Ethiopians in Dallas met on Sunday, November 7, 2010 in the Double Tree Hotel which is located at 1981 Central Express way, Richardson, TX 75080 to join the world-wide commemoration of the 2005 election massacre in Ethiopia. After hearing from the speakers of the day, the meeting participants discussed and passed resolutions on several issues. Most importantly, they made a solemn pledge together per the kalkedan-words sent from the Ethiopian Election Massacre 5th Anniversary Remembrance Task Force to never let the sacrifice of the fallen fellow Ethiopians be in vain. Towards this goal, the meeting participants promised each other to stay in struggle until our country and people are free from scrooge of Meles’s ethnic dictatorship and until the criminals who perpetrated this crime including Meles himself are brought to justice. 

The first speaker Dr. Worku Legesse who was an Associate Professor at Jimma University during the massacre reminded the audience that the victims of Meles died for us. He said, “In May 2005, the fathers, mothers and youth of Ethiopia in their millions came out and voted to oust TPLF. TPLF stole their vote in day-light. The martyrs we are commemorating today died fighting to stop the burglar who stole their fathers’, mothers’ and their own vote.” The second speaker Shewayiref Shiferaw spoke of his and his youthful friends’ involvement in the fight to stop Weyane from stealing their most valued possession: their freedom. He has his own physical scares and his friends suffering to show for it. The speeches were followed by discussion from the floor and finally a resolution. Of particular significance from the floor’s discussion was an eye witness account about TPLF’s brutality by a young fellow called Seyoum Workneh who was an active participant in the events of November 2005. The meeting participants have unanimously resolved to: 

1. Pursue the perpetrators of the massacre including Meles to be brought to justice. 

2. Join our world-wide fellow compatriots to create a fund that will care for the families of these and all other victims who fall prey to Meles’s repression. 

3. Fight for the release of thousands of freedom fighters who are languishing in Meles’s dungeon prisons. 

4. Join our world-wide fellow compatriots to explore and participate in denying the remittance fund that inadvertently bankrolls the regime. 

5. Band together and fight until the people of Ethiopia can freely elect their own leaders, receive fair justice and start to build a truly prosperous life. 

6. Designate henceforth the month of November as Marty’s month and pledge to create awareness among Ethiopians at home and abroad so that this commemoration becomes like the one the Ethiopian nation commemorates in the month of February for the victims of the Italian fascist massacre. 

Dallas, November 7, 2010