Dear Fellow Ethiopians and Friends of Ethiopia:
After working behind the scene and contacting various distinguished and ordinary individuals in our community (both for support and ideas) we, the coordinating committee of concerned Ethiopians, are pleased to formally announce the birth of the Solidarity Forum of Ethiopia. Although not finalized yet, the Forum’s Mission and its Bylaws are being drafted and nearing completion.
The FORUM will be housed temporarily under the Ethiopian National Congress (ENC) to facilitate an expeditious launch, the FORUM is otherwise a totally an independent organization and will separate itself from the ENC as soon as deemed timely by its leaders and membership. We are very grateful to the ENC in general and its President, Dr. Tsehai Birhane-Sellassie, in particular for their willingness to temporarily house the Forum. The Forum is not affiliated with any political organization or the government of Ethiopia. The Forum is being built from the ground up, rather than top to bottom as is the case in most of Ethiopian organizations! The owners of the Forum are YOU as an INDIVIDUAL, and the ETHIOPIAN PUBLIC in general. This Forum is initiated by Ethiopians who are faithful to their country, and who pledge to serve positively and with sincerity to help rescue our Motherland from the uncertainty she is currently in.
We will shortly make public the Missions and Bylaws of the Forum once they are finalized. A number of us have been working behind the scene contacting various distinguished and ordinary individuals in our community for both support and ideas! This process is going on as we write this Press Release! We want to share with you the one question, which almost every person we contacted asked:
“WHY DO YOU THINK THIS EFFORT WILL SUCCEED WHEN SIMILAR EFFORTS HAVE FAILED EVERYTIME IN THE PAST? WHAT IS DIFFERENT THIS TIME?”
These are legitimate questions asked by those who have given everything they have to the cause of their Motherland repeatedly and returned EMPTY-HANDED every time! They ask these questions not because they are cynical but because they are looking for a ray of hope so that they can hang on it for comfort! However, why do we keep on failing? Here is the anatomy of our failures for the last three decades:
1. We fail to stand together and fight the tyranny!
2. Different political parties have mutual hostility, which, to a bystander appear to be worse than the hostility against tyranny in Ethiopia!
3. Even within the parties, we cannot respect the by-laws we constructed. We are dictatorial, and we have no respect for each other!
4. We put personal ambitions and ego ahead of the interest of our Motherland and her suffering people!
5. We fail to see that personal gratification – hand-outs from foreign or homegrown agents - will eventually hurt us and those whose hope depends on us!
6. We are insincere with ourselves – we ask questions such as “what is wrong with us?” when we know precisely what the answer is!
7. We do not listen to each other and we do not listen to ourselves!
8. We fail to see the power of forgiveness, humility, and tolerance!
9. We fail to see strength in saying sorry for any wrongdoing!
10. We fail to see that two wrongs cannot make a right!
11. We fail to appreciate pulling together is better and more rewarding than tearing each other apart!
12. We point accusing fingers at others, and totally refuse to acknowledge our mistakes!
13. We want to run when we even have not learnt to walk.
14. We love to tell the history of our Motherland and its people while totally abdicating our responsibilities today for benefit that come after us tomorrow!
15. We fail to see the plight of children who have no food to eat, no medicine when they are sick, no parents to look after them, no place to call home!
16. WE FAIL TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!
17. Etc, etc, etc!!!!!!!
Therefore, we have a challenge for you, our fellow Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia! Look at the anatomy of our failures above, and take the following action - create your own “My SOLIDARITY FORUM OF ETHIOPIA”!
1. Get together with your relatives, friends, and neighbors and create discussion groups.
2. Reach across the town and discuss with similar groups and form a larger group.
3. Repeat the process throughout the country in which you live.
4. Communicate with the FORUM coordinators.
Yes, We Must Do It! We are masters of the art of organizing, let us do it for our Motherland this time!
What will be the topics of discussion? These should be along the lines of the FORUM’S MAIN OBJECTIVES!
What are the main objectives of the FORUM?
1. How to tackle the short term problems of Ethiopia
2. Promotion of our ancestral and historical spirit of independence and responsibility towards our society and country;
3. Exploration of our systems of coexistence (with our ethnic, gender, class, and other differences) to rethink, rearticulate and institutionalize workable social reform implementation strategies;
4. Setting the priority areas that need public attention and stating the associated problems and solutions;
5. Exploration of the ways and means of carrying out political reform along the genuine paths of liberating Ethiopia from patrimonial rule, namely the destructive personalized social, political, economic processes that lack a sense of social responsibility;
6. Adopting and practicing the culture of transparency;
7. Creation of an open, peaceful, cooperative, and transparent work environment for civil society associations, political parties, and other groupings.
8. Promotion of the rule of law applicable for all Ethiopians, irrespective of the levels of their crimes, their social, economic, or political status or past records.
9. Promotion of separating the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of government in Ethiopia;
10. Finding ways of convincing the world that Ethiopians have our own very high standards, priorities, views and expectations about our ways of life, systems of coexistence and type of internal governance;
11. Creation of an environment for transforming Ethiopian society through dialogue, tolerance, transparency, social responsibility and honest engagement in the above and other similar matters of public concern;
12. Let us not wait for a leader to come from somewhere to deliver our Motherland from tyranny, let us create leadership from grass-root. Let each of us play a responsible role in constructing the destiny for our Motherland. Let us each take 100% responsibility for what has happened and will happen, hence
Organization: Appoint team leaders for each FORUM and these should include:
1. Chairperson
2. Secretary
3. Treasurer
4. General membership
Why are we suggesting this?
1. The FORUM is yours and you take the full responsibility
2. If the FORUM fails, IT IS YOUR FAILURE
3. If the FORUM succeeds, IT IS YOUR SUCCESS!
4. I am avoiding repetition the same methods and expecting different result!
5. We shall all share the burden of creating this organization
6. It is from the grass-root up, no boss from the top!
Golto Aila (MD),
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AND
Dr. Tsehai Birhane-Sellassie
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(On behalf of the Coordinating Committee.)
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