Don’t be Slaves to Fear
I’m told the Abiy regime is increasing the pressure, making more threats to activists and ordinary folks alike. Don’t give in.
Jeff Pearce
The regime wants you to freeze, it wants you to cower. You are being extorted, and the going price is your dignity and your conscience.
What will you give up? Or will you stand fast?
It started with a mosquito. She makes videos, and while it’s standard practice to link, why should I help this silly creature’s views? I’m told this young Ethiopian woman made the specific video in question from a nice, comfy hotel room in Rome, but hey, in this case, the reliability of my sources is… well, probably better than hers. A quick glance at her channel tells me she’s never cracked much higher than 5,000 views, usually barely more than a thousand if even that, so why should anyone give a shit?
The main cause of initial concern is that she bashed individuals who had nothing to do directly with others’ activism, which yep, is an implied threat. Since my friends can take care of themselves, and it’s up to them to decide their own choice of response, I made my selection, which is my default.
Let’s have some fun!
And this is all the silly bitch deserves. And yes, I use the word bitch deliberately and with vulgar specificity: bitch as in female dog, as in barking, mildly annoying fluffy attack poodle that is more nuisance than it is threat. If that term is especially derogatory to you, I can only say making threats against folks who don’t have a public profile or who haven’t even done much in years is just as low.
But hey, points for creativity in conjuring up an entire alternate universe in which Shabia passed the collection plate with… the Ethiopian royal family? Really? It would have been silly enough to claim I cashed a check from the royals, as they’re not exactly swimming in Bezos-Musk-Scrooge McDuck piles of cash. But to bring in Shabia as well? Hysterical.
Anyway, I brushed my hands in a “that’s done” gesture. Poodle sent to the curb. Moving on…
But others made an issue out of the Poodle—and with luck, she’ll henceforth be forever known as this. (“Ahhh, look, she’s barking again and threatening folks! Who’s a political irrelevancy? Yes, you are, oooooh, yes, you are!”) That’s because she used a couple of old tweets about how I openly and with delicious zeal talk about wanting to do all I can to help overthrow the Abiy government.
Just to be clear: I still want to help overthrow the Abiy government.
Hey, dummies in the regime! I still want to help overthrow the Abiy government.
Go nuts. Have a blast screenshotting this article and these phrases.
Course, you’ll also have to mention the systemic ethnic cleansing against the Amhara people, how you’re also targeting Afar and Gurage people, and I’ll get to what you’re doing to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in a moment, but let’s see if I can screw up your cropping dimensions.
So, why should this still matter? Because last night, a good friend in DC
⇐ A cropped copy of my own Fano poster composition from April 2025.
contacted me about an apparent “mood” among certain diaspora activists in the Washington area. The vibe was that I had gone too far months ago, and now folks and their families are at risk.
I sure as hell don’t buy that rationale, especially as I can’t Marty McFly all this and go back in time and undo the work. Nor do I have any desire to. And I think it’s important to point out that nobody has stepped forward through either phone or text to dump that baggage at my feet. All I got was the faint, second-hand whispers of armchair coaches from south of the border.
Now, being the well-adjusted, grace-under-pressure, Zen and peaceful clouds kind of guy that I am, I naturally ranted at my friend for a good half hour before I settled down, stop taking it out on him, and had a civil, even upbeat conversation.
I wouldn’t even bother writing about this piddling little nonsense if something else hadn’t happened which yes, you’re damn right justifies airing certain dirty laundry of the diaspora in public.
You see I just learned about yet another murder of an Ethiopian Orthodox priest. The : “On the night of August 30th, 78-year-old Abba Nigussie Wolde-Medhin, a priest of Maseranje Oda St. George’s Church, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Robie Woreda.”
And activist , “Recent incidents mark a grim reminder of the Oromo Prosperity Party regime’s attack on the EOTC over two years ago which prompted nationwide opposition and demonstrations (including in the national capital).”
I asked one of the smartest people I know in the diaspora if any cleric or church authority was speaking out against the recent carnage. My contact replied that “The climate is very tough right now” and that they think “the clergy fear whatever they say being spun to target EOTC members.”
And I hit the roof again, only this time just in my own office. And I knew I had to write.
Now as I publish this, I haven’t seen any story or posting yet on a formal comment about the murder from Ethiopian clergy, though this could change. But it almost doesn’t matter in this context because my point is really about the lag time and public perceptions. And declining morale and growing fear.
In both these cases, I am told that there is a new climate of fear that is making people extra cautious. But while I am sympathetic, I can’t be very patient with this attitude. Silence is not an option. They’ll kill you if you speak up, they’ll kill you if you don’t. The Abiy regime has made it clear that it means to keep on killing.
So, no, I don’t want to hear the “oh, you ought to not have done that” from the diaspora activists in DC. Or anywhere else in North America.
Especially as they made themselves painfully, pathetically irrelevant.
Yes, I’ll explain.
I was recently invited to make another Zoom appearance at a weekend conference, which I politely declined. Reason being, I had nothing new to say. Don’t get me wrong, I always appreciate being welcomed and respected as an ally, but the proper thanks for that is to continue to tell you the truth, not sing sweet compliments in your ear.
So, how could I, a white Canadian, address the conference’s theme of the “need for unity” for Fano, when I ain’t Habesha and I ain’t out in the war zones? And more importantly, when everyone and their uncle knows the grim reality?
Sure, unity is urgently, desperately needed, but the diaspora has absolutely no role to play—none, zilch, nada—in bringing together the guerrilla forces who are feuding and are suspicious of each other out in the field.
Oh, you think they do? Are you kidding? Those issues will be settled by the guys holding rifles out on the ambas. As they should be.
The diaspora groups, instead of quarterbacking events in Amhara and Oromia from the comfort of DC and Atlanta and Minneapolis, had their own homework to do—but they never did it. And their obliviousness helped ensure they’d be irrelevant now and likely irrelevant for the near future.
And with no real substantial base to channel concerns, to mobilize and respond, no wonder there are those of you down there who fear.
You didn’t listen when I told you to stop with the silly protests and marches which got zero media coverage and only demonstrated your impotence.
You didn’t listen when I and others recommend a more coordinated social media and lobbying strategy that worked on an international scale instead of thinking that the Trump White House would be the savior, your cavalry riding up over the hill.
You didn’t listen when young people—those in their twenties and thirties—expressed interest in the movement, and you shut them out or shut them down and refused to take their suggestions or to share power.
And don’t pretend you didn’t because I know most of you—you’re all about my age. Every one of you is like me or older, hoping their knees don’t pop when they rise from the couch, with some of you coping with the delightful new issue of bladder leakage.
And now I’m told there’s a new mood in DC: it’s a combination of the “fear at home” under Trump’s authoritarianism and the increased pressure the Abiy regime is putting on relatives of diaspora folks in the old country. It makes people hesitant. It makes people live in dread.
I don’t expect this message will go down well, but you’re damn right I blame the American diaspora leadership for part of this “new mood.” Not all of it, mind you, but a good portion of it.
It’s no wonder that the London diaspora embraced the need for theatricality in its protests, doing the best job in years of raising street-level awareness. But sadly, even this movement has much to learn, and it may come under sinister attention from the Keir Starmer government, which is doing a great impression these days of a Tory administration; a Labour administration that doesn’t like migrants, doesn’t like Palestinians, doesn’t like activists. Good luck, guys. Call me if you need help.
And it’s no wonder that the best diaspora activists trying to help keep folks from getting deported, at least as far as I can see, are in the Nordic countries. I did get calls from them, and they’re a dedicated, persevering, incredibly brave bunch. Organizations in other countries should take notes.
Because does anyone talk to each other? Is there anyone out there with a unified vision? Is there momentum over… anything?
Instead, too many have become slaves to fear. It’s understandable, but it’s unsustainable.
To which I can only offer a bit of tough love, which comes down to:
Did you really think Fano was just going to hand you a revolution on a plate, and there wouldn’t be a personal cost?
I will, of course, pause here for five seconds while you get it out of your system that I’m a ferenji, that I don’t have family back there, that okay, I took slanderous hits to my reputation and had death threats during the TPLF War, but yes, when it gets down to brass tacks, I have far less to lose than any of you.
Too bad that’s not relevant. What matters is that you still have an enemy who intends to slaughter you. And when he intimidates you enough through threats to your family or friends back home, so much that you want to go around policing each other, well, that works out great for him.
It’s what autocrats do. It’s a very old tactic that seeks to extend their invisible gulag guard fence around your soul.
I have had the great privilege to know activists and warriors for not just Ethiopia, but for Kurdistan in Iraq, Myanmar, and other locales. I’ve known people who had to leave their homes in Myanmar because of their journalism, and I’ve known those who stick it out and write under pseudonyms, and I know still others who just left it all behind and live happy lives abroad, no politics in their daily routines, which hey, is their right.
But if you care enough to get into “good trouble,” you have to do it all the way. Nobody just dips a toe in the ocean. In or out, buddy, but if you’re in, you live with the consequences and swim. And if you bail or “retire,” that’s a choice, too, and you’ll still have to live with possible consequences from your old actions.
I don’t write these things to harangue you. I write them to encourage you to get past your fear. Because risk is part of the struggle. It always has been, and if you didn’t know it ‘til now, I admire the beautiful, glossy sheen on your bubble.
I recall during the TPLF War how the initial reaction from some to my creative “news releases” was that somehow it was dirty pool. Up to then, there seemed to be little to no effort at satire. But my merry little pranks were always a tactic to remove fear. Because you fear your enemy less once you take away their power by making them appear ridiculous.
And Jeez, Abiy gives us plenty of raw material, doesn’t he? So does the Poodle.
There is no laughing your way past threats to family and friends, and I’ve had more than a few anxious phone calls and texts with folks I knew in Gondar. I dreaded that if certain connections were made, targets could be placed on their backs (fortunately, many seem to be safely out of the country now).
But again: such threats and vengeful acts are intended to stall momentum for liberation.
The regime wants you to freeze, it wants you to cower. You are being extorted, and the going price is your dignity and your conscience.
What will you give up? Or will you stand fast?
Lessons from Europe
In recent weeks, I’ve been busy tunneling my way through the nineteenth century for a new book project, reading about the lives and works of the great anarchist and socialist thinkers in Europe. It’s both comical and charming to discover that several of these great figures of radicalism, men and women who inspire countless essays and books by academics, often had to earn their keep through pretty boring jobs. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a printer. Another French anarchist was a house painter. Bakunin made a pest of himself by nudging everyone to loan him money. The Italian patriot and guerrilla fighter Giuseppe Mazzini relied on his Mom to send him cash.
And yet they dreamed of freeing their homelands. And they sometimes expressed these wishes in moving, eloquent terms.
My interest has less to do with their ideologies than my interest in an era which has jarring parallels to our own time. Instead of Ukraine and Palestine, liberals and leftists had a cause célèbre in efforts to free Poland from Russia’s chokehold.
Like today, activists could be escorted off university campuses and often deported out of a country—France, Belgium, Switzerland—at the request of the very regime they were fighting. Like today, some of the nations that bragged about being homes to free speech and tolerance—Britain, France—didn’t think twice about surveilling those oh-so-annoying, political foreigners and sometimes interfering with their mail. This ringing any bells after watching NBC News or CNN?
I’m not a huge fan of Bakunin but give the guy his due. He made trouble everywhere he went and got himself kicked out of France and Germany and ended up chained to a wall in a Moscow prison for a while. He eventually made a spectacular escape from exile in Siberia.
I’m not suggesting anyone emulate his complete disregard for practical self-preservation, and I realize that for most people, history provides little comfort. But I am saying that we can and should learn from the tactics and philosophies of radicals from the past, what worked for them and what didn’t.
Most educated Ethiopians I know can rattle off the feats of the great emperors and can elegantly debate fine points in how the TPLF ruled over close to 30 grim years versus how Abiy “governs.” And except for three distinguished, learned Ethiopians I know, I can’t think of any individuals who could invoke lessons from Europe. I mean lessons for how to fight today. Or any Ethiopian who might casually say, “Well, if we look at what they did in Berlin in ‘89.” Or even at New York’s Zucotti Park in 2011. Let alone the Paris Commune of 1871.
Why shouldn’t you? You insist that the US and Europe are major players invested in the outcome of events in Ethiopia. Every damn day I see posts on X tagging everyone from Human Rights Watch (ugh) to EU commissioners. Yet you don’t bother to learn radical tactics for Western locales. You don’t bother to educate yourself on proper communications methods. These are your tools. And they’re the only way you can stumble back to relevance and a working relationship with any new, miraculous Fano coalition.
The first step, however, is to move past your fear and to think of what’s needed to free and empower all Ethiopian right now.
And since I brought up those thinkers, let me leave you with words that moved me and will hopefully move you. They’re from Peter Kropotkin, written in the opening pages of his classic text, Mutual Aid.
“Love, sympathy, and self-sacrifice certainly play an immense part in the progressive development of our moral feelings. But it is not love and not even sympathy upon which Society is based in mankind. It is the conscience—be it only at the stage of an instinct—of human solidarity. It is the unconscious recognition of the force that is borrowed by each man from the practice of mutual aid; of the close dependency of every one’s happiness upon the happiness of all; and of the sense of justice or equity which brings the individual to consider the rights of every other individual as equal to his own.”