There is a term some use to describe the US as being special. They call it ‘American {www:exceptionalism}.’ What the theory tries to define is the special and unique place the US holds due to the revolutionary nature of its founding and the emergence of an American ideology based on individualism, equality and {www:unfettered} free enterprise. Conservatives use the term to claim the higher ground while the left dismiss it as nothing more than myth. Both sides agree the US is a ‘shining city on a hill’, ‘cradle of liberty’ ‘indispensable nation’ etc. For a country that is the wealthiest, the most powerful and continent size big, it still requires its ego massaged. You will not find an American that does not think his country is exceptional. One cannot be elected even as a dogcatcher without recognizing the uniqueness of good old USA.
I brought this up because there seems to be all sorts of attempts to knock down or demean our past. It is very shameful and destructive. The whole idea is so strange that it is difficult to find a rational explanation why our ‘leaders’ will resort to such ugly method to stay in power. It is understandable if our so-called enemies use such tactic. But our own government doing that is a little bizarre.
There is no denying our Country has existed for a very long time compared to other Nations. That is verifiable fact. It is also true that Ethiopia is prominently mentioned in the Holy Bible and spoken of favorably by the prophet Mohamed (may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) in the Holy Koran. I am not even going to mention Dinknesh. I just want to point out that we are the source of Abay that nourished and sustained the Great Pharos. The Pyramids of Giza were built from the waters and dirt from our Highlands. Ethiopia was there before written history.
Now the Victory at Adwa was our crowning moment. Emperor Minilk accompanied by Queen Taitu Betul and the combined might of our ancestors dealt a heavy blow to European Colonialism. That victory of an African nation against the big and ugly European that has been tormenting Black people for over three hundred years was heard across the Galaxy. Hey, you never know where you will find black folks. You think I am exaggerating? Ask Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Dubois, Kwamen Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela. I will leave the Rastafarian’s out of this brouhaha. Our esteemed Black leaders all wrote the significance of Ethiopia in helping them keep hope alive in their struggle for freedom and dignity. The Establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) is the continuation of that central role our country has played as a bright light that defines the hope and aspirations of all Black people. Just because we are at the bottom now it don’t mean we were always there.
This attempt to belittle, gloss over or cover up the pivotal role Ethiopia played in the formation of the OAU is futile and should definitely be considered to be a criminal act. We should never allow the spirit of our ancestors to be trampled upon. That is my opinion and I am unanimous in that. His Imperial majesty HaileSelassie I, his Cabinet led by Prime Minister Aklilu Habteweld and his brilliant protégé His Excellency Ato Ketema Yifru, Foreign Minster deserve the lion’s share of the credit for this Herculean effort. This is not to belittle the efforts of hundreds and thousands of others that worked hard. Not at all, but somebody always gives life to ideas and our leaders were smart enough to know the moment and act on it. That is how history is made.
OAU came at a time of “African Spring” of the 1960’s. The Europeans and Asians have managed to kill each other in a spectacular manner and were tired of war. Africans were waking up from their slumber. To say Black people were created to suffer does not describe the reality. Slavery and colonialism ‘s after effects will take centuries to erase. We are resilient people, thus we took the lull at the end of the war to assert our coming out. Young dynamic leaders graduates of the struggle for independence were emerging. They maneuvered and gained independence from the colonial powers. Their name still evokes pride and hope.
The 60’s Africa was a child of two worlds. On one side were the ‘Casa Blanca Group’ molded by the young Turks that have emerged from the yoke of colonialism as the new leaders. They included Gamal Abdel Nasser, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Ben Bella, Jomo Kenyata to mention a few. They were fired up and thinking big. Pan-Afrcanism that meant one big Continent Country like the USA was their goal. One Continent one Nation was their motto. They all were big people with big dreams.
On the other side were the ‘Monrovia Group’ led by the old and cautious. They wanted to go one step at a time. They were not willing to experiment. Sengor, Tubman, Boigney, Tafewa Balewa were formidable leaders in their own right. The two camps were vying for leadership. It is at this particular juncture in time that Ethiopia showed up to assert its leadership. Our credibility was unshakeable. Both sides respected and trusted our country and leader. We were not a product of this or that colonial master. We were an island of freedom and dignity in a sea of black suffering and abuse. The African leaders were conscious of this fact.
The much-heralded black people unity was realized in Addis Abeba Ethiopia in 1963. It came about by the hard work, far sighted and decisive leadership of our Emperor and his savvy Foreign Minister. The impossible was achieved in Addis Abeba and Black people all over the world celebrated. This is our contribution to African unity and no one can take that away from us.
Why we are discussing this past history is due to the current inauguration of a new building to house the Organization. It is a modern building. As buildings go it could be considered beautiful, more European than African if I might add. It was financed and built by the Peoples Republic of China as a gift to Africans. Why they would want to do that is a whole other discussion. I am not going there today. My interest centers around the issue of statue and the credit for the existence of the Organization in general.
The statue of His Excellency Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah former President of Ghana was prominently unveiled during the inauguration. No question he deserves the heart felt thanks of Africans and all Black people. It is a proud moment for all of us. His Excellency played a major and pivotal role in advancing the concept of Pan-Afrcanism and cemented the relationship of Africans and the African Diaspora in the West. It was an important linkage in showing the commonality of our struggle for freedom and dignity.
Some of us Ethiopians feel there is something missing here. Without taking away from others we believe may be it would have looked a little better if Dr. Nkrumah’s statue was accompanied with others that have labored as much to form this august body. Of course we have His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie in mind. Is that far fetched with a hint of selfishness on our part? I plead guilty. Since I am an Ethiopian I will let my African brethren answer that question. I am sure they will agree with us.
Why do you think HIM’s statue is not part of the new building? Here we are going to open Pandora’s box. All the evil is going to be spilled and you have no one to blame except yourself. Let us start with Osagyefo Nkrumah first. As you know he was the first President of Ghana. He led his nation on its transition from British playground to a free African nation. That was 1957. He has a tumultuous relationship with his people until he was overthrown in 1966. Truth be told that the builder of hydroelectric dams, champion of Pan Afrcanism and founder of the OAU was given to be an opponent of civil liberties and wrecker of political parties. So much so that he made his party (CPP) the only legal one and was declared President for life. All great leaders come with a baggage. What do you think the present leaders and people of Ghana think of their leader?
Here is where we part company with our Ghanaian friends. In Ghana the Osagyefo is seen as the most respected leader of Africa. Father of their country. Universities are named after him. Large boulevards carry his name and commemorative stamps bearing his face are the rage. In fact it is the current President of Ghana that have the statue made and delivered in Addis. They admire and love him very much warts and all.
See what I mean my friend? What is the hobby of our leaders? Kicking Ethiopia around comes to mind. Haven’t you noticed the inordinate amount of time spent by the TPLF mafia in discrediting all our early achievements and history? It should not be news to no one. The chances of our Emperor’s statue in Addis is no more than the chances of Meles Zenawi winning a free and fair election in Ethiopia. In other words hell will freeze over before that happens. These assorted simpletons even felt threatened by a dignified funeral service for the Emperor let alone allow erection of a statue. A Statue will definitely be the cause of mind melt. After all isn’t Ato Meles that called the emperor a ‘reactionary’ in front of all Africans? What makes you think they will honor the leader we ourselves condemn?
Please watch the speech given by Meles supposedly defending Ethiopia in an AU meeting. TPLF cadres are so proud of his defense of our nation that it is heralded out on every occasion when they think it necessary to build his credentials as a lover of our country. It is a shame that the leader needs such crutch to make us a believer. I saw the video and I wanted to hide. It is a shameful performance worthy of a cadre. Where in the world did he get that larger than life Holly Wood reading glass? Was there something placed in the chair to make him jump around like a grasshopper? From what I can see he was as usual demeaning other representatives trying to make enemies rather than friends. By the way ‘reactionary’ Haile Selassie did not train revolutionary Nelson Mandela. No sir we trained fighters of African National Congress. It is not about individuals here but a cause. Our country was a welcome haven to all Black militants and freedom fighters.
We are filled with rage due to the sidelining of our Emperor. We are venting out anger and all kinds of insults as if this will remedy the situation. We are so predictable it is not fun anymore. We are programmed to react without further thought. As my friend will say a different day but same old shit. Different cause same old response. Recognition of the contribution of our King should not take away from the efforts of all others. We stay away from demeaning others. Our work should shine all by itself. This fact of HIM’s statue missing is a no-brainer. Our country is misruled and on the verge of collapse is what should worry us. The sale of our land to foreigners is what should keep us awake at night. The fourteen million or more in need of food should be our focus. The lack of unity and determination to do good for our people and ourselves is my agony.
When the time comes we will build the biggest and baddest monument to our Emperor and other heroes. That my friend is as good as gold.
Materials used in this article:
http://www.oau-creation.com/Part%20One.htm
http://www.blackpast.org/?q=1963-haile-selassie-towards-african-unity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9hiWS3YVfU
http://www.rbgtube.com/play_audio.php?audio=17
Understanding and {www:Reconciliation} restores the capacity to unite, to live with or alongside the others. It allows us, while remembering, to bring closure to a chapter in our past. It enables us to live in the present, making our life as a nation and our lives as individuals in a shared future… [read more]
Ethiopian Review held a highly successful town hall meeting in Washington DC Saturday afternoon, overcoming Woyanne scare tactics, boycott campaigns, and so many difficulties. I was pleasantly surprised by the high attendance after the Woyanne junta in Ethiopia and its cadres abroad did every thing it could to intimidate Ethiopians to not show up at such meetings. The 4-hour town hall meeting was a show of defiance against the fascist junta in Ethiopia and an expression of solidarity by Ethiopian patriots in the Washington DC area.
The participants at the meeting were happy to see representatives of 5 major independent Ethiopian media organizations coming together to share their views about the media’s role in bringing change to Ethiopia. There seems to be a growing appreciation and understanding that the media can play a leading role for positive change. However, as one of the panelists, Dereje Desta of ZEthiopia, said, the change must start from us. The problem is not just Meles Zenawi’s Woyanne junta. There are a number of things we Ethiopians must change if we are to free ourselves — and the most prominent among them is conquering our fear of, and obedience to dictatorships. There are many Ethiopian journalists who reside in free countries such as the United States and yet they are afraid of freely expressing their ideas.
The other panelists, Esayas Lisanu of Netsanet Le Ethiopia Radio, Abebe Belew of Addis Dimts Radio, and Abebe Gelaw of ESAT, all took turn to share their views and answer questions from the audience. There was a persistent call from the audience for the media to cooperate on common issues if they want to get stronger support from the community. One of the suggestions from the audience that has received the loudest applause is for the 5 media organizations that were represented on the stage to hold a joint fund raising event.
Following the Woyanne junta’s all out campaign to dismantle and eliminate any opposition to its rule, hundreds of Ethiopian journalists and political leaders are forced to either go into exile or underground. Currently in Ethiopia it is impossible to operate an independent newspaper, hold opposition party meetings, and organize protest demonstrations. Woyanne’s campaign extends beyond Ethiopia’s borders. It is pouring millions of dollars into a campaign to infiltrate and control every Ethiopian institution in the Diaspora, including places of worship, sports and cultural groups, and the media. It recently allocated $2 million to regain control of the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) after the board kicked out the Woyanne hoodlums from the executive committee.
There are a lot of Ethiopians who have fallen prey to the Woyanne campaign. But yesterday’s meeting in Washington DC shows that there is a resurgent opposition that is led by not just political parties alone, but coordinated and facilitated by civic groups, youth groups, the media, political parties, religious leaders and others. The Ethiopian media in particular is playing an increasingly leading role in opposition to the Woyanne rule.
Woyanne acknowledges the power of the media, and has been relentless in its attack against us. Even those of us who are 20,000 kms away from Ethiopia are not spared. But since there is no single target Woyanne can come after, it will be impossible to defeat us. And the growing recognition of the importance of the media in the struggle will hopefully prompt the public to help us build our capacity.
Ethiopian Review will hold similar events in Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and others cities in the coming few weeks as part of our 2012 program to build our information infrastructure inside Ethiopia and around the world. We have also launched a sponsorship program where we ask supporters of Ethiopian Review to contribute $5 per month. Please read the details here. Additionally, we are in consultation with the other media to organize a joint fund raising event in the near future.
I would like to get your feedback. Please write in the comment section below.
The new African Union (AU) headquarters was inaugurated last week. It was “China’s gift to Africa.” China picked the entire USD$200 million tab for the building, fixtures and furniture. The China State Construction Engineering Corporation constructed the building using nearly all Chinese workers. Meles Zenawi, the dictator in Ethiopia, waxed poetic as he blessed the new building and consecrated the “continuing prosperous partnership” between Africa and China:
… This magnificent edifice is built on the ruins of the oldest maximum security prison in our country. People in Ethiopia used to call it Alem Bekagne, loosely translated it means I have given up on this world- this life. This building which will now house the headquarters of our continental organization is built on the ruins of a prison that represented desperation and hopelessness…
This magnificent new head quarters (sic) of our continental organization- the AU which has been at the center of the struggle for the African renaissance (sic) is a symbol of the rise of Africa. The face of this great hall is meant to convey this message of optimism, a message that is out of the decades of hopelessness and imprisonment a new era of hope is dawning, and that Africa is being unshackled and freed not only from the remnants of colonialism but also from want and violence. It is very interesting to note, that just as Africa is rising from the ruins of the desperation and Afro-pessimism this magnificent new head quarter (sic) of the AU is rising from the ruins of a prison of desperation and hopelessness.
… It is therefore very appropriate for China to decide to build this hall — the hall of the rise of Africa — this hall of African renaissance — (sic) and the adjoining office building for us. I am sure I speak for all of you when I say to the people and government of China thank you so very much. May our partnership continue and prosper.
The current AU chairperson, Equatorial Guinea’s three-decade plus dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema, praised the “generosity of the Chinese government”, and described the building as marking “a qualitative leap in the relations between China and Africa”. He raved about the building as “a reflection of the new Africa, and the future we want for Africa”.
Why didn’t the African countries chip in to build this “magnificent” symbol of an “Africa Rising” and an “African Renaissance”? Well, they do not have the money; they are poor. (Incidentally, a few months ago, the U.S. Government filed legal action against Teodorin Obiang, AU Chair Nguema’s son for racketeering (illegal business). While the Chinese were sweating it on the new AU hall, Teodorin had commissioned construction of a yacht [the second most expensive in the world] at the cost of 380 million dollars, [nearly twice as much as it cost to build the AU building] for his rest and relaxation.)
Africa Rising or Africa Panhandling?
Far from being a symbol of African hope, renaissance, optimism and glory, the new AU building reinforces the world’s indelible perception of Africa as the continent of poverty, famine, corruption and dictatorial extravagance. Reporter Richard Poplak insightfully observed the new AU building is the ultimate architectural symbol of Africa as a beggar continent and the moral decay of its dictators:
… The new African Union headquarters in dusty Addis Ababa is a structure in which form perfectly marries function – the building means nothing, and nothing will ever get done inside it…. The building doesn’t need to symbolize anything further than its existence, wherein it becomes a staggeringly articulate representation of Africa’s greatest skill: begging…. The first thing we notice is the tiled silver dome that acts as the building’s centerpiece. This reminds us of nothing so much as an overturned beggar’s bowl, left in the street after a solid day of mewling at the feet of passersby… Then there’s the tower. Stretching up 20 storeys… it resembles… a beggar’s outstretched hand… None of this could we have achieved by ourselves. Instead, in order to raise this fine structure – this symbol of continental unity – from the bare African earth, we used the one skill that unites us all. We stretched out our collective hands, batted our eyelashes, looked simultaneously cute and hungry. And we begged.
A Monument to a Do-Nothing African Union
The AU has 54 members. It was formed in 2002 as a successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU’s declared aim is to “accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent, promote and defend African common positions to achieve peace and security in Africa, and promote democratic institutions, good governance and human rights.”
In its decade of existence, the AU has little to show for itself. It sent peacekeeping troops to various hotspots in Africa including Burundi, Uganda, Somalia and Darfur, Sudan. The AU dumped its Darfur mission on the United Nations in 2008 unable to deal with that tragic situation. In 2007, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was established to promote “stabilization of the country in furtherance of dialogue and reconciliation, facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance, and create conditions for long-term stabilization, reconstruction and development in Somalia.” Suffice it to say, “Mission stuck in the quagmire of Somali clan politics.” The AU also adopted various documents intended to remediate the problems of corruption, poor governance and economic development in the continent including the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2003), the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and its associated Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. Yet the theft of elections and billions of dollars in Africa has continuedover the past decade.
Please, please, don’t ask about the African Union. It is the most useless organization we have on the continent. It can’t even define “democracy” and it is completely bereft of originality. It is imbued with “copy-cat” mentality. Europe has the European Union (EU), so we must have the African Union (AU). The AU forgot that to become a member of the European Union, a country must meet very strict requirements. But in the case of the African Union, there are no requirements. Any rogue and collapsed state can be a member. And when the African Union unveiled NEPAD (the New Economic Partnership for African Development), it boasted that NEPAD was an “African crafted program.” But as it turned out, NEPAD was modeled after the Marshall Aid Plan. When the Darfur crisis flared up, the AU was nowhere to be found. It was doing the watutsi [dance] in Addis Ababa. After much international condemnation, the AU finally managed to cobble together some troops to send to Darfur.
The “uselessness” of the AU is evident not only in its political impotence and economic ineptitude but also in its steadfast refusal to maintain observance of minimum standards of human rights in member countries. The AU has openly instructed member countries to “disregard” the International Criminal Court’s warrant of arrest issued against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir who is sought for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It did the same thing when an ICC arrest warrant was issued against Gadhafi. The AU yelped from the sidelines as Cote d’Ivoire descended into civil war following the 2010 presidential election. France, a former colonial power, had to come to the rescue. The AU was among the last to recognize the Libya’s National Transitional Council. No doubt, the AU was deeply distressed by the sudden demise of Gadhaffi, its longtime patron and sugar daddy. When Zenawi declared a 99.6 percent election victory in the May 2010 Ethiopian elections, the AU monitoring team led by former Botswana president Ketumile Masire praised him and declared: “It is recognised that 2010 Ethiopia’s legislative elections reflected the will of the people. Conditions existed for voters to freely express their will.”
The AU is managed by an inept and bungling commission which acts as the executive/administrative branch with empty suit commissioners lording over different areas of policy. According to news reports, “of the $256 million the commission was allocated in 2011, the AU used less than 40 percent. The commission has about 1,000 staff members, 328 posts have been vacant for the past eight years.” (One can surmise that the unused $154 million could have been a nice down payment for an all-African financed AU building. Talking about African countries not having “enough resources” for public projects, the International Monetary Fund recently reported that there was an unexplained USD$32 billion discrepancy in the Angolan government’s accounts from 2007 through 2010. Does “discrepancy” mean stolen? According to Global Financial Integrity, 11.7 billion was stolen from Ethiopia in the last decade. The same story is repeated in the Sudan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and many other African countries.)
Is Begging Africa’s Eternal Destiny?
For a long time, the Western world regarded Africa as the “Dark Continent”, not because of the complexion of the people but because little was known about Africa. Sadly, much of the world today regards Africa as the “Beggar Continent”. African dictators can wax eloquent about the “new Africa”, “Africa Rising” and the “African Renaissance”, but nobody is buying it. Everyone can see today that Africa is gasping to breath under the trampling boots of brutal dictators. Africa is not a continent in “renaissance”; it is a continent on a tightrope. Let the facts speak for themselves:
Over one-half the population of Africa lives on less than USD$1 a day. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where poverty has increased in the past 25 years. In 1960, Africa was a net exporter of food; today the continent imports one-third of its grain. Today, more than 40 percent of Africans do not even have the ability to obtain sufficient food on a day-today basis. Declining soil fertility, land degradation, and the AIDS pandemic in Africa have led to a 23 percent decrease in food production per capita in the last 25 years while population has increased dramatically. Among the 38 of the world’s heavily indebted poor countries, 32 are in Africa. The average life expectancy at birth for Sub-Saharan Africa is 52.5 years. Slums are home to 72% of urban Africans. Primary school enrollment in African countries is among the lowest in the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only two-thirds of children who start primary school reach the final grade.
Africa loses an estimated 20,000 skilled personnel a year to developed countries. A woman living in Sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy, compared to 1 in 3,700 for a woman in North America. On average, women in Sub-Saharan Africa have two more children than the rest of world. More than 40 percent of women in Africa do not have access to basic education. There are an estimated 5,500 AIDS deaths a day in Africa. Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea. The prevalence of HIV for people ages 15-49 in Sub-Saharan Africa is nearly 7 times the world’s prevalence.
Ethiopia remains at the very bottom of the world’s poorest nations. Under the “leadership” of the dictator Zenawi, for the past two decades Ethiopia has achieved the dubious honor of being the second poorest country in the world (after Mali) and the largest recipient of net official development assistance in Africa at USD$3.82 billion in 2009. The World Bank reported: “At US$380, Ethiopia’s per capita income is much lower than the Sub-Saharan African average of US$1,165 in FY 2010.”
According to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report, in just four decades, Ethiopia’s population will more than triple to 278 million, placing that country in the top 10 most populous countries in the world. A recent report by the Legatum Institute presents some sobering and heartbreaking findings on the situation in Ethiopia today: Ethiopia has an “unemployment rate [that] is almost 21%, which is the sixth highest rate, globally.” The “capital per worker in Ethiopia is the fourth lowest worldwide.” The country has “virtually no investment in R&D.” The ability of Ethiopians “to start and run a business is highly limited… [with a] communication infrastructure [that] is weak with only five mobile phones for every 100 citizens”; and the availability of internet bandwidth and secure servers is negligible. Inequality is systemic and widespread and the country is among the bottom ten countries on the Index. The Ethiopian “education system is poor at all levels and its population is deeply dissatisfied.” There is “only one teacher for every 58 pupils at primary level, there is a massive shortage of educators, and Ethiopian workers are typically poorly educated.” Less than a “quarter of the population believe Ethiopian children have the opportunity to learn and grow every day, which is the lowest such rate in the Index.”
On “health outcomes, Ethiopia performs abysmally poor. Its infant mortality rate, 67 deaths per 1,000 live births, and its health-adjusted life expectancy of 50 years, places Ethiopia among the bottom 20 nations.” The population suffers from high mortality rates from “Tuberculosis infections and respiratory diseases. Access to hospital beds and sanitation facilities is very limited, placing the country 109th and 110th (very last) on these measures of health infrastructure.” The core problem of poor governance is reflected in the fact that “there appears to be little respect for the rule of law, and the country is notable for its poor regulatory environment for business, placing 101st in the Index on this variable.”
Africa Rising, African Uprising
African dictators want the world to believe there is an “Africa Renaissance” and “Africa is Rising.” They want to hoodwink the world into believing that Africa is “unshackled and freed”. They proclaim the “façade of the great Africa Union hall conveys a message of optimism out of the decades of hopelessness”. They insult our intelligence. We know Africa shall remain in the dark ages so long as dictators cling to power like ticks on an African milk cow. We know Africa is not rising while under the deadweight of dictatorship; but nothing can stop an African uprising. Despite the deceptive and beguiling words of pompous and imperious dictators, we know Africa is shackled and not free. How can Africa “rise” or undergo a “renaissance” when she is bound, gagged, chained, straightjacketed and hog-tied by gangs of ruthless dictators?
Behind the façade of the great AU hall stand a giggling gang of beggars with cupped palms, outstretched hands, forlorn eyes and shuffling legs looking simultaneously cute and hungry, and begging. The stark truth of the matter is that dictatorship has birthed a shiny tower of desperation and hopelessness on the very “ruins of a prison of desperation and hopelessness”. Teodoro Obiang said the AU building represents the “future we want for Africa”. Excuse me, but begging ain’t much of a future!
China’s economic investment in Africa is said to exceed USD$150 billion. Thousands of Chinese companies do business in all parts of the continent. We know that business is business, and money talks. But as to “China’s gift to Africa”, it is best to heed the old adage: Beware of those bearing gifts. On the other hand, it is bad from for a recipient of charity not to be grateful and amiable. So in the customary words of all palm-rubbing, belly scratching and kowtowing panhandlers, it is appropriate to say to the gift-givers:
Previous commentaries by the author are available at: www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ and http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
“…the present regime’s ethnic based federal setup, which is designed along a liberal democracy trajectory, appears to be failing to produce the desired result” of “equitable share of power and resources.” In effect, it is a policy of “decentralization on paper and centralization in practice.”
Professor Merera Gudina
“There is increasing recognition that institutional and political economy factors are central to economic development. Many problems of development result from barriers to the adoption of new technologies, lack of property rights over land, labor and business, and policies distorting prices and incentives.”
Raj Nallari, Development Outreach, April 2011
In the previous commentary–ethnic governance and the mockery of free and fair elections in Ethiopia–I made direct correlation between minority ethnic governance and disenfranchisement for the rest of the population. The TPLF will never allow free and fair elections that will offer the Ethiopian people options and choices in policy and decision making for a fundamental reason: self-preservation and self or group economic interest. Changes in economic policies such as new urban land proclamations are always introduced to strengthen the reach of the governing party and to “enrich politically powerful elites who oppose rivals.” Denial of property rights in the form of urban and rural land is part of the process. These fundamental values that favor top members of the governing party and its allies force the government to use scarce resources at its disposal to build and shore-up a security and defense system that has no parallel in Ethiopia’s history. The spy ring at the lowest levels of societal life in urban and rural areas and almost all institutions including schools and in the Diaspora attests to the party’s determination to stay in power at any cost. The Diaspora demobilization strategy of the TPLF core is part of an integrated network of disenfranchisement and dispossession. Why would a governing party do this unless it is shackled by a fear factor?
In light of the above, potential options and choices that emanate from open multiparty competition may or could inevitably lead to the prospect of “equitable share in power and resources.” If and when this occurs, there is the prospect of reversals in policy and decision making that will undermine the political and economic hegemony of the Tigrean minority ethnic elite. In turn, this may lead to accountability, for example, of the billions of dollars stolen. Political governance is intricately and organically linked to the protection of a vast network of business interests and control of natural resources for the top leadership, the party’s endowments and the regime’s domestic and foreign allies. The facts speak for themselves.
The top leadership of the governing party knows what it is doing. It is the opposition camp that is unable to move forward with innovative ideas and pioneering organization and leadership and challenge it head on. The first step in the process is to recognize that the inherited mindset among political and social elites that justice, a semblance of democracy and equitable access to economic and social opportunities could be achieved through the lens of ethnic divide and not through national politics has failed the vast majority regardless of ethnic affiliation. I contend that the root ideology of this toxic inheritance emanated from external powers such as Arab governments inimical to Ethiopia and their surrogates such as the EPLF, the TPLF and OLF. Intellectual supporters of the EPLF and later the TPLF were masters at crafting theoretical arguments why Ethiopia should be kept weak, divided and devoid of national leaders at any level. The kilil system is an outcome of the process of divide and rule.
The EPLF core leadership was singularly determined to wipe out Ethiopian nationalists by pitying one group against another, often using the rational of ethnic or nationality oppression. Some fell into its trap and did its dirty work. The military junta led by Mengistu Haile Mariam preoccupied itself with naked power; made the arrogant assumption that military response can solve social and justifiable causes. In the process, it made the country more vulnerable, weaker and void of nationalist social capital. Hundreds of innocent lives were lost in the process. This enormous loss and flight of intellectual capital gave the EPLF, TPLF and others an edge to weaken the country even further.
The Military Dictatorship approved and or sanctioned the wholesale “murder” of an entire generation of the most experienced; and most seasoned Ethiopian leaders of the 20th century. It contributed to the de-institutionalization of Ethiopia in the name of a failed revolution. Further, this same junta played an instrumental role by sponsoring; supporting; and or condoning the mutual destruction of the country’s best and brightest through the “Red and White Terror” schemes that should have been and could have been avoided through wise political leadership at the top. Mengistu Haile Mariam, whose book generated curiosity recently, failed to display personal courage. He refused to accept responsibility for the atrocities he sponsored as head of government. His failure reinforces the arrogant position taken by Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, who continues to violate the fundamental rights of Ethiopians regardless of ethnic affiliation.
In all cases perpetrated by the Military Junta, the beneficiaries were not the Ethiopian people; but the EPLF, TPLF and Ethiopia’s foreign adversaries. This tradition of anti-Ethiopian nationalism and nationally oriented human capital formation is now a core strategy deployed by the TPLF core. The TPLF core has retained the worst features of the regime it replaced. The governing party issues visas to nationalists, patriots and democratic activists to leave the country or sends them to jail. Unlike the regime it replaced, the TPLF government does not condone open killings in the streets. It is a silent killer. It does it in more “civilized ways.” Continuous exodus of the country’s human capital illustrates the fact that there are only two major options for those who dissent: stay and fight and go to jail and or leave the country peacefully.
During the height of the Eritrean conflict, many of us played into the machinations of the EPLF and later the TPLF and fought their proxy wars. We are now paying a huge price. Some of this unfortunate tradition persists. Whatever form of democracy we may wish for the country, we are unlikely to achieve it without rejecting this inheritance or implant from the past. Here is my concern. Many of us within the opposition camp continue to play to the same tune as the country’s rulers while expecting a different outcome. The TPLF core plays us against one another to do its dirty work the same way that the EPLF pitied us against one another. The demobilization of the Diaspora in churches, mosques, eating places, sports, schools and so on is in large part an indicator of our weakness and not a reflection of the strength and wisdom of the governing party and its advocates. It is unfortunate that those of us who live in freedom are silent, afraid or reluctant to challenge this continuous ethnic divide, demobilization and disillusionment? We seem to be gripped with fear the same way as those who live under the watch of a repressive system that spy on them daily. At least, they have reason. Why do we allow this to occur?
What makes us vulnerable abroad is that we are divided along ethnic, religious and ideological lines. It is as if we spy on one another and do not even know it. We surely know that, at the moment, ethnic-federalism bestows on the Ethiopian people the notion that they are a collection of ‘independent states’ and that they enjoy a modicum of freedom and autonomy that will lead them to eventual prosperity. Is this true? There as some folks who believe this; and we need to convince them why they should not. Here is the problem. By any definition, the kilil concept is separatist, retarding, adversarial and corruption-ridden and conflict prone. This is the essence of ethnic-federalism. If the kilil system is a collection of fragmented and separate states any one of which has the right to secede, it is more akin to Apartheid Bantustans than to the 50 states of the United States or to Tanzania or Indonesia or to Mauritius or to Ghana or to Malaysia or to India. The Bantustan system in South Africa accepted skewed distribution of wealth and incomes as a norm. In turn, this resulted in uneven development that is still persistent. The TPLF survives by making kilil an instrument of division rather than national cohesion and democratization for a smart reason. The kilil system weakens collective resistance while allowing the core ethnic elite and its allies to control natural resources and to make insane wealth on the back of the Ethiopian poor. It does this through fear and division.
Resistance to this retarding ideology can and should come from those of us who live in freedom. Lessons from the past suggest that it is only when we reach-out to one another; promote and build trust with one another; and cooperate with one another that we can resist our own demobilization; and serve as catalysts of change in the country we left behind. We live in countries that allow freedom of thought and encourage private ownership of property. Yet, we fail to challenge a system that violates both principles. The kilil system the TPLF core pursues is not only anti-national human capital; it is also anti-private property for the vast majority of Ethiopians.
The kilil system makes private property virtually unattainable
Most people establish the legal right to private property by acquiring or inheriting or leasing or buying urban land within established parameters and by building homes that he or she can afford to build on this land. Everyone has aspirations to own a home. This fundamental right of ownership is being undone by the governing elite that are determined to allow private property only for its elite members and foreigners and disallow same for the majority. Private property that is increasingly common in socialist market economies such as China is an anathema to the minority ethnic governing elite in Ethiopia for a good reason. People with private property and private assets are more likely to challenge it than people who are destitute. Here is the contradiction for everyone to see. None of today’s high income and high asset members and supporters of the governing elite can make rightful claim that they worked hard and produced goods to earn their riches. They are where they are because they control politics and economics. They became wealthy through redistributive power that bestows rent without productivity. It is within this context that one should consider the recent proclamation on urban land. It disenfranchises Ethiopians from owning private property in their own country. At the same time, it makes the governing party stronger than ever before. It denies ordinary Ethiopians the right to own, transfer and collateralize any personal property that is built on the land for good; while strengthening the prospect of more wealth and incomes for the few.
The minority ethnic elite that rules the country argues that all land and natural resources belong to the Ethiopian people. The party defines itself as representing, and in fact, being the Ethiopian people. The party is now the people. I suggested in previous works that the TPLF has effectively merged ethnicity, party and state into one. Its action now suggests that it has assumed the status of people. Merger of ethnicity, party and state suggests that Tigrean ethno-nationalism requires super-ordinate loyalty to a tribe (Tigrean) rather than to Ethiopia or to all nationality and ethnic groups in the country. The government and state operate on behalf of a minority ethnic elite. It is this merged state that the ruling party says represents the entire country and its 90 million people.
There is no contest that ethnicity, party, state and people are practically merged into one. What does it mean in practical terms? It means that the governing elite defines the term people as it wishes; decides on who belongs and who does not as it wishes; legislates who owns private property and who does not as it wishes; facilitates who leaves the country and who stays as it wishes; and regulates who becomes rich and who remains poor as it wishes; and condones who steals and get away with it as it wishes. There is no challenge to its verdict even when the lives millions are at stake. It is this draconian.
The governing elite alienate land from private investments on the land. Here is the implication for this and the coming generation. A young woman or man, who goes to school and works hard, saves and plans to build a home, cannot aspire to do so under the new system. When the new proclamation takes effect, only the rich and super rich can and will build homes, villas and mansions. If you wish to look at it from an ethnic lens, an ordinary Tigrean who is poor or even works as a soldier or small bureaucrat can only gaze at a mansion in Mekele and wonder who owns it and how. The same is true in Gondar or Bahir Dar or Awassa or Jima or Harrar and so on. The rich will have the right to transfer and collateralize. The poor would have the right to gaze at the glitz and ask how? The Ethiopian people have no say or stake in their national resources including urban and rural lands. This is what experts call alienation and disenfranchisement. In summary, the minority ethnic government and state it leads has become the new landlord. Everyone is reduced to serfdom.
The parallel to the urban land crisis is yemeret neteka ena kirimit in rural areas where the new landlords are Indians, Saudis, Chinese, Egyptians and others from outside; and the few chosen Tigreans from the inside. The government says that it is standardizing land leases. In my estimation, standardization is a cover. The real motive is to make sure that Ethiopians do not own substantial property. Why? Ownership of private property and economic independence enhances freedom. Freedom advances accountability. The well to do and the less dependent would be in a position to challenge the current system. It is far easier to order and rule the poor than the prosperous. Just think of the reality the poor face on the ground that compounds the problem even further. The glitz of villas, condos and mansions that dot the country should never mask the dire situation the vast majority endures each day. The glitz in construction that employed thousands is now completely stalled. This has led to more unemployment and homelessness in cities and towns. Take a look at the statistics and ask whether or not the current system would solve a looming national social crisis. The fact that some ethnic elite members at regional levels are better off under the current regime misses the point entirely. Has the wellbeing of the majority in kilils where allies thrive changed substantially? The data says no.
Fifty two percent of the population earns less than a dollar a day; just below the poverty threshold of US$1.25. Statistics do not lie. UN estimates put stunting of children at 55 percent. The economic cost to the country from stunting alone is estimated at US$ 2 billion per annum. Malnutrition at 57 percent is one of the highest in Africa. Three percent of Ethiopians are retarded; more than one million are blind; and about one million lives are lost due to vitamin deficiencies. In 2011, close to 7 million Ethiopian children were identified as orphans. Maternal mortality, one of the leading causes for the high orphan rate, is among the highest in the world. Human trafficking and especially of girls has risen at an alarming rate as has adoption. Both are multimillion dollar businesses. The country’s largest export is human capital.
Ninety percent of these and other major diseases and social ills that take away millions of lives are systemic and preventable. These diseases and other social and economic indicators of multidimensional poverty illustrate the dire situation that the vast majority of Ethiopians face whether they live in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Afar, Gambella, Beni-Shangul Gumuz and SNNP, Oromia or any other kilil. It is this reality too that should push all opponents to set aside minor differences and take the regime to task. If opponents cooperate, the regime would have no leg to stand on.
It is against these dreary statistics that Ethiopia’s miraculous growth should be gauged. The same social and economic indicators by the UN system present a troubling picture of the rural economy where 85 percent of the Ethiopian people live and work. Seventy-six percent of the country highland croplands are degraded. Experts estimate that each year, 200,000 ha of farmland are degraded. This too is preventable through extension services, better technology, education and training, land tenure security and so on. I have argued in Waves that Ethiopian farmers including women are among the hardest working people on this planet. With better inputs, adult literacy, improved infrastructure and markets, tenure security, access to more lands, conservation efforts and so on, agriculture offers Ethiopia its singular potential comparative advantage source.
The debatable double digit growth claimed by the Ethiopian government seems to have ignored the rural segment of the population completely. Rural farmers and others have not fared any better under this growth than urban dwellers, government employees, small traders and shopkeepers and other small enterprise owners. In fact, they seem to be in the same boat: just coping each day and barely surviving. I recall a farmer in Harrar who said that he is worse off now than he was before. Why? His family has been reduced to eating one or two meals a day; from three meals a day before the current economic boom. Some experts argue that income for ordinary civil servants, retirees, the middle class, shopkeepers and rural people have in fact declined substantially. At the same time, a few at the top have made a killing from the economic boom. A rental economy allows this anomaly.
If you believe as I do that the rural sector is the backbone of the national economy and possesses substantial potential for further productivity, it behooves us to shed our ethnic garbs and reject the kilil system. Why? It deters social cohesion, mobility, domestic market integration, and sustainable, equitable and integrated development. The country is unable to feed itself and make poverty history not because of lack of natural resources or people; but because of poor economic and natural resource management. The kilil system contributes to this abnormality.
There are a number of reasons for this condition. Land tenure insecurity is among the lead causes for low productivity. Intensification and diversification have not taken hold. Farmers suffer from low inputs. The farming population is clustered or “concentrated” (a term used by a colleague), on 12 million ha of lands. Each farming family consists of an average of 6 persons and farms less than half ha of land. It is predictable that small plots of land cannot support larger numbers of people without substantial technological and cultural innovation. With a few exceptions, smallholders do not receive the kind of input that triggered agricultural revolutions in South and East Asia. Inputs such as better seeds, credits, fertilizers and lands are dictated by loyalty to party rather than merit and national productivity need.
In a country with millions who are either land poor or landless, the governing party’s giveaway of millions of ha of the most fertile farmlands and water basins to Indian, Chinese, Egyptian and Saudi and other foreign firms and governments and domestic allies is, to say the least, unjust and unfair. Given the types of investment agreements made without public discussion and local community consent, it is entirely unclear what benefit the country and local communities gain. For this reason, land giveaway is tantamount to compromising the country’s source of comparative advantage. It undermines citizenship and ownership and degrades the wellbeing and security of rural families. Evidence in the country (in the late 1960s and early 1970s) and other successful economies where smallholder revolutions have taken place shows that Ethiopia’s varied climate and varied crops offer enormous possibilities to scale up and transform agricultural production to unprecedented levels. This can only happen through smart and deliberate government policies and public participation.
Empowered and equipped with new technologies and inputs and given tenure security, smallholders and the Ethiopian private sector can eliminate hunger altogether. This will not occur as long as land tenure is politicized to serve the governing party. De-politicization would-I am convinced-lead to an Ethiopian smallholder revolution. This is the key to agricultural productivity and to the elimination of abject poverty. Experts estimate that if the current system persists, 50 percent of Ethiopia’s growing population will go hungry by 2020–less than 8 years. Tenure security is therefore a matter of survival. Opponents cannot afford to let this happen. They must champion empowerment.
It is absurd to imagine—unless we let it—that the current repressive and corrupt system would last under these conditions. Everywhere one looks; there are pockets of popular dissent and protest: Oromia, the Ogaden, Gojjam, Gambella, Silte in the Shoa sub-region and others, colleges students and domestic workers in the Middle East. What do they share in common? All of them cry out for justice. They do it in isolation from one another because the kilil system is designed to punish or contain them in isolation from one another. In light of this continuous phenomenon I suggest that any dissident who is not ready and willing to respond to these nation-wide cries cannot blame the governing party and sit back. He or she has a moral duty to respond through concrete action by cooperating with one another. Action requires that we accept the simple notion that, no matter the level of oppression, punishment and disenfranchisement–done in deliberate isolation–the Ethiopian people will not accept their status as tenants and as passive recipients of brutality, punishment and injustice for long. The question then is where we stand on these seemingly isolated protests and dissent?
Socioeconomic data is useful for a sound reason. It is ethnicity and religious or demographic blind. Every Ethiopian wants to own something that she or he can claim as her or his own. A small hut or tukul is as private as a mansion. This takes me back to the recent urban land proclamation that reinforces my plea for greater cooperation among opponents regardless of ethnic affiliation and past history. The regime allows and dismisses localized incidents and people’s calls for justice intentionally and deliberately as simple or as triggered by “terrorist groups and external enemies.” The kilil system and culture are conducive for this to happen. Kilil elites defend the system with a passion that defies reason. Do not blame them. They are part of the system that sustains them. Information and knowledge is not shared. It is natural that people do not react to remote incidents because these do not affect them directly and immediately. The phenomenon suggests that threads of commonality that bind people together as citizens (Ethiopians) rather than as religious and ethnic enclaves are undermined. Restrictions on press freedom make matters worse.
Here is my socioeconomic argument. A home cannot be built in thin air. Ordinary Ethiopians understand fully that their alienation from owning land, transferring land to their children, collateralizing land to borrow, and selling their property to upgrade or downgrade is unjust and unfair. People understand fully that land giveaways to foreign investors and preferred elites will not serve them or the country. Rather, it disenfranchises them; and forces them to move from their ancestral homes. These governing party policies and programs are therefore an abrogation of fundamental economic and social rights of ordinary Ethiopians that will affect all in the long-term. Can you imagine that anything of value can be built without land? A home or any other physical asset that is anchored on this earth does not float in thin air.
The governing elite tell us that in Ethiopia, it does. It forces people to accept this as a norm without public debate. What the party says is literally gospel. It does this in the political arena as much as it does in the economic and social arena. In a country where corruption is endemic, those with wealth are able to transfer out billions illicitly: US$11.7 billion between 2000 and 2008 and US$3.26 billion in 2009 alone. No big thief has been charged and sent to jail. The kilil system is well suited for corruption to take place at a massive scale. It seems to be the only way to gain wealth. Even those who love their country move their money out because they are unsure of the future.
Endemic corruption emanates directly from a system of minority ethnic elite and will not stop unless the kilil system–that gives a semblance of democracy for the elite–changes. Therefore, the key is not what the minority ethnic elite think or do. It is what those who oppose it think and act against this absurdity in government policy and programs that make the vast majority of Ethiopians subservient tenants and poor; and that allows the elite to steal billions from one of the two poorest countries in Africa.
2/3/2012
At least 5 bodyguards of Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi have been arrested after being suspected of secretly communicating with members of the ARENA Tigray Party, according to Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit sources… details later
