Comments on: Ethiopia: Disappearing blogs

By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Ethiopia’s bloggers disappear again

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:19:49 +0000

[...] Ethiopia’s blogspot blogs first disappeared from Ethiopian computer screens in May (see GlobalVoices reports here and here). They reappeared three months later, only to disappear again this week. [...]

By: Abdi Mohamed

Abdi Mohamed — Mon, 29 May 2006 09:16:26 +0000

Meles has unleashed a genocide in the ogaden. Whiled the world is falling over its feet to supply him with more money to kill the people in Ethiopia, other Ethiopians are aslo colluding in his acts by speaking only when things happen in their particular areas only. I don’t think the guy who says christians kills muslims is serving the interests of the ogaden people. All the people in Ethioipia are suffering under this psychopath and no chritian of good faith will delibrately participate in killing human beigns for the sake of their religious believes. Let the world know that the suffering of the Ogaden people will somehow reflect on them too.

By: yosef m

yosef m — Wed, 24 May 2006 07:46:22 +0000

The ruling party pays what ever it can to stay in power.
It is good to use circumvention services like anonymizer.com and there are a lot. If you get any comments or question, you can reach me at ymamush@yahoo.com

By: Dankif Wodajo

Dankif Wodajo — Tue, 23 May 2006 20:50:34 +0000

Killers , please shutdown your brain , too.

By: isaiah

isaiah — Tue, 23 May 2006 19:00:51 +0000

hello diaspora lets stop talking about this issue thats not priority if you really love your country lets estabilish non govermental organization and collect the money atleast 5.dollars every month and lets change that country rather than bullshit stop politics if you wanna feel hero go to the jungle and start fighting dont trigger fire to my people over their while you are eating in mcadonald humberger wanna distablize my country .so use your brain

By: Maru Eshete

Maru Eshete — Tue, 23 May 2006 17:00:43 +0000

Please add MediaEThiopia to the list of blocked sites.

http://www.ethiopians.com

By: isaiah

isaiah — Tue, 23 May 2006 16:14:07 +0000

in my opinion eprdf did good on ogaden because they are claiming those territory to be separate from part of ethiopia they are so fool coz they dont even have food to eat how come they wanna strugle for freedom and to liberate who from who.they must be devil messanger so .we gonna fight them until we drive them to indian ocean coz ethiopia is strong with this time with divine power. no one is able to touch our country whoever consider will be eliminate to hell so every body get life thats supernatural.long live eprdf ….look the bible eventually ethiopia will be superpower to fight those evil.so drop it from your mind every dimonized person.

By: Ethiolady

Ethiolady — Tue, 23 May 2006 14:16:51 +0000

Countries like ethiopia who have not yet started the computerisation programme should not worry about the blocking of bloggers too much. Those who have the will and committment can build information websites for ethiopians by adding current affairs section in ethiopic languages to be printed and diseminated in ethiopia. A newspaper on a website will reach to Ethiopians very easily.

By: Tess

Tess — Tue, 23 May 2006 13:21:15 +0000

trying to block information access of people is the main manifestation of dictatorship. The act of the illegal government of Ethiopia is such act. Peace ,democracy loving people of the world must stand by the side of Ethiopians.
we ethiopian don’t let democracy die in our country
may God bless Ethiopia

By: robel

robel — Tue, 23 May 2006 12:54:40 +0000

it is not anew thing at all,hijaking the private press and the independent writers. we all know, what happened in ethiopia, political leders has detained illegally, NGO officers are catagorized as criminals, journalists are in ajail and charged by treson and genocide, fabricated chardges………………………. under this circumstances i am sure every body will not surprised or fell some thing different what ethiopian tel has done.

“ehuuuuu. ahunes tekatelku, ere min yshallal”.

translation to globel voice for the above “oh m god !what can we do”
this is the approximate translation of the above.

free our leaders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

regards,
robel

By: Elias

Elias — Tue, 23 May 2006 11:54:32 +0000

I think the government is right to block some websites and blogs in Ethiopia. There are so many who engage in destructive politicking and false reporting about events in Ethiopia. However , not all deserve the sort of blanket ban the government are said to have imposed. Some are respectable websites and bloggers who are conscious of their responsibility to their readers. I think those ones we need to allow and encourage to provide platforms for discussion debates.

By: Ama

Ama — Tue, 23 May 2006 09:31:22 +0000

we are suffered a lot but none of them heard our tear especially those from west and usa , they are considering them as a light of democracey.

By: Alem

Alem — Tue, 23 May 2006 06:35:18 +0000

Ditacership starts at home but does not end there! That is what we are witnesing currently. The dictater Meles Zenawi began to squeze the free press at home but could not stop there and now streching its hand to the elctronic media out side whose publishers are out side of Ethiopia. It is a war that dictaters can not defeat.The only source that free ethioipians rely was the internet specifically some websites like ethiopianreview.com and ethiofourm.org, today i tried to browse but could not.In the 21st centurey it is like to grap a shadow to try to block internet access , and hope soon therewill be a means we can read true stories that we are missing from the so called Ethiopian media.

By: Dina

Dina — Tue, 23 May 2006 05:45:23 +0000

Since I cannot access the dashboard to create and post a new entry I’ll hijack this forum for a bit (sorry Global Voices).

While we are getting increasingly worried about the freedom of the web and the muffling of the few free public fora in Ethiopia the oppression is mounting. Since the bombings on Friday the 12th of May the presence of military in various types and colours of uniform has been stepped up. Armed soldiers, who had been walking around with their rifles casually slung around their torsos are now seen with their itchy fingers on the trigger, especially in the “poorer” areas of Lideta, Abinet, Merkato etc. The “security guards” by the Customs offices in LaGare are actually stationed on the wall with their rifles pointing into the street- a busy street.
Other news is that the highly publicised use of teachers and schools for oppression and intimidation is continuing. A teacher of foreign origin (a 2nd generation Italian according to my source) at a public school was forced to leave the country after refusing to disclose the name of “troublemakers”- students who are known for political awareness raising and agitation. He was actually lucky… His family here though are still facing uncertainty.

Returning to the freedom of blogs- we are told that we can use Secure Tunnel and similar sites to access blocked blogs, but how can we post? And, more importantly- is it still safe to post? Will Blogspot collaborate with the government like Yahoo did with the Chinese government?
There is a need for some detailed advice as to what is a secure way to post on the blogs and also write safe e-mails using means that a cranky, overworked and inefficient Ethiopian Telecom Server can quickly handle.

By: Gemoraw

Gemoraw — Tue, 23 May 2006 03:39:14 +0000

This is not new for ethiopia. Earlier, we were not allowed to apeak loudly; later, the text messages were disconnected. Yes, the government had ‘reason’. Again, it blew the coffee shops and cafiterias where there is news exchange. And not to bloggers. They killed us too. I am not sure what comes next. I surely see how TPLF is boundlessly inhumane, and brutally stupid! Well, it is not an insult, for there is not normative element in this statment. I dare not to insult them for they dont have moral. It is just a statment of fact. If there is any nation where the people is consistently wise and patient than its rules, it is always Ethiopia! We shall deal with them with wisdom and patience. They will die of panic and paranoy. Our silence is a heavy noise for them. Our disappearance is a great presence. They will be lost in themselves.