Some marched for freedom; others gathered for condominium By Sadik Ahmed

August 21, 2013 Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans held a joint rally in front of US State Department on Tuesday. Amid the government’s massive propaganda to divide the nation, the participants were adamant to uphold their mutual values not as people who share a land but as a people who have shared blood.The demonstrators have uncovered what they call a plot to occupy the diaspora airwaves through corruption and cadres. However, they have stated clearly: those who collaborate with this dictatorial regime will be isolated and held accountable before each and every community. Sheik Khalid Omer is an Imam for an Ethiopian Muslims' prominent organization called First Hijrah. On his motivational speech during the demonstration, he said: "We chose peaceful struggle not because of our fear for the Ethiopian government but due to its effectiveness on this generation. We will protest peacefully till the dictatorial regime responds to our demands." "The Ethiopian regime has lost everything; all attempts to divide the nation have failed miserably; the regime has one remaining item, and that is ETV. They want to dispatch the same ETV propaganda through their puppets in DC airwaves by wasting tax payers money. The dollar is good for those who work on it, but dollar is very bad for those who happen to be enslaved by it. Some of the DC radios possibly sold their integrity for fear mongering but the wisdom of Ethiopians will render useless their evil plot through love and unity," said Yohannes Takele, a distinguished activist in Washington DC metropolitan area. Officials and state department representatives from African desk have received a letter from the demonstrators. The enthusiastic slogans in English and Amharic were unwavering. Poems were read out and vows of commitment and unity declared till noon. “All prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia could have different cases but they have one destiny; surely their destiny is ours; their pain inside notorious Ethiopian prisons is ours; we don’t have boundary due to our religion or ethnic background; we will struggle for freedom and justice for our beloved motherland until the malicious minority authoritarian regime surrenders power to the people or is deposed,” the demonstrators declared in unified consensus at the end of the rally. Amid this demonstration in front of the State Department, some people gathered inside Ethiopian embassy, not to demonstrate but to register their names for condominiums in Ethiopia, our sources have confirmed. Our sources also complained that the Ethiopian government is using condominiums as a weapon to silence diaspora. It is an exercise in futility as people of conscience definitely prefer freedom to life of servitude.