Written By Andargachew Tsige
December 1,2021
Source = Andargachew Tsige's Face Book
I must add that the fundamental purpose of the false accusations made against me by the likes of Will Brown in the Telegraph and others like Lord Alton is the dampening of an old tradition of Brits joining international forces who fight in defense of democracy, freedom, and human dignity. Even though it was illegal to do so, many courageous British volunteers, including the famous author George Orwell, went to Spain between 1936-1939 to fight alongside the supporters of the democratically elected republican government of Spain when it was attacked by fascist army officers in league with fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
In Ethiopia, the attack against the democratically elected government was made by a well-organized, well-armed, and well-resourced homegrown terrorist group, TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front). Once designated as a Tier 2 terror group by America’s own government, a confluence of interests and circumstances enabled the TPLF, a minority ethnic based organization, to ascend to national power in Ethiopia in 1991, with America’s blessing and support. The TPLF ruled Ethiopia with iron fist for 27 years, propped up by huge western aid—to the tune of 40 billion USD—despite egregious human rights abuses, which included multiple massacres, arrests and torture of countless political prisoners, the total closure of the free media, the mass killing of peaceful protesters, and many more. Needless to say, a large chunk of that 40 billion USD in aid—and billions more stolen from the meager resources of a country trying to pull herself out of poverty—ended up in western banks. So much of that money is currently being used by TPLF operatives in the west to pay lobbyists and others to influence policymakers and the public. The TPLF tricked so many westerners into thinking that they are a Marxist influenced party who believe in uplifting the poor. In truth, the only feature of Marxism that the TPLF liked was the centralization of political and economic power, which it utilized to concentrate wealth in the hands of Tigrayan elites and, to a much lesser scale, their cronies from other ethnic groups.
Nearly four years ago, Ethiopians revolted against the dictatorial and kleptocratic regime of the TPLF and removed it from power. In its place the first ever democratically elected government of Ethiopia, led by Abiy Ahmed a Nobel Prize Laurate, was ushered. And this democratically elected government has come under attack from the TPLF and its western backers. So far, the TPLF’s powerful backers have thrown the kitchen sink at Ethiopia and her elected government: from economic sanctions to relentless destabilizing propaganda via major western media outlets as well as highly politicized security alerts from embassies. There are also strong allegations that the US, through its allies, is providing military advice and supply of satellite information to the TPLF. It is important to see this assault on Ethiopia’s nascent democracy within the bigger context of similar assaults made by the west against democratically elected governments and leaders throughout Latin America and Africa. I call on fellow Brits to ask why this keeps happening.
Just like in Spain in the 1930s, the TPLF is supported by outside forces. Ironically, nations like the US and the UK that did not side with the mutinous Spanish generals have become the enablers of the terrorist group, the TPLF. All Brits who believe in common decency and the equality of all races, all Brits who agree that Ethiopians—just like Brits and Spaniards—have the right to enjoy the peace, stability, and justice that comes with democracy, must ask themselves why their government has chosen to side with a violent insurrection against democracy in Ethiopia while opposing similar actions in its territory and other places. Aren’t Ethiopians human beings worthy of dignity? Why is a terrorist group intolerable when it attacks Brits or Americans but treated as a legitimate political entity when it attacks the Ethiopian national defence forces, innocent civilians, displacing millions, gang-raping young girls, murdering thousands, ransacking cities, destroying billions of dollars worth of infrastructure, burning down entire villages, including places of worship? Are Ethiopian lives not deserving of the same protections and care afforded to Brits and Americans? If the answer is no, what is the reason? I ask decent Brits to ask their government why democracy is non-negotiable in the west but not allowed to take root in Africa and Latin America. Why the west’s interest in “democracy promotion” only goes as far as using that term as a weapon to destabilize countries that refuse to become client states.
Furthermore, I call on fellow Brits to dare to follow in the footsteps of their freedom-loving forefathers and foremothers and form an international brigade that will fight in defense of democracy, freedom, and human dignity in Ethiopia. I came to Ethiopia to fight because I believed that any peace and security that I enjoyed in London was fraudulent for as long as a terrorist group backed by the west, including the UK, continued to inflict misery upon Ethiopians. We live in an increasingly globalized world where we breathe and pollute each other’s air. And I believe that if we, as Brits, are contributing to the pollution of the air Ethiopians breathe, we also have the responsibility to help clean it up. I call on decent Brits of all walks of life to join me in every way they can in clearing the force of death and mayhem that is the TPLF from Ethiopia’s air.
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