Hitch
“The unexamined life is not worth living” is Socrate’s word to mean If a person is not open for others to question his or her thoughts and action, or lives in denial of the motivations that prompt his or her thoughts and action, then it is a waste of his or her life. Such a life is a superficial act, revealing nothing new, nothing unique. Such a life is not “real.”
If we take this explanation as black, Its direct opposite, ‘white’ life is the life of Christopher Eric Hitchens aka Hitch, a late English-American writer, Journalist & Yea, also an Atheist-in-chief.
Hitch ! live a life well examined with an amazing writing skill, with a mesmerizing oratory and with a dare belief even to challenge ‘God’. He always read and actually drink whisky. that is why some peoples say the Hitch rule is ’Drink whisky read Orwell.’
Hitch ! loves nightmares of the dictator like George Orwell and Thomas Paine.
Hitch ! Always fight with ‘God’ in a belief that:
‘The concept of a god or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization.’
Hitch ! Was always the center of controversy for his dare move to take position & also Hitch was an Atheist, even in a fox hole.
Here in below, I try to share major works of my Hitch, Including Hitch’s Memoir:
The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory & Practice
GOD is NOT GREAT: How Religion poisons everything
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings
Enjoy Hitch, But Don’t forget the Whiskey !
የበጋው መብረቅ ይናገራል
በ15 ዓመት ዕድሜው ጠላትን እፋለማለሁ ብሎ የተነሳ፣ ብዙ ተከታዮችን አፍርቶ ጠላት ሊይዝ ሲያሳድደው ሲያሻው ጭልሞ ጫካ ውስጥ ዛፍ ላይ መሰላል ሰርቶ እየተደበቀ፣ ሲያሻው እንደ ምትሃት በጠላት ፊት እየተንጎማለለ ሀገሩን ነፃ ያወጣ ጎረምሳ፡፡
ጃገማ ኬሉ !
የበጋው መብረቅ !
ድንገት ዱብ ባዩ !
Check BBC’s Documentary about , Africa’s forgotten Soldiers including Our’s Jagama Kelo
ያው የዘር ፖለቲካ ሀገራችን ውስጥ እንደ አስፈሪ ጡር ተመዞ የሚወጋው እየፈለገ ነው፡፡
- ግማሹ “ኢትዮጵያ የፅድቅ ሀገር ነበረች አሁንም ናት” ሲል
- ሌላው “የለም! የለም! የብሄር ብሄረሰቦች አስር ቤት ነበረች አሁን ግን የብሄር ብሄረሰብ ሙዚየምነቷን አረጋግጣለች ይላል፡፡”
- ግማሹ “ኢትዮጵያ ወይም ሞት” ሲል ቀሪው ደግሞ “ወዴት! ወዴት! ጎሳየ ለኔ ህይወቴ” ብሎ ጎሳውን በሃሳብ ይደጉማል፡፡
- “የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ በመደብ ጭቆና የተሞላ ነው” ሲል ‘ማርክሲስት’ ነኝ ባዩ
- “አይ ! የቅኝ ግዛት ነበር” ይላል ተገንጣዩ – አስንጣዩ (የደረግን ሀረግ ለመዋስ)፡፡
የሆነ ሁኖ ነጭ እና ጥቁር የታሪክ ትርጓሜ ይሄው እንደ ውርስ ሀጢያት አልወርድ ብሎ እሳቱም እየጋመ ይገኛል፡፡
እነዚህ ሰዎች ያልተገነዘቡት ምን ይሆን? ሲባል መልሱን እንደ ጃገማ ኬሎ አይነት አኩሪ ጀግኖች ናቸው ሊመልሱት የሚችሉት፡፡
ጀነራል ጃገማ “ነጭ ጤፍ ከጥቁር እንደማይለይ ኢትዮጵያዊያንን ማለያየት አይቻልም!” በሚል ርዕስ በ1986 “ኢትዮጵያዊነት” የተባለ ድርጅት ባዘጋጀው የውይይት መድረክ ላይ ያደረጉት ንግግር፡፡ እነሆ ፡
የኢትዮጵዊነት አላማ በኔ አሰተያየት፡-
የኢትዮጵያ አንድነት እና ነፃነት እኩልነት ከተጠበቀ በተፈጥሮ ሃብት የተደላደለች በታሪኳ የነነች ኢትዮጵያ ሳትከፋፈል እና ሳትቆራረስ ለዘላለም እንድትኖር የጎሳ ልዩነት ሳይደረግ በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የተወለደ ኢትዮጵያዊ ሁሉ ኢትዮጵያዊነት ግዴታው እና መብቱም ነው ብየ አምናለሁ፡፡ አንድነት እና ህብረት እንደኛ የአድዋን ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ብቻ ሳይሆን ለአፍሪካም ጭምር አስገኝቷል፡፡ ሁለተኛው በአምስቱ የጠላት ዘመን ከየጎሳው ተነሳስተው እና ተውጣጥተው እስከ በመጨረሻ በመጋደል ለነፃነት ያደረሰት አርበኞች ሕያው ምስክሮች ናቸው፡፡
ከዚህ በመቀጠል በጠላት ዘመን ያየሁትን እና የሰማሁትን ላውጋችሁ፡፡ Read More
On Orwell
“Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it ”
This is a statement of George Orwell that he explained his reason for writing in his 1946 essay ‘Why I Write’.
For me the yardstick of a Novel & an Essay should not be other writer than of George Orwell. Orwell is simply a writer with pain, with smile, with understanding and with justice. When you raise his book to read I can bet that, you will return it back to the shelf without a single dog-ear or a coffee ring. Every Orwellian line has a breath that stand for itself.
Beyond the beauty of every line, Orwell’s line has a greater mission of mocking & damning a dictator and Serving justice & equality. I am lucky, because Orwell writes more than half of a thousand articles that is waiting me on my reading list.
Please, Look for this data:
3 Books, 6 Novels , 555 Articles, 5 Stories, 37 Collections, 7 Pamphlets, 17 Poems, 1 Plays, 4 Scripts, 5 Journals, 5 Letters, 2 Books edited, 1 Periodicals edited , 2 Newspapers edited.
Unless the man is not Orwell these all can’t be accomplished by one man beautifully, with 47 years of earthly life.
Yea, Orwell is really a WRITER !
To share my amazement of Orwell, here I try to upload almost all pieces produced by George Orwell. Here we go.
Fiction
Down and Out in Paris and London
Non-Fiction
Essays
50 Essays in One Document, that Includes:
Good Bad Books
Why I Write
Notes on Nationalism
Books Vs. Cigarettes
Politics and the English Language & 45 more.
Poems of Orwell
By the way Do you know that:
Wαґ ḯṧ ℙεαḉℯ
ℱґ℮εḓ◎м їṧ ϟℓα♥εя¥ &
ℑℊᾔ☺яαᾔḉℯ їṧ ϟ⊥ґ℮η❡☂н ?
If not, check the Orwellian Society.
Ethiopians By Choice
Claude Sumner a Canadian Philosopher who deeply study Ethiopian philosophy and culture and the writer of Five volumes of analysis on Ethiopian Philosophy, Three Volumes of analysis on Oromo culture & Literature and so forth, call himself as “A Canadian by Birth, An Ethiopian by choice”.
There are so many foreigners who study the Ethiopian case in different manner in different disciplines from History to philosophy, from literature to culture, from Politics to Law… Because of their Ethiopianess choice. Among these Scholars Francisco Álvares, James Bruce, Jon Abbink, John Markakis, Donald Levin, Richard Pankhurst, Claude Sumner, Christopher Clapham, can be the front runners.
Reading books from these writers give us a hint of ‘our Ethiopia’ in ‘their eye.’ When James Bruce announce Ethiopians as ‘raw meat eaters’ to the world, Europe were shocked and he continue to say ‘when you hear the sheep’s cry, it is a signal for lunch because he lost his tail for a dessert’
This is the way that how Some writers try to demonize life in Ethiopia with bad faith but, most of them are positive with much sacrifice, take the case of Donald Levin, an American Sociologist he who were in deep rural area, Menz for two concrete years, to study the life of the people there and comes up with classic books like ‘Wax and Gold’ & ‘The Greater Ethiopia’.
Whatever their motive, hear I try to share some of the books, that are written by foreigners about Ethiopian Culture, History, Politics etcetera. If You like I will come up with another post with similar strory.
Here is the first 10
A Hstory of Ethiopia, Harold G. Marcus or buy it on Amazon
Amhara Tradition of Knowledge, Harald Aspen or buy it on Amazon
Ethiopia and The Red Sea, Mordichi Abir or buy it on Amazon
Ethiopia and the Middle East, Hagghai Erlich or buy it on Amazon
Ethiopia, Traditions of Creativity, Raymond A. Silverman or buy it on Amazon
Gada, Three Approaches to the Study of African Society, Asmerom Legese* or buy it on Amazon
Imagining Ethiopia: Struggles for History and Identity in the Horn of Africa, John Sorensen or buy it on Amazon
Islam in Ethiopia, J. Spencer Trimingham or buy it on Amazon
Remapping Ethiopia, Socialism and After, Different Authors or buy it on Amazon
Southern Ethiopia, Abbink et al in North-East African Studies
* Asmerom Legese is by now an ‘Eritrean’, I don’t know how to call him a foreigner or an Ethiopian? Are Eritreans foreigners for Ethiopians?
Ethiopian History 101, By: Teddy Afro
First I thought to give the title of this post ‘Teddy Afro punch the ‘ New ‘Historians’ in the gut.’ But, I decline it, to give a more wider caption. And I call It History 101, by: Teddy Afro.
The New Teddy Afro album is amazing as always has been and I prefer to give my reflection on the title of the album called ‘Tikur Sew’.
In Tikur Sew Teddy tries to give a history lesson for Ignorants but, not in a conventional way rather in a new & lovable way.
1. E pluribus unum , Out of Many, One
The first thing that I found Interesting in ‘Tikur Sew’ is Its mentioning of different Patriots & war lords who plays pivotal role in the battle of Adwa, from different Ethnic Group :
❥ First It mention Dejazmach Balcha Aba Nefso, an Oromo patriot
❥ Then Emperor Minilik ( Aba Gagnaw) , from Shewa, Amhara
❥ The Next is Fitawrari Habte Giorgis Dinagde ( Aba Mela ) , a Gurage Patriot
❥ It is Ras Mengesha Yohannes, Tigrian Patriot ( The son of Emperor Yohannes IV from Tigray) turn to be mentioned and followed by.
❥ Ras Alula Engida, another Tigrian Patriot,
❥ And Finnaly, Empress Taytu Betul , another Amhara from Gonder. Comes to Teddy’s enumeration.
Therefore, the first lesson that Teddy try to forward for us is, Adwa is not one man’s or one ethnic group success rather many’s.
2. Teddy Depicts Minilik as African Tikur sew (Black Person)
The Other thing that we face in Teddy’s lesson is Adwa’s value for Tikur Sew (Blacks). I can’t get any better explanation than this Bewketu Seyum’s on one of his recent article. Bewketu says:
<< በኔ ግምት የአድዋ ድል ትልቅ ጭብጥ ‹‹የሰውነት ክብር›› ይሰኛል፡፡ ቀደምቶቻችን ወደ አድዋ የጋለቡት በግፍ የተነጠቁትን የሰውነት መታወቂያ ለማስመለስ ነው፡፡>>
From this we can understand that The Battle of Adwa is not battle for boarder transgression or else, it is simply a battle for Identity, that Identity is what Teddy mention as Tikur Sew’s Identity.
3 . Yes, is The Word
The Other thing that I got Impressive is, Teddy’s expression of ‘ unless I say ‘Yes’ for Miniliks & Taytu call to fight with the Europeans, I may lose my Identity.” This is a lesson that told us Ethiopia as One say ‘Yes’ to Miniliks Call for war, without any assumption of their difference.
4. Teddy Mix Amharic & Oromiffa
Teddy try to mingle Amharic & Oromiffa (the two major Ethiopian languages, majority of Ethiopians speaks) . The language of this two ‘competing’ Ethinic group (Oromo & Amhara ) is one of the main agenda in a recent political discourse as well as policy making. So, Teddy’s shoot here is an ‘on target’ shoot.
Teddy says :‘ Ijoollee Biyya Keenyaa ’ in Oromiffa that literally means ‘ የሀገሬ ልጆች’ in Amharic or ‘My Compatriots’ in English . This is a great leap forward to me, for those who feel they are aliens & stranger in the main land.
5. The Music is, MARVELOUS .
At last I want to post some verses from Teddy’s another hit called ” Sel Fiker“:
አፈር ይዞ ውስጡ አረንጓዴ፣
ለምን ይሆን የራበው ሆዴ፡፡
ብራናው ይነበብ ተዘርቶ አትሮንሱ ላይ፡፡
የነ ፋሲለደስ፣ የነ ተዋነይ፡፡
የት ጋር እንደው የኛ ጥበብ መሰረቱ፣
የኋላው ከሌለ የለም የፊቱ፡፡
That Is why I say, Teddy Is Incomparable !
Like this:
Religious Manifestos
“Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes“ or “Religion is the Opium of the People” , the more you smoke the more you became deluded , the more you puff the more you cut the throat of others, the more you smoke the more you became dull and dormant to say no for dictatorship, Oppression-tyranny, to slavery etc. This is Marxian Version of religion. That holds an atheistic view on a denial of the existence of God and preaching boldly the ‘God is Not Great’ dictum.
“Religion and God are the foundation of life, Morality, existence, even this Blog,” is the other side of the coin in praise for religion. The irony is even in support of religion there is no agreement among religions on the way to God, on moral-immoral matters, on vice and Virtues, on quality of God and on so many different matters. Every denomination comes up with its own Scripture as a “Word of God,” As a way to haven and condemn others for their wrong way.
Anyway, It is religion that Marx beautifully put as “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” It is your right to decide which one is better and which one is wrong.
To help you on your selection, I upload some of the scriptures from different religion enjoy or smoke it.
The Bible in English or in Amharic
The Nag Hammadi Texts ( Including The The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene)
The Mormon Book
The Kitab i Aqdas ( Bahia Texts)
The Satanic Bible
The Women Bible
The Torah
The Q’uran in English or in Amharic
The Vedas ( The Four Vedas as one document)
እነሆ ‘አዋልድ’ መፅሃፍት
የጉለሌው ሰካራም
የተመስገን ገብሬን ግለ ታሪክ “ሕይወቴ” ን አንብቤ በመገረሜ እና በመደመሜ የተመስገንን ታዋቂ ስራ “የጉለሌው ሰካራም”ን መለጠፍ አሰኘኝ:: እንዲህ ብሎ ይጀምራል ልብ-ወለዱ:-
‹‹ በጉለሌ የነበረው የታወቀ ዶሮ ነጋዴ ማነው ብለው ከገፈርሳ እስከ ደጃዝማች ይገዙ ሰፈር ለጠየቁ ሰዎች፤ ተበጀ ሰካራሙ ተበጀ ዶሮ ነጋዴው፤ ተበጀ ነው ብለው ይነግሯቸዋል፡፡
የሕይወቱ ታሪክ ፍፁም ገድል ነው፡፡ ጢም ያለው ሽማግሌ ሰው ነው፡፡ ራሱን ጠጉር ውሃ ወይም መቀስ ነክቶት አያውቅም፡፡ ማለዳ አይናገርም፡፡ በጠርሙስ የከመረውን ከጠጣ በኋላ ሲራገም ወይም ሲሳደብ ሲፈክር ወይም ሲያቅራራ ድምጡ ከፈረንጅ ውሻ ድምጥ ይወፍራል፡፡ ቢያውቀውም ባያውቀውም ላገኝው ሁሉ ማታ ሰላምታ ይሰጣል፡፡ ቢያውቀውም ባያውቀውም ካገኝው ሁል ጋር ማታ ይስቃል፡፡ ቢውቀውም ባያውቀውም የሰላምታው አይነት እንደ ወታደር ወይም እንደ ሲቪል ቢሆን ለእርሱ እንደተመቸው ነው፡፡ ከሰላምታው ጋር ድምጥ ትሰማለችሁ፡፡ ከአፉ ከሚወጣው ከሚወጣው ግን አንድ ቃል መለየት አትችሉም፡፡›› …
እያለ እያለ ይቀጥላል::
ለማንኛውም፤ በኢትዮጵያ የመጀመሪያው እና ፈር ቀዳጅ አጭር ልብ ወለድ (አስፋው ዳምጤ ፣ ዘሪሁን አስፋው…) የሆነውን “የጉለሌው ሰካራምን” በብሎጋችን እነሆ ብለናል፡፡ እዝች ላይ ጣ ያድርጉ:: ጣ ስላደረጉም “ምድርን እንደ ስጋጃ ሰማይን እንደ መጋረጃ” የዘረጋ አምላክ ውለታውን ይክፈልልኝ::
