I’m an Amara (እኔ አማራ ነኝ)

I’m an Amara (እኔ አማራ ነኝ)


By Yilma Bekele

April 25, 2013

The passage I like the most is when he
said “Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum [“I am a Roman citizen”].

Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein
Berliner!”… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of
Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin
ein Berliner!”

Today it fills
me with so much pride to say all Ethiopians where ever we live say in unison “ene Amara negne.”
Injustice against any of Ethiopia’s children is injustice to all of her
children. We feel each other’s pain. When one Ethiopian is
marginalized, when a single Ethiopian is put in harm’s way it is an affront to
each one of us and we all suffer. It was none other than Martin Luther
King Jr. who took injustice to heart when he declared “he who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps
to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really
cooperating with it.”

Tell me my
fellow Ethiopian. What do you see in the picture above? It is a picture of people
huddled together. It must be night time, what are they doing outside in the
cold? Why are they sad? There is no mistaking that they are our people. I can
tell that Ethiopian face from a mile away. Look at that slender chiseled face,
kind eyes and welcome demeanor. They are our sisters, brothers, mothers or
fathers sitting on bare soil, with no chairs and it is difficult to tell
whether it is outdoors or inside. There is no question they seem to be confused,
tired, and sad. Notices the young girl on the left with barefoot and looking
resigned and observe the father on top right holding his chin and just seeming
to wonder about the dire situation. I want you to see  the child on his mother’s lap looking sad and
his mother looking straight at the photographer not for pity but seems to be saying
 ‘take a good look, don’t forget my ace!’
 I cried because I am human, I hurt
because I cannot be there to hold their hand, rub their shoulders and ‘whisper it
is ok, I am here to help.’ Oh my God the pain is killing me; it is tearing my
soul apart. Why is this happening to my people? Why am I witnessing this
suffering?

They are not
just numbers. They are not statistics we refer to from some paper. They are
living, breathing human beings. There is no Ethiopia without them. A house
cannot stand without a foundation and a country does not exist without people.
The people you see above are Amaras from the region referred to as  Beneshangul/Gumuzl Kilil in Western Ethiopian
that were deported from their own land to places they don’t even know. They are
the homeless Ethiopians. They are stateless people within a country called
Ethiopia. They are the surplus Ethiopians. How does such calamity happen? Was
there an invasion by a foreign forcer? Was there some kind of natural disaster?
Was there a civil war?

No they are
the victims of a policy carried out by a rogue regime gone wild. Their plight
is a calculated and thought out policy put in place by the regime in power.
They are the recipient of a plan drawn by Meles Zenawi and his friends to keep
our country in perpetual conflict and destroy Ethiopia from within. This is not
an isolated event or an opportunistic move on the spur of the moment. No this
is a plan drawn over thirty years ago same as Adolf Hitler’s plan of what he
called to as the ‘Final Solution’ to annihilate the Jewish people. This
is Meles Zenawi, Sebhat Nega, Seyoum Mesfin, and Abbay Tshaye’s and company nefarious
plan directed at a single ethnic group. The ‘Final Solution’
against the Amara people.

Fascist Mussolini
in his own evil ways knew that he cannot conquer Ethiopia without partitioning
us. Thus he divided our country into six units as follows: 1) Eritrea to
include Tigrai – capital Asmara 2) Amhara to include Begemeder, Gojjam, Wello
and northern Shoa – capital Gonder 3) Galla and Sidamo –capital Jimma 4) Addis
Abeba 5) Harar 6) Somalia-capital Mogadishu. Meles Zenawi and his Woyane party
went further and created what we today call nine Kilils. He called it
Federalism but in actuality it was South Africa’s Apartheid system in East
Africa.

Musoloni and
the Italians were in charge of the six units they created. The white minority
government in South Africa was the boss of all the Bantustans. In Ethiopia
Meles Zenawi with his Tigrai ethnic based Woyane party ushered a new era of
abuse, conflict, civil war and the beginning of the destruction of our ancient
land.

All Tigray’s
are not Woyane. On the other hand there is no reason to shy away from stating
the obvious-most Tigrais are the beneficiary of the system set up by Woyane
warlords. They are the number one Ethiopians standing heads high above all
others. This is not hate. This is not a figment of my imagination. Nothing
happens in Ethiopia without the knowledge and consent of  the Woyane party. This is a very
painful statement to write down but why hide from the truth.

It is also
true that Woyane agents and provocateurs planted among us are posing as Amara/Oromo
among others and making ugly and hateful statements directed at our brothers
and sisters from Tigrai ethnic group. This is the Way Woyane operates and we
are all familiar with that mentality. We should also be aware of the fact that
Woyane has been systematically attacking Ethiopian history, Ethiopian heritage
and the concept of being an Ethiopian in order to carry out their goal of
setting us against each other. They have convinced a few gullible people,
uneducated and lumpen individuals that our country is not worth saving and
separation and going your own way is an option.

We should all
try harder not to allow any kind of hateful speech; any put down of each other
based on ethnicity and should at no time and place tolerate such ugly and
backward behavior. It is commendable to be proud of one’s ethnicity and
heritage but it is not a license to attack and degenerate someone from another
group. We do not have choice what ethnic group to belong to when born, we are
what we are. No one decide ahead to be white or black, to be Chinese or Indian,
to be short of tall or be female or male. That is all in the hands of a higher
authority. Ignorance and pettiness is what makes us stressed and lash out
against those we are not familiar with.

Then some
evil people like our Woyane warlords use our weakness to divide us, to be
suspicious of each other and plant the seeds of hatred in our society. It is a
struggle not to be taken by such propaganda that is intended to make us feel
better even with an empty stomach. Let alone our old and poor backward country
even the industrialized and educated countries have not been able to tackle
this cancer in their body politic.

But we
Ethiopians are resilient people. The fact of the matter is over twenty years of
hate filled propaganda by Woyane has not been able to accomplish their goal of
setting us against each other. Proof in point being during Woyanes deportation
of our Eritrean citizens it was heartwarming to see our ordinary people crying
and being distressed following the buses that was hauling our brethren, it was a
display of true Ethiopian love to see the citizens of Gurafereda washing their
hands of Shiferaw Shigute’s ugly deed and today we are sure that our citizens
of Bena Shangul do not agree with this current nightmare visited on them by the
new Woyane warlords in Arat Kilo.   

Do you really
think puppet Shiferaw Shigute of Southern Region, do you for a second believe
puppet Ahmed Naser Ahmed  Of Beneshangul/Gumuz  Kilil will carry out such ugly deed without
the approval and consent of Meles Zenawi then and Debretsion Gebremichael today?
 No sir, this kind activity is carried
out with the direction of the highest body of the party that is run by
Debretsion and company.

It does not
do us any good to speculate why they are doing this criminal act. Why would a
government declare war on its own people is a question history always tries to answer. It is nothing new. It has happened before we have
witnessed it unfold all around us. Rwanda was yesterday, Bosnia is still fresh
in our mind and Gurafereda and Beneshangul are close to our heart. No matter
how you put it in Ethiopia under the leadership of the Woyane Tigrai based TPLF
party our country is turning into hell on Earth. Our Gambellan citizens are uprooted
from their ancestral land, Sidama citizens are hunted like wild animals and the
Amaras are the favorite target of these disturbed and sick individuals in
charge. 

Of course we can fight their hatred based criminal act
with more hate. I believe MLK Jr. said it better when he wrote ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’  I do not hate
Woyane. I do not want to be like them. Again I will quote you MLK when he said
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too much a burden to bear.” My
heart aches when I think of the dead Meles Zenawi, I cringe when I see the
picture of Bereket Semeone, Debretsion Gebremichael, Sebhat Nega or Abbay Tshaye’s.
They must carry such a burden with them how do they ever sleep at night? How do
they function among the company of people with such overwhelming evilness
engulfing the depth of their soul?

We all have responsibilities in our daily
life. We are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, neighbors and
workers interacting with other fellow human beings. Sometimes our duties and
expectations from those around us is a source of stress and uneasiness. Fathers
and mothers worry about the welfare of their family, children are under
constant pressure to perform better and our work place puts up so much demand
on us we are driven to the edge. It is all because we all want to be loved,
needed and do better for those around us. The ultimate satisfaction is when a
job done comes out perfect and those around us appreciate the effort. That is
the reward that feeds the ego.

Our leaders do not seem to understand that.
Given the chance to lead and make a better world for their fellow citizens that
put so much trust and faith in them they callously throw away the opportunity
to excel. They choose the path of hate, divide and rule and the road of
destruction. Instead of sharing the bounty that comes from all working together
and lift everybody higher they choose to hoard little crumbs for themselves and
those around them. They play with words to fool themselves. They try to manipulate
reality to fit their myopic vision. They think calling famine nutrition deficiency
changes the pain, naming their terror squad internal security wipes the blood
of their hands or doctoring the book balances the account for real. It is a
sickness with no cure.

I wrote down I cried and felt broken heart
when I saw the picture of my people from Beneshangul then I thought about it.
Yes it is human to feel their pain but that is not the answer to our problem. I
went back to MLK to see what he tells me about mending a broken heart. How did
the great leader deal with such ugliness in the world.
This is what he said “The ultimate
measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”  It is true my response should be what am I
going to do about this situation that is keep me up all night?

I am going to be proactive. I will not sit
down and observe and take this abuse silently. I am in the USA. I will do my
best to discuss with my people so we can find a solution that is sustainable. I
will write and talk every chance I get to develop a culture of inclusiveness
based on equality, respect and justice. I will support all those forces that
are struggling to overcome this force of darkness by any means necessary. I
will strive harder to learn from this negative experience and turn it into a
positive experience so we can together build a better and just society. I will
organize my fellow exiles to contact their Senators, Representatives, locally
elected officials so they can pressure the US government to stop coddling such
a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government.

I am also heartened by political parties,
civic organizations and groups that are currently working under harsh
conditions in Ethiopia to gather information, proof and documents regarding the
ethnic cleansing situation. I also believe upon getting our documents in order
we could be able to do a citizen’s arrest of all the mentioned criminals when
they show up outside the country. We can as victims of government atrocity hold  these despicable
individuals and hand them to our local police. Armed with our documents we have
every right as human beings to ask that they be brought to justice since they
are breaking international law which our country is signatory of. It is just
but another arsenal in our fight against injustice. Finally since information
is power I give my word of honor that I do my at most best to strengthen and
make ESAT the most powerful media in my beautiful homeland.  I ask my fellow Ethiopians to sit down and
think hard because indifference has not brought us any amount of measurable
respite from this from this never ending atrocity by a regime one wild.