BBC Hammers Zimbabwe over Cholera, Ever Silent on Oromia Repression in Ethiopia
Qeerransoo Biyyaa
December 21, 2008
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a reason I started my article with a famous quote from Martin Luther King, the icon of African-American Civil Rights Movement. The quote captures for me the essence of what the mainstream western media such as the BBC fail to do when they give imbalanced coverage of political and economic crises in two equally despotic African nations, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. I am more interested in why Zimbabwe makes more headlines than Ethiopia, while famine and conflict are hitting millions of people that can exceed the total population of Zimbabwe in Ethiopia. Why do media like the BBC get obsessed with holding Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe responsible for the economic crises, cholera outbreak, but fail to hold his type Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia responsible for the famine and the conflict in Oromia and the rest of Ethiopia? What is in Zimbabwe that attracts western media that is not in Ethiopia? I will try to answer some of these questions and leave others to you to ponder.
A while back, CNN run a footage of a small group of Zimbabweans catching mice from their holes and eating them out of desperation because of the economic meltdown. Perhaps, that reflected very badly on the government of Zimbabwe, which led its people to such immeasurable humiliations. Such filmings, unethical as they maybe, can surely reflect badly on the oppressive regime in power.
Media such as the BBC and CNN were prohibited from filming in Zimbabwe, but they use their financial power to pay for locals to smuggle footages into South Africa and then they report it from the other side of the border. Why did these media fail to expose the Darfur-like violence perpetrated by the Ethiopian government in Oromia?
According to the August 2002 BBC report itself, by year 2000 there were about 4000 white commercial farm owners in Zimbabwe. Between this year and 2005, most of the white farms were confiscated and people were killed and the number of white farmers in Zimbabwe tragically dropped to 500. I would not normally like to think in terms of ´black´ versus ´white´ binary opposites because I am a believer in human kind and a I am a member of mankind rather than a member of terms that signify changing social constructs. Black and white was not also in my lexicon as I was growing up in Oromia. A human is a human for me regardless of color. I sympathize with the raid on Zimbabwean white farmers as well as the the increased confiscation of ´black´ Oromo farms in Ethiopia, which the BBC has ignored to report on. As a public service broadcaster, the editorial policies of the BBC are influenced by the national interest of the UK and the reason they continuously cover crises in Zimbabwe, but ignore violence and the unprecedented famine in Oromia and other repressed nations in Ethiopia is because there are not a settled white population in Ethiopia as opposed to Zimbabwe, as the figures above show. The ´white´ population in Ethiopia is restricted to the diplomatic community, aid workers, NGOs workers and religious workers. As such, when there is major violation against the local population, the interests of many of the western citizens won´t be directly affected. They can hide in the embassies until street fighting cools down. As result, western governments tend to ignore the plights of the local people. It is absolutely okay that the BBC exposes injustice committed against white farmers. One would expect from this reputable media organization only to give equal treatment to various population groups in Africa regardless of the skin color of the repressed. In recent weeks, the BBC has been belaboring how Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is destroying the nation and it held Mugabe directly responsible for his actions. Did it hold Zenawi for the famine and local wars? No.
Several million Oromians, Ogadenians, SNNP, Affar, Gambella people are being seriously affected by violence, famine and various diseases. All the Ethiopian government does is happily watch them die. The other reason western media is unable to acknowledge the plights of the Oromo people and the repressed Southerners is because Zenawi´s regime has been manipulating its western sponsors, especially the US to get a free pass. Despite her outstanding performance as a Secretary of State, Rarely have we heard Condoleeza Rice condemn Ethiopia for the disturbing humanitarian crises, resulting from internal conflicts between the majority of Ethiopians who seek justice and the regime. We hope to hear good news from elects Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and President Obama.
Mugabe is foolish! If Muagbe had been wise, he would have just sent some troops to Somalia in the year 2006 to fight the Union of Islamic Forces, which could have ultimately won him a free pass in these troubled Cholera and Hyperinflation times. His nation is mocked as a country of poor billionaires and he is held responsible for the doom. But ´wise´ dictators like Zenawi, who went down to Somalia and made friends in high places, always escape the scrutiny of the western media, although the scale of the problem is worse in Oromia, Ogadenia and other oppressed regions in Ethiopia .
The double standard that manifests itself in foreign policy implementation of western nations and the mainstream media networks based in them seem to be out of not understanding that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This is a powerful quote from which really good foreign policy ideas can be generated. Threats to FREEDOM as a universal ideal should receive the same response. As for me, it is the same thing when peoples freedoms the world over is threatened by terrorism or genocide or ethnic cleansing or tyranny. Tyranny and ethnic cleansing must be understood at a level higher than just figures of people killed in Darfu or people infected with Cholera in Zimabawe, or the number of civilian homes scorched by government militias in Ethiopia´s Ogadenia and Oromia regions. The BBC should take proactive roles in defending Oromo ´black´ farmers like it defends ´white´ farmers in Zim for both are humans.
Any global force that fights terrorism, must fight it with the thought that tyranny is also a ´threat to justice everywhere´. After dictators have long gone, what matters most is winning the support of the local population. They expect a lot from donor countries to help them get rid of dictators by drying up their financial backing. As far I´m concerned, Ethiopian regime´s manipulation of the war on terror is nothing more than a fund-raising mischief with which to arm itself to oppress the local population. In fact, the current Ethiopian government calls every opposition it considers threats ´terrorists´. Media like the BBC and CNN must assert their professional and moral standing in the world by trying to smuggle out footages of famine, prisons conditions, and torture and so on. If it can be done in Zimbabwe, it can be done in Ethiopia. If it can be done in Darfur, it can be done Oromia and Ogadenia.
Just like you set agenda for Zimbabwean repression and economic meltdown, please the BBC and CNN you´ve got to also frame you reporting, holding the Ethiopian regime responsible for the violence and famine.
Especially, the management at the BBC in UK must consider removing a reporter known as Elizabeth Blunt, who never leaves the capital city of Ethiopia, Finfinne (Addis Ababa) and who mostly covers stories quoting only government officials and painting positive pictures about the regime in power. This is yellow journalism.
In closing,
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," Martin Luther King Jr.
I have a reason I started my article with a famous quote from Martin Luther King, the icon of African-American Civil Rights Movement. The quote captures for me the essence of what the mainstream western media such as the BBC fail to do when they give imbalanced coverage of political and economic crises in two equally despotic African nations, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. I am more interested in why Zimbabwe makes more headlines than Ethiopia, while famine and conflict are hitting millions of people that can exceed the total population of Zimbabwe in Ethiopia. Why do media like the BBC get obsessed with holding Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe responsible for the economic crises, cholera outbreak, but fail to hold his type Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia responsible for the famine and the conflict in Oromia and the rest of Ethiopia? What is in Zimbabwe that attracts western media that is not in Ethiopia? I will try to answer some of these questions and leave others to you to ponder.
A while back, CNN run a footage of a small group of Zimbabweans catching mice from their holes and eating them out of desperation because of the economic meltdown. Perhaps, that reflected very badly on the government of Zimbabwe, which led its people to such immeasurable humiliations. Such filmings, unethical as they maybe, can surely reflect badly on the oppressive regime in power.
Media such as the BBC and CNN were prohibited from filming in Zimbabwe, but they use their financial power to pay for locals to smuggle footages into South Africa and then they report it from the other side of the border. Why did these media fail to expose the Darfur-like violence perpetrated by the Ethiopian government in Oromia?
According to the August 2002 BBC report itself, by year 2000 there were about 4000 white commercial farm owners in Zimbabwe. Between this year and 2005, most of the white farms were confiscated and people were killed and the number of white farmers in Zimbabwe tragically dropped to 500. I would not normally like to think in terms of ´black´ versus ´white´ binary opposites because I am a believer in human kind and a I am a member of mankind rather than a member of terms that signify changing social constructs. Black and white was not also in my lexicon as I was growing up in Oromia. A human is a human for me regardless of color. I sympathize with the raid on Zimbabwean white farmers as well as the the increased confiscation of ´black´ Oromo farms in Ethiopia, which the BBC has ignored to report on. As a public service broadcaster, the editorial policies of the BBC are influenced by the national interest of the UK and the reason they continuously cover crises in Zimbabwe, but ignore violence and the unprecedented famine in Oromia and other repressed nations in Ethiopia is because there are not a settled white population in Ethiopia as opposed to Zimbabwe, as the figures above show. The ´white´ population in Ethiopia is restricted to the diplomatic community, aid workers, NGOs workers and religious workers. As such, when there is major violation against the local population, the interests of many of the western citizens won´t be directly affected. They can hide in the embassies until street fighting cools down. As result, western governments tend to ignore the plights of the local people. It is absolutely okay that the BBC exposes injustice committed against white farmers. One would expect from this reputable media organization only to give equal treatment to various population groups in Africa regardless of the skin color of the repressed. In recent weeks, the BBC has been belaboring how Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is destroying the nation and it held Mugabe directly responsible for his actions. Did it hold Zenawi for the famine and local wars? No.
Several million Oromians, Ogadenians, SNNP, Affar, Gambella people are being seriously affected by violence, famine and various diseases. All the Ethiopian government does is happily watch them die. The other reason western media is unable to acknowledge the plights of the Oromo people and the repressed Southerners is because Zenawi´s regime has been manipulating its western sponsors, especially the US to get a free pass. Despite her outstanding performance as a Secretary of State, Rarely have we heard Condoleeza Rice condemn Ethiopia for the disturbing humanitarian crises, resulting from internal conflicts between the majority of Ethiopians who seek justice and the regime. We hope to hear good news from elects Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and President Obama.
Mugabe is foolish! If Muagbe had been wise, he would have just sent some troops to Somalia in the year 2006 to fight the Union of Islamic Forces, which could have ultimately won him a free pass in these troubled Cholera and Hyperinflation times. His nation is mocked as a country of poor billionaires and he is held responsible for the doom. But ´wise´ dictators like Zenawi, who went down to Somalia and made friends in high places, always escape the scrutiny of the western media, although the scale of the problem is worse in Oromia, Ogadenia and other oppressed regions in Ethiopia .
The double standard that manifests itself in foreign policy implementation of western nations and the mainstream media networks based in them seem to be out of not understanding that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This is a powerful quote from which really good foreign policy ideas can be generated. Threats to FREEDOM as a universal ideal should receive the same response. As for me, it is the same thing when peoples freedoms the world over is threatened by terrorism or genocide or ethnic cleansing or tyranny. Tyranny and ethnic cleansing must be understood at a level higher than just figures of people killed in Darfu or people infected with Cholera in Zimabawe, or the number of civilian homes scorched by government militias in Ethiopia´s Ogadenia and Oromia regions. The BBC should take proactive roles in defending Oromo ´black´ farmers like it defends ´white´ farmers in Zim for both are humans.
Any global force that fights terrorism, must fight it with the thought that tyranny is also a ´threat to justice everywhere´. After dictators have long gone, what matters most is winning the support of the local population. They expect a lot from donor countries to help them get rid of dictators by drying up their financial backing. As far I´m concerned, Ethiopian regime´s manipulation of the war on terror is nothing more than a fund-raising mischief with which to arm itself to oppress the local population. In fact, the current Ethiopian government calls every opposition it considers threats ´terrorists´. Media like the BBC and CNN must assert their professional and moral standing in the world by trying to smuggle out footages of famine, prisons conditions, and torture and so on. If it can be done in Zimbabwe, it can be done in Ethiopia. If it can be done in Darfur, it can be done Oromia and Ogadenia.
Just like you set agenda for Zimbabwean repression and economic meltdown, please the BBC and CNN you´ve got to also frame you reporting, holding the Ethiopian regime responsible for the violence and famine.
Especially, the management at the BBC in UK must consider removing a reporter known as Elizabeth Blunt, who never leaves the capital city of Ethiopia, Finfinne (Addis Ababa) and who mostly covers stories quoting only government officials and painting positive pictures about the regime in power. This is yellow journalism.
In closing,
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," Martin Luther King Jr.