Medrek was born out of the ashes of the post-2005 EPRDF’s savage war on the civil society of Ethiopia. Medrek’s Herculean task consists of trying to rekindle the hope of the battered society, though it is fully aware that Meles Zenawi’s Sword of Damocles dangles over its head 24/7.
Many recent proclamations — such as the Anti-Terrorism as well as the Charities and Societies laws — are aimed at ensuring the absolute servitude of the Ethiopian people, and the latest Urban Land Lease Proclamation is no exception.
Recently, Medrek lost its young and charismatic leader, Andualem Aragie, to prison. His crime? Preaching a non-violent form of struggle to achieve the rule of law. But he was charged with ‘terrorism,’, the government’s favorite legal jargon that delivers life term at best and death sentence at worst. In the cities, it looks gunning down opponents and attracting a worldwide condemnation is a thing of the past. The regime has found a more effective way of eliminating opponents. And that is to slap charismatic opposition leaders or fearless journalists like Eskinder Nega with terrorism, and blow them into oblivion.
