by Tedla Asfaw
Preparation to counter the gathering of 1,000 African Land Buyers who paid an entrance fee of 3,000 dollar at Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan, New York for their conference from April 23 to April 25 is underway. Broad groups of activists are working behind the scene to represent the untold voice or deliberately silenced voice of millions of Africans who are the prime target of the gathering in NYC. We all were surprised by the Wall Street Meltdown in 2008 and its impact on millions of hard working people while those who gambled were bailed out by the Federal Government of USA.
#OWS ACTION AGAINST LAND GRAB IN AFRICA!
The disaster of Wall Street is now to repeat on rural Africa. This time the gamblers/speculators are well organized groups of people who are buying African Land and Water for cheap to generate “great return” for their investors up to 25 percent. These investors which I call “Infesters” think that there is a free ride in poor Africa. The greed virus that destroyed millions of people on real estate all over the world has landed on African Continent to rape the African farmland. For the greedy most of African land is barren and it is theirs as long as they are doing business with corrupt African dictators who are not accountable to the people they rule.
We will expose the greedy buyers and sellers on April 24, a day/night of rage. They will see us entering or from their hotel balcony making a deal which will never materialize. We are well informed groups of people, in a free debate we will beat them pants down. Our voice might not be articulated on their conference hall but surely the 1,000 participants will be ashamed and exposed by the information we will pass to the public.
The media that will come to cover the gathering will not miss us either. Our message will reach millions of Africans and give them additional Oxygen for their struggle to defend their land from dictators and their foreign business partners. We want to warn the so called investors/infesters that they are playing on fire. If they believe Africans will abandon their land and the land bonanza will be safely guarded by authoritarian regime security forces they are mistaken.
Gambella and Afar in Ethiopia is now a war zone. People have made it clear that they will die for their land and water. The gathering in NYC would like to hide these facts from uninformed investors. The so called investment on land and water on Africa is a war investment. The highest rate of return is a blood return that will cost them money and African lives. They have to pay for the cost of such war indirectly, paying to protect the stolen land.
The Ethiopian Websites except Ecadf and Assimba failed to post any news regarding such important event. If this is not news worthy then that shows their commitment to inform the diaspora Ethiopians is questionable. The question of African Land and Water is the question of life and death for African farmers and pastoralist, in case of Ethiopia it is a question of more than 80 percent of our people. Those who failed to report about such gathering will surely not be forgotten nor forgiven. Ethiopians have the right to ask if such websites are the public voice they claim to be or voice of the few elite groups which farming is not their agenda.
Ethiopians in the NY Tri State area who have been advocating against foreign land buyers and warn them to stay away from such business will surely shout at the 1,000 Crowd. We will tell them that they are not our friends in fact African enemies and we will make sure that they will fail in their devilish project to acquire African Land and Water for cheap dollar.
Yes we are Angry People who are Demanding Justice for African farmers. We will not Apologize for that!
Source ECADF