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    Netsanet Zeleke (Addis Ababa)
Since the time I heard the news that one of our heroes, namely, Hailemedhin Abera, has “hijacked†the plane he was co-flying, Boeing 767, and landed in Geneva, I have been browsing the net to get some more information about this small land-locked European nation, Switzerland. Then, though the case of this young co-pilot is not yet made public to the media, and though I should wait for some time to have a clearer picture about the motive(s) of this dynamic citizen of our country from the horse’s mouth, I just went off my patience and wrote this letter taking into account the empirical conditions of my country and the information I gleaned from Ethiopian opposition media outlets, the pilot’s family, and his workmates. And I pray to God to have at least one Swiss official who would read and take heed of what I say here now. I speak my mind; if there is no human listener, the air, the soil, and the water will be listening to our grievances, and at the end of the day, God will judge us all according to our actions, reactions, or inactions. It is therefore much better to listen to and have empathy with others’ griefs, generally as a human being and particularly as an Ethiopian, if you are one.
The Journey of Apartheid from South Africa to Ethiopia
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           Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic state located in the horn of Africa. She is estimated to have about 90 millions of people with a diversity of religions and cultures. But all these people have many things in common as Ethiopians; they share communal ethical and moral values, they used to live under the same flag and national anthem, they have the same color and similar psychological makeup, etc. This has been true especially up until 1991 before the apartheid system was in place in May, 1991. The apartheid we have is something to be cited as the first of its kind which has never been observed in any country in the world.
In 1990, the Apartheid System was chased out of South Africa. That apartheid was officially declared in 1948 to segregate the black majority from the benefits of South Africa. Following that declaration, the white minorities were situated on top of every privilege in that country while on the other hand the majority of the black population was doomed to every sort of suffering and poverty. In this great historical event of removing apartheid, at least from serving as state machinery, two world class citizens are always in our mind: Nelson R. Mandela and F.W. de klerk. These selfless individuals will remain alive in history. But on the regretful contrary, that apartheid was immigrated to Ethiopia and made the policy of the ethnocentric junta which seized the political power immediately after the central dictatorial government was toppled by popular uprising mainly led by EPLF and TPLF in 1991. The very fact that the apartheid which was driven out of the country of Nelson Mandela was accepted as a state policy in Ethiopia remains to be an irony of history. This is so because Nelson Mandela was here in Ethiopia for some assistance by the then government and he used to love this country for her successful anti colonial movement; as a matter of historic enigma, the fugitive apartheid run out of Mandela’s country and freely entered Ethiopia, perhaps the only country which staunchly fought it and served as sanctuary to ANC members in the time of the struggle. This reality is what makes this case astoundingly peculiar in the history of mankind. To your surprise, there is no apartheid now on earth other than Ethiopia. As of the time apartheid was happily entertained by the ethnic junta of TPLF (By the way, this junta has a baptismal fake name known as ‘EPRDF’.), Ethiopia and the majority of non-Tigrian Ethiopians have been under the tyranny of this apartheid which was applied amongst people of same color and some other basic common backgrounds, such as religion and culture.
Ethiopia has over 80 languages; amongst these Amharic, Oromifa, and Tigrigna are the most prominent ones. Amharic has been and still is the working language of the so called federal government of Ethiopia [N.B. The TPLF’s ‘federation’ and ‘democracy’ are absolutely fictitious and a make-believe to deceive donors and creditors. To whichever “regional state†you may go, the key statespersons who decide not only of the fate of the regional budget but also that of the job description of the so called regional officials are TPLFites. Regional officials have almost nothing to do with respect to the people they claim to represent more than playing the role of toothless dogs to bark at their subjects and the opposition when they are ordered; they are simple guards who are there to only protect the overall well being of their masters. They are illiterates most of whose educational qualification is not higher than junior secondary.]
As of 1991, Ethiopia has been led by TPLF (Tigrian People’s Liberation Front), which is a distraction of a nationality whose population is only 6%; due to the regime’s discriminatory intervention in the current demography, this percentage might be influenced and may be a little bit higher than 6% now. [For example and to your surprise, TPLF allots a big sum of budget and arranges various facilities to Tigray to have more children while on the other hand, aside from punishing the region with deep-rooted poverty and substandard education, TPLF’s ethnocentric junta ‘budgets’ injections of deadly viruses such as HIV and other killing agents in areas of the Amharas to minimize or if possible to gradually wipe out the population. According to its former members and its political program as well, TPLF had long ago labeled the Amharas as enemies of its core diabolic values, which are intrinsically anti-Ethiopian.] It is this narrow-minded distraction of the Tigray region that millions of Ethiopians are accusing it of the destruction of the entire nation. Followed by a significant number of greed and hatred laden emotional Tigrians, this TPLF is absolutely destabilizing Ethiopia and as a result the country along with her citizens is being changed into nothingness in all aspects.
Though there are many gullible idiots and morons from other ethnics such as from the Amharas and Oromos or Wolaitas, who blindly obey TPLF, just for the sake of filling their elastic tummies, it is a public secret that almost all economic sectors and the politics in general is held by these anti-Ethiopia group of people. Nonetheless, albeit these TPLFites have infested all Ethiopia in all denotative and connotative meanings of the term infestation, be it militarily or economically, or what have you, we are pretty sure that the majority of Tigrians are under the same yoke of oppression and anybody is wrong if they blame the entire population of Tigray as an accomplice to the crime TPLF is committing. In regard to officialdom, leave alone thousands of human locust, even a swarm of 100 officials is a big number to plunder a great city like Addis Ababa and its environs protected by a network of sophisticated security and intelligence services. Therefore, though the multitude of Tigrians in all offices and institutions seems undoubtedly high, we have to bear in mind that the majority of Tigrians in Tigray and elsewhere are oppressed like us, non-Tigrians. It is also worth mentioning here that the fact that this multitude of the Tigrian swarm of woyanes is mainly accompanied by incompetence, lowest level of educational and experiential backgrounds, and mere ethnic attraction is tragically exacerbating the cleavage believed to exist between TPLF and [other] Ethiopians. I have no intention of inciting oxymoronic feeling in my readers’ mind. If you sense it somehow, it is not I who has created it; it is the situation itself that has called for. Clear? Puzzling real situations may create unintended sentiments in certain conditions. Yes, Tigrians are oppressors, and at the same time, Tigrians are oppressed. It is true that both statements are undeniably true. Paradoxical stuff, just a kind of “የሞተዠወንድáˆáˆ½ የገደለዠባáˆáˆ½á¤ ሀዘንሽ ቅጥ አጣ ከቤትሽሠአáˆá‹ˆáŒ£â€. Both the defendant and the plaintiff live under the same roof.
Everything in Ethiopia is under the control of the leaders of this apartheid system, the TPLFites’ system of segregation. We sometimes get forced to believe that what is, is not; and what is not, is. In light of this, TPLFites are few but billions; they are weak but strongest; they are religious but atheists; they are here but there; they are old but young; they are poor but rich; they are everything but nothing. They are with us but not at all. And most of all, money matters, you see. With the fulcrum of money you are somebody but as the same time you are nobody too. It depends. Depends on what? Money? Time? Luck or chance? Opportunity? Conscience? Consciousness? Conscientiousness? Please do some SWOT analysis….
Money changes mountains to plains. Money changes plains to mountains. Everything depends on what we think and what we believe in; we shouldn’t always forget the place of this manmade MONEY in every walk of life. Misused, alas! Properly used, nice to all! That is why TPLF is great but riffraff; gigantic but minute; elegant but amorphous; dead but alive; liar but truthful. If the role of money were limited to the level of the sober consciousness one might have, the shape of this world would most probably have seemed different; I know if clauses are obsolete or nonexistent in politics and only the objective reality works there or here wherever you stand upright.
These people, the TPLFites, know nothing about law and rule. As usual, they always apply jungle law; they are people of revenge. Just one example:- they have vowed to eliminate one of Ethiopia’s nationalities, namely, the Amhara, from the surface of the earth and they use everything to implement this agenda, as mentioned a bit earlier in this letter. To implement this motive, they go to the extent of man slaughtering even liberal Tigrians with whom or about whom they fought the previous regime, which used to bestow upon us an equal right to die or get imprisoned irrespective of who we were ethnically or otherwise.
The Days of Apartheid in Ethiopia are coming to their closure
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It is in this critical time of the Ethiopian history that Hailemedhin Abera has taken one drastic measure to show the world that Ethiopia needs attention. If a Hailemedhin with a gut to oppose the aforementioned suffering of the people exists in Ethiopia, this time is verily perfect and he should come out of his blanket of fear to wage the fight in any means available. This Hailemedhin did it! Congratulations Hailemedhin and his proudest family! Congratulations millions of Ethiopians who are leading miserable life in the Diaspora due to the hellish government at home! Currently, this young pilot has become focal point all over the world; this is one of his main purposes. But not the major one! Hailemedhin is said to be leading luxurious life in his country with a fairly reasonable salary along with the background of a well to do family. What he did is something to be given from the Almighty, not of terrestrial, dear guys. We know that many poor fellow like me tend to be clever in committing suicide but are afraid of even speaking a word to demand their rights; we are living in a comic world. But look this lad; he consciously and proudly forsook his daily comfort for the sake of his people. That is why I believe in the general truth that genuinely struggling for the benefit and well being of others is a Godsend glory which gives spiritual gratification to the person involved. Hailemedhin triumphed! But let’s not forget that there are obstacles for every path of glorification or salvation. ‘There is no free lunch’. Hailemedhin knows this; what he did is well thought and well meditated.
Whoever says what, this young pilot is too healthy to be sick and risk his life as well as his profession; he is too healthy to realize what the consequence of his attempt would result in. He is too aware to apprehend the fruits of his heroism. He was first an outstanding student and later very diligent staffer of the Ethiopian Airlines. He can’t miscalculate the outcome of his sacrifice. He knows the role of individuals in freedom fighting. He remembers what Abebe Gelaw did some two years back in the US; Abebe Gelaw was not, and still is not, mad when he nearly killed the monster, Meles Zenawi, with a bombardment of his voice saying “Meles Zenawi is a dictator! We need freedom more than food!…†in front of world leaders, peace be upon them, dear our redeemers, at the UN Hall. Hailemedhin recalls what the Ethiopian version of Mohammad Buoaziz, Instructor Yenesew Gebre and some others did through immolation to convey their message of “enough is enough!â€. He knows what Mekonen Tesfaye of Legetafo district is doing now to expose the illegal land grab in that locality. He remembers what Assefa Maru did some years back. He knows the historical martyrdom of the renowned surgeon, Professor Asrat W/yes. He knows the sacrifice of Eskinder Nega, Re’eiot Alemu, Andualem Aragie et al. Our hero knows all these and other sacrifices taken individually. Citizens take various steps to show their solidarity with real or imagined freedom fighters or just to expose the tyranny of leaders in their countries. At times, like what Hailemedhin did, they may astonishingly devise newest strategies for this same purpose. To me, this is so smartly fruitful and the sacrifice is less precarious when compared with, say, organizing hundreds of demonstrations in Ethiopia or worldwide to expose the apartheid installed in Ethiopia.
People mentioned herein are all sane and nearly without any problem of survival; they have/had enough food to eat, shelter to live in, and beautiful clothing to hide under. But, be it the dead or the living, they all have been sparing their lives for the freedom of the suppressed people and for the emergence of real democracy in their country. Leaving aside his personal comfort and more secured economic life, this young pilot has devoted even his life to his people and this action automatically makes him an Abebe Gelaw or a Zeray Deres in Ethiopian history. He is an oasis in the wilderness, a torch in the darkness, a John who harbingers the nearing of resurrection, a hope and a practical response to the “what shall I do to my country?†people of the confused state of mind, a Mandela in time of apartheidal regime where millions are willy-nilly fallen under untold barbarianism; he has attained a quasi highest form of self-actualization. He knows what he has done and where he has done it. He knows Switzerland; the Switzerland we all know as a token of peaceful co-existence among many cultures and languages and a residence of hundreds of international organizations. He believes this country would understand his benign purpose of fighting for the oppressed people. He knows this small country would seriously hear his pleading and would responsibly react to give him fairest justice. He had about 200 options to land his plane; but he chose Switzerland. He only knows why he chose the best of his choices. We can only guess. Despite the fact that billions of dollars, dollars of mostly corruptible citizens from all over the world, especially from the so called developing countries, are siphoned to this country and serve criminals as a safe haven to hide their blood money, on the brightest side of this small nation, we believe that Hailemedhin would be treated as a human being unlike the case in his own country. After all, to my understanding, his action may need a new definition in the realm of law, for I do not think there is one to deal with such incident. A pilot can’t logically hijack his own plane as a president or prime minister of a nation cannot do so and flee out of his country, as in the case of Mengistu H/Mariam.
Undoubtedly, the case of Hailemedhin is very unique and clearly indicates that the oppression in Ethiopia is beyond imagination. Hence, this effort of the pilot should be supported by the peace loving citizens of the world. His action should be appreciated and rewarded rather, for every international organization and civic society that work on human rights violations is currently witnessing the atrocities the TPLF junta is inflicting upon Ethiopians. In this regard, if the Swiss try to do anything that may even slightly harm this young pilot, physically or psychologically, which I don’t expect so, all Ethiopians would burst into tears. This young man is shouldering the burden of nearly 100 million people. He is our messiah who has given us all what he has. He has beloved families, beloved friends, beloved fiancée, and an envying mode of modern life with his peers at home. He closed all these files for the sake of us. He is bartering others’ pain with his luxury. He is the vicar of millions of oppressed people at home. He is amongst the chosen ones.
Ethiopians have been suffering in and out of their country for the past 23 years since the coming into power of TPLF. Europeans may not properly understand the meaning of the word “suffering†as they usually fail to understand the words hunger and famine (starvation) in African and European contexts. I think such contextual differences are big linguistic barriers in creating mutual understanding between the haves and the have-nots everywhere, especially between the west and the people of the inferno, such as Africans. A European little kid may say “I am starved, mum.†If this kid says this to his mum, what should an Ethiopian little kid, a kid from one of the poorest families who has never eaten anything for two or three consecutive days, say to his mum? It is a matter of relativity. Anyways, the suffering inflicted upon Ethiopians by TPLF is beyond the comprehending capability of both the civilized and the ‘uncivilized’ people of the world. Come and visit us; through time, we are alchemically changed into speaking animals that are forced to endure every sort of TPLFite tyranny. Therefore, anyone who tries to expose this severe suppression and inhuman subjugation, in any way possible, deserves the highest reward even the Nobel Prize, if that prize would include Ethiopians’ interests. Thank you HAILEMEDHIN! Thank you the womb that has given us this precious son! Thank you the loins which had resulted in this man of outstanding caliber.
Last time, Ethiopians in some Arab countries especially in Saudi Arabia faced genocidal massacre. That incident was not given due attention by the so called main stream media such as the CNN and BBC. That stupidity of the ‘civilized’ media institutions indicated the fact that those Ethiopians were not humans! In the 21st century, if citizens in Ethiopia or Ethiopians anywhere die in thousands and zillions, their souls are considered as the souls of rats and cats due to maybe they are blacks or maybe they are insignificant creatures in terms of making news headlines. Who stands for the poor and the destitute other than their God? What a worrying state of human mental development? If TPLF kills hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians, the CNN and the likes, even Aljazeera, do not care. They rather care if the bitch of the queen of Great Britain or the cat of the king of KSA gives birth for three beautiful puppies or kittens, respectively. It is a miracle, isn’t it guys? When barbarian Arabs are beheading Ethiopians, when seven gangsters in the Sudan or elsewhere rape an Ethiopian and upon application of this felony by the victim to authorities the court decides that the victim is adulterer and hence should be stoned, it is not worth of mentioning to the world. What kind of craziness is this! Currently, an Ethiopian woman is feared to have a death sentence via stoning for her “crime of being kidnapped and raped†by some Sudanese gangsters; laugh openly guys at this astonishingly greatest level of human ‘wisdom’! By the way, the best panacea I depend on most is that there is death eventually to every stupid citizen like myself. This consoles me a lot. Let’s thanks Mr. Death, please. …
When a Boeing 767 was rightly redirected by our hero to Geneva, all media gave it their prime time, because there were about 140 white people on board; and maybe the captain was white; and perhaps the plane itself was white, I mean, not only of its body paint, but also it is made by the Boeing Company; and maybe it was flying in the skies of the white people, sorry for my idiocy to have followed the track of TPLF and its mentors or tutors, if you will. What is the role of our conscience then? Where has humanity gone? Where are the so called moral values such as sympathy, empathy, altruism, etiquette, courtesy, etc. of the civilized world? Where is the trust in God? After all what is the definition of man? What is the color, the sex, the religion, the height, the nationality, etc. of God? Where is His country? From which tribe is He? What is the favorite food, drink, hobby, etc. of the true God we claim to trust or believe in? What do black, white, and yellow mean? What do they have in common? Please guys, let’s mind our commonalities and be considerate of each other. Racism is a disease. Ethnocentrism is an incurable illness from which millions of people are suffering and millions of others are fatally affected.
I believe the mind of Hailemedhin has calculated all the aforementioned loopholes in the mainstream media. He probably knows the flesh and soul of an Ethiopian is considered as a flesh and soul of an ordinary animal in the eyes of the orientals or occidentals. And I believe that he well knows the apartheid imposed on his country would get due global attention if he takes this conspicuous action, an action that can surpass the veils of racism and any western hypocrisy. He knows no media can purposely shun this news, a  gnamachoma news in Kiswahili to mean a salivating superb news. Yea, it is the negligence by the international community of Ethiopia that has motivated this young Ethiopian to take this courageous action. This is just the beginning of the end. You will see more other miracles will come soon. Remember my article I wrote last week. Though some may refute all or part of the ideas in my articles due to various reasons, some of which are not unexpected, the time for Ethiopia is coming in an unpreventable manner. Please read my article entitled, “The Greediest Nature of the Sudanese Governmentâ€. Write the title on the URL and google it; the only charge you are humbly requested is just about ten minutes from your biological age, the age you cannot stop it from ticking on microsecond basis! God bless Ethiopia and the world.
MOTHER ETHIOPIA IS NOT STERILE; SHE WILL GIVE BIRTH TO LOTS OF GALLANT CITIZENS WHO WILL LIBERATE US FROM THE SINISTER APARTHEID REGIME WE ARE IN!
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