Genocide Live: Massacre Ends, Attrition Begins

Kalayu Abrha

If Tigrayans are as full of wisdom as they are full of bravery, this time is the best opportunity to prove it. I know, massacre in Tigray has not ceased completely; there are still reports of significant numbers of lives lost. The “peacetime massacre” is the sick irony of Pretoria. The addicted killers are suffering from withdrawal syndrome and are still playing hide and seek to satisfy their cravings. These people cannot think of life beyond the “happy days of genocide, destruction, and looting”. They have got lost with no future in mind. It is only a question of how they want to die. The choice for the blood-addicts is either to maintain the genocidal status quo or go back home and live a life of destitution, chronic trauma, and dangerous anti-social behavior.

Armed Amhara and Eritrean brigands are not the bearers of the ideology that is driving the death and destruction in Tigray. They may not have any idea why they are killing and robbing Tigrayans; they are just told to do that and be rewarded with the booty for doing so. One can only be sorry for the hundreds of thousands of the misguided souls. TDF killed hundreds of thousands of them; but it did not succeed to scratch the skin of the genocide ideologists who send the thousands to their deaths. This can be proved by a casual observation of the behavior of the Prisoners of War the TDF took. From the way they talk and from the way they walk, do they look like staunch adherents of the ideology of genocide? No one can walk five thousand POWs, guarded by a handful of fighters armed with AK-47 Rifles, without consequence if they were Al-Qaeda fighters.

With due respect, I dare to characterize Tigrayans as heroes of the traditional type. In traditional warfare the focus is on the fighting not on what causes the fighting; the focus is on the soldiers not on those who sent them; and victory is in the battles not on the structure and institutions and the ideology that shapes and reshapes them. Tigrayans are almost invariably merciful and forgetful however catastrophic their experiences in previous wars had been. This is the reason why they experienced at least four destructive invasions in a single century. After the end of every invasion Tigrayans go one or two steps down in terms of resilience to withstand the next invasion. Vulnerability spirals up but Tigrayans blame the Almighty for that. If people blame God for their misfortune caused by human beings they cannot be prepared for the next one. After all, no one can be prepared against God.

What the Pretoria agreement did is to stop the genocidal war; not to convince the genocide-ideologists to abandon the age old creed of weakening or exterminating Tigrayans. That is why Tigrayans should be happy about the silence of the guns; but they should be fearful of the future and prepare for it starting right now. Tigrayans cannot afford the luxury of having short memory about Pekka Olavi Haavisto’s revelation. On June 18, 2021 Cara Anna of AP News reported the following from Nairobi (Kenya): “Ethiopia’s leaders in closed-door talks with a European Union special envoy (Mr. Haavisto’s) said-They are going to wipe out the Tigrayans for 100 years”.

By the time the report was out Pekka Haavisto’s words were already translated into practice in Tigray. The difference was Pekka Haavisto’s 100 years were fast-tracked into two years. Pekka Haavisto’s revelation alarmed the world; but not many seem to have realized that without knowing it he was talking about genocide Plan-B. Those dark forces, who have sworn to exterminate Tigrayans are in no hurry. They tried Plan-A; a fast-tracked genocide. Although this did a great deal of harm it did not succeed as much as it was initially planned. Plan-A is still in operation although at a very low key and with less effective organization. Defiance about the failure of Plan-A is still rocking Tigray particularly in the West, Northwest, and South. The lawlessness characterizing Plan-A has been beneficial for the armed Amhara and Eritrean gangs. It is also a better evil in the short-term for Tigrayans because they know exactly who and where the enemy is.

Plan-B is not for the five sense organs. It is not possible even for the highly educated either to unravel the complexity of the Plan or know the identity of the designers of Plan-B. The designers and dispatchers many not be those people who are public figures frequently appearing on the media. Designers of Plan-B think in terms of decades and centuries. That is why they described the genocide of Tigrayans as a generational division of labor. A 100 years is three generations; the determined dark-forces must have prepared a guide for phased actions to be implemented by a chain of generations. The designers are so sick that they would still be happy if they don’t live to see that Tigrayans, like Tasmanians, are fully exterminated by the end of the 100 years.

After Pretoria, I see Plan-A (Intensive Massacre) coming to an end and Plan-B (Extensive Massacre or Attrition) shifting from neutral to first gear. Following the time table of the genocide designers the five gears will have two decades each; but the cumulative effect could trigger acceleration and the completion may take less than 100 years. I apologize for writing about the gruesome subject so lightly as if I am writing about the start and completion of schooling. I know I am talking about my dear millions; I have grown too old to fret about my own personal future. The reason why I am trying to make the language lighter to write about a matter which is heavier is because my goal is not to enjoy the fancy of posting a well written article, but to help my fellow countrymen to understand the gravity of the problem lying ahead of the people of Tigray.

Darwinian evolution of species has given us the most brilliant tools for the understanding of the origin and extinction of species. Humans are one of the species in the Animal Kingdom: Homo-Sapiens-Sapiens. Although culture has shielded humans from the vagaries of the environment, that could cause easy extinction among the other members of the Kingdom, humans cannot be spared if their cultural protections are gradually and systematically eroded by other humans. There is no need to fire bullets at people, cram them in gas chambers, or starve them to death. In doing this there will be more noise than results. It could even have the opposite effect of what was planned. Six million Jews were massacred but now six million Jews have become a world power in par with their German exterminators.

The best exterminator is a slow-operating and imperceptible cultural scheme which is self-propelled. The effectiveness of this method lies in the fact that it happens with the full consent and participation of the victims themselves. The economics of such genocide is that it is least cost; but most effective. People are more “humanely” exterminated by systematically disowning them of their identity, culture, and history. When people lose all these, they will die out physically, mentally, and culturally. If a particular society does not regenerate to maintain its demographic balance enough to ensure survival as a nation the logical outcome is extinction. What I believe has started or restarted or is going to start or is going to restart is Plan-B for Tigray, which is genocide by attrition.

After Pretoria the news from Tigray we hear are symptomatic of Plan-B. Some events that feed the ubiquitous ‘Breaking News’ for news sake are tips of the iceberg hinting that the engine of Plan-B has started running. A blessing for the effective implementation of Plan-B is the smoke-screen created by the ill-advised scuffle between Tigray-based political parties. If a lion and a tiger are fighting a fox will take their meal. If two persons are shouting at each other they cannot hear the sound around them. A house may be burning and people may be crying for help; the enemy of both may be arriving at their door steps; and the like. Let me raise just one issue as an example.

It is almost in every YouTube channel as breaking news that 300 trucks loaded with food and other necessities for Tigray are blocked in the Amhara Region. However, those trucks that carry beer, whisky, and chat are free to go! I don’t need to tell you why they are doing this because it would be like considering you as children who cannot easily grasp the essence of things. BUT I will tell you one reason why I don’t blame those who blocked the trucks.

Who is drinking the beer and the whisky, having fun all night long, without worrying a bit about the hundreds of thousands who died, about the thousands of raped and disgraced mothers and sisters, about the hundreds of thousands displaced and suffering, about those dying for the lack of medicine, about those who are still not getting enough food aid, about the children who are out of school at this critical age for education, about the civil servants who are not paid for two years, and the factories, health centers, school buildings and universities destroyed and about the future of a meaningful life in Tigray in general???? Who the devil is drinking and getting intoxicated?

Aren’t Tigrayans helping the genocide designers by destroying themselves mentally? Allowing beer, whisky, and chat instead of food is a deliberate attack on the youth of Tigray. If the youth goes wrong the rest is just a piece of cake. If Tigrayans think that this is the beginning of a lasting peacetime they are inviting a creeping but inevitable disaster to their homes. This could be the beginning of a peacetime; but it is also the beginning of a slow genocide by attrition if Tigrayans are not well aware of it and united to prevent it.

Pekka Havisto was wrong when he said “They cannot exterminate all Tigrayans”.  That is possible dear Pekka! During the Ice Age the Largest living mammal was the wooly mammoth. By the end of the most recent Ice Age the great mammoth was too fatty and too hairy to survive the warming of the Planet. You know who survived? The Shrew! The analogy can be perfect. If Tigrayans take their surroundings for granted, without being proactive like what the mammoth did, there is no reason why they won’t be extinct, their size and bravery notwithstanding. The shrew survived because it was proactive enough to notice the changes and shifted to other habitats to continue regenerating its species.

Nobody cares whether entire people become extinct or not. Since extinction by attrition is a very slow process few are able to notice it even if they want to attend to it.  The few thousands of the great Indian nation survivors are living in reservations in a few states. They are just living for the sake of living. It is sad to say that the only thing American Indians are wanted for is the endless Holy Wood western movie series. In our teenage we used to call them “Texas Movies”. We loved them; we even dressed like the actors. Not like the Indians, of course. What we did not realize as kids was that the Indians we hate as villains in the movies are victims of slow and systematic genocide. In our later lives we realized that was our fate too. American Indians got three things in return for extermination: States or counties named after them, helicopters and weapons named after their tools or tribal names, and some schools allow their kids to dress in Indian costumes, skip and shout like them in school day celebrations. The rest, superpower of European origin possesses the entire Indian land and there is no way the status quo ante will ever be restored. As they gradually but surely disappear from the face of the Earth, one thing stands out to remind us of them: A song I love, but makes me cry!

They took the whole Cherokee nation
Put us on this reservation
Took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan

John D Loudermilk