By Network of Ethiopian Scholars (NES)
Inspiring quotes
I am not upset you lied to me, I am upset from now on I can’t believe you.
(Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher)
The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are, instead we trust people to be who we want them to be, and when they are not, we cry. (Anonymous)
1. Introduction
Time flies. In comes 2008! Yet another year is replaced by a new year in the eternal dance of time. Our country had a new year in September 2007. It shares also the New Year on January 2008 with the rest of the world. It has the opportunity to pause, reflect, interrogate, evaluate and select what would work from what would not twice, as moments like New Years help concentrate a nation’s priorities and map and shape its future.
The time from the Ethiopian millennium in September to the current New Year has been unsettling to say the least to the vibrant democratic movement that emerged after the May 2005 election. What we expected was the release of the elected MPS that were sent for 20 months in jail will stimulate and invigorate the democratic movement, solve with maturity the difficulties in the Diaspora by displaying the moral authority of the released MPs and move into a higher level of clarification and mobilisation united to build systematically the movement. Unfortunately what happened was a lack of unity and division by those who came out from jail leading to a split that appears to have gone beyond any attempt to repair and rescue. The split is unfortunate as there are wild allegations that would have been very good to clear up. With the split the truth will not be known. We now know who has been rude and who has remained civil through the ordeal, but we will not know who is culpable and who is not, concerning the issues that triggered this destructive turn. This will not be cleared as long as each side remains with its sectarian narrative unexamined and protective of its story. For the moment, there appears to be no way that there can be unity within knjit. It is time in the New Year to resolve and re-think how a post- knjit powerful social-democratic movement and realignment of social forces can be forged. This commentary will attempt to show the obstacles Ethiopians must overcome and put forward a few proposals to strengthen and build the democratic movement for debate.
2. The Obstacle: Social Capital Deficit despite Ethiopia’s Age!
Our readers may recall previous NES commentaries that by some accounts the likely origin of the Ethiopian state formation has become now 7,000 years or even 8,000 years depending on which myth of origin one takes to begin the count!! China has 5000 years of such history. For Ethiopia seven or eight thousand years indeed makes it the most ancient country in the world. If we take the 4000 years that used to be 3000 years until last September’s Ethiopian millennium, it still makes Ethiopia belong in the oldest groups of countries such as Egypt, Persia and China. Even the 2000 years that Ethiopia entered after celebrating its millennium in September 2007 makes it yet still amongst the oldest groups of countries in the world. This is not to suggest all can or should agree on this age of Ethiopia. Those who think very often look back in order to see how far to look ahead into the future.
The question we must ask is this: Given such long historical memory, why has the country failed to invent an ethically anchored, consultation rich politics that works and constructs the nation rather than the divisive, cantankerous and cruel politics that destroys and unsettles all to a point where we all worry whether we can ever evolve a shared national direction to shape Ethiopia’s sustainable future that beats the fear of time? Even after the people made choices, voted and expressed their voice, why is that the very persons involved that helped to bring about this creative trajectory are at each others throat trying to undo what seemed to all indeed a record historical achievement gained also in a record time? Why are we back to the drawing board every time history opens a historical possibility to move in more constructive directions? Why is the seed planted often threatened with such desire to cut and pluck it out and even kill it? When are we going to stop wondering whether the particular way politics plays out in the country may or may not deliver an Ethiopia that will endure? When are Ethiopians to be liberated from the tyranny of a particularly uncongenial politics that disrupts all from mustering and sustaining the ability to relate and interact with each other to undertake substantial coordinated and collective action that is productive based on a shared project for freedom, equality, human dignity and justice for all in order to build and improve comprehensively the welfare of the people, the nation and the country?
3. Counting Age comes with a price of an oppressive inter- generational tyranny!
We continue to repeat reminding all concerned Ethiopia’s old age and historical longevity not to celebrate the few and far in between successes such as the epic African victory at Adwa in 1896 for example, but more as a call to all to reject and extricate the country from the oppressive litany of horrid failures that have existed from time immemorial to the present and threaten to continue to the future. We invoke the long gone past to bring home forcefully how much age old problems continue today to persist and threaten to pile up in the future by imposing something like an inter-generational tyranny over the people and their successive progeny rather than freedom and development. There can be no complacency by retelling the age of any country. We recall historical age in order to review a particular community’s national history where the secret of unleashing the opportunities to shape the future are locked. In order to appreciate the transformations that can make a difference, we must always examine and reflect on the complexities of a country’s historical journey and national history.
Ethiopia’s accumulated historical memory-the good, the bad and the tasteless- can be a source of learning to find the knowledge and the way to help prolong Ethiopia’s life hopefully by injecting a positive transformation dynamics of its age-old static society. That is to say, having lived for so long, one can only hope that this country will live on and on with an age that defies the law of gravity, solving the twin persistent problems of hunger and governance for good with justice and fairness to all.
In and of itself, counting years of vegetative existence of a country’s life, as well as a person may not be interesting. What would be most interesting would be, if indeed, when there is quality to the life-world for an individual as indeed also similarly to the strength, dynamism and self-reinforcing vitality of the system-world that has been driving the specific Ethiopian national history. There is no intrinsic value in counting ages per se however long and rich they are. What is of value is in what each age, as indeed each generation bequeathed to future ages and generations. Problems unsolved or newly created ones, more often than not, can pile up to a mountain top and become additional burdens on the generations that come after previous generations.
One thought on “The challenge of shaping Ethiopia’s sustainable future”
Better equip ourselves with WEAPON CAPITAL than SOCIAL CAPITAL.
We have been for centuries practicing trust, religion, friendship, norms, rules, and procedures, which are the fundamental tenets of social capital in this long and very informative article, and yet we have failed to feed our people, to produce tangible results, and to govern ourselves effectively. Who is responsible for the mess, the present or the past generation, the kings or the princes, Mengistu Haile Mariam or Meles Zenawi?
It has always been the norm for the present generation to blame the old generation that is not here with us today. I’m, however, on the side of the old generation against the present lousy generation. In consent with the writers of the article, Ethiopia is an old country; no one knows how old it is, and no one knows when it will die if it is not already dead.
There is a saying in Ethiopia: “When a lion gets old, it becomes a playground for the flies.” The old lion here represents the old Ethiopia, and the flies represent us, the new generation. Ethiopia as old as it is today must be commended for passing not the unfinished, but the finished work of its glorious history, a history of expansion, growth, success and victory to the present ungrateful generation. Ethiopia has been undivided country geographically, historically, culturally, and politically until the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie. Ethiopia’s old age has not been the problem for many Ethiopians; it is the young Ethiopians, the immature young and selfish Ethiopian politicians who have become big burdens and severe headaches to this ailing old Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian old history should not be considered a problem, a burden to the new generation; rather it should be regarded as a pride and glory, so it is very important to “invoke the long gone past….” The Ethiopian old history does not impose tyranny on the Ethiopian people; it rather empowers the Ethiopian people to fight against tyranny, to live together peacefully, and to protect its territories, its seaports and never to split them. The Ethiopian past history has been a history of freedom from Mussolini, Ahmad Gragn, and from many other foreign intruders, like Egypt, Sudan, and Turkey. The Ethiopian history has been full of justice and fairness, a history that respects the rule of law and justice.
Ethiopia’s long existence should not be called “vegetative existence” as the article attests emphatically. I hate the word “vegetative” the writers of the article used here to explain the living condition of Ethiopia. On the contrary, Ethiopia throughout its glorious history has been very active, vibrant, resilient, and proud of its accomplishments in art, in building towns, cities, churches, and in expanding church schools and at the same time fighting foreign invaders. So Ethiopia, in its long existence, has never had the mark of idleness and laziness. Each single day, each single year in Ethiopia has been a day and a year of progress and accomplishments. To name some, look the pyramid at Axum, look the rock hewn Church of Lalibela in Wollo, magnificent art of work! So to me it is not fair to call the old 3000 years of Ethiopian civilization years of vegetative existence.
The past generation had lived by solving its own problems, and it is the responsibility of the present generation to solve its own problem without blaming the other generation. In fact, it is this selfish generation that divided the country in two: Ethiopia and Eretria, and it is going to divide it further unless it stops its selfishness and political ambition based on ethnic lines. We should not attribute the current situations, the current divisions among the various political parties to Ethiopia’s magnificent past history. If Ethiopia had not struggled hard to keep all its territories together, you and I would not be here today. We are blaming the past history of Ethiopia based on material things, neglecting the spiritual dynamics Ethiopia has made through its long history: combining Judaism and Christianity and accommodating other religions and passing them to us is, in it self, a big achievement.
Ethiopia has never passed a deficit of problems to the present generation as the article suggests; it is in fact the present generation that created the deficit – the giving away of Eretria, the war with Somalia and Ogaden, the leadership crisis with Kinjit, and the division of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church: one in exile and one at home. It is my and your generation who created such huge deficit, not the Ethiopian Lucie generation. Ethiopia has never left unsolved problems to the current generation; even though it has ethnically and religiously diverse society, this society has lived comfortably for thousands of years harmoniously with each other. It is this generation that created Mengistu Haile Mariam and Meles Zenawi.
The writers of the article are absolutely right that it is the politicians (add “selfish”) – the selfish politicians – that bring “more new problems…,” but they are wrong in saying “…than in solving old and transmitting problems from earlier generations.” As I said before, the old generation had never passed its problem to me and you; we should not blame our ancestors for the current problems we have selfishly created. Let our ancestors rest in peace!
What makes you think “…had Ethiopia had turned into a republic after World War II… then the problems to solve today would have been different”? In what way would it have been different? Do you mean all republic countries are capable of solving their own problems? For example, among many other republic countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran are republics. Have these countries been capable of solving their existing problems? I don’t think so. At this particular time, we cannot say this or that system of government would solve the Ethiopian existing problems. In my opinion it is our task to devise a new system of government that accommodates all ethnic groups – a government that does not exclude its political opponents from participating in politics with the governing party.
In 1974, the Emperor did not transfer his power to the military; the military took it by force, and that is why Ethiopia is facing today multitude of problems more than ever before. Had the transition of power been voluntarily and peacefully without humiliating the Emperor, we could have later avoided all the unnecessary bloodsheds by both Mengistu Haile Mariam and Meles Zenawi in the name of new revolution. Indeed, Ethiopia has never had such deep division in its entire history. So the pattern of problems can be traced to Mengistu and to Meles, not to the old generation because the old generation has nothing to do with our new problems.
The Ethiopian people at this time have no ways of measuring which politicians are capable of governing them democratically, ethically, and justly. I assume, at this time, the Ethiopian people are not yet ready to be governed by a democratically elected politician; I may be wrong. I think they need a thorough training about what a democratically elected government would offer them. Then they will have a yardstick to measure the diverse opinions of the politicians who run for the higher office.
Social capital cannot be achieved by only avoiding our dependence on our ethnicity; however, what are the substitutes for ethnicity in case people are willing to disregard their love affairs with their ethnicities? Are we ready to substitute ethnicity with something concrete that satisfies each group? For example, in the old days, some Ethiopians used to worship idols on the hills, on the mountains, and in the wooded areas. In order to prevent people from worshipping idols, the Church built beautiful churches on those hills, and on those mountains and in those wooded areas so that the people could worship God instead of idols. So how can we replace ethnicity by something good that unites the people rather than divides them?
Yes, Yohannes II helped General Napier to defeat Tewodros; yes, Menelik II let Yohannes be killed by the Sudan Muslims, and yes Teferi defeated Lij Iyasu because Iyasu was leaning to accepting Islam; however, internal conflicts of such kind are common every where in this world; it is not new. In those days people were not educated as most of us today. The question is how can we avoid such internal conflicts among us today? How can we run our organization free of foreign hands? It is an impossible task in this global age of ours. If avoiding foreign help is one of the requirements of social capital, then social capital is doom to fail because no government in this world is free of getting help from a foreign power.
We cannot avoid “fragmented opposition” if we believe in democracy; we should not oppress such opposing, fragmented political parties, and we should not limit the number of parties who want to work as independent political parties, but we can influence them to join our own political party. All political parties, in my opinion, must be institutionalized, and the party that wins the election will become the governing party.
Finally, after we have done every thing in our power to persuade Meles Zenawi to cooperate with us but failed to do so, then we must resort to arm struggle rather than to social capital and defeat our common enemy for the right cause – to liberate our people from tyranny.