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Sunday, June 04, 2006

Kinijit kaliti and Kinijit NA

When the spirit of Kinijit started to take the country by storm during the May elections, the party was only months old. I began having a good rapport with some of the leaders of the organization late march and was visiting the office quite often. It was shabbily equipped. The party itself was on the process of organization. Yet what it lacked in organization and money, it compensated with the incredible hard work of the people at the top and their inclusiveness. Professionals, young and old, joined the party as they felt they had a place in it. If you had visited the head quarter, you would surely have seen several young people working there for free; some went as far as risking their livelihoods. A lot others worked hard outside the apparatus.
I remember how Birhanu Nega was never tired to answer questions to every visitor. I used to see Shimeles T.tsadik, explaining things with patience and perseverance. When I visited Kinijit's office, I used to feel that there was something different from the politics we knew; something that made me feel for the first time that I wanted to support a political party.
After the November problems and the incarceration of Hailu Sawel et al, we missed that leadership. The alternative leadership which was appointed by the top leaders before they were arrested was dismantled by TPLF as their names were fed to the security by one Lidetu Ayalew. Asrat Tase and Abayneh were arrested. Daniel Assefa (who is now in the US) stayed outside the country after the EPRDF started hunting for him. A great leadership vacuum was thus created.
That was what led the leaders in prison to come up with a stop gap political leadership committee. According to my sources in prison and out, the need for this leadership and the names of the designated leaders were communicated in no uncertain terms to all chapters of Kinijit NA. The NA committee had publicly asked for a clarification on some issues. I found that quite absurd and dangerous to the safety of the prisoners. It amounts to tipping EPRDF to be watchful of them in prison all the time. It is also putting unnecessary burden on the prisoners.
What the NA support committee has to do now is to get back behind all the designated people, support and work with them... Revamp the media, engage with and support the people who are struggling every day against the TPLF, move the Diaspora's struggle from political commentary and fund-raising to being the back bone of the struggle at home. Time is of the essence here. The new leadership has to act before people here lose hope and patience. For that, the NA committee should be cooperative and supportive. Kinijit NA should emulate Kinijit kaliti!
..................
On Friday, the court saw video tapes of the protests of students from June 6-June 8. The prosecutor argued that these protests were organized by Kinijit. As usual there were some comedy stuff.
The prosecutor stated that one of the proofs for its allegation that the protests were organized by Kinijit was that the students at Addis Ababa University were flashing the V-sign when they were singing and shouting slogans. The fact that Hailu Araya, former professor at AAU, was present at the campus during the protests was, according to the prosecutor, another proof that Kinijit was involved in organizing and mobilizing the students.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Zagol ...
if what you say it the truth, then why is Kinijit.org (the supposedly official website of the jailed leaders, and not that of NA) betrayed them by deciding not to post their instruction which has been publicised in all the other credible websites? the website has been so hesitant to talk about it first. Later on it posted "editorial" which completely negates the intent and action of the great leaders. Finally it came up with an interesting contradiction when it posted the decision of the NA with all sorts of confusion it carries with its wordings(here I don't want to comment on the so called English version). Why all these? Who are behind these? Before it is too late the new round of perpetrators should face justice, their evild doings need to be brought to light....the public deservers to know the truth...Kinijit is of all and for all...

Anonymous said...

We don't have any hard evidence that Kinijit Kaliti has named or assigned any people to lead an international committee. Some people here, using their Blog sites are trying to muzzle others by nominating their own candidates to lead the organization. To me this is no less than betraying the Ethiopian people who elected the leaders who are now in prison.

Until we see a clear proof that the appointment of these new people was made by Hailu Shawel and co., I for one would never recognize the so-called "international leaders."

And I am a big supporter of Kinijit, in more ways than one.

We don't need another coup against the people. Stop harassing us. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Well, what could your clear proof be? one of the leaders standing in court and declaring that they have appointed so and so to lead the international committee? You should stop being silly. The appointees and the north america chapters know the truth-that the information of appointment was communicated through more than one trusted channels. There are also more hard evidences(direct written letters from the prisoners themselves) which couldn\\\'t be displayed in public.This day will pass and there will be judgment day both from the ethiopian people and the leaders

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

What "clear proof" are you talking about? Yea, expect an important
phone call from Kaliti any day.
I wonder if you are one of the gang
of three( I won't name names) that is causing all this problem. If anyone is trying to overthrow anyone it is the incompetent trio
that is bent on subverting the
wishes of the Kaliti Leaders.Your
problem is that you don't want to be outshined by the international leadership. In fact, 2 out of the 6
have more mandate to lead Kinijit
than any of you. They were on the homefront leading the struggle while you were slumbering in DC.

No more Lidetu's please!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The NA support committee has not done some important practical tasks.
No media at least to communicate with Ethiopians at home. Even diplomatically - no significant change. As zagol said many people helped kinjit for the campaign, even I, an ordinary citizen helped copy several small stickers with cud symbol and distributed to many people free, also on rally day copied several promotions from my PC.I was not only but I saw also a lot of people volunteers photocopying thousands of leaflets .so the people unity was great.
So there should be a mechanism that leadership to get access to the people in uniting, and the people can solve their own problem at home.

Anonymous said...

Let's assume the delegation of leadership can never be verified. The mature thing to do would be to engage in constructive dialogue and negotiations and come up with an agreement.

For example, they could agree to accept the delegation, but make it clear that the nature of the delegation is limited in terms of both policy and geography, and they can add checks and balances to the delegated committee.

Of course, to do this requires trust. Well, it's trust that is lacking in the first place. Much of the disagreement, though not all, comes out of a mistrust of those allegedly delegated.

This is TereTaray at its best - typical backward, destructive Ethiopian behaviour that Kinijit has been trying to overcome since its inception.

We do have a long way to go, but we must continue to raise awareness of such behaviour and its consequences.

Anonymous said...

Mistrust may exist. Sometimes it is quite in a party like Kinijit which encompasses diverse people and diverse ideology. The problem is when you use your mistrust not to cooperate with the people that are trusted by the leaders. Don\\\'t forget the same leaders had been screwed by the likes of lidetu and experience forces them to choose the delegatees cautiously.

Anonymous said...

There are a lot of questions that should be answered to clarify the ambiguty. Why did they need to change the leadership and even move it out of the homeland? To move the leadership out of the homeland, is not consistent to what the Kinijit leaders were saying for a long time. That alone will pose suspicion as to the authonticity of the message. The reason provided in the ER website, that was the primary source of this information, are not satisfactory.

Anonymous said...

anonymous,

well said! some people within Kinijt-NA are using that lame excuse(suspicion) to further their own hidden agenda.

No one has the moral authority or the integrity to question the directive from Kaliti.

Anonymous said...

Zagol -
not to hijack your post. But http://www.debteraw.com/ has posted some information about mekele university clash between students, claiming that he got it from Ethio Zagol. I have yet to see it in your blog. Care to clarifye the confusion ??
Thank you.
Great job and becarefull.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...the trios are "hod siyawq doro mata"...they leak the personal message they received from Kality to ER...then they acuse ER for disributing "fake info" to the public...with their whole purpose of denouncing the directives of the leadership in Kality ...I would like to share more info from my reliable sources on who the trios are and what they are up to ...their operations behind the curtain...

ethio-Zagol said...

To the Anonymous who asked me about Debteraw's information..
Yes, I am the source.I should have published it this morning. I didn't... because of the cranky tele connection.

Anonymous said...

Abc,

Right on! But one correction, the
directive from Kaliti was sent to ER it was not leaked by the "trio"

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Oops, that even makes things worst,... why they send it to ER, is ER more trust worthy than the leadership itself? .. that is bizzare

Anonymous said...

Did you think maybe there were some in the "leadership" who were not happy with the message
and did not want to relay it???

Yea, politics is bizarre!

Anonymous said...

Ethiomedia, Ethiolion and EMF had it on thier website. But ER was the first one to post it. But like I said it before, I have yet to see it on Kinjit website. But, I believe one of the chosen international leadership have given an interview to voa on the matter ( Berhane Mewa I think )

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful name the "incompetent trio" They do not know the ABC's of leadership and they try hard to block the nomination of anyone who might know how to lead just because they know they will be out shined. They could have done something in the past year but they used the line " we are just a support group created for fund raising purposes " I am not sure what changed now we see them scrambling to put their name in the hat for a leadership position and holding people in Addis hostage till their name is included. If it is not clear by know trust me the trios are out for themselves. Did you know they were lobbying to insert the following language in the HR4423 bill "all prisoners of conscience should be freed except those under charge"

They are fully aware that the leaders are charged and could care less if they stay in prison for the next 20 years. For them the lime light is what keeps them going and they will do anything to keep it. It is infuriating to let them waste a struggle that people die for.