Interview
with Professor Dessalegn Rahmato – Manager, Forum for
Social Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
for
Ethiopia on the Web (www.ethiopians.com)
– April 2001
Ethiopians.com:
First of all, please allow us to thank you for agreeing to let us and
our readers have the honor and pleasure of picking your brain in some of
the outstanding issues such as food security, land tenure, poverty and
environmental degradation that Ethiopians are struggling with.
Intro:
-
What kinds of
issues concerning Ethiopia keep you up late in the night or occupy
your thoughts?
Prof.
Dessalegn: I am very much concerned about the shocking level of
poverty in this country and the fact that we seem to be going
backward when the rest of the world is making rapid progress.
-
How did you
first get involved in food security, land tenure and environmental
degradation issues?
Prof.
Dessalegn: Since my college days in the 1960s I
have continued to believe that the fate of this country is closely
tied up with the fate of the countryside and the farming population.
I became convinced that unless we understand the world of the
peasant we will not be able to make any meaningful progress. And the
peasant’s world is full of hunger, lack of resources, and misery.
-
Please tell us
a little bit about yourself, your interests, background, your
education, etc? Growing up, were these issue you work on and write
about so articulately important to you?
Prof.
Dessalegn: I was born in Nazret and had my high school
education at General Wingate. I was always conscious of the plight
of the disadvantaged and the marginalized because I came from a poor
family myself. I was in the United States in the 1960s as a college
student and the radicalism of the time had a deep influence on me. I
love jazz music and taking long walks in the countryside.
The Addis Ababa
University Years
-
What sorts of
issues have you worked on the last several years?
Prof.
Dessalegn: My areas of interest have been land rights issues,
food security and the environment. In short, my work falls into
the broad subject of rural development.
-
If my memory
serves me very well, your name became a household name among
students of Ethiopian studies due to your work in the 80s about land
tenure. Could you please tell our readers more about it? Many people
consider the land tenure proclamation of 1975 as one of the main
changes of that era. Now that almost 15 years have passed since
then, what are your thoughts on that?
Prof.
Dessalegn: It is impossible to discuss the land tenure issue
in such a short interview; the subject is complex. What I have
been arguing for nearly twenty years now is that unless the
farming household has secure rights to land it will not be able to
improve its livelihood; we will not have a dynamic farm economy;
and the chances for rapid development will be slim. The striking
thing about the agrarian history of this country in the 20th
century is that the hard-working peasant cultivator never enjoyed
secure rights to land in the same way as the small farmer in the
West did. The Ethiopian farmer, even the owner cultivator before
the Revolution, was always insecure, always dependent on powerful
overlords or the state, always subordinate. This explains why we
have never had a peasant rebellion in this country.
-
What other
works did you research on during your time at AAU and the Institute?
Prof.
Dessalegn: That’s it.
The FSS Years
-
Please tell us
how the idea for FSS came and how it was established?
Prof.
Dessalegn: The original idea for FSS came from my colleague
Zene Tadesse. Without her persistence FSS would not have been
born. She was the one who brought a number of friends together to
discuss the idea, prepare plans and form the organization that
eventually became FSS.
-
Please also
share with our readers what FSS has done so far?
Prof.
Dessalegn: The best thing to do is to send you our latest
brochure which you can post and which will give readers a
comprehensive idea of what FSS has done so far. [Readers: Click
here for details]
-
What aspect of
your current work at FSS is most satisfying? How about most
challenging?
Prof.
Dessalegn: FSS is the
first independent policy research institution in Ethiopia that is
attempting to promote the democratization of public policy making.
Every aspect of what we do here is satisfying and challenging.
-
Have you found
the policy makers willing to listen to independent think-thanks such
as FSS?
Prof.
Dessalegn: There is no tradition in this country of
consultation. Policy makers do not wish to listen to anyone except
themselves. But despite that we believe what we are doing here
will lay the groundwork for the broadening of the democratic space
in the long run.
-
You are
currently writing and organizing a public debate on the “poverty
reduction” plan that the World Bank seems to concentrate on. How
has the response from the public been so far? How do you intend to
influence the World Bank in this issue as it concerns Ethiopia?
Prof.
Dessalegn: The response from the public here is very
gratifying. I am very disappointed with the response of the
Ethiopian diaspora community. If you remember we had solicited
views and comments from this community about the pressing problem
of poverty in Ethiopia via your website but not a single person
responded. [FSS Invites Public
for Dialog]We are not, by the
way, trying to influence the World Bank; it is the Ethiopian
Government that we and others who are carrying out similar
activities on the PRSP initiative are trying to influence.
-
One of your
latest publications (co-authored by Aklilu Kidanu) deals with
Poverty in rural and urban areas with real life examples. As you
went around the country and visiting small farms, villages, cities,
etc, what sorts of things (about poverty in the country) disturbed
you a lot?
Prof.
Dessalegn: What disturbed me and my colleagues most was not
only the pitiful levels of poverty in the communities we visited
but the fact that there was no indication that there would any
improvements for the people in the foreseeable future.
-
If you could
please share some of the thoughts you have on the issue of reducing
poverty in Ethiopia?
Prof.
Dessalegn: That is what our public program on poverty is
trying to do. We need to have access to a broad spectrum of public
opinion because no one group of people, not even the most
brilliant, has an answer to the problem. Remember, FSS is trying
to promote problem solving by consensus.
-
At the
beginning of this year (2001), you also published a report on
environmental change/degradation in Ethiopia (as it relates to state
policy in Ethiopia). In this limited space, can you please share
with our readers a brief summary of some of the outstanding issues
you discussed at length?
Prof.
Dessalegn: The monograph examined environmental policy issues,
poverty and the environment, environmental protest, and forms of
indigenous environmental thought.
-
What are your
thoughts on NGOs? Some critiques question their effectiveness.
Others question the long-term consequences such as the government
itself depending on NGOs to solve problems it has to solve. What are
your feelings on this issue?
Prof.
Dessalegn: There are bad NGOs and good NGOs, active ones and
corrupt ones, etc. If we want society to be self-acting and
independent, if we want to be rid of excessive government, then
civil society has to take direct responsibility for development.
This means associations, cooperatives, community organizations,
civic bodies, etc, in a word non-governmental institutions to take
over much of what the State is doing at the moment. One cannot have
a free and self-assertive population if it is dependent for all its
needs on the state as it is the case in Ethiopia today.
-
What can the
average Ethiopian citizen do to address some of the issues you are
working on with the view of changing government policy?
Prof.
Dessalegn: What the average citizen can do is to be a
responsible and concerned citizen.
The Future
-
Where do you
see Ethiopian in 10, 25 years with regard to the issues of as food
security, land tenure, poverty and environmental degradation that
you have worked on for many years?
Prof.
Dessalegn: I do not believe that in 10 or 20 years from now
the country will have made any significant progress. In fact, I am
afraid things might be much worse than they are at present.
-
Are you
optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
Prof.
Dessalegn: I think I have answered your question.I guess that
makes me a pessimist.
The Last Word
Any last thoughts?
Prof. Dessalegn: Not
really; thank you.
Thank you,
Professor Dessalegn for your invaluable input and time. We are very much
indebted.
Editor’s Notes:
Click
here for details on FSS Activity – Through their Brochure
FSS Invites Public
for Dialog – Information on
FSS’s Call on Dialog on Poverty Reduction