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VIEWPOINT
For the past few years, we were searching for an Ethiopian Hero who could revive our weakened morale & lift-up our spirit. We must admit that following the cyber world was one of our weaknesses until we recently re-started visiting different sites and read Dr Bekele’s articles. We must confess too that we are now addicted to his writings and strong messages. Love him or hate him he has become one of the lifeblood of the Ethiopian people in the Diaspora, like oil is to Saudi Arabia.
The overwhelming tones of his articles are heartfelt, encouraging and supportive. We are extremely impressed by his passion, patriotism, unbiased arguments for all nationalities and his strong courage to speak out for the oppressed. With that gigantic brain of his and his unsurpassed political acumen, we strongly believe that his articles will sweep through a joyous land and unite the people of Ethiopia to fight their enemies in and outside the country. Such genuine & dedicated Ethiopian intellectual surely deserves full praise and encouragement at all times.
Although we yield to no body in our genuine and high admiration of Dr Bekele’s writings, he is unquestionably one of the greatest Ethiopian masters of the English language and in our book the funniest. If he was naive, he was culpably so. We must admit that his latest article/poem gave us mixed feelings. We were full of laughter and felt sad too for our people and our country. The Prime Minister and his cronies will go ballistic when they read his latest article/poem, “THE DEVIL, CROOKS & CONMEN OF ETHIOPIA”. That was very funny & with good messages. He is undoubtedly controversial but humorous and charismatic.
Therefore, given the chance, we believe without any doubt that Dr G Bekele a hard working nationalist, genuine, natural and unique politician Ethiopia has ever seen will be an asset in future administration. He could make a positive contribution to Ethiopia’s divided people and distorted democracy. He is not a pretender like Yemisrach Kifle, writer of “BREAKING THE AK 47 HABIT” who is a secret Agent of Meles or others. We also wonder why some people waste their money in funding the foolishness of undemocratic parties like EPRP and TPLF when they could easily and freely encourage patriotic Ethiopians like Dr Bekele who wholeheartedly preaches unity, regularly produces fresh and genuine ideas.
Many writers have made waves before and some are contributing a great deal still, but never like him. His comments and arguments noting that our divisions, quarrels and disorganisations are “incompatible” with Ethiopian deepest ideals and “corrupting” of our ‘culture of unity’ have reverberated far beyond Ethiopian community. He certainly provoked outrage in Ethiopia and fierce debate across the Diaspora. But Dr Bekele’s standing as a first-class scholar and crucially, his reputation as passionate advocate for Ethiopia and Ethiopian unity ensured that his words carried an extra punch – making them all the more shocking to those narrow minded tribal parties and individuals who now wrongly condemn him. Furthermore, he has single-handedly beaten the regime, he had poked few dissidents who are dividing the people of Tigrai, the rest of Ethiopia’s children and further presented eloquently Seye Abraha’s case for public debate. He criticised Web sites, Radio stations, Newspapers and Parties without reservation. He confronted devil’s advocates like Mulugeta/A.K & Haileselassie/G. He has produced more detailed and solid articles in the past few months than many writers during which he was insulted by enemies and faced with criticisms from the Meles camp and hopeless party supporters but they all found him to be a very hard & tough fighter to pin down. He virtually destroyed all of them in style.
Those critics’ complaints are worth tackling head on, for two reasons. First, they are grossly unfair to him and usually involve a stubborn refusal to look at what Dr Bekele actually said and meant. Therefore, he does not need to be tutored in the pro-Unity and pro-Ethiopia line. He knows what Ethiopia is going through and what to do to defend itself and he knows from whom. And nor does he have to be lectured by his critics. This then, is the first reason to defend Dr Bekele his critics are attributing views to him that he does not hold, seeking to cast him as an opportunist or an enemy of the Ethiopian state when he is the very opposite.
The second reason to back Dr Bekele goes far deeper than the matter of his own recent reputation. We know a great deal about him. He stands for the simple principle that one can be a friend or an opponent of this government, Ethiopia, Ethiopians and offer a heartfelt warning for its future, all the same time. He wants the people of Ethiopia and the present regime to see the risk they run if this treason, division, killing and dictatorship rule goes on much longer – the risk not only to human life, but also to Ethiopian values. This is what the Meles regime and their supporters cannot bear to hear. On this they are in complete denial, refusing even to acknowledge that a challenge to Ethiopia’s moral integrity exists.
Dr G Bekele, is a very talented Scholar hence rather than corrupting him and the public, his war to defend us has brought out some of our finer qualities, such as patriotism, national pride and a willingness to make personal sacrifices on behalf of the common good. He had the courage to see through such self-delusion, and to state the uncomfortable truth about the EPRDF rule and their corruption. This is only why those TPLF web sites and individuals were so keen to trash Dr Bekele because they cannot bear to hear an intelligent and honest of such standing. No wonder this government too saw him as a very big threat, branded him “very dangerous” and systematically ousted him from where he worked extremely hard for Ethiopian unity and earned an excellent reputation as the most genuine and productive person. He was & still is a good & unique example for this generation.
He now poses a moral challenge to their mysterious and destructive projects. So advocates of peace, unity, democracy, war and political correctness need to put aside their grumbles that Dr Bekele took his long to speak out, and rally his side. If they don’t, and his enemies (Ethiopian enemies) succeed, no mainstream leader or individual will ever dare raise his or her voice like him again. This support should also be more than tactical, for a great moral principle is at stake. We believe history will judge him as one of the best Ethiopian. Dr G Bekele made his choice and came down on the side of the majority of the Ethiopian people and in particular on the oppressed people’s line. Now the rest of the Ethiopian world has to decide where it stands. May the ‘Great God’ be with him and Ethiopia! |
