https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/ethiopia-popular-resistance-takes-corporate-destruction-and-repression
Ethiopia: Popular resistance takes on corporate destruction and repression
Ryan de Laureal
Monday, October 24, 2016
The struggles of Ethiopians protesting repression and
government-sponsored development programs have gone virtually
unreported over the past year — and so has the murder of hundreds of
people by the state for taking part in the resistance.
The struggles are centred among the Oromo people — the largest ethnic
group in Ethiopia, but who have suffered marginalisation and
oppression.
Bloomberg reported on October 3 that at least 100 people were killed
when security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a
crowd at a cultural festival in Oromia, causing a stampede.
Upsurge
The upsurge began last November when a largely student-led movement in
Oromia took to the streets to oppose the displacement of the region’s
farmers and communities because of large development projects. In
particular, the movement opposed the so-called “master plan” for
expanding the capital city of Addis Ababa into the surrounding rural
areas.
One year on, the movement has successfully pressured the government to
back away from its “master plan” proposal. However, the state’s brutal
crackdown has not let up.
In the face of a government-imposed information blackout, Oromo
leaders called for peaceful protests for August. They issued a list of
demands including self-determination for Oromia, an end to government
repression and freedom for all political prisoners.
The demonstrations were met with deadly violence. Security forces
began indiscriminately firing live bullets into the crowds, according
to an Amnesty International report. At least 97 people were killed,
Amnesty said, including 30 people murdered in a single day in the
northern city of Bahir Dar. Hundreds more were injured or arrested and
imprisoned, where they likely face torture.
The Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia said soldiers and police
have killed about 600 Oromo during anti-government protests over the
past year. Many more have been injured or arrested.
Because of a state-imposed media blackout that has included government
shutdowns of social media sites and the jailing of journalists,
information about the protests and the victims of security forces has
been spotty at best.
Much of what we do know, aside from what has filtered through the
media blackout, was documented in a June Human Rights Watch report. It
was based on information from interviews with hundreds of eyewitnesses
and victims of the repression.
Economic growth
The report described the issues that have sparked the movement:
discrimination and state repression, dispossession of lands,
environmental degradation, contamination of water supplies and labour
grievances. All of these are rooted in Ethiopia’s supposedly
“miraculous” economic growth, which has been held up as a model of
development success.
With an estimated population of nearly 100 million, Ethiopia is the
second most populous country in Africa. It has been one of the fastest
growing economies on the continent as measured by growth in the gross
domestic product. The boom was driven by large foreign and
state-backed development projects in industry and infrastructure.
Ethiopia is also an important diplomatic hub in the Horn of Africa at
the north-eastern corner of the continent. Addis Ababa serves as the
headquarters for the African Union.
The country’s economic expansion is primarily designed to make the
country an appealing destination for international investors Major
projects include enormous “industrial parks” similar to those in other
countries aiming to become manufacturing powers.
With an influx of capital from China and elsewhere, Ethiopia has
already become a major export and manufacturing centre for industries
such as agriculture and textiles. Commodities are produced for
well-known Western brands like H&M, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.
But this growth has been coupled with the repression of internal
dissent, particularly of the Oromo and other ethnic groups whose
livelihoods are seen as an obstacle to development.
Like other countries in Africa, land dispossession is a central issue.
And for all the wealth being generated for international capital,
inequality, poverty, hunger and disease continue to take a toll on a
majority of the population.
Human development
In terms of human development, Ethiopia remains one of the worst
countries in the world. It is ranked 173rd out of 186, according to
the latest human development report of the United Nations.
Despite the economic “miracle”, famine remains a threat for millions
of people. This is particularly grotesque for a country that exports
billions of dollars worth of agricultural commodities every year,
including coffee, vegetables, dried legumes, meat and other animal
products.
The government proposes to export even more in the future. Meanwhile,
the country’s population remains reliant on hundreds of millions of
dollars a year in foreign aid.
The “master plan” for the expansion of Addis Ababa was largely
intended to deal with the large growth in the city’s population as
people flock to urban centres seeking jobs. The plan proposed a
20-fold expansion of the city’s total area by incorporating the
surrounding agricultural lands and communities.
After months of protest and opposition, the government made a surprise
announcement in January that it was cancelling the project. However,
protests continued, with the focus shifting to issues such as
government repression.
The unrest also began to spread beyond Oromia to involve different
ethnic groups in other parts of the country.
In an attempt to legitimise its crackdown, the Ethiopian regime — a US
ally that has been in power since the mid-1990s — has branded all
protesters as “terrorists”. The government enforces draconian
“anti-terror” laws that allow security forces “to use unrestrained
force against suspected terrorists, including pre-trial detention of
up to four months”.
War on terror
Unsurprisingly, this autocratic regime is considered by the US
government to be an important partner in the global “war on terror” —
for which it has been rewarded with lots of military aid. Ethiopia
participated in the CIA’s so-called “extraordinary rendition” program
to outsource the torture of “war on terror” detainees to other
countries.
In 2006, the Ethiopian government, with US support, invaded and
occupied Somalia to stamp out Islamist forces declared to be an enemy
by Washington. Since 2011, the country has been a launch site for the
drone aircraft beloved by the Obama administration striking targets in
Somalia and elsewhere.
Because of the information blackout, it falls largely on supporters in
the West to publicise and stand in solidarity with the struggles of
oppressed peoples like the Oromo against displacement and government
repression. Such struggles arise as a product of global capitalism’s
drive to develop the African continent.
The protests of the Oromo show what’s really at stake when we hear the
word “development”. It is one more battle with working people and
indigenous communities on one side and the forces of international
capital on the other. It is important for anyone concerned about
justice to know which side they are on.
[Abridged from US Socialist Worker.]
Received on Mon Oct 24 2016 - 13:50:02 EDT