2008 July archive at Tadias Magazine

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Archive for July, 2008

Ethiopia to Take FIFA to Court

Published by admin July 31st, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 1 Comment

Above: Ethiopia’s Grum Siyoum (R) fights for the
ball with Morocco’s Benjalloun Abdessalam (C) during their 2010 World
Cup qualifying soccer match in Casablanca May 31, 2008.
REUTERS/Rafael Marchante(MOROCCO)

Ethiopia to go to court over FIFA ban (The Guardian)

ADDIS ABABA, July 31 (Reuters) - Ethiopian soccer authorities said on Thursday a suspension by FIFA was illegal and that they would take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

FIFA suspended the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) on Tuesday after it repeatedly failed to comply with a February 2008 agreement aimed at restoring its officially recognised leaders.

“The ban imposed by FIFA is illegal and EFF will take its case to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport,” the body said in a statement.

Unless the suspension is lifted, Ethiopia will not be able to play their next international match, a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Morocco on Sept. 7.

The statement urged FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to send a delegation to Ethiopia to investigate the problem. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Sonia Oxley). Read More.

UN Terminates Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Force

Published by admin July 31st, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Above photo: undispatch.com

UN council disbands Eritrea-Ethiopia border force (Reuters)

By Louis Charbonneau

Thu 31 Jul 2008

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council voted on Wednesday to disband its peacekeeping mission to the volatile border between Eritrea and Ethiopia after Eritrea forced out most of the U.N. troops.

The mandate for the 1,700-strong force expires on Thursday. The council unanimously approved a resolution drafted by Belgium that calls for the mission to be terminated and all peacekeeping personnel to be withdrawn.

The resolution calls on the two sides “to show maximum restraint and refrain from any threat or use of force against each other, and to avoid provocative military activities.” Read More.

African First Ladies Coming Soon to LA

Published by admin July 31st, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Above: Ted Alemayhu, Founder & CEO of U.S. Doctors for
Africa, hosts the market close at NASDAQ on Thursday, March 23,
2006.

U.S. Doctors for Africa (USDFA) to host African First Ladies Health Summit in Los Angeles

By Tadias Staff

Thursday, July 31, 2008

New York (Tadias) - U.S. Doctors for Africa (USDFA), founded by Ethiopian-American social entrepreneur Ted Alemayuhu, announced earlier this week that it will be hosting the first Annual African First Ladies Health Summit in Los Angeles in April 2009.

USDFA in collaboration with African Synergy, an NGO founded by African First Ladies, has formed a strategic partnership to efficiently mobilize and deliver needed medical resources to African countries. The summit will highlight current and prospective projects to be taken by USDFA and African Synergy.

“This is probably one of the most empowering initiative we have ever been involved in,” says Ted Alemayhu, Executive Chairman and CEO of USDFA. “What is exciting about this particular partnership is that the entire movement is initiated and mobilized by the First Ladies themselves. And it is a great testimony, commitment, and dedication that needs to be encouraged and supported by all stake-holders around the world.”

The summit is held in collaboration with the African Synergy Against AIDS and Suffering, an NGO founded by African First Ladies. Mr. Alemayhu described this strategic partnership as a way to re-ignite the dialogue and work on key African health initiatives. “It would help to mobilize women’s strength & commitment to a better Africa” he said.

USDFA seeks to help advance the First Ladies efforts to create an effective and sustainable complementary approach in the fight against public health issues affecting Africa’s development.

The first Annual African First Ladies Health Summit will particularly focus on the threat of HIV/AIDS on children in Africa. “USDFA is prepared to be engaged in the helping the people of Africa with the full support and direct assistance & participation of the First Ladies” Mr. Alemayhu told Tadias. “USDFA and African Synergy share the common belief that healthcare is a basic human right, and recognize that a healthy population is essential for growth, development, and prosperity in every society.”

Above: (Standing, left to right) First Lady of Kenya, Mrs
Lucy Kibaki; Mrs Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, First Lady of
Gabon; Dr Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director; Mrs
Jeannette Kagame, First Lady of the Republic of
Rwanda and President of the Organization of African
First Ladies against HIV/AIDS; Mrs Maureen Mwanawasa,
First Lady of Zambia; Mrs Toure Lobbo Traore, First
Lady of Mali; (seated, left to right) Madame Denise
Nkurunziza, First Lady of Burundi; Mrs Viviane Wade,
First Lady of Senegal; and UNICEF Deputy Executive
Director Rima Salah together at the launch of the
“Treat every child as your own” campaign, an initiative
of the Organization of African First Ladies against
HIV/AIDS, in New York on 15 September.
Photo credit: UNAIDS/Peter Serling

In addition to the summit, USDFA will mobilize volunteers and other resources from the United States and strategically distribute these resources in regions where they are most needed, in accordance with African Synergy’s recommendations.

Although details for the Summit are still being worked out, the event is currently set for April 20th - 23rd and the planned location is Beverly Hilton. Mr. Alemayhu told us that more information about the Summit schedule will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Photo Journal: Ted’s Keynote at Columbia (Tadias)

USDFA to Deploy Mobile Clinics to Ethiopia (Tadias Exclusive)

The Long Road Home: Photographer Andarge’s Quest to Raise Awareness About Ethiopia’s Deforestation

Published by admin July 30th, 2008 in Art and News & Hot Shots. 1 Comment

The Long Road Home (Valley Advocate)

Photographer Andarge Asfaw is raising awareness of Ethiopia’s deforestation with his photography book, Ethiopia From the Heart.

By Kendra Thurlow

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, photographer Andarge Asfaw has lived in the U.S. for almost 40 years. He came here as a young teenager, attending high school in Ithaca, N.Y., then Cornell University and the Hallmark Institute of Photography. After Asfaw completed his studies, he planned to return home to Ethiopia, so his birth country could benefit from his education abroad. That plan was thwarted in 1974: a Soviet-backed military junta deposed Emperor Haile Selassie and established a communist state.

“At the time we had no choice of going back,” said Asfaw in a recent interview with the Advocate. “The generation that came from Ethiopia at the time, we were pretty much expected [after getting an education] to go back and provide service. But once the government changed, everything changed.”

Asfaw’s photography career blossomed as he settled into life in the United States and strove to “live the American Dream.” For over 25 years, Asfaw has maintained, with longtime business partner Donna Jones, F/Stop Studio, a Washington D.C.-based commercial photography studio. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Esquire and the Washington Post; he teaches at the Washington School of Photography, the Art League School and the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts.

Despite Asfaw’s success in the U.S., the thought of seeing Ethiopia’s breathtaking countryside again was never far from Asfaw’s mind. “As a photographer, I think it’s always your dream to go back and do something about where you came from,” said Asfaw. “I remember such a beautiful country, with animals running around, and people down south running around naked& When I was young and driving with my dad in the countryside, you’d have to watch out for deer, leopards, zebras, giraffes—and the monkeys owned the road.”

In 1994, the first year since the 1974 coup that Ethiopia held multi-party elections, Asfaw returned to his home country. What he found, however, barely resembled the country he had left almost 29 years earlier.

“I arrived to find an unfamiliar Ethiopia,” Asfaw wrote in Tadias, an online magazine for the Ethiopian-American community. “The trees had disappeared. Wildlife that had crossed the roads not far from the region where I grew up was absent… Unemployment, relocation, political differences and health concerns had reshaped the lives of the population. Devastated, I didn’t know where to begin documenting my dreams.” Read More.

House Apologizes to African-Americans for Slavery, Era of Jim Crow

Published by admin July 29th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Above: Photo - Literacyrules.com

House apologizes for slavery, ‘Jim Crow’ injustices (CNN)

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and the era of Jim Crow.

The nonbinding resolution, which passed on a voice vote, was introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen, a white lawmaker who represents a majority black district in Memphis, Tennessee.

While many states have apologized for slavery, it is the first time a branch of the federal government has done so, an aide to Cohen said.

In passing the resolution, the House also acknowledged the “injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow.”

“Jim Crow,” or Jim Crow laws, were state and local laws enacted mostly in the Southern and border states of the United States between the 1870s and 1965, when African-Americans were denied the right to vote and other civil liberties and were legally segregated from whites.

The name “Jim Crow” came from a character played by T.D. “Daddy” Rice who portrayed a slave while in blackface during the mid-1800s.

The resolution states that “the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day.” Read More.

Museum Acquires Ethiopian Book

Published by admin July 29th, 2008 in Art and News & Hot Shots. 1 Comment

Getty Museum adds rare Ethiopian book (Los Angeles Times)

By Suzanne Muchnic
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 30, 2008

The J. Paul Getty Museum has added a rare Ethiopian Gospel book to its collection of illuminated manuscripts. Created around 1504-05 with five full-page paintings and many ornamental touches, it is one of the few such volumes to have survived wars and a Muslim purge of early Christian imagery in Ethiopia.

Purchased at an undisclosed price from a private collection in France, the new acquisition will go on view Aug. 12 in “Faces of Power and Piety,” an exhibition of portraiture in illuminated manuscripts at the Getty Center.

“This is a wonderful addition to the collection, visually and culturally,” said Thomas Kren, the Getty’s curator of manuscripts. “It’s a great and beautiful object. And it belongs to the classic tradition of Gospel books, one of the greatest vehicles for Christian art. Within that context, it’s a completely distinctive variation.”

The book — which measures 13 5/8 by 10 1/4 inches — contains full-page illuminations of the Virgin and Child and evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The portraits are painted in a bold style that Kren described as “almost modern.” Ethiopian illuminators favored blocks of vivid color and strong patterns, including zigzag motifs on textiles and clothing. In the Getty’s example, architectural borders enhance an eight-page concordance, or index, of Gospel stories; abstract designs frame other sections. Read More.

FIFA Suspends Ethiopia With Immediate Effect

Published by admin July 29th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 2 Comments

Above: Morocco’s Benjalloun Abdessalam (C) fights for the
ball with Ethiopia’s Grum Siyoum (R) during their 2010 World
Cup qualifying soccer match in Casablanca May 31, 2008.
REUTERS/Rafael Marchante(MOROCCO)

Ethiopia suspended by Fifa (BBC)

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Football’s world governing body, Fifa, has suspended the Ethiopian Football Federation with immediate effect.

The suspension means that Ethiopia could miss their next 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at home to Morocco on the weekend of the 5-7 September.

Fifa’s Emergency Committee made the decision after the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) failed to comply with a roadmap agreed in February 2008 aimed at normalising the situation of the federation.

The EFF problems began in January when its general assembly fired the federation’s president Dr Ashebir Woldegiorgis.

The assembly decided to get rid of the president for what they said was the “dismal” record of Ethiopian football and elected Ahmed Yasin to replace him.

However, the January meeting was not recognised by Fifa who met both parties to find a solution.

Fifa and the Confederation of African Football (Caf) then released a roadmap in February aimed at rectifying the situation. Read More.

Teddy Afro told to return to court next year

Published by admin July 28th, 2008 in Featured and News & Hot Shots. 10 Comments

Above: Teddy Afro performing at the Rosewater Hall in San Jose,
California on January 20th, 2007. (Photos by D.J. Fitsum)
Click here to see hot shots.

Teddy Afro’s case postponed to next Ethiopian Year (Capital Ethiopia)

By Tedla Yeneakal

The Federal High Court 8th Criminal Bench on Monday, July 11, 2008 adjourned the case of Tewodros Kassahun a.k.a Teddy Afro, for the accused to start defending his case next Ethiopian year.

Teddy Afro

After finishing the previous testimonials of witnesses the prosecution attorney presented to the court, it has decided for the singer to continue defending his case, postponing it for next Ethiopian new year, (October 9, 2008).

Teddy’s Fans

Above: Teddy’s fans at the Rosewater Hall in San Jose, California
on January 20th, 2007. (Photos by D.J. Fitsum). Click to see hot shots.

Many of his fans and family members who gathered inside and outside the court room, were saddened after the court ordered to hear the case next Ethiopian new year, when it opens following a two- month break.

During the trial accompanied by the usual crowd, federal police around the court room were witnessed trying to disperse crowds protesting against the decision that Judge Leuele G. Mariam passed.

Teddy, who was jailed for over 3 months after being charged with a hit and run incident that occurred in November 2006, was first detained briefly at the time the incident occurred and released on 50,000 birr bail, before being apprehended again and taken to Kaliti prison facility, 25kms out of the capital Addis Ababa.

Addis Ababa police arrested Teddy after suspecting him of killing an 18 year old street boy named Degu Yibeltal, who died after he was hit by a car. A taxi driver at the time allegedly tipped off the police to the license number of Teddy’s BMW, which was later found in a ditch on the road towards the CMC residential area, where the singer resides.

Teddy pleaded not guilty to driving without a license and negligent driving.

Judiciary, Press Freedom in Ethiopia Questioned over Teddy Afro’s Trial

No Jail Sentence for Ethiopian Church Deacon in Vehicular Death

Published by admin July 27th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 2 Comments

No jail sentence in vehicular death (Philadelphia Inquirer)

A man who either fell asleep or unconscious got probation
and a license suspension, angering the widow.

By Maya Rao

Inquirer Staff Writer

Sat, Jul. 26, 2008

Abraha Rutty, a 23-year-old Ethiopian Orthodox Church deacon, was facing three years in a New Jersey state prison after entering into a plea deal in May for killing a moped rider while allegedly asleep behind the wheel.

The soft-spoken Newark, N.J., man bowed and clasped his hands as his parents, his minister and others invoked the name of God and pleas for mercy while they testified to Rutty’s depth of character and compassion in Gloucester County Superior Court yesterday.

Rutty struck down Edward R. Hoffman, 51, of Clayton, last July with his Honda. Out of religious observance, Rutty had been fasting for more than a day, and was exhausted after staying up most of the night before to get his passport in Philadelphia for a missionary trip to Ethiopia.

“I’m asking, truly asking as a mother, to look at us, all of our children, and say it could happen to any of us,” his tearful mother, Janet Rutty, told the judge.

Judge Christine Allen-Jackson listened. Then, calling it the toughest case ever to be on her docket, she sentenced Rutty to five years’ probation, suspended his driver’s license for five years, and ordered him to pay more than $25,000 in fines and restitution. Read More.

Olympic Hero Abebe Bikila

Published by admin July 26th, 2008 in Featured, News & Hot Shots, Podcast and Reviews. 2 Comments

Above: After a tragic accident in 1969 left former
marathon runner and winner of two Olympic gold medals Abebe
Bikila paraplegic, he took up archery as a sport. He is pictured
here practising archery from his wheelchair in preparation for
the International Paraplegic Games being held at the Stoke
Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on 20th July
1970. He suffered a severe spinal injury which ended his running
career. (Photo by Roger Jackson/Central Press/Getty Images)

BOOK
The glory trail (The Guardian)
It was the Rome Olympics of 1960 and an unknown produced the biggest surprise. Abebe Bikila, who’d begun running as a shepherd boy in the hills of Ethiopia, strode barefoot to victory in the marathon. He was the first black African to win Olympic gold. Tim Judah tells his story. Read More.

Abebe Bikila: an athlete par excellence (The Hindu)

V. V. Subrahmanyam

In 13 editions since its debut in Olympics, Ethiopia has scripted some of the most famous feats in track events — winning 14 gold, five silver and 12 bronze medals. But, not many of its athletes can match the aura and greatness of Abebe Bikila — the first black African athlete to win an Olympic gold medal (1960 Rome Games) and the first athlete to win the Olympic marathon gold twice.

It was a unique marathon in Rome — neither did it start nor finish in the main Olympic Stadium. And, the later part of the event was run in the dark, the route lit by the Roman soldiers holding torches. Inspirational sight enough for this Ethiopian to conquer Rome!

1960 SUMMER OLYMPICS TRACK FIELD MEN’S MARATHON: ETH BAREFOOTED RUNNER ABEBE
BIKILA IN ACTION APPROACHING THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE, ON HIS WAY TO WINNING RACE
HELD AT NIGHT DUE TO SWELTERING SUMMER HEAT DURING THE DAY. BIKILA SET A NEW
WORLD REORD AT 2:15:16.2.(Sportsillustrated)

A legend
“I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism.” (Abebe Bikila responding to a question after he won the Olympic gold at the 1960 Rome Games on why he ran barefoot.)

Barefoot: Bikila won Olympic gold at the 1960 Rome Games (Britannica.com)

Born to a shepherd, Abebe Bikila was a legend in his own way.

When he could not find shoes which fit comfortably, Bikila decided to run the marathon barefoot, exactly the way he trained. A decision which stunned the fellow competitors but did not affect his grit and determination.

And, the rest is history. Bikila and his nearest challenger Rhadi had created a gap from the rest of the pack.

They stayed together until the last 500m when the Ethiopian changed gears to set a World record time of 2:15:16.2.

Rome: 10 September 1960, Rome, Italy. Abebe Bikila (Contrasto.it)

“I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism,” was his reply to a query on why he ran barefoot.

Legendary Abebe Bikila returns home with Africa’s first Olympic
Gold Medal. Bikila returned to Ethiopia as a hero. Emperor Haile
Selassie promoted him to the rank of corporal position in the
Imperial Bodyguard, where he served, and awarded him the
Star of Ethiopia. (tessemas.net)

Fate struck a tragic blow when Bikila met with a serious accident in 1969 which left him a paraplegic. He died in 1973 aged 41 due to cerebral haemorrhage. Read the story at Hindu.com

Watch this video about Abebe Bikila

Ethiopian Prayer Book Sells for £32k at Auction

Published by admin July 25th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 3 Comments

Ethiopian prayer book sells for £32k at auction (Advertiser)

AN Auctioneer in Towcester has sold a 14th-Century Ethiopian Prayer Book for 40 times its estimated value.

Auctioneers at JP Humberts are holding their final three-day auction at the Burcote Road sale room before they move to a new home on Silverstone Business Park near Whittlebury.

On Friday morning Mr Humbert told the Advertiser that the 14th century Ethiopian prayer book, with an estimated value of up to £800, sold to an anonymous ‘phone bidder for £32,000.

Mr Humbert said: “We are absolutely delighted. In a world where we hear nothing but financial doom and gloom it’s nice to see items finding their true value.”

Mr Humbert cannot reveal the identity of the bidder but said the purchasers were a private collector and researcher and an institution.

The Psalm book written in Amharic had been put up for auction by a Northamptonshire vendor and was once owned by the headmaster of the Haile Selassie School in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia. Read More.

Vogue Italia’s Black Issue Spurred by Obama

Published by admin July 25th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Above: Ethiopian-born Liya Kebede is one of the cover
models on the Vogue Italia’s first-ever “Black Issue”
(”Modern Luxe” by Steven Meisel)

Vogue Italia’s Black Issue spurred by Obama (Reuters)

By Jo Winterbottom

Wed Jul 23, 2008

MILAN (Reuters Life!) - Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani says the spur for July’s first-ever “Black Issue” of the fashion magazine came in part from Barack Obama’s progress en route to becoming Democratic presidential candidate.

And partly because she wasn’t impressed with the current crop of look alike models with no personality.

“America … is ready for a black president, so why are we not ready for a black model?,” Sozzani said in an interview with Reuters.

Model Covers: Liya Kebede, Jourdan Dunn, Naomi Campbell & Sessilee Lopez

“I was in America on ‘Super Tuesday.’ Of course it influenced me in a way … it was part of my general idea,” she said.

That general idea became an issue featuring over 20 black models ranging from Naomi Campbell to relative newcomers such as Britain’s Jourdan Dunn who takes pride of place on the cover.

Sozzani, who has been at Vogue Italia for 20 years, said she was also attracted by the strong personalities of the black models.

“At the moment, I really don’t like any girls on the runway. They are all beautiful, amazing, long legs, beautiful eyes, but they all look alike,” she said.

“No girl really impressed me. The only one was Liya Kebede, she’s so elegant, she’s so chic,” Sozzani added, referring to the Ethiopian-born model who is also a goodwill ambassador for the World Health Organization. Read More.

–
200,00 Hear Obama in Berlin
In Berlin, Obama urges fight against terror (MSNBC)

Above: The walls fall down: Obama says countries must
overcome differences (NY Daily News)

The Associated Press

Thursday, July 24th 2008

BERLIN - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stood before an enormous crowd in Berlin on Thursday and summoned Europeans and Americans to work together to “defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it.”

Speaking in the Tiergarten, a park not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city, the presumptive Democratic nominee urged Americans, Berliners, and people of the world to work together for a better world.

“A new generation, our generation, must make our mark on history,” he said.

He told the tens of thousands who had gathered in front of the Victory Column that “the walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand.” Read More.

—
Foreign tour is media bonanza for Obama (MSNBC)

Above: Senator Barack Obama in the Hall of Remembrance
at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
(Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times)

Above: Sen. Barack Obama walks with King Abdullah of Jordan
as he arrives at Beit al Urdun in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday. (AP)

The Associated Press

Tues., July. 22, 2008

AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan, Israel and Germany aren’t normally known as swing states in a presidential campaign. But Barack Obama’s off to a fast start in his attempt to change that with an election-season tour designed to show him as a potential commander in chief, equally comfortable sitting down — presidential style — with kings and other foreign leaders.

“The objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people … who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years,” he said recently, evidently looking beyond this fall’s election to a second term in the White House.

That was in one of a string of network interviews he’s lined up on his trip, a journey that arguably will net him more media exposure in the real swing states — Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and elsewhere — than he’ll get even during the week of the Democratic National Convention later this summer. Read More.

—-
Iraq appears to share Obama’s pullout hope (MSNBC)

Above: Senator Barack Obama with Gen. David H. Petraeus,
the top American military commander in Iraq, in a helicopter above
Baghdad. (Ssg. Lorie Jewell/U.S. Army, via Associated Press)

Statement on U.S. troop withdrawal by 2010 follows meeting with al-Maliki

Obama arrives in Iraq with exit plans at the fore (MSNBC)

Above: Sen. Barack Obama speaks with a U.S soldier in
Afghanistan during breakfast at Camp Eggers in Kabul Sunday.
(AP)

He’s pledging to end combat operations within 16 months of taking office

The Associated Press

Monday, July 21, 2008

BAGHDAD - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama arrived in Iraq on Monday, a U.S. Embassy official said, to meet with commanders and troops in a war he has long opposed.

Obama was expected to meet Gen. David Petraeus as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, although aides provided few details, citing security concerns.

Obama arrived as part of a congressional delegation that also included Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., following stops in Kuwait and Afghanistan. The delegation met Sunday in Kuwait City with Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, and other senior officials, the Kuwait News Agency reported. Read More.

—
Obama on Ground in Afghanistan | See Video Below.

Above: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, talks with
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama during a
meeting Sunday at the Presidential Palace in Kabul.
(Ho / AFP - Getty Images)

VIDEO: Obama on Ground in Afghanistan (MSNBC)

—
Obama kicks off Middle East tour with stop in Afghanistan (NY Daily News)

BY MICHAEL MCAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Updated Saturday, July 19th 2008

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama landed in Afghanistan early Saturday morning, bringing presidential politics to the battleground and answering criticism he’s never even visited the country he calls the central front in the war on terror.

The presumptive Democratic nominee left his hometown of Chicago on Thursday under a veil of secrecy, then took off from Washington for Kabul, where he landed at just after 3 a.m. New York time Saturday.

Barack Obama (l.) poses with an
unidentified Afghan official in Nangarhar
province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on
Saturday. (Hong/AP)

Obama declared earlier this week that Iraq was a “dangerous distraction” from hunting down Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and that neither Iraqis nor the White House was doing enough to wrap things up there to focus on Afghanistan.

But he told reporters as he left Washington that he was not planning on making any demands on his swing through the war zones.

“I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” Obama said. “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one President at a time, so it’s the President’s job to deliver those messages.” Read More.

Obama Opens a Foreign Tour in Afghanistan (NYT)

Senator Barack Obama at Bagram air base in Afghanistan with, from left: William
B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan; Senator Chuck Hagel; Sgt. Maj.
Vincent Camacho; Senator Jack Reed; and Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser.
(U.S. Military, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

U.S. Doctors for Africa to Host African First Ladies Health Summit

Published by admin July 25th, 2008 in Featured and News & Hot Shots. 5 Comments

African First Ladies Coming Soon to LA

By Tadias Staff

Updated: Friday, July 25, 2008

New York (Tadias) - U.S. Doctors for Africa (USDFA) announced earlier this week that it will be hosting the first Annual African First Ladies Health Summit in Los Angeles in April 2009.

“This is probably one of the most empowering initiative we have ever been involved in,” says Ted Alemayhu (pictured above), Executive Chairman and CEO of USDFA. “What is exciting about this particular partnership is that the entire movement is initiated and mobilized by the First Ladies themselves. And it is a great testimony, commitment, and dedication that needs to be encouraged and supported by all stake-holders around the world.”

USDFA seeks to help advance the First Ladies efforts to create an effective and sustainable complementary approach in the fight against public health issues affecting Africa’s development.

The first Annual African First Ladies Health Summit will particularly focus on the threat of HIV/AIDS on children in Africa. “USDFA is prepared to be engaged in the helping the people of Africa with the full support and direct assistant & participation of the First Ladies” Mr. Alemayhu told Tadias. “USDFA and African Synergy share the common belief that healthcare is a basic human right, and recognize that a healthy population is essential for growth, development, and prosperity in every society.”

African Synergy Against AIDS and Suffering is a non-profit, non governmental organization that is recognized under the laws of all 22 African member countries. It’s strategic objectives include: mobilizing African societies and the International Community; Contributing to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals in Africa; contributing to the curbing of maternal, neonatal, infant and child mortality in Africa; establishing a solidarity fund to support the different efforts being deployed against HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases; contributing to the quest for peace and the alleviation of the suffering of victims of conflict and crisis in Africa; and participating in the fight against poverty and malnutrition.

US Doctors For Africa (USDFA) is a humanitarian organization committed to increasing access to medical care for diseases and conditions affecting the people of Africa. By mobilizing and distributing medical manpower, mobile clinics, supplies, and equipment to medical institutions throughout the continent of Africa. USDFA is dedicated to providing medical and preventative healthcare and capacity-building to regions of Africa without available medical services.

—
Additional information about the Summit schedule will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Photo Journal: Ted’s Keynote at Columbia (Tadias)

USDFA to Deploy Mobile Clinics to Ethiopia (Tadias Exclusive)

Ethiopian sues Xerox for £8million after bullying led to suicide bid

Published by admin July 24th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Above: Canary Wharf at twilight. (This work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)

Ethiopian sues Xerox for £8million after bullying led to suicide bid (Daily Mail)

By Daily Mail Reporter

22nd July 2008

A Canary Wharf worker is claiming £8 million in compensation at an industrial tribunal today for the racist ordeal he claims he suffered while working for giant photocopying firm Xerox.

Engineer Nardos Mulugeta, 40, from Ethiopia, told how he was driven to attempt suicide twice after being routinely abused by a colleague who openly expressed racist views about ‘foreigners’ and support for the British National Party.

The bully wrote the word ‘Go’ in signing-in and job request books against Mr Mulugeta’s name and said he was ‘lucky he’s working with us - his grandfather used to work as a servant’, it was claimed.

Mr Mulugeta said bosses refused to let him attend a counselling appointment when he was referred by his GP. Read More.

Three Young Immigrants Make a Fashion Statement

Published by admin July 21st, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Three young immigrants make a fashion statement (Medill Reports)

by Alysia Patterson
Jul 17, 2008

WASHINGTON — In the world of African affairs, Ethiopia and Eritrea are historically unfriendly neighbors. But in the fashion world style transcends geopolitical tussles. Three young African immigrants — one from Eritrea and two from Ethiopia — joined forces to create a t-shirt line that fuses together their old and new cultures. And they’ve just found out it’s a winning combination. Click here to watch a video clip.

Meditations - The Dream Deferred: Re-conceptualizing Class and Politics in America

Published by admin July 21st, 2008 in Opinion. 2 Comments

Tadias OP-ED

By Zelela Menker

Published: Monday, July 21, 2008

New York (Tadias) - Patrick Brennan is a 33 year old White male from Kansas City, Missouri. Although he grew up in the Midwest he currently lives in New York City and has developed a strong affinity for diversity. Patrick moved to New York approximately three years ago because, “[he] was tired of being around people who shared the same views and wanted to really be exposed to diverse people and cultures”. Ironically, however, Patrick does not have any significant interactions with the “diverse people” that initially attracted him to the city. In fact, the extents of his cross-cultural engagements are mostly limited to business transactions, and the daily hellos and goodbyes exchanged with his door man who he suspects to be Polish.

At first glance, Patrick’s overpriced and beautifully decorated loft is impressive; his life appears to be void of the tensions associated with every day life. Nevertheless, the truth is there is more than what meets the eye. Patrick’s lifestyle is in fact symptomatic of some of the same deprivations that plague the lives of the poor and the working poor throughout America. Patrick’s workdays are long, he wakes up at 5 A.M. in order to commute work, he suffers from stress and feels overworked, he rarely has time for family and friends, when he eats he has a majority of his meals away from home, and he has not been able to get the exercise he needs.

The irony in Patrick’s “deprivation” of course is that it has not been caused by a shortage of social and material resources, but rather his desire to attain more. He informs me that although he is financially fit to retire he chooses to work and that he is extremely proud of his accomplishments. As a successful trader at a top financial firm Patrick states, “it is has been hard to find time for the things that matter most”. He elaborates how he has had to consistently sacrifice personal relationships, hobbies, and even his health to achieve financial success stating, “I have come a long way …I have had to sacrifice a lot …but my choices have paid off”.

The belief that one’s social and economic status is consistent with one’s personal drive and hard work has been a dominant ideology in contemporary American society. Thus, inequalities in education, income, and healthcare are often perceived to result from individual victories and failures. Concurrently, political arguments and decisions pertaining to social and distributive justice have been formulated in relation to ideals of individualism, equal opportunity, and free choice.

In the United States, advocates of free choice have synonymously been considered to be true lovers of justice. Historically, a majority of Americans revere and are intoxicated with the promise of freedom—and I like Patrick Brenan am no exception. However, I also believe that there is a particular fundamental problem in developing understandings of poverty from the premise of “to each his due”: in matters of survival, life and death, there is no fixed line that distinguishes between coercion and free choice.

In my opinion developing political based arguments and understandings of wealth and poverty from individualistic ideals are extremely flawed and problematic. Within the romantic ideals of individualism, equal opportunity, and free choice co-exist an assortment of problems regarding public conceptions of hard work and free will. Inequalities cannot be understood merely within the context of personal desert and merit because individual choices are made within the context of dynamic and complex relationships.

Taking an individualistic perspective to understanding the vast disparities that exist in the United States today is inaccurate and incomplete because it does not consider the restrictions that social structures and political institutions place on the lives of the poor. I would argue that for a majority of people in the United States, life opportunities and “deviant lifestyle choices” are pushed upon individuals as a result of social, political, and economic circumstances. Within the context of poverty, the lack of adequate employment, safe housing, education, and access to health care all take a negative toll on the capacity of individuals to make free choices if and/or when they are able to act at all.

Currently the face of poverty in America continues to be portrayed to mirror problematic stereotypes of the social welfare queen and Juan Does. However, a closer analysis of class structures in the United States suggest otherwise. Despite popular notions, it’s important to note that an estimated two-thirds of the poor in the United States are White. This misrepresentation highlights an important issue that is often times entirely overlooked if not insufficiently explored.

While minorities are disproportionately negatively impacted by poverty, “The Poor” is not a homogenous or static group; it is not a class that has inherently been raced, sexed and (hyper)sexualized, it does not share a distinctive set of characteristics, and the individuals that make up this group have not somehow inherited and internalized dysfunctional values that have claimed and marked their future generations for suffering. The individuals currently accessing the limited social welfare programs in America are not aspiring free riders, but rather encompass many hardworking individuals and families coming from diverse backgrounds struggling to survive in a nation with a political system that is highly defective because it depends on preserving gross inequalities in the distribution and play of economic and political power. Capitalism being the foundation if not at the core of the American Dream has played an integral role in shaping social and political structures. The problem with this is that the success of the western political capitalist culture in the United States, and the validation of that American Dream, both heavily depend on the continued exploitation of marginalized groups.

It is important to remember that flawed public policies are not informed by a fixed or divinely inspired doctrine, but rather have been formulated and negotiated within the context of our misguided perceptions and representations of social, political, and economic realities. In order to change current living conditions it will not merely require that we critically assess and reassess flawed socio-economic infrastructures and amend labor laws, but also that we take look at ourselves to change our visions and aspirations of and for America. Some of the revolutionaries of the Civil Rights movement stated that justice can never be secured as long as American society ceases to exist – and I agree. This is not to say that there is something inherently wrong with America or Americans, but rather to highlight that for most America is not merely a dream deferred, but a nation desperately waiting and in need of collectively being re-considered, re-conceptualized, and re-imagined.

A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

—-
About the Author: Zelela Menker was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She moved to the United States to attend Mount Holyoke College (MHC) in South Hadley, MA where she majored in Critical Social Thought (CST). She lives and works in New York City.

By the same author: OP-ED: Why I’m supporting Obama (Tadias)

Ethiopian Sounds to Be Served With Ribs

Published by admin July 20th, 2008 in Featured and News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Above: Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick - Mulatu Astatqe on
vibes at the Ethiopiques concert in London. (Time.com)

Ethiopian sounds to be served with ribs (The Columbus Dispatch)

Sunday, July 20, 2008

By Gary Budzak

Music from the “horn of Africa” will be among the sounds heard at the Jazz & Rib Fest next weekend.

The Either/Orchestra, a 10-piece jazz band from Cambridge, Mass., which last performed in Columbus in 1991, will return with four musicians originally from Ethiopia.

The band’s guests will be Mulatu Astatke (vibes, keyboards), Setegn Atanaw (masinko, a one-string violin), Minale Dagnew (krar, a five-string lyre) and Hana Shenkute (vocals). The band will play on the Bicentennial Park Stage at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Above Left: The Either/Orchestra with leader Russ Gershon at center, in striped shirt.
(Photo:Eric Antoniou). Middle: Mulatu Astatke. Right: David Sanborn

“Most people hearing Ethiopian music blindfolded, so to speak, think that it’s some sort of combination between African and Arabic music,” said Russ Gershon, the orchestra’s saxophonist and leader, in a recent interview.

“When you think of Ethiopian music and have the Either/Orchestra play it, you have the African rhythms, the (Amharic-language) singing, jazzy horn solos and Latin grooves,” Gershon said.

“Both Latin and jazz music come from Africa to begin with. So American musicians, we’re heirs to African music. But on the other hand, Ethiopians have been very strongly influenced by American music, so it really mixes together very well.” Read More.

The Story of Bekele Geleta, Secretary General of the International Federation of the Red Cross

Published by admin July 19th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 1 Comment

Above: Bekele Geleta, secretary general of the International
Federation of the Red Cross. (Photo: The Ottawa Citizen)

‘God, give my children … The courage to help’ (The Ottawa Citizen)

His mother’s simple daily prayer has guided Bekele Geleta through a life marked by stellar ascents and crushing setbacks, from Ethiopian executive to political prisoner, from humanitarian to refugee and Ottawa gas-bar clerk, and now secretary general of the International Federation of the Red Cross. Louisa Taylor tells his remarkable story.

Louisa Taylor, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008

To get an idea of the burden weighing on Bekele Geleta, consider the heartbreaking inventory of human disaster around the world right now, all the people struggling to survive and regroup and rebuild after earthquakes, cyclones, famine, cholera and on. It’s his job to get help to them, all at once.

Bekele is the new secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the international symbol of rescue and relief, the world’s largest humanitarian organization.

He doesn’t just oversee the teams that put tents and tarps and food parcels into the hands of desperate people; he must persuade diverse — often competing — groups to work efficiently together, he must get them the tools they need when they need them, and he must convince global power brokers to pay attention and pay up. Read More.

Ethiopia’s Unlikely Boxer Fights For Gold

Published by admin July 19th, 2008 in News & Hot Shots. 0 Comments

Above: 24-year-old Ethiopian boxer Molla Getachew is preparing
for the Beijing summer Olympics and faces the biggest challenge
of his career. (Photo: Euro Sport)

Ethiopia’s unlikely boxer fights for gold (NBC)

Friday, July 18, 2008

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Ethiopia’s runners have won at least one gold medal at almost every Olympics since 1960. The country’s other athletes have been shut out.

Now a member of the Ethiopian team for the Beijing Games intends to fight his way onto the podium, against overwhelming odds.

Molla Getachew is Ethiopia’s only Olympic boxer, an anomaly in a country known for its superstar distance runners. His opponents are the last in a long line of problems standing between him and a gold, including a lack of equipment, no professionals to train against and a disapproving mother.

But when the Beijing Games open in August, he will represent Ethiopia in the 112-lb. flyweight division, a weight class dominated by well-equipped fighters from Mexico, Thailand and Japan.

“I feel sad because I’m the only boxer representing my country at the Olympics,” said the 22-year-old, who spends four hours a day training at an airless, grimy gym in the Ethiopian capital.
Read More.

Commentary: Obama Cover Has Bite, Benefits

Published by admin July 18th, 2008 in Opinion. 0 Comments

Obama Cover Has Bite, Benefits (Cagle Post)

by Clarence Page

I winced. I’m sure that’s what the New Yorker’s esteemed editor David Remnick expected me to do when I saw the Barack and Michelle Obama caricature cover that everybody’s talking about.

Every so often the quiet little liberal-leaning literary and cultural magazine presents a cover that is intended like a high-class editorial cartoon to startle us. Back in 1993, for example, during a time of high tensions between blacks and Jews, cartoonist Art Spiegelman raised hackles from some and heartfelt praise from others with a cover that depicted a black woman kissing an Orthodox Jewish man.

The controversial Obama cover by artist Barry Blitt is just as startling as that earlier cover, but not nearly as clear in its meaning. If a casual observer didn’t know that the New Yorker was a liberal literary and cultural magazine, they might easily believe Blitt’s drawing was trying to promote the right-wing smears that it intended to lampoon.

It shows Obama in the Oval Office dressed in Arabic robes. He is exchanging a congratulatory fist bump with his wife Michelle, who is dressed like a 1960s-style militant with a huge Afro, combat boots, camouflage pants, assault rifle and a bandolier of bullets. Osama bin Laden looks on placidly from a picture frame over the presidential fireplace in which an American flag burns like a yule log.

Editor Remnick told the New York Times that, “The cover takes a lot of distortions, lies and misconceptions about the Obamas and puts a mirror up to them to show them for what they are.”

He compared Blitt’s drawing to Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert who lampoons the worldview of conservative talk show hosts like Fox News… READ MORE