In line with the law-enforcement operation mounted to emasculate terrorist TPLF, Ethiopia has been fighting back hard unwilling to buckle under undue external pressure mainly from the conceptual western world. Many Ethiopians defined this pressure as an abortive endeavor masterminded by westerners and their backers to cripple the country after failure to put a puppet government in place. The former handpick puppets or honest thieves that turn a blind eye when the former intend to fulfill their heinous plans that run counter to the will and norms of the citizenry. In a show of defiance to this neocolonial involvement, the government and the people of Ethiopia have been denouncing the unjustifiable pressure for the past one year now.
The steadfast diplomatic defiance of the government has angered the US and some European administrations which could do nothing than imposing some undue sanctions and providing indirect support to the terrorist group. Similarly, Ethiopians and friends at home and abroad have protested against and lambasted these undue interventions. The hash tag No More campaign has been taken as a big move to this end in reverberating Ethiopia’s truth to the world.
“United people will never be defeated.” “Ethiopia is the beacon of freedom in Africa.” “Ethiopia is a country that chased out invaders for generations.” These slogans bore some of the sentiments that resonated in one of the hash tag No More demonstrations recently held in the US. The slogans rammed home Ethiopians’ conviction to resist external pressure and retain independence.
These No More campaigns have basked under a widespread credence and support in a short period of time. Therefore, coming aboard, many Africans and members of the black community worldwide did pour out to the streets together with Ethiopians mindful of the fact that the country is once again fighting undue pressure on behalf of colored people.
“This movement contributes a lot to bolster Pan-Africanism and unity of Africans,” said artist Sileshi Demse , who goes by his stage name Gash Abera Molla. The artist recently told to a local media that the hash tag No More movement has ignited a deep feeling and a sense of belongingness in the heart of Africans. He has seen several movements led by Ethiopians eventually becoming an inspiration for many Africans as the catchwords are intertwined with the Pan-Africanism concept.
He advises that Ethiopians who support the No More movement should invite on board other citizens who are keen to fight for freedom. In fact, the foreigners who supported the Ethiopia’s No More movement have contributed a lot in exposing the unfounded reports of western media against innocent Ethiopia.
Actually the current pressure on Ethiopia is not unfamiliar. For years, many western countries had been conspiring to wreck down Ethiopia by promoting conflicts licking the wound they sustained at the Battle of Adwa. For Historian Almaw Kifle (PhD), Italy and Britain were directly involved in the Ethio-Eritrea issue in 1950s.
These western countries had set five directives to weaken Ethiopia. The formidable directive was belittling national values and technically forcing the people to undermine their cultural identities and indigenous administration system. That was how rebel groups were incubated with the motto of Marxism and Leninism and revolutionary democracy on the late 1960s. Rebellious groups like TPLF are the handiworks of the westerners. The former are led astray on national values. Several local conflicts were basically sponsored by some western governments to force Ethiopia drop off the world map, he noted.
From this background, TPLF is an organization always committed to degrading national values of tolerance and compassion, according to Almaw. It has been applying an animosity-permeated rhetoric that it borrowed from the fascist Italians.
In addition to this hatred and time-long-stalking in the wild for guerrilla war, the group is druggy to turn cruel to the extent of committing crimes against humanity. Recently, the group has killed many including the feeble and old to bury them at croplands and school compounds. It had also desecrated and destroyed religious institutions and used them as fortress. The terrorist TPLF committed this brutality targeting the degradation of the national values. Its goal is demoralizing the public by denuding and degrading social values. They have targeted belittling basic norms, and the political-economy as well as destroying religion. Such cultural degradation is instrumental for destroying a country and it has been used by many western countries for years to colonize Africa, Almaw further noted.
To achieve their selfish interests the western governments always weaken countries. They plan to slacken the engagement of China in Africa through weakening African nations, among which the major target is Ethiopia. They target Ethiopia for its long time stance as beacon of Pan-Africanism movement. In recent years, Ethiopia has been promoting economic integrity in Africa – resembling EU’s system in the continent, according to AAU scholar Manaye Zegeye (PhD).
The country is promoting independent states that tap their own resources and work together for mutual development. However, the westerners do not want see this happen. That is why they are pressuring Ethiopia by exploiting every gap. Nevertheless, they understood from the NO More and other campaigns that their goal is but a pipedream. Yet they are still striving in the same vein. “We have to press ahead the national resistance to such pressure so that we can breathe exultantly in the near future,” he said.
In recent years, countries like Russia and China have built independent states fighting against foreign pressure mainly from western governments. “We withstood such pressures entailing various sanctions to dominate us in all spheres. However, we potentially resisted this and maintained our sovereignty. I am quite sure that Ethiopia will extricate itself from this mesh triumphantly. Russia does not only reject such intervention but also stand alongside Ethiopia,” Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia Evgeny Terekhin recently said.
One thing that makes such western pressures unique and more devastating is their intention to realize cultural assimilation so as to compel the people to abjure their identity and slavishly serve them in the long run. This interest of creating acquiescent society in Ethiopia emanates from the intention of revenging the country for its enduring resistance of foreign pressure and dominance and its standard-bearer experience of other Africans in this regard.
They wish to run Ethiopia by a puppet government that allows them to mercilessly exploit the country. And they daydream to achieve this by supporting the crippled TPLF terrorist group back to power. However, Ethiopia again won this battle achieving victory over the junta. The country is also resuscitating its cultural norms, which the westerners tried to degrade using the terrorist group. The motive of eroding compassion and the culture of tolerance of the people through the TPLF’s inhuman acts on civilians has turned out futile and buried along with the group.
Currently, the country is working on consolidating unity concluding the operation for Multinational Unity triumphantly. The people are now striving to resolve the political, social and economic impacts induced by the proxy war. A national dialogue commission is in the pipeline to undertake inclusive dialogue among politicians and the people in general to reach common understanding on basic national issues through bridging political rifts.
Such endeavor is believed to consolidate national unity and make the country formidable in the face of its foes. Moreover, it helps citizens to preserve cultural identity including basic national values of compassion and tolerance that consolidate its coexistence. In the same vein, reinvigorating indigenous knowledge mainly the administrative system will help the country to build democracy and keep the interest of its people in the long run. This develops the potential of the country to show defiance to the western pressure in the name of democracy. Therefore, Ethiopians must support and actively engage in the national dialogue and forward their recommendations helpful to the unity of their motherland. As the No More slogan magnified it better “the people united will never be defeated!”
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 1 JANUARY 2022
