By Sacha Ismail based on a longer article by Wondimu Mekonnen, former lecturer at Addis Abba University and Ethiopian Teachers’ Association

On 14 December, Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA) activist Ayalew was detained without a warrant by the Ethiopian government. Ayalew has reportedly been tortured and denied medical treatment while in police custody. His relatives and fellow ETA members are now extremely worried, as they have not known either his health condition nor his whereabouts since 18 December. Another activist, Mengistu, disappeared on 15 December.

For fifteen years the Ethiopian government has been attempting to dismantle Ethiopia’s trade union movement and the ETA has been at the sharp end of this repression.
When it chose its leadership in 1992, the ETA defied a government expectation that it would fragment along ethnic lines and elected people pledged to defend the profession. Those elected promised to improve the living standards of teachers, reinstate academic freedom, raise educational standards, win access to education for all and establish democracy in the country. The regime moved to disband the leadership and reorganise the union on an ethnic basis, but the union resisted.

After a number of battles, including a mass sacking of lecturers involved in the ETA at Addis Ababa University, the ETA had its bank accounts frozen, its head office closed, its property confiscated and many of its leaders and activists dismissed, arbitrarily imprisoned, disappeared and murdered. When the courts ruled in favour of the union, the government dismissed the judges in question, appointed new ones and upped the repression.

In 1997, the regime’s murder squads gunned down ETA Deputy General Secretary in cold blood on his way to his office. Many Executive members have faced detention and torture. Kebede Desta, the President of the Retired Teachers’ Association, meanwhile, had his eyes gouged out for refusing to testify against Woldesemiate.

For the last ten years, the Ethiopian government has been attempting to get its fake ETA leadership recognised by the courts.

In spite of it all ETA has not stopped organising on workplace issues and it still takes a political lead on issues such as the fight for democracy and combating AIDS.

With the support of the Education International union federation, the ETA will be hold a conference from 7-10 February in Addis Ababa. In the process many activists may be detained or even killed. Solidarity is urgently needed.