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የልጅ ሚካኤል አዲስ አበባ

በፍቃዱ ዘ . ኃይሉ “የአዲስ አበባ ብሔርተኝነት” ቢኖር ኖሮ መሪው ልጅ ሚካኤል ይሆን ነበር። አሁን አሁን እሱ ስለ አዲስ አበባ የዘፈናቸውን ዘፈኖች ቁጥር ራሱ በትክክል መቁጠር ይቸግረኛል። ለአዲስ አበባ ከተዘፈኑ ዘፈኖቹ ውጪም በየዘፈኑ ውስጥ የሚጨማምራቸው መልዕክቶች በራሳቸው መወድሰ አዲስ አበባ ናቸው። ለምሳሌ፣ በቅርቡ በለቀቀው ‘አዲስ አራዳ’ በተሰኘው አልበሙ ውስጥ ‘የድሬ ልጅ’ የሚል ዘፈን አለው። ዘፈኑ የተዘጋጀው ያው የአዲስ አበባ እህት ተደርጋ የምትቆጠረውን ድሬ ዳዋን ለማወደስ ነበር። ልጅ ሚካኤል ግን የአዲስ አበባ ፍቅሩ ያመልጠውና የሚከተለውን ያቀነቅናል፦ “መጣልሽ በሏት፣ ድሬ ድረስ፣  ከአዱ ገነት፣ ከሸገር፣ ከአዲስ ደረሰ፣... የሸገር ልጅ አራዳ ነው፣ ሰው አክባሪ፣ ሰው ወዳዱ፣ ቀላጅና ተረበኛ፣ ፍቅር ይዞ የሚተኛ፣ ‘አለው’ የለ፣ ‘የለው’ የለ፣ ከሁሉ ጋ፣ ግባ ጀባ...፤” ፤ ልጅ ሚካኤል በዚህ አልበሙ ብቻ አዲስ አበባን የሚያውድሰባቸው ሌሎችም ዘፈኖች አሉ፤ ‘ አዲስ አራዳ ’ የሚለው የአልበሙ መጠሪያ እና ‘ሸገር’ የሚሉት ዘፈኖቹ ዋነኞቹ ናቸው። ታዲያ እንዲህ በአዲስ አበባ ፍቅር የሚቃጠለው ልጅ ሚካኤል "ሊነግረን የሚፈልገው ምንድን ነው?" የሚለው ጥያቄ ደጋግሞ ይመጣብኛል። ይህ የልጅ ሚካኤል አዲስ አበባ ምንነትን ለመረዳት የሚጥር ፖለቲካዊ መጣጥፍ ነው። ‘አዲሱ አራዳ’ ማነው? በዚህ ዘፈኑ በብዙዎቻችን ዕድሜ የትዝታ ማኅደር ውስጥ የሚገኙ ነገር ግን በአዲስ አበባ ልማት ሥም የፈረሱ እና እየተረሱ ያሉ ሰፈሮችን ሥም ያነሳሳል። ዘፈኑ በግጥሙም በዜማውም፣ የሐዘን እንጉርጉሮ ያለበት ነው። ምሳሌ እንውሰድ፦ “ጨርሰሽ ስትወጪ ከቡፌ ዳ’ላጋ፣ ጠብቂኝ እንዳልል፣ ቆመሽ መሐሙድ’ጋ፣ አገር ...

The "Corridor Development" is a Façade of the Prosperity Party

Befekadu Hailu I have seen a news report claiming that 40% of central Addis Ababa will be demolished for the corridor development; I am not able to confirm the validity of the news but it sounds real to me given the size of massive operations in the demolition of old neighborhoods and construction of bike lanes, green areas, and glittering street lights. I like to see some beauty added to my city but cannot help mourning the slow death of it too. Addis Ababa was already in a huge crisis of housing and the demolition of houses is exacerbating it. Apparently, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is eager to showcase his vision of prosperity by demonstrating how fast his administration can do magic by beautifying the front sides of the streets with lights, new pavements, and painted fences ("to fake it until he makes it" in my friend's words). Therefore, he and his party do not care about the miserable human stories behind the scenes and they will harass you if you tell it (Azeb Woku...

From Sexist to Feminist: If I could do it, anyone can too

  This piece is inspired by a conversation between Soli and Tsion, two political women in Ethiopia, on Ajrit podcast . Ajrit podcast is run by Addis Powerhouse, a feminist online advocacy platform. In this episode, Soli refers to an article she and Mahi wrote on Zone 9 blog and received a response from myself and Endalk, along with others . Soli stressed how ridiculous we were in our response and was forced to revisit it. I still didn't recover from the embarrassment of learning that I used to think like that. 

Short-Lived Victory: A Case of Mistaken Progress

  Befekadu Hailu  My friends and myself, who passed through Maekelawi's torturous experience, along with others campaigned and had the government decide to close the most notorious Detention Center that live three regimes and almost half a century in Ethiopia. In February 2019, Five years after I was detained and tortured in Maekelawi, I went to the closing Center to fetch my laptop confiscated five years before. I arrived while the name tag of the Center was being shattered and one of the uniformed guards said to me, “ you have this place closed ”; I shrugged like ‘proudly’. That little moment gave me a sense of victory, telling me that the activism and its subsequent sacrifice was not in vain. I felt we actually effected a change. Six years later, I started to doubt it all retrospectively.  The political transition that started six years ago is known by many as ‘the change’ ( lewtu in Amharic), but what really explains it is ‘the violence’ ( newtu in Amharic).  Ho...