The disgraceful
fall of Meles is inevitable much sooner than later for the people are utterly
fed up and increasingly intolerant of
his kleptocratic minority regime where 95% of top positions in the army and
most posts in the politbureau are held by close relatives, friends or confidants
of his ethnic group comprising only 8% of the Ethiopian people.
Collapse of the
USSR in 1991
The
military might of the defunct USSR and its monolithic Communist Party machinery
crumbled in the face of the invincible search for freedom. Many of us witnessed
how the meltdown of the structure of economic and financial systems, domestic
and foreign policy between 1985 and 1991 threw the then Superpower into
disarray leading to its eventual downfall in 1991.
After years of building up of military and security organs at the expense
of domestic development, economic growth was at a standstill. Unsuccessful attempts
at reform, a stagnant economy, and war in Afghanistan led to a general feeling
of discontent. Greater
political and social freedoms, instituted by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail
Gorbachev created an atmosphere of open criticism of the Moscow regime. Lack of
foreign exchange reserves to purchase grain profoundly influenced actions of
the Soviet leadership.
The power of
the people brought about a relatively peaceful change despite:
All-pervasive
Communist Party withmembership
numbering tens of millions
Young
Communist League comprising 95% of the youth of the USSR
Secret
Security organ (KGB) dreaded by citizens
Military
power second to none on the globe
Command
economy directly controlled by the Party with natural resources second to
none
Heavy
industry second to none for producing military hardware and industrial
machines
It was a
humiliating debacle for a Superpower which was the first to put the Sputnik in
orbit and launch a space vehicle flown Cosmonaut Uri Gagarin in orbit around
the earth. The Superpower failed all because it did not deliver freedom and
democracy that people need as much as basic necessities such as shelter, food
and security.
The Party decayed due to internal
intrigues, greed, corruption, fake elections ad infinitum. It could not deliver
on its promises. It vanished like a mist by the heat of anger of people denied
their freedom for decades.
Point #1: The same fate of collapsing as that which
befell the defunct USSR is awaiting the Stalinist TPLF regime, which is
notorious for its heinous crimes including genocide, betrayal of vital national
interests and mismanagement of the economy in the last 19 years of its misrule.
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of
1989 in the (Peoples Republic of China (PRC) were a series of
demonstrations in and near the Square in Beijing in the PRC beginning on 14
April 1989. Led mainly by students and intellectuals, the protests occurred in
a year that saw the collapse of a number of communist governments around the
world.
The protests were sparked by the death
of a pro-democracy and anti-corruption official, HU Yaobang, whom protesters
wanted to mourn. By the eve of Hu’s funeral, 100,000 people had gathered at
Tiananmen Square. The protests lacked a unified cause or leadership;
participants included disillusioned Communist Party of China members and Trotskyites
as well as free market reformers, who were generally against the government’s authoritarianism
and voiced calls for economic change and democratic reform within the structure
of the government.
Point #2: The protest lacked a unified
cause or leadership and therefore failed to evict the mammoth communist party
from power, but shook its foundation significantly and alerted leaders to
expedite reform. Having drawn lessons from the collapse of the USSR, the
Chinese Communist Authorities sent in tanks to crush the demonstration brutally
much as the TPLF regime did in the aftermath of the Ethiopian election 2005.
The quest for change is rocking
China. The reformist leaders since the death of Chairman Mao are listening,
more so after the heavy handed crackdown on protesters at Tiananmen Square. The
interview of Premier Wen Jiabao with Fareed Zakaria of GPS is indicative of the
promising direction that Chinese leaders are taking. The Premier acknowledged
the heavy imbalance of wealth distribution affecting 800 million peasants and
that this will be addressed. Regarding political reform, the Premier said: 1)
gradual approach to democratic election; 2) improved legal system and
independence of the judiciary; 3) openness of government to oversight through
independent media are prerequisites to the development of democracy. More
interestingly the Premier underlined that the highest measurement of ethics and
morality is justice. Emphasis added.
He stressed that economic growth at the expense of ethics and morality will not
be permitted by the government.
The fall of the USSR has surely served
them as a lesson to avert complete collapse at least for the time being. But
the heavy-handed crack down on protesters will never be forgotten. The silent
unrest is a matter of time before it will explode once again unless democratic
reforms pledged by the Premier are expedited.
The Mengistu regime
Mengistu squandered vital resources including gold reserve
inherited from the Imperial regime. In its last gasping period, the regime was
acutely short of foreign currency badly needed to buy arms and strategic goods needed
to fight wars in several fronts. He became a puppet of the USSR at first and
then forged friendship with the late Kim IL Sung of North Korea and isolated
his regime. He paid lip service to economic reform in the dying days of his
regime.
Point #3: Mengistu committed political suicide by
rejecting economic reform advised by the Western world as well as by its former
mentor, the defunct USSR.
The Meles
regime
The atrocious records of Meles and cohorts include:
· Willful
dismembering of Ethiopia thus leaving a country of over 80 million landlocked
cutting her economic lifeline and vulnerable to external aggression
· Dividing
Ethiopia along ethnic-linguistic lines – a venomous recipe for social unrest,
instability in the Horn of Africa region, bad example to other African
countries, and an impediment to the objectives of the African Union
· Naked
aggression of Somalia culminating in the death of thousands & dislocation
of millions
· Committing
act of genocide against the Anuak people of Ethiopia
· Denying
private farmland ownership to peasants, which constitute 85% of the Ethiopian
people. Peasants live in slavery in the serfdom of the ruling regime which is
fooling the world that it is the midwife of democracy
· Daylight
robbery of votes at the election of 2005; selective killing of over 200 citizens
in cold blood and incarcerating tens of thousands of mostly young protestors.
· Selling
fertile Ethiopian farmlands to unscrupulous foreign ‘investors’ while landless
Ethiopian peasants are suffering in abject poverty
· Ceding
land to the Sudan through a secret deal
· Rampant
unemployment and soaring cost of living
· Usurping
all the pillars of democratic institutions such as independent press,
judiciary,election board, army, police, civil society, system of private land ownership
Point#4: The colossal damage inflicted by the TPLF regime
on our national interests and its heinous crimes are unprecedented in the long
history of Ethiopia. The time to say enough is enough to the brutal regime is
long overdue.
Conclusion
In the case of the defunct USSR unsuccessful attempts at
reform, a stagnant economy, and war in Afghanistan led to a general feeling of
discontent. Lack of foreign exchange reserves to purchase grain profoundly
influenced actions of the Soviet leadership.
The death of a pro-democracy and
anti-corruption official, HU Yaobang, sparked the huge protest at Tiananmen
Square. The call for economic change and democratic reform failed because the
protests lacked a unified cause or leadership. Nevertheless, the protest shook
the foundation of the Communist Party forcing it to expedite economic change
and contemplating democratic reform in terms of, as Premier Wen Jiabao put it: gradual approach to democratic election; improved legal
system and independence of the judiciary; openness of government to oversight by
independent media.More interestingly
the Premier underlined that the highest measurement of ethics and morality is justice. He stressed that economic
growth at the expense of ethics and morality will not be permitted by the
government.
But the perception of China meddling in the internal affairs
of Ethiopia such as helping in the jamming of the Voice of America radio
broadcast to Ethiopia raises a critical question of the sincerity of the
Premier in particular and Chinese policy in general intertwined with voracious
appetite for natural resources of Africa so much needed for export-driven economic
growth of China.
The Premier and his government should be reminded that they
are cooperating and doing business with a kleptocratic TPLF ruling regime in
Addis Ababa – a notorious regime with no ethical or moral standard.
There is no need to repeat crystal clear brinkmanship of
tyrant Meles. Opposition forces should take serious note of the failure of the
protest at Tiananmen
Square due to lack of a unified leadership
and hasten the inevitable demise of the TPLF regime.
This is the last time to save Ethiopia through peaceful
struggle. As the Amharic saying goes “ሌባላመሉሊጥይልሳል”. The old saying roughly translates to: A thief licks dough
as a habit.
So daylight robbery of votes by Meles once again, would be a
propitious time to hit his regime with an all-inclusive and well-coordinated
might for the theft would mean an open invitation to such course of action.
Release Birtukan Mideksa and all
political prisoners in Ethiopia!
