The recent dramatic example is the infighting within knjit that has seriously depleted the energy and momentum of one of the most promising social-political movements with demonstrated popular support behind it that emerged after the national election campaigns in 2005. Inability to solve the problems whatever they were seem to us related to the lack of social capital within the Knjit and the fact that lack of social capital amongst the members allowed what appears to be massive infiltration by all those these promising movement threatened in one way or another.
How can one then explain this? That what appears to be an innocuous and a mere trifle of casual and perhaps seemingly untrue gossip appears to break hard-won unity or even solidarity, disrupting the opportunities to continue and sustain coordinated collective action. The viciousness with which the quarrel degenerated is beyond anything anyone can fathom. The recent infighting within the’ knjit or CUDP’ circle of ex-incarcerated popularly elected MPs is not a problem because there were differences amongst them or even competition for leading the democratic movement. There is nothing wrong at all for a number of the MPs coming out from jail to try their luck to lead especially if they think they have good ideas to steer the country’s destiny. Everyone knows such competition and expression of difference can be useful and healthy. Conflict can also be creative. What comes as shocking is how frivolous the conflicts or differences turn out to be to any casual observer and even worse how a snowballing logic imposed itself worsening the situation beyond any imaginable repair. It is unfortunate that the conflict escalated into antagonism with hurtful attacks freely exchanged in the print, and voice media suffocating the political space by turning it into an arena where mutual recriminations and insults either were freely traded by those involved directly or those who wish to protect one side by demonising another. It is this degeneration that shows if there is anything to show that social capital is in short supply even amongst those that voluntarily joined as a team in the 2005 election to win only to undo whatever positive results they attained including the moral authority gained in the process. It shows there was no depth to their unity or trust amongst each other to come out so hard against each other, the latest being a statement by one of the estranged elected MPs executing the dismissal or suspension of the other elected MPs! Had the social capital amongst those who took together collective action in the 2005 election had been high, there would not have been this degeneration to such level of unspeakable insults and campaigns to discredit one another with such cavalier abandon. Where their supporters expected sympathy for each other, the opposite was displayed, disrespect was freely traded in the media and cruelty against each other was forcefully and invasively displayed. Supporters expected fellow prisoners to demonstrate genuine fellowship and sympathy to each other rather than what they ended up for friend and foe to see a hidden nature the public never knew they had with their willingly self-exposure to treat their friends turned opponents with the harsh hostilities that flew back and forth with such ferocity and demonising force! All advice to contain the problem was brushed aside. And the problem has escalated to a point where it is hard to see how these persons can ever come together and work together. Time has arrived to reflect beyond this harsh mistreatment and think what new possibilities may be open for encouraging democratic politics afresh in Ethiopia.
6. Social Capital in relation to other capitals
When natural capital breaks down a country’s geo-ecological system will be irreparably damaged. Once nature breaks down, just like social capital, it is hard to fix that easily. It is hard to reproduce and regenerate natural capital and social capital. That is why human-nature relations observing pre-cautionary principles will be critical to prevent nature break down and preserve natural harmony anywhere in the world for that matter. Physical capital is reproducible. If a building is destroyed, it may even give the opportunity to rebuild a better building site provided the cost can be defrayed in some way. Financial capital is also replenish-able and can even be supplemented by central bank strategy to covert interests into debts, loans and credits as many African states have learned to do to continue to rule over the people. The World Bank has reported in one of its numerous reports on Africa that more money has been pocketed by African leaders throughout decolonisation than the amount of foreign aid that has flowed into Africa. Imagine this crime against Africa which has not stopped to this day! It is Africans who undermine Africa doubly by stealing its own resources and by making it a victim of donor aid, grants and loans!
African Governments often run into macro-economic difficulties and they quickly go and beg donors to help them fix their financial insolvencies and not look into how they themselves are squandering whatever resources Africa has. The point we are making is that though finance looks difficult to have, it is not that difficult to regenerating it by various means!
Human capital subtraction too can be reversed by attracting new trainees and learners though it takes time to build skills and knowledge. Once knowledge is degraded, it is not difficult to upgrade though naturally it is costly to re-skill. Similarly individual capital can be built up and lost and re- made. Manufacturing and infrastructural capital is also reproducible after degrading. They can be mended and rebuilt! Cultural capital is also reproducible. The original can be duplicated especially with current digital technology creating wonders…
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.