የአዲስ አበባ ፍተሻ ከሽብር ያተርፋል?

ሰሞኑን፣ በተለይ የዌስት ጌት ሞል ላይ በአልሻባብ ጥቃት መድረሱን ተከትሎ ጥበቃው ተጠናክሯል። በወቅቱ በድንጋጤ ሲዘነዘሩ ከነበሩ አስተያየቶች ውስጥ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ እንዲህ ዓይነት ጥቃት የማይፈፀመው በደኅንነቱ ሥራ መጠናከር ነው የሚለው አስተያየት አመዝኖ ተደምጧል። መንግሥትም ፀረ–ሽብር እንቅስቃሴ ላይ አተኩሬ የምሠራው ይህንኑ ፈርቼ ነው የሚመስል ትንታኔ በኢቴቪ በኩል አሾልኳል።

ይሄ ሁሉ ይባል እንጂ፣ የዌስት ጌቱ ድንጋጤ አዲስ አበባን ዛሬም በፍርሐት እያራዳት ነው። በተለይም ደግሞ የእግር ኳስ ፈንጠዝያው ዕለት ራሳቸው ላይ ባርቆባቸው ሞቱ የተባሉት አሸባሪዎችና በአልሻባብ ስም በትዊተር ገፅ ፒያሳ እና ቸርችል ቦምብ ቀብረናል ብለው ያልታወቁ ሰዎች የነዙት ወሬ ድንጋጤውን አባብሰውታል። ከዚያም በኋላ ኳስ ግጥሚያዎች ባደባባይ ስክሪኖች እንዳይተላለፉ በማገድ መንግሥትም መፍራቱን አረጋግጧል።

በዚህ ድንጋጤ ወቅት ምክንያቱ በቅጡ ባይገባኝም፣ ብዙ የማኅበራዊ አውታር ተጠቃሚዎች የዚህ ዓይነቱ ጥቃት ሰለባ ይሆናል ብለው የገመቱት ኤድና ሞልን እንደሆነ በግልጽ ሲናገሩ ነበር። ምናልባትም የመዝናኛ ስፍራ ስለሆነና የውጭ ዜጎችም ስለሚበዙበት ዓይን ውስጥ ይገባል በሚል ይሆናል። ኤድና ሞልም መልዕክቱ አሳስቦት ይሁን በመንግሥት ትዕዛዝ "የተጠናከረ ፍተሻ" ጀምሯል።

በነገራችን ላይ አንድ ቀን፣ አንድ ሰው ኤድና ሞል ውስጥ በፌስታል ይዞት የገባውን ዕቃ ረስቶ በመውጣቱ ሁካታና ድንጋጤ ተከስቶ ፊልም እስከማቋረጥም ደርሶ እንደነበር ሰምቻለሁ።
የኤድና ሞል ፍተሻ የተጠናከረ ሰሞን ጥበቃዎቹን 'ያ ሁሉ አብጠርጥሮ መፈተሽ ለምን እንደሆነ' ስጠይቃቸው እዚያ የሚገቡ ኮረዶችና ጎረምሶች ሐሺሽ ይዘው እየገቡ አስቸግረዋቸው እንደሆነ ነገሩኝ። ባይዋጥልኝም ለፍተሻ መተባበሬ አልቀረም። የኤድና ሞል ፍተሻ ግን ከጊዜ ወደ ጊዜ እየጨመረ መጥቶ አሁን ላፕቶፕ ይዘው የሚገቡ ሰዎች የያዙት ላፕቶፕ መሆኑን ለማረጋገጥ አብርተው ማሳየት አለባቸው።

በሌላ በኩል ጥበቃዎቹ ለሚያደርጉት ክትትል መጋነን የደኅንነት አባላት እጅ አለበት የሚል መረጃም ደርሶኛል፤ ደኅንነቶቹ፣ ፍተሻው የላላበት የሚመስላቸው ቦታ በጋዜጣ ሽጉጥ ጠቅልለው ያሳልፉና ለአስተዳደሩ ፍተሻው ደካማ መሆኑን የሚናገሩበት አጋጣሚ አለ። ስለዚህ ጥበቃዎቹ ይህ እንዳያልፋቸው ሁሉንም አብጠርጥረው በመፈተሽ ያሳልፋሉ።

ይህ ዓይነቱ ፍተሻ፣ በሁሉም ሆቴሎች፣ ሕንፃዎችና አንዳንድ ካፍቴሪያዎች ሳይቀር እየተጠናከረ ነው። መልካም ነው፤ ለደኅንነታችን ሲባል የሚደረጉትን ጥንቃቄዎች በሙሉ ቢያታክቱም በቀና መቀበል ይኖርብናል። ችግሩ፣ 'ደኅንነታችን በርግጥ በዚህ መንገድ ይጠበቃል?' የሚለው ነው።
የዌስት ጌት ጥቃትን ብንመለከት የተፈፀመው በቡድንና በተደራጀ መሣሪያ ሲሆን በኤድና ሞልና ሌሎች የሚደረጉ ፍተሻዎች ግን በሠላማዊ መንገድ፣ በነጠላ ገብተው ጥቃት ለማድረግ ያሰቡ ሰዎችን ብቻ ለማስቆም እንጂ የተደራጁ ሰዎችን ለመግታት አያስችልም።

ጎረቤታሞቹ ጁፒተርና ራዲሰን ብሉ ሆቴሎች ግን እንዲህ ዓይነቱ ወሬ የመጣ ሰሞን የፍተሻ ድንኳኖቻቸውን ከሎቢዎቻቸው ውጪ በመትከል የተሻለ አማራጭ ተከትለዋል። ይህ የተደራጀ አደጋ ከመፈጠሩ በፊት ገና ከደጅ ለመከላከል ያስችላል።

The Dark Triad in Ethiopian Political Discourse

The dark triad psychological personalities are personalities that are characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style associated with cynical beliefs and pragmatic morality. These personalities are Narcissism, Machiavellianism and Psychopathy AND I am arguing they are abundant in Ethiopian political sphere in general and in the political discourse in particular.

1) Narcissism

"Narcissism is a term that originated with Narcissus in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Currently it is used to describe the pursuit of gratification from vanity, or egotistic admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, that derive from arrogant pride." (Wikipedia)

It is exactly this narcissism that created many resistant Ethiopian politicians who don't trust anyone else but only themselves. AND, I think this is a behavior that all dictators are made from.
Ethiopians have missed a lot of democratization opportunities because either the politicians or other stakeholders are, I am afraid to say, narcissist.

We can briefly remember the golden opportunities we had lost for the past 50 years.
In the 1960s, during the students movement and after the revolution, the different parties created with similar ideologies and also the splits within each party were all caused due to the narcissist behavior of the actors. They were quick to label and disintegrate anyone else coming with a new narrations of problems and alternatives of solving them in a different way to that of theirs. Eventually, they revolutionaries end up killing each other almost clearing a generation.

Four decades later, following the historic Ethiopian election of 2005, the ruling party as well as opposition leaders were too narcissist to make people's question for change true. First, the incumbent resisted to share power because of its ideological belief that only its way and no one else's keep Ethiopia stable. Consequently, jailed hundreds of party leaders and killed other hundreds of street unarmed protesters.

The oppositions played their role when they are released with "pardon". Each leader of the parties that formed the coalition, kinijit, had wanted to take advantage of popular acceptance opportunity and their narcissism helped them remember neither the demands nor the benefits of the people.

2) Machiavellianism

The term 'Machiavellianism' is coined after the writer of II Principe (The Prince), the Italian Niccolo Machiavelli, and is generally defined as the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft/general conduct or simply as an unemotional tendency to manipulate others.
Machivellianism is especially seen in Ethiopian politics when it comes to ethno-national questions. Most politicians/activists who are actually psychopathic (the third dark triad) present themselves to the public as "most concerned to the social fabric". However, they don't believe in anything except themselves, they manipulate their societies using the words of the most accepted religion in their target area.

This lack of innocence of the Ethiopian politicians has dragged the most burning questions of the country (ethno-nationals' equality and poverty  questions) backwards since they were first raised publicly 50 years ago. Through all the years for the past half of a century, the same questions are raised whenever needed to manipulate the public but only the leaders of the questions, who are Machivellianists, have changed their lives out of it.

3) Psychopathy

Psychopathy is a mental disorder to many; it is enduring dissocial or antisocial behavior, "a diminished capacity for empathy or remorse, and poor behavioral controls or fearless dominance."
It is nothing else but psychopathy that leaves many leaders of Ethiopia have no empathy when they took thousands of lives to retain their power and they argue on numbers.

They don't feel anything about how many people are living below the poverty line when they enjoy luxury spending the wealth of their society.

The policies they make consider least to the built values of the society. They only care about figures and facts and not about any emotions that can keep the society well.

Different players of the politics are suffering from either of or maybe all the three triad. There is always a healthy level of each of these three behaviors. The problem: our politicians and activists do not have limits of any kind. They are extremists.

#HRDay2013: Ethiopian government must reveal who, why, where and how citizens in jail are imprisoned

I always come across through Siye's statement in that he mentioned ‘the prison [in Ethiopia] speaks Oromiffa' - to mean most of the prisoners are Oromos. When my friends and I visited journalist Wubshet Taye before he was moved to Zeway, he told us the same thing. Many Oromos are imprisoned. That's not the question! The question is why are they imprisoned?

Is it because they committed crimes? Is it because they believed Oromia should secede? If so, it's their constitutional right. Is it because they were working with OLF? In fact, had people were allowed to work legally against a system that they don't legitimize then they wouldn't have any reason to do it underground with an ‘illegal group'. And we the people, at least, deserve to know the detail.

Ethiopia has signed the African charter for human and people's rights. The concept of ‘people's rights' is unique to Africa and concerns about the rights of groups including ethnics. It's, therefore, the duty of the government to unconditionally respect these rights and our right to know if they are protected or not.

This is not the only problem. In the last September, on the public demonstration called by UDJ party, a girl appeared with a slogan that reads ‘My father is not a terrorist'. We talked to the girl and no one knows her father and even the case he was jailed. Given the history of government's brutality on its critiques, we can't help analyzing this “terrorist" as one victim of the conspiracies made against innocents.

Ethiopian prisons are like ‘bermuda'. There is no independent institution that knows what's going on in there. It is the government itself that's capable of doing this.

I know this sounds ridiculous to most of you but as people who believe in peaceful struggle, we don't have an option other than trying hard to push the government reveal the prison information. In the end, I hope we will have a little picture of what is happening in Ethiopian prisons.

Therefore, this is my call for Ethiopian social media activists to hold this question up through the months between the past and the coming international human rights days.

Ethiopian prisons must release periodic reports to the public on who (specially groups the prisoners are from), why they are jailed, where and how they are held.

We have the right to know if our prisons are places where citizens are corrected for the mistakes they have made in life; not a place where citizens have to pay for standing differed with ruling party.

A New Journalists Association is Under-formation in Ethiopia

There are about eight journalists and media related associations in Ethiopia. None of them, however, have been heard speaking out for either jailed or exiled journalists. Ethiopia is one of the highest jailor of journalists (CPJ, names it 2^nd where as Addis Standard, a local media, named it 3^rd in its December issue). According to Article 19, twelve Ethiopian journalists are prosecuted in “relation to terrorism”. On the other hand, one of the famous “journalists association” – Ethiopian National Journalists Union (ENJU – IFJ member) president, Anteneh Abrham told Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency that he feels proud that Ethiopia hasn’t jailed any journalist for what s/he has written.

The Press Release (Amharic)

It is in this time of despair a committee of eight independent journalists initiated a formation of a new “Ethiopian Journalists Forum (EJF)”. The committee called for ‘founding meeting’ today, Dec 12/2013 at Ethiopian Hotel where more than 20 journalists attended. 

The committee, in its presser, mentioned that ‘the Forum under-formation will independently work to support and upgrade the professionalism of journalists in particular and the media in general’.  It also added that its goals include working:

#HRDay2013፤ ከሰው በታች የሆኑ ሰዎች አሉ ብለው የሚያምኑ ኢትዮጵያውያን አሁንም አሉ

ከጥቂት ሳምንታት በፊት ነው፤ አምስት ኢትዮጵያውያን ሰብሰብ ብለን እራት እየበላን ነበር፡፡ አንደኛው በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ካሉት ‹‹ነጻ›› የጋዜጠኞች ማኅበራት የአንዱ ፕሬዚደንት ነው፡፡ በጨዋታችን መሐል የተናገረው ነገር ሁላችንንም አስደነገጠን፡፡ በዚህ ዘመን እንዲህ የሚያምን “ዘመነኛ” ሰው አለ እንዴ!?

ሰውዬው ያወራልን ሌሊት ወደጅብነት ስለሚለወጡ ሰዎች ነው፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ ሁላችንም አፍረን ስናፈገፍግ ከመሐላችን አንዱ “እንዲህ ዓይነት ነገር እውነት ነው ብለህ ታምናለህ?” ብሎ ጠየቀው፡፡ እሱ ሆዬ በሙሉ መተማመን እኛን እንዳላዋቂ በመቁጠር ሌሊት ወደጅብነት የሚለወጡ ሰዎች እንዳሉ ያስረዳን ጀመር፡፡

ይህንን ትዝታዬን የቀሰቀሰው ትላንት ጋዜጠኛ Masresha Mammo የጻፈው ማስታወሻ ነው፡፡ ርዕሰ ጉዳዩ የተለየ ስለነበር እኔ ግን ለዚህች ጽሑፌ የሚጠቅመኝን ገንጥዬ አጣቅሳለሁ፡፡ ማስረሻ እንዲህ ይላል፤

‹‹…ተወልጄ ያደግኹት ከእንጦጦ ተራራ ስር ቀጨኔ በምትባል ሰፈር ውስጥ ነው፡፡ […] ቀጨኔ ላይ ያለው ማኅበረሰብ ወደአዲስ አበባ የተሰደደው የተሻለ ኑሮ ፍለጋ ሲል አልነበረም፡፡ ቡዳ ነው የሚል ስም ስለተለጠፈበት ‹ልጆቻችንን በልተው ጨረሷቸው› በሚል ግድያው ስለበዛበት ነበር፡፡ አንድ ቀጥቃጭ አባቱ፣ ወይም ሸማኔ ወንድሙ፣ አሊያም ሸክለኛ እናቱ በዚሁ ሰበብ ሲገደሉበት፤ በምላሹ እሱም ደሙን ተወጥቶ ይሸሻል፡፡ ይሰደዳል፡፡...

የፎቶሾፕ ፖለቲካ

በፎቶሾፕ የተሠራው ከቨር

ባለፈው ሰሞን  tigraionline.com የባሕር ማዶ ዜጎቻችን የሳዑዲ አረቢያውን መጥፎ አጋጣሚ ተቃውመው በኢትዮጵያ ኤምባሲ ፊት ለፊት የወጡትን ሠላማዊ ሰልፍ ፎቶ ለፖለቲካ ግብዓቱ በማሰብ ለኢሳያስ አፈወርቂ ቱፈዛ የተወጣ ሰልፍ አስመስሎ በፎቶሾፕ በመቀየር ዜና ሠራበት፡፡ አሁን ደግሞ ትላንት ያየሁት በፌስቡክና በትዊተር ላይ የተለቀቀ ‹‹የዕንቁ›› መጽሔትን ከቨር የቀየረ ፎቶ ተመሳሳይ ማጭበርበር ሞክሯል፤ ይህንን ማን እንደሠራው ባይታወቅም ችግሩ ስር እየሰደደ መሆኑን ማሳበቁ ነው እንግዲህ፡፡

በፌስቡክና ትዊተር ላይ የታየው ፎቶ ላይ ቴዲ አፍሮ ‹‹ምኒልክ ኢትዮጵያን አንድ ለማድረግ ያደረጉት ጦርነት ለእኔ ቅዱስ ጦርነት ነው›› ብሎ እንደተናገረ ተደርጎ ቀርቧል፡፡ እውነተኛው ላይ ደግሞ ‹‹አመጣጡን ያየ አካሔዱን ያውቃል›› ይላል፡፡ ገርሞኝ የውስጠኛውን ቃለምልልሱን አገላበጥኩ፡፡ ከውስጥ ያለው ስለጦርነቱ የቀረበለት ጥያቄ ላይም ‹‹ቅዱስ ጦርነት›› የሚል ፈልጌ አጣሁ፡፡

እውነተኛው የመጽሔቱ ከቨር

 

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