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Ethiopian government and ruling party
officials intimidated voters and unlawfully restricted the media ahead
of the May 23, 2010 parliamentary elections, Human Rights Watch said
today.
In assessing the polls, international election observers should
address the repressive legal and administrative measures that the
Ethiopian ruling party used to restrict freedom of expression during
the election campaign, Human Rights Watch said.
"Behind an orderly facade, the government pressured, intimidated and
threatened Ethiopian voters," said Rona Peligal, acting Africa director
at Human Rights Watch. "Whatever the results, the most salient feature
of this election was the months of repression preceding it."
In the weeks leading up to the polls, Human Rights Watch documented
new methods used by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) to intimidate voters in the capital, Addis
Ababa, apparently because of government concerns of a low electoral
turnout.
During April and May, officials and militia (known as tataqi
in Amharic) from the local administration went house to house telling
citizens to register to vote and to vote for the ruling party or face
reprisals from local party officials such as bureaucratic harassment or
even losing their homes or jobs.
The May poll was the first national parliamentary election in
Ethiopia since the government violently suppressed post-election
protests in 2005; almost 200 people, including several police officers,
died after the 2005 poll and tens of thousands of people were arrested,
including opposition leaders, journalists and civil society activists.
In a March 2010 report, "'One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure': Violations of Freedom of Expression and Association in Ethiopia,"
Human Rights Watch described the complex and multi-faceted way in which
the government has sought since 2005 to silence dissent, restrict the
media and independent civil society, and leverage government resources
such as civil service jobs, loans, food assistance and educational
opportunities to encourage citizens to join the ruling party or leave
the opposition.
The government's efforts to ensure the election outcome continued
right up to polling day in Addis Ababa, according to Human Rights
Watch's research in different areas of the capital, including in
Merkato, Piazza, Wollo Sefer, Meskel Flower, Aya Ulet, Kera, Gotera,
Hayat, Kotebe-CMC and Bole neighborhoods.
"Intimidation to register and to vote for the ruling party is
everywhere," a resident of Addis Ababa told Human Rights Watch. "If the
local administration is against you, they'll be after you forever. They
can come and round you up at will."
Residents of Addis Ababa described numerous forms of intimidation in Addis Ababa in recent weeks.
Pressure to Register to Vote
Many people told Human Rights Watch that tataqi, local kebele
(or neighborhood) militia members came house-to-house asking to see
registration cards and checking if people were members of the ruling
EPRDF party.
A couple living in the Meskel Flower area said they were visited on
a weekly basis by members of the neighborhood militia who were checking
whether they were registered as EPRDF members. The wife told Human
Rights Watch: "One of them approached my husband. 'We know who you
are,' he told him. 'If you don't want to register, no problem, but then
don't come to the sub-kebele and ask for your ID renewal, or for any
other legal paper. We won't help you. It's up to you, now." The
following day the couple registered.
Pressure to Join the Ruling Party When Registering
Different sources across the capital confirmed to Human Rights Watch
that alongside registration, voters were requested to sign a paper,
under a heading "Supporter of EPRDF," that included ID number, age, and
address.
An Addis Ababa resident said, "There's a lot of pressure for you to
obey. They have your name, they ask you to sign. If you don't, it means
you're against them. And they can come back to you whenever they want.
At the end of the day, you just have to do what they force you to do."
Pressure to Vote for the Ruling Party
Pressure to vote for the EPRDF appeared to take a number of different
forms. Pressure was particularly acute among civil servants, people
living in government-owned housing, and those living in poor
neighborhoods.
An elderly resident living in state-owned housing said local
government officials visited her house a few weeks before the elections
asking to see her registration card. She said they wrote down her house
number and told her, "We are going to check. And don't forget to vote
for EPRDF. We provide you the house, we can have it back." She said
that she was frightened by the threat and registered even though she
had not intended to vote.
Civil servants are particularly pressured to vote for EPRDF, saying
that ruling party officials remind them that it is the EPRDF government
that employs them. Patterns of intimidation of teachers and others that
were recently documented in Addis Ababa echo the examples previously
documented across the country by Human Rights Watch in "'One Hundred
Ways Putting Pressure'." For example, a teacher in a public school in
Addis Ababa said: "A few weeks ago my headmaster called us all. He
asked us to show him our registration cards. He wanted to know whom we
were going to vote for as well. I refused. He harassed me and said,
'You better get your card, and vote properly, otherwise after the
elections you might lose your job.'"
Residents also described an EPRDF pyramid recruitment strategy called One-for-Five. A coordinator (ternafi) had to identify five recruits or fellow voters (teternafiwoch)
among family members, friends, colleagues or neighbors. Coordinators
then tried to compel their five signers to go to the polling stations
and vote all together.
A woman in Aya Ulet area said, "A neighbor came to me. He said: 'I
know you voted for the opposition last time. Are you going to vote for
them again? Do I have to report it to the kebele?' I am a civil
servant; I know that party officials and local administrators are the
same thing. For fear of losing my job, the next morning I went to his
place and signed."
Pressure on the Media and Foreign Diplomats
Simultaneous with the increased pressure on voters, in the weeks before
the polls the Ethiopian government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi acted
to restrict electoral scrutiny by independent media and foreign
diplomats.
The government issued several codes of conduct covering media and
diplomatic activity. Initial drafts of the media regulation restricted
foreign and local journalists from even speaking to anyone involved in
the election process, including voters on election day, in violation of
the right to freedom of expression. Several journalists in different
countries told Human Rights Watch that when they applied for media
visas to cover the elections, they were extensively questioned by
Ethiopian embassy diplomats.
The government told Embassy staff they needed travel permits for any movement outside of Addis Ababa between May 10 to June 20.
"The government has used a variety of methods to strong-arm voters
and try to hide the truth from journalists and diplomats," said
Peligal. "Donor governments need to show that they recognize that these
polls were multi-party theater staged by a single-party state."
Repressive Context of the Elections
Since 2005, Human Rights Watch has documented patterns of serious human
rights violations by the Ethiopian government. Members of the security
forces and government officials have been implicated in numerous war
crimes and crimes against humanity both within Ethiopia and in
neighboring Somalia. The pervasive intimidation of voters and
restrictions on movement and reporting are serious concerns for the
integrity of the electoral process, but represent only one aspect of
the Ethiopian ruling party's long-term effort to consolidate control.
The EPRDF's main instrument for stamping out potential dissent is the local administrative (kebele)
structure, which monitors households and can restrict access to
important government programs, including seeds and fertilizer,
micro-loans and business permits, all depending on support for the
local administration and the ruling party.
Since 2008 the government has also passed new laws to clamp down on independent civil society and the media.
The Charities and Societies Proclamation restricts Ethiopian
nongovernmental organizations from doing any human rights work,
including in the areas of women's and children's rights, if they
receive more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources.
Since the law's adoption in 2009, the leading Ethiopian human rights
groups have closed most of their offices, scaled down their staff, and
removed human rights advocacy from their mandates. The new regulatory
agency established by the Charities and Societies Proclamation froze
the bank accounts of the largest independent human rights group, the
Ethiopian Human Rights Council. At least six of Ethiopia's most
prominent human rights activists fled the country in 2009.
Another law, the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, has also been used to
threaten with prosecution human rights activists and journalists for
any acts deemed to be terrorism under the law's broad and vague definition of the term.
Several journalists also fled in 2009, including the editors of a
prominent independent Amharic newspaper, and in February 2010 Prime
Minister Meles acknowledged that the government was jamming Voice of
America radio broadcasts.
Human Rights Watch urged the international election observer teams
from the European Union and the African Union to take into account in
their public reporting the insidious apparatus of control and the
months of repression that frame the 2010 polls.
Ethiopia is heavily dependent on foreign assistance, which accounts
for approximately one-third of government spending. The country's
principal foreign donors - the United States, the
United Kingdom, and the European Union, which provide more than US$2
billion annually in humanitarian and development aid, - were timid in
their criticisms of Ethiopia's deteriorating human rights situation
ahead of the election.
Human Rights Watch called on the principle donors and other
concerned governments to publicly condemn political repression in
Ethiopia and to review policy towards Ethiopia in light of its
deteriorating human rights record.
"Ethiopia is an authoritarian state in which the government's
commitment to democracy exists only on paper," said Peligal. "The
question is not who won these elections, but how can donors justify
business as usual with this increasingly repressive government?"
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
"No other retailer in U.S. history has come anywhere close to such enrichment at public expense," asserted one opponent of the nine-figure subsidy.
Opponents of a contentious $1 billion subsidy for online retail behemoth Amazon's data centers in Oregon on Friday decried what one critic called "corporate welfare" for a company that raked in more than a half a trillion dollars in revenue last year.
Amazon already has four data centers in Morrow County, Oregon and plans on building six more Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-computing facilities there. Earlier this month, Port of Morrow commissioners approved tax breaks for Amazon with an estimated value of $1 billion.
"With this new award, we now know of $6.1 billion in subsidies given to Amazon in the United States alone," said Kasia Tarczynska, a senior analyst at the public interest watchdog Good Jobs First. "No other retailer in U.S. history has come anywhere close to such enrichment at public expense."
\u201cAmazon gets a $1 billion corporate welfare payment for AWS data centers in rural Oregon, with residents getting one day's notice before the vote. https://t.co/4r0UzGAM7x\u201d— David Dayen (@David Dayen) 1684516422
While local officials hope the incentives will secure $12 in billion new investment by Amazon in the remote county on the Columbia River about 185 miles east of Portland, opponents bristled when residents were given just one day's notice before the final commission vote.
Oregonians are also angered by Amazon's efforts to fight proposed state legislation that would compel data centers to use clean energy.
In a statement following the commission's vote, Amazon said that "we've been an active member of eastern Oregon communities since 2011, investing more than $15.6 billion while supporting thousands of local jobs."
"Investments like these create and support high-paying, highly skilled jobs in local communities, and projects that benefit local education, healthcare, public services, and more," the company added.
Common Dreamsreported last year that Amazon dodged $5.2 billion in federal corporate taxes in 2021 while paying an effective tax rate of 6%, far lower than the statutory 21%.
\u201cAmazon made $514 billion in 2022.\n\nWe can\u2019t believe we need to say this, but here goes: Amazon. does. not. need. tax. breaks.\n\nhttps://t.co/bAvzbQTWXD\u201d— Patriotic Millionaires (@Patriotic Millionaires) 1684005900
Good Jobs First executive director Greg LeRoy said Friday that "in a 2016 study looking at major internet companies and their data center subsidies, we found a cost per job of almost $2 million."
"The AWS grab in Morrow could be several times that," he added. "At these obscene costs, the only clear outcome is a massive transfer of wealth from Oregon taxpayers to Amazon shareholders."
As Good Jobs First argued: "Oregonians should not pay Amazon to do what it would do anyway."
"The BLET is currently working to secure similar sick leave agreements with the other Class 1 railroads," said the union's national president, "and I hope this settlement will help bring those negotiations to a positive conclusion."
A leading railroad workers' union this week struck a landmark deal with industry giant Norfolk Southern to provide more than 3,300 employees up to seven days of paid sick leave each year.
"This is a big day for the BLET," declared Scott Bunten, a Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen general chairman. "Our members are the heart of the railroad, and this agreement is a major win in our tireless efforts to improve the quality of their experience on and off the job."
Similarly describing the union's engineers as "the hardest-working folks on the railroad," fellow BLET chairman Jerry Sturdivant said the agreement "recognizes the critical contributions our members make to keep the railroad and the American economy running."
Under the deal, Norfolk Southern engineers will get five paid sick days annually, plus they will be able to use up to two additional days of existing paid time off as sick leave. The new policy will take effect once union members ratify an accompanying quality-of-life agreement, which they are expected to vote on within the next month.
\u201cThe Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and Norfolk Southern Corporation announced Thursday that they have reached an agreement to provide up to seven paid sick days per year to BLET members. \n\nRead the full story: https://t.co/lsuG4IACyw\u201d— Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (@Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen) 1684442616
"We are proud to be the first to have reached a paid sick leave agreement for our dedicated BLET membership," said Dewayne Dehart, another union general chairman. "This trailblazing new deal ensures that engineers finally have access to the time they need and deserve to manage their personal well-being."
Although Norfolk Southern president and CEO Alan Shaw refused to commit to seven paid sick days for all employees while testifying before Congress in March, this week he also highlighted the historic nature of the new agreement, saying it "continues our industry-leading effort to enhance quality of life as we become the first railroad to reach an engineer sick leave deal."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/norfolk-southern...
According to a joint statement from the company and union, "With this agreement, almost all Norfolk Southern craft employees—approximately 98%—have entered into paid sick leave deals."
As The Associated Pressreported:
This deal follows the model established by the conductors union in its first sick-time deals with Norfolk Southern and CSX. Those train crew workers are getting better deals, with five days of sick time, than the other smaller rail unions that received four days of sick time. But train crews work much more unpredictable and demanding schedules than other rail workers.
The railroads have also agreed to pay workers for any unused sick time at the end of the year.
"The BLET is currently working to secure similar sick leave agreements with the other Class 1 railroads," said Eddie Hall, the union's national president, "and I hope this settlement will help bring those negotiations to a positive conclusion."
Railroad employees and their unions have generated national discussions about paid leave over the past year. In December, President Joe Biden signed related legislation—which blocked a looming strike and forced through a White House-brokered agreement that did not include any paid sick leave—while ignoring calls for an executive order guaranteeing rail workers sick days.
Since then, Norfolk Southern has become a household name, and federal lawmakers have proposed rail safety reforms, in the wake of a company train that carried hazardous materials derailing in East Palestine, Ohio—near the Pennsylvania border—in February.
The new deal comes as paid sick leave advocates on Capitol Hill renew their push for national legislation. Joined by leaders from nursing and railway unions on Wednesday, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) along with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced the Healthy Families Act (HFA) and the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act.
Mike Baldwin, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, said that "the BRS would like to thank those members of Congress who support paid sick leave. Rail workers were deemed essential during the pandemic. They came to work sick because they didn't want to miss a day's pay, or worse be disciplined for their absence."
"This legislation is important to rail workers," Baldwin added of the HFA. "It is an essential need, and it isn't just a frivolous want."
"We don't need to give in to Republican extortion or default," the House progressives asserted. "The Constitution grants the president another option."
After GOP House negotiators bailed on U.S. debt ceiling talks on Friday, around two-thirds of the Congressional Progressive Caucus urged President Joe Biden to "invoke his constitutional authority granted in the 14th Amendment" in order "to end Republican hostage-taking of the economy that could trigger a financial catastrophe."
Led by Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Deputy Chair Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Whip Greg Casar (D-Texas), 66 CPC members sent Biden a letter noting the "unremitting efforts by congressional Republicans to hold the economic health of our nation hostage," and calling on him to "fulfill the executive's constitutional duty to faithfully and impartially administer the funds already enacted by law at the direction of Congress."
The letter—which follows a similar call from some Senate Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—cites Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which states that "the validity of the public debt of the United States... shall not be questioned."
Biden said earlier this month that he has been "considering" invoking the 14th Amendment, "but the problem is, it would have to be litigated," and "I don't think that solves our problem now."
\u201cNEW: 66 CPC members are calling on @POTUS to prepare all possible measures, including invoking the 14th Amendment, to protect our economy.\n\nWe don't need to give into Republican extortion or default. The Constitution grants the President another option.\nhttps://t.co/qriXLfepBi\u201d— Progressive Caucus (@Progressive Caucus) 1684528145
"Congressional Republicans who now refuse to pass a clean debt ceiling increase voted on three separate occasions under President [Donald] Trump to raise the debt ceiling without any preconditions or extraneous, harmful policies attached," the lawmakers noted. "They now threaten the full faith and credit of the United States, which Treasury Secretary [Janet] Yellen warned would 'produce an economic and financial catastrophe' and could occur as soon as June 1."
The letter points out that although House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) "stated that 'the greatest threat to our future is our national debt,' he led House Republicans in passing the 'Limit, Save, Grow Act,' which rescinds funding for [Internal Revenue Service] enforcement against tax evasion by wealthy individuals, which would increase the deficit by nearly $500 billion over the next 10 years."
"Republicans—who in 2017 voted unanimously to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that increased the federal deficit by $1.9 trillion over 10 years, with 83% of the law's benefits estimated to accrue to the richest 1% by 2027—also rejected commonsense proposals offered by your negotiators to close tax loopholes and raise revenue in the current budget discussions," the progressives added.
\u201cBREAKING: 60+ of us @USProgressives are calling on @POTUS to follow his constitutional responsibilities and end the Republican default crisis.\n\nWe should not let right-wing extremists risk the livelihoods of millions just to give further tax cuts to their corporate donors.\u201d— Congressman Greg Casar (@Congressman Greg Casar) 1684526306
The letter continues:
We believe that relenting to Congressional Republicans' economic ransom and negotiating on devastating budget cuts, additional work requirements for essential food and economic support, and fast-tracking fossil fuel projects that undermine our shared climate achievements is antithetical to our shared Democratic values. Surrendering to these extremist demands also sets a dangerous precedent that emboldens Republicans to pursue additional, anti-democratic hostage-taking, particularly after having been told previously that a clean debt ceiling increase was nonnegotiable.
GOP leaders insist that any debt ceiling deal would have to come with cuts to social safety net programs, and Biden has signaled his openness to considering some reductions. The CPC letter warns that the Republican framework could take jobs from 780,000 people; nutrition assistance from 1.2 million women, infants, and children; Medicaid coverage from up to 21 million Americans; rental assistance from 640,000 families; and more.
"If the options are either agreeing to major cuts to domestic priorities under the Republican threat of destroying the economy and moving forward to honor America's debts, we join prominent legal scholars, economists, former budget officials, and a former president in advocating for invoking the 14th Amendment of the Constitution," the progressives wrote.
"Not only does the debt ceiling run counter to the Constitution's mandate that the validity of America's public debt shall not be questioned," their letter adds, "it contradicts the appropriations law that requires the Treasury to issue debt for the funding you are obligated to administer at Congress' direction."