Lamenting Siye’s predicament
Adal Isaw
Politics is a vibrant treacherous river that spits and carries the shrubs of political thoughts, as it goes through the embankment of uncharted terrain, destined to an intricate universe of ideas-ideas that may potentially become material forces for which we have to act and react accordingly. It’s hard to react to a hero’s political thoughts in manner that gives the slightest indication of belittling, for the idea of a hero is a material force that induces strong feelings from all concerned political theater goers.
Politics is also a vibrant living social theater, in need of actors and actresses who are prone to a make over. The curtain of politics changes as often as the actor changes his suit, and the play may become mesmerizing, engendering the political theater audiences, to script their own version of a political play for an upcoming show. In this manner, many have written scripts for a political theater, without having to realize that acting on haphazardly written scripts in the real world of political practice to be a sobering experience.
TPLF, EPLF, ELF, and EPRP, for example, have written an abundance of political scripts for play, hoping to change the world of Ethiopia according to their own take, not realizing that they may be forced in later days to edit and reedit their scripts because of political pragmatism. A real world pragmatic politics is a marketplace of changes. Scripts change, and a hero changes his thinking swapping one idea for another, an earlier stance for a current one, a pre imprisonment idea for post imprisonment one. It’s therefore not that extraordinary to hear many people of numerous backgrounds forgo their scripted plays for a new one, in an unending search for the better script, day in and day out.
Looking through the prism of this preceding law of pragmatic politics, it isn’t therefore that unusual to hear the liberal capitalist talk about social issues sounding much like an anarcho syndicalist; nor is it peculiar to listen to a communist apostate giving a pompous speech of economic development, implementing the "free market" doctrine of capitalist ideology. Yes indeed, it’s not even that unusual to hear an Ethiopian hero of the EPRDF, uttering discontents sounding much like a born-again CUD. No choice but paying homage to the power of pragmatic politics is the order of the day. Welcome to this pragmatic world of politics, my hero, Siye Abraha.
Siye, every time I think of your predicament, I am inundated with ideas and images of my childhood memories of the sort, but nonetheless and until now, I have kept these ideas and images to myself, thinking more so about the importance of alleviating the economic deprivation of our people than thinking about the stuff that heroes are made of. Having said that, I am not going to deprive you of what my childhood memories of ideas and images of the sort are made of. And here starts my anecdote.
A little more than eight decades ago, a revolutionary or a progressive thinker, depending how fitting the adjective is to your own espoused world view, argued that an idea may become a material force. Fifty years later, a Pentecostal high school geometry teacher in Awassa, Ethiopia, did also try to convey the concept that an idea may become a material force in slightly disparate way.
Time and time again, teacher Befekadu would tell us-his students, that the KGB of Russia would arrest a Christian and torture him with an idea. Plugging his ears with special speakers, a KGB agent would turn on the prerecorded tape. "Marxism is good, and Christ is bad"; the tape echoes into the ears of the Christian, over and over and over again, till the Christian start uttering the same prerecorded line from the tape. Coming out of the prison cell, the Christian would then turn into a quasi-animated force of Marxist propagandist, tirelessly stating that Marxism is good and Christ is bad, till death due him part; teacher Befekadu would have us believe in class.
As curious and a pain in the behind student of geometry, I was overly critical and skeptical of my teachers story. I had doubts as to whether that specific incident on the Christian victim has occurred, but nonetheless, I surrendered to my teacher’s notion of how an idea becomes a material force of change.
Forgive me, if I have given you the impression of comparing Kaliti with the prison cell of Russia, and the action of a KGB agent with the action of a security personnel of the EPRDF. Quite to the contrary, I am just merely reversing the roles to make a point in a very twisted but reasonable way. My hero Siye, Kaliti had neither a Christian prisoner per se, nor it had an agent with a prerecorded word of mouth to turn its prisoners into a quasi-animated force of "EPRDF propagandist." Quite to the contrary, Kaliti had a prisoner able enough to write a book on democratic aspiration with some sprinkled flavor of aspersions for the EPRDF.
In a very impressing way, I should add, Kaliti to this day had freed prisoners able enough to fly more than ten thousand miles to act in manners similar as the KGB agent in the story of teacher Befekadu, to perplex and inundate the Ethiopian Diaspora in North America, time and time again by preaching how awful and undemocratic the EPRDF is. Interestingly though, as much as the Christian victim of a KGB agent in Befekadu’s story, it’s the beguiled Ethiopian Diaspora that is coming out from each and every "discussion forum" uttering word for word that "EPRDF is undemocratic and bad, and anything else is good." Siye, is EPRDF as undemocratic and as inapt as you are alluding to? How much of your personal dissatisfaction with Meles is at play? If any, who is using ethnicity for vile purposes?
Shaebia fighters and their one-man leader, the megalomania Isayas Afewerki, have been known for looking down on the Tigrean people. Tigreans are aware of this conceited attitude of their cousins and have differing approaches as to how to resolve it. Some are furious and want to whip Shaebia’s behind. In fact, Siye, if you could, I would cogently argue that you would have loved to whip the shaebia forces, merely to put them into their proper place without giving due attention about what the ramification of a war between TPLF and Shaebia entails. Strong leaders don’t score points just for the sake of making a point, and also just because they’re very angry for being looked down.
The relationship of TPLF and Shaebia is known to have been blemished by the narcissistic attitude of the Shaebia forces. The tension between TPLF and Shaebia had its ups and downs and through it all, the collected, calm, and content leaders of the TPLF have crafted better ways of resolving the tension rather than adhering to their peripheral senses of "let’s kill these SOB’S" attitude. Siye, I am convinced that you had had a disparate way to resolve the tensions from the get go. I am also convinced that you’re personally and dangerously framing the issue of Eritrea to be the template for your discontent with EPRDF in general, and with our premier Meles Zenawi in particular.
Siye, it’s your testimony that if you had your ways, you could have annihilated the Shaebia forces and might have allowed the Eritrean and Ethiopian people live in harmony ever after; implying, had the commander in chief premier Meles Zenawi stay out of your way, that your mission would have been accomplished. Say it if you have to much like some Tigreans are asserting it to be the case; are you saying that Premier Meles Zenawi is as docile and as amenable to the interest of our cousins in the north by virtue of being "partly an Eritrean?" Now, who is using ethnicity for vile purposes? Reading you on the lines, you are now claiming that Meles and the Ethiopian government have failed or better yet willingly gave up from pursuing the war further for what you think would have been a "complete military and political victory."
It’s so frightening to think of a lone general with a claim of such ability. Doesn’t war involve the many layers of command system? Weren’t you supposed to take orders from the commander in chief in regards to how the war should be fought? Are you implying that you should have been endowed with the sole responsibility of when exactly to start the war and when to end it, and most importantly, as to what the objective of the war should have been? Weren’t you supposed to accept orders of such magnitude as stipulated in the Ethiopian Constitution? More pointedly though, are you alluding that the commander in chief of Ethiopia saved the Shaebia forces by the bell? Siye, weren’t you aware of the pressures applied on our beloved country by the so-called western nations to stop the war?
BBC had a question right after it became known that the Shaebia forces were being chased and killed at will. "What exactly do Ethiopians want?" BBC came out asking in a telecast to its international audience. Some western countries including the US openly entertained the possibility of Ethiopia being held responsible, if it fails to stop the war for there were about eight hundred thousand Eritrean people being displaced in haste.
The human tragedy that may have ensued would have made us Ethiopians look and act brutal, for there was the great possibility of our Defense Forces being bogged down (this is throwing back to you your own assessment of Somalia) in Asmara and the surrounding in bloody battles. During war, underestimating the forces of the enemy is the easiest but the costliest first mistake that a general can make. And, Siye, this is exactly the mistake that you would have committed had you pursued your one-man warring venture unabated. Siye, you would have also flagrantly violated the constitution of Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Which brings me back to this newly found love about the balance of power you would like to have in the three branches of our government back home, as envisioned by the framers of the United States of America.
Siye, your predicament cannot conclusively show that the power that be in Ethiopia is shifting to the executive branch leaving the legislative and judicial branches with attenuated and meaningless power to deal with their obligations. The war in Somalia wasn’t declared by our premier, but as it is stipulated in the constitution of the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it was declared after the premier made the case for it. The same goes about the war with Eritrea, a war that you would have had the pleasure of pursuing, ignoring the powers of all branches of the Ethiopian government. Siye, would I be wrong if I suspect you of defying the working procedures of your own party? What else could be a reason of discontent that would tag two comrades in arms with a noticeable vendetta from your side?
Siye, is it true that some of your family members benefitted by virtue of being your immediate family? To the best of your understanding, was there an appearance of impropriety in your part in matters that might have involved assets of the different kind? When you and your supporters claim that you were made an example for all who think of defying the ruling party, what exactly is that supposed to mean? Would I be wrong to equate defying to mean disobeying the working procedure of EPRDF- the ruling party? Siye, do you think that you were treated in such a way for exercising Ethiopiayawinet more so than what the EPRDF is espousing?
It’s baffling to hear you talk in detail about the idea of Ethiopiawinet hinting its absence within the camps of EPRDF. Siye, with all due respect, no Ethiopian needs a lecture on the idea of Ethiopiawinet. If there is a degree of difference in conceptualizing Ethiopiayawinet, it arises from a reason more complex than you were able to forward. You will never ever rightfully claim to be more of an Ethiopian than any Ethiopiawee since the mechanism to weigh the strength of a conviction to such an idea or lack there of is non existent.
Siye, nationalism pervades almost all members of any nation, and will remain to be a short handed ideological stance good enough to galvanize the populous for some actions and reactions. Indeed, Siye, you’re using the idea of Ethiopiawinet to galvanize a sector of an Ethiopian society, and I see no problem in it, just for now. However, as an advice from a Tegadalay to a Tegadaly, becarefull not to stretch this idea of Ethiopiawinet to the red danger zone for nationalism has been proved to be the vehicle that fascist movements reign on to fulfill their political, social, and economic agendas.