I hope you are sitting down while reading
the story I am about to tell you. Unfortunately it is a true story and it
couldn’t have happened anywhere but in good old Ethiopia. When it comes to laying
down like a doormat and letting everyone walk all over us we Ethiopians wrote
the manual. We cannot repeat this story to any outsider because they would look
at us in a strange way and walk away not understanding this kind of convoluted
humor. In fact most of us will deny it happened. Some of us would have to come
up with some kind of explanation to make the story go down smooth to avoid
getting choked with our shame.
As you all know the Saudis mostly but all
the Middle Eastern Arabs have not been kind to us for quite a while. Three
weeks ago the Saudis decided to tighten the collective noose around our neck by
a notch. It was not pleasant. I mean due to the Internet and ubiquity of mobile
technology the whole world witnessed their barbarity. For those that got
killed, raped, beaten and humiliated may the creator have mercy on their soul.
It even angered the so called Diaspora or
economic and political refugee from their motherland. The abuse of Ethiopians
in the Middle East is common knowledge. The news of some little girl hanging
herself, taking household detergent as poison, being driven out of her mind has
become an everyday news. Normally we read the news then we shrug, swallow hard make
that hissing sound and move on. This time it was different. Instead of trickled
down abuse they decided to do it wholesale style to us. Hunt them down and
throw them in the desert was what the King declared. The security force and
vigilantes were more than happy to comply.
Now the Ethiopian government was true to
its nature of being the fire starter and the fire fighter at the same time.
This game has been refined by the late nameless warlord that all the new guys
have to do was go on auto pilot and let us do all the heavy lifting. Thus they
activated their cadres to take us on a rampage and get the world to notice the
crime. We complied beautifully. I am not saying we should not have protested
but the heart of the matter lies protest against who and why and to what end.
Woyane answered those questions for us.
If you look closely at all the rallying cry
since the problem started you will notice all our ire was directed at ‘Saudis,
Arabs, Muslims’ and other phantom enemies. The Ethiopian government unable to
take care of its people willingly exports them to the Middle East, turn its
face away when they are abused, closes Conciliates to deny them shelter and we
curse the ‘Arabs’ for not being humane to the those with no place to go. One
thing our cry did was help Woyane spin a new version of the sad story.
This is where Woyane excels- snatching
victory out of defeat. Sure enough the Foreign Minister that seems to be void
of diplomatic language using such memorable words such as ‘depressed, bugged
etc.’ to explain tragic events that happened to his people was the lead sent out
to calm us down. A blind leading the blind is what comes to mind.
However you sneer at it, it worked. Before
you know it the international conscience we were able to wake up and take
notice was what Woyane was anticipating. All of a sudden the urgency of the
situation was magnified by Woyane. The numbers kept climbing from one day to another.
The Foreign Minister on training set up what he called ‘command center’ to
collect money in an orderly manner. The Saudi Government paid for the trip, the
Red Cross facilitated the camp, the UN refugee organization poured money into
the bucket and good old Woyane opened their pockets.
This is where I am going to tell you more
of what happened. I ask you again if you are sitting down. You see the Saudis
started flying around the clock bringing the Habesha home. So you would think
people will be lined up to welcome the traumatized, abused and weak from being kept
in a desert tent back to their mother land. One would hope it would be a joys
day where families embrace their loved ones and thank their Gods for their safe
return.
I am afraid none of that happened. The
government did not want the people to be involved in this happy moment.
Furthermore our dear old government came up with a brilliant scheme to make
money of already beaten people. New regulations went into effect. Only two
bags, two mobile phones, no electronic items and gold has to be weighed before
entering the country. All excess amounts will be confiscated.
Thus the Saudis kicked our people from
their country, they killed some, raped a few but in the end allowed them to
gather their belongings and transported them home. The Ethiopian government
waited with open hands and robbed them of their last shred of dignity as a welcome
gesture.
I am glad some of our people were rescued
from this hell on earth. I am happy we their brethren did not ignore their
plight. No matter what a few tried to use this sad situation to line their
pockets, show loyalty to their handlers, secretly betray their people and
country most of us with good heart did what we have to do. What I am saying
here is that it is not enough. A band aid solution is not the way to go. What
we have done is postpone the problem for another day.
Our halfhearted gesture ultimately ends up
hurting us. We are present at the start of the problem but we do not wait
around to solve it. We raise the issue and someone else comes around and sticks
a useless defanged solution that we have to go back and try to solve again. Let
us see when the Emirates, or Lebanon or Kuwait gets tired of our people and
starts the deportations are we going to go out and scream again? What would
those that see us with our banner again think of us? Let alone foreigners even
some of us are getting tired of this crap. Let us pay attention to what Henry David Thoreau said ‘There are a thousand
hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.’ Strike at
the root, hit Woyane!
By Yilma Bekele
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