In Basel, Switzerland Ethiopian communities collaborate to collect support for different purposes. The support they collect usually were aimed to assist the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and other current issues.
“The Ethiopian community in Basel is very active. First, we collect the money and we will see the purpose next. Representatives from each city gathered and we raised the participation from city to nationwide” says NEtsanet Getachew, Representative of Ethiopian Community in Switzerland.
The Ethiopians who live in various parts of Switzerland have their representatives in their respective cities. Due to the limitations posed by COVID they were forced to carry out the event virtually. Yet, Netsanet said they were able to attract participants from cities that they don’t even know the name.
By doing so they were able to finalize the support solicitation event in two weeks.
But to involve those who missed the first round, we organized a second one and received a lot of pledges.
“More than the money collected what impressed us was the gathering of the people. People crave unity. We meet only for our country rather than for the support of any side. We focus on helping our country. The feeling was encouraging.”
For instance, due to the recurrence of events that need the involvement of compatriots, there is a likelihood of overlapping events. As a result, in parallel, other groups gather support for internally displaced peoples. In this case, participants were supposed to attend either of the events they set out for. Yet many of them willingly made it to both, Netsanet indicated.
“The members participated in both events without being bored. Those in every city played a big role in soliciting the support of each member by going door to door and motivating them. But for us seeing the unity of the people was more rewarding”
“When we gather money in the past there were many challenges. This time we have not witnessed any challenge when we collect money this time. They used to ask for which purpose we are collecting the money. But this time we tell them that all the money would be submitted to the government and then would be channelled to the necessary purpose”
There is trust. Almost all of them do not ask why they are contributing. They are convinced that they are contributing the money to Ethiopia.
Everyone abroad wants to return home eventually. What they want is to prepare something that they can carry back home. They want to have something that will benefit them or their country. We have a lot of dreams about where to deliver our country.
According to Netsanet about fully exploiting the potential of the diaspora there were problems when the diaspora tuned to rumours as they complain that there is sabotage when we go there.
“TO bring more people here we have to show them some positive developments. I hope they will keep up their involvement when they observe the changes. There could be some individuals who have gone desperate because of the impacts of the past. Despite the difficulties to be positive, we do not despair and go to them with the right mind.”
Netsanet noted in the early days of the beginning of the law enforcement operation, the supporters of the terrorist TPLF were able to score influence as they employed social media campaigns against the government since they were preparing earlier for it.
“Previously many Ethiopians do not use Twitter. That was why juntas supporters had the upper hand. But this time we are participating in defend Ethiopia task force and others.”
There are various task forces and campaigns that we participate in. Some members work daily in responding to Twitter. They are struggling to change the minds of foreign politicians towards Ethiopia. As a result, there are some changes in the attitudes of MPs like Karren Bass, she explained.
Cop26 must focus on poorer countries, says UN development chief
Developing countries, many of which are deeply indebted following the Covid-19 crisis, must be the focus of the Cop26 summit if the UK hopes to make it a success, the UN’s development chief has said.
Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN development programme, said: “For developing countries at this juncture, a sense of recognising their dilemmas is extremely important. They do not need to be told that climate change is important, that everybody has to do more.
“They are under severe stress in the midst of this pandemic, of economic regression, of growing poverty rates. It is critical that the UK is able to echo the genuine and legitimate concerns that developing countries articulate.”
Any failure by the UK hosts to recognise these concerns could lead to breakdown, he warned. “Cops have succeeded when no group of countries had a reason to feel they were overlooked, ignored or dismissed. Inclusiveness is critical. There are countries that feel they were promised financial support and it has hardly materialised. Knowing those sensitivities is part of being well prepared,” he said in an interview with the Guardian.
Cop26 will open on Sunday in Glasgow, with more than 25,000 delegates, including more than 120 heads of state, expected to take part.
Steiner said poor countries’ concerns over access to finance and other assistance were at the heart of the talks. “Accelerating a climate implementation plan requires additional investment, and that money is simply not easily found,” he said. “Recovery
[from the Covid-19 crisis]
can actually happen faster, [if you] create jobs with green transitions, but you still need capital to invest, whether private, public or concessional.”
At least 60 of the poorest countries are facing debt distress, which could cause them to default or enter a debt crisis, with disastrous impacts on their economies and the wellbeing of their people.
In 2009 poor countries were promised $100bn (£730bn) a year by 2020, but that has not been met, though recent research shows it can be met by 2023. “In the midst of a trillion dollar emergency pandemic response mode, it kind of is difficult to stomach for many developing countries that a promise made in 2009, repeated in 2015, is still not fulfilled,” said Steiner.
Steiner, previously the head of the UN environment programme and a Cop veteran, said the measure of success at Glasgow would be whether countries could work together. “There has to be some palpable sense of shared purpose and unity. Is there a sense of common purpose, or are divisions going to define all the signals and symbolisms of Glasgow?”
He said the summit could not be “a complete failure”, as many countries have already come forward with plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions substantially, but could still disappoint, if further plans were inadequate and if developing countries were not given the assurances they need.
“The world is actually in a better place on accelerating climate action than it was before the pandemic, just taking the sheer amount of investment that is being directed towards renewable energy and green transitions, and the announcements being made by the EU, the US, Japan, China,” he said.
But there was still a danger that the positive moves were coming too late to stave off dangerous levels of heating, he added. “This is the problem, which we’re running out of time. Five years ago, some of these announcements would have been revolutionary. Now, with our backs against the wall and the clock running, nothing is quite adequate anymore.”
The UK as host would hold the key to success or failure, Steiner added, as the host could foster a positive atmosphere of unity and constructive dialogue, or lose control of the complex process, involving 197 countries.
“The UK could become a fantastic host, create an atmosphere [of unity and constructive discussion], or the UK could step on a banana skin and before you know it you have a midnight session in a Cop where some procedural issue has become a major crisis. These are the kind of known unknowns that are always part of a Cop scenario.”
Source: theguardian.com
BY STAFF REPORTER
The Ethiopian Herald 31 October 2021
