Today we are confronted by a clique whose tactics to dress up as a legitimate government are no more strange to Ethiopians. It's twenty-four-hour survival strategy is based on how to use one proud part of the Ethiopian community against another, create a sense of uncertainty among Ethiopians, and thereby keep itself neutral while parts of the nation tear each other apart.
It was to stem such decades'-old divisive policy that Tigrians organized under Solidarity have forged unity with their Ethiopian compatriots. One of the promising developments witnessed since last year is the political stand almost all Ethiopians of Tigrai origin took that augur well for the future of our country. For instance, the Tigrian International Solidarity for Justice and Development (Solidarity) stands out among the civic organizations that have consistently challenged the illegitimate regime of Meles Zenawi.
Though Solidarity has demanded the regime to be accountable for its actions that range from selling our territories to the recent gruesome state-sponsored murders in Awassa and Tepi towns, none of Solidarity's official demands was addressed by the ruling clique. On our part, we take it forgranted that "no accountability means no legitimacy."
Instead, the regime has continued in its campaign of deceit. The recent purchase of a "Peace Prize", designed to coincide with the visit of the British broadcaster, Jonathan Dimbleby, who surprised Ethiopians by playing host to Meles Zenawi as his publicity promoter chief, are part of the core Mafia-type practices Meles and those around him use to get a better image outside of Ethiopia. This would make up for, the Melesites think, the miserable image of the regime among Ethiopians. With a world condoning of tyrants, the only way to undo the goings of the regime is to further consolidate unity among Ethiopians themselves.
As we further advance our quest for a peaceful political change in our country, Solidarity members have the moral obligation to be alert from falling into the traps of ethnic division. Tigrians, we appeal, are duty-bound to choose what is the best solution out of the following two distinct political environments:
a) To strive for a collective Ethiopian national solution to a national crisis in every aspect of the word "crisis," or else,
b) Opt for a piecemeal treatment - such as reviving TPLF leadership (that was destroyed last year by Meles) would solve the political puzzle gripping our country.
Even if TPLF had been free of the toxins of Meles/Shaebia politics, if TPLF were the perfect democratic entity for Tigrai and hostile for the rest of Ethiopia, it would be wise to pose for a moment, and question "what any good would there be with a political party condemned by the rest of Ethiopia?"
Here caution should be noted that we are in no way blocking the rights of the TPLF dissidents and their supporters from opposing the Meles regime. They have every right to carry out what they think is right. They can campaign to oust Meles. However, what we are emphasizing is there is an effective way of removing the regime when Ethiopians rise up in unison against the regime.
Moreover, we have a deep-rooted fear why we don't see reviving TPLF as an effective tool to dislodge an entrenched regime for two reasons:
a) Would
TPLF dissidents shed their Stalinist practices?
b) What guarantee do we have a few of the dissidents are already bought
into the Meles camp and their "opposition" campaign is to extract
Tigrians from the national Ethiopian taskforce of democratic build-up that has
been shaping up since last year?
TPLF reigned for 10 years but was a Stalinist group to the people of Tigrai, no more no less. The following episodes were imminent during the reign of TPLF:
A year and a half have passed since Meles purged the TPLF dissidents. Despite issuing statements that condemned Meles for betraying the country, the dissidents never showed a change of heart in their policy, let alone address the above key concerns of the public.
In this regard, we believe Solidarity can play an important role of raising awareness among its members whether reviving TPLF is a boon or a doom to establishing a democratic system in our country. In addition, we believe Solidarity can play an important role to free those victimized by TPLF's long-standing divide-and-rule politics that see any Tigrian opting for another political party would be cast as a social pariah.
When one TPLF implant who worked as an external Deki-Alula supporter for seven months, got admission for his service and joined Deki-Alula, he fled by stealing the site as a welcoming gesture for a visiting TPLF dissident in the U.S. The statement he spread across the Internet was an attack on the editors of being:
a)
chauvinists who favor EDP ;
b) narrow awrajawians who support Salsai Weyane.
Frankly, the defamation did not bother us as our deeds speak volumes of our intentions. But the message in the attack clearly shows how TPLF hate politics still lingers around like a bad flu. TPLF legacy makes it a taboo for anyone from Tigrai to join other Ethiopian opposition parties that condemn ethnic-based politics. This culture should be rejected outrightly whenever it rears its ugly head at any Solidarity meeting. Why? Because it is the main ingredient that gives birth to ethnic-based political grouping.
We believe Solidarity can better elaborate on why joining EDP, or any other home-grown Ethiopian party, is not equal to waving a Shaebia flag over an Ethiopian territory. Solidarity must scrap the political cataract from the eyes of those innocent souls who are programmed to be the vectors of ethnic division - too myopic to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Neither is Salsai Weyane analogous to promoting "awrajawinet." We know members of Salsai Weyane were the real flesh and blood of TPLF. They were the heroes. They are our heroes. They will remain so for coming generations. Meles or any other force with a hidden agenda can never take away such honor we bestow on the real heroes of TPLF who were betrayed big time. So the call is for the prevalence of a better vision among Solidarity members that would work well for the common good of the over 60 million Ethiopians.
If Salsai Weyane denounced both the Eritrean agents and the dissidents as political misfits, passive onlookers can not save what TPLF insiders passed as a verdict on both the Meles and dissident camps. Of course, the real, original and not the stolen Deki-Alula is arguing in defense of the right principles, and disclaims any membership to Salsai Weyane or EDP. But if we are asked to choose between the Meles regime and EDP or Salsai Weyane, we would not blink to pick up what is ours, and leave untouched what works best for neighboring Eritrea.
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