Ato Isayas Atsbaha AbayAiga Forum, Owner and Editor
San Jose, California
United States of America
Dear Isayas Abay,
Save our affiliation to parties/ fronts, we all have roughly “virtuous dreams” for our country. A vast majority of Ethiopians necessitate our politicians to succeed in bringing the much needed development to our country and in that tackling the evils of poverty, disease, illiteracy, dictatorship, repression and war even though the blazing statements thrown out from different aisles of parties/ fronts are unhelpful.
Alas, it is true and irrefutable fact that few in the opposition circle reject Meles because of his background (ethnicity, region etc.) as there are few from Tigray who buttress him because he is from Tigray and is Tigrean (though his mother was from Eritrea). The concept that the leader is “our race, ours…(in this case from Tigray…Wedi Tigary)” is by far and in all counts the feudalistic, regional and tribal complex, a complex of an exaggerated estimate of ones own value and importance, which surprisingly some in the opposition have also sought to claim and/ or reclaim. This is an outdated mentality and a backward thinking by which the civilized world buried and moved on for better. The perfect example and proof is that the mainstream in the United States have voted overwhelmingly to their first black president, Barack Obama.
Be that as it may, what I see in you is that more like supporting Meles regardless of whatever he does (because he is from Tigray and is Tigrean) which does not meet your level of maturity. I am mindful and aware of the fact that you are an Engineer with several years of experience working for Cisco (and may be other companies as well), well read, mature, and without doubt can deliver real issues way beyond belittling issues in relation to poverty, healthcare, investment, education, good governance, democracy, human right as well as parties/ fronts with legitimate/ illegitimate agendas. Furthermore, regardless of who we allegedly are ethnically and where we come from, I am not doubting your knowledge on Ethiopian history that most Ethiopians can trace our ancestors to common Tigrean, Amhara, Oromo, Gurage, Afar, Somali, Agnuak great, great, great…grand, grand, grand…mothers and fathers, to those who made us big historically, but in no ways our support sways towards repression over freedom. However, I have a feeling that you kept moving towards the center of ethnic favoritism, hate mongering, false accusation, character assassination and the like.
1. The most egregious and recent one is your inane and odious statements directed at Obang Metho. You claimed that Obang is being “used by the opposition to falsely present the impression that minorities had a meaningful role within their power structures when in fact, such roles were only reserved for insiders.” This statement of yours is mortifying, immoral and out of character which should not be replicated, and it is your moral duty to recant your statement.
2. You were also unfolding the good old days of Meles, the time he locked up Seye and his family in prison recently when you accused Seye for joining Medrek. You may say that Meles was victories back then and continues to be one (You continued to call him “the Lion”), but as the saying goes, “one person’s good old days is another person’s bad memory.” Hence, Seye and his supporters may forgive Meles but will not forget the fact that Meles put Seye in prison without the due process of law for the sake of protecting Eritrea’s interest over Tigray and of course Ethiopia. Hence, whatever you do, it is once again your moral duty to leave Seye and his family alone. He has suffered enough and yet joined the vision what has been considered “best for Ethiopia” by the majority of Ethiopians.
3. Character assassinations, false accusations, and hate mongering against Andargachew Tsige, Dr. Berhanu Nega, Judge Birtukan Mideksa, Hailu Shawel, Hailu Araya, Professor Mesfin Woldemaraim, Seye Abrha, Alemayehu Gebremraim, Obang Metho, Gebru Asrat and others are becoming your daily tasks, and it is getting worse by the day. Your act is immoral and unacceptable in all accounts, and you, Isayas Atsibha Abay, are responsible for using fighting words which would endanger the fabric of our society and country.
I, as an individual, hereby request you to come back to your reasonable conscience and stop your evil deeds. Nonetheless, please note that I am not in anyways trying to limit your freedom of speech as I don’t have the authorities of Meles Zenawi’s alike; however, I would like to inform you that your statements are "fighting words”-those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. “It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.” Individuals who propagate hate, false accusation, and character assassination like you need to bring their actions to a halt for the sake of our people.
The chapters we have recorded so far after the 1974 revolution are communist memoirs, manifestos etc where by oppressors and oppressed have been categorized, if not made up. Because Ethiopia did not have a proletariat class, Derg, Meison, EPRP, TPLF etc categorized ethnic Amharas as Oppressors and others as Oppressed, which is totally ridicules. It is totally absurd to cast Amharas as oppressors as they like most other ethnic groups still:
- wears Lemid (sheep or goat skin) with per capita income of less than a quarter a day,
- struggle to cop-up with drought and starvation, and
- farm as their ancestors did 3,000 years ago— with oxen, wooden plows and rainfall.
Under no circumstance, they fit the likes of oppressors. It is also wrong to portray Ethiopian former rulers in their entirety as Amharas when the unabashed history of Ethiopia had recorded all Ethiopians sharing the responsibility of governing and defending Ethiopia. The idea that Amharas were oppressors and Ethiopian former rulers in our long history were Amharas is simply baloney and an evil-child of Mengistu, Meles, Isayas, Iyassu, Lencho etc and blown out of proportion by people like you. However, this is not to say that there was no oppression; in fact there was oppression all over Ethiopia but it was not targeting selected few.
The next chapter we write needs to be a chapter which will serve the next generation to coexist peacefully without any regard to ethnicity and religion. In order to become Pro-Meles, I don’t think you need to engage in false accusation, hate mongering, demonizing individuals, character assassination and the like. You may support your dictator as you wish, but I personally beg you to repent for the sins you have committed on issues I mentioned herein above. If you can, join the struggle to democratize Ethiopia, the struggle for unity and sovereignty of Ethiopia, human rights, democracy, rule of law etc. If not, at least avoid hate and false accusation which will affect the next generation and the generation to follow. Please govern yourself in a Godly way.
The Week of Pains (the Himamat) is right at the corner, so please repent and think of all Ethiopians who are under siege, dire poverty, in their sick bed, in prison and/or lost their property or life without the due process of law.
Hope we will see the Dawn of Ethiopia soon.
Sincerely,
Dagmawi Dawit
Email: ethio_dagmawi@yahoo.com
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