Ethiopian Diaspora Leadership: Why do we have to shame you first before we shame the world?

Please quit wasting time and energy on professional politicians and get to the real work of shouting in the world’s face about Amhara Genocide—the right way.

I’m sure that to no one’s great surprise, least of all my own, my phone didn’t blow up and ring and ring after I spoke to this year’s Amhara Diaspora Global Conference.

Don’t get me wrong—I got a kinder response than I expected, especially after literally telling those attending and listening from afar, “You suck.” I swore. I ranted. I did all but jump up and down. Berhanemeskel Nega characterized my speech as “passionate” the moment I finished, and yes, I very much did the speech as a performance. Deliberately. I’m told that it got one of the biggest rounds of applause at the event, although I couldn’t hear it through the Zoom hook-up.

But it’s clear by now that I obviously failed in my mission. And I’m still failing.

I tweeted on Monday: “… The best response would be if you urge the leadership of the different groups to take my advice: Adopt a more professional media strategy and get serious on publicity tactics! NOW!”

And I followed that up with: “A protest letter is not a media strategy. Nor is tagging UN idiots who already hate you. Just having a demo is not news. Get mad! Get creative! I have a media strategy and new activist tactics in mind, developed with smart people but we need leadership to LISTEN and follow through!”

The first tweet now has more than 10,000 views. Big deal. Because the only measure of success is if you actually fucking do something.

And if it sounds like I’m complaining too early for a response, consider that I’m writing as a very convenient fire, swept through the Merkato in Addis, destroying businesses and homes. There’s no time to waste as the drone strikes continue on Amhara civilians.

I am not taking it personally that I don’t get called, but I see no signs that any of the diaspora leadership is taking my message to heart. If even one of them in the U.S. or Europe called me up and asked, “What did you have in mind?” that would be a start.

There is only one individual in a position of influence who truly gets it, who’s pushed for a new unity of diaspora messaging and rallying of Habesha intellectuals who can set the fresh tone, and we’ve already talked. I’m still waiting for the others. So, I say again:

You are not going to fix this through hiring an outside PR or communications firm. Please don’t throw your money away.

You are not going to fix this by doing the same crap over and over again.

I don’t want or like to repeat myself, but as I said in my address, no one will take you seriously until you stop these bush-league, amateur hour tactics and get real.

My gawd! How could you stand listening to those politicians who were invited? Blathering on about how their kids played with a neighbor’s diaspora kids and empty platitudes about family, and the urging of all of you to vote—their agenda! Their goals! Their timetable! Do you honestly think that after November 5, one of these guys will move into his new office in Congress and say, “First thing we got to do is talk to Kamala (or Cheeto Head).” Really?

If Amhara Genocide is a genuine priority for them, why do you have to wait until November 5 for something decisive to be accomplished?

The best thing anyone could have done was to invite local reporters to come down and promise them that someone would make a scene. Ambush them with the very rude questions of “If you value us so much, why are we only hearing from you now? What can you tangibly do that will make a difference and save lives?”

You didn’t even have to interrupt or be rude. Your questions are legitimate. But you could have made the news in a significant way, and you blew it.

An Australian senator shouted at Britain’s King Charles, and it made news around the world.

Doesn’t matter whether she’s right or even had her facts correct, the mainstream media ate it up, and we’re still hearing about it hours later.

How much clearer can I make it for how the game is played?

The senators and representatives in Congress and the Foreign Affairs policy wonks in London will keep patting you on the head every time you manage to get a sit-down with them because there is no pressure on them to do anything.

There is still no one with the proper combination of ethics, historical knowledge, and professional experience reporting from the region on what is going on inside the country. As every journalist is bottled up in Addis, nothing much of substance can come from inside for now, but with the right funding and commitment, I know of at least two reporters who would race off to do what they can to get the story out. You know how I know this? Because I’m one of them.

You, the leaders of the Amhara diaspora, why do we have to shame you to back us up and help us go do our jobs?

Why do we have to shame you first before we shame the world?

The Palestinians got their story out because the Western media needed them, and the horror became so massive, they risked looking culpable, not to mention ridiculous. But many Palestinian journalists died to get the truth out. The dynamics are different with the Amhara Genocide and wider Abiy repression, but the fundamentals of waking up the world are the same:

You need proper, professional reporting of the situation on the ground. You then leverage everything else against that. With every report of what’s going on, your protest and awareness infrastructure snaps into action to spread the word. And there is no constructive lobbying behind closed doors without the relentless pressure on politicians that they will look stupid, lacking in compassion, weak unless they take action the way you demand it.

Without properly shot, high-resolution video and proper reporting for context, without the revelations of what’s happening, there is no point to a bunch of tents on a university campus or a publicity stunt that can gain headlines. One feeds the other. And in turn, the protests work to leverage closed-door lobbying.

This is not fucking rocket science, guys. But there is a methodology, a creativity and a common sense to it.

It’s no coincidence, as I said in my speech, that Reuters ran a contemptible “let’s misremember the fake famine” article last week. The TPLF and its cult of psychotic zealots hate attention going elsewhere. The faintest of interest from the West in Amhara Genocide has spooked them. But instead of finally maturing in approach to media and communications, you’re blowing it.

Which is also why I don’t spell out tactics or offer more details on a proper strategy.

Make no mistake that in our modern world with goldfish bowl attention spans, we must sell the rest of the world on what is going on. As a cause, our foot is nowhere near getting in the door because those planning our route can’t even tell you where the damn door is!

At the end of the excoriating, profanity-laced monologue that Alec Baldwin’s character gives in Glengarry Glen Ross, he holds up a stack of pink index cards, taunting the pathetic over-the-hill real estate agents, and he tells them, “These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. And to you, they're gold. And you don’t get them. Why? Because to give them to you is just throwing them away.”

I thought a speech last Sunday that was rough but not too nasty, one that fired up people, could provoke action, but I was wrong, so now I have to try nagging.

And here I am, with a stack of leads—waiting—as do others. But I don’t even have to lock them up in an office like the real estate cards in the movie.

Because the leaders of the Amhara Diaspora have yet to figure out they’re still banging on doors that will stay closed to them until they change their tired old pitch. Until they invite some new, young thinkers and innovators.

When will that finally happen? I wonder. And I check my phone and DMs. And wait. As do the rest of us who want to help but keep getting the runaround.