As you are hopefully aware, a brave teacher called Yenesew Gebre set himself ablaze in protest at TPLF’s endless actions of injustice and cruelty against the Ethiopian people. This is therefore to invite you to join us in holding a candle light vigil to honour his martyrdom and also to show our support and appreciation of the cause for which he died. The vigil will be held at Parliament Hill (Ottawa) on December 4, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. sharp.
Yenesew, 29, graduated from Awassa College and became a teacher in Dawro Zone, formerly known as the District of Maji Kolokonta, in Southwestern Ethiopia. He was a very respected and liked teacher. He was also known for his human rights activities in the country which caused him to be repeatedly detained and incarcerated.
Teacher Yenesew was in attendance at a public meeting where he asked the officials for the release of the youth arbitrarily detained and without the right to bail. His calls fell on deaf ears. He then exclaimed, “Give me my liberty or give me my death”, and he went out of the meeting hall and set himself on fire.
Teacher Yenesew’s action was symbolic in that it represents the hunger and thirst of many more Ethiopians for justice and democracy. As one witness reported, Yenesew said while still burning: “I want to show to all that death is more preferable than a life without justice and liberty and I call upon my fellow compatriots to fear nothing and rise up to wrest their freedom and rights from the hands of the local and national tyrants”.
Indeed, desperate times call for desperate measures, and Yenesew’s measure is an extreme response to an extreme Ethiopian condition marred by unemployment, humiliation, hopelessness and fear of reprisals in the dungeons of tyranny. We need to recognize the legacy he left behind, and let us all congregate and honour his martyrdom.
We hope to see you there and then in big numbers. After all, this is the smallest sacrifice we can make in a relatively peaceful and free part of this world–even for an hour so!
