Monday, 12 January 2015

Andargachew Tsgie Before the T-TPLF Inquisition?


Andy Tsgie “Cirque d’Andargachew” presented by the Ringling T-TPLF Brothers
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) is often credited with the observation that one should “judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”
Voltaire also wisely observed, “All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” How true! The late Meles Zenawi and the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) have murdered thousands of people in Ethiopia and gotten away to the merry trumpets of their Western bankrollers.
Last week, the T-TPLF released a 10-minute and 31-second amateurishly stitched video of “answers” given by Andargachew Tsigie  to unstated questions put to him by a faceless  interrogator(s), and expressly invited viewers to render a “judgment of conscience”. 
In July 2014, the T-TPLF successfully plotted with the Yemeni regime to arrange the extraordinary rendition (kidnapping) of Andargachew Tsigie, who is the General Secretary of the Ethiopian opposition group known as Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy. In 2009 and 2012, the T-TPLF tried Andargachew in absentia on trumped up terrorism charges in kangaroo (monkey) court proceedings and sentenced him to death.   
I condemned Andargachew’s outrageous and illegal abduction in Yemen in mycommentary entitled, “Ethiopia: The Crime of Extraordinary Rendition”.    
Andy TsgieAndargachew is a British national of Ethiopian origin.  It is a shame he is a British national in name only. The British Government has done absolutely nothing to secure his release or to ensure that he is not subjected to abuse and mistreatment at the infamous  Meles Zenawi Prison.  For over six months, the British Government has been twiddling thumbs as Andargachew is trotted out for exhibition in the Ringling T-TPLF Brothers media circus freak show.   
The British Government has completely failed in its obligations to protect Andargachew under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The British Government speaks with forked tongue on the issue of protection of its nationals who need assistance abroad. British officials say “provision of assistance by consular officials or diplomatic authorities to nationals in difficulty overseas” is their bedrock policy. They also say consular assistance is not a legal right to which UK nationals are entitled:  “The UK Government is under no general obligation under domestic or international law to provide consular assistance (or exercise diplomatic protection).”  They further claim consular intervention to protect their nationals abroad facing or likely to face torture is an integral to the British Government’s anti-torture strategy. The English aristocrat, writer, poet and soldier Sir Walter Raleigh aptly remarked, “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!”
The British Foreign Office knows Andargachew has been sentenced to death twice in the T-TPLF’s kangaroo (monkey) courts and highly likely to face torture. All it has done so far is express regrets and issue fuzzy and equivocal statements about making “consistent requests for information from the Yemeni authorities”, complain about the “the lack of any notification of his detention in contravention of the Vienna convention” and express “our concerns about the death penalty that Mr. Tsige could face in Ethiopia.” According to one report, “Mr. Simmonds (Africa Minister) expressed deep concern that the Ethiopian authorities had not allowed consular access.”
“Whoopty freaking doo!”, as Yankees like to say. Big deal! Nice display of Crocodile tears by the British Foreign Office. I (don’t) wonder if there is a double standard in the protection of British citizens facing torture based on whether they are first class or second-class citizens. Let me cut to the chase.What has the British Government done to secure the rights or release of one of its second class citizens abused by thugs in Ethiopia?  Bloody ‘ell, nothing!
Anyway, back to the T-TPLF and its media Cirque d’Andargachew.
I accepted the explicit invitation extended in the T-TPLF video to “render a judgment of conscience” on Andargachew. (I am aware of the irony of the conscienceless asking for a judgment of conscience.) But how do I even begin to judge Andargachew based exclusively on “answers” he gave to a faceless interrogator and unstated questions at an unknown place and time!?
It was during the Spanish (Medieval) Inquisition that a man accused of heresy was judged exclusively by his answers. (Of course, the Nazis judged a man exclusively by his answers in their show trials (Schauprozess) as did the Soviets during the Stalin purges.)  In my view, what the T-TPLF has done to Andargachew in the 10-minute 31-second video recording closely resembles the medieval inquisitions.  The Inquisition sought only one right answer to a thousand different questions put to heretics and others, “I have converted!”
The inquisitorial process began with an invitation to suspects to denounce themselves if they feared they had been heretical and also to denounce others whom they suspected to be heretics. That was often followed by an official “denunciation” (accusation) and prolonged investigation while the suspect remained in preventive custodial detention.  The inquisition proceedings were conducted secretly. The accused was either never given formal notice of the charges or given notice of the charges years after their detention. Suspected heretics remained in detention isolated and cut off from family and friends during the period of “denunciation” and investigation. The procedural rule in an Inquisition trial permitted admission of “confessions obtained by torture as validly made by the confessor's free will” (the legal doctrine was “confessionem esse veram, non factam vi tormentorum”). An auto-da-fé  (“act of faith”) was the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates in the Inquisition, followed by the execution of the sentence imposed.
Is the T-TPLF’s video recording of Andargachew Tsigie “testimony” (“answers”) an exhibition of his self-denunciation and denunciation of his colleagues and others? Is the video “testimony” the T-TPLF’s equivalent of its own “denunciation” of Andargachew?  Is the video recording an evidentiary record of the proceedings of the T-TPLF Inquisition “trial” of Andargachew?  Are we being invited to “judge” Andargachew in the “court of our conscience” based on his video “testimony” given at a secret T-TPLF kangaroo (monkey) court trial?  Is the video recording supposed to be evidence of Andargachew’s public conversion to the T-TPLF creed of thugism? Is the video Andargachew’s auto-da-fe confessing, “I have converted to T-TPLF thugism”? Or is the video a recording of Andargachew’s final declaration and testament before the T-TPLF imposes the death sentence it had pronounced on him twice before?
Why is Andargachew being held incommunicado cut off completely from family and friends? Is he held in secret in prolonged detention without being  given notice of charges against him to show he is a heretic from the true faith of revolutionary democracy (whatever that means), or as I have  previously described it, abandonment of the the benighted path of “Melesismo”? 
Article 21 (2) of the Ethiopian Constitution guarantees: “Any person in custody or a convicted prisoner shall have the right to communicate with and be visited by spouse(s), close relatives and friends, medical attendants, religious and legal counselors.” Why is Andargachew denied his constitutional rights by the T-TPLF?
Andargachew continues to be held incommunicado and without due process of law. As the stitched video shows, he has been interrogated on at least 5 different occasions for an unknown period of time. Indeed, the amateurish video is so poorly cut and spliced, it is impossible to tell how many interrogations yielded the mangled 10-minute 31-second video.
There is no question that all of Andargachew’s video interrogations were conducted under duress. He was by no means  answering questions over afternoon tea and cakes.  Any questioning of a suspect or defendant in custody by police or prosecutorial authorities is an interrogation. Any answers given, particularly if they are self-incriminatory, are  admissions or confessions which could be used against the person at trial.  Article 19 (5) of the Ethiopian Constitution protects against coerced official interrogation.  “Everyone shall have the right not to be forced to make any confessions or admissions of any evidence that may be brought against him during the trial.” Are the video recordings of Andargachew’s “confessions” prepared for his “trial” in kangaroo (monkey) court?
The video recording in which Andargachew is giving “answers” is made while Andargachew is held in custodial interrogation, incommunicado (totally isolated from family, friends and legal counsel) and without the presence of his legal counsel. Therefore, his “answers” are in fact and presumptively deemed to be the product of coercion. The fact that all suspects accused of “terrorism” by the T-TPLF have been denied the right to counsel and other constitutional rights during interrogations and subjected to physical and psychological torture is further evidence that Andargachew’s interrogation is coerced. (See my commentary, “The Crime of Extraordinary Rendition”.)
What is the ultimate “conscience of judgment” we are asked to render after viewing the video? Burn Andargachew at the stake!?
Judging Andargachew by his “answers” in a 10-minute 31-second stitched video
I am totally at a loss trying to figure out the purpose(s)  of the 10-minute patched video of “answers” given by Andargachew, or the motives underlying its release. Is it intended to show Andargachew is not a “man of steel”, that he melted under withering interrogation in the T-TPLF’s torture chambers? Is it intended to show he has been rehabilitated and re-educated in the T-TPLF torture chambers and that he is now ready to join the Thug Brotherhood?  Show Ginbot 7 is a weak organization without strong or capable leadership and substantial public support? Show Andargachew’s hypocrisy, that he really does not “believe in armed struggle” but does believe in peaceful struggle and maybe an olive branch could be extended to him and his organization?  Show his heresy from his true cause and that has no confidence in his own organization or colleagues? Show that he has contempt for other opposition leaders and organizations and even individuals? Show he has deep reverence for certain T-TPLF leaders and the T-TPLF itself? Show that he is a bad, immoral and wicked man who should not be trusted?  Show Andargachew could be regarded as a reasonable man because he “answered” the questions the “right way” and “truthfully”?
For crying out loud, could someone tell me what the hell is the point of the 10-minute 31-second video!?!
It is manifest that the 10-minute 31-second video is stitched from video segments taken on at least five different occasions. Alternatively, some of the video segments were selectively cut and spliced from one or more extended  interrogations.  The editing and cutting and splicing of the video is so bad and atrocious that some of the “answers” Andargachew gives do not even make grammatical sense let alone attest to his political beliefs and analysis of specific issues. It is also manifest that the various video segments are stitched together to give the false and misleading impression of a whole uninterrupted video recording depicting the type of person Andargachew actually is.
I invite those who released the 10-minute 31-second video to post the complete video interrogations of Andaragachew for a verdict in the court of public opinion.
The first segment of Andargachew’s video “answers” begins 20 seconds into the 10 minute 31 second video. In that segment, Andargachew is wearing what appears to be a double-sided Navy blue athletic jacket with a white collar and a single white stripe down the arms with a green undershirt with white zippers to the collar. He appears to be sitting on a chair against a whitewashed background. (It appears the interrogators took lessons from my previous analysis of their interrogation settings and sought to completely eliminate any trace of the place and time of interrogation in Andargachew’s case. They should know that by trying so hard to conceal everything, they actually reveal a whole lot. More on that later.)  There is an unopened plastic water bottle to his right on the interrogation table. This segment appears to be cut and spliced at 30, 41, 55 seconds,… 2 minutes 3 seconds and so on. They have literally chopped the original full length video so badly that one could make sense of Andargachew’s “answers” only by digitally reconstructing the images and synchronizing  the audio with the lip movement using criminal video forensic techniques.
The second segment begins at 4 minutes and 29 seconds. Andargachew is wearing what appears to be the same jacket as in the first segment but with a lighter blue T-shirt with white trim around the neck. There appears to be a silver colored electronic device partial visible on the interrogation table to his right side. This segment is also cut and spliced badly several times.
The third segment begins at 5 minutes and 20 seconds. Andargachew is wearing what appears to be a black Adidas athletic apparel with triple white stripes on the arms. The video is taken in tight shot against a white background. The interrogation table is barely visible. It has also been cut and spliced several times from a longer interrogation.
The fourth segment begins at 8 minutes and 33 seconds. Andargachew is wearing what appears to be the same blue jacket as in segments 1 and 2. It is not clear if segment 3 is a continuation of segments 1 and 2 and cut and spliced for theatrical effect to exaggerate his responses. It is also likely the video editors and those who directed the production have no idea what they were doing in this segment. (They need to take courses in propaganda film-making or something.)
The fifth segment begins at 9 minutes and 36 seconds. Andargachew is wearing what appears to be the same apparel in segments 1 and 2. The fifth segment is also cut and spliced from a longer video at different points.
The public is invited to render a “judgment of conscience” on Andargachew based on snippets and sound bites from an amateurishly stitched, cut and spliced video that was recorded at an unknown time and place before unknown persons. His “answers” are questionless.  The “answers” are edited, cut and spliced together to reveal only the portions the interrogators believed would put Andargachew in a very bad light to the viewer. Across the five video segments, Andargachew’s answers are selected to make him look apologetic, regretful, uncertain, condemnatory of his life before abduction, accusatory of his colleagues and organization, weak, unintelligent, disoriented, subdued, repentant, ashamed, contrite, mournful, crestfallen, flustered, mortified, inane, witless and on and on and on. It is on such video recorded “answers” that the T-TPLF is asking the viewer to render a “judgment of conscience” on Andargachew. Nonetheless,  I accept the invitation to render a “judgment of conscience” on Andargachew!
The trial of Andargachew Tsigie in my “court of conscience”
I hereby render my “judgment of conscience” on Andargachew Tsigie based on a representative sample of “answers” he “gave” in the 10-minute 31-second T-TPLF video. I do not doubt that my readers will judge me to be a kangaroo (monkey) court judge after you read my verdict below. In my defense, I declare that I am at least an honest and fair kangaroo (monkey) court judge.
For the record, I am rendering my “judgment of conscience” on Andargachew’s interrogation with the following disclosures and stipulations.  I am “judging”  Andargachew  on the basis of an amateurish, cut, spliced and stitched video with extremely poor quality audio.  I do not have a clue about the questions to which he is giving “answers”.  I have no idea if he gave “answers” with knowledge that his “answers” will be presented to the public for a “judgment of conscience”? I do not know if he is aware that his “answers” will be chopped up and randomly cut and spliced for public presentation to make him look bad. I do not know if he is repeating “answers” that he was given to him in advance by his interrogator(s).
I judge Andargachew without any clue about his state of mind or body. I do not know if he was drugged or subjected to mind altering substances by his interrogators before he was coerced to give his “answers”. I “judge” him without knowledge (but strong suspicion) that he has been physically or psychologically tortured or subjected to abuse and treatment into giving his “answers”. I have no clue if he had been sleep deprived before he gave his “answers” or denied food or water. (In segment 1 of the video, there is an unopened plastic water bottle.  Was that his reward at the end of the interrogation if he gave all the right “answers” or just a stage prop?) He is shown wearing dark athletic apparels in the video segments and only his face is shown. Could it be that he is clothed in such a manner to conceal any physical marks on his body?
I am “judging” Andargachew based on incomplete and manifestly doctored “answers” to unstated questions. I am “judging” him by jumping to conclusions without any knowledge of what he said or did not say in the various full interrogations. I am “judging” him without any knowledge of the places and times of his interrogation, the identity of his interrogators, the number and types of specific questions he was, whether his “answers” were responsive to specific questions, and the identity of the officials who gave the order to interrogate him and their motives for releasing it to the public soliciting a “judgment of conscience”. I am “judging” Andargachew without knowing if he is responding to one or multiple interrogators? (Looking at his rapidly shifting eye movements across the room in the various segments, it is evident that he is trying to address several persons in the interrogation room.) I am judging him based on snippets of words he spoke taken completely out of context.
So, here goes my verdict on Andargachew’s questionless answers given on Planet Thugistan.
Andargachew “testified”:  “In the past, it was the most brilliant students who got involved in politics. If I listed the names of those who died [in the political struggle] you will be shocked.”
This is a true statement. Many brilliant, idealistic and patriotic young people died at the hands of the military junta in the 1970s. Other organizations used the young people as cannon fodder to advance their own political ambitions. I knew a few of them. History will remember them one day as the best and brightest of their generation.
Andargachew: “[Young people these days] if they get their degree and a little opportunity, they will go abroad to live. They will get a job and continue with their lives. They don’t even think like they want to stay and survive in the country. They don’t think that way…”
That is an undeniable truth. Let’s be honest. What young person in Ethiopia would not want to go to a place where s/he can be free to pursue his/her dreams? Is there a young person alive in Ethiopia who would choose to live under the rule of a bunch of ignorant and corrupt bush thugs? 
Andargachew: “[Ginbot 7] has looked at the youth in many ways. Young people believe in peaceful politics and they don’t believe in dying as in the old era of the EPRP. That’s long gone… Young people say, ‘We will express ourselves, go out and protest. Nothing will happen to us. This is a different era.’
This “answer” in segment 1 of the video is so badly cut and spliced that it is hard to understand the young people to which  Andargachew is referring. If I understand the “answer” correctly, it is true that young Ethiopians want peaceful change. They want change in barrels of love and knowledge, in barrels of ignorance or out of the muzzle of AK-47s. I do not know of a single young Ethiopian who would knowingly and intelligently choose war over peace, strife over harmony and enmity over amity.
Andargachew: “Ginbot 7 has serious problems. There were problems we did not see that we were forced to see… We have not been able to do what we consider to be core activities…”
It seems like a credible statement to me. I have no personal knowledge of the internal functions and processes of Ginbot 7, but it seems from Andargachew’s “answer” reflects the same problems every other Ethiopian opposition group is having today. Ho-hum!
Andargachew: “I have a question on how Ethiopian opposition groups can function in politics.  When the opposition does not know with transparency what the state is doing, I don’t know how they can prepare to work or come up with a manifesto or make election promises. The onus on transparency is on the state.  That is my belief. First, the opposition is fractured. Second, they should get together to accept this this big responsibility and work together…. There are certain highly individualistic values… One of the greatest problems is for groups to get together and work for a common purpose… I have never seen them write an economic policy. What is their economic policy?… I don’t believe in the idea that a thousand people could get together and make a political party… or five people form a party to struggle for power… Some of the opposition groups have 20 people when they have a meeting, the EPRP, Shengo, etc. They become 23 or 24 when our people are added to them… They are splintered and without unity of purpose… ”
This “answer” in segment 3 of the video is so badly cut and spliced, it is hard to understand exactly what Andargachew is saying about the nature of opposition politics. However, it is undeniable that the Ethiopian opposition is fractured, fragmented and unable to come together and present a unified front to the T-TPLF. It is self-evident that Ethiopian opposition groups are without their own clear and articulated programs or manifesto to deal with the country’s problems. I have been complaining about this very issue for years. Nearly five years ago, I proposed the establishment of a think tank to help opposition groups develop a unified political agenda and programs. (See my Huffington Post commentary, “Speaking Truth to the Truth Seekers”.) I have not had a single taker on my proposal!
Andargachew’s very last answer on the video: “There are a number of things that I have appreciated [abput my incarceration]. When I came, I had my T-Shirt and the pants I was wearing. In terms of food, I am in a situation where [my jailors] have been instructed to provide me any kind of food that I choose [avoiding sugary foods]. After I came here, I have become very healthy. I am in a perfectly comfortable situation where I experience no discomfort whatsoever. I walk and move around and I have lost all of the fat and become slim and trim.
I cannot judge the cuisine of extended stay “Burj Al Meles Zenawi” hotel. But there is something fishy about the lovey- dovey care Andargachew is getting at the Meles Zenawi Prison. We have been told by the T-TPLF that Andargachew is  the most “dangerous terrorist” ever. That is why he was given two death sentences, one in 2009 and another in 2012. In fact, he is so dangerous that he is the only person for whom the T-TPLF went to extreme lengths to make special  arrangements  for his extraordinary rendition.  Following his abduction in Yemen in July 2014, the T-TPLF described Andargachew in language befitting Osama bin Laden?
Why would the T-TPLF give the “Osama bin Laden of Ethiopia” the royal treatment???
If Andargachew is getting such royal treatment, how come he does not flick a single smile in the entire 10-minute and 31 second video?
I have seen the Andargachew movie (video) before
I have seen the T-TPLF do many ignorant, ill-advised, short-sighted, ludicrous, foolish and plain dumb stuff over the years. I watched in amazement when the T-TPLF put on national television a video recording demonizing  peaceful Muslim protestors as “terrorists”. In two pitiful and amateurish video “documentaries”, the T-TPLF tried to paint Ethiopian Muslims as fundamentalist fanatics. In two commentaries (Ethiopia: Land of Blood or Land of Corruption?” December 2011 and “Ethiopia: The Politics of Fear and Smear” February 2013), I fully defended the rights of Ethiopian Muslims to be free from official interference, manipulation and regulation. 
I saw the T-TPLF trying to tear Emperor Menelik II to pieces just to build up the late Meles Zenawi. I demonstrated in my commentary “Demonizing Ethiopian History” that when it comes to gravitas (seriousness and solemnity), pietas (duty, loyalty),  dignitas (dignity and charisma) and virtus (valor, character, courage), Meles had nothin’ on Menelik. Meles and his crew are literally in the bush leagues (third-rate, small-time) compared to Menelik. I don’t need to prove Menelik was in the Big League.  See the New York Times report of November 7, 1909.  
I have also seen the T-TPLF doing all kinds of silly, childish and mindless stuff over the years to humiliate Ethiopian opposition leaders, human rights activists and others. A few years ago, they secretly recorded the great Ethiopian stage and screen actor Debebe Eshetu in detention in exactly the same way as Andargachew and released the video. The public was invited to render a “judgment of conscience” on Artist Debebe.  I rendered judgment after viewing that trashy video. My judgment is that I have the greatest admiration and respect for Artist Debebe not only for his unrivaled thespian skills but also as a human rights advocate. I know Debebe Eshetu is a dedicated human rights defender. 
The T-TPLF pulled the same exact stunt with Abubaker Ahmed, the Ethiopian Muslim human rights advocate, and others.
There is nothing new in what the T-TPLF is doing to Andargachew. It is the same old crap on a different day and with a different victim! It must be hell to have no imagination!
I am dumbfounded by T-TPLF’s invitation to have Ethiopians judge Andargachew ONLY by listening to his “answers” in a stitched videos recorded over an undetermined period of time and unspecified location. What were they thinking? (That is a dumb question. They don’t!)  Who authorized the release of such a trashy piece of video? (Another dumb question.) Suffice it to say that the T-TPLF’s contempt for our intelligence is surpassed only by our total contempt for their ignorance, idiocy and stupidity. They want us to judge a man ONLY by his answers! Such is life on Planet Thugistan!
“Judging ” Andargachew by his “answers” but not his words
Andargachew’s interrogators tried to conceal the identity of his interrogators, the place and times of his interrogation and released a distorted and manipulated video recording of his “answers” to humiliate him with maximum theatrical effect. But there were “answers” within the “answers” he gave to his interrogators that told a very different story.
Expert forensic video analysis reveals quite a bit. Scanning Andargachew’s gestures in clusters, examining his body movement and position in the video segments reveals much useful information. Suffice it to say that there are many “inconsistencies” in the video “answers” released by the T-TPLF.  The T-TPLF video shows Andargachew fiddling with his fingers, making uncharacteristic wild gestures, flailing his hands in the air and his head bobbing and weaving, among other things. Scanning Andargachew’s gestures in clusters and comparing them to other known exemplars of previous video recording of his interviews and public speeches, it is clear that his entire presentation on the T-TPLF is demonstrably unnatural for him.
Examination of his body positioning, movement and posture in the various segments of the T-TPLF video reveal distinct signs that he was under extreme stress and undergoing anxiety when he gave his “answers”. Specific “answers” registered high for stress. His facial expressions (and lack thereof) vary dramatically from apparent stress emanating at  least partially from facing his interrogator(s) who likely were looking at him intently possibly evincing a demeanor of contempt or hostility. He makes a number of exaggerated postures and movements in his sitting position at the table (including stiffness and immobility) that are unnatural to him suggesting a high degree of physical and psychological discomfort.
Voice stress analysis of his “answers” suggest he was not making the statements voluntarily and that the content of his “answers” are highly dubious at best. It also suggests that his “answers” are not spontaneous but likely prepared in advance and possibly coached. His statements that he is getting the royal treatment at the “Burj Al Meles Zenawi” hotel is not only incredible but seems coached, unnecessarily over-the-top and ludicrously melodramatic.
The tone and pitch of his voice and inflection of certain words and phrases indicated stress which diminished with statements that appeared to please the interrogators.  There are also distinct patterns showing his “answers” lagging behind his physical gestures suggesting discernable incongruity of speech and body movement.
It is possible to infer from the patched video as a whole that Andargachew’s “answers” show that he was subjected to a stressful situation. His responses to specific answers suggest anxiety, uncertainty, hesitancy, fear, anger and even boredom. 
Is it possible that Andargachew is acting or play-acting in the T-TPLF video. Is he “answering” to sound believable without believing in the “answers”? I know the answer to these questions, but I will let my readers render their own “judgment of conscience”.
I am hopeful that the T-TPLF will include some of the foregoing elementary principles of “Video Forensic 101” in their next production of a video of questionless answers for the public’s “judgment of conscience”.
Is Andargachew a victim of Stockholm Syndrome?
Expert forensic video analysis also suggests that Andargachew may have been a victim of the so-called Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological phenomenon which occurs when a captive or hostage identifies with his captor. Such a victim often expresses empathy and sympathy to his/her captor and manifest certain positive and warm feelings toward their captors to the point of defending them. The victims equate lack of abuse and simple gestures as acts of kindness and decency. The very last “answer” Andargachew gives in the video strongly suggests that he may be undergoing a phase in the Stockholm Syndrome.
Let the media circus continue…
Let the media circus continue on the three-ring stages of the Ringling T-TPLF Brothers. Put on Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu and Woubshet Taye on Ring 1. Andualem Aragie on Ring 2. Bekele Gerba, Abubaker Ahmed on Ring 3.
I have rendered my “judgment of conscience” in the Inquisition of Andargachew Tsigie. I ask all my readers to do the same. Before rendering a verdict, I ask my readers to answer one question: Are you going to believe Andargachew’s tortured words or his tortured body language?
With special thanks to colleagues in the field of forensic video analysis for support in digital multimedia evidence processing. Muchas gracias a mis amigos!
poswted By Daneil Aleyu Zeleke

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Ethiopian Dreams for 2015 and Beyond


Dream 3“Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,… [and] see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams”
A Happy New Year to all of my readers!!!
I get to celebrate New Year twice every year. The first on September 11, the Ethiopian New Year. The second on January 1. I also get to make two sets of New Year’s resolutions.    
In my September commentary “Resolutions for the Ethiopian New Year (2007)”, I made a number of bold resolutions. Some of those resolutions may sound quite quixotic to some. I “resolved” to use my pen (computer keyboard) to help kindle the imagination of Ethiopia’s young people, fight creeping cynicism, help defang the gnawing hope(help)lessness and paralyzing despair of the people, teach and preach human rights in new and different ways and strive to change the public debate from the politics of hate to the politics of love, among others. No doubt, all of them are audaciously quixotic.  I believe New Year’s resolutions, by their very nature, must be overambitious, idealistic and even unrealistic and impractical.
When one is making “resolutions” in the cause of human rights for the New Year, it is important to anchor them in reasoned idealism because the struggle against tyranny and for human rights is itself a titanic struggle between good and evil. But “neither good nor evil can last forever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand”, wrote Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in “Don Quixote”, arguably  the “best literary work ever written.” I believe evil has prevailed in Ethiopia for so long that good must be around the corner in 2015!   Therefore, grand and grandiose resolutions and dreams for 2015 and beyond are in order.
One of the grandiose or grand resolutions I made for the Ethiopian New Year was to “articulate my version (not vision) of the Ethiopian Dream and challenge others to articulate theirs.” But first, what are dreams?  What does it mean to dream? What is the difference between dreams and nightmares?
Dreams are unique to the dreamer. The dreamer dreams his/her own dreams and creates meaning out of them and turns them into reality. Dreams are very important not only to individuals but also nations. Dreams drive individual ambition. Apple’s Steve Jobs had a dream of “putting a computer in the hands of everyday people.” He ended up creating the most desirable consumer electronic products of all time. To Jobs, his dreams were his life. “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me,” declared Jobs.
Dreams are vitally important for nations and societies. The Framers of the American Constitution dreamed an impossible dream, a dream undreamt before they set themselves to dream. They dreamt of a republic with aim of “forming a more perfect union, establishing  justice and securing the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity.”
Unfortunately, their dreams left out Africans forcibly shipped to America and trapped in the nightmare of slavery. A descendant of those slaves by the name of Martin Luther King two centuries later demanded a share of the "American Dream" and immediate payment on the “promissory note” made at the inception of the Republic “that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable Rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’”
Sigmund Freud observed “dreams are the royal road to the unconscious,” the substratum below the conscious mind where we sweep and bury our less civilized thoughts and emotions. He also believed dreams are a form of “wish fulfillment”, a process by which the unconscious seeks to resolve deeply buried conflicts. I believe our nightmares are chained deep in our subconscious and unchain themselves at will in the darkness of the night. 
Dreams are the medium for divinity to pass on sacred revelation and prophecy.  In the Old Testament, God used dreams and visions (“walking dreams”) to make his commands known. God made Solomon an offer in a dream: “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” Solomon chose wisdom, “a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” In Acts, God decreed, “… and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…”
Some Native Americans believe good and bad dreams (nightmares) fly invisibly around in the darkness of the night.  They have  a tradition of  hanging “dream catchers”, a simple handmade object of knotted thread (web) over hoop, over their beds to trap and exclude bad dreams (nightmares) and let in only good dreams. The “dream catchers” symbolize the struggle between good and evil. If we dream of good things, when we wake up in the light of the day we do the right things. But if we choose the path of evil, we will have nightmares and find ourselves on the dark side. Good dreams are in harmony with Nature and the Great Spirit.  
There are dreams and there are dreamers. Mahatma Gandhi was dreamer. He taught us to hold onto our dreams. “Always believe in your dreams, because if you don’t, you'll not have hope,” preached Gandhi.  His advice to dreamers was to keep hope and the dream alive in a crucible of perseverance and determination. He counseled dreamers: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) followed in Gandhi’s footsteps and won. Dr. King’s dream was to see the descendants of “millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice” emerge into “a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.” He dreamt “that one day [America] will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.’” Indeed, he believed it is a self-evident truth that all men and women are created equal.
MLK and Malcom X had profound differences about the “American Dream”.  Malcom said, for “twenty million [negroes] in America who are of African descent, it is not an American dream; it’s an American nightmare.” He was rightfully bitter about the long history of injustice, indignity, discrimination and segregation imposed on African Americans.
MLK advocated pursuit of the “American Dream by” using the “weapon of love” against which resistance is futile.  He promoted civil disobedience in the form of non-violent protests, peaceful non-cooperation with the oppressor and passive resistance as justifiable methods of fighting social injustice. Malcolm wanted to eliminate the “American Nightmare” “by any means necessary”. Then he went to Mecca and realized that what matters is not the color of the skin but the color of the heart. The color of love always outshines the  color of hate.
Nelson Mandela also won following in the footsteps of Gandhi and MLK. Madiba languished in apartheid prisons  for 27 years, head unbowed and unafraid, dreaming about a free South Africa. In his presidential inaugural speech, Madiba proclaimed his dream: “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a great dreamer in her own right. She dreamt that all human beings wherever they may be have rights which should be protected by law. She dreamt up the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” [UDHR] (1948) which set a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations” with respect to equality, dignity and rights. Mrs. Roosevelt chaired the committee that drafted the UDHR. She is the mother, the unsung she-ro, of the global modern human rights movement. Imagine! Without Eleanor, there would have been no UDHR; and without the UDHR, it is doubtful the plethora of subsequent human rights conventions and regimes would have come into existence.
The dreams of some people became nightmares for millions of others. Hitler’s dream of a superior master Aryan race to rule the world resulted in the deaths of untold millions of Jews and other peoples. Stalin’s dream of a Soviet superpower led to the deaths of millions of suspected opponents, deportations of millions of others into forced labor camps and forced induction of millions of peasants into collectivized farms.
The late Meles Zenawi dreamt of an Ethiopia permanently divided by ethnicity, split by language differences, antagonized by religion and separated by region or kililistans, a slightly modified version of apartheid Bantustans. He dreamt that he will rule with an iron fist for at least fifty years, and his Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) party for at least another one hundred. The Meles Nightmare has filled the official and secret prisons in Ethiopia with tens of thousands of political prisoners and earned Ethiopia the dubious distinction of being “one of the most notorious press freedom violators of the world.” Meles’ and his party’s dream proved to be a Kafkaesque nightmare for Ethiopians (a nightmare filled with real life kangaroo/monkey courts, a thoroughly corrupt bureaucracy and an oppressive and thieving gang of faceless, nameless, ruthless and conscienceless power-hungry thugs) operating as a state within a state.   
Dreams are not limited to great political causes. Millions of people dream of personal gains every day. Some dream of fortune, others of fame. But for a few chasing a financial dream is not enough. They have deeper and grander aspirations. They are on a Quest.
Dreamers are not chosen; they are self-made. Ordinary people can be great dreamers.  Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu,  Woubshet Taye , Andualem Aragie and many others like them are ordinary young  Ethiopians who dared to dream. Eskinder dreamt of the inevitability of freedom in Ethiopia. He emphatically argued, “Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries. Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia.”
Reeyot was willing to pay the price for the courage of her dreams: “Shooting the people who march through the streets demanding freedom and democracy; jailing the opposition party leaders and journalists … preventing freedom of speech, association and the press; corruption and domination of one tribe are some of the bad doings of our government. I knew that I would pay the price for my courage [to report] and I was ready to accept that price.” She is paying for her dreams with a 14-year sentence.
Andualem Aragie, a brilliant and quick-witted lawyer and opposition party leader, proclaimed his dream of a collective struggle for a collective victory over oppression. He dreamt of leaving a legacy of freedom to the coming generations. “I ardently believe that there is nothing more precious in this world than freedom for which man could live and die… That the Ethiopian people are unable to be masters of their freedom is primarily the failure of the Ethiopian people themselves… We Ethiopians should wage a well-planned and strengthened struggle for our freedom in unison, undivided by politics, religion, age or economic class. The secret of our failure to be free lies in the fact that we individually or in unison have been unable to wage a struggle that gave priority to the wellbeing of the people and of the coming generations and to the future of the country as a whole. There is no concern for each of us and each of us has no concern for all.”
Bekele Gerba, a resolute opposition leader, dreamt of a country where there are no first class, second class… citizens. He stood against the nightmare of four classes of citizenship created in Ethiopia by the TPLF: “the first-class citizens are those who are in power to give away land; the second-class citizens are those who receive land; the third-class are those who are reduced to observer-roles of such illicit transactions; the fourth-class are those whose land is taken away from them by force.”   
Abubaker Ahmed, a human rights advocate for religious freedom, dreamt of a country where the rule of law reigns supreme and the supreme law of the land is respected irrespective of who happens to be in power. “We are not opposed to any administration. All we are asking for is that the Constitution be respected. All we are saying is those bodies that say they respect the Constitution actually respect the Constitution.”
Dreams will not amount  to much without persistent and determined action to make them realities. To make dreams come true one must have absolute faith in one’s dreams, be passionate about them, create a plan of action and get busy. To give up on one’s dreams is like drowning in a sea of despair and hopelessness.  
My Possible Ethiopian Dreams
I fancy myself a dreamer. Not like MLK, Mandela, Eskinder and the others.  Just an ordinary academic and lawyer who became an accidental dreamer.  Until the late Meles Zenawi personally ordered the massacre of hundreds of unarmed protesters following the 2005 election, I had only one dream, the American Dream (“California Dreamin’”). But I was not merely in partial pursuit of the American Dream seeking material fulfillment. I wanted the whole kit and caboodle of the “American Dream” for which MLK worked and gave his life. To me the American Dream is a point in spacetime, where, as Thomas Wolfe described it, “…to every man [and woman], regardless of his [her] birth, [has] his [her] shining, golden opportunity ….the right to live, to work, to be himself [herself], and to become whatever thing his [her] manhood [womanhood] and his [her] vision can combine to make him [her].”
The nightmare of the Meles Massacres of 2005 forced me to nurture a parallel Ethiopian Dream. It is a dream born of a nightmare of massacres and unspeakable crimes against humanity and the Almighty. It started as a dream deeply beset by visions of criminals against humanity brutalizing the people and pillaging and plundering the land of our ancestors. It became a dream driven by the moral imperatives of opposing brutality, barbarity and atrocity against humanity. Over the years, the dream born of a nightmare has become a happy dream of national unity, legal and moral accountability and democratic civility. It has become a dream about the release of all political prisoners from captivity. It has become a dream about free expression, and of a free press and of an independent judiciary and of good governance and of...
In 2012, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Dreams of an Ethiopia at Peace” and tried to explain my qualifications for being a bona fide dreamer. I argued that a true human rights advocate is eligible to be considered a dreamer because s/he “has no political ambition. The politics of human rights is the politics of human dignity, not ideology, political partisanship or the pursuit of political office. The committed human rights advocate thrives on hopes and dreams of a better future, not the lust for political power or craving for status, position or privilege.”
As a dreamer, I am constantly haunted by the decades-old nightmare that has enveloped Ethiopia. My ultimate dream of Ethiopia at peace is sobered by Ethiopia's recent history and politics. Political transitions in Ethiopia have been nightmares, a race to rock bottom. The transition from monarchy to military socialism proved to be a colossal disaster. In the name of socialism, millions perished from political violence and famine. The transition from military ‘socialism’ to ‘revolutionary democracy’ led to the creation of a police state in Ethiopia unrivaled in the modern history of Africa. The flicker of democracy that was seen in 2005 was snuffed out in the blink of an eye. Despite this nightmare history, I still dream of Ethiopia at peace with itself.
In my January 2010 commentaries, “Ethiopia: The Future of the Future Country, Part I and Part II, I saw visions of a nightmare to come in just a few decades -- the Four Horses of the Apocalypse -- as a result of the incompetence and crimes of the late Meles Zenawi and his the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front. Then as now, I am haunted by the nightmare of an environmental collapse in Ethiopia. I am haunted by the specter of overpopulation, deforestation and habitat destruction, soil degradation, decline in potable water supply and water pollution, overgrazing, desertification and so on as the unmistakable present warning signals of future collapse.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in less than 35 years, Ethiopia’s population will more than triple to 278 million, placing Ethiopia in the top 10 most populous countries in the world. Ethiopia’s population growth has been spiraling upwards for decades. In 1967, the population was 23.5 million. It increased to 51 million in 1990 and by 2003, it had reached 68 million. In 2008, that number increased to 80 million. By 2014, Ethiopia’s population is estimated at 98 million.  Since 1995, the average annual rate of population growth has remained at over 3 percent. Even if the population doubled by 2050, how can Ethiopia survive without decisive, planned and massive intervention now?  The environmental and demographic catastrophe that is likely to take place in Ethiopia in a little over three decades not only gives me nightmares at night and in broad daylight, it plain out scares the hell out of me.  
I am haunted by the nightmare of all nightmares: What is the end of a regime that has styled itself along apartheid South Africa?  Would it end as poet T.S. Eliot  predicted in the last stanza of his poem, “The Hollow Men”: /…/This is the way the world ends/This is the way the world ends/This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper. What is the likely end of the “hollow men” of the TPLF?
I have also been (pipe)dreaming of Africa. In my April 2014 commentary, “Is There Any Hope for Africa”, I wrote about my “pipe dream that one day in Africa government wrongs will be redressed by human rights; and that African governments will fear their people and the people will forever  cast off their fear of their governments. Such are the pipe dreams (daydreams) of a utopian Ethiopian for Africa.”
I dream because a dreamless life is not worth living in much the same way as the unexamined life, as Socrates taught. 
I believe George Bernard Shaw best explained why it is necessary to dream. Heartbroken by the poverty and malaise in Europe following  WW I, Shaw in Act I of his play “Back To Methuselah”, poses the question to end all questions: “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’" (lines sometimes incorrectly attributed to Robert F. Kennedy).  
For me “dreamers” are people with above average imagination, the key ingredient in any dream. As Einstein observed, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Dreamers are intellectual factories of imagination.  They imagine possible dreams from impossible dreams. Dreamers see hills and mountains to climb and eagerly and enthusiastically ask how many more hills and mountains there are left to climb. They keep on climbing hill after hill, mountain after mountain “Step by step, bit by bit, stone by stone, brick by brick, day by day, mile by mile they go on [their] way,” as Whitney Houston would sing it.
I have listened to the speeches and interviews of countless Ethiopian political, cultural and religious leaders over the years. Frankly, I hear them speak words but I do  not see them dream. I do not see dreams in their   words. I do not even see silhouettes of hope and confidence in the future in their words. I only hear words that accentuate the  “jangling discord of our nation” but not “transform into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood”, to echo MLK.   
I have even followed the narrative of the late not-so- “great visionary leader.” I have yet to figure out what his vision (“dream?”) was or is supposed to be. His disciples swear up and down that they will follow his “vision”.  Perhaps vision is in the eyes of the beholder. A nightmare dreamt up in cauldron of hate is mistaken for vision. For some, fantasy and delusions are the equivalent of a dream.
I have heard all sorts of world leaders talk about their dreams.  I followed Chinese President Xi Jinping speak of the  “Chinese Dream”. It is a dream of “national rejuvenation, improvement of people’s livelihoods, prosperity, construction of a better society and military strengthening.” He urged the young people of China to “dare to dream, work assiduously to fulfill the dreams and contribute to the revitalization of the nation.”
There is no reason why Ethiopians cannot have their own “Dreams”; or why Ethiopians from all walks of life, and particularly those in leadership positions or aspiring to same and those blessed with learning cannot articulate their own versions of the “Ethiopia Dream.” 
So what are my “Ethiopian Dreams” for 2015 and beyond?
I dream of Ethiopia at Peace.
I dream of Ethiopia as nation united by its history and suffering of its people.
I dream of brotherhood and sisterhood in Ethiopia.
I have a dream that Ethiopians will find unity in their humanity instead of their ethnicity .
I have a dream that all Ethiopians regardless of ethnicity, religion and region will subscribe to the creed, “I am my brother’s, my sister’s keeper.”
I have a dream that the Truth shall rise from the ashes of lies and lead all Ethiopians on the path of reconciliation in Ethiopia.
I have a dream that human rights will one day extinguish government wrongs in Ethiopia.
I have a dream that Ethiopians will come to understand the futility of war and conflict and the utility of collaboration and cooperation in nation-building  despite differences.
I dream the rule of law will forever banish the nightmare of rule by outlaws in Ethiopia.
I have a dream that Ethiopia will rid itself of tyranny and dictatorship and enjoy a true multiparty democracy with iron clad protections for human rights.
I dream of Ethiopia’s learned men and women using their intellectual powers to teach, preach and touch the people.
I have a dream that Ethiopians in my generation will one day wake up from the slumber of fear, despair, self-doubt and self-interest and dream of lasting legacies for the next generation.
I dream of tolerance and civility among all Ethiopians.
I have a dream that all Ethiopian political prisoners will be released and rejoin their families.
I have a dream that all criminals against humanity in Ethiopia will be brought the bar of justice.
I have a dream that this generation will leave a lasting legacy of peace, freedom and democracy to the coming generations.
I have a dream that Ethiopians will be blessed with the wisdom to believe in themselves and disbelieve those who seek to gain political advantage by manipulating and dividing them.
I have a dream that Ethiopia’s young people will put their shoulders to the wheel and take full charge of their country’s destiny; leave behind the politics of hate and ethnicity; turn their backs on those wallowing in moral bankruptcy and create a New Politics for a New Ethiopia based on dialogue, negotiation and compromise.  I dream they will  learn from the wisdom of their ancestors: “Tomorrow belongs to the [young] people who prepare for it today.”
I promised in my Ethiopian New Year Resolution that I hoped to articulate my version (not vision) of the Ethiopian Dream and challenge others to articulate theirs. So I challenge my fellow “Ethiopian Dreamers” once again to stay true to their dreams in the poetic words of Langston Hughes:  “Hold fast to dreams,/ For if dreams die/ Life is a broken-winged bird,/That cannot fly.” Or soar!   But…
“What happens to a dream deferred?” Does it become a nightmare?
Dreams often come true. Some dreams turn into nightmares. The dreams that are deferred are the most enigmatic ones. That is why Langston Hughes poetically asked,
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-- / And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat? /Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags / like a heavy load
Or does it explode?
The possible Ethiopian Dream is my Quest
Am I chasing impossible dreams? Am I tilting at windmills?
In the opening sentences of this commentary, I noted that my “resolutions” for the Ethiopian New Year may sound grandiose and quixotic. I even made a cryptic reference to Cervantes’ great work, “Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha”.  That was not merely a literary trope. For I, like the Man of La Mancha, am on a Quest, a pursuit of a possible dream locked inside an Impossible Dream. In the lyrics of The Quest (composed by Mitch Leigh, with lyrics written by Joe Darion) in the Broadway musical “Man of La Mancha”, I dream…
The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
To dream the impossible dream/To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow/And to run where
the brave dare not go/To right the unrightable wrong
And to love pure and chaste from afar/To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star/This is my quest
To follow that star/No matter how hopeless
No matter how far/To fight for the right
Without question or pause/To be willing to march,
march into hell/For that heavenly cause
And I know/If I'll only be true
To this glorious quest/That my heart
Will lie peaceful and calm/When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be/better for this
That one man, scorned /and covered with scars,
Still strove with his last /ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable, /the unreachable,
The unreachable star/And I'll always dream
The impossible dream/Yes, and I'll reach
The unreachable star
A life without dreams, like the unexamined life, is not worth living.
A HAPPY 2015 TO ALL MY READERS!!!
posted by Daneile zeleke