Ethiopia keeps ‘not free’ position in Freedom House latest report

• A significant number of service interruptions in the name of routine maintenance and system updates resulted in worsening service across the country. Internet services on 3G mobile internet networks were reportedly unavailable for more than a month in July and August 2014 (seeRestrictions on Connectivity).
• A growing number of critical news and opposition websites were blocked in the lead up to the May 2015 elections (see Blocking and Filtering).
• Six bloggers of the prominent Zone 9 blogging collective arrested in April 2014 were officially charged with terrorism in July 2014; two of the bloggers were unexpectedly released and acquitted in July 2015, joined by the four others in October (see Prosecutions and Arrests).
• A university political science teacher known for his Facebook activism and another blogger were arrested and charged with terrorism in July 2014, among three others (see Prosecutions and Arrests).
• Online journalists in the Ethiopian diaspora were attacked with Hacking Team’s sophisticated surveillance malware (see Technical Attacks).

Introduction: 

Ethiopia, the second most populated country in sub-Saharan Africa, has one of the lowest rates of internet and mobile phone connectivity in the world. Telecommunication services, in general, and the internet, in particular, are among the most unaffordable commodities for the majority of Ethiopians, as poor telecom infrastructure, the government’s monopoly over the information and communication technologies (ICTs) sector, and obstructive telecom policies have significantly hindered the growth of ICTs in the country, making the cost of access prohibitively expensive.

The Works of Art: As Instrument of a Just Cause vs. as Mercenary of Ethnic-based Tyranny

October 3, 2015

by T.Goshu

1. This piece of wring of mine is not to reflect the idea that the works of arts such as music or song, poetry, dramas and films, and the like are always attributed to performing for good only. Not at all! There is no evidence that could convince us that the socio-political history of a society including ours is free from exploiting the non-material values of culture in general and the works of arts in particular are for good only. I do not think it is unfair to say that there were no rulers in our socio-political history who have never used the works of arts and artists for the purpose of their own personal and authoritative aggrandizement than for the purpose of genuine dignity and pride of the people which is necessarily a very strong indicator of the preservation and advancement of national interest. In other words, the people have been indoctrinated with a highly distorted and terribly mystified believes that the interests and ambitions of the ruling elites are nothing, but national and people’s interests. And the very consequences of this kind of highly cynical and hypocritical way of thinking has been and still is painfully damaging. Whenever our rulers felt that their own voracious personal and authoritative aggrandizement is challenged or threatened, they would never hesitate to take any evil-driven action in the name of national or peoples’ interests, including art and culture.

Despite the fact that our history of arts and culture is over dominated by the political culture of palace politics, the very purpose of the works of arts has been badly distorted since the 1970s. The generation had no a widow of political opportunity that could pave the way for reform without an ideology that radically detached itself from its own valuable culture and tradition. And there is no doubt that the notoriously anti-reform monarchical system was at the forefront of responsibility. As the result, almost all spheres of works of culture and arts had to be not only revolutionized but had to serve as instruments of the brutal military dictatorship. Sadly enough, we found ourselves in a much more ugly play of arts and artists since the coming into power of the incumbent ruling party in 1991. Those artists (be singers, drama and film actors, poet writers, etc.) who do not see the very essence of art and culture beyond their wildly voracious self-interests turned their cloaks inside out and began to dance with the ruling elites whose political behavior has gone from bad to worse throughout the past quarter of a century.