Free Birtukan

When I was a young law student who took myself too seriously but lacking compass, chart and rudder to grasp the dry bones of the subject matter I studied, I used to dash to the law library looking for a lighthouse to steer by. It was there, in the squalid and dump depot of books, that I met the quintessential American hero, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes with all the breadth of his intellect and pithy wit. His classic letters and books were larger than the law. The great man inspired a belief in greatness, the existential necessity of thinking and acting under fire, the courage to change without being irreverent to tradition. I still remember some of his wise verses heartily. "Death plucks my ears and says live - I am coming," he said in one of his late speeches.

It is a distinct honor and privilege for me to be invited to address you here today on the subject of democracy, the rule of law and human rights in Ethiopia.
When I sat in prison for nearly 20 months, until my release in late July, 2007, with many other colleagues accused of unspeakable political crimes, I had no idea that I would be invited to appear in the halls of the Congress of the United States and share my views with American lawmakers. Thank you Mr. Chairman for opening the doors to this great House of the American people, and for inviting me and my colleague, Dr. Berhanu Nega, Mayor-elect of Addis Ababa, to participate in these proceedings.

A specter is haunting the EPRDF - the specter of Kinijit. Reports are seeping through the prison walls into my cell that cities and towns all over the country are exploding, furiously burning with the quest for freedom. In schools and colleges people of tender ages are articulating and demanding their liberties with extraordinary air of confidence and dedication. Priests are dumbstruck when young men approach and ask them to tell and live the truth as God requires. The tormentors couldn't muster up enough courage to face and address these heroic men. Instead they decry them as Kinijit and try to exorcize the specter.