I have watched the second interview (supposedly the rebuttal statements) of Haile Larebo.

I have watched the second interview (supposedly the rebuttal statements) of Haile Larebo.

                                                 (By Geresu Tufa)

I have watched the second interview (supposedly the rebuttal statements) of Haile Larebo. I was expecting that he would correct the serious act of hate crime he committed against our people. Unfortunately, and sadly he did not, against my best wish, of course.

This is not just one time incident. These kinds of harmful and demoralizing hate speeches have been the main components of reactionary Abyssinian violence against peoples of different backgrounds in Ethiopia. Haile Larebo is the latest massager of these political groups who have been addicted to hate and violence throughout history.

What makes this propaganda unique is the sheer determinations of these groups to continue inflicting more damages on millions of people, discouraging and undermining the peaceful coexistence of peoples of diverse backgrounds in that country, and on their way depressingly affecting the core struggles against repressive current Ethiopian Regime.

It is sad to notice that some of the ESAT employees blindly and arrogantly believe that they have the right to denigrate the people whom they are supposed to serve and treat with dignity and reverence. These employees think there is nothing the rest of us (I mean all of us) can do about it and above all, they believe it is their duty to continue the “holy wars” that their forefathers had been waging against our people in the name of writing history, among other things. They are doing the same thing that their fathers had been doing except they are hiding behind freedom of press and free speech this time.

What they do not understand is, however, that we have also reciprocal duties to protect ourselves, families and people from such violence. They must understand we cannot just stand by and watch when they commit acts of hate crime against millions of poor and helpless people back home. We just can’t do it. At least we cannot just take it quietly.

I have been waiting for and expecting the ESAT’s Board intervention and speedy corrective actions. I hope they will, as it is not too late to address these problems for once and for all. In helping them doing their job, here are the main measures we are expecting them to take:

• 1. To pull back (retract) the offensive material they uploaded on youtube or published for public consumption. Keeping those materials in public domain serves no one except the hate mongers and those who befits from these hates.
• 2. Acknowledging the mistakes that ESAT committed and asking apology for those mistakes, and make clear promises that these kind of hate materials won’t be produced by ESAT or its employees again. Our public deserve apology. They have already been through a lot of sufferings.
• 3. Public announcements of the corrective measures that have been taken against those ESAT employees who are responsible for these kinds of offenses. Specifically, there are two persons who should be held responsible for these messes: the Editor and the Journalist who was sitting there and letting letting Haile Larebo say hateful( taboo) words against our people.

Hopefully, these three measures will help to move on from the messes we are forced to be in. And hopefully, these measures will be taken as soon as possible to contain the enormous damages that have been done. And then we will focus on fighting our common enemy sitting and laughing at us from Shaggar right now.