With an open mind, I read an article titled “” on the Aiga Forum website, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF’s) mouthpiece. The article was written by Yenieta A, who claimed that Ethiopian political writers don’t know how to write. To make his point, he used Professor Al Mariam’s commentary titled “!” as his example because he thinks Al Mariam is the worst kind of political writer. To help him to improve his writing skills, he appeared to edit the above mentioned article. He crossed out the writer’s original words and sentences which he thinks has defects in word choice or construction of words. Then he inserted his comical comments on why they should be corrected, and he gave him his sarcastic, incoherent recommendations.
While I recognize the Aiga Form editor and Yenieta’s rights to support the absolute tyrant TPLF’s leadership and to criticize the Oromo peaceful protestors who asked their basic human rights to be respect, I think the inappropriate way Yenieta presented his article was in revenge for the Oromos protestors’ bravery to protest against the TPLF’s repression. He showed disrespect for the Irreecha Festival victims’ friends and families’ intelligence and feelings about their horrifying tragedies. He treated them in a way that makes them appear to be stupid. Even worse, the editor echoed Yenieta’s insult by posting ludicrous comments about the article that CRIED FREEDOM! The editor’s act also showed he doesn’t have pity for the Irreecha Festival victims’ friends and families. Moreover, he collaborated with the nonsense writer and defamed Ethiopians, specifically Al Mariam – who writes critical commentaries weekly about human rights violations by the TPLF’s repressive regime – by posting online remarks defaming and insulting him. I am appalled by the writer and the editor’s insolent behavior.
Al Mariam’s article which Yenieta made fun of was about the October 2, 2016 Irreecha Festival massacre — in which more than a thousand participants were killed and twice more that number were injured by the TPLF’s pitiless leadership “series of failures,” among other things, in a plan to mitigate a stampede. In his commentary, Al Mariam called the slaughter by the stampede “the second Sharpeville Massacre on the African continent in the Twenty-first century.” And he tried to prove his point by comparing pictures of the South African’s Apartheid “Killing Fields Harvest” with pictures of the T-TPLF’s “Killing Fields Harvest”. I “gasp in astonishment” every time I looked at his shocking comparisons because the “Killing Fields Harvest” look similar.
I might sound like I am protecting the Ethiopian political commentators, especially Al Mariam who is critical of the TPLF’s tyranny against the junk writer’s futile attack on him. However, that isn’t my objective. Besides, I think they are perfectly capable of defending themselves. I am reacting in response to Yenieta and the Aiga Forum editor’s disrespectful behavior against the Irreecha massacre victims, their friends and families because I took it personal. First, I invite you to listen to one of my favorite songs of 2016.
I thought Yenieta’s attempt to poke holes on Al Mariam’s commentary was a total failure. And it led him to make a complete fool of himself, the Aiga Forum’s editor, it sponsors and cheerleaders. It also appeared to me that he might have purchased his degree and got carried away. And he showed to the world his ineptitude to write simple sentences and to present them correctly, let alone to help Al Mariam polish up his writing skills.
In other words, Yenieta’s mumbo-jumbo is the most deplorable nonsense I’ve ever seen posted on a public domain. Its presentation is disgusting and shocking and it sheds light into the writer’s and the website editor’s degenerate minds. It is full of drivel, and it is riddled with errors, including construction of words, grammatical, punctuation, capitalization, quotation, spelling …For instance, I noted that he cannot even consistently misspell Al Mariam’s name. In his introduction paragraph and its title he misspelled it three different ways: “ALMARIAIM”, “Almariam” and “almariam”. I think it is an embarrassing mistake.
I took the time to read that trash and to write a comment on it because I contemplated on the message (the baloney writer and the website editor who posted it) were trying to send to their readers. Why did they post garbage like that about one of Ethiopians’ most heartbreaking tragedies which the evil TPLF’s leaders had masterminded? It appeared to me that they meant to insult the victims’ friends and families’ intelligence. They hit back by making a joke out of the Ethiopians’ calamity — the massacres the TPLF’s cruel apartheid regime committed against the Oromo Irreecha Festival attendees. Consequently, I wanted to share with them my take of their rubbish.
I didn’t want to be hard on or pick on the hired gibberish writer, and I didn’t need to try to shame or offend him. But I want to leave something on his consciousness if he has one. I voiced my take about his sarcasm to inspire him to consider returning the degree he might have purchased.
Yenieta, my brother, consider using this article as your excuse to return your degree. And tell them you want to return it because you came under fire for not knowing how to use it. It is too big for your mind; it didn’t fit it. Demand a full refund of your money. And use your refund money to register for an ESL class. After being comfortable writing basic sentences at your ESL class, taking various English writing and reading classes at a college or university level will help you to improve your writing and presentation skills. Please pass this information among the TPLF’s leadership and their political cronies; they might want to return the degrees they bought to get their money back.
Going to a good Social Science School and Law School will help you to understand the issues Al Mariam writes about: “.” And it will expose you to a variety of writing, which would help you to have a mind of your own. Acquiring experience in your field of study will make you competent, and it may help you find the nerve to stand for the truth. After getting your education and experience, I want to challenge you to retry to poke holes in Al Mariam’s piece that you made jokes to find the truth regarding your masters – the TPLF’s failed leadership – “Killing Fields Harvest”. I also need to remind you that it takes a few decades of education, experience, a lot of practice, tons of reading … to be able to write a good review of a commentary. My friend, learning writing could be a hard work. Enjoy your refund money!!!
Acknowledging Professor Al Mariam
Now, knowing he doesn’t need it and his readers are well aware of it, I use this opportunity the TPLF’s incompetent cronies created for me to articulate my observations about Professor Al Mariam’s writings. From my experience reading his articles for a decade, I believe that he is a gifted, fluent writer — who read lots and lots of great books, watched lots of good movies and cartoons. And he has vivid memories about what he read and watched.
Most importantly, I noted that he generously loves sharing his knowledge and experience via his free commentaries with his readers — which I think is one of the greatest qualities of a confident person. To compare, since the TPLF’s leadership and their political cronies lack confidence in the people they claim to represent – the Tigrayans – they do their best to keep them uninformed, disinformed and misinformed in order to keep oppressing, abusing and killing them. Even worse, they keep the Tigrayans in Tigray in the dark to keep committing crimes against Ethiopians under their name.
I also like to recognize Al Mariam for his contributions to help the struggle against the TPLF’s apartheid regime for more than a decade. Via his commentaries: he taught, informed or reminded his readers like me about human rights, justice, good governance … He attentively followed our country’s current events, and he movingly articulated the TPLF’s brutes human rights violations, murders, frauds, disinformation …, and he shared his observations, concerns and opinions with the people of the world weekly, at times several times a week. He caused anxiety for the leadership of the TPLF and their cliques, and he made them panic and lose sleep because he kept telling them the truth and the justice that is awaiting them.
At this tragic moment in our history in which the TPLF’s leaders are obliterating national identity, selling territories and killing and/or causing to be killed millions of Ethiopians, I believe Ethiopians are fortunate to have a brave and talented son, brother, teacher… like him to be their voice of justice for over a decade.
I am sure that the peaceful struggle against the TPLF would have been harder without him because some of the crimes they committed against innocent Ethiopians might not be meticulously articulated and documented without him. For example, the October 2, 2016 Irreecha Festival massacre, in which the TPLF soldiers killed more than a thousand festival participants … He documented it painstakingly in his October 7, 2016 commentary titled “ I read every sentence of it, an approximately 25 pages of document. And I think it is a great document because: first, he challenged “the official T-TPLF version of events leading up to and triggering the so-called stampede at the Irreecha Festival.” Second, he presented his “preliminary forensic analysis which contradicts the cynically concocted official story line that at the end of the day, the victims have no one to blame but themselves for the deaths and injuries they sustained. If they had stayed home, none of it would have occurred.” Third, he laid “the groundwork for crimes against humanity investigation into the actions and omissions of all persons involved in Irreecha Festival Massacres.”
In my view, while making the battle against the TPLF appear easier than it is, he is putting up an impressive fight against its chronic injustice. And hands down he is winning all of his battles. For all his remarkable contributions for the struggle against the TPLF for over ten years, I am very thankful!!!
Dear Professor Al Mariam, I am reading in the interest of Ethiopia and our people
In your December 25, 2016 article titled “”, you articulated to your readers like me “Some have complained that my commentaries are too long and I should shorten them. I am amused by such complaints. I do not write for entertainment, pleasure reading, to amuse or for self-promotion. I have tried to present a serious message to my readers on important issues every week.”
It is true that you write “to present a serious message”. It is also true that I am not reading your messages for leisure. In my list of favorites, reading and writing about politics are the last items, in that order. I keep up with Ethiopia’s current events because I am concerned about where the TPLF’s failed policies such as a language based ethnic politics are leading our country and our people. I use your writings as one of my most reliable sources of information and knowledge. Every Sunday night I look forward to browsing your weekly commentary to learn about its essence and to roughly estimate the amount of time it may take to read it. Then I read it at intervals during the week. Since reading your message inspires me and/or reminds me my responsibility about our country, I react and voice my concerns and opinions via my sporadic articles like this one.
And yet I nitpicked and chitchatted – which is human – about the length of your writings and extensive quotations among friends and relatives at times. None of the people I conversed with disagreed with me about the benefit of condensing your piece. Furthermore, writing’s key message wouldn’t be harmed, in theory, by cutting out nonessential texts. I mentioned this, mind you, to support my trivial argument but not to lecture one — which is an important argument from your readers’ perspective in Ethiopia.
Admitting we need to read much more and write more for our country and our people, I respectfully argue that less content and fewer quotations will make your commentaries much more effective to your readers like me and your readers in Ethiopia — those who have limited or no access to the internet. From my perspective, if you would stand your ground, it’s no big deal. I will just buckle down and keep reading your messages for our Beloved Ethiopia.
What about your readers in Ethiopia? Well, a key challenge facing your readers’ in Ethiopia is that they have limited or no access to the internet. They may have to read a hardcopy of your articles someone circulates. After they read a message, they most likely have to pass it quickly among their acquaintances. To those who would print off your article in order to share it message with others, condensing your article’s content will help them to cut their printing cost. Al Mariam, reducing your articles’ text has great benefit for everyone, including you. It could increase your article circulation, and it would let you inform and educate more people. Getting additional people informed and educated should certainly speed up the time to make the brutal TPLF’s leadership, their crones, cliques and thugs to make them face the justice you have been telling them for over a decade. Therefore, I encourage you to consider shorting your commentaries.
DOWN, DOWN, WOYANE!!!
Thanks for reading!!! The writer LJDemissie can be reached at ljdemissie@yahoo.com