INTRODUCTION

The inception of myriads of struggles which have not hit their targets and a demand for justice to make our Country Ethiopia , a Country which moves forward by embracing equality for all Nations and Nationalities made our Country’s history the history of struggles and martyrdom. At least half a century of our Country’s history is the history of the generation’s patriots who shaded their blood, crushed their bones and also gave their lives for the sovereignty and freedom of our Country. In a similar way others shaded their blood, crushed their bones and gave their lives for the establishment of people’s Government and for unlimited rights.

Because of the desire to move our Country in the direction of modernity and progress in the 1930s and 1940s people like Dr. Melaku Beyan and few other Ethiopian Students started the struggle. This struggle by growing wider takes us to1960s and 1970s time of Mengistu and Germame Neway’s coup d’état .At the beginning of 1970s during the student movement at the time of Tilahun Gizaw thousands of students joined the movement. Now, that movement is joined by today’s hundred thousand members of the generation which are demanding democracy and human rights in the Country.

In the history of struggles in different administrations our Country lost hundreds and thousands of children and young people, especially during the Dergue’s reign of terror.

An organization known as “Ya Tewlid Tequam” has been established to commemorate the previous generation’s honorable struggle for justice and the martyrdom it paid. The purpose of this organization is to educate the next generation the history of the previous generation, so that the next generation will become advocate for their people and their Country and become good citizens. “Ya Tewlid Tequam” being free from any kind of political movement collects hard evidence of the history of the struggle. The organization also concentrates on helping people inside and outside of the Country who were hurt during the struggle. This organization also works to establish a memorial and erect a statue that bears their names.

We members of the generation and our families, who shared our sufferings, say that even though we did not hit our target and our goal has disappeared in thin air and our past history of struggle and martyrdom should be passed on to historians and to the next generation. We (members) of the generation also work to help victim members of the generation who sustained physical and psychological damages by the Dergue’s kill-all policy during the red terror, which massacred a whole generation, who have now nobody to care for them. Also, when conditions permit we members of the generation work to establish a memorial (schools ,hospitals and streets and squares) in the name of that generation which struggled by shading their blood and crushing their bones for the establishment of Democratic Ethiopian. Since we members of the generation have the moral ability to get rid of the wound that is still stuck in our mind because our cause did not hit its target are determined to work together so that the vision and the purpose of the organization of the generation achieve its aim.

Ya Tewlid Tequam