The Q

[ WARNING: If personal notes get you bored, don’t read this.] I was 11 years old boy when EPRDF took power. As a kid, I had a confused feeling during the time the then 'Woyane' controlled Addis on Ginbot 20. During the nights before, we used to listen to 'Dimtsi Woyane’, radio broadcasted by TPLF from battlefield. I remember the elderlies were very worried however I kind of loved the guys from what they, the Woyanes, spoke on the radio. In addition, my father, despite being a member of the then national guard in the Ethio-Somalia border, had said he doesn't care if Derg is defeated, or at least my sister had told me he had said so. As a child, I was looking at the opportunity of being reunited with my father when that happens.  Even though the 'Woyanes' were portrayed like monsters by the time they took control of Addis Ababa, I liked them. I stared at them wondering at their never-cut hair, old shorts, and sandals. I told a couple of them that I love th...

How many prisoners of conscience do you think are held in Qilinto, Kality, Shoa Robit and Zeway Federal prisons for having different political thoughts to the regime in Ethiopia? In Qilinto alone, there are estimated of 500 of them who are not convicted yet. How many of these are recognized by the public to whom they are sacrificing? My arrest and 18 months of stay in prison has helped me meet a lot of prisoners. I met a guy who has never heard the name of a rebel group (Amhara Democratic Forces Movement) of which he was accused being a member; I met a guy who is accused for affiliation of Oromo Liberation Front whose leaders he can't name; I met the ex-president of regional state of Gambella, Air Force Capitans, and many others who has no one to visit, hire a lawyer, or even to remember to… By the time I was held in Qilinto, many Ethiopians who raised religious freedom from State interference, Gondere Amharas, Oromo University students, youths from Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz...

ሐምሌ 2006 ከማዕከላዊ ወደ ቂሊንጦ ስዛወር፣ ዞን ሁለት ነበር የተመደብኩት። በወቅቱ በሽብር የተከሰሱ ብዙ ጎንደሬዎች ነበሩ። አልጋው ሥር "ደቦቃ" በማስተኛት ያስተናገደኝም ቢራራ የተባለ ጎንደሬ ነበር። ከዚያ በፊት ከሥሙ በስተቀር የማላውቀውን ፋሲል ደሞዝን አንድ ዘፈን ያስተዋወቀኝ እሱ ነው። ዘፈኑን እስከዛሬ ባልሰማውም ሁለቱን ስንኞች ግን በቃሌ ይዣቸዋለሁ። "አረሱትን አልሰማኸውም?" አለኝ ድጋሚ 'አልሰማሁትም' አልኩት ባለማወቄ ሲገረም አይቼ እያፈርኩ፤ ስንኞቹን ነገረኝ። "አረሱት ይሉኛል የመተማን መሬት፣ ያውም የኛን ዕጣ እነሱ ምን ያርጉ ከኛ ሰው ሲታጣ።" ሰሞኑን 17 ያህል አርቲስቶች ለአዲስ ዓመት ዋዜማ አቅደውት የነበረውን የሙዚቃ ድግስ በሐዘናችን ምክንያት መሰረዛቸውን ሰማሁ። አርቲስቶቻችን ሰው እየወጣቸው ነው ማለት ነው የሚል ስሜት ተሰማኝ። እኛው ያከበርናቸው አርቲስቶች የሕዝባችንን ሐዘን ማክበር ከጀመሩ ትግላችንንም የሚቀላቀሉበት ግዜ ሩቅ አይሆንም፣ እኛም 'አርቲስት' የሚለውን ቃል ስድብ ከማድረግ እንቆጠባለን እያልኩ ሳስብ ሳልሰማቸው ያመለጡኝ ብዙ የትግል ዘፈኖች እንዳሉ ተረዳሁ። የኦሮምኛ ዘፋኞች ዘፈንን የትግል መሣሪያ ማድረግ ከጀመሩ ሰንበትበት ብለዋል። ሁሉም ዕኩል መደመጥ አልቻሉም እንጂ ባለፈው አንድ ዓመት በአማካይ በቀን አንድ የትግል ዘፈን እየለቀቁ ነበር። ከሁሉም ግን በጣም ተወዳጅ የሆነውና ቋንቋውን የማታውቁትን ሳይቀር የሚወዘውዘው የሀጫሉ 'ማለን ጅራ' ነበር፤ ስለዚህ ዘፈንም መጀመሪያ የሰማሁት እዚያው ቂሊንጦ በመጣ ወሬ ነው። ኪነ ጥበብ ትግሉን ሲቀላቀል የትግሉን መብሰል የሚያሳይ ምልክት አድርጌ ነው የማየው። በአዲስ አበባ ...

BefeQadu Z. Hailu   Some Facebook friends are recently tagging me with their posts of 'solutions' to the contemporary crisis in Ethiopia. (i.e. the anti-government protests in Oromia and Amhara, two biggest regions in Ethiopia). Most of these Facebook friends recommend maintenance or what's otherwise called 'cosmetic change' to the regime. Others seem to be conspirators against the 'unprecedented' cooperation of biggest players in Ethiopian politics, the Oromo and Amhara people, against the ruling Tigrian elites group, TPLF.  (The group claims to represent 6% of Ethiopian people (Tigrians) as compared to 62% - Amhara + Oromo people). The latter (of facebook friends suggesting solutions) claimed that it is only Oromo Protests that's genuine and some went far to portraying Amhara protests as an act of power mongering. There is no Half Liberty! In my opinion, it is hardly possible to give one sect of a society its freedom and denying the rest....

BefeQadu Z. Hailu "Sport is a profession that needs discipline," Haile Gebresilasie told to one FM radio sports show in Addis. Haile Gebresilasie is the most known and successful Ethiopian athlete who has broken more than three dozens of records from 1,500 meters to marathon races. He said "Athletic federation should not be ruled by people who are politically assigned; if we're continuing in the same manner, the worst is yet to come." He was talking about the fact that Ethiopia's scores at the Rio Olympic have declined as compared to previous Olympic Games. The Ethiopian Olympic Committee had planned to bring at least 4 Gold, 4 Silver and 4 Bronze medals in Rio Olympic 2016 where it has returned with only eight medals: 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze medals standing far behind its usual competitor team Kenya. 'Robel The Whale' – the Symbol for Nepotism Ethiopia had begun its participation in Rio Olympic in an ever embarrassing 100 meter...

በፍቃዱ ኃይሉ ፩. Independence, Freedom, Liberty ( ነጻነት የቱ ነው ? የቱስ አይደለም ?) " ነጻነት ውስብስብ ነው " ብዬ ልጀምር። ‘ ነጻነት ’ የሚለውን የአማርኛ ቃል በተለምዶ ከላይ የዘረዘርኳቸውን ሦስቱንም የእንግሊዝኛ ቃላት ለመተርጎም እንጠቀምበታለን። ትርጉሙ ግን ሁሌም አጥጋቢ አይሆንም። ቃላት ባብዛኛው ደረቅ አይደሉም ፅንሰ - ሐሳብ (concept) ያዝላሉ። የሆነ ፅንሰ - ሐሳብን የሚወክሉ ቃላቶች በሆነ ቋንቋ ውስጥ የሉም ማለት የዚያ ፅንሰ - ሐሳብ በቋንቋው ተናጋሪው ማኅበረሰብ ዘንድ እምብዛም አይታወቅም እንደ ማለት ነው። ፅንሰ - ሐሳቡን በቃላት ቀንብቦ ማስቀመጥ መቻልና ብዙኃን በየ ’ ለት ንግራቸው እንዲጠቀሙበት ማድረግ መቻል ቃሉን ከነፅንሰ - ሐሳቡ በማኅበረሰቡ ውስጥ ማስረፅ ማለት ነው። ይህንን ለማስረዳት ቀላሉ መንገድ የአየር ሁኔታን መግለጽ ነው። በረዶ (Ice) እና snow ( የበረዶ ብናኝ እንበለው ) ሁለት የተለያዩ ነገሮች ናቸው፤ በአማርኛ ግን የሚጠሩት በአንድ ሥም - በረዶ - ተብለው ነው። Frost (snow ወይም የበረዶ ብናኝ የለበሰ ተራራ ) አመዳይ ይባላል። በአገራችን የሌለ በመሆኑ ሥሙ የውሰት እና እምብዛም የማይታወቅ በመጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ላይ ( መዝ 147: 16) ከመገኘቱ በቀር ቃሉም፣ ሐሳቡም በማኅበረሰቦቻችን ዘንድ የሌለ ነገር ነው። Tornado የሚለው ቃል የአማርኛ አቻ የለውም፤ ምክንያቱም በሐሳብ ደረጃም እምብዛም አይታወቅም። ሩቅ ምሥራቃውያን በየጊዜው ለሚያ...