taken from http://weichegud.blogspot.com/

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I am not sure how it did it, but the opposition managed to stir up the dormant spirit of Ethiopia, and that’s what’s surprised and angered the prime minister and his party. Look back at the 2000 elections and the farce that it was. (By the way, it is the same NEB that ratified the 2000 elections as free and fair that the international community is depending on to conduct an impartial investigation into the 2005 elections. Hm. The track record of the NEBE, I hate to tell ya’ Jimmah Car’ra, not so, how do you call it, sane.)

That the opposition has managed to wake us up, inspire us and, most importantly, give us back hope shall forever be its crowning glory. Who would have thought even two years ago that people from Desse to Gonder, Bunga to Bahr Dar would have dared to stand up to the EPRDF? Somehow, the opposition managed to tap into that undefeatable part of the Ethiopian psyche that refuses to bow to tyranny. Not a shabby start.

There have been a couple of defining moments for the opposition, the major one being when uber-sexy, primo baby-daddy Ato Lidetu Ayalew left his position as the spokesperson of the CUD. Zany-brainy King of Econ-Geeks Non Engineer Berhanu Nega addressing the issue ,very calmly said something to the effect that it was Lidetu’s right to openly oppose policy he did not agree with, and that he should not be forced to accept everything that the CUD does. Hold up! Hollll-d up! A political party that tolerates differences within its ranks? Sorry. An Ethiopian political party that tolerates differences within its ranks? Whatever happened to the tradition of secretly assassinating your detractor, or, at the very least, calling him/her a traitor “hager asedabbi” in a public rebuke? Ah, times are a changin'.

I told you. This is not our fathers’ opposition. A lot of people could not swallow the mere possibility that Lidetu can still believe in the core values of the CUD but disagree with some of its policies. (EPRDF supporters were circling the wagon with glee. Tewachew, miskeenoch nachew.) But it was nothing short of honorable for Lidetu to step down from a position that required him to defend policies he does not believe in. And it was nothing short of honorable for another member to say that differences in opinions were… okay. This is what I mean by changing the fundamental way we look at politics, and nurturing the spirit of democracy from the ground up. What kind of message would the CUD have sent if it censored Lidetu?

Can you imagine if… oh, formerly chatty foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin (whatever happened to him, by the way?) declared that the EPRDF’s little trigger happiness on June 8 was wrong and that he disagreed with it? Hm. They’d have eventually named the west wing of Zwai Camp after him after he languishes there on “corruption” charges… (Is Siye Abraha still in prision?)

Changing minds without the use of guns and renewing spirits is a far more challenging endeavor and more honorable calling. So far, the opposition (I think Beyene Petros in particular) seems to be the one which understands that what we need is honor in politics. For that, we should be grateful.

I’ve been trying to summarize my thoughts on this matter, but Ethiopundit said it best (still my favorite quote):

Ethiopians will remember who they have always been and not what they have been told to be at the point of a gun.

Okay, that’s what I’ve been trying to say in four pages. That’s where the opposition succeeded: not because it has some super-duper economic or political solution, but because it reminded us of who we have always been, and what we can become. We are a resourceful people who don’t actually like to be seen as charity cases for guilt ridden donors. In us somewhere, underneath the layers of faux “zeraf” and emaciated pride, is the indefatigable spirit that can rise above what we have been told by Mengistu and Meles: that we should be grateful for what little we are given and that aspiring to more is treachery.

Whatever its next steps, the opposition shall always get the credit for smashing that glass ceiling and showing Ethiopians that there is, indeed, honor in Ethiopian politics, and that 2005 was when the true Ethiopian Renaissance started.

No, really, thank you.

[For evidence of the fundamental differences between the EPRDF and the opposition read this interview held with Mega Mouthpiece Ato Bereket Simon and Non Engineer Berhanu Nega conducted on May 24, 2005. Have I apologized enough for ever suggesting that the EPRDF fire Ato Bereket? Defining moment for the EPRDF:

Let me paint the other scenario. With the EPRDF being a ruling party and the opposition being the governing party in Addis Ababa, what approach would you take in dealing with them? Will you make life hell for them or try to cooperate?
If there is one thing that we worship, it is the people. No matter what they decide, we worship the people. Any decision that is passed by the people democratically and out of their free will be respected. People have the right to choose whatever they want; otherwise we would not have opened things up. The fact that we did had its own risks, including that of losing the game.