From Outside, Ethiopia’s Disapora Pushes for Change

 

With more than 2.5 million Ethiopians living outside of Ethiopia, the diaspora is not only large, but powerful.

The Oromo are Ethiopia's biggest ethnic¹ group. In 2015, members of the Oromo demonstrated in a small town about 80 kilometers from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. They were protesting a development plan that aimed to expand the capital city into nearby Oromo towns and villages.

The diaspora supported the protesters through social media activism and satellite television. The anti-government protests came before the resignation of then-Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in 2018.

Awol Allo is a top lecturer at Britain's Keele University. He regularly writes on Twitter about political and Oromo developments. He does not think of himself as an activist². Allo says the diaspora's activity and influence depend on how the Ethiopian government reacts to free expression.

When the new government came to power in 2018, the activism and influence of the diaspora lessened³, he told VOA, because people in Ethiopia were able to express their views.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is Oromo, took office in April of 2018.

Generally speaking, Ethiopian politics "moved back to the country when the opposition⁴ political parties moved back to the country," Allo said. But the diaspora has been speaking up again, he explained, because the government arrested some opposition politicians who had returned to Ethiopia.

Conflict in Ethiopia began again in late June after the killing⁵ of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer and activist. Protests, some violent, followed his death. Police arrested opposition politicians.

The government also blocked internet availability for 15 days.

Endalk Chala is co-founder of the blogging group Zone9. He is also an assistant professor at Hamline University in the American state of Minnesota. Chala says the diaspora's powerful influence results from a lack of independent media in Ethiopia.

"There are two diaspora media outlets⁷, Ethiopian Satellite TV and Oromo Media Network," he explained. Both had been giving detailed⁸ coverage⁹ of the protest. And people in Ethiopia did not have any other choices, he said, "because there was no media, opposition media or independent media for that matter in the country." So people could only choose from the two outlets.

In the beginning, the current government's national unity¹⁰ plan had popular support. And many exiled opposition activists¹¹ and politicians returned to the country. In 2018, the government invited Ethiopian Satellite TV and Oromo Media Network to operate from Ethiopia.

Many other Ethiopians also returned in hopes of supporting the changes.

Ermias Kebede organizes events for young people in his community in London. He moved back to Ethiopia in 2019. But, he says, he soon realized not everyone there welcomes the activism of the diaspora.

He heard much criticism about the diaspora from coworkers and family members. "People saw the diaspora as more of agitators¹³," he says, but agitators who do not understand the effects of their actions.

In addition to using political pressure, Ethiopians living outside the country are an economic force. They send billions of dollars home to family in Ethiopia each year. After Nigerians, Ethiopians are the second-largest African immigrant group in the United States.

I'm Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

diaspora - n. a group of people who live outside the area in which they had lived for a long time or in which their ancestors lived

lecturer - n. someone who teaches at a college or university on a temporary basis

blog - n. a website on which someone writes about personal opinions, activities, and experiences (gerund: blogging)

outlet⁶ - n. a television, radio, or publishing company

agitator¹² - n. a person who tries to get people angry or upset so that they will support an effort to change a government, company or something else

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 lessened   

减少的，减弱的

参考例句：

• Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来，多少削弱了演讲的力量。
• The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行，住在城内的中产家庭减少了。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

7 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 agitator   

n.鼓动者；搅拌器

参考例句：

• Hitler's just a self-educated street agitator.希特勒无非是个自学出身的街头煽动家罢了。
• Mona had watched him grow into an arrogant political agitator.莫娜瞧着他成长为一个高傲的政治鼓动家。

13 agitators   

n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机

参考例句：

• The mud is too viscous, you must have all the agitators run. 泥浆太稠，你们得让所有的搅拌机都开着。 来自辞典例句
• Agitators urged the peasants to revolt/revolution. 煽动者怂恿农民叛变（革命）。 来自辞典例句