That is not the worst that has happened to my beloved cousin but that is good enough point to start this tragic {www:saga}. I know you are the perfect people I can share this sad story with. I can picture you my dear Ethiopian cousins, upon reading the headline you will bow your head a little, tilt it to the left suck on your lips and make that peculiar hissing sound. Knowing that to be the extent of your sorrow and rage I am both touched and grateful.
My cousin is in deep shock. His once big and vibrant household has dwindled to a few young ones with no place to go. The once bigger than life, articulate, graceful head of the family now walks with his head down avoiding eye contact. His wife the most beautiful, generous, vibrant lady God has created has become a sickly woman that spends her days crying and praying. Their children left a long time ago.
Where the children went is another story to be told all by it self. I am not going to burden you with more sad tales. Let us just say no one left that Home in what is considered the proper way…..something like getting married, buying his or her own house or higher education. No, they all left in a hurry. No one was given a proper sendoff. They were dispersed into the four corners of the world. They have become what is known as the ‘Diaspora’ to use a modern phrase to describe those that left out of despair, been pushed out, nudged, escaped or encouraged to ‘leave’ while still alive.
Well because I write from America you are probably thinking that my cousin’s tragedy is a local event. You might think he probably got into drugs, became an alcoholic, was addicted to gambling or he was the victim of the economy or pure random bad luck. I don’t blame you. That does happen. I have seen many lives being ruined like that. I am afraid that is not the situation here.
My cousin became homeless in his own country. He was not a drug user, an alcoholic or a gambler nor did he lose his job. Did I tell you my cousin is a medical doctor? Yes, he is a highly educated, caring and productive member of society if that means anything these days.
He came from a good family. His grand father accompanied Emperor Minilk to the battle of Maichew in Northern Ethiopia. His father, my uncle never got tired of telling us the bravery of our ancestors. When ever we complained his response was to bring out the story of his father marching north walking bare feet, shield and spear as weapon and no food ration but resolved to defend what is his. We used to look at each other and snicker. Upon his return, King Minilk awarded him land to build on. Great uncle settled down and my cousin, the new homeless is his first child. He was the pride of the family. He never disappointed the clan. He lived up to expectations.
He acquired scholarship to a foreign land and returned back educated, handsome and a credit to his country. You should have seen the pride in my uncle’s and his mothers face when they saw their son wearing his clean snow-white jacket with a stethoscope hanging around his neck. They died happy. Their job was done.
My cousin inherited the house he was born in and started a family of his own. I am blessed with two nephews that I keep in touch with sporadically. They are the ones that left their home in the middle of the night. One traveled north to Sudan and now lives in Europe. The girl was accompanied south to Kenya and now lives in New Zealand. That sounds far. That was the day their mother died. Not physical death, but such agony that could only be understood by those that have children of their own.
My cousin and his wife settled to a life of getting old in an empty house. Migrating was not their style. They just wanted to die quietly in their own home. Well, they were resigned to it until now.
They are going to be homeless. The Ethiopian government is going to displace them from their home. The UNHCR will refer to them as “Internally Displaced Persons.” According to the UN the definition consists of two elements. 1) Coercive or otherwise involuntary character of movement 2) Such movement takes place within national borders. They fit both descriptions.
Even during the wholesale Nationalization without compensation crimes of the Mengistu era their house was spared. It was their castle. Their own liberated free zone. The Meles regime first demanded over $20,000 Bir to upgrade the Title and blueprint. They were forced to borrow to pay this arbitrary figure. There was no place to appeal. That was a few years back.
Today, as you read this my poor cousin was presented a bill for $350,000.00 Bir the price of the new lease. Ato Meles and his politburo have decided that amount to be the price of the land his house is sitting on. They have given him the choice to pay it or vacate. How these two retired elders will be able to come up with such outrageous amount of money apparently is not their concern.
The Mayor of Addis Corporal Kuma Demeksa and State Minster Mokria Haile were sent out to explain this new concept of leasing your own freaking property. The two TPLF errand boys have been trying to convince the people of Addis how this new Government sanctioned robbery is good for them. They have been wrecking their brains to convince the public to show enthusiasm while being raped by the TPLF mafia.
What gives the Government the authority to confiscate private property at will is a good question. The simple answer is it is legal. The laws of the land states so. Mengistu started the ball rolling when he was converted to Socialism and made taking what is not yours seem so natural. Ato Meles built on that foundation and added his TPLF’s Home grown enhancements. Callous regard for fellow human is the corner stone. He foresaw the possibility and made sure that the Judiciary he created would not one day mess with his plans. That is why the law prohibited the judiciary from looking into land issues. One can go to court to complain regarding the compensation amount but the Court does not have the authority to rule regarding ownership of land. The Law is clear on that. All land belongs to the Ethiopian Government. The TPLF Party runs the Government. Ato Meles is the de facto owner of the TPLF Party. You can fight all you want on what is on top but the bottom belongs to Ato Meles and his people. You Sir/Madam is subject to evection without notice. There is no appeal process, what Meles and his Party say is the law. No need to split hair, this is a fact.
Hold a minute, how about the Parliament you might ask? That has been taken care of. Kinijit almost rocked this important leg of ‘Revolutionary Democracy’ in 2005. Today it is working like a well-oiled machine. In fact it is ready to handle most situations without overt supervision. Ato Meles is in control of the Judiciary, the parliament and the Executive. He is three rolled in one!
The new Proclamation Land Lease Law 721/2004 is what gives Meles and TPLF Politburo the deeds to all land in Addis Ababa. How it came to be Law is a beautiful story all by itself showing us the workings of a Revolutionary Democracy up close. The Ethiopian Parliament returned from summer break and the President of the country gave a lavish dinner to members to welcome them from their vacation. While the exotic food was being served and liquor flowing like the Nile TPLF cadres were seen distributing the new proposal regarding land. The members were urged to study the brief.
They studied it overnight and the following day’s session of Parliament passed the Law with minimum fanfare. The people of Addis Abeba including my cousin were made home less by Parliamentarians that have not recovered from their hangover. Fifteen hours is the time it took our esteemed Parliamentarians to decide on such an important matter. That is Ethiopia in a nutshell.
I have been trying to come up with rational reasons why Ato Meles will risk getting the population angry at his Party. He has no choice. Running a criminal organization like the Ethiopian Government is a very expensive venture. Everybody has a handout. Most survive by corruption. The party needs money like a drug addict needs his fix.
We just have a very short memory. If you look back you will find so many instances where the search for more money has shown us the dark side of TPLF. To site a few: 1) switching lead and gold in the national Bank. 2) The disappearance of Coffee 3) the sale of part of Gondar to Sudan 3) the ‘Orphan’ adoption scam that generates millions 4) the maid trade to the Middle East 5) Lease of fertile and virgin land to foreigners. So on.
Regarding the new proclamation about Addis and other cities, according to Ato Israel Tesfaye a bureau chief in the Ministry of land Development and Administration the TPLF regime is free to give the land as gift, hold a lottery, ask for bids and lease the land they way it sees fit. You see my poor cousin’s land is in a desirable neighborhood. It became a curse.
The people of Addis were not consulted. The so-called ‘independent’ Kilils or Bantustans were not part of this discussion. The errand boys no matter how hard they tried they could not make the medicine go down easy. No one can explain how your own government can make you homeless in your own land. It is sort of surreal when you are told the house you father inherited from his father and you inherited from him is still not paid for. In fact today in fast growing Ethiopia you cannot afford your own house.
The regime got a few buyers in mind. The first in line is the dear Diaspora. They are the gullible that will pay real cash for stolen property. The local cannot afford any of that. Out of eighty million Ethiopians Seventy million cannot afford this insanity. Be it greed, ignorance or low self esteem those that left the country to make their life better are now destroying the life of those that stayed behind.
The abuse has become so much and frequent that we are completely desensitized to all kinds of atrocities. We feed the monster but we complain about it. We buy stolen property but when he sells it to the highest bidder we complain. Instead of building and strengthening our Associations and Civic Organizations, Churches, Mosques we break them apart and complain about the lack of unity. We make decisions based on Zer and Gosa, marriage, kinship, friendship and other trivia exposing our lack of convictions and stiff spine and we still complain and deny our role in this tragedy.
Hey the view that the sun revolves around the earth is just an alternative theory, right? You can add that selling land, selling people and selling country will bring peace and prosperity to that.
The Ethiopians were celebrating Christmas in their private home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Twenty-nine of them are women. They have been beaten and many of them are sick now. Ethiopian Review calls for a protest rally in front of the Saudi Arabia embassy in Washington DC next week. Time and date to be announced.
This is Ethiopian Review Policy Research Center’s series on From Dictatorship to Democracy extracted/quoted from books and articles published by Albert Einstein Institution and similar sources.
When we think of dialogue as a contest, conflict occurs because we are more concerned with getting what we want than with attempting to understand each other’s needs and emotions. We become defensive about our respective positions.
When both parties communicate their needs and feelings, the need to be defensive disappears. By understanding and accepting each other, we can surpass our individual positions and focus on developing shared values, goals and objectives. We switch from arguing over positions to understanding the other sides for collaborative Partnerships.
The ultimate goal of understanding others is the creation of long term, cooperative relationships. We have more to gain from working together than from growing apart. By following the process of Understanding Others for Reconciliation , we can move beyond conflict to collaboration, as illustrated in the following diagram. CLICK:Understanding Others for Reconciliation
“NEVER AGAIN” is a central rallying cry of Understanding Others, Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Restorative Transformation programs. It is a justice system intended to be both preventive and restorative… [read more]
If a person were to {www:maliciously} burn or {www:vandalize} another’s house, it would be regarded as a serious property crime under the laws of any nation. If one were to walk into a bookstore and steal thousands of books and give them away to any passerby, that would also be a major property crime. How about taking a copyrighted book, scanning it and making it available to anyone in digital form online? Is that a serious criminal act? Is it also an immoral and depraved act?
Is it fair?
When a publisher, author or artist produces a book, a piece of music, a painting or other similar work, s/he is creating intellectual property which is as valuable as any other kind of property recognized by law. Just as doctors, lawyers, engineers and others make a living by practicing their professions, those in the literary, artistic and publishing communities make their living from marketing their intellectual creations. But the total disrespect and contempt shown by some individuals to the intellectual property rights of Ethiopian musicians, artists and authors is downright sickening and maddening.
Today, the music of the legendary Ethiopian artists, including Tilahun Gessesse, Mahmoud Ahmed, Bizunesh Bekele, Alemayehu Eshete, Kiros Alemayehu, Kassa Tessema, Ketema Makonnen, Asnaketch Worku, Mary Armede, Hirut Bekele, Ali Birra, Aster Aweke, Kuku Sebsebie, Muluken Melesse, Teodros “Teddy Afro” Kassahun, Shambel Belayneh and so many others, are illegally and casually stored online and made freely available. The artists receive no payments and their work is distributed without their permission and often to the financial benefit (selling ads on websites, subscriptions, etc.) of the music pirates. The individuals who store the music illegally and those who download them illegally work together to not only impoverish these great artists but also destroy their creative potential and ability to enrich the culture.
Crimes Against the Press
This contemptible culture of online piracy passed another shameful milestone recently when an entire book was scanned and posted on the internet in clear violation of international and national copyright laws. The book in question was the recently published memoir of former Ethiopian junta leader Mengistu Hailemariam. The website that scanned and posted the book online justified its action as follows:
Mass murderer and brutal dictator Mengsitu Haile Mariam (exiled in Harare, Zimbabwe) has written a 500+ pages book that has been published by Tsehai Publisher of Los Angeles. This mass murderer has not yet atoned or paid for his horrendous crimes and the mass killings of the Red Terror. He now hopes to benefit from the sale of his book of lies. We strongly feel that this criminal should be tried before a court of law and should be hindered from benefitting from his crime. Thus, we have published the book in PDF and we are posting it for free usage of all interested readers.
The website operators defended their illegal copying and posting by claiming that they had a right to do so under American law:
Our action is protected by Son of Sam Law in the USA which prohibits criminals from profiting from their crimes by selling their stories to publishers. Accessories to such actions are also included in the prohibition and in certain cases the law can be extended beyond the criminal to include friends, neighbors and family members of the lawbreaker. Denying the holocaust is a crime in many countries and Mengistu denies firmly the Red Terror and the mass murders. Concerned Ethiopians are studying the possibility of a law suit against Mengistu and his LA based publisher who may also be a target of boycott by all Ethiopians. Assisting and helping mass murderers to profit from their crimes by publishing their book of lies is a crime by itself.
The illegal posting is allegedly motivated by the desire to prevent Mengistu from getting a “benefit from the sale of his book”, despite the fact that posting the digital copy of the book will give wider dissemination of what they described as a “book of lies”. Ironically, by posting the book online for all to read, the copyright infringers more likely gave great credibility to Mengistu’s claims about them than actually discrediting him. But the real target of the vengeance is the publisher, Tsehai Publishers, and not Mengistu. The copyright violators’ twisted message is simple: If they do not like the message of an author, they will retaliate by scanning and posting the author’s book online and bankrupt the publisher.
One can disagree deeply with Mengistu and the facts or lies contained in his memoir. Having read the book, I am critical of the accuracy and selective recollection of many of his “facts”; and disagree with his attempt to avoid personal and regime accountability for his gross violations of human rights. But that is the way of all dictators. They always try to tell their stories in heroic terms and attempt to justify their crimes as patriotic acts.
Although I disagree with Mengistu on numerous “facts” and unreservedly condemn his human rights record, I will be the first one to stand up and defend his right to write a book and publish it, even if it is all lies. To be sure, I defend Mengistu’s right to express himself just as vigorously as I defended the free speech rights of his successor Meles Zenawi when he spoke at Columbia University in September 2010. Why shouldn’t these two dictators be allowed to express themselves? Who is afraid of their “facts”, “lies”, ideas or opinions? Don’t the people have the right to hear these dictators and make their own judgment?
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” “Everyone” includes dictators and human rights violators. It is the moral duty of those of us who are committed to freedom, democracy and human rights to expose the lies, fabrications and brutality of dictators at every opportunity. By suppressing the views of the dictators, we not only undermine our own moral legitimacy against their lies but also prove to the world that we are indeed their clones. “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
Those who posted Mengistu’s book online are absolutely wrong on the law. The so-called “Son of Sam Law” they tout as authority for posting the book online was adopted in the State of New York in 1983 to prevent convicted criminals from selling their stories to publishers and profiting from the notoriety of their crimes. That law was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991. New York adopted a narrowly tailored law in 2001 requiring, among other things, victim notification whenever a person convicted of a crime receives a certain amount of money. A similar law in California was struck down by that state’s highest court in 2002. Under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 3681 (2000) [Special Forfeiture of Collateral Profits of Crime]), the U.S. attorney may seek a federal court order authorizing “forfeiture of all or any part of proceeds from a contract relating to a depiction of such crime in a movie, book, newspaper, magazine, radio or television production…” There is no law in the United States that gives private parties the right to become “Special Prosecutors” to catch “mass murderers” who “profit from their crimes by publishing their book of lies” online, or violate the copyright of publishers in the name of preventing “mass murderers” from profiting. As a matter of law, no state or federal court has personal jurisdiction over Mengistu to deprive him of any “profits” he may get from the sale of the book. Even if such jurisdiction could be had, Mengistu would still be entitled to full due process of law before any court orders denial of proceeds from the sale of his book. Yes, dictators are also entitled to full due process before they are deprived of life, liberty and property.
Crimes Against Copyright Laws
The illegal posting of Mengistu’s memoir is not about lies, truths or criminals profiting from their crimes. It is about criminal infringement of copyrights. Since 1886, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works “Berne Convention”, see Art. 2) has been in place to protect literary and artistic works. Under 17 U.S.C. §506 (a )(1 )(B), “Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed… (B) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180–day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000.”
The whole idea in copyright law is to give the creator of an original work exclusive intellectual property rights for a specified amount of time, which in the U.S. is the lifetime of the author plus 70 years. During this period, the owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, license, and prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work. Under the “fair use” rule, others may make limited use of the material for critical reviews of a work or for news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.
Crimes Against Culture
I suspect there may be some who are not familiar with Tsehai Publishers and the young man who has toiled so hard for so many years to create a publishing outlet to Ethiopian, African and other academics dedicated to scholarship on Ethiopia and the continent in general. Elias Wondimu started Tsehai Publishers in 1998. His aim was to create an institution that will “provide a venue for writers whose works may otherwise go unpublished.” Through these efforts, Elias hopes to achieve our goals of fostering intercultural dialogue and social justice.
Elias has an extraordinary and unrivalled record in seeking to enhance Ethiopian culture. He came to the U.S. in September 1994 to participate in the 12th International Ethiopian Studies Conference held at Michigan State University. Shortly thereafter, he began service as an editor for Ethiopian Review magazine, which appeared in print form until 2000. After closing out the print version of the magazine, he dedicated his time towards the establishing Tsehai Publishers, which is named in memory of his mother who died in Ethiopia in 1997. Over the past decade, Tsehai publishers, now based at Loyola Marymount University in California, has made available nearly 60 scholarly and literary works on a variety of topics, the vast majority of them concerned with Ethiopian and African affairs. The publications cover the entire political cross-section without partisanship and censorship.
Among the dozens of original scholarship and reprints of some classic works on Ethiopian and African history, politics, anthropology, sociology, economics, religion and culture include: Tradition & Change in Ethiopia (2010), Feudalism and Modernization in Ethiopia (2006), Wit and Wisdom of Ethiopia (1999), Enough with Famines in Ethiopia (2006), The Survival of Ethiopian Independence (2004), A Political History of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (2010), A History of the Beta Israel (Falasha) (2010), Protestant & Catholic Missions in Orthodox Ethiopia (2007), Life and Culture in the Townships of Cape Town (2007), AIDS Orphans and their Grandparents (2006), Wax and Gold (2005), Civil Wars and Revolution in the Sudan (2005), Ethiopia in Wartime (2004). A complete list is available here.
In 2004, Tsehai Publishers established The International Journal of Ethiopian Studies (IJES), currently available on JSTOR, the international online system for archiving academic journals. A number of Ethiopian academics and scholars including myself and professors Maimire Mennasemay, Worku Negash and Alula Pankhurst have served as senior editors. IJES is an interdisciplinary, refereed journal which is published twice a year and dedicated to scholarly research relevant to or informed by the Ethiopian experience. IJES publishes articles in English and Amharic. The Journal’s mission statement explains that
IJES will, for the first time, provide Ethiopian scholars with an Ethiopian venue for reflecting seriously on Ethiopian issues from a scholarly perspective… One of the deepest obstacles to African (including Ethiopian) progress towards democracy and economic prosperity is the peculiar situation of Africans being reduced to an object of knowledge by contemporary social science. The absence of Africans, including Ethiopians, as self-examining, self-evaluating, self-defining, and self-propelling subjects of history [has resulted in our] total dependence on external (European and American) definitions, interpretations, explanations, evaluations of who we are and what our problems and their solutions are.”
Tsehai Publishers has also organized a number of number of national conferences covering a wide range of issues and topics and sponsored a film festival for young filmmakers. The list of Elias’ contributions to the intellectual life of the Ethiopian, African and international communities is significant and much appreciated.
Those of us who take great pride in what Elias has accomplished could be faulted for speaking very highly of him. Perhaps others who have looked at his efforts could offer a more objective assessment. Prof. Wendy Belcher of Princeton University writes:
Elias is doing something unusual and important. There are very few publishers from the African continent, and, in the U.S., there are [only] a handful which are run by Africans and are publishing African texts. For an Ethiopian to have a press is more appropriate than almost any other nationality. They’ve had a written language going back 3,000 years and have long been in the business of printing and preserving the written word. He’s in a long, honorable line.
Such is the contribution of Elias and Tsehai Publishers to the preservation, conservation and glorification of Ethiopian and African history and culture. Those who illegally copied and posted the book are not attacking the author of the book, but Elias and Tsehai Publishers. Their crimes are against the very essence of Ethiopian and African culture and those scholars and authors who spend years researching their works. All Ethiopians and Africans are victims of this cowardly crime.
It is important to know that Elias has brought great honor and pride to all Ethiopians. In 2007, he was named Ambassador for Peace by the Universal Peace Federation and the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace to help establish lines of dialogue between African scholars, poets, historians, academics, aesthetes, journalists and scholars. In 2008, he was profiled in the inaugural edition of Who’s Who in Black Los Angeles along with such distinguished individuals as Steve Wonder, Tavis Smiley, Kobe Bryant, Isaiah Washington and Dr. Maulana Karenga. He was also profiled in a special edition of the LA Weekly as one the leading independent presses in Los Angeles. He has been interviewed on the Voice of America, National Public Radio, Deutsche Welle Radio, SBS Australia and other media on various cultural topics.
Let’s Right a CopyWrong: A Special Plea to All Ethiopians and Others Who Value a Free Press
This past week, the U.S. Congress considered two laws aimed at the type of copyright crime committed against Tsehai Publishers. The Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (“PIPA”) would have allowed the U.S. Attorney General to require domain name registries to “suspend operation of, and lock, the domain name” of a website “dedicated to infringing activity.” The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would have expanded the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property. While lawmakers wrestle with the issues, we can all do our part to support, protect and preserve a unique and irreplaceable institution in the Ethiopian/African Diaspora. Above all, we should defend the right to press freedom and free speech against not only dictators who shutter newspapers and close down publishing houses but also those who use copyright blackmail and the threat of financial bankruptcy against publishers.
Let us do the right thing!
Those who have downloaded the book in digital or print form aware or unaware of the criminality of the act should delete it permanently from your computers and discard the printed version.
Most importantly, we all need to show moral outrage by speaking out against such copyright criminality and moral courage by doing our part to support Tsehai Publishers for it is a treasure we cannot afford to lose.
On a personal note, I ask those who have followed my weekly commentaries and essays over the past six years to help me help Tsehai Publishers. I believe in Tsehai Publishers and fully support the efforts of Elias Wondimu and his associates who have toiled for years to make a gift of light (Tsehai) to all of us. It is a simple choice we face: We can do nothing and let darkness overwhelm our history, culture and future. Or we can do something and keep the sun shining brightly on Ethiopia, Africa and beyond!
“They gave the land and we took it. This is green gold.”
Karuturi on land grab in Gambella
“The government is killing our people through starvation and hunger…We are dying here with our children. Government workers get their salary, but we are just waiting to for death.”
An Anuak Elder to Human Rights Watch
Anyone who has read the latest Human Rights Watch investigative report on land grab (yemeret neteka ena kirimit) in Gambella under the title “Waiting for Death” should have no doubt that the governing party is callous and does not place value on human life. The people of Gambella who are being moved or relocated “forcibly” are citizens and humans who deserve fair treatment like any human being on this planet. It is their citizenship that is being robbed from them and from their children by repressive ethnic elite that has aligned itself with loyal domestic and foreign investors such as Saudi Star and Karuturi. Shouldn’t this latest report on social, economic, cultural, political and psychological violations of citizens in Gambella and other regions where similar occurrences are taking place enrage and mobilize us? If such violations do not lead to convergence, what would? My plea to the reader is this. Land and water resource transfers to domestic allies and foreign investors in the name of development that do not show immediate and long-term benefits to the people of Ethiopia, and especially to so called indigenous or local inhabitants and at an immense cost to citizens is a travesty. This, in itself, should compel us to close ranks and cooperate and collaborate for justice and freedom.
I want to start this commentary with a rationale of why I am doing a series on ethnic based political organization and governance—the current well-crafted geopolitical architecture of the TPLF/EPRDF. It seems to me that each and every one of us who believes in the enormous potential of our country of origin and its diverse population has a moral obligation to identify and articulate the reasons why Ethiopia is still one the five poorest countries in the world with a per capita income in 2011 of US$350 compared to the Sub-Saharan African average of US$1,070. As important, we are obligated to reflect on why and what type of change we would like to see in Ethiopia that will serve and benefit all Ethiopians left out by the so-called economic boom since the thwarted elections of 2005. I have suggested that if we want to see change, we must overcome minor differences, agree on a minimum agenda and deliver for the Ethiopian people. The time for action is now and not tomorrow. Eshie nege (yes tomorrow) will not advance the cause of peace, national reconciliation, justice and the rule of law and the sovereignty of the Ethiopian people. It will prolong the agony that ordinary Ethiopians face: hyperinflation, unemployment, human flight, human rights violations. In short, it will perpetuate disenfranchisement.
Those of us outside the country possess the knowledge, diversity of experience, financial and material resources and technical tools to advance change if we are committed, willing and ready. I am not at all convinced that we are there. If we were, we would have contributed immensely in advancing the process of change by supporting grassroots and home-based individual activists, civic organizations and political parties that advance a common national agenda and or force others to do the same. These series of articles are intended to provide conceptual underpinnings or reasons behind the current disenfranchisement and powerlessness felt by the majority of the Ethiopian people regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation, gender or age.
Powerlessness and resource mismanagement
Have you ever asked yourself or your friend or anyone why the TPLF/EPRDF led government gives away millions of hectares of the most fertile farmlands and waters basins for literally nothing and for up to 100 years to domestic allies and foreign investors? Have you ever posed for one second to reflect on the long-term implications of these national resource transfers for this and coming generations? If land is “green gold,” why would any government grant it for almost nothing as if it has no social, economic, psychological, security and political value? What system allows for this to occur and why? Let me summarize a few fact contained in my latest book, “The Great land giveaway: yemeret neteka ena kirimit” and link it to the ethnic elite architecture that allows this to happen without challenge. Why is there no challenge? It is because ordinary people are denied their fundamental right to vote for and elect their representatives and leaders.
In April 2011, the Reporter newspaper presented an investigative piece on land grab and validated that the Federal Government has slated, promised or granted “3,638, 415 ha” of the most fertile farmlands and water basins, primarily to foreign investors from 36 countries. The same article noted that regions had turned over another 2,000,000 ha of lands to the Federal Government to allocate as it sees fit. A break down by Ato Wudineh of the Reporter showed that 1,149,000 ha of these giveaways are in Beni-Shangul Gumuz and 1,800,000 ha in Gambella, among the poorest regions in the country. Experts estimate that by 2015, the amount of lands given away will reach at least 7,000,000 ha. Smallholders farm less than half an acre and support a family of at least 6 persons. Ethiopian smallholders are the backbone of the national economy. Studies show that 4/5 (75 percent) of smallholders manage to produce and feed the bulk of Ethiopia’s population from 12,000,000 ha. In other words, smallholders are the ones that feed millions; and not large foreign owned commercial farms. Imagine what smallholders could do if there was a deliberate policy to help them modernize their farms; if they had security to the lands they farm and so on. Karuturi of India and Saudi Star of Saudi Arabia and other Middle East sponsored countries are the lead beneficiaries of the largesse. This is why Karuturi calls Ethiopia’s fertile farmlands “Green gold.” Access to land defines power. In current Ethiopia, it firms such as Karuturi and Saudi Star and loyalists to the TPLF and its allies that have power.
Here, I will not dwell on the pros and cons of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in commercial farms in Ethiopia except to provide two examples showing that the policy is utterly flawed. First, the government argument that these transfers will generate substantial employment for Ethiopians does not hold. Research by the Oakland Institute, Grain and others shows that each ha of land grant or sale or lease generates 0.005 employments. It means that the government would have to grant millions of ha to generate employment opportunities for thousands. Making matters even worse, Karuturi wishes to bring in and employ Indians to farm Ethiopian lands. Second, the government’s rationale that giveaway—that lacks preconditions or favorable conditions for Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people will bring in new technologies is not based on facts. Here is the problem. The country’s domestic investors with monies are doing everything within their power to take their capital out of the country as do officials with money. The indicator is massive illicit outflow that I have discussed in detail in earlier commentaries.
Why is there massive capital outflow from one of the poorest and capital starved or deficient countries in the world? I suggest that national investors do not trust their own government. They do not have confidence in the future. They are essentially voting with their monies against the regime. In other words, they do not trust or have confidence in the future of the economy. If they did, they will invest domestically and boost employment and productivity. On the other hand, large-scale commercial farming for Karuturi, Saudi Star and others is lucrative. Profits can me made relatively quickly and proceeds taken out of the country. Foreign investors have little incentive to spread technology, modern management practices and know-how to Ethiopian smallholders or the domestic private sector. Why would they create national competitors when they can dominate the large commercial farming sector for up to 99 years? Capitalism does not work that way whether it comes from China, India or Saudi Arabia. Third, the government argument that Ethiopia will achieve food self-sufficiency and food security through FDI is not borne by facts. Karuturi said over and over again that his firm is under no obligation to set aside sizeable quantities of the produce for the domestic market. This will not change unless the government changes the conditions in favor of the country and its starving millions.
These three examples lead me to pose a question to the reader. How is it possible for these flaws in government policy that undermine potential ownership of the means of production by Ethiopians and national productivity for Ethiopians to occur? Let us ignore my own research and findings that are documented in my latest book and look at what foreign observers say how this happens. In her “The Great land grab,” Rene Lefort highlights the following themes on the subject.
• Land defines citizenship
• Land is a source of power, wealth and corruption
• Land is used as a diplomatic leverage
These are among the reasons why the TPLF/EPRDF led government is the “world’s champion of land grab.” Have you ever wondered how a regime that claims to adhere to Revolutionary Democracy becomes a prime champion of unfettered capitalism? Have you ever wondered why a government leadership that accuses the private sector of rent seeking behaviors becomes the largest rent seeker in the country’s history or of any forward looking government in the 21st century? “They gave the land and we took it. This is green gold” did not happen by chance. It happened by invitation. Political elite does not invite a foreign guest to take away prime property without a motive. Here is one irony the reader needs to consider.
Today, the state or shall I say, the governing party is the dominant land lord in the country. Recent changes in urban land legislation indicate that the leadership is determined to alienate Ethiopians from private ownership of wealth and wealth making assets such as urban and rural lands. It does this while granting millions of ha to domestic allies and foreign investors.
These transfers and ownerships are effective forms of privatization for a selected few; and deprivation for the vast majority of Ethiopians. This is why Lefort argues that land “defines citizenship and is a source of power and wealth.” She explains rightly that the reason why land grab is so easy in Ethiopia is because of the preponderance of the TPLF ethnic core elite over politics and economics. “Ethiopia is de facto ruled by a “monolithic party-state.” This “monolithic party-state” is the TPLF core ethnic elite. It is these elite that make land farm colonization by invitation possible and doable. Land is the single most important source of political, financial and economic power in Ethiopia today. “Most of what was left over (after graft, corruption and giveaway) has been pocketed by little oligarchy under the protection of the merged party state.” This “oligarchy” is now pronounced and pervasive throughout the country, consuming billions of birr in administrative expenses through the Federal system.
Alarmed by the dispossession of Ethiopians, an Indian Economist told Al Jazeera that “foreigners have more power than Ethiopians” in their own home country. Ordinary Ethiopians are both “powerless” in terms of policy and decision making; and are helpless in terms of access to economic and social opportunities. Power has shifted dramatically to both ethnic elites and to firms such as such as Karuturi and Saudi Star.
I suggest then that the ethnic based political and administrative system that divides and pities Ethiopians among one another facilitates these national resource transfers with unprecedented ease; to powerlessness; and to the transfer and ownership of other pillars of the economy by small ethnic elite and foreign investors. In the 21st century, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) does not operate by itself. It requires the support and protection of government officials. The reader would have to question the tiny ethnic elite that rule the country by force whether it has an appreciation of the long-term implications of these giveaways that emanate from poor, repressive and discriminatory governance. What is clear to me and many detached foreign and domestic observers is this.
By any definition, governance under “monolithic” ethnic elite is exclusionary in its political, social and economic manifestations. The TPLF has virtually merged party, state ethnicity into one. Its economic policies and programs lean toward monopolistic practices and group and individual interests with affinity to the ruling-party.
As a result, this type of governance has prevented and will continue to impede fair and democratic competition. In assessing ethno-nationalism and the alliances that helped it to succeed, the ruling party’s current cohort of non-Tigrean elite and foreign supporters may not care deeply enough to leverage their considerable financial, material and diplomatic powers to break monopolistic practices. It is largely stability they want. This is especially true for foreign governments and investors.
The reality of existing strong relations between the leadership of the ruling party and its cohort of global supporters has placed the burden of peaceful change toward pluralist politics and genuine devolution or decentralization of power to civil society, communities, ordinary Ethiopians, domestic opposition groups and the Ethiopian people a whole. Those of us outside the country can do a great deal to build the capacities of these grassroots groups within the country. In the long-term, the nurturing and strengthening of a pluralist, inclusive and indigenous political culture could only come from the experiences and contributions of the Ethiopian people and their supporters. This view is hardened by the fact that, ethno-nationalism and ethnic federalism have survived for 21 years with no end in sight leaving no room for being lax in pursuing multiethnic and unified politics.
Despite this need for convergence among opponents to the regime, there are still two opposing and contrasting schools of thought: those who do not see much hope in peaceful change argue that the only option the ruling-party understands is armed struggle or violent change; and the second school that argues that peaceful and nationwide struggle has not been explored, developed and used fully. I believe in the latter; but see the merit of why some argue and defend the former. They key is to arrive at a shared understanding of the problem; come up with a national agenda for change; and initiate actions.
Simultaneously, those of us on the outside can do much more than we are doing on the diplomatic front.
Almost all foreign development experts agree that Ethiopia needs structural and policy reforms if it wishes to accelerate economic productivity, increase employment and incomes and reduce poverty. None that I am aware of suggests that Ethiopian can advance its reform agenda through continued civil unrest, polarization, dissension and civil wars. Experts believe that the non-peaceful route to policy and structural reforms will be a costly option in multiple ways. One does not have to dwell on the subject and contribute to the tradition of quarreling elites.
Ethiopians do not deserve continued repression and violation of human rights. The country paid a heavy price in its development efforts as consequences of civil turmoil, insurgencies, terrorism, instability, civil wars and bad governance. The notion of continued conflicts to achieve a democratic transition is debatable at best and reckless at worst. So is continuation of the status quo under a single ethnic-based minority ruling party? Conflicts are not likely to create a democratization culture and the infrastructure that will accommodate competing interests. The option ignores vested interests that have emerged over the past two decades, including members of the TPLF/EPRDF. Ethnic elites allied to the EPRDF have a vested interest in the status quo. They must be persuaded that the current system is not in their best interest long-term. We must reach out to them and suggest that “gursha” or whatever is left over is not the same as the real thing. More critical, we must show that the people they represent are left out of the development process. Leaving them out is trouble.
There is a further point the reader should keep in mind. Conflicts and instability are enormously costly. I will provide one example of using the depletion of human capital as a consequence of ethnic and other forms of conflict in Africa to strengthen the deliberate de-institutionalization by the TPLF core argument I advanced in my latest book. During what is called the era of Dictatorship of all sorts in Africa and the “Lost Decade of the 1980s,” more than 100,000 of the most talented and well trained Africans left their countries and immigrated. Some countries have not recovered from the social capital loss. Ethiopia’s Diaspora started during the Socialist Dictatorship and expanded under the TPLF/EPRDF dictatorship. Today, this dictatorship sees the Diaspora is a potential threat and opportunity. It has a well crafter program to de-mobilize the Diaspora, penetrating faith groups, enticing some to invest in a country full of corruption, nepotism and bureaucratic hurdles where merit and hard work do not count.
In sum, ethnic based governance and conflicts are enormously costly for the country and its people. Continued conflict will not nurture peace and national reconciliation in the medium and long-term. On the contrary, conflicts and ethnic polarization will perpetuate animosities and ethnic based hatreds that the society cannot afford. Conflicts will also strengthen the determination of the ruling-party to prolong a single party state and will make the country more and more vulnerable to external threats. It will keep the country poor.
The question then is whether or not the ruling-party has shown any willingness and readiness to move forward with free, fair, open, transparent and competitive elections and gain the confidence and trust of the Ethiopian people. If one believes in option one–a peaceful election is possible–one needs to assess the preconditions for success. One would also need to define what the election will be about. Elections are not simply about going through the motion of the ballot box and winning. It is about building the infrastructure and institutions that will make the Ethiopian people masters of their own destiny. To have real meaning, any election must allow debate and discussion on fundamental policy concerns, including the type of federalism the country needs. The future must result in real change in culture and attitudes. Here is why opponents need to collaborate much more now than in the past; and leave aside the bitterness and quarrel that be devils them.
I am not aware of the ruling-party’s readiness to allow public debate of policies. Even if it does not, the democratization process must continue and political leaders and supporters must find innovative tools to strengthen institutionalization. Debates and other instruments must debunk the myth that ethnic-federalism is pluralist or democratic. When Ethiopian citizens see democratic alternatives, as was the case in the 2005 elections, they will respond and take charge. This will put the ruling-party on the defensive. The more defensive it is the better for the democratization process. This requires a new and post ethnicity cadre of political and social leaders who believe in a unified and democratic Ethiopia that will accommodate everyone’s interest. Ethiopian centrality will not survive without accommodating the hopes and aspirations of all its diverse citizens. It is political wisdom 101 to accept this notion. A bunker mentality on any side will not help the country. It is being clueless to timeless wisdoms such as one from Charles Darwin who had said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Political wisdom is readiness and willingness to change. It is political parties and leaders who respond to new requirements and changes who will make a difference.
