Behind the Accusations of ‘OAKLAND INSTITUTE’                                                                                                   Hailu Fantaye 08/25/13 Recently Aiga forum, citing the FDRE ministry of foreign affairs, have posted an article that states neo-liberal fanatic institution by the name of Oakland institute has been spewing unsubstantiated rumors and claims on Gibe III hydro electric project. This foreign ministry statement which mentioned the famed scientist’s Albert Einstein quote ‘crazy is continually finding the same results by doing it the same way repeatedly’,  it claimed whether its ‘Oakland Institute’, ‘Humans right watch’ or other ideology demagogues operating under the guise of human rights protection, they have  a panache of propagating repeated, albeit contradicting reports. The statement further states that these institutions have not accepted and had even disregarded a correct assessment earlier made, by a taskforce comprised from American and British developmental partners (DAG), through surveying the location. These neo liberal fanatics be it an institution by the name of Oakland institute or others, decided to parrot their made –up lies and stories from their arm chair through their remote control instead of accepting the fact that the January 2012 report put out; after going to the place in question three times, by local developmental organizations like the American development partner USAID and the British development associate DfID, that attested to the fact that there were no human right violations committed. But, these forces insist upon imposing their lies at will without presenting any substantial proof or even going to the location. It’s helpful and vital here to ask what’s the real reason behind Oakland institute’s Successive bogus accusations; because it’s the objective of this article to shade light on Oakland institute and similar would-be human right protection organizations doctrinal campaign of waging bogus and unsubstantial claims on targeted countries. As it’s known with regards to the Gibe III hydro –electrical Dam construction project, there were no shortages of subversion campaign waged by these political entities like ‘Humans rights watch’, ‘International crisis group’, ‘Amnesty international’, ‘friends of Lake Turkana’, ‘Oakland institute’ and so forth. It’s a well known issue that their repetitive and tedious reports suffer from lack of truth and researched facts. They publish these kinds of proof-laden and unreached reports still thinking the antique ‘repeat a lie often enough and it will be believed’ approach works. So, it’s vital to probe in to the motives behind the successive accusation thrown by Oakland institute. This project, in which 70% of the construction is completed, has the potential of generating 1870 mega watts of electrical power and is part of the country’s grand scheme of taping its enormous water resource. Be that as it may, it has always been a target by the likes of Oakland institute since the days of its conception– although it doesn’t have the capability to undermine both Ethiopia and Kenya. The dam is built on the Omo River basin, on an agreement striked by both Ethiopia and Kenya that it will be built on a principle of mutual benefit. Although Omo River flows into Lake Turkana, the dam which is being built on the river will have no adverse effect on both the lake and the Ethiopian Turkanas and Nyangatoms who live there, unlike what the Oakland institute spewed. Instead different reliable studies have shown that the construction not only benefits the local people and the lake but also helps further strengthen both countries relationship. The institutes may have tried to hit a chord by claiming that ‘the Gilgel gibe III project will have a negative impact on the local people’, but the reality in the ground differ from this. Instead the positive impact the construction has on the local people and the environment is immense. To name a few of those beneficial impacts; the project will provide the indigenous people different environmental and ecological niches to enable them benefit from fishery development in parallel with cattle herding; also the people will have the opportunity to use the river water for small scale irrigation development, in top of creating an opportunity for robust business investment climate and infrastructures like schools, hospitals, roads etc…   In addition, since the project will allow the people to have electricity; who until now never had any, it will change their living dynamics for the better, and also play role in saving lives that used to be lost due to water flooding. Mentioning these few instances out of possibly many others are enough to expose the neo-liberal fanatics unsubstantiated accusations. The beneficiaries of the dam project are not only the Ethiopian Mursis and Nyangatoms but also the Kenyan Turkanas. This underscores that the project can take the people on both side of the river to a development path and better lives. These fanatics appear to be concerned for disfranchised people but they strive to thwart these same people’s long walk to developmental transformation. Their statement that “ the dam construction will put lake Turkana’s existence on danger, and Ethiopia should think about the lake’s well being as it also adversely effect the research done on the animals and plants along Turkana,” doesn’t have any ground since the realities doesn’t coincide with their cooked –up reports. It’s a fact that the gibe III project has no negative effect on the lake’s environment. In fact the Dam (once finished) will help level the lake’s fluctuating water flow and reduce the evaporation there by increasing the amount of water. However, these neo-liberal forces argue that the dam construction will force the lake to decrease up to 12 meters, with straight faces & without any substantial proof. Even the Kenyans have said the dam’s construction will be beneficial for Lake Turkana, and they believe that it can help their people by circumventing electrical deficiencies. Let it be noted that the concerned bodies have attested to the project’s beneficiary impact. So, it’s my understanding that the losers from this huge undertaking are Not Lake Turkana or the local people who live around the lake, but these pseudo human rights protection organizations. I will explain in detail…… It’s obvious that these neo liberal propagandists like ‘Oakland Institute’, ‘Human rights watch’, ‘International crisis group’ who work under the guise of we –will defend –human –rights, are well aware of their diminishing role as developing nations close-in on guaranteeing their development. Because if these countries can attain progress through utilizing their natural resources, then the so –called human right defenders end game will be exposed; as their supposed human right protection or conflict resolution will all cease to be significant problems to countries with a new found development. In addition to foiling their hidden political agenda, this will severely shrink the flow of money that used to make its way in to their pockets in the name of human rights and conflict resolution. So, in order to protect these interests, they complain about butterflies and other microbes at the expense of a human life; hindering a country’s road to development in the process. Looking this quandary from the context of gibe III project it’s obvious that both the Ethiopian Mursis and Nyangatoms along with the Kenyan Turkanas will benefit by having electricity once the dam’s construction is finished. It will help beef up the infrastructure and social service facilities which in turn will assist the local people transform in to a more dynamic and active lifestyle. And this changing dynamics like understanding the values of human rights and peaceful ways of resolving conflicts, will enable them to coexist peacefully with their neighboring who they used to fight the for grazing land and water. It’s palpable that once members of society starts having a rational and just mindset on human rights handling and conflict resolution; which comes as a result of an economic growth, the need of these so – called human right institutions will cease to exist. Furthermore as the mindset blossoms in parallel with a progressing economic, so does the need to protect or conserve the environment. Thus, the need for environment oriented organization will significantly diminish. So dear readers, wouldn’t you say the only danger the Gilgel Gibe III project poses is on those neo – liberal fanatic institutions, not on the local people and environment? It’s painfully obvious. It’s inevitable here to ask why these neo-liberal fanatics lie, when for a fact the dam construction will benefit both countries’ people. This is due to two political reasons.  The first has to do with their effort to sabotage countries’ that choose to follow their own politico-economic ideology outside of neo-liberal thinking. The second is establishing a puppet regime; one who bows to their every demand, through color revolution should option one fail. These are the real motives behind the bogus accusations; and let us see them further in detail. As its known this neo –liberal fanatics have panache of profiting at the expense of a developing country’s natural resources, most importantly arable lands and cheap labors. And since a developed and conscious people are hard to sabotage, they try in all their might to curtail this trend. So as Ethiopia along with many developing countries are having a fast transformational development, these forces usually start a campaign to subvert developmental project and works undertaken in these countries under the guise  of human rights and environment protection, just to stay in the game of the antique and Unjust system ( of exploitation ). So, they strive to instigate a color revolution in developing countries, and if the targeted country isn’t ripe yet for a color revolution, then they work in cutting off these countries from donor countries and organizations list by planting unflattering and bogus stories using their neo-liberal propaganda institutions. This is their hidden agenda and motives. If the ‘Gibe III condemnations’ wasn’t part of their subversive agenda, they wouldn’t have anything against a project that has brought housings, schools, hospitals, roads and investment in an area which had suffered tremendous shortages of infrastructure in the past; and a project that can also help in terms of developing a more productive and flourishing fishery.          These forces that shamelessly appear as if they are concerned for the well being of disfranchised African people do not care that the Gibe III hydro power plant will help stabilize the fluctuation of the lake and by reducing the rate of evaporation it will increase the amount of the water of the lake.  They wouldn’t have also said that the lake’s existence is in grave danger, not in light with these facts. They wouldn’t plant stories of the project’s so- called negative impact on the river, despite the dam’s important role in curbing the over flow of the river. The list could go on All in all it’s not expected of Oakland institute and the likes, to serve the truth because they are under the payroll of George Soros, who pay them to propagate neo –liberal ideology no matter what its poison. The amusing thing is that they understand that we the targeted people don’t believe a single shred of thing from their reports, that we don’t believe their words, and the fact that we condemn such kind of bogus accusations. And they also know the fact that we understand that they do these because they have to and it’s their job. Still these institutions keep working on coming up with new set of unsubstantiated and bogus accusations to plant from their armchair. If the likes of Oakland institute do really care about our world’s security or about human rights, they wouldn’t have started a campaign to oppose a project which not only both Ethiopia and Kenya signed on, but also have high hopes for. They wouldn’t also have thrown out the donor countries’ expert team and diplomat’s conclusion that states the dam construction doesn’t hurt any body and instead help solidify the countries’ relationship. But, their ‘itching hand’ forces them to disregard the truth and stand behind their paying job. It wouldn’t be behoove of these so-called human right institutions to spare planting shameless stories that claims the dam will be a source of conflict between Ethiopian Mursis and Nyangatoms and Kenyan Turkana people, in order to quench their neo-liberal fixation. This is because today’s children of Africa are not easily moved by empty propagation. As far as the writer of this article is concerned before the launch of the construction, Ethiopia has had done a through research on, whether the project does have a negative impact on the region’s settlement and environment. And it’s apparent that those donor countries experts including those concerned bodies who attested to the project’s beneficiary impact have done so on their own prerogative. How can the Kenyan government be a major proponent of the project if the project was to have a negative impact? The fact of the matter is this huge developmental undertaking is taking place on both Kenya and Ethiopia agreement of the project’s potential for mutual benefit. And even these neo-liberal fanatics are aware of our country’s commitment to shared cooperation, mutual benefit and development principle especially in these globalization days. Our moral values, tradition as a nation and especially our foreign policy stresses on finding common grounds, mutual respect and development with neighboring countries. So it’s (to put it mildly) ignorant to think our country is capable of launching a project that will put in danger its own and neighboring people. It would be better for them to brush up their knowledge, so they can see what Ethiopia has done for the peace of the region, continent and the World as a whole, let alone harm its neighbors. They should always keep in mind that we have a government and people that clearly understand the insustainability of a kind of development which helps one and hurts the other. In other words the project is there to help prosper (enrich) the lives of the Mursis and Nyangatoms and the Turkanas, not to stifle them with conflicts. As we all know both Ethiopia and Kenya have a commitment to utilize the resources around the lake based on researched document and with a principle of mutual benefit. Our shared history and traditions alone can help us achieve this. This cooperation between both countries has gained the acceptance within all the players in the UN environmental protection agency and in turn has been a welcomed push in the increased momentum of the project. Therefore these would – be human right protection institutions like the lights of Oakland institute would be better of off to stop their campaign of spewing bogus lies and unsubstantiated facts in the hopes of having their way against us; they should know it’s a futile Endeavour. Of course it’s within their rights to “argue” or should I say tell a bogus story. And also it’s our right not to bother listening to their worthless propaganda, and use our God’s given natural resources. However, it’s an unfortunate truth that the world’s politico-economic stratum won’t be free of these kinds of pay check driven demagogues and profiteers. There won’t be any shortages of outfits with its own hidden agenda of influencing the world at will, although it wouldn’t have the power to bend the truth. Their name, face and color may change, but these kinds of opportunists who are after imposing a new breed of colonialism in third world countries by thwarting these countries’ planned developmental agenda and thinking, are to be expected.           But the good thing is that it has become easy to see through this antique way of propagation waged by neo-liberal demagogues, which usually follow the lines of maligning a developing nation in the guise of human right and environment protection. Also one should not be a rocket scientist to understand the motives behind these fanatics are an almost kinetic like association to an outdated politico-economic ideology and hefty sums of monthly paycheck. In times like this, it’s helpful to see countries like China, India and Korea who broke out of the ideology’s shackles. These countries by following their own politico-economic path, they have been able to reach to their current progressive state. It’s a futile endeavor taken up by these neo-liberal fanatics in trying to condemn developmental project like the Gibe III construction, because many African states like Ethiopia are having a fast and thriving economy thanks to policies and strategies outlined that correspond to the realities on the ground. There can be no one ready to listen to the sounds that’s coming from the outdated and out- of- sync neo-liberalism.