READING THE TEA LEAVES
Alemayehu G. Mariam

Abugidainfo
April 13 2009
Ethiopia

The first chords of Pax Obama (Obama’s offer of peace to the word)
restore not only much needed sanity to U.S. foreign policy, but
also erect new pillars that will support America’s future engagement
with the rest of the world: Respect for American democratic values,
respect for Muslims and the Islamic faith, respect for human rights
and the rule of law, mutually shared respect among friends, and even
respectful agreement to disagree with foes.

The speech was vintage Obama- sincere, uplifting, full of symbolism,
hope and promise. It was particularly inspiring to defenders
of freedom, democracy and human rights. The President charted the
general course of U.S. foreign policy and framed the contemporary
global challenges and humankind’s options in stark terms: "The choices
that we make in the coming years will determine whether the future
will be shaped by fear or by freedom; by poverty or by prosperity;
by strife or by a just, secure and lasting peace." The Turks,
he said, have made the right choices because they have "pursued
difficult political reforms" which have resulted in the "abolition
of state-security courts and expanded the right to counsel, reformed
the penal code, and strengthened laws that govern the freedom of
the press and assembly." He urged them to maintain their momentum:
"For democracies cannot be static – they must move forward. Freedom
of religion and expression lead to a strong and vibrant civil
society…. An enduring commitment to the rule of law is the only
way to achieve the security that comes from justice for all people."

The President Against "All Genocides" and For Human Rights

Obama could not have made his stand on human rights more clear. He said
there is no justification for human rights violations. He declared it
is un-American to engage in torture, denial of fundamental due process
to those accused of crimes, or to engage in arbitrary actions that
defy international law and human rights conventions. "Every challenge
that we face is more easily met if we tend to our own democratic
foundation. This work is never over. That is why, in the United States,
we recently ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed, and prohibited
– without exception or equivocation – any use of torture." He openly
acknowledged America’s own burdensome legacy of slavery and injustice:
"The United States is still working through some of our own darker
periods… And our country still struggles with the legacy of our
past treatment of Native Americans [and slavery]". Earlier in his
campaign, he had promised to be a steadfast voice against genocide:
"The Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion,
or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported
by an overwhelming body of historical evidence. America deserves a
leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide and responds
forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that president."

Obama’s vision — his dream — of the future is based on giving a
higher priority to human need than slavishly promoting corporate greed:
"We want to help more children get the education that they need to
succeed. We want to promote health care in places where people are
vulnerable. We want to expand the trade and investment that can bring
prosperity for all people." He said, "In the months ahead, I will
present specific programs to advance these goals. Our focus will be on
what we can do, in partnership with people across the Muslim world,
to advance our common hopes, and our common dreams. And when people
look back on this time, let it be said of America that we extended
the hand of friendship."

Clenched Fist of Dictatorship and the Open Hand of Friendship

Last Summer, we announced the imminent arrival of a new "sheriff"
in town. We offered the following admonition:

Petty Dictators: America Stands for the Ideals of Freedom, Democracy
and Human Rights! When Barack talks about ‘where and what America
stands for’, he is talking about the American ideals of democracy,
freedom and human rights guiding American foreign policy in a world
menaced by a motley crew of nasty tin-pot dictators, petty tyrants
and bloodthirsty thugs.

It seems we read the tea leaves just right.

The days of "If you’re not with us, you’re our enemy; if you’re with
us, even if you have blood on your hands, you’re our friend" are
gone. Obama’s message is: "We will offer you a hand of friendship;
but if you clench your fist to hide the blood that soaks your hands,
you are not America’s friend." Obama aims to put America front and
center in leading a global human rights revolution. It promises to
be a new day — a new era- for freedom, democracy and human rights
throughout the world.

What is Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander!

Will a president who emphatically opposes torture, arbitrary denial
of due process and reaches back in history to criticize the injustices
inflicted on the slaves and Native Americans lend a hand of friendship
to support torture, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Ethiopia?

Will a president who zealously condemned genocide committed nearly
a century ago in Armenia condone the genocide committed in Gambella,
the Ogaden and Amhara regions in Ethiopia just a few years ago?

Will a president who shutdown Guantanamo and a network of CIA
"security" prisons supply hard-earned American tax dollars to keep
open the stinking dungeons (which the U.S. State Department in 2008
described as "harsh, life-threatening and overcrowded") that warehouse
hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in Ethiopia?

Will a president who benchmarks democratic progress in terms of the
"abolition of state-security courts and expanded the right to counsel,
reformation of the penal code, and strengthening laws that govern the
freedom of the press and assembly" coddle outlaws who have managed to
criminalize civic society institutions and NGO’s, and jail, persecute
and exile journalists?

Will a president – a former civil rights lawyer and constitutional
scholar – who declares his "enduring commitment to the rule of law"
embrace a malignant dictatorship that uses "courts" and the "law"
as weapons of persecution and oppression? We say, "HELL, NO!"

It all boils down to a simple proposition: What is good for the
goose is good for the gander. If the rule of law and protection
of human rights are good for America, Turkey and the rest of the
world, we say they are good for Ethiopia too. If genocide, torture,
arbitrary arrests and detentions, secret security courts and prisons
are bad for America, Turkey and the rest of the world, we say they
are bad for Ethiopia too. We ask for nothing more or less than what
all civilized societies are entitled to have: A government that
is freely elected by the people (and elections are not stolen) and
governs by respecting the human rights and liberties of its citizens;
a government that is accountable to the people for all of its official
actions and omissions; a government free of corruption and jealously
guards the public treasury from fraud, abuse and waste; a government
that respects the sovereignty of its neighbors and refrains from naked
aggression, displacement of the civilian population and commission of
war crimes; a society that is founded on the rule of law where no man
or woman has the right or opportunity to seize the law for political
and/or private economic advantage; a society where courts serve the
interests of justice and not the interests of crooked and corrupt
official profiteers; a justice system that relentlessly pursues known
and suspected human rights violators, war criminals and others who
have committed crimes against humanity, and leaves no stones unturned
to free innocent individuals, opposition leaders and dissidents who
have been locked up for years because they oppose dictatorship.

Putting Out Fires With Flames

President Obama hearkened to an old Turkish proverb in his speech:
"You cannot put out fire with flames." Of course, the President knows
only too well that you can put out the fire when you let "justice rush
down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". But when
your house is on fire, you don’t need flames to put it out. You need
firefighters. In Ethiopia we need strong firemen and firewomen to put
out the wildfires of ethnic divisions, and now stoked-up and smoldering
religious antagonisms. President Obama is right. These fires can not
be put out with flames of anger, hatred, and revenge. But they can be
put out by flames of justice that sear the consciences of good men and
women; they can be doused by the righteous indignation of patriotic
men and women who commit to the defense of their motherland against
mercenary soldiers of fortune. To paraphrase the lyrics of Billy Joel:
"We didn’t start the fire/ No we didn’t light it/ But we got to fight
it." That is exactly what we said two years ago :

There are fire brigades rising up all over the Diaspora. Everyday we
see courageous firefighters coming to the frontlines. They no longer
want to be frightened spectators jabbering about what somebody else
should do, could do or needs to do. They have decided to act, and you
see them flying around carrying their droplets of water to put out the
fire. These Diaspora firefighters do not fight fire with fire; no,
they fight fire with water. Like water on fire, these firefighters
spray hope and optimism over the despair and misery inflicted upon
our brothers and sisters; they sweep the wreckage of repression and
tyranny with the broom of democracy and human rights; they plant
the seeds of freedom and liberty on a land charred and ravaged by
political violence, corruption, savagery and lawlessness.

The dictators in Ethiopia know the GAME IS OVER! They are out of lies,
out of cash, out of gas, out of ideas, out of hope, out of order,
out of control, out of the shadows, out of luck and out of time! They
are out of their freaking minds because they are OUT OF BUSINESS! A
verse of advice:

Saddle up tin-pot dictators, ‘Tis time to ride out before the big
roundup.

The new sheriff and posse are in town, You better scram before sundown!

Scram Before Sundown!

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[2] hummingbird-and-forest-fire-diaspora.html