To Berhanu Nega with Love
By Ethio-Zagol
June 17, 2006
"And Moses chose from among the people able men, such as feared God, men of truth, hating unjust gains..."
The wash of time fades recollections of the uninspired. My here and there moments with you before the election; however, were never routine. My memory of the events would remain unclouded. Your feverish passion for freedom, your incisive words which stroke chord in my heart, were awe inspiring. These were the times when I had been practicing the art of self-deceit and hypocrisy assiduously, unplugged to the reality of my country and the state of freedom of my own mind; and unwilling to make choices. Non-committal and phoniness were the way of life for me. Perhaps you may not know it; but those moments with you changed my life.
They were times for the wrenching of consciousness. Like the many Ethiopians you inspired out of the doldrums of uncommitted life and into the struggle for freedom, the many who received hope from you, the many whose narrative of life twisted from its uneventful course, Birhanu, I owe you.
This great land of destitution and death; tyranny and misery produced the somber vision of the existence of an Ethiopian in you. Yet you failed to be receptive of the tragic side of life. You didn't consider Ethiopia a hopeless and useless passion. Instead, you believed in the decency of Ethiopians and stood up to create a just political and economic system, you thought, you and all Ethiopians deserved. You longed for human institutions which have a soil congenial enough to nourish freedom and democracy.
For the unlettered and the dispossessed who considered you as a messiah, you had the modesty to claim that you weren't a liberator, but a man fighting for his own freedom. A free man defends his own freedom and urges other men to defend theirs.
“I am not here to liberate you from your inhuman condition; you know better how to do that for yourself. I do not claim to lead a liberation movement, but I am a compatriot in the fight for freedom. I am not fighting for your freedom, but for my own sake. I came back to my country with a determination to live in peace, harmony, and freedom. I want to pass over to my kids a country that makes them proud, a country that allows them to live to the limits of their dreams and beyond. I am in this fight not to liberate others but to fulfill my own desire to live in freedom. Those of you who want to stand and be counted as free individuals can join me and my compatriots in this honorable endeavor, but you have to decide in person and in full consent with your God. And when each one of us reaches that level of yearning for freedom there is no limit to the sky we can reach, to the stars we can approach.”
Remember those beautiful lines. They were a free man's message. They were yours.
Of course, you did rise up for freedom with the same readiness and commitment of a soldier who was ready to sacrifice his life in a battlefield. You left your materially comfortable life to land in jail where people are treated in the most inhumane and degrading fashion. Yet even there you continue to believe in human spirit. You give love for those who couldn't transcend hate. "It is enough," claims J.P. Sartre, "for a man to love all other men with undivided love." Birhanu, you are showing us how a man can give undivided love to fellow men.
For you, politics isn't an end. Power is just a means of achieving justice and freedom. That was why you espoused the virtue of honesty in politics. That was why, in a land where gallons of human blood was spilt as if it was expired ink, for political end, you tried to make politics civil. Imagine the brave young people you inspired to politics. Birtukan Midekesa. Muluneh Eyuel. Sileshi Tena. Yeneneh Mulat. Daniel Assefa. Imagine the number of Ethiopians like me who have vowed never to give away their freedom lying down. Imagine the number of people who are intoxicated with the spirit of Kinijit; the spirit you and fellow Kinijit leaders entrenched in the fabrics of their minds. In prison or in hospital (where you are now), such thoughts should spur you on.
----------
Source: Ethio-Zagol
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
June 17, 2006
"And Moses chose from among the people able men, such as feared God, men of truth, hating unjust gains..."
The wash of time fades recollections of the uninspired. My here and there moments with you before the election; however, were never routine. My memory of the events would remain unclouded. Your feverish passion for freedom, your incisive words which stroke chord in my heart, were awe inspiring. These were the times when I had been practicing the art of self-deceit and hypocrisy assiduously, unplugged to the reality of my country and the state of freedom of my own mind; and unwilling to make choices. Non-committal and phoniness were the way of life for me. Perhaps you may not know it; but those moments with you changed my life.
They were times for the wrenching of consciousness. Like the many Ethiopians you inspired out of the doldrums of uncommitted life and into the struggle for freedom, the many who received hope from you, the many whose narrative of life twisted from its uneventful course, Birhanu, I owe you.
This great land of destitution and death; tyranny and misery produced the somber vision of the existence of an Ethiopian in you. Yet you failed to be receptive of the tragic side of life. You didn't consider Ethiopia a hopeless and useless passion. Instead, you believed in the decency of Ethiopians and stood up to create a just political and economic system, you thought, you and all Ethiopians deserved. You longed for human institutions which have a soil congenial enough to nourish freedom and democracy.
For the unlettered and the dispossessed who considered you as a messiah, you had the modesty to claim that you weren't a liberator, but a man fighting for his own freedom. A free man defends his own freedom and urges other men to defend theirs.
Remember those beautiful lines. They were a free man's message. They were yours.
Of course, you did rise up for freedom with the same readiness and commitment of a soldier who was ready to sacrifice his life in a battlefield. You left your materially comfortable life to land in jail where people are treated in the most inhumane and degrading fashion. Yet even there you continue to believe in human spirit. You give love for those who couldn't transcend hate. "It is enough," claims J.P. Sartre, "for a man to love all other men with undivided love." Birhanu, you are showing us how a man can give undivided love to fellow men.
For you, politics isn't an end. Power is just a means of achieving justice and freedom. That was why you espoused the virtue of honesty in politics. That was why, in a land where gallons of human blood was spilt as if it was expired ink, for political end, you tried to make politics civil. Imagine the brave young people you inspired to politics. Birtukan Midekesa. Muluneh Eyuel. Sileshi Tena. Yeneneh Mulat. Daniel Assefa. Imagine the number of Ethiopians like me who have vowed never to give away their freedom lying down. Imagine the number of people who are intoxicated with the spirit of Kinijit; the spirit you and fellow Kinijit leaders entrenched in the fabrics of their minds. In prison or in hospital (where you are now), such thoughts should spur you on.
----------
“I am not here to liberate you from your inhuman condition; you know better how to do that for yourself. I do not claim to lead a liberation movement, but I am a compatriot in the fight for freedom. I am not fighting for your freedom, but for my own sake. I came back to my country with a determination to live in peace, harmony, and freedom. I want to pass over to my kids a country that makes them proud, a country that allows them to live to the limits of their dreams and beyond. I am in this fight not to liberate others but to fulfill my own desire to live in freedom. Those of you who want to stand and be counted as free individuals can join me and my compatriots in this honorable endeavor, but you have to decide in person and in full consent with your God. And when each one of us reaches that level of yearning for freedom there is no limit to the sky we can reach, to the stars we can approach.”
Source: Ethio-Zagol
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
