May 28th 2011: not a “Day of rage,” but a Day of Pledge.
By Dilwenberu Nega
May 29 2011
Much to the indignation and chagrin of naysayers, Ethiopia’s National Day, also referred to as “The Fall of the Derg,” passed peacefully with Ethiopians pledging to do their level best for the realisation of EPDRF’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) as well as the Grand Millennium Dam. EPDRF’s vociferous opponents abroad, on the other hand, who had pinned their hope on their absurd mental concoction, namely the “Arab Spring” meme were left cold and dry. Ever since the Tunisian and Egyptian upheavals, the diaspora’s vuvuzela politics had made the imitation in Ethiopia of Jasmine and Tahir Revolutions the main plank of their “Beka” campaign to unseat the EPDRF government.
A double whammy for toxic naysayers
Close observers of the Ethiopian political landscape had from day one given the brush-off to this self-delusion arguing that applying the Jasmine and Tahir template on Ethiopia was like trying to impose the rules of the Ethiopian traditional game of Genna on Premier League Football. However, those who would leave no stone unturned to derail the democratization and development process would have none of it and continued campaigning on cyber space for a day of rage to rain on the parade secure in the knowledge that toxic diaspora’s mythology (lies) would prevail over the spirit and heart-beat of Ethiopians. Many, therefore, agree that the lively display of patriotism of Saturday 28th May 2011 must be viewed as a mortifying defeat to the fraternity of the movers and shakers of wayward opposition. Consequently, it does appear that the grand panjandrum of opposition websites, Prof Al Mariam, and the callow Editor of Eritrean Review, Elias Kifle, now find themselves at a wake rather than at their coronation.
For a born-again people and government, the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Derg, had provided yet another springboard for Ethiopians to plough ahead with their arduous struggle to designate extreme poverty to children’s bed-time story books. Their indefatigable resolve to realise GTB and to continue to chip in for the construction of the 5,250 megawatt Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam were manifested at festive gatherings during the week leading up to May 28th. But a pre-birthday gift to the people and government of Ethiopia came from the India-Africa Economic Forum in Addis Ababa where Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, announced that India would build the now defunct Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway.
Better days are yet to come
Many toxic naysayers had turned ballistic by the successful outcome of the first official visit to Ethiopia by an incumbent Indian Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh pledged to enhance existing productive multifarious relations, to which an elated Prime Minister Zenawi characterized his talks with his Indian counterpart as “the best discourse he had in his lifetime.” But it is what the Indian Prime Minister told a Joint Session of the two Houses of the Ethiopian Parliament which is claimed to have stricken into silence all those who dread to see good prevail over evil in the Motherland. Speaking four days before Ginbot 20, the Indian Prime Minister struck a chord with Ethiopians as he reminded the world “Ethiopia is one of the most stable and progressive states in Africa.” But Singh’s punch-line which left the toxic diaspora crippled came when he paid tribute to the undeniable progressive leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in making Ethiopia “one of Africa’s fastest growing economies and a magnet for foreign investment.
Like all the pipe-dreams of the self-delusional toxic diaspora, their Arab Spring meme, too, has vanished in thin air. When will they ever learn that their mythology of hood-winking gullible Ethiopians is destined to the dust-bin of history? The real people who matter have demonstrated, once again, that they have no antagonistic contradictions with EPDRF. As confidence oozing Prime Minister Meles Zenawi remarked to capacity revellers at Meskel Square, we must not lose sight of the fact that our Ethiopia is on the cusp of restoring herself to her pristine position of a centre of trade and a power to be reckoned with. Not even workaholic Prime Minister Meles Zenawi will dare to argue that we, as a nation, are out of the woods at the moment, in terms of prevailing over our vast socio-economic problems. On the other hand, unless and otherwise you are one of those blinded and toixcated naysayers of the Ethiopian diaspora, you cannot fail but appreciate that our today is a galaxy away from our yesterday. As to our tomorrow, like Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, “I venture to think that the best is yet is yet to come.”
dilwenberu.nega7@gmail.com
Sponsored Links