AddisVoice.com Editor Threatens Right to Free Speech
Greg Adams
August 27, 2007
Bullying tactics by lone individual pose threat to international peace community, human rights advocates, and minority right to free expression.
An AddisVoice.com editor has sent a series of threatening and hostile emails to U.S. Internet websites demanding that the sites stop publishing articles that conflict with his own views about political conflicts in the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia. The emails come from the address, abe.gelaw@gmail.com on behalf of AV Editor at editor@addisvoice.com, and are signed by AddisVoice Editor Abebe Gelaw.
One such email was sent to the editors of the American Chronicle, a popular U.S. website that carries Associated Press news, feature articles, sports, entertainment, science, technology, and opinion articles. "Addisvoice.com will launch an online petition to news distributors to remove your site from their lists of trusted news sources for disseminating your writings," wrote Gelaw. Requests to Gelaw by the Chronicle for information about his concerns or differences of opinion expressed by any articles in the Chronicle were answered – but vague and unspecific. It remains clear that the intimidation tactics posed by Gelaw stem from personal disagreements Gelaw has with just two opinion articles published in the Chronicle by Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis, an Orientalist, historian, and political scientist who writes about African and Middle Eastern politics. Gelaw did express one specific unhappiness with the author’s use of the term "Abyssinians," which Gelaw claims is an "Italian colonialist coinage." However, individuals who Gelaw copied on his emails replied to the Chronicle that the term "Abyssinian" is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as simply the geographic name for Ethiopia – and not a derogatory term. Additional requests to Gelaw for further explanation were followed by the threat. Therefore, a decision was made not to alter the term "Abyssinian" until further information is obtained verifying Gelaw’s claim.
Abebe Gelaw was invited – but declined – to submit articles conveying alternative points of view. The invitation to Gelaw and/or others who might be interested in this offer continues. Those interested are directed to read the solicitation for writers on this page.
The editors of the American Chronicle will not to allow a lone individual to bully them into removing an opinion article simply because the lone individual disagrees with the author’s political point of view. Nor will the editors allow unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims to legitimize the removal of an article for the specific purpose of denying an individual’s free speech rights.
The American Chronicle receives over 8 million visitors annually, has published over 36,000 articles, and has over 2,000 contributors. The Chronicle’s Editorial Board Contributor Policy is one of the strictest policies for Internet websites in the world. The policy demands that contributors be "truthful, civil, and well-mannered, following the established traditions of polite society and good taste." Articles that violate the policy are not published, modified to meet the policy, or deleted if they are found to violate the policy. Repeated requests to Gelaw for more specifics concerning his differences of opinion with Dr. Megalommatis’ writings – and how or why his articles violate the policy – have gone unanswered. (Note: The strict editorial board policy is a policy adopted by the American Chronicle and its affiliates only. This policy is not a policy promulgated by the news distributors, which have far-and-away more liberal and tolerant editorial policies for distribution and publication of articles.)
Dr. Megalommatis is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly works, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes in several modern and ancient languages. In addition, he has pleaded for the European History by J. B. Duroselle, and defended the rights of the Turkish, Pomak, Macedonian, Vlachian, Arvanitic, Latin Catholic, and Jewish minorities of Greece, asking for the international recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
To be sure, pressure to try to force news distributors – such as Google News, Yahoo News, National Public Radio, and the British Broadcasting System – from carrying unpopular news stories or feature articles by specific individuals is an endangerment to American free speech. Since the threats have surfaced, hundreds of individuals have written letters to the Chronicle in support of Dr. Megalommatis. Only one letter was critical of Dr. Megalommatis’ views and even that reader agreed that Dr. Megalommatis "should not be silenced" for expressing his political opinion in an article.
Links to letters of support of Megalommatis are provided here and here.
Greg Adams is a freelance writer living in Brochet, Manitoba.
An AddisVoice.com editor has sent a series of threatening and hostile emails to U.S. Internet websites demanding that the sites stop publishing articles that conflict with his own views about political conflicts in the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia. The emails come from the address, abe.gelaw@gmail.com on behalf of AV Editor at editor@addisvoice.com, and are signed by AddisVoice Editor Abebe Gelaw.
One such email was sent to the editors of the American Chronicle, a popular U.S. website that carries Associated Press news, feature articles, sports, entertainment, science, technology, and opinion articles. "Addisvoice.com will launch an online petition to news distributors to remove your site from their lists of trusted news sources for disseminating your writings," wrote Gelaw. Requests to Gelaw by the Chronicle for information about his concerns or differences of opinion expressed by any articles in the Chronicle were answered – but vague and unspecific. It remains clear that the intimidation tactics posed by Gelaw stem from personal disagreements Gelaw has with just two opinion articles published in the Chronicle by Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis, an Orientalist, historian, and political scientist who writes about African and Middle Eastern politics. Gelaw did express one specific unhappiness with the author’s use of the term "Abyssinians," which Gelaw claims is an "Italian colonialist coinage." However, individuals who Gelaw copied on his emails replied to the Chronicle that the term "Abyssinian" is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as simply the geographic name for Ethiopia – and not a derogatory term. Additional requests to Gelaw for further explanation were followed by the threat. Therefore, a decision was made not to alter the term "Abyssinian" until further information is obtained verifying Gelaw’s claim.
Abebe Gelaw was invited – but declined – to submit articles conveying alternative points of view. The invitation to Gelaw and/or others who might be interested in this offer continues. Those interested are directed to read the solicitation for writers on this page.
The editors of the American Chronicle will not to allow a lone individual to bully them into removing an opinion article simply because the lone individual disagrees with the author’s political point of view. Nor will the editors allow unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims to legitimize the removal of an article for the specific purpose of denying an individual’s free speech rights.
The American Chronicle receives over 8 million visitors annually, has published over 36,000 articles, and has over 2,000 contributors. The Chronicle’s Editorial Board Contributor Policy is one of the strictest policies for Internet websites in the world. The policy demands that contributors be "truthful, civil, and well-mannered, following the established traditions of polite society and good taste." Articles that violate the policy are not published, modified to meet the policy, or deleted if they are found to violate the policy. Repeated requests to Gelaw for more specifics concerning his differences of opinion with Dr. Megalommatis’ writings – and how or why his articles violate the policy – have gone unanswered. (Note: The strict editorial board policy is a policy adopted by the American Chronicle and its affiliates only. This policy is not a policy promulgated by the news distributors, which have far-and-away more liberal and tolerant editorial policies for distribution and publication of articles.)
Dr. Megalommatis is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly works, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes in several modern and ancient languages. In addition, he has pleaded for the European History by J. B. Duroselle, and defended the rights of the Turkish, Pomak, Macedonian, Vlachian, Arvanitic, Latin Catholic, and Jewish minorities of Greece, asking for the international recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
To be sure, pressure to try to force news distributors – such as Google News, Yahoo News, National Public Radio, and the British Broadcasting System – from carrying unpopular news stories or feature articles by specific individuals is an endangerment to American free speech. Since the threats have surfaced, hundreds of individuals have written letters to the Chronicle in support of Dr. Megalommatis. Only one letter was critical of Dr. Megalommatis’ views and even that reader agreed that Dr. Megalommatis "should not be silenced" for expressing his political opinion in an article.
Links to letters of support of Megalommatis are provided here and here.
Greg Adams is a freelance writer living in Brochet, Manitoba.