have the benchmarks of fairness been ‘updated!’
As mentioned earlier things have been getting so bizarre that a top brass of the UN recently tells a Middle Eastern TV station that TPLF a group dubbed a terrorist by the Ethiopian Parliament “They really have fighting capabilities.” Wouldn’t you think that sounds like giving the group enough rope? This is not coming from some military commander, some lobbyist who wouldn’t blink to sell their mothers for the right price, or so-called ‘investigative journalists’ of seemingly heavy weight media organizations deliberately put for the reason of denigrating this any which way they like but a top person in an organization expected to bring about a more peaceful and harmonious world.
What are we supposed to think? Say that about one of the bodies dubbed terrorists by the Western powers and the fallout would have been so tense the very foundations of the organizations would have started cracking. In the “If you’re not with us, you’re against us,” new (and old) world order there would have been heavy prices to pay; But not with poor countries like us. We can’t make those with their own foreign policy excesses to pay any price as they have their own electorate to answer to. In a world where ‘truth’ is what the lobbyists want it to be but it is not what we can do to them that is crucial but what they can’t do to the hundred plus million proud Ethiopians; they can never make us kneel down and paly the “Oh great, venerable holy master; if you say it should be done it’ll be done!”
When they tell you that they are committed to the territorial integrity of your country you may give them the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe they’re being sincere this time around.” Of course, some mean it. But for some it’s just diplomatic b#”@&!@+t! Poetically funny, wouldn’t you say? You have been heeded to their calls for help and been by their side during the storms, and hurricanes, and the tsunamis and when it’s raining on your side there is no one to offer the umbrella. Ungrateful is too flimsy a term. Betrayal sounds more appropriate. The game of roughing up the name and reputation of this nation seems to be the only game some enjoy playing. However, as things are now the world being concerned a lot of other things it’s not a game which will impress many.
Dragging the name of our country across all of the political rubble wouldn’t change the fact on the ground. Throughout its history is has been subject to the evil machinations of frustrated would-be colonizers some of whom seem to still are unable to clear the red in their eyes; outright racists with that slave-owner mentality who just couldn’t stand a black race firmly placed on the moral high ground; Ego driven, ‘golden-sword’ holders who thought it was like a tiny beetle to be crushed under their and ended up being tutored no feet could crush the resolve and perseverance of a proud nation. No one is calling for compassion, no one is calling for the tears to wash entire continents, no one is asking for the shoulders to cry on; Justice! That’s what we’re asking for. Justice and fairness and honesty!
On the ‘mighty dollar’ there is that heart-warming and healing … “In God We Trust;” What more could one ask for from anyone! Well that’s the case back here too, “In God We Trust;” in case you don’t know. Of course, much of the Western press busy rolls up all sorts of mud balls to throw our way no wonder you’re in the dark. This nation is blessed with a population of which more than 95% belong to some form of religion! So, “In God We Trust;” resonates far and wide. Surprised! Don’t be. But given all that has been, and is, being done to us from across the oceans and seas, allow me to pose the dumbest question on the planet; “Are we talking about the Same God here?” or, when to ‘Trusting in God,’ are we on the SAME wavelengths!
Just musing!
Ephrem Endale Contributer
The Ethiopian Herald September 26/2021