Counter-terrorism in Ethiopia: manufacturing insecurity, monopolizing speech

Abstract

For nearly three decades, Ethiopia's current ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has maintained its power through a highly centralized, vanguard party system. Recently, the Ethiopian government has extensively used the provisions of the Ethiopian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (EATP) to prosecute several Ethiopian citizens and organizations that are critical of the ruling party. By framing the adoption and execution of the EATP as an outcome of EPRDF's long-term hegemonic project coalesced in neopatrimonialism, this paper demonstrates how the Ethiopian State has created a rationallegal bureaucracy that exploits terrorism narratives to stifle critical speech on digital as well as traditional media. The result is the making of an online public that is unsure of what could be considered as a "terrorist" message as opposed to "normal" speech, who, in an attempt to not take the risk altogether, may avoid participating in political discourse. While the disbandment of the neopatrimonial order is key in dislodging Ethiopia's legislative bottlenecks to civic liberties, a more urgent task calls for a move toward participatory, inclusive, and equitable Internet policy framework.

Kitekintés a terrorizmus definiálásának problémájára a tudományos kutatásokban

“…Hagyni kell, hogy a jogalkalmazó tartalommal tölthesse ki az új fogalmat és azt bővítse akár értelmezéssel, akár jogesetek révén. A definiáló hatásnál a már említett politikai szektornak van jogot meghatározó szerepe, melynél különösen figyelni kell arra, hogy a politika ne saját céljaira használja fel a terrorizmus elleni harcot, és emiatt a megalkotott büntetőjogi fogalom ne legyen túlságosan emberi jogot korlátozó és politikai célokra -akár politikai ellenfelek, újságírók ellen 4 -felhasználható (Workneh, 2019), hanem szakmailag megalapozott és kizárólag a büntetőjogi elveknek feleljen meg.…”

Overseas media, homeland audiences: examining determinants of newsmaking in Deutsche Welle’s Amharic Service

“…Except for a brief period of press freedom toward the beginning of the 1990s, EPRDF’s rule between 1991 and 2018 brought about a hostile environment for the free press. Although FDRE’s progressive constitutional provisions guarantee civil liberties, draconian legal frameworks such as the Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation and the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation were extensively used to criminalize journalists (Ross, 2009; Workneh, 2019).…”

“… 2. For more on the significance of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom, and Democracy (Ginbot 7) in Ethiopian politics, see Workneh (2019). …”