Every five years the Ethiopian people are invited by the ruling party to take part in a democratic pantomime called ‘General Elections’. Sunday 24th May saw the latest production take to the national stage...
Dalit Women and Village Justice in Rural India
The vast majority of India’s 1.3 billion people live in its 630,000 villages. They have seen little or no benefit from the country’s economic growth; over 80% do not have ‘approved sanitation’...
A Lost Opportunity for Change : The UK Lurches Further to the Right
Friday 8th May, we woke to the depressing news that the Conservative party led by David Cameron had been re-elected as the UK national government. Depressing unless you’re living in a house worth £2 million or more – and didn’t want to pay higher property tax that is...
Suppressed at Home, Neglected Abroad: Ethiopian Migrants
The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens from harm, at home and abroad – no matter who they are, or where they are. This is the primary moral and constitutional responsibility of the EPRDF government of Ethiopia, which, as with a vast array of such obligations, they fail to meet, or even acknowledge...
The Pain of Modern life: Suicide – a Worldwide Epidemic
A friend recently asked to meet for coffee. ‘I’ve had some more bad news,’ his text said. A ‘fifty something’ year old friend had taken his own life the day before. Jack had hanged himself from a tree in a public park on the outskirts of London; it was his fourth attempt...
Desperate People, Hazardous Escapes: Libya to Italy in Search of Freedom
Besieged by civil war, poverty and violent repression, huge numbers of people are risking their lives making the hazardous journey from Tripoli or Benghazi across the Mediterranean to Italy. Crammed into unsafe, poorly maintained vessels,...
Democracy: A Social Contract for United Action – European Parliament Talk April 2015
Democracy is founded on principles of freedom, justice, social inclusion and participation in civil society. Where these qualities of fairness are absent so too is democracy...
Andergachew Tsige, Ethiopian Brutality, British Apathy
On 23rd June 2014 Andergachew Tsige was illegally detained at Sana’a airport in Yemen whilst travelling from Dubai to Eritrea on his British passport. He was swiftly handed over to the Ethiopian authorities, who had for years posted his name at the top of the regime’s most wanted list...
Is violent change inevitable in Ethiopia?
As the Ethiopian government intensifies its violent suppression of the populace in the lead up to the illusion of national elections in May, there are many within the country and the diaspora who believe a popular armed uprising is the only way to bring about change in the country...
Hope and Wonder Amidst the Misery
A friend’s five year old daughter recently asked him to ‘turn off the radio news’ because its ‘always so miserable’ – is anyone else sick and tired of reading and hearing continuously disturbing, depressing news items? I know I am...
graham peebles 