Eskinder Nega calls for sanctions against Ethiopia

By Eskinder Nega, The Guardian
September 6, 2013
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/06/ethiopia-european-sanctions-prisoner-call

European aid has transformed my country's economy but also props up one-party rule. Let EU donors give us democracy
To Ethiopia's archaic left, which dominates the ruling party, the new euphemism for the west is neoliberal. Compared to the jargon of bygones days – imperialists – when Lenin and Mao were still in vogue, neoliberal sounds decidedly wimpy. But this hardly matters to Ethiopia's ruling party. What it seeks is a bogeyman to tamp down rising expectations for multiparty democracy.

To this end, plying nationalist sentiment is the easy option. And so, we get a tale of heroes and villains in which there is a defender of national ethos, honor and economic growth (inevitably, the ruling party), and a foreign horde bent on subversion, domination and economic exploitation (infallibly, the west: the neoliberals).
In this narrative, Ethiopia's recent economic growth, amidst a global slump, is ascribed to the stability