Freedom of speech suffers in tense Ethiopia

For critics, the mass arrest of the journalists, opposition leaders, and social activists, and their ongoing trials are seen more as a vendetta against an opposition movement that was finally starting to chip away at the ruling party's 14-year reign of power.

Temesgen Zewdie, one of 70 CUD members to take a seat in parliament, says that the opposition voice is needed at this time, with a Somali war approaching, but he adds that the government continues to treat CUD members as enemies. "They can charge us with treason, saying that we are aligned with criminal groups, but we are not allowed to go onto public [state-owned] media to defend ourselves," says Mr. Zewdie.

Journalists also complain about government interference and harassment, and dozens of working journalists in Addis Ababa told the Monitor about being beaten or detained on charges of inciting opposition mobs to violence. But newspaper editor Amare Aregawi says that the violence comes from both sides, from shadowy elements within the opposition movement as well as within the government.

"You have the government restricting you, and you have the opposition parties threatening you, and not just that, but we in the press were part of the racism, creating an atmosphere of intolerance," says Mr. Aregawi, editor-in-chief of The Reporter newspaper in Addis Ababa. "Yes, we are not going to forget what happened in Rwanda, but can you solve it in a better way, without throwing journalists and politicians in jail?"

Some observers say that today's intolerance is rooted in a know-it-all culture of Ethiopia's student youth movement in the 1970s, with both opposition leaders and the ruling party seeing things in black and white, good and evil terms.

"It's always that 'you're either with us or you're against us' mentality in Ethiopian politics, on both sides," says a local newspaper editor, speaking on condition of anonymity.

With both the opposition and the government issuing threats against perceived enemies, Addis Ababa has become a no-politics zone. Even comedians say they have had to change their material.

Hibest Asseifa, Ethiopia's only woman standup comedian, was one of a dozen comedians who performed on a best selling video CD that played in sold-out halls during the election time. Colleagues who told political jokes – almost entirely pro-CUD – have now fled the country. Even Ms. Asseifa, who sticks to relatively safe jokes about children and issues of class, has been physically assaulted for her humor.

Now, Asseifa is trying to come up with jokes for a new show this December at the Hilton Hotel. The hotel management has told her to avoid jokes about race and politics. "Generally, I don't do ethnic humor," says Hibest. "But now that they say to avoid it, I can't think of any other kinds of jokes."

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