aqumada

Thanks to the live internet transmission through WCSN.com, I was able to sneak in few minutes from work to watch Kenenisa's world record breakign performance at memorial vandamme grandprix in Belgium.

The first pacemaker, Roberto Garcia of Spain, took Kenenisa to the 2km mark in the time of 5.15.63. Kenenisa's younger brother, Tariku, took over after the 2km mark and took Kenenisa to the 5,000 meters mark in the time of 13:09.19. For the final 5,000 meters, Kenenisa was left to run by himself. Apart from the two laps where he seemed to slow down [64 seconds], he run at the pace of around 62 seconds a lap making sure that he stayed ahead of the World Record time. In the final lap, he produced a magnificent sprint [57 seconds] and lowered the world record mark to 26.17.54. In the process, the Ugandan National record was set by the ever improving Boniface Kiprop and the Eritrean national record was set by Zeresenay Tadesse.

Starting in 1993, the 10,000 meters world record progression has been anything but amazing. Such athletes as Haile Gebreselassie, Paul Tergat, and now, Kenenisa Bekele have turned the event into, as one man put it "a long distance sprint". It was only in 1987, the great Said Aouita was able to run a sub 13:00 minutes time for the 5000 meters. Now, we have Kenenisa Bekele running 26.17.54 for the 10,000 meters event. In other words, Kenenisa run a back to back sub 13:10, 5000 meters. Pause for a moment and think about it…. Today's world record performance of Kenenisa Bekele is like running two 5000 meters events in a row and still running each split faster than what most 5000 meters world class athletes would take to run a single 5000 meters event. The time it took for Benjamin Limo to win the 5000 meters event in Helsinki [even if it was a tactical race] was some 20 seconds slower than what took Kenenisa to run each of his 5000 meters split on the way to breaking the 10,000 meters world record. Kenenisa is indeed out of this world.

Earlier in the day, my favorite athlete, Meseret Defar, broke the African record for the 5000 meters by convcingly defeating top athletes like Berhane Adere, Ejigayehu Dibaba, and, Isabella Ochichi. Her time of 14:28.98 was enough to beat the previous African record held by Berhane Adere. This was 4 seconds off the world record time held by Elvan (Hewan) AbeyLegesse. I am afraid her achievement will be overshadowed by Kenenisa's performance, however.

For the 10,000 Meters WR progression and Kenenisa's splits:

A friend who calls himself "wegesha" claims that there is no abesha woman who fits the image described in my earlier poem, "8". "bezaw biyaqom eshi"... he had the audacity to come up with a poem that made this point... Since I beleive in free speech n all...

By Wegesha

Anyone who would like to respond to this poem is welcomed:-)  Just for the record, I am on the women's side.

I originally posted this article on the Ethiopian Student Association International (ESAI) discussion forum some years back. I have added some material to the original version. I thank those ESAI members who contributed to the discussion.

From "Efeta Volume 4" (Translated from Amharic)

Afincho ber: Was named by Ras Mekonnen, Haileselassie's father, after one of his favorite vassals Basha Afencho.

Fin-Fine: Named after the hot springs around what is now fel-weha. It refers to the way the water comes out (finin- finin yelal).

QuChera sefer: When Menelik's war minister, Fitawrari Habte Giorgis, was walking home from the palace, he passes a man who was defecating by the side of the road. The guy gets up, as the custom requires, to salute the Fitawrari. The unimpressed fitawrari, responds by saying ere  "Quch-beleh-era" …hence, the neighborhood ended up being called quchera-sefer

Senga-Tera: The present location of 4-kilo Parliament used to be the old Cattle market. This was adjacent to the palace and the cattle caused major problems by  forcing their way into the palace grounds. The problem was later rectified by moving the market to the present location of Senga-Tera.

Talian-Sefer: This is where Italian war prisoners were kept after Adwa.

Sebara- Babur: "babur" is a word that was used to refer to machineries (especially cars). For instance, "babur menged". When a man by the name of Mossier Turkis was driving to the place to pick up Menelik [to take him to Addis Alem], the car breaks down and would not start. Not knowing what to do, Turkis abandoned the car and left. That general area where Turkis abandoned his car is now referred to as  'sebar babur'

Shiro-Meda: The inauguration of Entoto Mariam took place during Tir-Mariam, which happened to be on a Wednesday. To observe the customary lent, 'yetsom megeb' had to be prepared for the Ethiopian guests. This "tsom megeb" was prepared where it is now "Shiro Meda".

Qechene: During the reign of Menelik, this area was where the Wag Shum stayed when visiting the capital. There were many wild animals that inhabited the area. The giraffe (qechene) was one of them.

Gulele: When Addis's land was being distributed among Menelik's nobles, Ras Darge who was the land lord/official of the government for the Selale area, requested that the area around what is now gulele to be given to the balabats from SelalE. These balabats were refered to as Aya Guelele*.

*On a separate note, the name Gulele actually refers to one of the Oromo clans [I believe, I read this on Bahreys's book on history of the Oromo]

America-Gibi: This is where the American ambassador and his followers settled.

Nefas_silk: This was where the first telephone was set up (??) //the amharic wording was not clear.

WebE-Bereha: Named after the Emperess Zewditu's second husband Dejach Wube.

Teret-sefer: This is where Menelik's entertainers (aChaawachoch) lived.

Korea-Sefer: This area was granted to the members of the imperial body guard who went to fight in Korea [early 50's].

Teyet-Bet: This used to be the location of an armory.

The following are collected from different sources

casa-Incis: an Italian word for quarter of distinguished people (ambassadors, officials etc).

casa-popolare- Italian word for quarter of the common people… literally translates to flats of commoners.

These neighborhoods are an evidence for Italian attempt to segregate Addis. Richard Pankhurst's book, "The Ethiopians", has some analysis of this topic.

Piazza: Italian word for center city (down town)

Legehar(la-gare): The French word for train station.

From Ethiopian Student Association International, ESAI, forum [contributed by others]

Qebenna: not sure if that is how they named it but It is an OromiNa word (pronounced Ke'BBe'naa) for "REGA YALE" in amharic which the river Kebenna got because of its smooth flow.

Mexico: because of the friendship with the Mexican gov. I have also heard there is an Ethiopia sqr in Mexico..(???)

BOLE: I think it's an oromigna word for the type of soil that used to be unique to that area

DORO MANEQIA: Italians(?) used to live in the area, and they never slaughtered their chicken, they just twisted and broke their necks to kill them ...

From Macalester University Course WebSite

Merkato:  The Italians didn¹t locate any large industrial operations in Addis Ababa, but they did manage to disrupt the local economy. Italian Economists feared that cheaply produced goods, imported from Addis Ababa, and would undermine the homeland economy, so no factories were built. But the xenophobic fascists altered trade by pushing well-patronized Indian and French businesses out of the city. They also banned Ethiopians from the central market area and established a 'new market, Addis Merkato, west of the Arada.

Menelik's Imperial City: Early Settlement

In the 1890's and early 1900's, Addis Ababa had not yet become the grand capital city Menelik dreamed of. Throughout the 1890's, laborers worked in construction of the two oldest structures in Addis Ababa, Menelik¹s Gebbi (palace) at the highest point in the area, and the St. George Church to the west (Zewde 69). Addis Ababa's earliest market opened adjacent to the church in the Arada district.

Part of the city's indigenous character was established by the early settlement patterns of the followers and subjects of Menelik II and his nobles. The lesser nobles were each granted land on one of the hilltops of Addis Ababa as ³gults², or rewards for their loyalty (Zewde 69). The servants and dependents of each noble settled on the flanks of his hill, surrounding his hilltop Gebbi, and forming clustered neighborhoods called safars(Zewde 69). These Safars eventually became the distinct sectors known today as Ras Berru Safar, Ras Tasomma Safar, and Fitaurari Habta-Giyorgis Safar (Zewde 69). The servants settlements on the great hill of Menelik¹s Gebbi gave rise to neighborhoods differentiated by occupation: Saratagna Safar (Worker's quarters), Zabagna Safar (Guards' quarters), and Weha Senqu Safar (the "Quarters of the Unprovisioned", an imperial army camp with no amenities but water) (Zewde 71).

MORE STUFF

This past weekend, I bought a DVD of an Ethiopian Movie for the first time. The title of the movie was "gudi fecha". Gudi-Fecha translates to the word adoption (I beleive it is an Oromiffa word). The cinematography, acting, editing, as well as the storyline of the movie was much better than most Ethiopian so-called movies [ofcourse not as good as Abatyew which is on a different level]. There was a minor problem with the sound but thanks to the English subtitles, I was able to keep upJ

I am not going to say much about the story because I am afraid that I may spoil it for those who would like to watch the movie. There is one disturbing scence that I would like to talk about, however. In this scene the main character is seen 'hanging out' with her friends (the only friends in the whole movie). To my surprise, these two friends were white girls. What pissed me off was the fact that these 'friends' had nothing to do with the storyline. This brought back angry feelings I had when I went to visit Ethiopia and noticed that westerners were getting much better treatment than I was. What is this worshipping of westerners? …and we actually have the audacity to claim that we were never colonized. I am sure poor immigrants like me recognize the feeling:-)

Despite this 'minor blunder', I recommend the movie for those who would like to watch it.

Nothing beats watching the crazy Aussie on Animal planet who calls himself Steve. This guy would be walking around peacefully (ager Tena belo …eyafuache menamen) and he would somehow [wink wink] run into the most dangerous snake in Australia. Any sane person would scream and run away to the opposite direction. No…Not Steve…. Steve jumps the snake and holds it by the neck while at the same time trying to tell you the snake's biography (yet endetwelede…abatu men endeneberu nefsachewen yemarewena… menamen). Even the snake must be thinking, what a crazy ****? "yehenE" the snake was probably in the middle of buna or whatever snakes do, casually saying to his wife "bunawen tolo bey... teteche hejE lenadef", when rudely interrupted by Steve. Thanks to modern civilization and the craze with low-fat diet, ye zendero snakes do not have to take up a defensive position at all times.Besides, no one is crazy enf to jump them (so they thought).  The snake, then, somehow escapes Steve's grip and launches himself to bite Steve on the nose. Steve would not be too impressed. He would just slightly move his head and makes a comment like "wooow…it is a feisty one" [bakeh atqeled mehonu new]....gud gud ayen zendero belalech ayatE

Abeshas, on the other hand, are the antithesis of Steve. We are terrified of animals unless they are donkies. Donkeys!? We just breed [most numbers next to China] them and "curse them"…"invent teretena mesalEs to trash them..wezeterfe". Animals such as dogs are another story. If we see a dog from a distance, we would change direction and cross the street to avoid it (sorta like white ppl do when they see black people). I attribute this sort of reaction to the scary looking dogs that chased us all over the freaking neighborhood when we were kids. In Ethiopia, if we go to visit relatives or friends, on approaching the gate to their house, the first sentence that comes out of our mouth is "ezih bet wesha ale?" The residents would reply (almost all the time), "don't worry…Bobby aynakesem" come on in. Without waiting for your response, they would push you inside adding the phrase "ayzoh". Now, you notice Bobby on the other side of the house with his head buried in his feet lying down and probably waiting for you to move into no man's land. Bobby is not happy with you being there but he ain't showing it. If Bobby could smile, he would be like, "I swear…alenakesem…come on in".  "ager Tena belen" as we start to walk towards our destination, Bobby gets up and starts running towards you. It takes you 3.2 seconds to realize that you are in deep ****. Bobby would chase your ass all over the freaking place. Don't expect the owner to react and help you right away. That would be too right. No…they would laugh until they realize Bobby is about to grab your "shiro yenefawen behind"….

..bad memory! bad memory!...Go away! Go away!

Now, Snakes? I don't think so!

These poems and "qenEs" were compiled by my friend G. Thank you!

I will post more in the near future.

This is my attempt to write "qenE":-)

According to the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), several EPRDF government officials are suing four Ethiopians living in America for defaming their character via "Tensae Ethiopia Voice of Unity Radio". You can read the complete article at the bottom of this blog.

I never thought that foreign governments and agents of foreign governments could sue immigrants in foreign courts. I posted a question regarding this in one of the legal forums and here is the response I received.

_______________________

> Background

> Several officials of the Ethiopian government are suing an

> Ethio-American radio station based in Washington DC for defamation of

> character. It is possible that the radio station may have committed

> what is claimed. Most likely, however, the motive of the Ethiopian

> government is to silence the opposition voices in diaspora (mainly in

> the US).

> Questions

> 1.  Is there any precedence for such cases? Is it possible for a

> foreign government or officials of a foreign government to sue

> individuals who may be US citizens or legal aliens in US courts?

Short answer: Sure, why not?

Longer answer:

Several requirements must be met to sue someone.

First, the court must have "subject-matter jurisdiction."  That is, the

court must have the authority to adjudicate the issue that the suit is

about.  Suits between people of different states, or suits based on

federal claims, are properly in federal court.  Suits based on state

claims, or common law actions, or (almost) everything else, are properly

in state courts.  You didn't say what court the suit is being filed in.

Second, the court must have "personal jurisdiction" over the defendant.  

That is, the court must have the authority to call the defendant to

answer for the suit.  This can be based on the defendant living in the

jurisdiction, doing business there, taking a benefit from the

jurisdiction, etc.  (This is a whole aspect of law unto itself).  But

there is *NO* concept of personal jurisdiction over the plaintiff, which

is what you seem to be asking.  If a defendant committed a wrong of some

sort, any wronged party can go to any court that has jurisdiction (both

kinds) over the defendant and file a lawsuit.

That leads to the last basic requirement, the only one that affects the

plaintiff - standing.  To sue, the plaintiff must have suffered some

actual injury or some negative consequences of the defendant's actions.  

They can't sue, for example, to enforce someone else's rights, collect

damages for another's injury, etc.  But it sounds like this isn't an

issue here, either.

> 2. The media in Ethiopia is government controlled and a propaganda tool

> for the government. Can Ethiopians in the US (Ethio-Americans) file a

> similar suit against the Ethiopian government in US courts?

If the US court has jurisdiction over both the Ethiopian government and

the subject-matter of the suit.  (See above). There's an entire field of

law dealing with whether foreign countries can be sued in US courts.  To

call it complex is an understatement.

________________________________________

Follow up question

>Thank you for the nice explanation. I will try to get more details on the case and post more nformation. Meanwhile, I have one more question. What is going to stop foreign governments(who may have unlimited resources) from using the law to intimidate and silence dissidents who live in the US? Is there some sort of legal check for this? A threat of a lawsuit alone would be enough to silence many dissidents (even if the plaintiff does not have a solid case).

Frivolous suits can be thrown out, and the lawyers who bring a knowingly frivolous suit can be sanctioned.  Also, its probably not worth it for the foreign governments.  

Think about it - Would a country set up an office in the US, hire a US
law firm, and file lawsuits against US citizens who criticize their
government?  It would cost far more than they'd win in the suits or
settlements, it would be a worldwide P.R. disaster, and they probably
have bigger issues to deal with in their own country.

Here is the original report from ENA