Alemayehu G. Mariam

A. Davey

Decades of recent history are witness to plots by ruthless dictators to enslave the minds of youth and perpetuate a one-party, one-leader rule; but one by one, these leaders failed and fell. Alemayehu G. Mariam writes that like his autocratic predecessors – Hitler, Mao, Stalin – Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi will lose his bid to conform Ethiopia’s youth to his party mentality. What is less clear is how Ethiopia’s youth will react to the increasingly deplorable social and economic cond...read more

Honest

Following the widely contested result of the Ethiopian elections in May, Alemayehu G. Mariam urges Ethiopian intellectuals to rise and become the ‘tip of the spear of social change’ in the country. Mariam persists to contend Meles Zenawi’s right to the presidency, whilst calling on fellow intellectuals to become advocates of peaceful change and democracy in their homeland through a focus of the intellectual ‘eye’.

Wikimedia

The crime of ‘democricide’ is being committed in Ethiopia both by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and a hoard of accessories who cheat the Ethiopian people out of fair elections, free press and aid, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. Those complicit in this crime include the political bureaucracy that pumps out shining reports on ‘development’ and the donors themselves, who continue to prop up regimes like Zenawi’s and stifle democracy in the name of stability.

BBC

The Ethiopian election that ushered Meles Zenawi back to power with a 99.6 per cent majority is a testament to the tyranny of the powerful and the hypocrisy of the collective opposition, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. The opposition parties, through inaction and submission, betrayed the Ethiopian people and must share blame for this most recent violation of democratic rights. To atone, the opposition needs to make a public apology and a renew its commitment to speak the truth.

BBC

In the aftermath of the May 2010 Ethiopian elections, many are left with the question: ‘Where do we go from here?’ writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. Mariam challenges the legitimacy of an election that saw Meles Zenawi reinstated in power with a 99.6 per cent share of the vote, and explores the future direction of the Ethiopian ruling class.

London Summit

While it was as good as a foregone conclusion that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi would remain in power after the latest Ethiopian 'election', writes Alemayehu G. Mariam, those prone to being dejected should not give up on the struggle for freedom and democracy in the country.

© freebirtukan.org

Though currently incarcerated in Akaki federal prison, Birtukan Midekssa remains a key figure in the suppressed pursuit for democracy in Ethiopia, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. Mariam presents Midekssa's concerns and hopes for the future in this interview, hopes which can only be realised by 'fully embracing democracy, human rights and the rule of law'.

© freebirtukan.org

With Mother's Day celebrated in May in Ethiopia, Alemayehu G. Mariam honours the contribution and sacrifices of one of the country's much lauded mothers, human rights defender Birtukan Midekssa.

© freebirtukan.org

With Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's regime gearing up to set things firmly in its favour, Ethiopia's upcoming national election this month is already a done deal, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. Zenawi's threatening gestures towards opposition leaders and dissenting political activists, Mariam stresses, are simply part of a broader campaign of pre-electoral intimidation and political paralysis.

T S S

Press freedom is now a core value of all humanity, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam, but the ‘recent history of the independent press in Ethiopia is a chronicle of brutal crackdowns, arbitrary imprisonments and harassments of local and international journalists, shuttering of newspapers and jamming of external radio transmissions’. The Ethiopian people have the ‘inalienable right to have the information they need to make informed decisions about their form of government, leaders and lives,’ Mariam ...read more

Pages