The outrage felt by Ethiopians at the Western-backed terrorist attack on their country is spreading across the Horn of Africa and parts of the continent more widely. A great movement of solidarity is emerging as Ethiopia’s neighbors, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya join hands, standing together against terror, imperial interference and mainstream media lies and misinformation.
In sight of US duplicity and subterfuge, the warped, destructive relationship that exists between African states and pernicious imperial powers has once again been revealed. Pre-existing feelings of mistrust and anger are being strengthened and the realization of an old truth, that to become truly independent, nations within the continent must unite; only then will exploitation, manipulation and injustice be brought to an end.
As Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana famously said: “If we [African nations] do not formulate plans for unity and take active steps to form political union, we will soon be fighting and warring among ourselves with imperialist and colonialists standing behind the screen and pulling vicious wires to make us cut each other’s throats for the sake of their diabolical purposes in Africa.”
The US supported assault by the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) on Ethiopia, – “for the sake of their diabolical purposes in Africa” – is not only an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government and install the terrorist TPLF, it is a bid to unsettle the entire region. The Horn of Africa is of great strategic importance, and Ethiopia sits at its heart – destabilize Ethiopia and impact the whole region; install a dictatorial ethnocentric regime (TPLF) and sow division, poison the atmosphere of mutual understanding and cooperation that is being built within the region.
Central to regional cohesion is the relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Recognizing this fact, immediately after taking office Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed worked to end the twenty year long border war – instigated by the TPLF with US support – with Eritrea; for this unifying work, which was largely overlooked by western media at the time, Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2019.
Shocking US violation
From the 3 November 2020, when TPLF forces committed treason and attacked the Northern Command Base in Ethiopia (an action that many suspect was sanctioned by the US), killing federal soldiers and stealing arms, the Biden administration has stood firmly behind the terrorists. It has consistently tried to tarnish the reputation of the government and has imposed a series of potentially devastating economic sanctions against Ethiopia, including advising US citizens against travel to Ethiopia, thereby impacting tourism, which is a major growth sector. Other countries including UK, Germany France, happy to add to the fear-mongering, have predictably followed suit.
This shocking violation of one of the poorest countries in the world, by the most powerful, was at first bewildering to many. It is, however, a copybook action, one that the United States (referred to as “The Godfather” by Noam Chomsky) has followed many times around the world when it wants to assert itself.
If the government of a developing or middle-income country embraces democracy, dares to act in an independent manner and works to establish socio-economic policies that will benefit their own people over the ideological demands of America and US corporations, the US rarely hesitates. PM Abiy, who has enormous support in Ethiopia, and the democratically elected government has made clear that it’s primary concerns are the well-being of Ethiopians, the prosperity and unity of Ethiopia and the integration of the region and the continent. Such independence and blatant defiance of “The Godfather” is unacceptable in Washington, no matter the creed or presiding officer.
The US method of dealing with such troublesome governments is clear, consistent, and has been employed in dozens of countries: In the name of ‘democracy, human rights and civilization’, destabilize the country, violently overthrow said government – either directly or by arming a group of thugs to carry out the dirty work; spread misinformation in order to create an environment which allows the slaughter to go ahead virtually unopposed, and regime change to occur.
This violent practice has killed hundreds of thousands of people in dozens of countries over the last 70 years or so, making the United States the leading, most brutal terrorist group in the world, and, according to various polls the country most widely and consistently regarded as the greatest threat to world peace.
In Ethiopia, the thugs (widely hated across the country including inside Tigray), are the TPLF. A terrorist organization that ruled with an iron fist for thirty years; ignoring human rights, embezzling funds, fueling ethnic divisions and committing Crimes Against Humanity in various parts of the country. Such details however are irrelevant to the US administration, their sole concern is power – regional and global, the perpetuation of colonial capitalism, and ensuring a government is in place in Ethiopia that will not interfere with US demands and regional policies, but will actively facilitate them.
The conflict in Ethiopia, then, is not simply an assault on a sovereign state by a terrorist coalition (the TPLF now with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)), it is a fight for independence and democracy; a fight for freedom by an ancient nation against an adolescent imperial force, and as such, is a historic battle; one that Ethiopians, united and enraged, are determined to win.
Assault on Africa
Imperial interference and exploitation throughout Africa is long, stretching from slavery and colonialism to wealth and climate inequality, racial capitalism and now Covid vaccine apartheid. Power, greed and control are the animating forces of this evil, coupled with a perverse sense of entitlement based on a deluded sense of superiority/inferiority, which maintains that some people – black and brown people – are disposable and can be sacrificed in the pursuit of wealth and dominion.
This is aptly demonstrated by the way rich nations and western conglomerates have withheld Covid vaccines, refused to share patents and destroyed supplies rather than giving them to Africans before they expired. Whilst western nations have vaccinated on average 65% of their populations and are now administering booster jabs, a mere 7% of people across Africa have so far been vaccinated.
Vaccine injustice is but the loudest, most recent display of the immorality and abuse of Africans by the global north. It shows that while gunboat colonization has been consigned to the past, not only does economic, social and cultural colonization continue, mental colonization (among former colonizers and no doubt some in Africa), which is perhaps the most pernicious form of indoctrination, persists.
Ethiopia is the only African country never to have been colonized – something else that no doubt infuriates the US and Co. As such Ethiopia occupies a unique place within the continent, and for decades has served as an inspiration and beacon of hope for other African nations. In acknowledgement of this fact, and of Ethiopia’s status within the continent, President Uhuru of Kenya, Speaking at Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s inauguration on 5 October, said, “Ethiopia is the Mother of African independence……for all of us on the continent, Ethiopia is our Mother.” And, referring to the TPLF, “As we know, if the Mother is not at peace the family cannot be at peace.”
People within Africa, particularly the Horn region, as well as diaspora groups throughout the world, are rallying to “Mother” in this time of crisis. They are unified against the TPLF and furious at US interference and the corporate media (CNN, BBC, New York Times, Al Jazeera, etc) coverage; lazy “hotel” journalism, disinformation/misinformation and the use of prejudicial, slanted language has created a misleading picture of the conflict, and presented a corrosive narrative of criticism against PM Abiy and the government.
Thousands have mobilized, attending protests in cities across the world. NoMore is the collective cry of the people – Ethiopian, Eritrean, Sudanese, Somali, Kenyan, and friends of Ethiopia; “NoMore” media lies and misinformation; “NoMore” TPLF; “NoMore” colonialism; “NoMore” sanctions, designed to deter foreign investment in Ethiopia and Eritrea; “NoMore” US meddling and duplicity. Hands off Ethiopia; hands off the countries of the region; hands off Africa, is the demand, loud and clear made upon the US administration, her puppets, and the mouthpiece for war, the western media.