One can conclude that domestic violence in the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities has reached an epidemic level after reading a stream of news over the past couple of years about men killing their wives and girlfriends. I find it shocking that some of the Ethiopian men I spoke with about this subject recently seem to find an excuse for the men who mayhem and murder their wives. I’m left speechless. What is going on in our community? What can be done to stop such senseless crime that has become a common occurrence?
The Woyanne {www:chigaram} regime is fomenting resentment between Rastafarians and other Ethiopians in Shashemene. Some Rastafarians are now relocating to other African countries, like Ghana and South Africa, where the governments are more accommodating.
Rastafarians make it life’s goal to settle in Ethiopia — but the welcome isn’t always warm
(PRI) — {www:Rastafarian} artist Bandi Payne leads visitors through the jungle-like garden that surrounds his house in Shashemene, Ethiopia, pointing out the many trees he’s planted in his two decades here.
“That’s guava, my guava tree. Tangerine, banana trees and… that is cassava,” Payne said pointing to the shrubby plant.
Payne was born on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, but long wanted to make Ethiopia his home.
Rastafarians – whose religion follows an Afro-centric reading of the bible – believe that Ethiopia’s last emperor, who died in 1975, was the {www:Messiah}, fulfilling the Biblical prophecy that kings would come out of Africa.
That belief that Africa is the Promised Land makes moving here a life goal for many Rastafarians.
“Rich is not the right word for it – it’s more than rich, it’s sweeter than honey, more valuable than pearls the culture, very strong,” Payne said.
But while Rastafarians consider their arrival in Africa a {www:homecoming}, Payne said local Ethiopians don’t look at it quite the same way.
“They need to give us a special welcome here, man. People who were taken away from Africa, now they come back home, they should welcome us back. Don’t think they have to have us as foreigners. So we’re working up on that, but it’s an uphill struggle,” he said.
Relations between the Rastafarians and their Ethiopian neighbors have never been great. Rastafarians moved to Ethiopia to create their perfect religious community, not necessarily to fit into the culture.
Different languages and beliefs keep the two groups apart. Most Ethiopians are Orthodox Christians, without much interest in Rastafarian beliefs.
***
On Friday nights, members of a Rasta organization called the Twelve Tribes of Israel host parties at their headquarters. Reggae plays as people gather to drink beer and catch up. The smell of marijuana, a sacrament for Rastas but illegal for Ethiopians, hangs in the air.
“The rest of the Ethiopian people know about their hashish, ganja. That’s not good, too. They spoil our kids there,” said Wihibe, who goes by just one name.
Sitting at a local café, he said the Rastafarians generally keep to themselves, coming into town only to shop. Wihibe used to work at a Rastafarian school but said he left because of the attitude.
“They feel like they are superior then us. They assume themselves as more educated and literate than the original Black people here,” Wihibe said.
Rastafarians are starting to take complaints like this seriously and making more of an effort to be involved in the cultural life of their adopted home. Priest Paul Phang is the Rastafarians elected leader.
“If it is our home then we have to fight, eh? Not literally, taking arms or whatever. But make sacrifice to bridge gaps,” he said.
***
Rastafarians consider themselves the victims and opponents of colonialism in the Americas, so they say it hurts to be seen as colonizers themselves. Phang said he’s been sending representatives to community meetings and holiday celebrations.
“These are part of the things that the people wanted maybe to see us really within, to show ourselves,” Phang said. “Because if we say we’re African, we’re not really. We’re selfish. We’ve just been by ourselves, not knowing the next side of the culture or whatever.”
But not all Rastafarians are interested in assimilating. Increasingly, they’re heading to other African countries, like Ghana and South Africa, where the culture and government have proved an easier fit for Rastafarians seeking Zion.
(PRI’s “The World” is a one-hour, weekday radio news magazine offering a mix of news, features, interviews, and music from around the globe. “The World” is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston. More about The World.)
“In addition to its complete dominance of local and national government institutions, a number of large businesses are linked to the ruling party, either directly or through family members.”
Human Rights Watch and Center for Strategic and International Studies
In connection with the global concern about the rise of the world’s population to 7 billion on October 31, 2011 and the projection of 9 billion by 2050, James Eng, Chief Editor of MSNBC, one of America’s leading news organizations, asked me along with other global experts to share my views on whether this growth is “a cause for celebration or concern.” I should like the reader to understand that it can be one or the other depending on how a society with high population growth is governed. China is the most populous country in the world today. Its population is not a curse but a blessing for one simple economic and social reason. It has overcome the structural and policy sources of famine, hunger and destitution. It is the most dynamic economy in the world today, transforming the rural economy and integrating it with the rest. Close to 674 million Chinese or 50.3 percent of the population live and work in rural areas; but they do not starve. The world perceives China as the global “factory,” shipping goods to the globe as Japan did when my generation was in elementary school. What is worthy to note is this.
The Chinese economy derives 88 percent of its GDP from diversified local economic activities. The economy has been tranformed into ways: radical policy reform that empowered all sectors of the national economy and unleashed its productive capacity; and well-designed and planned structural changes that deepened diversification and intensification in the rural sector and integrated it to the rest of the national economy. The agricultual sector is now a key component of the real economy. Chinese farmers produce more food per hectare than Ethiopian or other African farmers. Institutionalized agricultural intensification and diversfication have taken roots in China. The TPLF/EPRDF argument that the Ethiopian developmental state mimics China and other progressive nations is not true.
Close to 83 percent of Ethiopians live in rural areas; most of them go hungry. Millions starve. Whether one supports or opposes the regime, one cannot deny the fact that, today; farmers are unable to feed their families three meals a day. In Eastern and Southern parts of the country, those able to feed their children at least two meals a day find it harder and harder to offer one meal per day.
Contrast rural and urban lives
In China, millions move out of rural areas to urban areas. They have job opportunities, and incomes are three times higher. In Ethiopia the poor who move to urban areas remain poor. There are no jobs that offer higher incomes. The poor remain poor regardless of location. In contrast, in China, fewer and fewer farmers produce more and earn more from less land because of improvements in technology and other inputs. As rural incomes rise, the income gap between the rural and urban population narrows. In Ethiopia, the average rural farm size is less than half ha, and technology and other inputs have remained “biblical.”
The policy and structure remain the same.
Whether rural or urban the poor are least likely to challenge a repressive regime than those with jobs, and higher and better incomes. Jobs and better incomes embolden and empower citizens. There are clear indications that, even in China, rising incomes and job security embolden Chinese citizens to demand more and more accountability from their government. This is a virtuous cycle that does not exist in Ethiopia. In almost all countries, virtuous economic and social cycles tend to contribute to greater freedom in the long run. Economic and social stagnation and repression go hand in hand.
Believe or not, it was not long ago that China suffered from recurring famine and hunger. One can say the same about India and others. China is by no means democratic. However, the political leadership is nationalist and has overcome one of the sources of national shame, namely famine and hunger. India is democratic. Although there is widespread poverty, there is no famine and debilitating hunger that characterized India before the “Green Revolution.” Population size is no longer a curse in any of the two or in Bangladesh and others that are developing faster and that have given special attention to the agricultural sector and smallholder revolutions in one form or another.
It is the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and the entire society that determines the extent to which population growth is a source of concern or a source of celebration. This is the reason for my thesis in the MSNBC piece that the single most important contribution that the global aid business that has poured in billions of dollars into the Ethiopian economy over the past two decades could have and could still make is to channel most of these resources into an Ethiopian smallholder farming or green revolution. This takes courage in the aid business community; to challenge dictatorial regimes to change thier ways and build the capabilities of their society without any form of discrimination.
I argued in my latest book, “The Great Land Giveaway: yemeret neteka ena kirimit” in Ethiopia, that the TPLF/EPRDF regime failed miserably by not removing the policy and structural hurdles that keep the country among the “hungriest and unhealthiest in the world,” and the urban and rural population as among the poorest. Poor and repressive political and socioeconomic governance censures or restricts freedom and empowerment regardless of geographical location, ethnicity, religion or demography. For the regime, rise in population is just a number and not a potential source of growth and development. It does not see the potential that comes from empowering the poor to become both consumers and producers. Repression and control keep the poor and the rest in their place. As the Guardian Co. UK put it, “In Ethiopia, the threat of imprisonment for political journalists (and political dissenters whether rural or urban) is constant.” Here is the problem in simple terms.
Silencing those who demand economic justice will not remove famine, hunger and destitution whether the population is 90 million (today) and reaches 278 million by 2050. What will solve the problem is political and socioeconomic freedom that allows ordinary citizens to demand justice and to hold their government leaders accountable for their actions. Let me give you one example to illustrate why it is so critical for all opposition groups–whether political or civic–to work toward a common goal and action; and to speak with a single voice. Yemeret neteka ena kirimit abrogates many principles, among them citizenship and ownership of natural resource assets by Ethiopians. In a recent debate on Al-Jazeera, a leading Indian Economist noted that transfer of land resources to foreigners would have led to public outrage in India. Indian companies are among the lead land grabbers in Ethiopia, with Gambella, Beni-Shangul Gumuz and Oromia at the center. These companies are literally free to do as they wish: produce and export even to third parties while Ethiopians go hungry. They can destroy the environment as they wish. They can divert and use water as they wish.
Do not forget land giveaway is water giveaway
Huge land giveaways to business interests from 36 countries and to a selected few domestic allies are done at a huger cost to future generations of Ethiopians. Remember that these giveaways do not occur in an economic, social, political and financial vacuum. Someone benefits and someone else loses. Foreign investors make billions. They take hold of Ethiopia’s water sources for up to 100 years renewable.
I show the multidimensional and severe nature of the problem in my 478 page book with close to 150 references. It is the book that prompted MSNBC to ask me for views on population growth. Fortunately, there are many experts who see the danger of land grab in Ethiopia. The Indian economist mentioned earlier made several points that Ethiopians should note and do something about. Among these is the empty rhetoric on the part of the Ethiopian governing party that large-scale commercial farms owned by foreigners for periods ranging from “50 to 99 years” would “transfer technology, generate employment, lead to food self-sufficiency and security and raise incomes of the poor.” The expert suggested that none of these is true. What would lead to sustainable and equitable growth in agriculture is to empower smallholders and to remove the policy and structural hurdles that keep their productivity low and that perpetuate insecurity.
The fact that the new economic actors in land grab are non-traditional colonialists does not make them any different. They serve only their business, financial and national interests and not the interests of the Ethiopian poor or the country. The Arab world that includes Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Egypt has always been interested in controlling the sources of the Nile. The Saudis are doing it through Sheikh Al-Amoudi who controls 30 different conglomerates in the country.
This travesty that emanates from almost permanent transfer of Ethiopian water basins and fertile farmlands from Ethiopian to foreigners alone should embolden Ethiopians within and outside the country to reject the governing party’s economic and social model. It is essentially disempowering and dis-enabling. The Indian economist said something that each of us should keep in mind. If these kinds of transfers took place in India, people would revolt against their government leaders and throw them out of office.
A closer look at land grab will amplify the story. When one looks at it from the perspective of millions of Ethiopians who are land poor and landless, famine-prone and hungry, these massive transfers of water basins and farmlands and other pillars of the economy to foreign governments and businesses compel each of us to reflect more closely as to ‘Why unity of purpose and action is critical and urgent.’
The country should have achieved food security and food self-sufficiency close to 21 years of massive foreign aid. Instead of empowering smallholders and other Ethiopians, the governing party invited 36 foreign governments and more than 8,000 applicants from investors to take over millions of hectares of the most fertile farmlands and water basins. This is effective transfer of ownership from Ethiopians to the likes of Karuturi of India and Saudi Star of Saudi Arabia and undermines both sovereignty and citizenship.
Water and land transfers affect sovereignty and citizenship
The primary responsibility of any government in the world is to feed its population. For this to occur, a government must adopt sound, pro-poor and sustainable and equitable development policies and programs. Investments and foreign aid that do not correspond to these fundamental requirements will not work and have not worked in Ethiopia. Growth and the use of foreign aid are highly politicized and favor the merged party, ethnic elites and the state. This is why nepotism, discrimination, exclusion, corruption and illicit outflow of foreign exchange and money-making assets flow out of the country. In 2009, 22 percent of Ethiopians depended on international emergency food aid to survive. Today, the governing party admits that there is drought but not famine or hunger. The top leadership of the governing party differentiates who is to live and who is to die on the basis of political, ideological and ethnic criteria. This is what makes it heartless and soulless. Do not take my word for it. Just take a look at the Ogaden and other parts of the country where children and women are dying and judge. The contradictions that exist in terms of fairness, justice and equity are legendary. The simplest measurement is the condition of life for individuals and families on the ground.
In countries that used to be called “banana republics (Central America and the Caribbean) and natural resource curse nations (many Sub-Saharan African countries),” elites in power squandered natural resources at the expense of their populations. Yemeret neteka ena kirimit in Ethiopia does practically the same. Waters and farmlands are equivalent to or better than petroleum and gas, diamond and gold, bananas and fruits and so on. Ethiopia’s waters and farmlands are potential sources of riches and must be protected from the plunder that emanates from unguided and unregulated globalization and foreign direct investments; as well as political and economic elite capture. Just remember the millions of Ethiopian youth who need opportunities: jobs, new and income enhancing opportunities including commercial farms. Why should they allow transfer of these resources to the Saudis, Indians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Turks and others? Would these nations and nationals allow the reverse? Not in your dreams.
Massive transfers of water basins and fertile farmlands from Ethiopians to foreigners and domestic loyalists–all done in the name of development–do threaten sovereignty, citizenship, and the future of millions of Ethiopian youth as well as the environment. They make inhabitants aliens in their own country; they make them more vulnerable. They disempower the poor and drive them to urban areas where there are no alternatives for employment. In this sense too, the Ethiopian developmental state is not at all an empowering but controlling state. In contrast, the Chinese and Vietnamese or Brazilian developmental state creates the conditions to release the productive potential of all citizens. Here is my overall conclusion. Mismanagement and misallocation of natural resources subverts the future. It is distortions in national economic and social policy that makes the so-called developmental state in Ethiopia self-serving and opportunistic. Gaining immediate cash in the form of foreign exchange and riches for the few will, inevitably, lead to uneven development and will aggravate income disparities, corruption and diversion of resources.
The Ethiopian people and especially its youthful population that constitutes more than 50 percent–40 million of whom were born after the TPLF/EPRDF took political power in 1991–deserve better and empowering and freedom enhancing governance.
Knowledge is critical in the pursuit of change
Much, perhaps much too much, has been said about how bad things are for the vast majority under the TPLF/EPRDF. No day passes that someone, somewhere and somehow does not reveal the horrific untold stories of the authoritarian core that leads the country. I like to make a cautionary note though. One, let us pin down the reasons why change is necessary and for whom? Two, let us conduct serious soul searching on why opponents are incapable of setting aside minor differences to create strong and sustainable coalitions and partnerships. Here, I admit that all of us have failed to identify the reasons why the opposition camp outside the country is still in disarray. We are not guided by the needs of the country and the population’s all the time.
I intend this third in a series of five articles to serve as an analytical tool for those within the opposition camp within and outside the country who believe in one country and one diverse population whose hopes and aspirations are similar regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation.
The moral imperative that should give us all sleepless nights is not simply to know and appreciate indescribable poverty, disempowerment and hopelessness, repression and persecution one by one but to respond to this crisis in meaningful and substantive ways. We cannot do that unless we equip ourselves with knowledge and information that is credible and incontestable. We cannot do that unless we set aside differences and make the needs of the Ethiopian people central and foremost in our thinking and actions. The top leadership of the governing party and its allies tell stories right and left and force the world to believe that the regime is on the verge of creating the next ‘Singapore’ or another Tiger in Africa. I wish this was the case. It is not and cannot be. A Tiger like economy cannot be created without wide-spread participation and without a dynamic domestic private sector owned and managed by Ethiopians from diverse backgrounds.
Before I close Party three of this series, I will pose a simple question for all of us to ponder. ‘Why does Ethiopia remain poor after an estimated US$40 to US$50 billion in all forms of foreign aid (official and unofficial) since 1991?’ I will give you my take. Ethiopia remains poor because of un-caring, cruel, repressive, discriminatory, non-participatory, unaccountable and exclusionary governance.
In part four, I shall provide a few measurements used by reputable research, multilateral and other firms to firm-up the above thesis. You can read and rationalize the reasons and express cynicism. You can make this a one evening conversation with family and friends. You can cry in your homes, as do numerous foreigners-who visit Ethiopia, and express outrage as they witness the grossest inequality and ‘indescribable’ poverty they have had ever seen-in the privacy of their hotels. You can also choose to let your voice and indignation known in partnership with others.
In part five, I intend to propose a set of recommendations or a framework to stimulate conversation that will, hopefully, lead to action in support of individuals and groups within Ethiopia who sacrifice their lives and their families in defense of justice, freedom, peace and national reconciliation.
In February 2011, at the onset of the Libyan Revolution, Moamar Gadhaffi trumpeted to the world, “They love me. All my people with me, they love me. They will die to protect me, my people.” He called the rebels fighting to oust him from power “rats and cockroaches”. He believed it was his birthright to rule Libya as “king of kings” and remained in total denial of his own doom until the bitter end in a sewer tunnel. In the end, in an ironic twist of fate, Gadhaffi was served poetic justice. He was trapped like a sewer rat and smashed like a cockroach as he begged for mercy: “Don’t shoot me!”
The man who had played God in Libya for 42 years died a wimpy thug. The man with the absolute power to decide who shall live and who shall die was shot down like a rabid dog in the street by a nameless rebel. The man who had tortured and abused so many thousands of his people in secret prisons and dungeons was himself tortured and abused with unspeakable inhumanity broadcast for the world to see. The man who slaughtered thousands of his people ended up in the meat locker of a slaughterhouse where his victims gloated over his bloodied and half-naked body discarded on a filthy mattress like big game hunters inspecting their kill on an African safari. The man with the golden gun died from a lead bullet. The man-turned-monster who once called himself “brother leader,” “guide of the revolution,” “king of kings,” “Great Leader,” and “keeper of Arab nationalism” was escorted to his unmarked grave in the featureless desert by a swarm of hungry maggot-bearing flies. Only one question remained: Is it possible for Gandhi’s warning about dictators to have momentarily flashed before Gadhaffi’s eyes or echoed in his ears as he prepared to meet his Maker: “I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.”
Gadhafi boasted he will die a hero and a martyr, but died a hated villain and a coward. But the manner of his death left an ugly blotch on the glorious record of the Libyan Revolution. Gadhaffi’s young captors, unable to contain their pent up rage, treated him with such unspeakably inhumanity that their actions spoke very poorly for all of humanity. His execution in the street was an ugly public testament to man’s inhumanity to man. Even the most wicked and depraved dictator is entitled to basic human dignity. But in the euphoria of the moment, Libyans erupted with celebration at the news Gadhaffi’s dehumanization and death. With muted jubilation and a sigh of relief, acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril declared: “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time.” President Obama followed, “This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for Libya.”
Gadhaffi was the ultimate personification of the adage, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Over four decades, he became convinced that he was a god and untouchable by any man or law. He became an egomaniac, a megalomaniac, and a monomaniac. Gadhaffi and members of his family believed that they had a divine right to own Libya and Libyans as their personal property. His son Saif al-Islam threatened to dismember the country and plunge it into a civil war that “will last for 30 or 40 years” if anyone tries to oust his family. The young thug promised a bloodbath: “We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet. I will fight until the last drop of my blood. We have a Plan A which is to live and die in Libya. Plan B which is to live and die in Libya…” Gadhaffi refused to resign and leave the country peacefully. He would not listen to reason and defiantly declared he would never negotiate, mediate, compromise or surrender. He urged his supporters to fight to the last man and watched Libya burn in a civil war holed up in the sewer. As many as thirty thousand Libyans are estimated to have died as a result of Gadhaffi’s futile attempt to cling to power.
The African People Do Not Love Their Dictators
They say love is blind. That is especially true for dictators. Dictators are so blind that they believe the people love them. Long before Gadhaffi announced to the world “my people love me”, his brother-dictator Saddam Hussien of Iraq told the interrogators who snatched him out his spider hole, “The Iraqi people will always love me.” He even authored a romantic novel and spoke through his main character (king): “I’m a great leader. You must obey me. Not only that, you must love me.”
Long before Saddam, the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini pontificated, “With every beat of my heart, I give service to the Italian people. I feel that all Italians understand and love me.” Idi Amin of Uganda was less sentimental: “The people should love their leader!”; and if they don’t he had his own tough love methods to get the job done. Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire would often chuckle and tell foreign correspondents that not only do his people love him, they want him to stay in power because the “people need me.” Mengistu Hailemariam believed that he ruled with an iron fist out of patriotic duty and love of country. No doubt he loved Ethiopia to death, and proved it for seventeen years by killing thousands of its citizens wantonly. Last May, in a victory speech, Meles Zenawi said he won the election by 99.6 percent because the Ethiopian people love his party and implicitly himself as the party leader. He said the people “consider themselves and the EPRDF [Zenawi’s party] as two sides of a coin” and “nothing can ever shake their unwavering support for our organization.” He returned the love by congratulating them for their “high sense of judgment and fairness” and for “giv[ing] us the mandate through your votes.”
African dictators are so tone-deaf that they just don’t get the message no matter how many times it is repeated to them. Perhaps they might understand if told in sign language: T-H-E P-E-O-P-L-E D-O-N-’T L-O-V-E Y-O-U! In fact, they loathe you. It is a raw and visceral feeling that is manifest in the eyes, thoughts and words of the people. African dictators love having absolute power and boundless privilege. They worship at the altar of money. They love themselves and no one else because they are narcissistic. Every day they look into the ghostly mirror in their minds seeking reassurance: “Mirror, mirror!! Who is the smartest, cleverest, boldest, cruelest, wickedest, trickiest, slickest, shrewdest, quickest, savviest, cunningest… of them all? The answer is always the same.
African dictators are all self-delusional and spend most of their time on Planet Denial. In the face of total repudiation by their people, they invent their own mythology of self-grandeur. They reassure themselves that even if the people don’t love them, “history will one day vindicate me”. To avoid facing the truth, they categorically claim that they have “never killed even a fly and all the crimes I’m accused of are all lies perpetrated by my enemies.” They justify their cruelty by making the excuse that “my country is better off under me” than the previous regime. They brag about their accomplishments “successfully managing the transition from military dictatorship to an emerging democracy” and put themselves out as messiahs who “rekindle hope through a renaissance” and “chart a course of optimism” on a “trajectory of fast economic growth.” African dictators are as loveable as an African scorpion.
Perhaps it is a bit of an overstatement to say African dictators do not love their people. They do. They love to kill them; they love to jail them and torture them. They love to intimidate them, and most of all they love to crush them like cockroaches. How they love to rob, steal and cheat them! They thrive on the blood, sweat and tears of their people. African dictators love their people in much the same way as vampires love people. They love the sound of their own voices which resonate with lies, echo with deceit and jangle with hate: Those who oppose them are “rats and cockroaches” and “terrorists and insurrectionists”.
Did Gadhaffi Cheat the Libyan People in Death as He Did in Life?
It was jarring, confusing and troubling to hear acting Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril declare on the confirmation of Gadhaffi’s death that “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time.” I wish he had said, “The day we have been waiting for was the day Gadhaffi is brought to the bar of justice.” I wish the rebel fighter who shot Gadhafi in the face would have said the same thing that young fighter who captured the dictator Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire said a few months ago. “We attacked and forced in a part of the bunker. Gbagbo was there with his wife and his son. He was slapped by a soldier, but was not otherwise hurt.”
The moment to wait for would have been that precious moment when Moamar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi stood in the dock in a Libyan court or at the International Criminal Court in the Hague listening to the long list of criminal charges as his victims paraded in one by one wagging an accusatory finger at him. That would have been a historic moment worth waiting for no matter how long it took.
Gadhaffi is one of the top ten worst human rights abusers and criminals of the post-World War II era. I personally believe he is the apotheosis of evil. Regardless, I fully respect his human rights, including his right to a presumption of innocence and unabashedly defend his basic human right to proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law based exclusively on legally admissible evidence. This I believe to be the true meaning of human rights. Even monsters walking amongst us in human skin are entitled to due process (fair trial) and must be protected from lynching or street, mob or vigilante justice. The line that separates the rule of law from the rule of one man or the rule of the mob is a mighty slender one; and the rule of law must be defended at all costs against those who seek to breach it. It is easy to defend the human rights of Eman al-Obeidy, the courageous Libyan woman who was gang-raped by Gadhaffi’s thugs or Gadhaffi’s revenge killing victims. But it is infinitely more difficult to stand up for monsters like Gadhaffi; but the ironic truth is that the brand of human rights that fully protects Eman al-Obeidy also protects fully the monster once known as Moamar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi.
But I am afraid Gadhaffi in his death, as in his lifetime, got away with murder and torture and all sorts of crimes against humanity. He cheated al-Obeidy and the Libyan people out of justice. He cheated them out of the TRUTH. Now, al-Obeidy will never get the chance to confront Gadhaffi in a court of law, wag her delicate fingers at him as her tears roll down her cheeks and scream with all her might, “Gadhaffi! I accuse of rape and torture!” Her tears which testified before the court of world opinion and seared the conscience of all humanity will never get the chance to testify against Gadhaffi in a court of law and have him held accountable.
The truth is now buried with Gadhafi’s corpse and lost forever in the featureless sand dunes of the Sahara. His humiliation will give no satisfaction to al-Obeidy or the thousands of other innocent victims in Libya or those he blew up on Pan Am flight 103. The ghoulish public display of his corpse as a trophy game animal and all the gloating that went with it might give momentary satisfaction to some but it will never quench Libyans’ thirst for justice that could have come only from bringing Gadhaffi to trial. By taking the truth to his grave, Gadhaffi had the last laugh. He took his last revenge on the Libyan people for he knew that there could be no reconciliation in Libya without the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth laid bare before the people. It is too bad that Gadhaffi was given the easy way out!
The End of African Dictators
Winston Churchill said, “Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” President John Kennedy cautioned us to “remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” He warned the “new states” liberated from colonialism that “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
The people of Africa are beating the drums of change and democracy and encircling the mud walls of African dictatorships. The die is now cast and African dictators will have to make a choice. The smart ones will read the writing on the wall and beat feet to enjoy their stolen loot in comfort and luxury in the sanctuary of well-known “dictatordoms”. Ben Ali and Mengustu are doing just that now as did Idi Amin before them. The stubborn ones will stick around and face the scales of justice. Mubarak is doing that now as did Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Central African Republic, before him. The self-delusional ones like Gadhaffi and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire and Samuel Doe of Liberia before them will cause a civil war to cling to power only to find themselves at the mercy of their ferocious and vengeance-thirsty adversaries. The rest will try to hide and hope their crimes will not catch up with them. Like Robert Mugabe and Omar al-Bashir, they will always be looking over their shoulders for the long arm of international law or the sharp tiger claws of the people that will one day surely hook them. African dictators who make peaceful change impossible will make vigilante justice possible as they peek straight through the barrel of a gun whimpering, “Don’t shoot me! Please don’t shoot me!” African dictators, there is a better way. Show your people some love. LEAVE THEM!
Sometime on Oct. 31, the world’s population is projected to hit 7 billion. Is that numerical milestone a cause for celebration or concern?
A little bit of both, according to the {www:United Nations Population Fund}. The organization, an international development agency that promotes the right of every person to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity, on Wednesday released a report detailing the achievements and setbacks faced by an ever-crowded world.
How we respond now will determine whether we have a healthy, {www:sustainable} and prosperous future or one that is marked by inequalities, environmental decline and economic setbacks, according to “The State of World Population 2011” report.
The report notes that the record population can be viewed as a success because it means people are living longer — average life expectancy has increased from about 48 years in the early 1950s to about 68 in the first decade of the 21st century — and more children are surviving worldwide. But not everyone has benefited from a higher quality of life.
In some of the poorest countries women are having more babies, stymieing development and perpetuating poverty; in some of the wealthier countries low fertility rates and a shortage of workers are raising concerns about the sustainability of economic growth and social programs.
“This report makes the case that with planning and the right investments in people now — to empower them to make choices that are not only good for themselves but for our global commons — our world of 7 billion can have thriving, sustainable cities, productive labor forces that can fuel economic growth, youth populations that contribute to the well-being of economies and societies, and a generation of older people who are healthy and actively engaged in the social and economic affairs of their communities,” writes Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UNFPA.
The 7 billion milestone “is a challenge, an opportunity and a call to action,” Osotimehin said.
In response to the report, msnbc.com asked seven notable figures to identify some major problems — and potential remedies — confronting a world with 7 billion inhabitants. Here’s what they had to say:
Aklog Birara Former World Bank economist and author of “Ethiopia: The Great Land Giveaway”
Problem: Water
I believe that rapid population growth in many poorer countries in South Asia, almost all of Africa and Central America is a time bomb. Just take Ethiopia, one of the most emergency food aid countries in the world. Its population today is 90 million and is projected to grow to 278 million by 2050. One least-understood problem about such insane growth is the potential for regional wars to control water resources, for example, war between Egypt and Ethiopia. This will lead to {www:intracountry} and regional instability that will in turn reinforce extremist forces and perpetuate poverty and lack of security. Poor and repressive governance in the region and in others aggravates both insecurity and poverty.
Solution
The most important solution that will avert a disaster is for the world community [to] channel most of its aid and intellectual resources in support of smallholder farming revolutions. Poor people will be owners of their own destiny; they will reduce the {www:propensity} to have more children as security and will reduce size. Rural girls and women will be more empowered and will choose their family size.
I also like to suggest that the world can no longer afford to follow the same economic and social model of {www:insatiable} demand and consumption and concentration of consumption and wealth in a few hands — a phenomenon that is now spreading in developing countries. I cannot imagine that the rest of the world would tolerate continuation of 20 percent of humanity consuming 80 percent of the world’s goods and services, while one-fifth of the poorest consume only 1.3 percent. Is this not what triggered the Arab Spring and is likely to trigger Springs in the rest of, at least the poorer and most repressed countries?
Vijay Mahajan Indian social entrepreneur, former dean of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, professor at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of “The 86% Solution”
Problem: Consumer innovation
My perspective has not changed much since the publication of my last two books (“The 86% Solution” and “Africa Rising” and the new one that I will finish in the next two weeks, “The Arab World Unbound”). I continue to believe that consumers are going to be in the 86% of the world — where the GDP per capita is less than $10,000. Since 1948, other than Japan, very few countries have managed to be a part of the 14% World (GDP per capita more than $10,000). Some examples include Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Singapore, Taiwan, Israel, South Korea, Slovenia and other Eastern European countries. Brazil and Russia just hit that mark but there are no guarantees that they will continue to be part of the 14%. In fact, since 1948, other than Japan, less than 200-300 million people have managed to be part of 14% World. I do not think this situation is going to change in my lifetime including for China and India — though certain parts may look like 14% there).
Solution
Rather than looking at the 86% World as Charity (like Africa with more than 1 billion consumers), entrepreneurs and companies need to focus on 86% solutions — be that toilets, housing, diseases, education, women hygiene products, transportation, energy, infrastructure, banking, media, etc. I wish, like COMDEX, where high-tech industry used to showcase its state-of-art products, there would an annual global exhibition where entrepreneurs and companies from all over the world (both 14% and 86%) showcase their leapfrog 86% Solutions (such exhibitions can be done in the individual countries also). This will accelerate the diffusion of ideas and may even provide an opportunity to investors to bring to the market products and services to meet the aspirations of 7 billion consumers. I believe that many of the 86% solutions will also be good for the 14% world. This will also help us in the U.S. to move away from what I call the “2,400-square-feet mindset” — the average size of the house in the U.S. is 2,400 square feet so our innovation and marketing processes are focused on [a] 2,400-square-foot house with about 1.8 to two persons, on the average, living in the houses — throw in some pets like a dog or cat. This can also make U.S. companies more competitive and give access to the 86% markets.
Paul R. Ehrlich American biologist, Bing professor of population studies and professor of biological sciences at Stanford University and author of the 1968 best-seller, “The Population Bomb”
Problem: Food shortage, damage to environment
Seven billion is already facing us with horrendous problems, including almost 1 billion people hungry and contributing greatly to the chances of catastrophic climate disruption. But the next 2 billion people the demographers expect by 2050 will cause much more environmental damage than did the last 2 billion added to our population — a classic nonlinearity. That is because human beings are smart, and picked the low-hanging fruit first. Thus each added individual, on average, must now be fed from more marginal land, supplied with water from more distant or more polluted sources, obtain the metals required to make the products he or she consumes from poorer ores, etc.
Many past human societies have collapsed, with overpopulation playing a significant role. But today, for the first time, a global civilization is in peril, and nothing significant is being done about it in societies insane enough to believe that growth can be perpetual.
Solution:
Women in every country should be given equal rights and opportunities with men, and every sexually active human being should be given access to excellent birth control methods, and, in case they fail, backup abortion. Governments should all adopt the slogan “patriotic citizens stop at two children” and adjust tax and other policies to discourage over-reproducers and those unethical elements in society that are pronatalist.
The current redistribution of wealth from poor to rich must be halted, and overconsumption by the rich must be controlled with programs such as those that transformed consumption patterns in the United States when it entered World War II. A rapid transition away from the use of {www:fossil fuel}s should be started immediately, as should rebuilding of human water-handling infrastructure with much more attention to resilience. Leaders should be taught enough arithmetic to allow them to grasp the consequences of the growth rates recommended by economists — 3.5 percent per year.
Alfred Spector Vice president of research and special initiatives at Google
Problem: Access to information technology, education
In the developed world technology has transformed our lives, allowing us to access information at any time from an ever growing number of devices. Tasks once performed by many have been reduced to a single click or tap. However, as the world population exceeds 7 billion people, we must ensure that all are armed with the skills to leverage the vast powers of information technology to improve their lives. Furthermore, we must increase the level of education for all residents of our planet for the mutual benefit of our global society. According to the United Nations Development Programme over 70 million children receive no education and most of them are girls.
Solution:
The good news is that information technology itself is a major part of the solution. With the decreasing costs of smartphones and tablets in the developing world we are seeing a whole new population accessing the Internet. Today, a teacher in India can purchase a $38 Android tablet and bring unprecedented amounts of information into the classroom. Whether through more prevalent network connections like the fiber-optic links connecting Africa, ever more creative software connecting people online, or the vast amounts of Web-based content now accessible to millions, technology is getting into a position to help educate the world.
And learning is increasingly possible online: there are vast amounts of free information on the Web, from Wikipedia to millions of books accessible to all. Or middle- and high school-level YouTube classes like those from the {www:Kahn Academy}. And the interest is there. At Stanford’s recent online course about artificial intelligence taught by Googlers Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun nearly 50,000 people turned in the first assignment.
So in ways that were inconceivable only a few years ago, useful educational materials are spreading across the planet — and the cost of access is declining markedly. However, there is still much work ahead of us and great opportunities to accelerate this access to information.
Alexandra Paul Actress (best known for her role as Lt. Stephanie Holden in TV series “Baywatch”) and environmental and political activist
Problem: Women’s rights and gender inequality
I believe we must work to lower the world population to 2 billion people, which was the human population of this planet only 80 years ago.
When the planet is overpopulated, the weakest in society are hurt the most because strained resources go to those with more power. In many countries, women have very low social status and few rights, but ironically, one of the most efficient ways to stabilize and lower population is to empower women. Today, the biggest barrier to lowering birth rates is gender inequality. Where girls and women are second-class citizens, where they are taken out of school early, where violence against females is accepted and where women have no say in family planning, birth rates are highest. When women have no place in society other than to have children and take care of the home, they begin having children at young ages and have larger families.
For every year a girl stays in school she’ll increase her income by at least 10 percent. She’ll get married later. She is more likely to use birth control and will have fewer children, who in turn will be more likely to attend school.
Solution:
A woman’s status in a society is deeply embedded in its culture; therefore, it is vital that we support programs that influence attitudes toward women. It is important not to force change, which doesn’t stick in the long run, but to instead transform ingrained belief systems. The best way to do that is through entertainment — specifically, the soap opera. Population Media Center uses serialized dramas on radio and television to encourage positive behavior change.
These shows, which often run weekly for several years, allow time for the audience to form bonds with the characters, who are evolving in their thinking and behavior at a gradual, believable pace. Each program is first and foremost riveting drama, often taking 60 episodes before messaging storyline is subtly introduced. For example, Radio Tanzania broadcast a serial drama that attracted 58 percent of the 15- to 45-year-olds in the region. Because of the birth control issues the characters in the program tackled during the course of the show, there was a marked increase in the percentage of Tanzanians in the region who discussed family planning with their spouses and who began to use birth control themselves. Not because they were forced to, but because they wanted to.
As an actress, I appreciate the power of the media. But I especially love that soap operas are proving to be one of the most effective tools in lowering birth rates around the world, as Americans have long snickered over this form of entertainment. Now, however, the lowly telenovela is gaining respect. “All My Children” may have been canceled, but there’s worthy work for Susan Lucci over in Bangladesh.
John Carr Executive director of justice, peace and human development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Problem: Climate change
Global climate change offers a cruel paradox: The poorest people on earth contribute least to climate change but are likely to suffer its worst consequences since they have the fewest resources to adapt and respond. Climate change with increasing water scarcity, food insecurity, frequency and intensity of natural disasters, migration and conflict over declining resources will exacerbate the challenges felt by people in poverty and a growing world population.
Solution:
A central moral measure of our response to climate change is how it touches poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad. The U.S. Catholic Bishops encourage Catholics to care for creation and the poor by reducing their carbon footprint, taking the St. Francis Pledge, and advocating for climate policies that bring together care for creation and for “the least of these.”
Robert Engelman President of the Worldwatch Institute and the author of the 2008 book “More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want”
Problem: Aging
With 7 billion people of all ages in the world this month and a median age of about 30 we’re likely to have several billion people older than 65 late in the century. We have no experience with a vast population of older people like this one will be, and by that time climate change will have advanced significantly — and possibly catastrophically — and fossil fuels are likely to be far more expensive than they are today. The challenge of keeping these people alive and healthy will be vast.
Solution:
What we should NOT do is try vainly to keep the ratio of young to old constant by attempting to convince women to have more children [than] they want to have. That will just postpone the day of reckoning and make the problem worse by continually enlarging the population of all ages. Better to prepare for this likely future with a focus on preventive health, finding better ways to take advantage of the productive and other assets of older populations, and moving toward simpler and less energy- and resource-intensive lifestyles than today’s.
Patrick Tucker Deputy editor of The Futurist, a magazine about social and technological trends, and director of communications for the World Future Society
Problem: Energy
Experts predict that energy demand will double by 2050 and that’s a very conservative estimate. As we’ve reported in THE FUTURIST, petroleum alternatives now comprise less than 20 percent of global energy use and are growing at just 30 percent per year. By 2020, only 30 percent of global energy is likely to come from alternative energy sources.
Solution:
As a replacement for oil, halophyte or salt-water alga is abundant, cheap, and has the potential to reduce global carbon-dioxide levels tremendously. Halophyte algae do not compete with food stocks for freshwater (unlike corn). At present, algae need too much nitrogen to be practical as a replacement for oil, but a genetically engineered species of salt-water algae, capable of surviving and growing on less nitrogen than conventional algae, could provide both abundant energy and food.
As covered previously in THE FUTURIST magazine, when the cost of pumping ocean water into so-called “wasteland” regions such as the Sahara is factored in, the cost of halophytic algae biofuel is less than the cost of petroleum trading at $70 per barrel or higher. Desert areas receive a lot of sunlight. That means that halophyte algae farmers could use solar-powered pumps to move water up from sea level. Many of today’s water-stressed regions in Libya, Chad, Sudan, western Australia, the Middle East, eastern Africa, the American southwest, and west Texas can become productive real estate.
NASA scientist Dennis Bushnell, (also writing for {www:THE FUTURIST} magazine) has pointed out that genetically-engineered {www:halophytic algae} could lessen the world’s food and water shortages as well. Some 68 percent of the {www:freshwater} that is now tied up in agriculture could instead go to growing populations. Even better, algae require only a fraction of the land area of many other crops and can provide an excellent source of protein.
In part one, I provided basic socioeconomic arguments of why unity of purpose and action among opponents of the TPLF/EPRDF is no longer an option for those who wish to see a unified, diverse and prosperous Ethiopia whose institutional foundation is grounded in fundamental principles of human dignity and freedom for the individual to choose, speak, associate and move; in the rule of law and a level playing field for each and all; in genuine equality, justice, fairness, inclusion and participation; and in political pluralism that allows and encourages peaceful competition.
For the above to take roots, the struggle for justice and freedom must be anchored in Ethiopian society, and especially youth, taxi-drivers, shop owners and the rest of the middle class of professionals, bureaucrats and the poor in rural and urban areas. It is these social forces that brought dictatorial regimes to their knees. Those on the outside can provide material, financial, technical and diplomatic support.
These and other {www:lofty} principles assume that ultimate power and the authority to determine legitimacy to govern reside with Ethiopian citizens and not with political elites. It is only when the institutional and leadership architecture that empowers ordinary citizens takes solid roots that there would be a respectful relationship between ordinary people, the state and government and the leadership that administer it on their behalf. In this sense, future change must be dramatically different from the past. Ordinary citizens will exercise this potential power through free, fair, transparent, open and competitive elections. This is why it is important to remember that opposition to the governing party is only one and necessary component of change; but not the only component.
Equally important is the ability to envision an appropriate transition toward meaningful and people centered change and to frame the alternative system that will replace the old order. Both the transition and the alternative must reflect the interests of the Ethiopian people as a whole and neither can be an afterthought.
Why people revolt
The ongoing Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East exploded because dictatorial and or authoritarian regimes refused to give-up their privileged political and economic positions peacefully. It is the pursuit of economic power and better social status that motivated them to assume political power by any means necessary in the first place. Once they assumed political power that offered them wealth beyond their imagination, they cling to it regardless of costs to any person or to any group. The tolerate greed, nepotism, corruption and exclusion because they created them. It is this that leads experts to conclude that dictatorial regimes encourage and rationalize income inequality and wealth concentration directly or indirectly. It is part of the architecture of running the state as a business enterprise. At most, those with political and economy power are likely to persecute and jail only small fish to appease the public and donors. The big fish at the top are always protected from the regulatory and legal system. It is they created the very system that benefits them and their core allies whether foreign or domestic. It is they that must protect ‘the goose that lays the golden egg,’ so to speak.
Reflect on what social and political forces drove Ethiopia’s Emperor and the dictator Mengistu HaileMariam out of power in disgrace? What forces compelled Ben Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family to flee with an estimated 1.5 tons of gold that belongs to the people of Tunisia? What compelled Mubarak and his cohorts to cause massive carnage and to face the humiliation of court proceedings in the country he ruled for crimes against humanity and for stealing billions of money that belongs to the Egyptian people? Why did Gadhafi and his die-hards refuse to submit to the will of the Libyan people peacefully and get caught, hauled from a sewage pipe, humiliated and killed by liberation fighters as young as 19 years old that he had called “rats”? The manner and brutality and ‘savagery’ of his death will be a subject that will haunt millions of people for decades to come. For Libyans and other people who seek and deserve freedom and justice, saving Gadhafi’s life and subjecting him to the meaning of the rule of law would have sent a better omen. Instead, it sent chills accusations of the opposition itself is “lawless.” This may or may not be unfair. Only the future evolution of governance will tell.
Would other dictators in the rest of Africa including Ethiopia draw lessons from these shameful experiences and allow peaceful change through genuine free, fair, open and competitive elections? Listening to the Ethiopian Prime Minister in the aftermath of what happened in Libya; one concludes that dictators have no ear for human dignity, justice, freedom, equality, the rule of law and accountability. They feel invincible. In light of this, simple indignation will not be adequate.
I highlighted the major similarities and differences that characterize these diverse regimes in previous articles on the Arab Spring. In each case, and in today’s Ethiopia, those who govern failed and still fail to open up opportunities for the vast majority of the population, especially youth. For example, the TPLF/EPRDF regime runs an economic empire that has made a few individuals super rich, and is leading the vast majority to greater depths of poverty. The governing party failed to level the playing field in the economy. Party owned and endowed enterprises such as EFFORT, GUNA and others dominate the national economy. Believe it or not EFFORT owns at least 30 diverse and dominant companies. It started with little or no capital and now serves the economic and social interests of the top leadership of the TPLF and their extended families.
The top leadership of the TPLF/EPRDF is one of the most rigid and dismissal of any in the world. It really believes that its assault on human rights is to protect the public from all forms of “terrorism.” It continues to get away with violations in part because it has powerful Western backers; and in part the opposition is divided and weak. In light of this, the regime failed to hold anyone accountable for atrocities following the 2005 elections; for massacres in Gambella, and in the Ogaden; and jailing and killing an untold number of Ethiopians under the pretext of defending the state and the Constitution. The regime is the judge, jury and executioner. Do not expect it to change any time soon.
Economic and social injustice is widespread and there is nothing the public or dissenters can do about it. Donors and others are stunned of corruption and illicit outflow in excess of US$11 billion from one of the poorest and emergency food aid dependent countries in the world. They will not do anything unless opponents in the Diaspora close ranks and work collaboratively against corruption and {www:illicit} outflow in donor capitals everywhere. Corruption is an economic crime against the poor and the future of Ethiopian youth. In North Africa and the Middle East, we note corruption, cronyism, illicit outflow, and other economic and social ills constituted the material reasons of why people continue to die for justice, human dignity and freedom.
Here is the bottom line. People do not revolt out of hate for their fellow man or woman. They revolt out of desperation that the system in which they live is totally broken and that those who govern are not or will not be accountable to them. Escalating food prices, income inequality, corruption, nepotism and massive unemployment were among the material reasons why hundreds of thousands of youth and others revolted against repression, economic and social injustice and inequality. When a system is impervious to change, they have no option. Tunisian youth, professionals and the middle class arrived at the conclusion that the system under which they lived was intolerant of reform. This is similar to Ethiopia but took a more peaceful route. Citizens, especially youth, took matters into their own hands and gave real meaning to citizen voice, participation and popular revolt. The rest is history. Today, 110 political parties are in the process of competing in what is projected to be the freest and fairest election in Tunisia.
For Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan, Syrian and Yemeni youth, the battle cry could be termed as ‘inequality and corruption stupid.’ Gross inequality in incomes and wealth arise when a system allows economic and social preponderance for one group over the rest, and discriminates deliberately and systematically. Tunisia was and still is more market friendly than Ethiopia. Yet, inequality was pronounced as was corruption. Egypt was worse. Gaddafi and his large family run the country as a family business. He lost his life and perhaps all his wealth and the wealth of his family. Freedom leads to the inevitable demand for accountability. But who in the top echelons of the Ethiopian government party is listening?
In Ethiopia, the economic and social system tends to emulate the worst features of crony capitalism and dictatorial ‘socialism.’ I say the worst features of capitalism because cronyism is rampant. Greed and corruption are widespread and punishing for the society. Humanitarian and other forms of aid are politicized and skew the allocation of resources along ethnic and party lines. If aid that saves lives is distorted, one will have little confidence that the rest of the economy and financial system is not distorted either. Ethiopia is neither farmland nor water resource poor. Yet, it is one of the ‘hungriest and unhealthiest” countries in the world. Take food self-sufficiency and security and investments in agriculture under the so-called Agriculture Development-led Industrialization (ADLI) approach–a strategy intended to boost the capabilities of smallholders and other rural folk–and assess outcomes.
Why did the regime fail to boost the capabilities of smallholders by providing them tenure security? As I document in my latest book, “The Great Land Giveaway: yemeret neteka ena kirmit in Ethiopia,” the country is not able to achieve a level of agricultural productivity per hectare that it had attained in 1973 or 38 years ago? Believe it or not, the governing party no longer believes that Ethiopian smallholders and other domestic entrepreneurs can modernize and commercialize agriculture or anything else for that matter. In 2009, 22 percent of Ethiopia’s rural poor depended on some form of international emergency foreign aid to survive. I conclude from these facts and from skyrocketing food prices that the governing party’s strategy was not to release the productive potential of Ethiopian smallholders and to make the country food self-sufficient. Rather, it was to control the ‘peasantry’ and to make the rural population dependent and an appendage. A pro poor economic and social policy would have resulted in a smallholder Green Revolution in Ethiopia. Generous donors such as USAID, the World Bank and others share the blame in that they did not invest in smallholder commercial farming. Some donors perpetuate dependency by focusing on relief rather than on sustainable and participatory development.
It is a fact that twenty years ago, people could afford to buy food. Today, millions survive on one meal a day. Forty years ago, the educated and others aspired to join the middle class and expected to build and own their own home. Today US$50,000 cannot buy you a decent home in Addis Ababa or other major urban areas. The façade of villas, apartment and office buildings and other construction in Ethiopia’s capital and other urban centers is glitz at its worst. Rent seeking and corrupt culture produced the glitz. Who owns major buildings anyway? Who rents them to foreigners? It certainly is not the Ethiopian middle class. They worry about their next meal. These investments are owned by few powerful individuals, families and monopolies. The direct link between business monopolies and political power is a firm indicator of the merger of party, state and ethnicity. It is this merger that enables the governing party to misallocate national resources; and to transfer waters and farmlands and other pillars of the economy from the Ethiopian people to a selected few domestic allies and to foreign governments and businesses.
These economic and social distortions and adverse impacts on ordinary Ethiopians are essential to grasp in promoting a culture of collaboration and unity among opposition groups whether civic or political; and whether within the country or abroad.
(Part three of this series will highlight the dangers that emanate from massive transfers of water basins and farmlands and other pillars of the economy to foreign governments and businesses. The piece will continue to reinforce why unity of purpose and action is critical, urgent and everyone’s business.)
