Ethiopia: Feed them and bleed them

THE PEOPLE OF ETHIOPIA VERSUS WESTERN DONORS When I wrote my commentaries ‘Speaking Truth to Strangers’[3] this past June and ‘J'Accuse’ last November [4], I argued that in a perfect world Western donors in Ethiopia could be prosecuted for being accessories before and after the fact to the crime of first-degree ‘democricide’, gross human rights violations and for aiding and abetting Zenawi's kleptocracy. The recent HRW report furnishes a fresh boatload of damning evidence for use in the criminal conspiracy case of ‘The people of Ethiopia versus Western donor countries’ to be tried in the court of international public opinion and in the consciences of all the taxpayers in Western countries shelling out their hard earned money to support one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. The silent conspiracy between the Western donors and Zenawi's regime operates on a couple of simple premises. The Western donors in their chauvinistic view believe there are two social classes in Ethiopia. One class consists of the large masses of poor, impoverished, illiterate, malnourished and expendable masses who will not amount to much. The other class consists of the tiny class of elites who maintain a lavish life style for themselves and lord over the masses by manipulating the billions given to them to strengthen their chokehold on the political structure and process. The silent conspiracy is sustained by mutuality of interests. The Western donors want ‘stability’ in Ethiopia, which often means the absence of internal strife that will not undermine their economic and political interests in the country. They want regional ‘stability’, which means having someone who could be called upon to patrol the neighbourhood and kick the rear ends of some nasty terrorists. For those addicted to aid, it's all about more aid, more free money to play with. As long as the Western donors meet their dual objectives, they do not give a rat's behind about what happens to their aid money or what harm it does to the Ethiopian masses. When confronted with the truth about the misuse and abuse of aid money as has been documented in the HRW report, the donors will deny it (‘we have built in safeguards, it couldn't happen), play it down (‘nothing to it’), ignore it (‘nor worth commenting’), excuse it (‘it's not as bad as it seems’), rationalise it (‘we've got to work with the government’), and wax legal about it (‘there is a sovereignty issue’); and to fool the people occasionally, they will come out in public, put on a show of feigned outrage and pontificate about democracy, the rule of law and the rest of it. After all is said and done, they go right back to business as usual. ETHIOPIA: THE POTEMKIN VILLAGE A Potemkin village is ‘something that appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance.’ Western aid has reduced Ethiopia to a Potemkin village. It's all a facade, a smoke and mirror show complete with illusions and sleights of hand. DAG is full of it when it counterclaims against HRW's findings[5]: ‘The aid provided by members of the DAG in Ethiopia is transforming the lives of millions of poor people through basic services such as healthcare, education and water, and long-term food security. Our programmes are directly helping Ethiopia to reach the Millennium Development Goals.’ In their annual dog and pony show, these poverty pimps have been singing the same old song for years: ‘We are saving lives in Ethiopia by the millions. Imagine how many millions would have perished but for aid; how many children would have not gone to school. See the clinics and hospitals that aid has built.’ They challenge us to look at how much economic development aid has brought to Ethiopia: ‘Behold the shiny glass buildings. See all of the fancy roads that snake over the hills and valleys. Look at all of the universities we helped build. Look at the double-digit annual economic growth. Aid money made all that possible.’ What they don't tell is the fact that many of the shiny buildings have little running water and many more stand unfinished or vacant. The universities have few books and educational materials and even fewer qualified instructional staff. The hospitals and clinics have few doctors and virtually no medical supplies or equipment to care for 85 million people. Ethiopia has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. Inflation has made it impossible for the vast majority of Ethiopian families to meet their basic needs. The poverty pimps say nothing about the fact that famine and hunger stalks a third of the Ethiopia population year around. As to ‘double digit’ economic growth, it is all made up by Zenawi's re