CAN BERTUKAN MIDEKSA'S "OUR ETHIOPIA" SPEECH RESUSCITATE THE AILING KINIJIT AND GET BACK IT'S LOST GLORY?

Washera_2

Oct 23, 2007

It was the first speech of its kind that I had heard from Bertukan Mideksa, a mild-mannered graceful lady and Vice President of Kinijit (CUD). She was addressing Ethiopians in Minneapolis gathered for a fund-raising event for Kinijit. She started with words similar to the famous words of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence: "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Not quite in those terms, but that is how I wanted to hear it and took the liberty to include it here.

She used a century old story of a young Negadras Gebrehiwot Baykedagn, a Tigrean from Adwa, to mesmerize her audience with her slow and measured delivery, and send a powerful message about how government stands for all people and not for a few individuals or ethnic groups. She alleged that with well articulated vision from their leaders, the Ethiopian people are ready to make a historic sacrifice for their freedom from oppression.

She explained how, during the famous 2005 peace rally, the now famous/notorious statements of Ato Bedru Adem, "We Will Return Them From Whence They Came: wede meTubet inimelisachewalen", was construed by government media to mean "Homes to Kebele, Tigreans to Mekele: Bet wede Kebele, Tigre wede Mekele", and broadcast many times so successfully that their party was forced to send out several statements refuting those allegation. In the same breath, she stated how disappointed she was in the conspicuous absence of Tigreans in the audience in all of the cities that she had toured in these United States. She did not say if race or ethnicity was mentioned on the admission cards or if exit polls were taken to see who in the audience was Tigrean or not. I would have thought that many in the audience would say that they were from different interrelated ethnic groups, including Tigreans. Another missed opportunity to debunk the negative propaganda about our ethnicity and instead talk about the beauty of our diversity. She then apologized for some frivolous statements posted in the name of her party on Kinijit.org; a website that she said they have very little control over. by the way, this is the website controlled by the "Shaleqa group."

She then explained how her Kinijit party is free of religious or ethnic ideology and that it stands for all Ethiopians; that it believes in individual freedom without any bias to ethnicity, religion or sex and freedom of assembly at any time and place.

She mentioned a sentence or two about the problems in Somalia and Eritrea. Interestingly, she seemed to imply that Eritrea is a legitimate free state. For a Vice President of an important party to make just a passing remark on important issues as Somalia and Eritrea was a disappointment, to say the least.

She concluded by mentioning about a certain fear among some segments of our society and that her party will not spend time hair splitting or parsing words about the nature of these fears, but instead will leave no stone unturned, to heal the perceived wounds and establish better relations with all for the good of our country and us all.

Now this is quite a contrast to the speech made by her friend Dr. Berhanu Nega in Washington, DC only a few weeks ago. There was none of the rhetoric and hate speech of Dr. Berhnu. Allow me to mention a paragraph from my earlier comments about his speech.

"...He talked about how the PM trampled over every rule of law and lost the respect of the law-abiding world community. The government leaders were described as incapable and incompetent, the judiciary laughable, the government armed to its teeth ready to do harm on a whim. We were told that the government will be made accountable for holding power by force and for embezzling the people's money."

I see moderation, accommodation and even room for reconciliation. Delivered in that mild-mannered voice, I felt her pain and sincere efforts to resolve our differences in a peaceful way.

No sooner had she finished her talk than her speech and her person was being butchered in some paltalk voice rooms, especially in those that are blindly pro-Engineer Hailu Shawel.

As a concerned Ethiopian myself, who is trying to resolve our differences through a respectful, tolerant and all inclusive dialogue, I share most of her concerns and opinions. Is it too little too late? Has the damage already been done? Does her good friend Dr. Berhanu share in those sentiments she expressed? Are her own efforts in helping with the passage of HR 2003 not in direct contradiction to her efforts to begin dialogue with the Ethiopian government? Does she not realize the damage and division that this HR 2003 is doing to our community?

Good luck Bertukan. At least you are trying.