Criminalizing Speech as Terrorism: A Discursive Discussion of Policy and Practice on Ethiopia’s Counter-Terrorism Law

• In Event: Silencing Dissent

Abstract

For nearly three decades, Ethiopia’s current ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has maintained its power through a highly centralized, vanguard party system. By adopting a “development first” rhetoric that deemphasizes other nation-building tenets such as democratization, contemporary Ethiopian politics is characterized by an insular decision-making power concentrated within a detached political clique at the expense of basic human rights provisions granted by the Ethiopian Constitution. Recently, the Ethiopian government has extensively used the provisions of the Ethiopian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009 to prosecute several Ethiopian citizens and organizations that are critical of the ruling party. By framing the adoption and execution of Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation as an outcome of EPRDF’s long-term hegemonic project coalesced in “developmentalism,” this paper demonstrates how the Ethiopian State has created a legal-rational bureaucracy that exploits terrorism narratives to stifle critical speech disseminated through both traditional and digital media platforms.

Author

• Tewodros Workalemahu Workneh, Kent State University