Al Mariam’s Commentaries
June 12, 2021
The Way of Peace, Justice, Equality, Freedom and Democracy
There is D-Day and there is DD-Day Ethiopia.
On June 6, 1944, the Allied Forces launched their first large-scale attack on Normandy Beach (Northwestern France) ultimately liberating Western Europe from the clutches of Nazism. That was D-Day.
On June 21, 2021, Ethiopians will have their own DD-Day.
DAWN OF DEMOCRACY DAY.
Unlike D-Day, on Ethiopian DD-Day there will be no “crash of guns, rattle of musketry nor the strange and mournful mutter of the battlefield.”
On Ethiopian DD-Day June 21, 2021, Ethiopia will be liberated from the yoke of dictatorship and despotism and will march into a new era of democracy and self-government.
June 21, 2020 is a date that shall live in glory and majesty in Ethiopian history.
The great and ancient people of Ethiopia will for the first time in their history choose their own government in a free and fair election.
On June 21, 2021 there will be ululation of joy. There will be shrieks of “Let’s Vote and show them how it is done!”.
There will be an outpouring of brotherhood and sisterhood throughout the land, “We did it our way. The Ethiopian way.”
There will be elation that comes from perseverance and defiance. ETHIOPIANS INVICTUS!
There will be pride in being an Ethiopian.
There will be jubilance from overcoming the present crisis and exultation from the knowledge that “behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.”
On DD-DAY Ethiopia, Ethiopians shall lift their ballots and forever “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Henceforth, Ethiopians shall not lift up sword against each other, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
On Ethiopia DD-Day, millions of Ethiopians will be marching to the polls to elect their OWN government of the people, by the people and for the people.
How I wish I could be there to watch it all in wonderment and awe.
True this. I shall be with them in spirit and soul.
On D-Day 1944, the Allies came together – Medemer — to liberate Western Europe from the scourge of Nazism and Fascism.
On DD-Day 2021, Ethiopians come together- Medemer – to speak in one voice and liberate themselves from poverty, ethnic animosity, brutality, depravity, impunity and the foreign vulgarity that injures their dignity and vilifies their sovereignty.
DD Day2021 shall herald a new era of equal opportunity, equality, unity, civility, fraternity, humanity, solidarity, modernity and prosperity.
On June 21, 2021, Ethiopians shall chart a new course on a new road, the road not taken before.
Will the June 21, 2021 Ethiopian election be free and fair?
Will the June 21, 2021 election in Ethiopia be perfect?
Of course not. But it will be the fairest and freest in Ethiopia’s long and storied political history.
Let’s put things in perspective.
America has been doing elections for 232 years beginning in 1788.
In the November 2020 elections, we learned how “free and fair” an American presidential election actually is.
In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden received 81,268,924 votes and Donald Trump 74,216,154.
In an opinion poll taken last month, the data showed “most Republicans still believe the 2020 election was stolen and Trump is the real president.”
At the very minimum, 40 million Americans believe Joe Biden stole the 2020 election.
40 million Americans do not believe the 2020 election was free and fair!
Eight months after the election, they are still conducting vote recounts in Arizona to show the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Biden.
Efforts are underway to do recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
If the best America can do after 232 years of practicing democracy and boasting it is the bastion of democracy is litigate whether its presidential election was stolen eight months after the election, Ethiopia could be excused for not having a perfect election on June 21, 2021.
But I will be madder than a wet hen if the U.S. is going to lecture Ethiopia on the fairness of its June 2021 election!
Let me be clear.
I am not taking a position one way or the other on whether Joe Biden stole the election from Donald Trump.
All I am saying is that stolen election puppy ain’t put to bed yet!
The Way of Medemer ends on Victory Avenue
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote all about it in his recently published book, “The Way of Medemer” (“Yemedemer Menged”).
The book is essentially about Ethiopia/ns finding themselves at the fork in the road.
They must choose the way they want to go.
There is the way of the West.
There is the way of the East.
Then there is the Ethiopian Way, the Way of Medemer.
There are Ethiopians today who walk on the knife edge of hope and despair.
The are many who see the glass half full and few who see it half empty.
The Western prophets of doom and gloom preach hellfire and brimstone to Ethiopians.
These doomsayers seek to convince Ethiopians the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are standing on the horizon to visit war, disease, famine and death on their country. (Could the Four Horsemen be the U.S., E.U., NATO and Egypt?)
Then come the Ethiopian prophets of hope, redemption and prosperity.
The Ethiopian prophets preach a message of unity, equality, fraternity, accountability, opportunity, security, positivity, indomitability, sensibility and rationality and divinity in our humanity. They carry the banner of ETHIOPIAN SOVEREIGNTY.
On June 21, 2021, Ethiopians will stand in the voting booth and make a choice.
Do they want to take the dead-end roads that go west or east?
Or do they want to go their OWN way: The Way of Medemer.
What is the Medemer Way, anyWay?
I have explained it at length previously.
Let me briefly recap.
Medemer is a homegrown and Afrocentric forward-looking philosophy/system of ideas to overcome the burdens of the past and to find a pathway to lasting peace and prosperity in Ethiopia and in the African continent.
Medemer philosophy originates in a reawakened consciousness that orients Ethiopians/Africans to take a fresh look at their deeply seated and longstanding problems, issues and aspirations through an African lens and not through the distorted Western and Eastern lenses they have been bamboozled and hoodwinked into wearing.
Ethiopians/Africans cannot expect to overcome the gruesome contemporary African realities of poverty, disease, ignorance, abuse of power, human rights violations, corruption, etc., by looking through the one-size-fits-all dark lenses of Western and Eastern ideologies.
They must come up with their own Afrocentric system of ideas.
Medemer is based on an Afro-centric philosophy/system of ideas that reflects indigenous African/Ethiopia history, culture, traditions and challenges. However, it is neither canonical nor dogmatic.
As I have previously explained, Medemer is the “philosophical” equivalent of an open source “software” such as Ubuntu for use or modification as users/practitioners or other “developers” see fit.
“Medemer software developers” can fix bugs, improve functions, or adapt the “open source Medemer code” to suit their own needs, as indeed I have done so.
Medemer is free “to download, run, copy, distribute, study, share, change and improve without paying licensing fees and in the language of one’s choice.”
Ethiopians in particular and Africans in general have failed miserably in their efforts to indigenize imported ideologies they barely understood and which at best have marginal relevance to their circumstances.
Wholesale imported ideologies have done considerable long-term damage to Ethiopian (African) politics, societies and economies.
Medemer, however, is not a wholesale rejection of non-African ideologies or systems of thought. It favors eclectic and selective inclusion of beliefs, ideas and methods from the West and the East to the extent they harmonize with the African experience, traditions, practices and realities.
When Ethiopians vote on June 21, 2021, they will be charting a historic course not only for their country but also Africa.
The ballots they cast will send a loud and clear message that will be heard all over Africa and the rest of the world.
Ethiopians will not take the American Way.
Ethiopians will not take the European Way.
Ethiopians will take no other way but the
MEDEMER WAY.
The huffing and puffing three big bad wolves and the little lamb
Ethiopians expect obstacles on Medemer Way. But it will be nothing more than a bump on the road.
The Susan Rice-Joe Biden administration apparatchiks are huffing and puffing sanctions on Ethiopia until kingdom come.
We will cutoff development aid. We will cutoff security aid. We’ll get our friends in the European Union to join us in crushing Ethiopia. We will put our thumbs on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to deny loans and grants to Ethiopia. We will make sure Ethiopia does not get debt relief. We will use NATO to air strike Ethiopia.
The European Union and UK are huffing and puffing threats and warnings.
We will cut off budget support. We will get member states to deny bilateral aid. We will get NATO to take powerful action against those allowing sexual violence.
The unholy Egyptian-Sudanese alliance huff and puff.
We will invade Ethiopia and take military action on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam if one drop of water is taken out of the Abay River. We will sign joint defense agreements with African countries to besiege Ethiopia. We will get Big Daddy U.S. to ship Ethiopia into shape.
In the children’s story of the big bad wolf and the three little lambs, the big bad wolf came around threatening to blow down the house of three little lambs. He succeeded in blowing down two houses made of straws and sticks. But the third house was built of bricks.
The big bad wolf huffed and puffed. He puffed and he huffed some more. But he could not blow the brick house down. He was out of breath.
The angry big bad wolf decided to come down the chimney of the brick house, but there was a surprise waiting for the big bad wolf, a big kettle of boiling water.
That was the end of the big bad wolf – stewed in a kettle of boiling water.
The moral of the story is that three big bad wolves huffing and puffing on Ethiopia will find out that the Ethiopia they think is built with straws and sticks is actually built in solid granite.
If they think they are blowing down an Ethiopia house made of straws of ethnic division and sticks of sectarianism, they should know there is a large kettle of boiling water waiting for them. Including the boiling waters of the River Abay (Nile).
ETHIOPIANS MUST REMAIN VIGILANT!
Last week, I warned, among other things, that I fully expect the U.S.-E.U.-U.K.-NATO-Egypt axis to directly strike at or sponsor acts of terrorism to prevent or thwart the June 21 election.
I also predicted the Axis will launch a massive disinformation campaign to discredit and delegitimize the election.
The disinformation campaign indeed kicked into overdrive.
In a kangaroo press conference on June 11, USAID uber boss Samantha Power, Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell Fontelles and EU apparatchiks Janez Lenarčič and Jutta Urpilainen accused the Ethiopian Government of causing the starvation of 400 thousand people in Tigray. The aim is to undermine confidence in the election by juxtaposing famine.
What evidence did they present to support the allegation of starvation: Zilch!
But the Western press-titutes and lap dogs lapped up the story.
But wait until you get a load of crap the Western media press-titutes, journaLIEsts, inside the beltway pseudointellectual think tankers and lobbyists will unload after the election.
It is in the nature of Evil never to sleep.
That is why all Ethiopians must remain vigilant, on guard and on alert because EVIL lurks around.
MEDEMER (OUR THING)
What makes Ethiopians exceptional is that we do our thing.
I have written about Ethiopian exceptionalism on numerous occasions.
We stayed free of Western colonial rule because we always did our own thing.
The TRUTH is a rising and shining Ethiopia doing ITS OWN THING is the greatest threat to the U.S. and the powers of Europe in their unrelenting neocolonial subjugation of Africa.
Why a threat?
The answer is simple. As goes Ethiopia on MEDEMER WAY, so does the rest of Africa.
An EXCEPTIONAL Ethiopia could be a real-life practical model of Africa’s potential, independence and self-reliance.
An Ethiopia that proclaims, “Take your aid and shove it!” is the ultimate inspiration for all of Africa.
That is the Medemer Way. The way of self-reliance, self-knowledge, selflessness.
The Medemer Way: The way of unity, equality, opportunity, equality, unity, civility, fraternity, humanity, solidarity, modernity and prosperity.
The Medemer Way: The way out of disunity, poverty, ethnic animosity, and moral depravity.
The Medemer Way: 115 million Ethiopians giving each other a hand up in good will and good faith could uplift not only their country but also the world. 115 million Ethiopians coming together in consensus with a common agenda and set of goals and acting synergistically to fight and the greatest enemies of the Ethiopian people: poverty, disease, illiteracy, ethnic hate, corruption, bad governance and gross violations of human rights.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in his book, Yemedemer Menged (The Way of Medmer) describes the metaphysics and praxis of Medemer philosophy (translation of author herein):
The way of Medemer is the way we synergize our collective our collective knowledge and accumulate wealth. What has created the wealth of nations is not only acquisition of gold and diamonds but also the creation of a culture of living in an ecological environment in harmony with nature. The green project we have accomplished, beyond immediate benefits, will yield the seeds of Medemer for the coming generations. The greatest change in society destroying an existing government nor by fomenting an ideology of revolution. The greatest change comes from changing the social culture, the way of life and by changing hearts and minds… We may be limited in what we can achieve at one time. But we must strive to do what we can. Nothing can stop us from that except laziness. We have no place for that… Poverty cannot be wished away. There is the way of poverty created for us by others. It says the poor should do this or live that way. The time is past for that kind of intellectual bankruptcy and poverty, that way of thought which fuses the poor to poverty… If we have friends to help us, we can finish a job that takes a year in one month; the job that takes a month in a week, and the week’s work in a day. If there are none to help us, we will finish the week’s work in a month and the month’s work in a year. But we will never stop working. We will not be diverted from our chosen way. We will not go backwards. We will continue on Medemer Way to prosperity.
My personal message to Ethiopians, especially the younger (Cheetah/Abo Shemane) generation
My special message to young Ethiopians
Ethiopia is a nation of young people. An estimated 55 percent of the population is between 15 and 40 years of age.
My personal message to young Ethiopians is to vote on June 21, 2021.
Get your family members to vote.
Get your friends to vote.
Get your neighbors to vote.
Get your townspeople to vote.
On June 21, 2021, vote, vote, vote!
Young Ethiopians, the future of Ethiopia hangs in the balance between your fingers holding the ballot and the ballot box!
My message to all Ethiopians:
Friends, Ethiopians, countrymen and women, lend me your ears!
Over the past three decades, you have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageously stolen elections.
I urge you to chalk it all off as dry runs, a long rehearsal for the real election.
On June 21, 2021, you will for the very first time experience a free and fair election.
Know that every vote you cast shall be a blow against the grinding poverty of the past that has kept you at the tail end of nations.
Know that every vote you cast shall be an affirmation of the promise of prosperity to come for you and your families.
Know that every vote you cast shall be is a sword, an arrow, that pierces the hearts of Ethiopia’s enemies domestic and foreign.
Know that every vote you cast shall be a vote to lift up your country, that Shining City Upon the Hill, so she can pulse out the light of freedom, independence and democracy to the entire African continent.
Your vote is your voice. Let is be heard not just in Ethiopia but also Africa and the world.
Vote by the tens of millions.
Vote for the party/candidate of your choice.
Vote and decide the government you want to have for the next five years.
There is a morality tale I wish to share with you that I learned from Native Americans of the United States.
It is a story about a wise old man and a smart boy who had planned to make a fool of the old wise man.
The boy caught a sparrow (a bird of special spiritual significance) and held it in the palms of his hands and approached the wise old man. “Old man, what do I have in my hands?”
The old man replied, “You have a bird, my son.”
The boy then asked, “Old man, is the bird alive or is it dead?”
If the old man said that the bird was dead, he would open up his hands and the bird would fly off free.
But if the old man said the bird was alive, he would crush it in his hands and say, “See, foolish old man, the bird is dead.”
So, the boy asked the old man a second time, “Is the bird in my hand alive or dead?”
The old man paused and replied, “Whether the bird is alive or dead is in your hands my child. The choice is yours.”
So it is with Ethiopia.
Whether Ethiopia, like the sparrow, shall live or die is in your ballot-casting hands.
The choice is entirely yours!
ETHIOPIANS UNITED (MEDEMER) CAN NEVER BE DEFETAED!
MEDEMER TODAY, MEDEMER TOMORROW, MEDEMER FOREVER.
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Personal Reflection
DEMOCRACY AT LAST!
I wish I could be in Ethiopia on June 21, 2021, and watch the people have their first free and fair election in wonderment and awe.
I do not expect the election to be perfect or even near perfect. But it will be the most fair and free election ever in Ethiopia’s long history.
True this. I shall be with the people of Ethiopia on June 21, 2021, in spirit and soul.
I believe Ethiopia is keeping pace to the sound of a different drummer and dancing to a song of its own.
Let Ethiopia go its own way, the Medemer Way.
Paraphrasing Henry David Thoreau, from whom I learned about the power of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance, and about whom I wrote about in one of my very earliest weekly commentaries on April 23, 2006 wrote:
If Ethiopia does not keep pace with its companions
Perhaps it is because Ethiopians hear a different drummer.
Let Ethiopia step to the music it hears, however measured or far away.
On June 21, 2021, DD-Day Ethiopia, I shall be reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., words in joyful anticipation and with a sigh of relief:
Let democracy ring in Ethiopia. From every village and every hamlet, let the people vote.
From every kilil and region. From every town and city. Let democracy ring.
That on DD-Day Ethiopia, all of God’s children, Oromos, Amharas, Tigreans, Sidama, Somali, Anuak, Christians and Moslems and all others will come together, join hands and let go ONLY to drop their ballots in the box for the party of their choice.
Then hold hands again and sing in harmony:
DEMOCRACY AT LAST. DEMOCRACY AT LAST.
THANK GOD ALMIGHTY WE HAVE DEMOCRACY AT LAST IN ETHIOPIA!
