https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=22b81yoaw2M&feature=youtu.be
Author: Gemoraw
Soldier Becomes Unlikely Face of Ethiopian-Israeli Discontent
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met on Monday with Demas Fikadey, a soldier of Ethiopian descent who was beaten last week by police.
JERUSALEM — A slender and boyish-looking Israeli soldier, wearing a skullcap and an army shirt with sleeves too long for him, has become the unlikely and unwitting face of an outburst of anger and violent protests that have shaken Israel.
But Demas Fikadey, a 21-year-old soldier of Ethiopian descent, said he did not see himself as a symbol or a hero.
He was heading home alone, in uniform, on April 26 when he was beaten by two Israeli police officers in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, where he lives. The seemingly unprovoked assault, caught on video, was broadcast on national television and went viral on social networks, unleashing the pent-up rage of a young generation of Ethiopian-Israelis who have taken to the streets in recent days.
“It just happened to me,” Mr. Fikadey said in an interview Monday, more than a week after his assault and a day after thousands of demonstrators converged on Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to protest police harassment and the discrimination many Israelis of Ethiopian descent say they experience regularly.
The police said on Sunday that protesters pelted them with stones and bottles. The police responded with stun grenades and water cannons, and officers on horseback charged the crowds.
Fifty-six officers were injured, according to the police, and at least one remained hospitalized with moderate injuries on Monday. Several protesters were also wounded, and 43 were arrested. A smaller protest in Jerusalem last week also ended in fierce clashes.
Mr. Fikadey said he was opposed to violence, and as a soldier on active duty, he could not join the protesters. “But my heart is with them,” he said.
Mr. Fikadey came to Israel seven years ago from the Gojam region in Ethiopia. His father died before the family left for Israel, and his mother died a couple of years after their arrival, according to Selah, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that supports vulnerable immigrants and that has aided Mr. Fikadey and his four brothers.
In high school, Mr. Fikadey was one of eight outstanding students nationwide who won an annual leadership award. He now serves in the military as a computer technician.
On the same day he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an effort to help defuse the violent outbursts, Mr. Fikadey recounted the events that set off the initial protests. It was about 6:30 in the evening, he said, and he was on his way home from duty. He had gotten off his bicycle when a police officer stopped him and told him to turn around and go back, without any explanation. Mr. Fikadey said he did not know that the road on which he was traveling had been closed because of a suspicious object, and that police investigators had been called.
He said he waited for the police officer to get off his cellphone so that he could pass. But the officer threw Mr. Fikadey’s bicycle down and started to shove him. “When I asked him why he was pushing me, he began hitting me in the face,” Mr. Fikadey recounted.
A volunteer policeman came to help the officer, and Mr. Fikadey ended up on the ground. The officer later told his superiors that the soldier had hit him and thrown a stone at him, according to Mr. Fikadey’s lawyer.
“If it hadn’t all been caught on camera from beginning to end, I would be in some prison now,” Mr. Fikadey said.
Since the attack on Mr. Fikadey, many young Ethiopian-Israelis have shared their own tales of police harassment and brutality that they say are commonplace. Ethiopian leaders say the community also faces discrimination in housing, education and employment, painting a bleak picture of the group’s position in society 24 years after a mass airlift of descendants of an ancient Jewish tribe.
There are now about 135,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel, less than 2 percent of the state’s population. But Ethiopians represent up to a third of youths in detention facilities, according to government reports, and have higher rates of poverty, unemployment, suicide, divorce and domestic violence.
Rabbinic authorities have offended Ethiopians by questioning their Jewishness and requiring conversion before approving weddings. Health officials prompted outrage in 1996 by dumping Ethiopians’ blood donations over fears of H.I.V. Schools have restricted Ethiopian enrollment.
In 2012, protests started after residents of four apartment buildings in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi vowed not to rent or sell to Ethiopians.
This year’s movement has been propelled in part by the parallels with African-American protests against police brutality in Baltimore; Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere.
Shlomo Molla, an Ethiopian-Israeli former member of Parliament, called for civil disobedience, including refusing to serve in the army or pay taxes until the situation improves.
“Ethiopians are demonstrating, but no one is giving the right answer, no one is hearing, no one wants to understand,” Mr. Molla said.
Israeli leaders have called for calm, and began on Monday to address the rising tensions.
Mr. Netanyahu convened meetings with Ethiopian-Israeli community leaders and officials from relevant government ministries. He held a separate, half-hour meeting with Mr. Fikadey that was also attended by the minister of internal security and the national police chief.
“I told the prime minister he must work to end racism and discrimination,” Mr. Fikadey said after the meeting. “We dreamed for so many years to come to Israel. He must work to solve the problem.”
Mr. Netanyahu posted on Twitter a photo of the two shaking hands and smiling. “I said to the soldier, ‘I was shocked by the pictures. We cannot accept this and we will change things,’ ” he wrote.
In a statement later Monday Mr. Netanyahu said, “We must all line up against racism, condemn it and work to eradicate it.” He said he would chair a ministerial committee to advance plans to resolve problems in education, housing, culture, religion, employment and in other areas.
President Reuven Rivlin of Israel said the protests by Ethiopian-Israelis had “revealed an open and raw wound at the heart of Israeli society,” but he condemned the violence that erupted the night before. “We must look directly at this open wound — we have erred, we did not look, and we did not listen enough,” said Mr. Rivlin, who has emerged as a leading advocatefor Israel’s Arab and other minorities during his first year in his largely ceremonial post.
Speaking in the Rose Garden, a park opposite the prime minister’s office, Mr. Fikadey said Mr. Netanyahu appeared informed about the situation and listened to what he had to say.
As he spoke, a group of schoolgirls, including several of Ethiopian descent, spotted the reluctant hero and ran up to him screeching, as if he were a rock star. Seeming to enjoy the attention, he spoke to them with quiet words meant to encourage and motivate them to serve their country.
https://youtu.be/9ELlpRX3i7s
Ethiopian-Israeli protest against police brutality
Netanyahu urges calm as protesters clash with police in Jerusalem; activist says streets ‘must burn like in Baltimore’ over youth’s beating
In a demonstration that raged for hours and turned violent Thursday, hundreds of protesters blocked streets and the light rail in Jerusalem, and marched on the prime minister’s home, alleging that racism played a part in acts of police brutality directed at Israelis of Ethiopian descent.
When the protesters, mostly from the Ethiopian community, tried to march on the Prime Minister’s Residence, they were kept at bay by police.
Three police officers were injured by rocks and bottles thrown by the protesters in the ensuing clashes, and as many as 13 demonstrators were wounded. Two were arrested.
Police used crowd control methods to block the protesters, including tear gas, stun grenades and fire hoses.
Some of the protesters alleged that the police used excessive force.
“We were attacked for no reason,” said Matan Admake from Yavne.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat rushed to the scene to try to calm tempers. He attempted to reason with some of the activists. Asked to comment on the main TV news, he told a reporter, “Not now. Let’s listen to them,” referring to the protesters.
The demonstration came in the wake of video footage that emerged on Monday showing policemen beating an Ethiopian-born IDF soldier, who said later that he was the target of a racist attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the protesters to avoid violence. “I strongly condemn the beating of the soldier from the Ethiopian community and those responsible will answer for it,” he said in a statement. “But at the same time, no one should take the law into their hands. Immigrants from Ethiopia and their families are dear to us, and the State of Israel is making great efforts to ease their integration.”
As many as 1,000 protesters, mostly of Ethiopian descent, blocked traffic and the light rail train on Route 1, one of the capital’s busiest arteries, while chanting against violence and racism, as the protest got under way in the afternoon.
Mounted police initially attempted to disperse them, but later allowed them to march. The atmosphere worsened and the clashes began when demonstrators headed up Agron Street toward the Prime Minister’s Residence in early evening; confrontations continued after nightfall.
“Apparently the streets of Israel must burn like they do in Baltimore, in order for someone to finally wake up. The apartheid regime is back, this time in 21st-century Israel,” Gadi Yevarkan, head of the Campaign for Equality for Ethiopian Jews, told Ynet.
“To see a soldier in uniform beaten by policemen in uniform is confirmation of official policy that allows police to beat blacks without having to be accountable to state laws,” he said.
Meeting with some of the leaders of the protest, Barkat underlined their right to protest, but noted that the demonstration was not pre-arranged and licensed as required by law.
The clip that emerged on Monday showed Ethiopian soldier Damas Pakada being attacked by two policemen the day before. Police said the second man was a volunteer policeman, and that he would no longer be allowed to serve with the police. He was arrested and held over allegations that he had attacked the police officers.
A spokesperson for the police said they would “act with determination against any party acting in violation of police orders, while endangering the police and public security, and disturbing public order.”
Earlier Thursday, Israel Police Chief Yohanan Danino met activists from the Ethiopian community, and said he would establish a special team to examine the community’s claims and formulate ways to deal with the problem, Ynet reported.
Danino said that the officer who was filmed beating Pakada would be expelled from the force, pending a hearing.
“There is no room for such officers in the Israel Police,” he said.
Yevarkan refused to attend the meeting with Danino, claiming police were “putting on a show for the media.”
According to Yevarkan, the protest came after years of neglect and racism. “Our younger generation is desperate and it will only get worse if the government doesn’t take action,” he said.
President Reuven Rivlin also addressed the footage of Pakada’s beating on Thursday, while hosting a delegation of students from Israel’s Ethiopian community as part of a seminar on education.
“We cannot sit back in the face of anger and shouting – incidents such as these must serve as a warning sign, and an opportunity to conduct some genuine and thorough introspection,” Rivlin told the students.
“The shock that we all felt when we saw those pictures – which I am pleased to say immediately led the Israel Police to carry out a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident and its awful outcome – is still deeply felt.”
The incident caught on tape took place in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, on Sunday evening, where police were cordoning off a street due to a suspicious object.
“I feel terrible, and humiliated. This is a disgrace to the State of Israel,” Pakada told Channel 2 Monday. “It’s because of [my] skin color,” he said.
After the footage was obtained by Pakada’s family, he was released from custody, with police promising to investigate the matter.
Pakada, a 21-year-old orphan who emigrated from Ethiopia with his four siblings seven years ago, told Channel 10 that he was riding his bicycle when he noticed the two officers.
He said that he asked them what they were up to and one of them confronted him and pushed him off his bike, saying, “I can do whatever I want.”
He said that the officer threatened to shoot him in the head, and that they only let up after he backed away and lifted a rock.
Several police officers then detained the soldier for alleged assault, although the footage showed that Pakada did not attack them with the rock in his hand.
Three Million Amara are Missing: An Analysis based on the 1994 and the 2007 Ethiopian Population Censuses
It is not uncommon for national censuses to be politicized in those countries where hyper-polarization along ethnic or sectarian lines makes politicians overly sensitive to the power of numbers. As one of the hallmarks of this phenomenon, the 2007 Ethiopian census count for the Amara inexplicably falls short by a whopping 3 million for 2007 or by 4 million for 2014. To fix ideas, this is equivalent to declaring all Gurage-Silte, or all Sidama, or allAffar plus Wolayta practically non-existent. This research note offers census-based estimates of this gap along with the possible reasons for a large gap that stretches one’s credulity.
Ethiopian Political Demography
Decennial national censuses of population and housing play an important role in providing data on fertility, mortality, migration, and growth for various sectors of the population. These data contribute to a better planning of the economy, the family, and the administrative as well as the electoral systems. Ethiopia has conducted only three national censuses in its long history: in 1984, 1994, and 2007. There have been significant improvements in conforming to international standards, especially in terms of the coverage of enumeration areas and in efficiency of the count.
Much like the 2006 Nigerian census, the 2007 Ethiopian census has unfortunately raised eyebrows with regard to a significant miscount–especially of the Amara ethnic group but also the Gurage-Silte group. All sorts of numbers and motivations have been thrown around in the acrimonious public discussion on the subject. We do know with some certainty that the Amara are one of the two linguistic groups which together account for the majority of the Ethiopian population with the Oromo/Amara ratio being 29%/28% in 1984 and 32%/30% in 1994. This ratio, however, showed a precipitous rise in 2007 to 34%/27% which begs a satisfactory explanation that is yet to be provided by the census authorities.
Demographic changes are generally slow especially in a traditional society which has been experiencing only a moderate improvement in living standards. Since there is little evidence of a large differential fertility, mortality, emigration, or socio-economic development among the various groups in Ethiopian society, the sizeable deviation of the census count in 2007 from a reasonable expectation is rather puzzling.
As we will show below, a careful analysis of the census data shows that at least 3 million and possibly as many as 6 million native Amharic speakers were missing from the 2007 census. These are remarkable numbers which call for a careful ascertainment of their validity and a clear identification of the probable reasons for this outcome.
It should be noted at the outset that the 1994 Ethiopian Constitution enshrined a system of political ethnicity. Ethiopians were for the first time in their long history required to carry ethnic identity (gosssa) cards. The 1994 and 2007 censuses asked citizens to self-identity by ethnicity as well as by one’s mother tongue from lists provided.
Estimating the Size of the Missing Amara
Table 1 provides data on the distribution of the population by ethnicity. By self-identification, about 60% of the population belongs with the two largest and comparably-sized linguistic groups—the Oromo and the Amara. Two other groups, the Somali and the Tigre, account for about 5% each. The remaining 30% is accounted for by some 80 officially recognized ethic groups. Ethiopia is indeed a model of nation of minorities in both ethnic and religious terms. A good rule of thumb involves ‘thirds”: in terms of ethnic mix (Oromo:Amara:Rest) and, to a lesser extent, religious mix (Orthodox Christian:Muslim:Rest).1
1 Berhanu Abegaz, “Ethiopia: A Model Nation of Minorities,” Ethiomedia.com, June 1, 2005. Downloadable from: http://www.ethiomedia.com/newpress/census_portrait.pdf.
One striking observation from this table is the significant fall in the national population share of the Amara (which were, in fact, the largest ethnic group by mother tongue in 1994). Table 2 provides data on the regional distribution of the Amara which had remained stable in the intercensal period of 13 years. In 1994, some 79 percent of the Amara resided in the Amhara Regional State (ARS), about 11 percent in the Oromiya Regional State (ORS), and 6 percent in Addis Ababa where they historically comprised the majority of the residents. There is little evidence of a marked inter-regional shift in the Amara population since then.
Table 2, however, provides a hint that there is a decline in the proportion of native Amharic speakers identifying themselves ethnically as Amara. We will return to the magnitude of this identity shifting a little later.
We need to produce two sets of estimates based on the aggregate census data in order to throw some light on the vexed question of the missing Amara: (1) credible projections of the Amara population for 2007 which can be independently compared with what the census actually reported, and (2) defensible estimates of the changes in the size of the self-identified Amara population in 2007 relative to the size of the population reporting Amharic as mother tongue. The results are reported in Table 3.
Annual population growth rates for Ethiopia and other low-income countries generally fall in the range of 2.5-3.0%. The reported intercensal growth rate of 3.8% per year for Oromo is clearly an over-estimate. The growth rate of 2.9% for the Tigrayan group, which is similar in culture and living standards to the Amara, is the more reasonable comparator for the Amara. For example, the mean number of children ever born to a women (the total fertility rate) was 7.0 in Amhara and 6.8 Tigray. The mortality rates are equally comparable across demographic groups.
Projections based on self-identification data: The projections based on the self-identification data are made for country-level as well as for the major administrative regions in which the Amara reside in appreciable numbers.
Using the rather high Oromo growth rate, we project the Amara population as 26.2 million for 2007. This yields a shortfall of 6.2 million Amara relative to the official figures. Using the more realistic Tigrayan growth rate, we project the Amara population at 23.3 million which yields a shortfall of 3.3 million Amara relative to the 2007 census report. The number of the missing is in the range of 3.3 million and 6.2 million (Table 3, A).
The highest estimates are obtained when applying to the Amara the country-level growth data for the Oromo and the Tigre (Table 3, C). The upper range of number of missing Amara falls in the range of 3.3-6.5 million or 4.9 million on the average. This is quite a startling number with disturbing implications: it implies that a number larger than all Tigre or all Somali have been missed by the census or somehow eliminated.
When we break this down by region of residence and use the growth rates of the total population of each region for the presumed growth rate of the Amara, we obtain a gap of 2.7 million persons. A conservative estimate of the missing Amara, therefore, falls in the 2.7-3.3 million range. Three million seems to be a robust estimate(Table 3, D).
Projections made using mother tongue data: The projections based on mother-tongue data reported in Table 3 do two things for us: they offer a check on the estimates based on self-identification, and they provide an important estimate of the size of identity shifters (more on this below). Again, using the ethnic Tigrayan growth rate and the region-specific growth rates, our calculations show a missing Amara population by mother tongue of 3.0-3.3 million—3.15 million being the midpoint. Theses ballpark figures are interestingly consistent with estimates made by others using a less elaborate methodology.2
2 Cens Kerk, “Absurd Statistical Gimmick in Ethiopia’s 2007 Census,” Ethiomedia.com, December 15, 2008. http://www.ethiomedia.com/aurora/9404.html.
3 Yonas Abiye, “Latest Census Report Sparks Controversy for the Second Time,” Reporter, June 22, 2013.
Possible Explanations
The head of the Central Statistical Authority (CSA), in her 2008 presentation of the results of the 2007 Census to Parliament, insisted that the census figures for the ARS and Addis Ababa (though at variance with CSA’s own projections based on the 1994 Census) are indeed correct. The skeptics rightly did not buy it3. Five years later, CSA raised the growth rate for ARS from 1.7% to 2.3%, without so much an explanation, in its mid-census population projections for 2013.
Government leaders have publicly speculated about unusually high mortality rates (excessively high AIDS-related mortality being a favorite bogey) or differentially falling fertility rates in ARS and Addis Ababa relative to other regions. Let us now take a quick look at five notable factors which singly or together might explain the puzzling gap.
Differential fertility and mortality: Comparative census or demographic survey data on mortality rates, total fertility rates (TFR), age at marriage, literacy rates, household size, and income do not show large enough inter-ethnic differences. While Addis Ababa reportedly has a low fertility rate that is slightly above that of senile Tokyo (TFR of 1.7 or below replacement rate), ARS has fertility rates that match the national average (TFR of 4.0) or exceed it (mean number of children ever born being 7.0 relative to the national average of 6.7) while mortality rates are not appreciably higher.4
4 CSA, Ethiopia: Mini Demographic and Health Survey, Addis Ababa: July 2014.
http://www.corhaethiopia.org/images/Newsdoc/mini%20dhs%202014_%20final%20report3july2014.pdf.
It may be helpful to point out here that there are three distinct Amara subgroups: about quarter of Amara live in destitution in highly economically vulnerable sub-regions of ARS (northwest Gondar, southwest Gojam, and northeast Wollo). About half reside in the better-endowed rural Woreda and in the towns of ARS whose eco-demographic profile is similar to the national average.
The remaining quarter, the group with among the highest income and educational attainment in the country, resides outside the ARS primarily in the Addis Ababa-Hawasa-Harrar triangle. However, there is no credible evidence that the Amara residing in these regions have a discernibly lower fertility or higher mortality rates than other linguistic communities to explain such a large gap.
Differential shifts in ethnic identity: Anecdotal evidence suggests that the fluidity of government-mandated ethnic identity is such that one can easily reclassify oneself for all sorts of reasons. We notice from the last column of Table 2 that the self-identification/mother-tongue ratios have declined marginally in all regions except in Affar and Amhara. Since the denominator is more or less fixed, this suggests that many who self-identified as Amara in the 1994 Census might very well have registered as non-Amara by 2007 either in response to the relentless discrimination and persecution or as a change of heart for those with mixed parentage.
But, how much of the gap can it account for? Recall here that nearly a quarter of the projected 2007 Amara population (using the Tigrayan growth rate) of 25 million live outside the ARS. Sixty percent (3 million out of the 5 million) lives in the ORS while most of the rest live in Addis Ababa. If we apply the decline in the self-identification/mother-tongue ratio of -0.024 in Oromiya to all Amara living outside ARS, we obtain a high-end figure of some 120,000 people for possible identity shifters. It is a drop in the bucket. The inscapable conclusion is that the missing 3 million Amara are to be searched for mainly in ARS and Addis Ababa.
Selective emigration of the Amara: Since we are interested in the total Amara population, internal migration is not salient here. The size of the Ethiopian Diaspora has increased substantially in the past 15 years—especially in North America, EU, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East. However, there is no readily available evidence that the rate of emigration is higher for the Amara than for other ethnic groups. We must again look elsewhere for the elusive answer.
Discriminatory population control: Ethiopia has a reputation for an aggressive national population policy since 1993. The main goal is to limit population growth, improve its structure, and enhance reproductive health mainly through family planning. Family planning services, if provided under a voluntary and cohesive health care system, can allow families to attain their desired number and spacing of children5. This is achieved primarily through diffusion of knowledge as well as based on informed consent in using myriad contraceptive methods (pills, implants, injectables, IUDs, condoms, and sterilizations). With generous financing from USAID, DfID, UNFP, GAVI, and the Government itself, contraceptive use rate in Ethiopia rose from 8% in 2000 to 41% in 2014 for married women (three-fourths of whom rely on injectables)6. Ethiopia has indeed become a darling of international funders of programs for population control.
5 J. Bongasrts, et al., Family Planning Programs for the 21st Century, New York: Population Council, 2012.
6 CSA, Ethiopia: Mini Demographic and Health Survey, Addis Ababa: July 2014.
http://www.corhaethiopia.org/images/Newsdoc/mini%20dhs%202014_%20final%20report3july2014.pdf.
7 Tigrayan People Liberation Front (TPLF), TPLF Manifesto, February 1976.
The issue here, of course, is whether the Government has deployed its health services (clinics, hospitals, health extension workers, etc.) differentially by targeting the Amara and others for aggressive, involuntary, or deceptive population control practices in the name of family planning and immunization. Persistent accusations of Amara women being subjected to long-acting contraceptives and deceptive sterilizations are common enough to warrant a thorough and impartial investigation. At the very least, we will then be able to differentiate the proportion of the missing millions that is due to averted births and excess mortality (such as due to HIV-AIDS) and what proportion is attributable to miscounting and/or deliberate undercounting.
Deliberate miscounting and undercounting: The various manifestos of the ruling Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) are full of strident attacks on the Amara7. The Amara continue to be demonized by ethno-nationalists of all hues for being the flag-bearers of Ethiopian identity. The Amara have been singled out for collective punishment in myriad forms including lackluster federal budgetary allocations for basic public services (such as roads, education, and health) in the ARS. Tens of thousands of Amara, historically dispersed in all administrative regions of Ethiopia, have been subjected to unprovoked violence, mass murder, dispossession, daily intimidation, and ethnic cleansing from districts where they lived for generations8.
8 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2011: Ethiopia,
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2011humanrightsreport/index.htm?dlid=186425#wrapper.
It is, therefore, entirely probable that a deliberate policy of census undercounting has been deployed as an effective tool for shortchanging the Amara in the current system of federal revenue sharing which is based on population size and need. This seemingly absurd practice may also have been used to justify the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Many opposition MPs have, in fact, made such allegations.
Final Thoughts
The analyses presented here show that at least 3 million Amara were inexplicably erased from official records in the 2007 national population and housing census. This amounts to 5% of the national population and 4% of the Orthodox Christian population of 2007.
This outcome is rather baffling precisely because it is not a product of innocent oversight or incompetence on the part of CSA. Firstly, every rural hamlet and urban Kebele is tightly controlled by an extensive network of agents of the ruling party (currently, one minder for every five citizens). Secondly, the Amara are a sedentary population which means that they are not susceptible to a significant undercount. Third, Addis Ababa is the largest and most tightly controlled city– half of the population increase between 1994 and 2007 could not be so easily missed for technical reasons.
The recent and unprecedented politicization of census data and population policy in Ethiopia sets an insidious practice that bodes ill not only for the larger groups such as the Amara; it also sets a dangerous precedent for other politically disfavored or marginalized groups. It is also eminently understandable: in fragile and polarized polities, rent-seeking state elites have a strong incentive to win not just elections but also censuses.
Willful manipulation of census and economic data undermines trust in official data in the eyes of citizens and foreign investors alike. Practicing eugenics on selected groups of citizens, if true, raises a serious legal case of genocide. This saga, therefore, calls for a full and satisfactory investigation involving the major stakeholders in Ethiopian society and the international groups funding data collection (including the upcoming 2017 census) and population control activities in Ethiopia.
Table 1
| Ethiopia: Distribution of the Population by Ethnicity, 1994 and 2007 ETHNIC GROUP | Self-id: 1994 | Self-id: 2007 | Implied Annual Growth rate | Language: 1994 | Language: 2007 | Implied Annual Growth rate |
| Affar | 1,019,569 | 1,286,427 | 0.020 | 965,462 | 1,290,844 | 0.026 |
| Agew | 555,733 | 911,814 | 0.049 | 500,323 | 707,599 | 0.032 |
| Amara | 16,013,618 | 20,081,557 | 0.020 | 17,278,551 | 21,846,445 | 0.020 |
| Gamo | 719,848 | 1,110,670 | 0.042 | 690,069 | 1,076,792 | 0.043 |
| Gedeo | 639,907 | 983,622 | 0.042 | 637,082 | 982,716 | 0.042 |
| Gurage | 1,389,052 | 1,880,436 | 0.027 | 797,359 | 1,499,978 | 0.068 |
| Hadya | 928,045 | 1,277,646 | 0.029 | 923,064 | 1,262,046 | 0.028 |
| Kefficho | 599,191 | 874,707 | 0.035 | 569,626 | 843,274 | 0.037 |
| Kembata | 499,927 | 631,543 | 0.020 | 486,871 | 618,725 | 0.021 |
| Oromo | 17,086,454 | 25,560,625 | 0.038 | 16,701,645 | 25,123,300 | 0.039 |
| Sidama | 1,842,386 | 2,969,412 | 0.047 | 1,875,203 | 2,999,229 | 0.046 |
| Silte | 901,850 | 943,912 | 0.004 | 827,603 | … | … |
| Somali | 3,384,824 | 4,627,575 | 0.028 | 3,187,053 | 4,649,732 | 0.035 |
| Tigre | 3,285,311 | 4,521,682 | 0.029 | 3,216,762 | 4,358,787 | 0.027 |
| Wolayta | 1,269,491 | 1,689,283 | 0.025 | 1,228,801 | 1,640,641 | 0.026 |
| Rest | 2,997,070 | 6,018,495 | 0.039 | 3,245,305 | 5,485,676 | 0.053 |
| Total | 53,132,276 | 74,385,784 | 0.025 | 53,130,779 | 74,385,784 | 0.031 |
Why Amhara population decline for PDF
Tecola Haogs and his crocodile tears
By Yilma Bekele
Crocodile tears (or superficial sympathy) are a false, insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief. That is what it felt like reading the gentleman’s article after watching the video ‘US Policy: Ethiopia A failed state.’ I was impressed by the powerful presentation. It is logically arranged with supporting evidence clearly identified for the viewer to investigate the assertions. Beyond being informative it also came with suggestions on how to go about demanding the US government stop the ethnic based regimes’ crime against the rest of the population.
I was surprised to read Ato Tecola Haogs’s article on our independent web sites with his harsh criticism of the video in question and his evocation of patriotism to support his argument. Furthermore I really felt insulted by his dismissal of the crimes against the rest of Ethiopians by the Tigrai ethnic group in power.
I am not trying to incite ethnic hatred between the children of Ethiopia. I will leave that to our government. But there are a few things that we have to be frank with each other when we talk about our country. The road to recovery is paved with admission of the problem as the first step. As far as I know TPLF is an exclusively ‘Tigrai’ ethnic group based organization and all the important political, economic, military positions are held by the Tigrai ethnic group.
Deputy PM –Debretsion Gebremariam (Tigrai), Defense- General Samora Yunis (Tigrai), National Bank – Newaye Christos Gebreab (Tigrai), Security – Getachew Assefa (Tigrai), EFFORT – Berhane Kidane Mariam Yihdego (Tigrai), Ethiopian Airlines – Tewelde Gebremariam (Tigrai) Federal Affairs Minster – Abbay Tsehaye (Tigrai), Orthodox Church Patriarch – Abune Matias (Tigrai)
All decisions affecting our country is made by the TPLF Politburo and persons like the puppet PM Hailemariam Desalegene, the Parliament and the rest of the bureaucracy is there to implement their wishes. As Chairman Mao wrote a while back ‘power flows from the barrel of a gun’ and the TPLF Party holds the gun and purse. The last twenty two years they have been exercising that power ruthlessly.
My esteemed friend Ato Tecola does not fight fair. It is one thing to disagree with the content of the video but one should refute specifics that are not in accord with reality and tell us what exactly the facts are and let the reader or viewer be the judge. I am afraid he does not have any supporting argument thus decided to engage in low level insults and question the integrity of the video creators. Instead of the message he decided to attack the messenger. What’s more just by watching it he concluded the video to have been produced by a ‘white person.’ I wonder what clued him to such deep insight of the highest order.
What the writer is doing is using fear as a weapon to scare us about perceived consequences for any action to change in the status quo. The video is advocating civic actions based on peaceful means to force the regime to back down and accept the rule of law. Even that is felt by the author to be unnecessary and harmful to the Ethiopian people. This what he wrote:
“Even if we are not wise enough or courageous enough to challenge the current tyrannical and treasonous leaders in power in Ethiopia, at the very least we should be wise enough to know our appalling limitations and allow nature to take its own toll, as was the case with Meles Zenawi’s death.” That is totally false and insulting. He is telling us to shut up and enjoy the abuse. Our people are kept ignorant and terrorized by their own regime. That has not stopped them from trying to be free. That is exactly the reason why there is ethnic conflict in some part of the country every day of the year. We have been challenging the regime but what is lacking is a united effort. We are in the process of building that. What do you think of Eskinder, Reyot, Wubshet, Bekele, Abubeker, Abraha, Zone 9 bloogers,
Andualem, Andargachew and thousands of unnamed others that are languishing in jail like ordinary criminals? They are the reason we their family feel emboldened to continue the struggle. What is more he wants to tell us the death of the evil tyrant ushered a different story. We love fiction, please continue. You wrote:
I did not see much of any constructive purpose in a video purely aimed to saw seeds of hate against an ethnic group in Ethiopia that is as much a victim of other ethnic groups of ethnic cleansing and brutal suppression by the current brutal Government of Ethiopia.
Where and when have any Ethiopian ethnic group victimized the Tigrai people? To throw around such charge demeans the hurt felt by the Amhara people in Gurafereda, Beneshangul/Gumuzl and other locations. What is shown on the video is true but sad. To say the Tigreans are victims of ethnic cleansing is wishing ill towards our own people. Like it or not ethnic cleansing was introduced by TPLF when they created Kilil and encouraged internal deportation.
What do you think of the following statement “I believe, this video is the work of the enemies of Ethiopia not just the regime in power.” It makes one pause don’t it? Why would the regime in power make a video about one of its members and especially the one with the guns?
The video offers eight point ‘action plan’ to bring the ethnic regime to its knees.
1 Western powers to stop financial aid
2 Investigate the charges of ethnic cleansing.
3 Investigate genocide policy against the Amhara, Ogaden and Gambella regions.
4 Release all political prisoners and journalists unfairly imprisoned. Allow free media
5 Stop interfering religious matters and recognize the plight of Ethiopian refugees
6 Stop land giveaways and investigate the crimes
7 Make the military a reflection of Ethiopia not one ethnic group (Tigrai)
8 Create independent judiciary.
The regime should be given a year and show good effort to resolve the above problems. If the regime does not cooperate levy the following sanctions.
1 Economic sanctions against TPLF officials
2 Freeze assets of TPLF officials.
3 Institute travel bans against TPLF officials’
4 Cut diplomatic ties.
5 Cut off financial aid.
This is what our friend wrote regarding the action plan
“Take note also of the type of solutions offered in the video, it is all aimed to hinder any form of economic help and progress of the Ethiopian people. For sure, we can see that a well-armed regime will not just collapse, but ordinary Ethiopians are the ones that will further suffer the most if economic sanctions and pressure is drastically put on Ethiopia.”
When he wrote ‘we lack courage’ I guess he meant it. The author is advocating for us to cower under because the regime is very powerful. What is advocated we do is not only appalling but downright ugly. His advice is “Thus, I advocated tact, wisdom, even sleaze in working from within to be able to create popular support within the citizens of Ethiopia right there in Ethiopia in handling a powerful and unscrupulous foe.” My question is what kind of change are we going to bring about if we are sleazy like them? You know what the definition of sleaze is – immoral, sordid, and corrupt behavior.
It seems like all his analysis of history is downright distorted. He is going counter to how other societies have achieved freedom and democracy. When he writes “For sure, we can see that a well-armed regime will not just collapse, but ordinary Ethiopians are the ones that will further suffer the most if economic sanctions and pressure is drastically put on Ethiopia” he is denying let alone old history but what most of us have observed in our life time. The white South African regime that was ‘well-armed’ was defeated by the determined will of the people, the East European were no match to the Soviet nuclear arsenal but achieved their independence, Viet Nam cannot equal even one of the American States but persevered and won.
He is telling us denying economic aid would hurt our people and here is Nobel Laureate Albert Lutuli, president of the African National Congress in one of his speeches said:
“The economic boycott of South Africa will entail undoubted hardship for African. We do not doubt that. But if it is a method which shortens the day of bloodshed, the suffering to us will be a price we are willing to pay.”
On Richard Hefner’s ‘open mind’ interview way back in 1957 when asked:
“Do you feel that this aggressiveness, this self-assertiveness will get him more in the long run than going along with contemporary opinion and biding his time, taking it step by step as he goes?”
MLK replied: “I think it’s better to be aggressive at this point. It seems to me that it is both historically and sociologically true that privileged classes do not give up their privileges voluntarily. And they do not give them up without strong resistance. And all of the gains that have been made, that we have received in the area of civil rights, have come about because the Negro stood up courageously for these rights, and he was willing to aggressively press on.”
He speculated that the independent site editors did not seem to have ‘considered the deeper mission of the video of poison’ when they posted it on their sites but failed to point out what exactly he found not to be true. It is only fitting to speculate that the writer was overwhelmed by the evidence that he closed his mind not to see such crime committed by his ethnic group. What kind of person would not be deeply be affected when confronted by the fate of Eskinder and Reyot, the killing of the Anuaks in Gambella, the atrocity against the Somalis in Ogaden and the ethnic cleansing of the Amharas? It all leads to TPLF.
I believe my honorable friend to be disingenuous when he argues about the coming holocaust that might happen due to the criminal activities of the mafia group and uses scare tactics to warn us of the consequences. I totally think the writer is inflicted with that primitive disease commonly known as tribalism and failed to rise up to the challenge as a Tigrai intellectual that could challenge the dangerous policy carried out by his cousins. He is obviously an educated and well-read individual but it seems his affiliation to the tribal mentally seems to have stopped his rational thinking process to rant such nonsenses to the victims. Or it is also possible that he has lost all semblance of respect to the rest of us and feels insulted that we dare raise such an issue instead of keeping quiet and let the ‘golden tribe’ do what is best since they are supposed to be our liberators.
They say you reap what you saw and I am sure the TPLF mafia group would one day face justice. Our wish and our prayer is that the rest of us are spared from the coming conflagration that is sure to take place due to the policies of the ethnic organization. There is no need to scare us of what would happen with the mafia group out of power. It is much better to think out loud with our people, confront the ugly reality and discuss ways to punish the criminals so the next ones will learn by example.
ወሬ ሲነግሩህ ሃሳብ ጨምርበት
በእውቀቱ ስዩ
ምኒልክ ጥቁረቱን ክዶ ነበር የሚል ቀደዳ በፌስቡክ ሲዞር ኣየሁ ልበል？
ትልልቅ ቅጥፈቶች ጀርባ ኣንድ ትንሽ መነሻ ይኖራል፡፡
መነሻውን እንመርምር እስቲ፡፡
ያድዋ ድል ማግስት የምኒልክ ዝና የጠራቸው የውጭ ኣገር ሰዎች ኢትዮጵያን መጎብኘት ጀምረው ነበር፡፡ ከኒህ እንግዶች ኣንዱ የሄቲው ታጋይ ጋዜጠኛ ቤኒቶ ሲልቪያን ነው፡፡
ሲልቪያንና ምኒልክ ያደረጉትን ጭውውት ስኪነር የተባለ ኣሜሪካዊ ዘግቦታል፡፡
በጭውውታቸው መሀል ምኒልክ ለሄቲው ሰውየi am not a Negro I am a Caucasian ማለቱን ስኪነር ዘግቧል፡፡
ምኒልክ ኔግሮ ኣይደለሁም ብለው ከሆነ ደግ ኣደረጉ ከማለት ውጭ የምለው የለኝም፡፡ ምኒልክ ጥቁር እንጂ ኔግሮ ኣይደለም።ኔግሮ የውርደት ስም ሲሆን ጥቁር የክብር ስም ነው፡፡
ኮኬሽያን የሚለው ቃል ግን ያስተርጓሚ ስተት መሆን ኣለበት፡፡በምኒልክ ዘመን ሰዎች ዘርን ለመግለጽ የሚጠቀሙባቸው ቃላት ከብሉይና ሃዲስ የተቀዱ ናቸው፡፡የሴም ዘር የካም ዘር የያፌት ዘር ወዘተ ይሰኛሉ፡፡ ኮኬሽያን የሚለው ቃል በወዘተ ውስጥ ኣይካተትም፡፡ኮኬሽያን በጊዜው በሊቃውንቱም ሆነ በመኳንንቱ ኣንደበት የሚዘወተር ቃል ኣልነበረም፡፡
ምኒልክ የሚገዛቸው ህዝቦች ጥቁር እንደሆኑ ያምን ነበር፡፡
እንደ ኤውሮፓ ኣቆጣጠር በ1878 ለንጉስ ሊዎፖልድ በጻፈው ደብዳቤ እንዲህ ይላል፡፡
“የኦሮሞ （ቃሉ ተተክቷል） የኣማራ የሱማል መልኩ ኣንድ ነው፡፡ ሁሉም ጥቁር ነው፡፡”
ምንጭ Acta Ethiopia vol 3 Edited by Sven Rubenson page302
ምኒልክ ጥቁረቱን ከመቀበል ኣልፎ ኣፍሪካዊ ጌቶች ጋር ጥቁረትን መሰረት ያደረገ ትብብር ጠይቆ ያውቃል፡፡ለምሳሌ ከሱዳኑ የማህዲስት መሪ ጋራ ሲደራደር የተናገረውን ታሪክ ጸሃፊዎች እንዲህ መዝግበውታል፡፡
Between us there has been no war. Now we have worse enemy who will make slaves of you and me.I am black ：and you are black. Unite with me”
ትርጉም፤
”ባንተናኔ መሀል ጠብ ኖሮ ኣያውቅም፡፡ሁለታችንን በባርነት ሊገዛን የተሰናዳ የከፋ ጠላት ኣለብን፡፡ እኔ ጥቁር ነኝ፡፡ ኣንተም ጥቁር ነህ፡፡ እንተባበር“
ልብ በሉ ይህንን የሚለው ምኒልክ ነው፡፡
በካሊፋውና በምኒልክ መካከል የተደረገው ይህ ታሪካዊ ልውውጥ ተመዝግቦ የተገኘው ከጥልያኑ መኮንን ከባራቴሪ ማስታወሻ ውስጥ ሲሆን በእንግሊዝኛ ተርጉማ መጽሃፏ ውስጥ የዶለችውChris Prouty ናት፡፡Empress Taitu and Menilk በተባለው መጽሀፏ ገጽ 119 ላይ ታገኙታላችሁ፡፡
በተረፈ “ወሬ ሲነግሩህ ሀሳብ ጨምርበት”የሚለውን ያባቶቻችንን ምክር በመጋበዝ ልሰናበት፡፡
“ያ ትውልድ” ሲታወስ
ለማንበብ ሊንኩን ይጫኑ
ዝቋላ ሀገሩ የት ነው?
የዚህች ሀገር ባለቤቶች ሁላችንም ካልሆንን በቀር በተናጠል ማንም ባለ ግዛት ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ ሉሲ አማራ ትሁን ኦሮሞ፣ አፋር ትሁን ሶማሌ፣ ጉሙዝ ትሆን ትግሬ፣ ወላይታ ትሁን ጋሞ የሚያውቅ የለም፡፡ በአኩስምና አካባቢው በተገኙ የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሑፎች ነገሥታቱ የሚገዙትን ሀገር ሕዝቦች ስም ይዘረዝራሉ፡፡ እጅግ የሚገርመው ግን ዛሬ በኢትዮጵያ ፖለቲካና የግዛት ይገባኛል ጥያቄ የምንሻኮተው ብዙዎቹ ጎሳዎች/ነገዶች ስማችን የለም፡፡ ሁላችንም ለማለት በሚያስደፍር መልኩ ከተለያየ ቦታ መጥተን የሠፈርንበት ላይ ረግተን ነው ዛሬ የምንገኘው፡፡ የሕዝብ የሥፍራ ንቅናቄ የታሪኳ አንዱ መገለጫ በሆነቺው ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ሆኖ ሌላውን ሀገርህ አይደለም፣ ክልልህ አይደለም፣ መሬትህ አይደለም እንደማለት ያለ ታሪካዊ ኃጢአት የለም፡፡ ትንሽ በታሪክ ወደኋላ ስንጓዝ ዛሬ ክልልና መንደር በመሠረትንበት ቦታ ሌሎች ሲኖሩበት እናገኛለን፡፡ አሁን የያዝነው ቦታ ከምእተ ዓመታት በፊት የሁላችንም አልነበረም፡፡ ሁሉም ሠፋሪ ነው፡፡ ነባር መሬቱ ብቻ ነው፡፡
ኢትዮጵያ የምታዋጣን የሁላችን እንድትሆን አድርገን ከሠራናት ነው፡፡ እንደ አጥር ሠሪ እንስሳት(territorial animals) ከዚህ በመለስ ማንም አይገባብኝም፡፡ እኔን ያልመሰለውን በዚህ አካባቢ ላየው አልፈልግም የሚለው ሂደት መጨረሻው መበጣጠስ ነው፡፡ የልዩነትን ያህል ተመሳሳይነት ሰፊ አይደለም፡፡ ተመሳሳይነት እጅግ ጠባብ ነው፡፡ አንድ ነኝ ብሎ በሚያስብ ‹ብሔርም ሆነ ብሔረሰብ› ውስጥ አያሌ ልዩነቶች አሉ፡፡ የጎሳ፣ የቤተሰብ፣ የአካባቢ፣ የእምነት፣ የፍላጎት፣ የርእዮተ ዓለም፣ የጾታ፣ የሀብት ደረጃ፣ የሥልጣን፣ ምኑ ቅጡ፡፡ ሁሉም ተመሳሳዩን ፍለጋ ከሄደ መጨረሻው ግለሰብ ነው፡፡ በሰውነት ክፍላችን እንኳን ተመሳሳያቸውን ከሚያገኙት ይልቅ የማያገኙት ይበልጣሉ፡፡ ሰው እንኳን በግለ ሰብእነት ሕልው የሆነው ልዩነትን በአንድ ኑባሬ ውስጥ በማስተናገድ ችሎታ ነው፡፡ አንድን አካባቢ ‹በተመሳሳይነት ሚዛን› አንድነቱን ጠብቆ ማቆየት አይቻልም፡፡
ያማ ቢሆን ኖሮ ሶማልያን የመሰለ ጠንካራና የማይናወጥ መንግሥት አይኖርም ነበር፡፡በእምነትና በቋንቋ ተመሳሳይ ናቸው፡፡ ይሄ ተመሳሳይነታቸው ግን አንድነታቸውን ሊጠብቅላቸው አልቻለም፡፡ ትኩረታቸው ‹ተመሳሳዩን ብቻ ፍለጋ› በሚለው ላይ ስለነበር ወደ ነገድ፣ ወደ ጎሳ፣ ወደ ጎጥ፣ ወደ ቤተሰብ እየወረዱ ነው በጦርነት ሲታመሱ የኖሩት፡፡ ለሶማልያ ችግር መፍትሔው ተመሳሳይን መፈለግ አይደለም ልዩነትን ለማስተናገድ መቻል ነው፡፡ ተመሳሳይነት ጠባብ ነውና፡፡ ጠባብነት ከሚመነጭባቸው ምንጮች አንዱም ‹ተመሳሳይን ብቻ ፍለጋ› ነው፡፡
የዝቋላ አቡነ ገብረ መንፈስ ቅዱስ ገዳም ዛሬ በሚታወቅበት ቦታ ላይ ከተገደመ ከ700 ዓመታት በላይ ሆኖታል፡፡ በዚያ አካባቢ አያሌ መንግሥታትና ሕዝቦች ተፈራርቀዋል፡፡ ገዳሙ ግን መከራ ሲገጥመው እየቀዘቀዘ፣ መከራውን አሸንፎ ደግሞ እንደ ፍግ እሳት እንደገና እየጋመ ከእኛ ዘመን ደርሷል፡፡ ወደዚያ ገዳም የሚገቡ መነኮሳት ሰማያዊቷን ሀገር የሚናፍቁ፣ ጾምና ጸሎትን ገንዘባቸው ያደረጉ፣ የጻድቁን ቃል ኪዳን የሚጠብቁ ናቸው፡፡ የመነኩሴ ሀገር የለውም፡፡ መነኮሳት እንኳን ከእናትና አባታቸው በተወለዱበት ሀገር ቀርቶ ስማቸውና ታሪካቸው በማይታወቅበት ሀገርም ‹ሀገርህ የት ነው?› አይባሉም፡፡
ኢትዮጵያውያን መነኮሳት ግብጽ ውስጥ ኖረዋል፣ ሊባኖስ ውስጥ ኖረዋል፣ ሶርያ ውስጥ ኖረዋል፤ ግሪክ ውስጥ ኖረዋል፣ ሮም ውስጥ ኖረዋል፡፡ አርመን ውስጥ ኖረዋል፡፡ ‹ሙሳ አል ሐበሽ› ሶርያ ውስጥ የታወቀ ኢትዮጵያዊ ጻድቅ ነው፡፡ የሶርያ ድርሳናት እንደሚነግሩን ሙሳ (ሙሴ) የዐፄ ገብረ መስቀል ልጅ ነው፡፡ ዛሬ ከኢትዮጵያ በላይ ሀገሩ ሶርያ ናት፡፡ በቅርብ ዓመታት የኢትዮጵያውያን መነኮሳት ገዳም በሊባኖስ ውስጥ በቁፋሮ ተገኝቷል፡፡ ቫቲካን ውስጥ የኢትዮጵያውያን መነኮሳት ማረፊያ ለታሪክ ቆሞ ይታያል፡፡ አርመን ውስጥ ኤቺሚዚን የአቡነ ኤዎስጣቴዎስ ገዳም ዛሬም አለ፡፡
እንዲያውም ዛሬ የዝቋላ መነኮሳት እንደገጠማቸው ያለ ‹ሀገርህ አይደለም› የሚል ሰውነት ያልገባው ፈተና ሲገጥማቸው ራሱ ፈጣሪ ነበር ይገሥጽላቸው የነበረው፡፡ በተአምረ ማርያም ላይ የተጻፈውና ኢየሩሳሌም በጦርነት ምክንያት በተዘጋች ጊዜ በ13ኛው መክዘ አካባቢ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም የተጓዘው ኢትዮጵያዊ ታሪክ ለዚህ ማሳያ ሆኖ ይኖራል፡፡ ይህ በኢየሩሳሌም ተሳላሚዎች ሁሉ የታወቀውና ዛሬም ድረስ በጎልጎታ መግቢያ በር ላይ ምልክቱን ትቶ ያረፈው ታሪክ እንዲህ ነበር የተፈጸመው፡፡
ከዛሬ 700 ዓመታት በፊት አንድ ኢትዮጵያዊ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ይጓዛል፡፡ ከአፍሪካ ምድር የሄደ ብቸኛ ሰው ነበር፡፡ የትንሣኤ በዓል ሲከበር የትንሣኤውን መብራት ከመቃብሩ የሚያወጡት ኢትዮጵያውያን ነበሩ፡፡ ያን ጊዜ ግን ብቻውን ስለነበር ማንም ከቁም ነገር አልቆጠረውም፡፡ እንዲያውም በመልኩ ምክንያት ተንቆ ‹ያለ ሀገርህ ለምን መጣህ፣ ውጣ› ተባለ፡፡ እርሱም ወጥቶ መግቢያው በር ላይ ሲያለቅስ በላዩ ላይ የብርሃን ዓምድ ተተክሎ ታየ፡፡ ተሳላሚው ሁሉ እምነቱንና ታላቅነቱን አደነቀ፡፡ ብርሃኑ የወረደበት ቦታም ተሰንጥቆ እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ ይታያል፡፡ ወደ ጎልጎታ የሚገባም ሁሉ ይሳለመዋል፡፡
ኢትዮጵያውያን መነኮሳት በሌሎች ሀገሮች ሄደው በኪደተ እግራቸው የባረኩት ሁሉ ሀገራቸው ሆኖ መኖራቸው ብቻ አይደለም የሚገርመው፡፡ ከመላው ዓለም የመጡ መነኮሳትም በዚህች ሀገር ውስጥ ‹ከየት መጣችሁ? የማንስ ወገን ናችሁ?›› ተብለው ሳይጠየቁ እንደ ሀገሬው ዜጋ ኖረዋል፡፡ አባ መጣዕ(ሊባኖስ)፣ ተሰዓቱ ቅዱሳን፣ አርባ ሐራ፣ አምስቱ የመንዝ ቅዱሳን፣ አቡነ ገብረ መንፈስ ቅዱስ፣ እጨጌ ዕንባቆም፣ ማኅበረ ጻድቃን፣ እነዚህ ሁሉ ኢትዮጵያ መጥተው ኖሩ፡፡ እዚህችም ሀገር ዐረፉ፡፡ ገዳማቸው ገዳማችን፣ ታሪካቸው ታሪካችን ሆነ፡፡
ዛሬ ያ ሁሉ ተረስቶ ነው የዝቋላ ገዳም መነኮሳት ዝቋላ ‹ሀገራችሁ አይደለም›› የተባሉት፡፡ ለመሆኑ እነዚህ ሰዎች ኢትዮጵያውያን አይደሉምን? እዚህ ቦታኮ ከ700 ዓመታት በላይ ኖረዋል፡፡ እዚህ አካባቢ ከ700 ዓመታት በፊት የነበሩ ዜጎች አቡነ ገብረ መንፈስ ቅዱስ ሲመጡ ‹ኦቦ› ብለው ተቀበሏቸው እንጂ ‹ሀገርዎ አይደለም ይውጡ› አላሏቸውም፡፡ ዛሬ በሥልጣን ላይ ካሉትና ገዳሙን በኢሬቻ መተካት ከሚፈልጉት ሰዎች ይልቅ ያኔ የነበሩት ሰዎች ልበ ሰፊዎች፣ አስተዋዮች፣ የሰውነት ክብር የገባቸው፣ የሀገርን ትርጉም የተረዱ፣ ከዘር ይልቅ ለሰውነት ታላቅ ቦታ የሚሰጡ፣ ሰውን በምግባሩ እንጂ በቋንቋውና በቀለሙ፣ በዘሩና በአጥንቱ የማይለኩ ነበሩ፡፡
የአንድ ክልል የቱሪዝም ቢሮ አንድን ገዳም ነጥቆ በገዳሙ ሥርዓት የማይፈቀድ ሌላ እምነትን ለመተካት ማነው ሥልጣን የሰጠው? በዚያ ገዳም ክልል ውስጥ ሊከበሩ የሚገባቸው ሃይማኖታዊ በዓላትንስ በምን ቀኖናዊ ሥልጣኑ ነው የሚወስነው? ለምንስ ነው እነዚህን መነኮሳት እየጠራ የሚያስፈራራው? ይኼ ገዳምኮ ዘመናትን ሁሉ ተሻግሮ እዚህ እንዲደርስ ያደረገው በእምነቱ ጽኑ የሆነው የአካባቢው የኦሮሞ ተወላጅ ነው፡፡ ሕዝቡ እዚያ ገዳም ለጸሎት የተጉ መነኮሳት እንደሚገኙ፣ የአቡነ ገብረ መንፈስ ቅዱስ የቃል ኪዳን ቦታ እንደሆነ የሚያምን ነው፡፡ በየዓመቱ በጥቅምትና በመጋቢት 5 ወደ ቦታው በመሄድ የአቡነ ገብረ መንፈስ ቅዱስ በዓል ከሚያከብረው ሕዝብ አብዛኛው የአካባቢው የኦሮሞ ተወላጅ ነው፡፡ ታድያ እነዚህ አካላት ይህንን አስተሳሰብ ከየት አመጡት?
ይኼ ተልዕኮ ሃይማኖታዊ ተልዕኮ አይደለም፡፡ የጠብ ጫሪነት ተልዕኮ ነው፡፡ በሰላም የኖረውን ሕዝብ የማበጣበጥ ተልዕኮ ነው፡፡ መጋቢት 5 ቀን በአቡነ ገብረ መንፈስ ቅዱስ በዓል ‹ኢሬቻን በጠበሉ ቦታ እናከብራለን፣ ሐውልት እናቆማለን› ብሎ በሕዝብ መገናኛ ማወጅ ጠብ ያለሽ በዳቦ እንደማለት ነው፡፡ ማንኛውም ሰው ያጸድቀኛል ብሎ ያሰበው እምነት ሊከተል ይችላል፡፡ ሁለት እምነቶች ግን በአንድ ቤተ መቅደስ ሊመለኩ አይችሉም፡፡ ሁሉም የየራሱን ነው መከተል ያለበት፡፡ ‹ከባልሽ ባሌ ይበልጣልና አልጋሽን ልቀቂለት› የሚለው ብሂል ግን ዛሬ የሚያዋጣ አይመስልም፡፡ የሃያ አንደኛው መክዘ ኢትዮጵያንም በጤና አውሎ አያሳድራትም፡፡ በዝቋላ ገዳም ላይ የተጀመረው ርስትን የመንጠቅ ሥራም በዝቋላ የሚያበቃ አይሆንም፡፡ ‹መንግሥታዊ ሃይማኖት የለም› ከተባለ መንግሥታዊ መዋቅሮች አንድን እምነት ደግፈው ሌላውን እምነት ለመጫን እንዴት ቻሉ?
ስለዚህም
- ቅዱስ ፓትርያርኩ ሁኔታውን በተመለከተ ለሚመለከታቸው ድብዳቤ መጻፋቸው የሚገባ ቢሆንም ቅዱስ ሲኖዶስ ግን ይህንን ነገር በዕንቁላሉ ለመቅጨት መወሰንና መሥራት ያለበት ጊዜ ዛሬ ነው፡፡ መነኮሳቱና ሀገረ ስብከቱ የጻፏቸው ደብዳቤዎች በገዳሙ ስለደረሰው መከራ ብዙ የሚናገሩት ነገር አለ፡፡ በስብሰባዎች የደረሰባቸው ጫና፣ በየጊዜውም የሚደርስባቸውን እንግልት ገልጠውታል፡፡ ሲኖዶሱ ገዳማትን ከመጠበቅ የሚቀድም ሌላ ኃላፊነት የለውም፡፡
- ምእመናንም ገዳሙን በንቃት መከታተልና በተለይም በመጋቢት 5 ቀን በክብረ በዓሉ በመገኘትና በዓሉን በታላቅ ሃይማኖታዊ ሥነ ሥርዓት በማክበር ለቅዱሱ ሥፍራ ያለንን ፍቅር፣ ለመነኮሳቱ ያለንን የዓላማ አንድነት፣ ሁላችንንንም ለሚያቅፈው ኢትዮጵያዊነት ያለንንም ክቡር ሥፍራ ማሳየት አለብን
- መንግሥትም በጥባጭ ካለ ጥሩ ለመጠጣት አይቻልምና በሚዲያ የተሳተው በሚዲያ፣ በአሠራር የተበላሸውም በአሠራር እንዲታረም ማድረግ ይገባዋል፡፡
ይድረስ ለ ጎንደር ህዝብ
ለማንበብ ሊንኩን ይጫኑ
Israels forced birth control to Ethiopian Jews
World Bulletin / News Desk
The Israeli government has admitted to forcing female Ethiopian Jewish migrants into having contraceptive injections without their knowledge or consent. The women were deceived and told that the Depo-Provera injections were vaccinations and that unless they had them, they would be refused entry to Israel.
When Israel’s Ethiopian community became suspicious of a dramatic decline in birth rates, investigations began to determine why. The Israeli government denied any wrongdoing but the health ministry has ordered a complete halt to all gynaecologists administering the drugs.
According to a report in the Atlanta Black Star, the Israeli government deliberately and knowling injected Ethiopian women who were migrating to Israel – the women were told that it was a vaccination, and without it, they would be barred from entering Israel.
Many have called the practice appallingly racist.
Investigations showed that the injections were responsible for a 50% in the birth rate of the the Ethiopian community. Conspiracy theories had long been circulating about forced sterilization however the Israeli Health Ministry stepped in after a documentary aired last month on the Israel’s Educational Network.
Health Ministry Director General Ron Gamzu sent out a letter to all Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO’s) instructing them “not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment,” the news site Haaretz reported Sunday.
According to Haaretz, the documentary chronicled 35 Ethiopian women who immigrated to Israel eight years ago and said they were told they would not be allowed to move to Israel unless they agreed to the Depo-Provera shots.
“We said we won’t have the shot,” recounted one of the women, according to Haaretz. “They told us, if you don’t you won’t go to Israel. And also you won’t be allowed into (an assistance program), you won’t get aid or medical care. We were afraid … We didn’t have a choice. Without them and their aid we couldn’t leave (Ethiopia). So we accepted the injection. It was only with their permission that we were allowed to leave.”
Gal Gabbay,a local investigative journalist , showed in a report by a local investigative journalist, , showed that women in a transit camp in Ethiopia awaiting emigration were told they would have to get the shots in order to come to Israel. According to the Los Angeles Times, the possible side effects of the drug include a decrease in bone density that puts women at increased risk for osteoporosis and fracture. In addition, returning to fertility can be a lengthy process and withdrawal symptoms can be acute.
Ethiopian Jews have faced widespread discrimination and isolation since being moved to Israel in the 1980s. Some were forced to live in transit camps or absorption centers to “adjust to society.” They face widespread discrimination in the job market and the educational system.
Hevda Eyal, author of the report “By Women to Women,” told the National that the birth control shots were about “reducing the number of births in a community that is black and mostly poor.”