September 28, 2006
Where are the pro-government bloggers?
A guy called chubby just left this comment:
hey, i was just wondering are there any pro-meles or government websites? all i can find is one sided against the gov't, would like to see the other side...
There are pro-government websites a plenty - try the Hmbasha Commentary Page or The Ethiopian Herald or the Walta Information Service.
As far as I can tell, however, there are no pro-government blogs (this one is neither pro nor anti). I just had to add the following paragraph to balance out the latest Ethio blog round-up on GlobalVoices (this one about diaspora bloggers pushing for the US Congress to pass House Resolution 5680 - the ‘Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006′):
The political debate in Ethiopia's blogosphere is dominated by anti-government voices. No posts arguing the government's case turned up in a search of Technorati and other sources.
Personally, I think that is a shame. Sometimes the one-sided commentary gets a bit over-powering. Take the story 'Breaking News:Thousands of Soldiers swarm the Meskel square as revolutionary spirit engulfs Addis' on seminawork.
All I can say is that I must be living in a different Addis. There were lots of riot police and a handful of stone-throwers (far fewer than last year). But as for a "revolutionary spirit engulfing Addis" - all I was able to detect from the people I spoke to was a general desire to keep their heads down and celebrate Meskel. The Middle East Times summed up the non-story best with the headline Ethiopia religious holiday unusually quiet.
UPDATE: A rare pro-EPRDF blog has been found. mechachal yichalal is a blog set up to "maybe help heal our peoples animosity towards one another based on political (ethnical) differences. It is hoped that ideas posted here will concentrate on the economical and social well being of Ethiopia" The author writes in the comments below
I started the blog at the height of the 2005 elections and now it takes too much effort to update it. As you can see, the page has not been updated since April '06.
Posted by aheavens at September 28, 2006 5:15 AM