Everyone has a right and freedom of thought expression and all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment for practicing its own right. And this is the universal declaration of human rights which belongs to all Human kind.
Freedom of speech and the right of people to express their opinions publicly without governmental interference is essential to stand against tyranny and oppression like the regime in Ethiopia.
The main reason for the suppression and shutting down the independent media publications,and arresting journalistes charging with terrorism by Ethiopia's government is that to unenlightened and deluded the socity from whats going on and so that the tyranny can stay in the power for so long.
In a 96 million poplulation in Ethiopia the network penetration rate is 0.4% and the government refused to permit any privatization of the telecommunications market. Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) is the sole Internet service provider (ISP) in the country owned by the gov't. Their is only one Television channel owned by the government "ETV" which is mouth of the gov't. In 2012 the Ethiopian government made it illegal to use VoIP services like Skype with a 15 year jail penalty.
The Ethiopian government is engaged in extensive surveillance of Internet users both inside and outside Ethiopia. In August 2012 Ethiopia was included on a list of 10 countries that own the commercial spyware suite FinFisher.The government agency involved in surveillance and content blocking.
Even though all the narrow possibilities of using internet and medias for comminications, exchanging informations through and between society's, bloggers and online journalists in Ethiopia were playing an important role in offering alternative news sources and venues for political dialogue. Yet broad application of the country’s since 2009 anti-terrorism proclamation has served as the basis for many number of recent convictions with bloggers and journalists convicted on terrorism charges based on their online and offline writings. Ethiopia ranks 142 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders' 2015 Press Freedom Index. The challenging press landscape has compelled at least 60 journalists to flee the country since 2010, according to Human Rights Watch. Though they are aware of the conditions and the punishement they will get , Zone 9 bloggers continued being a source and motivation to the society because they understood the value of information and its impact of enlightenment for a change. They said that "WE BLOGG BECAUSE WE CARE".
Since they are being arrested and charged with terrorism action the case has sparked across the country and by the diaspora for a press freedom movement that advocates hope will highlight concerns about Ethiopia's alleged crackdown on journalists and opposition voices.
And the government is saying to us "here i come" the fifth national election on 24 may 2015 where there is One-way communication from the government to the people-which is "order" , no way from the people to the government and where the people have no choice to give their own voice to whom they choose but forced to elect (one way or another a matter of servival )the existance regime that has been in the power for 23 years with gun power.
In my opinion we can be voice for the voiceless , for those who have been denied their rights, there is much more things we can write, do and say to expose the regime in Ethiopia even though the out come is not that much satisfactory but we still can press and make impact for the change and bring revolution.
Show your support for better Ethiopia!
Daniel