Ethiopian Muslim protesters in Addis Ababa
A journal article by Alemu Tafesse, Political analyst and Academic. Click here to read
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013, 5:58 pm
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is a.good analysis..but. i ashamed on the west’so called amenisty international and human right watch even european governments and USA for blindly silent ..shame on them and death to tyrant woyane rebellion
Abdu, Ethiopia is Ethiopia; no Amnesty or EU or America can save your ass. If you really need something you need to work together with your fellow Ethiopians. you cannot arm twist Ethiopians using Arab or European or USA? Those days are gone. If we have problem among ourselves, the wise way to deal with is to solve our problem ourselves. Amnesty, Journalists, USA, UK,… cannot save you. You need to respect the law of your country as it is. You wanted islamic state ? you must go to Saudi Arabia which is perfect islamic state but to make Ethiopia an islamic state is a pipe dream that will never happen. Sell your talk of democracy or right to muslims all over the world. Democracy can not be the commodities of islam because islam is anti democracy. Deceive somebody else, not Ethiopians.
Gezaee, you may be right in saying that the US won’t be able to save us (Ethiopians), but I’m sure that the Ethiopian people will save themselves from the clutches of the TPLF soon. Ethiopians won’t go to Saudi or the US; we’ll stay here in the secular state of Ethiopia and see you go back to Adwa
Imagine a protestant pastor being appointed as patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox church. This is what the government tried to do with the Ethiopian mosque. Bring in al ahibash, a completely different sect and tried to make it the guiding principal of Ethiopian Muslims. What happen to the separation of church and state guaranteed by the constitution?
It looks like you are supporting TPLF and your ignoring the truth. You also out of the topic, nobody says we need Islamic law but we need the freedom of our religion no matter what, whether you like or not. THis movement will bring some of your stupid system of dectatorship. You need to learn from your last ignorancy and mistakes. Nothing gonna stay the same as your blind mind. you need to grow.
As the saying goes..” we are born at night but not last night”
Mr. Writer, Are you telling us that the few muslims religious question has a political motive?…Ok in the case the Ethiopian government claim was correct.
What I knew untill now is,irrespective the calim my government, the few muslim community members specifically demand the release of their relious leaders and you can’t use the muslim religious questions as a back door way to pressure the Ethiopian govermment. That is dirty politics and this is one of the reasons you won’t bring a thing or two to change in Ethiopian politics for the last two decayed
Well no body denies that Relious freedom is one of the senstive civil right question but we never heard any members of the Muslims communites asking for civil and political rights other than religion. Rather they were trying to convince the Ethiopian government their question was no political motive
eden, I urge you to re-read the article. It doesn’t claim at all that the religious movement has political motives. It rather argues that the religious movement (which is also a civil rights movement since it is about democracy and freedom generally speaking) has a profound democratic implication for the country.
The Ethiopian Muslim civil rights movement is good for the development of democracy , but very bad for these extremists who are using every opportunity to satisfy their power hunger!
Finally , the Muslim rights will be respected as it is their natural right in their own country, but there is no right for power hunger…!
God bless the Christians & the Muslims of Ethiopia!
Glory to these who reached Ethiopia where it is now !
Mario, I’m sure by “these extremists who..satisfy their power hunger”, you’re referring to the Ethiopian government.
Teshome
I presume by “these extremists..” the above commenter is referring to those religious zealots who are trying to impose their faith by force no matter how barbaric it is. Just to quote some of the verses from their manifesto so that one can easily see how extreme their objective is, please look at the following statements:
Sura 8:59 “The infidels should not think that they can get away from us. Prepare against them whatever arms and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorize them. They are your enemy and Allah’s enemy.”
Sura 8:39 “So, fight them till all opposition ends and the only religion is Islam.”
sura 9:29 Fight (kill) against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth among the People of the Scripture, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.
So Mr Teshome, what do you think of these statements which I quoted from the book of the extremists? Please tell me if I have misquoted any of the verses and if any name other than “extremist” will suit anyone who is endeavoring to execute them
Chief Solomon, I am mortified for your inadequacy of knowledge. Besides you made your point clear be it in Ethiopia or elsewhere that, you are against Muslims period. you said “sura 8:39 the book of the extremists” if I ask you what is that Book of extremists? You don’t dare to tell us because I know you are here to deceive the reader. Go tell us what does sura means? Is it a book? KKKKKKKKK.
A piece of advice you need to learn and ask before you give your understanding of the sura you mention you got it from the BOOK since you don’t dare to mention it I will leave it as that. But I know it is not a fiction book if you read the context you will arrive at different conclusion chief Solomon. You see I can give you so many verses in the bible talk about killings but if you read the context the meaning could be deferent. Since it is not religious debate I leave it at that. Because I don’t want to offend the believers of any faith my intent is to work together to put down this oppressive regime. Please refrain from offending the Muslims unless you work for them you know!
Besides the analysis is great but I will add one more thing that, it is true the Muslim question is not political question but only a democratic question within, be it a natural right or democratic and constitutional rights.
This Movement brought about clearly
1. Expose the undemocratic nature of TPLF
2. Bring all Muslims together and
3. Some in Christian community who were confused clearly understood and stand by the Muslims struggle
4. Most importantly the biggest achievement I think is, it has achieved what political organization did not achieve. Brought all ethnic together from Tigay to moyale, Jimma, arsi ,Jijiga, harar etc. The entire ethnic barrier is broken.
May Allah help us all? ameen.
this is not a muslim right movement its a terrorist activity by foreign sponsors to derail reneissance dam and other devt. activities our govt. handles it wisely and soon the plot will be made public dont advertise this terrorists
ejigu, a quick question: are you trying to cheat others or you really believe in what you wrote?
Rambling, long winded and incoherent analysis! Long is not better! The handful of half-witted points you made could have been articulated in one page. I do not think the current government has anything to fear about the provision of religious freedom, to which everybody is entitled. What we fear is Islamic Fundamentalism which has reared it ugly face in Egypt and other counties! Ignore this at your peril! Ethiopia can not afford to ignore this potential threat, surrounded as it is by strategic enemies that we all know. If your analysis was balanced this issues could have been at least mentioned but it is clear your main point is to discredit the current government and use the current Islamic issue for your political agenda – an agenda to bring back Amhara domination! Unfortunately, these days are gone, never to come back! The new Ethiopia has impowered its nationalities who now aspire to live in harmony with abiding equality. True, we have a long way to go to enhance our democracy but I have no doubt this can be achieved in the near future if we all contribute to the debate instead of constantly encouraging ONE-SIDED HATE politics!
Alegnta, you could have articulated your comment in one sentence as: “We TPLF-ites consider every opposition in Ethiopia to be about foreign intervention or ‘Amhara’ domination”. And my response would be: “You keep up that barking until you get surprised by the soon-to-come victory of all Ethiopians over their minority rulers”.
I find this article well articulated and well reasoned. I hope we can face the reality head-on and try to change things for the better.
- EPRDF/TPLF government and its supporters can be honest to themselves and face the reality that “terrorism” card is not a solution to every problem.
- Opposition groups and supporters can be honest to themselves and begin to understand that non-violent resistance is not dead yet; USA and EU are not going to solve Ethiopia’s problems – only Ethiopians can do that with a unified and disciplined movement.
This journal article by Alemu Tafesse is really informative. Keep up your excellent job
This is a beautiful – contribution. Beautiful because of its intellectual capacity for presenting us a political analysis of the political forces and their relations in Ethiopia, without resorting to irrational “exclusive partisan” political game and well aware of the big picture i.e. Ethiopia & Democracy, past, present and future! Please go ahead to make more of such a discourse, we are missing from “our political class”. A political class, condemned to be incapable of making a political reflection beyond “ethnic identity politics”! -”Ethnic identity politics”, which is today not only anachronistic in the 21.Century modern human political movements, but also deconstructing the very foundations of the Ethiopian state; i.e. the very survival of all its peoples! A would-be “failed state” candidate!
Yes: It is indeed true that,
“the ultimate goal, and the way towards that goal, is democracy, equality, inclusion and freedom; and when the masses behind such a massive change are thoroughly democratized in mind and spirit; and when retaliation has no place in the minds of the wider public, I think we are a step closer to bringing about the system we have cherished for long. I think Ethiopian Muslims have offered us a lesson in this regard by democratizing their discourse and behavior, in remaining steadfast in both aspects for so long, and saying no to radicalization.”(extract from your paper)
YES, it is indeed high time, that the whole spectrum of the opposition, against the Ethiopian authoritarian rule, be it abroad or at home, be it affiliated to Christianity or secular, join this peaceful democratic mass movement of our Muslim fellow Ethiopians!
Hilina, I think you are longing to lose your head? kahaka, go for it. But you wil find you head and your body at different place at the end of your victory. You are trying to fish from a murky river a fish to eat? kaka, but you find yourself fishing corcodiles instead of gold fish. You know how crocodile can gnash your bones? good luck
Religious extremism has nothing to do with civil right. The writer does not know what he is talking about. In the first place, muslim protesting for civil rights or democracy does not make any sense. Islam abhors any right that is ought of islamic law. Civil right or democracy has no right in islam. This i fakin.You are trying to give them a face lift. These protest started by extremists who claim Ethiopia was an islamic state long before and who deny even the name Ethiopia is its name. These are the people who vow to burn Ethiopians christians to make Ethiopia an islamic state. Where do you guys live honestly? Where on earth do muslims or islam respect humans? leave alone non-muslims, even they never respect muslims. I do not understand where the writer got the name muslim civil right movement? if it is a civil right why does it has to be muslim civil right? why you attach the religion islam to it? Are you telling me the current governemnt denied muslims their religion? man, come on think wisely. Do not legitimize terror civil terror as civil right. Why they did not protest when muslims were cutting people’s head in Jimma? The article is legitimizes terror as civil right? you must investigate and know before disseminating wrong information to the public.
Gezaee, you don’t need to write this much to get us know your thoughts. You’re basically saying: 1) “Muslims are by definition anti-democratic” 2) “since they’re anti-democratic, they should either be exiled from Ethiopia or should live as a second-class citizens”. 3) “if they shout for the protection of their rights, we should just kick their ass since they are by definition terrorists!” Thanks Gezaaee, for telling us the philosophy of your party, TPLF, which we already know, by the way.
Tadmok,
I am not TPLF unless you wanted me to be. If you are telling me to join them? then you are adding to TPLF a new mind which will make more nightmare for you. So why are pushing me this much? You must know it is my right to be TPLF too. I am saying islamic teaching and strictly muslims who follow islamic teaching has nothing to do with rights. My argument is not muslims are created terrorists? no, they are human like anybody else. But Islam teaches them they are the chosen human. Islam teaches them other people or human or non-muslims are infidels or Kafirs. Islam does not even allow muslims to do business or to interact with non-muslims. I come everyday in my life. Muslims come and ask me,” Are you muslim? ” I say now, then they turn their face and leave me.They do not even say hi. The problem is not muslim, it is their religion which is wrong and that does not the sanctity of life. If Christian teaches me to do like that, I would do the same. The problem is the teaching of the religion which is give them wrong authority. Ethiopian muslims were different and unique as unique as Ethiopia itself, but the Pagan money worshipper messed it up now by allow Arab muslims to take over Ethiopia. It is not even the Ethiopian muslims problem, the problem is woyane has been in bed with the deviles for money. The devils has been doing their underground work for the past 20 years. The Ethiopian muslims are not trained to do according to their instruction and training. The cause of the problem is not Ethiopian muslims, it is woyane who exposed Ethiopian muslims to the devils. You can even see now while Arab Defense Minister is insulting Ethiopia on public arena, woyane is telling us Arabs our friends and woyane is signing many agreements. This is actually going to be much worse for woyane because woyane is crazy for money. While woyane runs after devils for money, the damage comes to Ethiopia. Anyway, islam is not against nature and human including muslims themselves. A religion that gives authority to people to kill, maim, burn, stone their fellow human being is just not religion of God but something else. you need to look into your religion than blaming people. I would condemn if any Christian does any crime to any muslims.Just keep quiet while a religion is engaged in desecrating the sanctity of life is wrong. We have to tell you openly that your religion is terrifying ordinary human being on our planet. You need to apply your brain and apply pure reasons than following blindly what the primitive Arabs tell you. Even my Saudi Arabians friends agree their government and their way is uncivilized and they are migrating to the first world. It i not other humans who blacked mailled and gave bad image to your religion, it is the action of muslims in the name of islam that has made your religion as scary as it is now. I daresay your religion is not any appealing to any human including muslims themselves. I have 100 Iran friends who are born muslims they do not want islam and they argue the teaching is evil. This is not me, but muslims themselves? why would one turn against religion? Alas, islam is tarnished by Arab as a violent religion. You know us we Ethiopians we do not care about skin colour, race or ethnic or religion. You can worship even a tree or the sun as long as you do not touch others rights. But if you gona try to manipulate us to be ruled by your violent religion? then we are Ethiopians and we will not submit to injustice. I think the Ethiopian king who saved Islam did not the biggest mistake in human history. If islam was not saved by Ethiopians, it would not have existed today terrorize humanity. The Ethiopian King should have thrown into the redsea when the sought refugee in Axum or handed them back to those who were persecuting them. But I guess he would not know those people become like this and threatened world peace. Can you reform your religion? I doubt so, because islam teaches you that your way is the only way? May will bring us www III
Gezaaee, long rambling is worse rambling. Try to hide stupidity by shortening ramblings, ok?. Briefly, you’re ignorant of the fact that a de-contextualized analysis of any religion is as false as it is dangerous. You know nothing about the different manifestations of Islam, just like those of Christianity. Further, it is not just the TPLF (in which you’re an active member, despite your pretense to the contrary) that should have the will of its own to fight (1975-1991), but also all other Ethiopians, including Muslims. Discard your old backward mentality that if someone rises up against brutality, he/she should be incited by foreigners. Sorry, I forgot you’re an Islamophobe. You need mental rehabilitation, no counter-argument.
Teshome
If that’s how you interpret , my writing then you can be it, it’s upto you ! You know what my writing means, nevertheless , don’t you use me to show up! We are here just to opine, nothing else!
I enjoyed reading Alemu’s very interesting piece of writing on the Muslim movement. However, I disagreed with his three main conclusions.
1 EPRDF/TPLF always has been undemocratic government. EPRDF/TPLF never had been like an ancient Roman god JANUS having one head with two bearded faces, democratic and undemocratic, looking in opposite directions. There is no such thing sometimes democratic and sometimes undemocratic government. Devotion to democracy must be absolute and unconditional otherwise it means nothing.
2 A democratic system of government is a prerequisite for development of an inclusive and non-violent democratic culture. The Ethiopia people have a right to use any means to get rid of undemocratic government in order to establish a democratic system of government.
In the case of the Muslim movement they have no choice but non-violent and any other means will be suicidal. There is also no certainty that the Muslim non-violent struggle will be successful regardless of that it survive EPRD/TPLF wicked force for the last 14 months
3 The Ethiopian Muslim struggle for their religious freedom is a part of the Ethiopian people struggle for democracy and deserves to be supported. However, the Muslim must join the Ethiopian people struggle to bring a democratic system of government in the county and if only then their struggle for religious freedom will be successful. The Ethiopia people should support their Muslim brother/sister struggle but not join. I shall hope that all Ethiopian people will join together in struggle for their democratic right, dignity and freedom.
surgo, as far as I understood it, the author is not saying Woyane has ever been democratic; he is saying that Woyane has always shown two contending faces, which I think is true. And I disagree that Ethiopian Muslims haven’t yet joined the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia. I think Ethiopian Muslims are not just fighting along other Ethiopian for freedom and justice; they are actually leading this struggle now. They don’t need to say “we represent all Ethiopians in our struggle”. They’re actually waiting for others to come and join the struggle they’re paying dearly in. They showed us an alternative path that worked in many countries. It is up to the rest of us to go and join, and escalate our demands.
You are putting them in a problem. They are saying they struggling for thier religion freedom, but you are saying they are struggling for Ethiopians? how is that going to work for you by attaching yourself to them like a tick? you need to have an ideology and programme than attaching yourself to everyone like Mezheger? You cannot use religion to fight for ideology? You are saying they showed you the way? you wanted Ethiopia another Arab country where people kill each other or become islamic state like Egypt? you are a loser who have no even clue what you are talking about. You just wanted to use islam as a short cut to Arat kilo but you do not know it is going cost you your head at the end of your victory. This 100% ignorance
Gezaae, just checking if you’ve really understood what the political analyst Alemu argued in this highly profound article of his: can you first summarize the whole theme of it in one or two sentences? Then, based on your understanding (which will surely be awful), people will respond to you. Thanks.