The compendium story of a bungled political
capital
From an eyewitness named Gizachew
Adal Isaw
With mammoth untapped devoutness that went beyond
the concept of vote of confidence, the political capital that the leaders of
the beloved EPRP of the early 1970's had in their disposal would have made Bill
Gates penury, if indeed Bill’s assets were quantified relative to EPRP’s
accrued political capital of the early 1970's.
Masking with idolatry and fanaticism, “the
young and the restless,” adventurous and fearless millions of Ethiopians, began
singing tunes from cross border revolutionary songs. The color red and yellow suddenly replaced the horizontally
stripped, green, yellow, and red flag that many Ethiopians died for
protecting. The sickle and hammer
displaced the flag-carrying “Lion of Judah.”
The blood-fountain-making AK 47 became indented within the symbol of
peace. And, instead of brewing disgust,
it gave birth to a misguided revolution that was about to fume itself with the
blood of its own followers.
Unknown
to them and ready to die, millions of Ethiopians furnished the EPRP with a
political capital redeemable in absolute confidence anywhere in the face of
Ethiopia. The eccentrically molded vote
of confidence intoxicated the leaders of EPRP.
Conceit replaced confidence, and arrogance framed issues of importance. Nevertheless, time became the enemy and
knowledge cemented the major flaws of EPRP.
Leaders
of EPRP concocted to dethrone a military junta ASAP, believing that only a
massive political support is what it takes to do so. Cells operated to execute those who were believed to be within
the camps of Derg. Aware of the blood
bath that may ensue, leaders of EPRP were willing to sacrifice thousands if not
millions, young, fearless, and naive Ethiopians for political expediency[1]. The policy of seizing political power as
soon as possible rocked EPRP, Addis, and other cities.
For
as long as it could, EPRP adapted a unilateral approach on issues that
Ethiopians have great interest on.
Peoples struggle for equality that emanated from different nationalities
within Ethiopia became framed as auxiliary and at times counter revolutionary. For example, the TPLF literally begged to
assimilate and co-ordinate its struggle with EPRP, only to be shunned away
denigrated as “narrow nationalist.”
Consequently, the only-way-or-else-the-highway doctrine of leadership of
the EPRP perverted and prolonged the demise of a bloodthirsty dictator.
Dissenters
regretted the policy of a quick fix tactic to seize political power and start
advocating for a protracted struggle.
Few months later, they were to be labeled counter revolutionary- guilty
enough for execution by a firing squad.
By executing those who dissented on issues of tactics and strategies,
the EPRP managed to self-inflict an injury on itself for life. To add an insult to an injury, the
denigrated and laughed at forces of the TPLF later knocked EPRP out of
Asimab-destined it for Begemidir under the custody of ELF-in a retreat that
avoided the whole of Tigrai. While in
the custody of ELF, EPRP/A abdicated all forms of authority including the right
to bear arms.
Moral
was freezing low, and yet, the conceit and arrogance of the leaders of EPRP/A
never abated for a second. In the
briefest rectification movement ever to be held in the history of any movement
in Ethiopia, Abebe Debteraw (the
equivalent of Mao Zedong of China) stood in front of tired and confused
fighters to ascertain the uncertain.
Following the lecture by Colonel Abeje as to why EPRP/A lost the battle
to TPLF, Debteraw with angry deep voice and raising his hand avowed EPRP’s
invincibility-declaring it as the ablest revolutionary party with unmatchable
skill to start the revolution all over again, with only one, two, or three
devout followers. “ If there is any doubt in you,” he ascertained to the tired
and confused fighters, “you go ahead and leave, and that’s the route,” he
declared pointing toward the Addis-Asmara road.
Debteraw’s behavior was made possible by the
millions of young Ethiopians who bestowed their devoutness and allegiance to
EPRP/A. No blame is warranted on those
Ethiopians who stood by EPRP/A. The
time was ripe and most of the things that they had aspired for were reachable,
and thus, they entrusted EPRP with no hesitation what so ever as they entrusted
their bank, (as one prominent American political scientist would metaphorically
characterize it) thinking the white receipts in their hands amounted in value
to the hard earned cash they handed the bank teller. What these millions of Ethiopians didn’t know was that their
beloved EPRP was about to bungle this huge wealth of support in just few
years-much like a gambler who loses his fortune of untold proportion with
uncontrollable adrenaline rush for gambling.[2]
Operating
in four banks of military fields in Begemidir, cohorts and some leaders of EPRP
had a “great plan” to revitalize EPRP/A.
And amazingly, their “great plan” was a pedestrian one. They merely cooked another plan to execute
eight farsighted and sharpened fighters for behaving like the previously
executed scores of fighters in Asimba.
They misread Belesa for Asimba, and still yet they managed to detain
four fighters including Bereket Simon in the first round and hoped to detain
Gizachew, Dilie (Simegn), Kogaw, and Kibebew for execution from the second
round.
Cohorts
and some leaders of the EPRP thought the second round to be an easy one, and
they started the conference with barrages of accusation. The plan was to seize these four fighters in
just two days, but the conference dragged on for four days, and Fasika Belete
was extremely uneasy about it. As
he feared, Fasika learned the last shocking lesson, ironically, from a fighter
that he taught in fifth grade back in Wukro, Kilte Awlaelo, Tigrai-Ethiopia.
Gizachew,
Dilie (Simegne), Kibebew, Kogaw, and scores of devout fighters managed to
brilliantly stamp one of the three final nails on the coffin of EPRP/A. Unlike Asimab, and the first round seminar
in Belesa, the second round that was set to detain Gizachew, Dilie (Simegne),
Kibebew, and Kogaw had a beautiful twist that amounted to yet to be told
history-making phenomena.[3]
The result of the second
round conference in Belesa freed Bereket Simon, Dawid, Mahdere, and kobelew,
while it ordered the detention of some cohorts and leaders of EPRP/A.
More importantly though, it paved the way to see peoples struggle for
freedom and equality as that which is indispensable. Thorough discussion and analysis of friends and foes of the
Ethiopian people created a change of heart even on those staunch EPRA fighters
who fought the TPLF in bloody battles back in Tigrai. As a result, nineteen gallant fighters including Gizachew
splintered from EPRP/A rejecting to fight TPLF[4].
The
nineteen gallant fighters un abashingly and clearly stated their stance on all
vital Ethiopian political issues via a manifesto that was disseminated to
all EPRP/A fighters. That historical document was written by the
fullest participation of the nineteen fighters. Mahdere, a down to earth and a beloved soul, and most of the
fighters lauded the document as a masterpiece, while few with remaining blind
political love for EPRP/A called it extreme.
Bereket Simon wrote a letter to Gizachew stating how proud he was and
ascertaining his support to the splintered nineteen fighters.
Bereket
Simon carried on his promise and stayed to fight for his people, while Gizachew
regrettably abandoned his responsibility of staying the course. Now, unlike Birhanu, Gizachew never came out
claiming to have the moral authority in “Monday morning quarterbacking,” to
reign on Bereket for he knows the depth of the commitment that the Bereket
Simon’s of the EPRDF are endowed with.
Gizachew
still remembers the tears of Hilawi Yosef and Bereket Simon. On their knees, Bereket and Hilawi begged
Gizachew, Mahdere, and others to stay put and keep fighting to liberate the
Ethiopian people from the sadistic Deg regime.
Gizachew still remembers the saddened faces of Walwa, Addisu, Tilahun,
and all of those comrades who had that special unreserved love for mother Ethiopia. The list includes our premier Meles Zenawi
and all of the gallant TPLF fighters, who strived as hard as they could to make
the greater point of liberating Ethiopia from a perverted and sadistic Derg
regime, in order to create a Republic based on fairness, justice, and equality
of the many peoples of Ethiopia.
During his welcome speech to the X-EPRA
fighters of Region 3 (Belesa), Meles underscored the need to struggle for
equality and hoped to create a front to bring about a Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia- a nation that is bent to empower all of its citizens equally. All that we’re struggling for is nothing
more than to create a conducive ground, in which all peoples of Ethiopia
participate equally to determine how they wish to live their lives by
abolishing a system that treats the many peoples of Ethiopia as second class
citizenry, Meles accentuated. Years
later, and especially now, Gizachew is still being mesmerized by the depth of
the conviction and aptness of these extraordinary fighters.
To
this day, for fear of sounding unfairly sectarian and a sycophant, and wanting
to preserve a workable political ambiance back in his beloved country, and also
respecting the wishes of the very humble leaders of the EPRDF, Gizachew has
reserved himself from touting the remarkable achievements of EPRDF as
exceptionally unique and extraordinary.
But most importantly, Gizachew believes that a democratic process is
well served if citizens such as he are refrained from unduly cheerleading those
who are obviously apt and crafty enough to lead a country of many.
But
now, the fact that there are those who still fail to learn from the political
disaster of both Derg and EPRP, despite having the first hand experience from
it as Shawl and Birhanu had respectively, Gizachew wants to speak out, write,
and debate claiming that Dr. Birhanu Nega (Tibebe) is acting like his
father-EPRP, by failing to learn from EPRP’s failures, that egoistic and
conceited personal and organizational political life is more harmful to our
people and our country than it’s to one self.
Riding
high on the tidal fame he garnered by speciously and tacitly framing political
issues into hate and emotion, Dr. Birhanu is as intoxicated as the leaders of
EPRP were. In a very similar political
fashion, the multi million plus Ethiopian supporters of CUD have created in
Birhanu the sense of invincibility similar to that was manifested by Abebe
Debteraw of the EPRP. To add fuel to a
fire, few notable westerners and institutions are still giving Birhanu the
undue cushion to make him feel even more invincible and act as though he can
single-handedly twist and turn the history made by the sacrifice of scrupulous
fighters that he knew well.
Birhanu’s
invincibility was even stretched to the threshold after being named “man of the
year,” by those Ethio-Americans who are keenly in bed with the western culture-
a culture that dwells more so on an “individual achievement” than it’s on
appraising a societal progress. Consequently, Birhanu is still aiming high,
riding over the tide of emotional fervor for sectarian politics, but fearing to
die without having the lifeboat adjacent to his aspirations. And for reason of fear, he wants Donald M
Payne-the “savior” from the ghetto of Westside, to act on his behalf and hand
him a “House Resolution” to rule
Ethiopia via the ideology of the “invisible hand.” Wanting to hide in the dark as usual, Dr. Birhanu is hoping to
lead uncontested while fearing death like hell.
Gizachew
vividly remembers the day Tibebe (Dr. Birhanu) never wanted to play dead, even
after knowing for sure that he wasn’t really about to die of the military drill
that he should have done to be counted fit to fight. One early morning in Asimba, Tigrai, Colonel Abeje had ordered trainees
to be in line and wait for their turn to be literally hanged and carried on the
back of a skilled trainer. While on the back of the trainer, the trainee
normally passes out from consciousness in under a minute, only to be brought
back by adjusting the vocal cord and a slap on the cheek. The whole point of this particular military
drill was to let trainees go through a near death experience, and to make them
feel how death could be as peaceful and as comfortable as deep sleep is; in
short, to make trainees courageous. And
still yet, from that group of trainees, it was only Tibebe (Birhanu) who
struggled so hard not to die. On the
back of the skilled trainer, Tibebe twisted and danced his chubby physique in
all directions at once. He mumbled,
salivated, and roared in fear-in a shameful spectacle. From that day on, Gizachew never wanted to
face the mighty Derg with Tibebe on his side, since Tibebe exhibited cowardice
even under a controlled teensy-weensy “violent drill.”
Still
cognizant of these experiences and almost a decade ago, Gizachew had run into
Birhanu in DC at an Ethiopian restaurant the night before his flight to
Addis. Gizachew was heading home in
support of his country’s preparation to fend off and repel the Shaebia forces,
and Birhanu was aware of that. But
nevertheless, Birhanu asked Gizachew if he was with the Ethiopian Diaspora
delegates heading home, to which Gizachew answered “yes.” Disappointed, Birhanu deferred to chat with
Gizachew in the plane the next day.
In
the plane, before Gizachew had a chat with Birhanu, Amaha (Manjus), and a very
close friend that Gizachew has known for over half of his lifetime alerted him
of Birhanu’s newly enhanced unbearable demeanor. Birhanu and Amaha (Manjus) had spent time together in Khartoum
while Gizachew was doing his “thing” back home. Nonetheless, Gizachew and Birhanu greeted each other and shared
smiles before they embarked into an Ethiopian politics that lasted less than a
minute. Birhanu, manifesting a
demeaning smile asked if Gizachew was serious about supporting “these
people”-the EPRDF. To Birhanu’s
bewilderment, Gizachew answered, “yes I am.”
“I never expected that from you,” Birhanu mumbled, and the discussion
ended there.
Gizachew
saw in Birhanu the antiquated conceit that the
EPRP/A had toward TPLF. Birhanu,
like his father-EPRP, acted as arrogant denigrating the concerted effort of
EPRDF as a trivial political movement, waged and led by mediocre wanna be
revolutionaries. Apparently, Dr.
Birhanu (Tibebe) had no clue about the depth of Gizachew’s camaraderie with the
many devout members of what used to be the EPDM. But most important, the Dr. isn’t getting it right that how far
these loving and caring selfless X-EPRA fighters have changed in their
Ethiopian political perspectives.
Birhanu is still failing to see that the Hilawi’s of today have ceased
to be an army built on arrogance, choosing to accept the right of people,
peoples, nations, and nationalities to self-government. And the Dr., in an amazing political debacle
like his father (EPRP) keeps on bungling his remaining political capital,
betting it on ONLF as his last hand bet-much like a gambler who loses his
fortune of untold proportion with uncontrollable adrenaline rush for gambling.
Instead
of working with the Ethiopian people, Birhanu is choosing to work with all of
the entities that resent Ethiopians.
Birhanu is working with ONLF, OLF, Shaebia, and Donald M Payne,
following their footsteps everywhere for the sake of creating a favorable
condition to satiate his ambition of political power. To this end, Birhanu’s recent tour has awaken half of his long
time colleagues from EPRP to board onto his traveling wagon with no spare tire,
believing that they can dispose EPRDF with the help of Esayas- the megalomania,
the mad Congressman- Donald M Payne, and the terrorizing agents of ONLF and
OLF.
This
is beyond gambling and bungling to lose a fortune of untold proportion of
political wealth; it’s just like salivating to kiss death by betting on Esayas,
ONLF, and OLF, as favored winners of a possible war over the Ethiopian people
at large. And then again, Birhanu is
acting like his father-EPRP. EPRP took
a stand and wished the success of the Somalian forces over our beloved country
in order to seize political power by default.
Nothing else but history is repeating itself, and Birhanu is acting like
his father-EPRP, praying and wishing for the aggregate enemies of Ethiopia to
prevail in a war of their choosing over the Ethiopian people at large.
WOW! Gizachew wrote, “I once tried to debunk the
adage never say never, by saying, I will never ever let my index finger into a
trigger of an AK 47 again. But now,
after reliving how life could force one to do as needed, I am considering to
put my index finger back at play in the trigger of an AK 47, to protect my
people by dying. This time though, I
will refuse to call my act of defense a violence, for I am willing to die to
let the so many of I live in peace.”
[1]CUD’s leader Hailu Shawel had openly entertained the
willingness to sacrifice thousands if not millions young and naive Ethiopians for the
purpose of “dislodging” the EPRDF.
[2]Irrespective of its inferior support compared to what
EPRP had, CUD has managed to
bungle its political capital chiefly because of inaptness than anything
else.
[3]There is an untold story in the making of EPRDF, and
hopefully it will be written in the near future.
[4]I have started gathering bit and pieces of verifiable
information on “Hayil Asrazetegn,” and if any member of “Hayil Asrazetegn” is
reading this article by chance, please contact me at buruk@verizon.net