I want to extend my greetings to all of my fellow Ethiopian brothers and sisters throughout the world.
I am wishing each of you who are followers of Jesus, a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate this most joyous time of the year when Jesus Christ was born, not in a palace or mansion, but in a humble stall.
For those of you who are my very dear Muslim brothers and sisters, I greet you, “Assalaamu Alaykum,” and hope that you may find encouragement, peace in your hearts, protection and blessings in this coming year.
For those who are Jewish Ethiopians, some of you even living in Israel, I say, “Shalom or Peace be with you,” as Hanukah is being celebrated. May God, our creator, bless you, bring you joy, and reveal Himself most powerfully to you this coming year.
For all those precious Ethiopians of other beliefs or who may have no belief, I am hoping that this holiday will be a wonderful and enriching time for each of you, where we can all be reminded of the joy, uniqueness and importance of those around us as they are reminded of the same towards each of us.
Ethiopia is a country of great beauty in its people and in its landscape. As you celebrate this Christmas or holiday with your family, do not forget to think about your greater family, the family of Ethiopians. Let us remember those less fortunate, those struggling around us due to poverty, hunger or homelessness and those facing extreme hardship in far away places like in refugee camps in Kenya, in difficult circumstances in the Middle East or in hostile places within Ethiopia where daily survival is complicated by constant life-threatening jeopardy due to threats from this government.
Let us also remember those forced into the military or caught up in a destructive system, not knowing how and when to get out—prisoners of conscience and sometimes body, just waiting for the right time to set things right. All of these people are ours and are not forgotten.
This article is about all of these people. We often do not know what is going on in their minds. We in the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia want to share some of what we have been hearing, particularly related to what diverse Ethiopians think of the movement—it may really surprise you!
Over the last two years, I have received thousands of telephone calls and emails from Ethiopians. Through them, I have been so privileged to hear some of these inner, uncensored comments from so many Ethiopians who have touched my heart. I have no adequate words to thank the many of you have blessed and enriched my life.
Some have asked me why I am doing advocating for all people—including Woyanne supporters. The reason is because I do not want what happened in Gambella to happen to any other Ethiopian ethnic group. Tragically, I know that this government has purposely deepened the hostility between people and if it is not handled properly, it could get out of control and cause unjustifiable killing and misery. I do not want another December 13th anywhere in Ethiopia. I am also certain no one wants Ethiopia to be another Rwanda, yet the seeds of hate, based on ethnicity, can take many forms.
One Tigrayan man, Desta, recently told me how painful it was to him when he went out in opposition to the TPLF government to rally with other Ethiopians against the killing of the election protestors in 2005, only to be told that he was not welcome there. Someone told him, “This is not a Woyanne rally or Tigrayan!” This is totally unacceptable, hurtful and against the principles of this solidarity movement. We cannot put people into a box to exclude them. If someone has done something wrong, fairly hold them accountable for whatever that is, but do not discriminate against a whole people group. This is the kind of dehumanization that leads to human rights crimes and the marginalization of others.
For those of you who have seen Christina Manpour’s CNN presented documentary on genocide titled, “They Scream Bloody Murder,” you will know that it covered such genocides as in Armenia, during the Holocaust, in Cambodia, in Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and in Darfur. In every case, there was a pattern.
Hatred led to the dehumanization of others and that led to the acts of mass atrocity. There is an alarming pattern among such people who committed these crimes and what I see in the attitudes of some of my fellow Ethiopians. I call on every Ethiopian to stop this darkness from spreading and instead to be among those passing on the light.
For me and my fellow Anuak who watched this program, we could plainly see all the same ingredients that led to the Gambella massacre, but what really struck me most about the documentary, was the inaction of the outsider or the international community. There was not one single case where outsiders took action to prevent or to stop the mass killing until it was too late, even though there were many warning sides.
Recently there was a demonstration in front of the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington D.C. for Teddy Afro. One of the slogans read: “Woyanne should leave Ethiopia.” Instead of ignoring this, we should follow the example of my friend Nanu, a brave, loving and caring Ethiopian woman from Munich, Germany. During a rally two years ago, the person with the microphone shouted, “We need Woyanne to get out of Ethiopia.” Without any hesitation, Nanu took the microphone and said to the public, “No! We don’t want Woyanne to get out of Ethiopia, we only want them out of power! They have nowhere to go. They are our people too!”
Perhaps, the holder of this sign meant the same thing, but we must be very careful about our language because it can defeat our purposes and ignite hatred. Also, we must find ways to maintain the rule of law. If someone within the Meles government has done something wrong, we will have to figure out how to hold those people accountable through a court of law, truth and reconciliation hearings, or in some other way with the ultimate goal of working towards reconciliation and justice within our society so we can be healed and move on.
