Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The Wonqville Book Club

The dedication in Dr. Berhanu Nega’s book, “The Dawn of Freedom” reads as follows:

To my mother Weizero Abebech Wolde Giorgis:

Compounding your pain of not even being able to bury the child you lost in the aftermath of one political turmoil, now you find yourself passing meals to a son in prison. I am hopeful that the day signaling the end of your despair and the despair felt by countless others mothers is near.

To my father Ato Nega Bonga:

For showing me the value of work and love of country by example.

To my wife Dr. Nardos Minassie:

For teaching me the healing power of love.

To my children Noah and Eyassu:

I hope you will understand the struggle I delved into in the name of liberty is both for me and for you. I consider this to be part of the duty of a father. The biggest strain, however, is being apart from you.

To all of you who have died, suffered and been exiled in the name of democracy and liberty in Ethiopia:

Your suffering is the last pang of labor that will birth democracy. The pain will eventually ebb. The enduring spirit of CUD is testimony to that. We are indebted to you and what you have contributed.

To Siye Abraha and Asseffa Abraha:

You are living proof of a government that pays lip service to the rights and protection of ethnic groups while only visiting misery, lawlessness and incarceration on those who stand up for those same rights and liberties.

To Ato Birru Mammo Gilo:

Incarcerated at the age of 85 on suspicion that your son supports the OLF, you were rounded up along with your two sons without a warrant or due process. You still languish in Qaliti jail at the age of 93, having served eight years without having your day in court. No starker example can be found to illustrate the complete degradation of the Ethiopian justice system.

(Translation mine… as always comes to you with profound apologies for mangled metaphors.)

I have not found a place that is discussing “The Dawn of Freedom” so here goes a proposal:

Starting in two weeks, this blog will attempt a discussion of Berhanu’s book, chapter by chapter. I will start with the introduction but hope some of the regular contributors (um, Gooch and the rest of you who shall remain nameless only up until you don’t do what I say) will volunteer to take on a few chapters. Two weeks will give people who have not yet gotten the book yet to skedaddle to www.berhanunega.com and get a copy.

Then join in. It is perhaps the book that will define a generation… set a new standard for political discourse, and maybe, hopefully be what helps us heal.

Discussion (introduction) will start on October 16. Gooch, first chapter?

26 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for starting the WBC wonq. I hope all your conscripts will face up to their civic duty and do the right thing so that we all could benefit from their wisdom and insight.

1:45 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I’ll be dipped in shit! If that’s not Lidetu of forget-me-not fame over there at addisfortune doing his civic duty with his hulet santim's worth on Dr. Birhanu’s book! Well, what do you know?!! He ain't even a wonqvillian conscript.

If any of you good people could benefit from a profound insight, please go check it out. I guarantee that you’ll gain a profound insight into what is NOT a profound insight.

3:20 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh yeah.. I forgot to mention, Not Anonymous, you get Chapter Two... ;-) Thanks much.

And.. Ye Filoha Lij... Chapter Four...

3:39 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

etw, i love you dearly (sorry, Kezira), but I ain't getting nothing. gudekonewbakachihu! I'll tell you who gets chapter two. My friend Gooch does! He gets chapter two, and chapter three, and . . .shiiiii

4:42 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ato non anon:

ai ingidih. time to walk the walk. everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die endyhon. help out the book club. teddy afro? "etegaye siTaru..." hunker down and read chapter two like a grown man.... demo what is shifting all the responsibility to gooch all about? gudfellazendrogudfellazendro.

5:05 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What does a guy have to do to have ETW wink at him??>>

7:33 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gooch, better be ready !!!!!!! Wonkit is counting on you.

good call wonqit

9:04 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you wonq. What a great service to the community. I will start spreading the word. I do not have the talent to translate the book. Can you state if there are other way to help the project? I will definitely participate in the discussion. Thank you

9:36 PM, October 03, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ETW,

Would you let an alarmist contribute too, strictly on the book of course?

11:22 AM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dr. Birhanu's book is not dedicated to those people in his family. There are some who have produced a bootleg copy of the book and the "dedication" you quoted came from the bootleg. The original copy read its dedication to all those who struggle(d) for democracy. look it up.
ag

12:37 PM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

a) What, she wonders, is an alarmist?
b) Last Anonymous (ag): Dude, please.

12:56 PM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

...ag seems correct per the info on http://www.nazret.com/docs/negabook.pdf

2:30 PM, October 04, 2006  
Blogger ethio-Zagol said...

To the anonymous who is on the mission of confusing Wonqville:
ETW's is a direct quotation from the origional book.

5:52 PM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

FYI: I got several copies from the berhanunega.com website and all *HAVE* the dedication page quoted on this blog. it would seem retarded that the copy that violates copyright laws would actually ADD a beautifully written dedication. Am I wrong?

This time I hope someone follows up on copyright violation seriously and prosecutes the violators. Unless we take this seriously our community will continue to be plauged.

Beza
Seattle, WA.

p.s. why the heck don't the people at berhanunega.com assure their customers they have the right copy?! And follow up on this matter????

5:52 PM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

An insider's information. Get the appraisal from the lion's mouth. Hope ETW & GOOCH will reflect on that as well. May be our good Dr. not cleansed so far from the infection of EPRP/ANJA virus.


Part One
http://uedpmedhin.org/Lidetu_Ayalew.pdf

Part Two
http://uedpmedhin.org/LidetuAyalew_part2.pdf


Lidetu way ahead in tackling the real disease. MeChes ChiGir And Ken Malefu AyKer.

6:53 PM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

uu uu tay. Enen "lion's mouth" yadirgegn.

9:04 PM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Okay, ETW, will do.

BTW, I, too, have the 'dedications' copy.

Not anon, perhaps you can have a go at poor Lidetu's screeching for attention.

10:20 PM, October 04, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ETW,

An alarmist or an (ass-den-gachii) in short, is a lightweight economic analyst, of US foreign policy in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, with an even smaller comprehension of the Geo-economic and political intricacies, as to why, Bill H.R. 5680 would not pass in the just concluded session of Congress.

2:41 AM, October 05, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hasn't Lidetu taken your advice and started camping at Qaliti with a toothbrush hoping to join the arrested now that EPRDF is in panic mode?

3:47 AM, October 05, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Goochie, you mean you actually want more of Lidetu’s excruciatingly painful stuff?
What are you, a masochist? I’m afraid I have to deny you the pleasure, even if that makes me a sadist.

10:15 AM, October 05, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let us all take a deep breath and slllloooowly turn to the pages after the dedications - I hear that's where the substance of the book is. It's a rumor but hey, it's worth a try.

Then encourage debate and understanding of the contents like emebete wonqitu is trying to help us do.

So right now, the whole conspiracy theory about cover art , dedication, fonts is a waste of bandwidth

11:36 AM, October 05, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this should help: http://ethiopianreview.homestead.com/Bootlegging_YeNetsanet_Goh_Siked_Oct_2006.pdf

12:01 PM, October 05, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hold it... hold a goddamn second!! has there been any study done on the effects of giving birth to a spitfire baby on the mother? since y'all are smart people, I wonder if any one of you can direct me to the right journal etc...

wonki, how on earth, yours truly, the potty mouth, wacko from the filwiha ghetto is given such an assignment? have you given up on bloggin' and it will be your last post or something? and you've got that little smirk on your face, and you think you're so clever by dumping a chapter just like that?

not anonymous - seriously, for once, it's about time you say yes to HER... really... don't let us down now... this is serious limena, please??!! watch a Nike commercial before you reply -- once again, please???!!!!

9:28 PM, October 05, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"at poor Lidetu's screeching for attention"gooch

Min Nekah, Likeft Antenem Inde LeLoch Alekem a'le Inde?

Today's Traitor was yesterday's HERO.

Today's Saint will be tomorrow's Satan or LIER.

Unless cleansed from drum beating of EPRP/ANGA style (molded of feudal behaviour), remain locked in the slavery of generations after generation outmoded struggle.

WeicheGood, Ande Kenem LaiMata???

6:32 AM, October 06, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

anon just before me I hope,

I can understand your call for zero-tolerance, but give me some slack! Anyway, don't worry, I say 'poor Lidetu' with the utmost charity!

You may have read his 'book review' of 'The Dawn of Freedom'. In it, he laments, in a sad, funny sort of way, at how Berhanu did not mention his (Lidetu's) book even once! In fact, the book review turns out to be more about Lidetu than about the book. That's what's behind my little line.

Where's the charity in this? Well, I prefer to see Lidetu as a victim and a reflection of his environment, trying to be so different from the older generation he castigates, and yet being so alike them.

Seeing Lidetu as just a 'traitor' closes the shop, leaving us nothing to learn. A traitor is just a traitor and that's that.

But looking at the environment which created and fostered Lidetu, we can learn a lot about ourselves and how to move forward.

From what he writes in his book, in nearly every context he worked, he got involved in nasty disputes in which he perceived himself as the victim. IMHO, part of the reason was his nature of questioning the established way of doing things, something people weren't used to, which was okay. Unfortunately, his words and actions were often destructively delivered, in 'old generation style' so to speak, a small example being his personal attack on Berhanu in June 2005. And so he went on from dispute to dispute.

The lesson in this, for me, is the degree to which our (group) behaviours make it so difficult for us to get along.

2:45 PM, October 06, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the love-affair of Meles with the WEST is over, for sure Dr Berhanu is their choice to succeed tyrant MELES. Even if I have given a chance to cast my vote, I will decide for him not because I love him but believe he is better than MELES. But my hate for Dr Berhanu remains as long as I am convinced to know his role in the disintegration of KINIJIT, his relationship with FRANK/GOMEZ, and his love or dislike for AMHARAS.

1:44 AM, March 15, 2011  

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