"A Call for Unity” – Petition
to the leaders of Ethiopian opposition political parties and civil
society organization
By the Board and members of EEDN (Ethiopian Electronic Distribution
Network)
March 26, 2007
That historic day of May 15, 2005 has come and gone. TPLF/EPRDF
hijacked the elections and proved that the only party politics
it allows in
Ethiopia is the one over which it has absolute monopoly. Therefore,
party politics needs to give precedence to the politics of unity
because it is now time for collaboration, not competition. Surely,
a house divided against itself cannot stand. All Ethiopians of
goodwill should therefore put our differences aside and focus on
what unites
us because unity is strength.
The burden of politics is too heavy to be left only to the politicians.
It is time that we reframed our direction and created a patriotic
movement that puts country before party. Therefore, we call upon
all opposition parties and civic organizations to form a steering
committee representing all stakeholders with the intention to convene
an all-inclusive conference to debate, draft, and adopt a common
program that will serve as a unifying platform and national consensus
strategy because together we can go far and everything will be
possible. Our unity will be a comparative advantage against the
minority regime.
In its anti-Ethiopia and anti-democracy stance, Meles Zenawi’s
regime actively sought and actualized the secession of Eritrea, mandated
ethnic federation in Ethiopia, and in disrespect of the will of the
people incarcerated elected opposition leaders on trumped-up charges,
and massacred countless number of unarmed demonstrators. To effectively
challenge the regime, opposition parties should firstly break with
the tradition of factional politics that only benefits TPLF/EPRDF.
The opposition will need the symbiotic relation with civil society
to liberate Ethiopia from the ruthless and repressive regime. It
is therefore imperative to raise the bar and launch a resistance
movement that has the capacity to rally Ethiopians in the Diaspora
and at home and also inspire the opposition to derive legitimacy
and authority by taking responsibility for the higher purpose of “national
interest” over and above the narrow party interest.
TPLF/EPRDF’s mission is not to help Ethiopia, but itself. Meles
Zenawi hates an Ethiopian state more than he loves an Eritrean or
Tigrean state. His terrorist regime enjoys the undivided support
of the U.S. as Ethiopia is considered a valuable partner on the war
on terror. We the people of Ethiopia are therefore the only solution
to our problems and need to empower ourselves to take back our country
by regaining our confidence in our “Etiopiawinet.” We
must be inspired by our proud history of being the cradle of civilization,
home of the oldest human species, the world’s greatest marathoners,
creators of our own Geez alphabet, and victors over colonialism.
We must build on our strengths; take personal responsibility and
launch a rescue plan to preserve our country as a united, democratic,
and prosperous society. Power concedes nothing without a demand;
and democracy is taken, not given. Destiny is not a matter of chance,
but of choice. We choose to replace the rule of tyranny by the
rule of law.
Visioning is about crafting a compelling image of the future. We
the Ethiopian Diaspora must optimize our human capital by creating
the right kind of an enabling environment for our people to help
Ethiopia accomplish what the immigrants of USA and American-Born-Chinese
returnees have achieved for their respective countries. Ethiopia
has a potential of becoming the pride of Africa once again!
We can do nothing to erase the wrongs of the past, but we should
certainly do everything now to build our future together. We should
also cease to confuse motion with progress and do better than incremental
changes. It is insane to do more of the same and expect different
results. We need to reorder our priorities, change strategies,
and shift the paradigm from parochial and divisive politics to
a strategic
unity movement in order to focus on priority projects like (a)
striving to secure the release of all political prisoners, (b)
campaigning
for the passage of H.R.5680, and (c) convening an all-inclusive
conference representing all stakeholders in order to conduct a
national dialogue
and map out new strategies to reinvigorate our struggle for democracy,
justice, and the rule of law.
TPLF/EPRDF is driven by the hate politics of ethnocentrism. Our
driving force is the love of our country and our people. We are
confident
love will triumph over hate. But nobody will do for us what we
should do for ourselves. If we continue to blame TPLF/EPRDF for
everything
wrong in Ethiopia, we are not taking responsibility for failing
to prevent them from further destabilizing Ethiopia. We should
do everything
to reverse the destructive trend that is consuming our nation.
If not us, who? If not now, when?
Petition by the Board and members of EEDN (Ethiopian Electronic
Distribution Network)
Dear Compatriots:
If you are outraged by what the ruthless and repressive regime
of TPLF/EPRDF is doing to our country and people, please sign the
petition
to urge all opposition parties and civil society organizations
to convene a conference and jointly develop a national consensus
strategy
to liberate Ethiopia from tyranny and poverty. Thank you.
http://www.petitiononline.com/eedn1/petition.html
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