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COMMENTARY It was in 1997, two years after I left Ethiopia for the United States, that I joined an online discussion forum called TigrayNet (The members-only forum is completely different from the privately-managed Web site, Tigrai.org). Since I was a journalist in my country, and since a journalist was taken for politically neutral, and hence reflecting more or less unbiased observations of events, I thought my first-hand experience about the degree of destruction TPLF was wrecking on the life of Ethiopia and her people would win unqualified support among members of the forum. After all, I hoped, “we are living in America where every one has at least the gist of ‘ the sanctity of human life’.” Before visiting the saber-rattling war at TigrayNet, let us first try to get the definitions of some media jargons to help us understand how the TPLF manipulates the state-controlled media to advance its hidden agendas. What constitutes a good fake is how well it resembles the real thing. This document* will help you be able to distinguish real information from its three look-alikes, or counterfeits: propaganda, misinformation and disinformation. Understanding the counterfeits will enable you to become a much more critical consumer of information. (a) Information – This is probably what you’re looking for when you use the Internet for academic purposes. Information, at its most basic, is data set in a context for relevance. In other words, information tells us something that is understandable and has the potential to become knowledge for us when we view it critically and add it to what we already know.
(b) Propaganda – is a commonly misused term. Because of its historical use, such as in the name of the infamous “National Ministry for Public (c) Misinformation – differs from propaganda in that it always refers to something that is not true. It differs from disinformation in that it is “intention neutral”: it isn’t deliberate, it’s just wrong or mistaken. (d) Disinformation – You have now reached the lowest of the low. Never underestimate the evil intentions of some individuals or institutions to say or write whatever suits a particular purpose, even when it requires deliberate fabrication. (*Source: The Sheridan Libraries of the Johns Hopkins University) Disinformation: TPLF’s old Lethal Weapon The Ethiopian public has long realized that a repressive regime is no good companion of information. For that reason, the state-controlled media are choked with propaganda, or misinformation, or the ‘lowest of the low,’ disinformation. If you have heard the leader of the country using a vulgar language to attack political opponents, it is a good indicator his language is directly flying out of the House of Evil Doers. That is why the public is always seen searching for alternative sources of information like the Voice of America (VOA), Deutsche Welle Amharic Service, or other credible newspapers or web sites the public thinks are “relatively” fair. For this reason, no government media is taken seriously for its word. Aware of this fact, the regime rushes to set up secret media outlets that would be introduced to the public as if they were run by non-governmental, independent individuals. For instance, it would be several years before the public knew Walta was a Meles-owned news agency, because Walta started out its production declaring it was an “independent”, privately managed project. By the time Walta was known it was serving the Meles regime, the damage was already irreversible. Disinformation pushes the public to the edge of confusion and indecision – and it is not only the media that serve as vectors of disinformation. There are parties set up as opposition, radio stations set up as opposition, newspapers set up as opposition, individuals presumed as government critics but whose subtle activities are aimed at weakening the coming together of Ethiopians, and challenge the tyrant. When the public discredits EPRDF-owned radio stations like Radio Fana, or news agencies like Walta, the government goes shopping for other means of spreading disinformation, like paying a huge some of money for foreign freelance journalists who would grab the chance to do the dirty job. A classic example is what is being spread against the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) and others, including The Tigrian Solidarity. In this Indian Ocean Newsletter, readers are advised to critically examine who is spreading disinformation to forestall the coming together of Ethiopian forces by spreading political malice via a supposedly “neutral” newsletter. It is our right to discard the trash into the wastebasket. Many examples could be cited how the Octopus-like tentacles of disinformation are keeping Ethiopians in an information limbo. The remedy to differentiate between what is information and what is intentionally falsified news look-alike disinformation product is to be a critical consumer. To take you some years back to Addis, when Meles tightened his grip on the independent journalists, his aides somewhat sensed some form of discontent within the state-owned media circles. As compared to the fledgling private newspaper industry, the state-owned media was a giant establishment. About 800 journalists were working nationwide for the state-owned media by 1994. The discontent was based on a dream that could not come true: as Ethiopian journalists, we were dreaming the media – TV, radio and the press (newspapers like Herald and Addis Zemen) – would one day be freed from government control, and get managed by an independent body. Like any private companies, the media would then survive on revenue earned from selling services to the public. (The state-owned journalists association is different from EFJA – Ethiopian Free Journalists Association, which by far has been instrumental in exposing government crimes against all those who do their jobs as journalists.) EPRDF then sensed the urge and journalists were allowed to organize themselves under “Ethiopian Journalists Association.” But hidden organizers turned out to be TPLF cadres, and those who would lead the Association were already selected before any meeting of journalists was convened. The goal was the country’s media would be administered under an independent board of directors within three to five years. However, seven years after the Journalists Association was founded in 1994, the country’s media were transferred to Meles Zenawi’s cadres: Bereket Simon, and Netsanet Asfaw, (Dis)information minister and vice minister, respectively. (What do opposition parties learn from this trend: Would Meles hand over power after 2-3 years, or a state of emergency would be declared, and Meles would be declared by his rubber-stamp parliament as ” prime minister for life?” Though bitter, the latter is in perfect harmony with TPLF culture.” TPLF, TigrayNet and the Brothers-in-Law of TPLF Established by a group of Ethiopian scholars in 1994 mainly to discuss academic matters, and at times, humanitarian issues in our country, TigraiNet grew in the next few years and became the hotspot of political bigwigs of the cyber world. When I joined the online forum in 1997, the forum was, more or less, comprising the following three groups:
a) TPLF supporters – (vocal and known for speaking the language of TPLF bosses). TPLF supporters (group a) could rightly be addressed as TPLF cadres. Their devotion to the TPLF leadership was too much one would always wonder if the real TPLF combatants had reached such level of political “purity.” At first, my debut into TigrayNet was like leaping from the frying pan into the fire. I suddenly found myself in a compound owned by MLLT. It was shocking. When we used to live in Ethiopia, we would always look up to those fellow Ethiopians living in America and Europe, and who would help us by advocating for the interests of their people. After all, model democracies are in the West! We thought they had savored the taste of living in democratic societies, and would never tolerate any mistreatment of their fellow people back home. What a hoax! Some members had never changed for ages since left TPLF along the border with the Sudan. Though physically here in the U.S., mentally, they were there, back in the wilderness of Africa. It was an uphill battle to wake them up that TPLF was no more a rebel organization but a government recognized by the U.N., and condemned by all. The self-styled TPLF supporters were posing as criminal investigators and were staring down anyone who dared criticize TPLF bosses. The conflict with me took a different turn. I was like a daring army unit encircled by a big enemy. But I’d positioned myself inside a formidable fortress of facts that would render TPLF propaganda useless. What I lost in Ethiopia, I found it in abundance here in America…writing with a purpose to change minds that have been the target of years of TPLF/EPLF disinformation project.
The greatest U-turn in the psyche of those who were TPLF sympathizers came in when Meles made an unforgettable speech before Eritrean fighter jets knocked out an elementary school in Mekelle, and led to an all-out war in May 1998. To quell overriding public fears that Eritrean invasion of Ethiopia was imminent, Meles made an extensive interview with one magazine, and said: “The history we have with Eritrea is written with blood and a gold ink. The hearsay that is spinning out of the public rumor mill is nothing but a cheap talk of the liquor house.” (Asser, a TPLF-owned, Tigrinya-language publication. March 1998). That infamous speech followed a month later by the cluster-bombing of Ayder school children and parents as well as civilians in Adigrat town was perhaps the single most powerful historical incident that changed Tigrainet members from passive onlookers to ardent, anti-TPLF Ethiopian patriots. Those who have been denouncing the Meles/TPLF clique as a danger to our country suddenly found ourselves welcoming a long line of a newly-arriving opposition delegates. Lions came out of their dens roaring. From writers, we became readers. It was a joyous moment when we began to reap what we had harvested. The conflict, despite its horrors, truly came in as a blessing for Ethiopian Unity. All Ethiopians roared at once, and the episode was summed up by one western diplomat, who put it as: “Isaias of Eritrea united Ethiopians in two weeks what Meles could not do in 7 years.” Once a taboo at TigrayNet, opposition to TPLF leaders became mainstream thought by 1999, one year into the conflict. From TPLF critic to Embassy PR Although I had received what could be construed as a “threat” from one TPLF functionary in DC a year earlier, the silence of the embassies during the war with Eritrea became a serious issue that had to be solved with greater expediency. Calling me from his office in DC, the TPLF guy had told me that what I was writing was being documented, and in fact, by then my postings had fattened to the size of a book. He said one guy in his office was deployed. and his job was “YOU!” “He follows up what you are doing daily.” In other words, what he was telling me was that the Sword of Damocles was hanging over my head, and I better shut up. I thanked him for doing a great service because who knows one day I may go into the office, and ask them if they could hand me back what I’ve been writing for years. Telephone threats have no meaning other than being a strong basis for a lawsuit. Anyway, when embassies could not do their duties, TigrayNet members suggested that a vacant job public notice that was posted at the Ethiopian Embassy in DC was the right job for me, and the house had to endorse the candidate to do the Public Relations work that may help stem Eritrea’s unstoppable disinformation barrage. This is to underscore the point that those of us who were underdogs one or two years earlier had already won the trust of the majority of Ethiopians at the forum, and were being fancied for “responsible positions.” With the exception of a minority, whose members were threatened with being washed away by the tide of growing opposition, and who would later reveal to us as the brothers-in-law of the either Sebhat Negas or Alemseged Gebre-Amlaks, my name was endorsed as a TigrayNet choice who must work in the Embassy in DC. I thanked those who placed their trust in me. However, I reminded the forum that what Ethiopia made the victim of Eritrea’s round-the-clock war propaganda assault was not a lack of distinguished Ethiopian scholars and polished diplomats of international caliber, but the falling of the Ethiopian political turf into the hands of the country’s enemies. No body was sent to DC. What for? How the war ended…and how the five border-commission jurists, no matter their reputation, and for whom they would tilt the scales, and how Ethiopia lost her territories were but a foregone conclusion for anyone who had paid a critical attention to the root-causes of Ethiopia’s woes. The Split of TPLF, the Birth of Solidarity, and the Re-emergence of TPLF Brothers-in-Law as Heirs of A Lost Power
There is no doubt that the split of TPLF was one of the factors that contributed to the birth of the Tigrian International Solidarity for Democracy and Justice (Solidarity) in August 2001. However, given the decade-long high-handed TPLF rule in Ethiopia, Solidarity was long overdue in coming. After the split, Solidarity found conditions conducive to fostering a democratic culture among Tigrians in the Diaspora. More matured Tigrians that had abandoned sharing their thoughts for several years emerged from different corners. Here in Seattle, we welcomed our cadre’s share in the name of Assefa Mamo. Assefa began to talk but slipped into the mistreating and vilifying…the long culture of TPLF…to hush us into silence as though we were part of a community in freedom-denied Tigrai.
He did not know that times have changed, and would be castigated in a way he has never seen before. Some resentful voices told him his offensive remarks were a measure of his party’s vulgar culture that should have long been torn asunder. I had a chance to air my thoughts as well. I cleared my throat, and raised my voice: “Ato Assefa, today you are no more rebels; you are no more freedom fighters. For over 11 years now, you have turned into functionaries of a regime that has destroyed the lives of our people. You are part of a tyranny. You are responsible for whatever crimes your government has committed. The Ethiopian people would take you to justice or bring justice to you the way they did to the your predecessors. The Derg were ordinary citizens before they assumed power, and became human wolves. You are no more different than them. The Ethiopian people will deal with you the way they dealt with the Derg as tolerating slavery has never been part of their glorious history.”
That should have served Assefa Mamo a wake-up call from his years of indulgence in years of political lunacy. A bewildered Assefa later confided in one of his ‘friends’, in Tigrinya, “Hamedan’u Lbele Defaryu?” (What a fearless menace?)
Yes, courage comes when you know your enemy inside out, when you know criminals have held your country hostage, and as criminals are deep down cowards, because they always approach you from a guilt-ridden conscience, they lose. Even if they do not read the public mind, their hunch tells them: “Anything that is morally wrong cannot be politically right.” In public, they may display a false look of being bold, but deep down, God knows how trembling knees are supporting the swollen bellies. The defeat for TPLF was the triumph for Solidarity. We witnessed Solidarity’s seasoned political activists from various corners: scholars, professionals, former and current political activists from TPLF, EDU, EPRP, TAND. In addition to spreading civic education, Solidarity saw a necessity in destroying the Berlin Wall Melesites had built for years in the minds of Tigrians. The yawning rift of animosity the Meles/TPLF clique created between Tigrians and other fellow Ethiopians began to shrink as Solidarity hosted a series of important seminars, and co-hosted Ethiopian rallies such as in New York City during the Border Commission ruling. Solidarity’s mission remains to help nurture democratic values and the respect of human rights in Ethiopia. However, this scenario raises three questions: a) Do we have to put the cart before the horse, and fight for the needs of the few TPLF dissidents whose secrets of conspiracy with Meles are now being exposed by none other than veteran TPLF fighters, or; b) Put the horse before the cart, and fight for the freedom of the people of Ethiopia, empower them with their God-given rights so that they would be the masters of their own destiny? c) Meles has lost power in Tigrai. Worse still, he has seen the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) welcoming Tigrai, and Tigrai welcoming EDP. EDP taking roots in Tigrai means teaming up with local democratic forces – many of them could be the tens of thousands of former TPLF members. The future triumph of EDP in Tigrai means Tigrai is coming out of the ethnic enclosure Meles and his slaves built since Day One. Rather than allowing the EDP Meles cannot control by any means, it is better for Meles to keep Tigrai under slavery by allowing an “opposition” party that would hatch out of TPLF under Tewolde-Gebru Asrat. So was Alemseged’s visit to the U.S. genuine, or something struck with Mr. Meles? Afterall both of them were politburo gurus!
Sadly, when the brothers-in-law were confronted with such logical reasoning, they forgot that they had told us they would tolerate everything we say, provided we send the 9 guys back to power. But when we tested their nerves, they went berserk, and resorted to TPLF leaders’ main old weapon: blackmail and character assassination that we saw as ingredients of “disinformation.” TPLF disinformation Manifestations in our life a) Leading war-front combatants are rounded up from Zalambesa, and tortured at Tatek Military Camp secretly (Fact). The gossip that is fanned into a wildfire by the cadres would be: “400 army members were found of being AIDS patients. The government took the measure of quarantining them because the soldiers were a risk to the public.”(Disinformation). And the unsuspecting public that only knows there is an AIDS hospice at Tatek but has no clue about the crime behind the arrest of the soldiers, would give its own verdict: “That is why they took them to Tatek. It is good for the soldiers that they may find a cure to the killer disease.” b) A Teachers union president challenges the nation’s educational policy (fact), but the government side would broadcast: “Dr. Taye was found conspiring to overthrow the government by force, and is sentenced to 15 years in prison.” (Disinformation). There is no independent judiciary to expose that crime, nor a free press that would carry out its own investigations, and expose the fallacy of the brutal government measure. Packed with malice, TPLF marches forward with its crime. c) Meles is charged with betraying a nation (fact), and the sentence is “Siye and Bitew Belay are sentenced to solitary confinement for “corruption.” (Disinformation). Here it is worth noting that TPLF used its own tactics to destroy those who laid down the foundation stone and built the evil organization for many years. d) A top commander from the war front is suddenly found murdered in his home in Addis Ababa (fact). TPLF would write its own version of the double-murders, and spread it as: “Colonel Berhe was shot dead by his wife, who also killed herself.” (Disinformation). If we are not aware to what extent has Meles/TPLF used disinformation as a lethal weapon, it would remain difficult for us to emerge from the political quagmire we have lived for over a decade now. A series of neutral looking web sites, newspapers, or even “scholars” have been and are being used to sow the seeds of division, fear and frustration among the justice-yearning wider Ethiopian communities. Given the political intrigues of TPLF, and its mastery at the use of the campaign of disinformation, outright blackmail and character assassination, Bisrat Amare, a 17-year TPLF veteran, and former TPLF senior security chief warns: “In the history of the few TPLF leaders – both those in power and those purged – there has never been any transparency within their closed circle. They rejoiced in destroying the lives of others. When, after 10 years of extravagant life in power, suddenly slipped into a power struggle, they began slinging mud balls at each other. As to my observation, TPLF leaders would go into the annals of Ethiopian history as criminal thugs who did a great harm to Ethiopia and Ethiopians.” No hard feeling to brothers-in-law, but the wheels of social change must keep rolling forward, and they would. |
