PRESS RELEASE: Chicago Chapter of Ethiopiawinnet

1. PRESS RELEASE: Chicago Chapter of Ethiopiawinnet At an Ethiopiawinnet seminar in Chicago on September 21,2013, Ato Abate Kassa made a compelling case for the value added by the Ethiopiawinnet, the rights-based pro-democracy civic movement, by articulating in one sentence the essence of its Citizens’ Charter: “We, the citizens of Ethiopia, bound by our common humanity, history, and shared values; proud in defending our culture, liberty and territorial integrity; pledge ourselves as one people, regardless of ethnicity, language or religion; aspire to build a truly democratic, open society based on merit, freedom, justice, equality and respect for individual human rights, property rights, and the rule of law; so as to achieve lasting peace, ethnic and religious harmony, with prosperity and progress for all of our people.” Simply defined, Ethiopiawinnet means the supremacy of pan-Ethiopian identity over ethnicity or any other parochial identity. Ethiopiawinnetis a breakthrough strategy that helps to forge a symbiotic relationship between opposition political parties and civil society organizations to work together for the common cause of saving Ethiopia first by stopping the polarization and bleeding of the people. The seminar was attended by patriotic Ethiopians in Chicago who acclaimed Ato Abate’s presentation with standing ovation and pledged to participate in the capacity building initiative of Ethiopiawinnet and also work together as TEAM ETHIOPIA for the common cause of ending tyranny and achieving genuine democratic governance in Ethiopia. We are already becoming a galvanizing force for this international civic movement.