I was
dumbfounded when I first read Abebe Gelaw’s discovery and exposure of Ambassador
Tesfaye Habisso’snaked plagiarism1.
I have to redo the search and see for myself to believe it.Talk about stealing a camel and
trying to hide it in an open desert.
I couldn’t believe the Honorable
Ambassador can think of lifting a whole paper written by another person, claim
it as his own work, write it on government and pro government media, have it
copyright protected and try to hide it, in this day and age of Google. The
honorable Ambassador may not know that there are in fact specific software and search
tools that are used for the purpose of scrutinizing plagiarism and theft of
academic and art work.
This
shocking story led me to revisit some interesting exchanges I read between
Professor Donald Levine and Ambassador Tesfaye Habisso about a year ago. What I
found only added to my shock. I
have a big respect for Professor Levine’s works and I always read what he
writes carefully.This particular
article by Professor Levine, which talks about foreign influence in Ethiopia,
was one where I learnt some important lessons from and did not forget.I became curious to reread it and find
out what the issue he took with the Honorable Ambassador Tesfaye Habisso was. Thanks
to Google, I found the whole thing in less than a minute.
The subject
of the article pertains to the CSO laws the Ethiopian government decreed a few
years back and arguments in favor of it by Ambassador Habisso
and others on the usefulness of the law to stop foreign influence in
Ethiopia.There you have Professor
Donald Levine knowledgably arguing that Ethiopians have a history and culture
of what he called, “creative incorporation” of foreign cultures, a
tradition where foreign influences are filtered and incorporated in ways that
fit the cultures and traditions in the country. He was arguing that some radical rejectionist
views of foreign influence forwarded by the proponents of the CSO laws are
without cultural or historical foundation. Professor Levine appears to have been drawn to one radical rejectionist view2 expressed by Ambassador
Tesfaye Habisso. And he seems to have been drawn to it for obvious reasons. Ambassador Tesfaye Habisso is an
important man in the Ethiopian government. He is a founding member of post dergue
Ethiopia, a Speaker of Parliament and Ambassador of Ethiopia to two countries
and a vocal advocate of the EPRDF government. And there he goes and wrote the
following.
When
what appears to be a rejectionist sentiment is expressed by so distinguished a writer,
Tesfaye Habisso, former ambassador and speaker of the Parliament, it deserves
to be taken seriously. I refer to a recent article of his, “Free
Elections for Democracy or Creating Client Regimes?”(See whole article here) 3
But there was one serious problem with
this article that Professor Levine did not know. The distinguished writer who wrote most
of the content of the article word for word under a slightly different title, “Free elections for empire or
democracy?” was not the Honorable Ambassador Tesfaye Habisso. The article4 from the third
paragraph on was lifted from James Petras, Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at
Binghamton University, New York, who has written more than six hundred
articles and over sixty books on this and other subjects mostly from his studies
and experience in Latin America.
Our good
friend Professor Levine, I am sure, does not have any reason to suspect that a
highly placed functionary of the Ethiopian government, and a frequent
“writer” and speaker on government news outlets would do this kind
of fraud.After what he has studied
and witnessed in over half a century of distinguished scholarship on Ethiopia, Professor
Levine may never have seen highly placed individuals in Ethiopian governments who
stoop to this kind of disgraceful fraudulence.
As the
list of stolen exploits of Ambassador Tesfaye come out in drips and drabs, I am
kind of beginning to feel sorry for him. It is possible that he is sick and may
be suffering from a copy-paste compulsive disorder.In that case, I recommend he apologize
as soon as possible and see some psychiatric help. But at any rate, he should not go
unpunished, for not punishing him amounts to condoning a robbery of the highest
order and allowing this culture to take root in our society. That is what stealing the hard work of
other people and claiming copyright protection amounts to.It will set a bad example for the new
generation. It is bad for the already tarnished image of our country. Hungry
people is enough for us, don’t add thief Ambassadors, for heaven’s
sakes.The story, by the way, is
now news on a South African Newspapers5 where he served as our
representative. May be all hell may break loose when Professor James Petras
finds out that he is also stolen by and Ambassador from Ethiopia. Imagine the
name Ethiopia and a thief ambassador being paraded on news papers around the
world. It is scary.
Here is
what I suggest. First the Addis
Ababa University which hands out honorary degrees in recognition of some people
which it deems have made important contributions to the country,
should now take back the Bachelor of Arts degree it gave Ambassador Tesfaye and
honor itself and the credentials it issues to others.It may have to do this primarily to save
its honor and the honor of thousands of us who have studied in that institution.I don’t know if Ambassador Tesfaye
has other degrees from other institutions. If yes, they should do the same. Pro
government and TPLF/EPRDF websites that have been proudly presenting this
stolen material, some with copyright protection, should stamp
“STOLEN” on Ambassador Tesfaye’s stolen articles, or just out
of respect for the original owners, if not for themselves, remove them
altogether. Keeping the status quo is the same as being collaborators with
thieves.
As to the
Ethiopian government, I don’t know if it has to take the lifelong title
of Ambassador from Ambassador Tesfaye Habisso.If the government doesn’t say
anything, it cannot blame us when, in the future, we see the title Ambassador
behind the name of some Ethiopian official and ask, “IS He /SHE ALSO A THIEF?” _________________________________________________________
