Finally the resolution was passed. Our delegation voted for the Federation. That means despite all reservations I had our delegation did not have the power even to abstain. Our delegation voted for the federation and hence for split. And I said with tears that have not still dried- since all the young generation that perished lives vividly with us all- said this division would cost Ethiopia dearly. And did it not cost us dearly? Need I say more!!!
The late Haile Fida, one of the key leaders of ESUE and later Meison, wrote in Tiglachin or Tatek stating that Mammo Muchie’ ‘seksek bilo alekese.’ What is true is that there I was in tears and it was mainly the fear that the split will be exported inside the country that made me upset and disorientated. The rest is history. As I feared, that division got introduced and we all know the carnage, red terror and other terrors that ensued afterwards. This episode has not been fully researched and we all have our individual stories with us. I felt compelled to tell mine just to let the CUDP MPs in, what hazards a split might bring unless they handle it with wisdom and have the courage to say to their closest allies who may tell them or brief them to split to refrain from doing so. I hope one day what is left of our generation would record the stories each of us have. I know Haile Gerima has written a script I read a few years ago dramatising cinematically to capture the hopes, frustrations, braveries, fears and bloodshed of the time in a film trying to capture aspects of it with cinematic art. When I read and hear how people behave now around the differences amongst the CUDP MPs, KIL and KIC, my memory goes back to Berlin 1973, the fateful split that led subsequently to the epic fights between Meison and EPRP! I fear still that from that bitter experience appropriate lessons have not been drawn and learnt. I appeal to all the current parties that rule, oppose, and feel alienated to learn from that episode and not ignore such hard lessons from history.
LESSON FOR THE CUDP from that Episode in the Berlin 1973 Split
Small cracks and divisions must be sealed and efforts to unite must not be seen lightly. When Prof. Mesfin advises those who want to go it alone to try to patch up , it is because like a butter fly effect what happened in the USA moves and blows, and resonates even in the rural heartland of Ethiopia. It cannot be contained, remain polite. It can be brutal and may lead to fratricidal engagement. At all costs this must be avoided especially if and when the differences never warrant it. So if the delegates have come divided, they must return united. There is no option to this action. Any other action is fraught with danger. The Division from Berlin 1973 later became the epic division between Meison and EPRP. Meison tried to ally with the Derg to vanquish EPRP. The latter tried to ally first with the EPLF which was not successfully consummated. The EPLF had an option to ally with the TPLF and play off EPRP with TPLF. Eventually the EPRP was routed by the Derg in the city and TPLF in the countryside. What we do not know is the counter factual… supposing MEISON and EPRP had united… supposing the World Federation has not been borne by alienating ESUE and the clandestine Meison cells of the time, perhaps history would have been different. What it would have been we may not be able to say, but certainly we may not have been treated to a brutal military dictatorship that facilitated the forces that subsequently came to rule over the country by splitting it into vernacular-ethnic enclaves and the two states of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Perhaps the context and times are different now. One may be tempted to say the division of CUDP would not have risks. The answer to this doubt is simple: that it is better to put ones house in order. Otherwise other uninvited intruders will swarm and scramble to create mayhem. It is much better to learn the bitter lesson than not to learn from it… At least for the sake of building a democratic society with negotiation rather than splitting, I have presented what I know by participating in the movement 34 years ago!!!
It is important that the effort to build the strongest, deepest and broadest democratic and national movement must not be derailed by the misunderstandings and mistrust that seem to exist. In Ethiopia a pan-Ethiopian democratic movement is critical to spread democracy and citizenship to all. The mobilisation has been phenomenal. This is not time to falter; this is time to move forward united!
Some Suggestions
1. We call on the MPS touring foreign lands to not leave these countries without reaching some agreement how to create an agreed procedure on how to handle past , present and future differences within CUDP at home, and the various support groups in the Diaspora… continued on next page