Ethiopia: The Volcano, the Beast and the Tiger

Posted in Al Mariam's Commentaries By almariam On August 1, 2016

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. John F.
Kennedy
Beware what you wish for, you may get it

Meles Zenawi, the late thugmaster of the Tigrean Peoples

Liberation Front (T-TPLF) used to taunt the opposition that if they dont like his rule they can go into
the bush and fight their way to power like his rebel group did in 1991.
Be careful what you wish for; you may get it, teaches the old saying.
The events of the past year unmistakably point to the fact that the T-TPLF is getting its wish.
The people of Ethiopia are fighting back T-TPLF rule by engaging in mass demonstrations and
protests, acts of civil disobedience, other nonviolent actions and outright-armed resistance.
Open defiance to T-TPLF rule is observed in urban and rural areas. Just yesterday, a massive
demonstration against T-TPLF rule was held in Gondar. There are also reports that yesterday the TTPLF massacred citizens protesting in the town of Awodai, Hararghe, in Eastern Ethiopia.
The T-TPLFs generic and typical response to peaceful demonstrations and protests has been to engage
in indiscriminate shootings and massacres with impunity. I got involved in Ethiopian human rights
advocacy after T-TPLF thugmaster Meles Zenawi personally authorized the massacre of hundreds of
people in the post-May 2005 election period.
On June 15, 2016, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a major report on the T-TPLFs handling of
peaceful protests entitled, Such a Brutal Crackdown: Killings and Arrests in Response to Ethiopias
Oromo Protests. The report concluded, Over 400 people are estimated to have been killed,

thousands injured, tens of thousands arrested, and hundreds, likely more, have been victims of enforced
disappearances.
The T-TPLFs preferred method of conflict resolution has been and remains to be massacres, butchery,
carnage and murder.
I have long argued that unless the T-TPLF wised up and took opportunities for peaceful change, in the
end it will have only one option to stay in power: Operate its killing machine 24/7/365.
The big question is whether the T-TPLF can remain much holding total power through its killing
machine?
Can the T-TPLF use its federal troops to conduct massacres in every part of the country to ensure its
grip on power permanently? It is highly unlikely that T-TPLF local lackeys will turn their guns on their
friends and relatives to do the T-TPLFs dirty work of murder and massacres.
The history of struggle against tyranny teaches some enduring lessons.
The T-TPLF can use its killing machine to remain in power indefinitely is determined by two, and
only two conditions: 1) the capacity of the Ethiopian people to put up with T-TPLF crimes against
humanity, corruption, abuse of power, election theft, massive human rights violations and divide and
rule, and 2) the extent and rate at which the people of Ethiopia overcome their fear of the T-TPLF.
As the great American revolutionary Thomas Paine instructed:
Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to,
and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will
continue until they are resisted with either words or blows or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the
endurance of those whom they oppress.

In his book The Ethics of Nonviolence (2013 at p. 226), Robert Holmes argues:
For power dissolves when people lose their fear. You can still kill people who no longer fear you, but you cannot
control them. You cannot control dead people. Walk through a cemetery with a bullhorn, if you like. Command
people to rise up, clean the streets, pay taxes, report for military duty, and they will ignore you. Political power
requires obedience, which is fueled by the fear of pain to be inflicted if you refuse to comply with the will of those
who control the instruments of violence. That power evaporates when the people lose their fear

Using historical examples, in my September 2013 commentary entitled, The Diplomacy of

Nonviolent Change in Ethiopia, I examined the relationship between nonviolence resistance and
overcoming fear of tyrants and dictators.
I have consistently argued over the years that the history of nonviolent social and political change
shows people lose the fear of their oppressors when the burden of their material conditions outweigh
the fear of their oppressors. Simply stated, people lose their fear of their oppressors when they just
cant take it anymore. They come to a point where, regardless of risk to life, limb or liberty, they stand

up and declare their fight song: Enough is enough! We cant take it anymore! Were going to fight
back!
I believe the hour dreaded by the T-TPLF has finally arrived in Ethiopia.
The people of Ethiopia everywhere have declared to the T-TPLF, Enough is enough! We cant take it
anymore! Were going to fight back!
I believe repressed societies and volcanoes behave in much the same way.
Volcanoes may remain dormant for decades without giving the slightest signs an eruption is imminent.
A dormant volcano suddenly comes alive when extreme pressure and heat melts rocks in the earths
mantle and pushes it upwards. In the process, if sufficient gas can escape from the core over time, a full
scale eruption is delayed. When the pressure buildup reaches critical mass, a full scale eruption occurs.
Likewise, oppressed societies may remain dormant for decades without giving the slightest indication
of the pressure and heat buildup of deep, widespread, sweeping and pervasive dissatisfaction, anger,
resentment and rage. In time, these conditions fermenting and simmering deep in society begin to flare
up randomly.
The precursory volcanic activity first observed on Mt. St. Helens in the state of Washington in March
1980 was completely unexpected. That volcano had remained dormant for 123 years. National Park
brochures described Mount St. Helens as a beautiful and peaceful mountain to attract tourist attraction.
But in March 1980, a series of small quakes were detected for the first time in over a century. On May
18, 1980, without any signs, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurred accompanied by a rapid series of
events including a huge landslide at the time described as the largest debris avalanche on Earth in
recorded history.
The precursory activities leading to the current critical situation in Ethiopia were not detected until very
recently. The T-TPLF was doing business as usual kicking people off their land and handing it over to
its members, lackeys, supporters and friends. The T-TPLF was operating Ethiopia as a Mafiosi-state or
a thugtatorship. It did not expect the kind of determined, fearless, defiant popular eruptions that are
visible in the country today.
The T-TPLFs lack of anticipation of sustained popular uprisings is nurtured by hubris, arrogance and a
delusional sense of invincibility.
I was once told by someone claiming to be a T-TPLF insider that the T-TPLF leaders worldview
(Ethiopia-view) is shaped by two fundamental assumptions: 1) the T-TPLF organization, its leaders
and supporters are heroic, gallant, courageous, daring and united and that is why they are so totally
dominant of the society, and 2) the people of Ethiopia in general are cowards, spineless, selfish, easily
bought and sold and naturally incapable of unity or collective action. In others, T-TPLF leaders believe
as an article of faith that Ethiopians will talk the talk but never walk the talk.

Like the rosy description of the Mt. St. Helens by the National Park Service before its eruption, the TTPLF and its poverty pimp allies have been proclaiming that Ethiopia under T-TPLF rule is the fourth
fastest-growing in the world and what is more striking is that if Ethiopia sustains its current pace of
growth, it will become a middle income country by 2025. (Of course, as everyone knows, I have
shown beyond a shadow of doubt that such claims by the T-TPLF and its poverty pimp allies are all a
lie, damned lie and statislie.)
In May 2009, I wrote a commentary and detailed the psychologic of the T-TPLFs paranoia of being
pushed out of power and prophesied what we are witnessing in Ethiopia in July 2016:
They [T-TPLF] have been riding the Ethiopian tiger for nearly two decades. But one day they know they have to
dismount. When they do, they will be looking at the sparkling eyes, gleaming teeth and pointy nails of one big hungry
tiger!

I am afraid that the volcano that has remained dormant for the last 25 years is growling and
grumbling and the T-TPLF has come to the ultimate realization that it is sitting on the cryptodome of
the volcano. The heat and pressure is increasing inside the Ethiopian volcano as the T-TPLF ramps up
its oppression, repression, and brutality.
I am afraid the T-TPLF is now looking straight into the eyes of the tiger.
Behold the eye of the tiger! (Not a happy camper at all!)
In a March 2015 commentary, I repeated what I have been saying for years:
I believe the T-TPLF leaders know with absolute certainty that they are sitting on a powder keg. As I have written
previously, the T-TPLF has built its castles in the sand. The only question is whether those castles will be swept up
by a tidal wave of deep public discontent or blown away by the tornadic wind of the peoples fury. In either case, the
T-TPLF will be vacuumed and deposited in the dust bin of history. There is an immutable iron law of history the TTPLF should know if they dont know it already. Mahatma Gandhi articulated that law. There have been tyrants
and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall think of it, always.

I claim no power of prophesy in predicting the end of the T-TPLF. The T-TPLF itself has predicted its
own doom long before I have.
In June 2005, a month after the 2005 election, Bereket Simon, a one-time T-TPLF communication
minister in justifying the massacre of unarmed protesters that year accused the opposition of stoking
the fires of ethnic antagonisms and predicted: Strife between different nationalities of Ethiopia might
have made the Rwandan genocide look like childs play.
In 2015, in a secretly recorded conversation which I discussed in my commentary, The End of the
Story for the T-TPLF in Ethiopia?, Berket Simon and his comrade deputy prime minister Addisu
Legesse, plainly talked about the end of times the final days, the last days for the T-TPLF to a
group of their supporters. Legesse explained:

Looking at it from our situation, it is already getting out of our hands. There is no question about that. We can
see that plainly from the way the teachers organizations are doing things. When 2/3 of educators are our members
(of our party), and they are going out and demonstrating against us, that is the end of the story. I dont think it is
only Arena [party]. Ginbot 7 is also there. In Bahr Dar, I think, [anti-T-TPLF] flyers are being distributed. Havent
you received any? Papers? [Others present at the meeting chime in response.] It is also [distributed] in Bahr Dar.
But we do not know that, if you know what I mean. Flyers are being distributed and they are seen. So, I think they
have gone down to the cell level everywhere. It seems like there is something that has organized itself. So I think it
is coming from the Ginbot 7 area. (Emphasis added.)

My dreams of an Ethiopia at peace

I am not writing this commentary to recite the crimes, atrocities, villainy, wickedness and depravity of
the T-TPLF. I do not believe there is anyone who has documented, exposed, unveiled and relentlessly
opposed T-TPLF criminality more than myself.
I write this commentary for a very different purpose.
First, I see Ethiopia rapidly approaching the proverbial Rubicon River (if not in the middle of it), the
crossing point beyond which there is no point of safe return.
I will say what everybody is afraid to say because I am in the business of speaking truth to power, to
the power hungry and thirsty and the powerless.
I see a looming civil war in Ethiopia.
Second, I see the possibilities of nonviolent change, a personal mission I have undertaken day and
night for over 10 years, evaporating before my eyes like the morning dew. Civil strife on any scale in
Ethiopia will be a complete and total defeat of every effort I have exerted with every fiber of my being
for the last ten years; and I am not going to let that happen without a fight. (Yeah, right. Like the fight
of a humming bird is going to matter? Just a humming bird with a big heart!)
When I first decided to engage in Ethiopian human rights advocacy, I declared that I was the humming
bird that will do everything possible to douse out the fire slowly consuming the Ethiopia House.
In March 2007, I wrote an allegorical commentary entitled The Hummingbird and the Forest Fire.
It was a story about a humming bird trying to put out a roaring forest fire by carrying water in its tiny
beak. (Indeed, how absurd and delusional for a humming bird trying to put out a forest fire?!)
For the past ten years in my weekly Monday commentaries, I have tried to put out the forest fire of
ethnic hatred and division and sectarian conflict stoked by the T-TPLF in Ethiopia and prevent political
implosion. In this task, I have been as successful as the proverbial humming bird which tried to douse
out the forest fire with droplets of water carried in its tiny beak.

The forest fire that I spoke about in 2007 is today a five-alarm volcanic fire fast approaching the
Ethiopia House.
If good and patriotic Ethiopian men and women do not come together in aid of their country, there will
only be no Ethiopia House; only ashes and dust.
When the T-TPLF did not have much to lose such an outcome would have been their dream come true.
Now that they have become masters of Ethiopia politically, economically, militarily the prospect of
the Ethiopia House burning down has become a nightmare of gargantuan proportions for them.
Third, I am extremely concerned about the politics of hate in Ethiopia and in the Ethiopian Diaspora.
I don like it! I don like it! I don like it!
The T-TPLF has spewed so much ethnic hate and sectarianism over the last 25 years, it now stands
helpless as it is forced by circumstances to harvest the grapes of hate it sowed decades ago.
There is no question that the T-TPLF finds itself trapped in its own web of hate and loathing. The TTPLF sees itself going down a descending spiral into an abyss of hate and violence.
As Dr. King said, Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to
destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
T-TPLF hate has begotten more hate; T-TPLF violence has begotten more violence and T-T-TPLF
toughness has begotten an iron-willed toughness in the Ethiopian people.
Fourth, I am scared like never before. I am told that if the T-TPLF regime were to collapse swiftly,
things will be hunky dory. Opposition forces will come together and take over and set things right. I
am not so sure! I am talking as a scared human rights advocate, not an all-knowing politician. My only
concern is preventing loss of life in Ethiopia. Truth be told, I find myself standing in Esthers shoes in
Scripture asking, How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
Perhaps some may say I am crying wolf when there is no wolf. Maybe I am mistaking a fox for a wolf.
But there is a wolf. I see the wolf in clothed in the wool of ethnic hatred. I see him dressed in
sectarianism. I see him strapped in revenge, in rage ready to pounce and make waste of the innocent
poor.
Yes, the wolf is standing at the door; and I will do everything I can as a humming bird to drive him
away and never set foot in the Ethiopia House.
But I have always been hopeful. Despite the darkness of the T-TPLF in Ethiopia, I have always
believed it will be morning time in Ethiopia when the darkness is finally lifted.

In my July 2012 commentary, I wrote at length about my dreams of an Ethiopia at peace.

That commentary was a birthday tribute to Nelson Mandela, my hero, who was celebrating his
94th birthday. I wrote:
To restore Ethiopia to good health, we must begin national dialogue, not only in the halls of power, the corridors of
the bureaucracy and the military barracks but also in the remotest villages, the church and masjid meeting halls and
other places of worship, the schools and colleges, the neighborhood associations and in the taverns, the streets and
markets and wherever two or more people congregate. We have no choice but to begin talking to each other with
good will and in good faith.

I have written about truth and reconciliation in numerous commentaries over the years.
In my September 2013 commentary, The Diplomacy of Nonviolent Change in Ethiopia, I discussed
Dr. Kings lessons on achieving nonviolent change and reconciliation.
My purpose in this commentary is to restate with the fierce urgency of now the necessity for beginning
to talk to each other with good will and in good faith.
Of course, as someone who has absolutely no political ambitions but as a relentless human rights
advocate, I have the intellectual freedom to express my views; or as I like to say, speak truth to power,
the power hungry, the powerless and anyone else willing to listen to me preaching.
We are at a moment truth now. And I will speak the truth.
As I see it, there is one and only one question we need to answer: What do we do to get out of the mess
we find ourselves in?
We dont need to rack our brains for the answer. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has given us the one and
only answer to that question: We must learn to live together as brothers [and sisters] or perish together
as fools.
I prefer living together as brothers and sisters to perishing together as fools.
In a recent commentary written in Amharic, a former general of the T-TPLF, Tsadkan Gebretensaye,
offered an extensive analysis of T-TPLF rule and concluded with what appears to be a proposal (?)
to pull back Ethiopia from the brink of civil war, though he does not actually use the phrase.
After a recitation of well-established facts about the nature and practices of the T-TPLF over the past
25 years including well-known facts about the T-TPLF lack of good governance,
inequality, injustice, corruption, abuse of power, suppression of human rights, absence of the rule of
law, mass discontent with regime, internal dissension in the T-TPLF, use of military to stay in power
and the T-TPLF military industrial complex, etc.Tsadkan identifies three scenarios that could occur
with different degrees of likelihood, given Ethiopias current political circumstances.
In the first scenario, Tsadkan anticipates the dissolution and destruction of the T-TPLF regime because
of the explosive volatility of the current political situation in the country combined with foreign

agitation. He does not believe such a scenario is likely, only a possibility. He points out that the TTPLF has managed to suppress recent uprisings in Oromia using federal troops.
In the second scenario, Tsadkan anticipates maintenance of the status quo in which the T-TPLF regime
could undertake some cosmetic changes to buy time and prolong its rule. Tsadkan believes such a
strategy could delay the inevitable but not prevent it. Indeed, he believes such a scenario could result in
the political, social and economic problems taking deep roots making nonviolent change impossible
with potentially incalculable consequences.
Tsadkans third scenario is the anchor of his proffered proposals. He argues the best option available
now to avert disaster is to work for a peaceful and orderly change diligently. That means accepting the
fact that our countrys politics is in chaos, we must find a way to resolve the chaos by following the
constitutional process.
Tsadkan offers some ideas as solutions. He says it is necessary to open broad democratic space. He
proposes that individual and political rights must be fully respected and observed. Citizens must be
able to engage in free expression, political participation and open avenues in which the people could
express their grievances. Such activities could lead to free and fair elections. He proposes that
individuals with expertise in these areas should be engaged to draft methods.
I have no objection to these lofty ideals. After all, I have been hammering them for over ten years week
after week, without missing a single week.
I have explained my views on Ethiopias transition from dictatorship to democracy and things that must
happen to ensure a successful transition in my March 2012commentary, Ethiopia: From Dictatorship
to Democracy and April 2012 commentaryThe Rule of Law in Ethiopias Democratic Transition,
among others.
There have been mixed reactions to Tsadkans proposals in the Ethiopian Diaspora.
Many commentators have been extremely critical of him personally as well his analysys and proposals
for going forward. A sampling of the critical reviews could be summarized along the following lines.
Tsadkan
is a T-TPLF messenger with a mission of sending a trial balloon to gauge public reaction to the
ideas presented in his analysis.
is trying to throw a lifeline for the T-TPLF as the T-TPLF faces a tidal wave of opposition and
resistance.
is making proposals in the twilight of the T-TPLF regime to prolong its rule and buy it more
time.

is disingenuous at best and maliciously dishonest his proposal for peaceful and orderly change
guided by the T-TPLFs make-believe constitution which the T-TPLF routinely ignores and
trashes.
is at best misguided and delusional in believing the core political problem in Ethiopia is the
gross failure of implementation of the constitution.
is only pretending to criticize a regime of which he was and is a core member to gain credibility
with the opposition.
is pleading for the untenable proposition of letting bygones be bygones and starting fresh
without any mention of accountability for crimes committed over the past 25 years.
is unwilling to accept the brutal reality that the Franeknstein of ethnic politics the TTPLF created and nurtured over the past 25 years is about to swallow it up.
unwilling to face the fact that the T-TPLF made its bed of ethnic divide and rule and now
refuses to lie in it.
There are a few who have applauded his analysis and viewed his proposals favorably.
Those with a favorable view give him credit for seeking genuine solutions for the numerous and
serious problems besieging Ethiopia. Others suggest that Tsadkans assessment of current conditions
in Ethiopia pertinent, and somewhat unique.
I believe the critical reviews of Tsadkans analysis and proposals are cogent, legitimate and
appropriate.
I see little added value in adding my own critique to the existing body of exhaustive critical
commentary on Tsadkans piece.
But for the record, I want to register my principal objection to Tsadkans seminal proposal and bedrock
position, namely his insistence that solutions to Ethiopias problems must necessarily originate within
the framework of the T-TPLF constitution.
As I state below, the real solution begins with a simple act of compassion.
Of course, my views on the T-TPLFs constitution are well known.
Most recently, I set forth my views in my May 22, 2016 commentary, Does Ethiopia Need a
Constitution?. To quote myself, The T-TPLF constitution is one of the slickest constitutional scams
in history. Need I say more?

But I do agree with Tsadkan in his view that, As can be clearly seen, the current situation [in Ethiopia]
is a matter of extreme concern. We must engage in civilized discussion [and resolve problems] before
incalculable damage is caused.
I must confess that hearing a plea for civilized conversation from a former or current member of the
T-TPLF is just as disconcerting as listening to Atilla the Hun pleading plea for the establishment of the
rule of law. Touche!
But I believe in open debate and conversation with my adversaries. I believe in the free expression of
all ideas, including the ideas of my adversaries.
Many of my readers will recall that I defended the right of the late Meles Zenawi to speak at Columbia
University in September 2010 despite vitriolic Diasporic condemnation for defending Meles right to
speak his mind freely.
The late thugmaster Meles Zenawi used to say, it is impossible to talk to the opposition.
Meles was dead wrong. The truth is it is impossible to talk to the T-TPLF, unless of course, the
chattering of machine guns is considered talking.
I have always believed that Meles when he was alive and the T-TPLF have always believed opposition
leaders, dissidents and opponents are their intellectual inferiors. They believe they can outwit,
outthink, outsmart, outplay, outfox and outmaneuver them any day of the week. They believe the
opposition is hopelessly divided, dysfunctional, shiftless and inconsequential, and will never be able to
pose a real challenge to his power. They have shown nothing but contempt and hatred for them. At
best, they see the opposition as a bunch of wayward children who need constant supervision, discipline
and punishment to keep them in line. Like children, they will offer some of them candy jobs, cars,
houses and whatever else it takes to buy their silence. Those he cannot buy, he will intimidate, place
under continuous surveillance and persecute. Mostly, they try to fool and trick the opposition.
So I have no illusions about the T-TPLF and its modus operandi or the possibility of honest, forthright,
honorable and sincere conversation with current or former T-TPLF leaders.
But as a hardcore believer in nonviolent change, I am steeped in the philosophy that one must
necessarily engage in open, public, transparent conversation with an adversary.
First, a few caveats.
I do not know Tsadkan Gebre Tensae.
What little I know of the man comes from examination of opposition research and anecdotal
evidence from those who claim to have first-hand knowledge of him.

Opposition research suggests Tsadkan as a T-TPLF general has committed war crimes and
assembled substantial illicit wealth through his T-TPLF connections. He is said to be one of the
majority shareholders in Hibir Sugar Share Company and owns other profitable assets.
I have reviewed Tsadkans undated CV posted online on letterhead bearing the name and logo
International Chamber of Commerce Czech Republic.
In the CV, Tsadkan is listed as Chairman of the Board of RAYA Brewery s.c, South Sudan.
The professional skills/experience listed in his CV are principally related to military operations
although there are also references to research he has purportedly done on the impact of HIV/AIDS
on national security and implemented a program to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Ethiopian
National Defense Forces.
I have tried to locate online any political writings or analysis Tsadkan may have done, without success.
I am a bit surprised to see his latest article at this particular point in time. I thought to myself, What
took him so long to come up with this analysis and proposal ? Where has he been all these years ?)
I dont know if Tsadkan in his analysis and proposals is speaking for himself as a private person,
echoing the thinking of the T-TPLF echo chamber or directed by others to release a trial balloon.
I do not know if he is formally or informally representing the T-TPLF in his expressed views.
I have certainly not read any official commentaries by T-TPLF sources disapproving his view or even
acknowledging them.
I do not know if Tsadkan is making his proposals in good faith or is having read the handwriting in
bold letters on the wall.
I do not know if Tsadkans critical review of T-TPLF rule is genuine or if he is just shedding crocodile
tears.
I dont know if Tsadkan is making his proposals in a last ditch effort to protect his economic interests
and the interests of the members and supporters of the T-TPLF.
I do not know if Tsadkan is engaging in elaborate rhetorical posturing or playing mind games. I am
only all too familiar with T-TPLFs zero sum games.
With all due respect, I must say that I do not know if Tsadkan personally wrote his article or affixed his
name to a document written by a committee. (It is the professional lot of the lawyer to question the
authenticity every document s/he examines.)
Suffice it to say that if Tsadkan is trying to engage in gamesmanship in his analysis and proposals, he
has indeed wasted his time and ink.

In May 2011, I wrote a commentary entitled, Ethiopia: Beware of Those Bearing Olive Branches!.
That commentary had to do with my response to Meles Zenawis offer to negotiate with the
opposition following his 99.6 election victory in 2010.
If Tsadkans proposals are another batch of Meles-style olive branches, all I can say is, Nice try. No
can do!
I tend to believe it is probably hard to con a constitutional lawyer.
Having expressed only the tip of the iceberg of my doubts about Tsadkans motives and proposals, I
offer my own simple, easy-as-pie proposal for having a dialogue.
If Tsadkan or any T-TPLFers want to engage in genuine conversation about saving Ethiopia (some
might say saving Ethiopia from the T-TPLF), the starting point is not talking (talk is cheap) big and
saying nothing, but taking one very simple act that requires no more than a single signature. As they
say, An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.
If Tsadkan and the T-TPLF want to talk, they should start talking not with words but ACTION. For
action speaks louder than words.
There is one thing and only one thing that can serve as a decisive and irreversible breakthrough in the
urgent need for coming together in solving the diverse political problems of Ethiopia: RELEASE ALL,
ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS, NOW! Stop massacring unarmed protesters. Stop arresting, abusing
and harassing peaceful dissidents, journalists and opposition leaders and members.
There can be no conversation or communication without establishing minimal trust. No amount of
silver-tongued analysis and argumentation could establish cooperative effort for the common good
unless there is minimal TRUST between adversaries.
Tsadkan, T-TPLF, whomever: If you want to save Ethiopia, if you want to save yourselves, take one
simple act which you can accomplish with the stroke of a pen: RELEASE ALL, ALL POLITICAL
PRISONERS, NOW.
There can be no conversation, dialogue or negotiation or even pretension to such when thousands of
citizens are taken political prisoners and held hostage.
Lets start with hostage negotiation to free the tens of thousands of political prisoners in Ethiopia.
Building trust is as easy as RELEASING ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA TODAY.
If Tsadkan can arrange the release of all, all political prisoners, I say Games On!
If the T-TPLF frees all political prisoners, it will then itself become free to sit in civil dialogue with the
opposition to save Ethiopia and itself. Those who run a prison camp cannot expect to be free

themselves watching over their prisoners. The prison guards are just as unfree as those whose freedom
they have taken.
Of course, in articulating the foregoing position, I am strictly speaking for myself and for my cause of
nonviolent social change.
I am a human rights advocate, and an unabashed and dogged one at that. I have absolutely no political
ambitions which makes me free to say whatever I want to say; to say whatever my conscience tells me
and to say whatever the truth commands me.
I am sure there will be some who disagree with me. I recall my critics back in September 2010 who
said I was betraying my lifes struggle by defending Meles Zenawis right to speak unobstructed at
Columbia University. Critics are free to think whatever they wish.
Personally, my love for my Ethiopian brothers and sisters boundlessly exceeds any criticisms against
me personally.
Today, I feel like Esther in Scripture when she pleaded, For how can I endure to see the evil that shall
come unto my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
Speaking for myself and the cause of my struggle for nonviolent change in Ethiopia, I say to Tsadkan
and the T-TPLF leadership, If you want to save yourselves and Ethiopia, there is no better time to start
than now. You can do it! You must do it! Release all political prisoners now and pull back our country
from the brink of civil war. From the darkness of civil war. That is my proposal.
The alternative is civil war, yes civil war. That is a matter of life and death!
Let me conclude with a story about a little bird. (I like bird stories, especially Humming bird stories.)
Gerry Spence, one of Americas great trial lawyers, once delivered a closing statement in a criminal
case which captures my innermost feelings about what could happen to Ethiopia if Ethiopians, as usual,
miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity:
Spence argued to the jury (as I would now to all Ethiopians):
Ladies and gentlemen: I am about to leave you, but before I leave you Id like to tell you a story about a
wise old man and a smart-alec boy.
The smart-alec boy had a plan, he wanted to show up the wise old man, to make a fool of him. The
smart-aleck boy had caught a bird in the forest. He had him in his hands. The little birds tail was
sticking out. The bird is alive in his hands.
The plan was this: He would go up to the old man and he would say, Old man, what do I have in my
hands? The old man would say, You have a bird, my son.
Then the boy would say, Old man, is the bird alive or is it dead?

If the old man said that the bird was dead, he would open up his hands and the bird would fly off free, off
into the trees, alive, happy.
But if the old man said the bird was alive, he would crush it and crush it in his hands and say, See, old
man, the bird is dead.
So, he walked up to the old man and said, Old man, what do I have in my hands?
The old man said, You have a bird, my son. He said, Old man, is the bird alive or is it dead? And the
old man said, The bird is in your hands, my son.

I say to all Ethiopians and the T-TPLF, Ethiopia is in your hands.

Only you know if she is alive or dead or if she will be alive or dead.
Only you can ensure she lives forever!
But I am only a humming bird.
I will continue to do what I promised to do and have done every single week for over ten years, without
missing a single week: I will continue to try and put out the Ethiopia House fire carrying water in my
little beak.
That is all I can do without 100 million of my Ethiopian brothers and sisters joining me.
I do not complain. I do not grumble or gripe. Not one bit. It is a cross I have chosen to bear until I see
Ethiopia free, free like the humming bird, and at peace with itself.
May we all be wise like the old man? Think about it: Dont we have one and only one option: We
must learn to live together as brothers [and sisters] or perish together as fools. MLK
RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA NOW.