Year in Review (1999 E.C) and Year in Forecast
(2000 E.C and onward)
By
Getachew
Mequanent
I wish everyone all the best in the first year of the Ethiopian third millennium. The
following outlines reflect back and look forward on some of our issues. This
presentation format is useful to touch too many things at once (there are 21
items below) and it also makes writing very easy. Just scroll down to pick and
read what you prefer.
1. The
continuing debate.
I have come to appreciate our time which has enabled us to communicate with
each other with little effort. We write something, send it to web site hosts
and there we are (in virtual space) debating. If my sources are correct,
high-ranking Ethiopian government officials - I suspect they include the prime
minister and cabinet ministers - visit the Internet. So, if you have an issue
with EPRDF leaders or Ethiopian government, you will go to Aiga Forum, Ethiopia
First or other web sites that are easily accessible from Ethiopia. No? I have
come across interesting material posted on pro-opposition Diaspora web sites.
It is ok. Those sites have audience including me. But wouldn’t the writers take
responsibility to make efforts and get another medium that conveys their ideas,
concerns or grievances to the Ethiopian government? The thing here is that the
way we communicate depends on our own motives: some of us want to feed the
Diaspora opposition camp with negative sentiments about EPRDF; others are
genuine government critics; and still others write to talk to themselves or
their own peers (academics, for example). I feel that a growing number of us
have made an effort to reclaim some of the public space and promote alternative
discourse. We took strong position against some of EPRDF’s policies including
the arrest of CUDP leadership. We informed EPRDF leaders that we support their
efforts to develop Ethiopia. We showed that one could still criticize
government policy by being positive and constructive. We should continue to
encourage an approach like this.
2.
Appreciation. We
appreciate all the people who work tirelessly to serve our Diaspora
communities. They include web site hosts. They remain devoted to the service of
others and to be role models for all of us.
3. Congratulating EPRDF. In case the aging revolutionary
democrats are not self-congratulating themselves, we would like to congratulate
them for their achievements. Ethiopia is entering the new millennium with good
prospects because of their hard work. Of course, nothing effective could have been
done without the hard work of those who run the machinery of Ethiopian
government including government advisors, administrators, planners, diplomats,
etc. We also applaud the work of the Ethiopian Millennium National Secretariat.
This Secretariat should be an example of what can be done when you bring
qualified people to work together.
4. Retirement of Meles Zenawi.
I have heard foreigners who met Prime Minister Meles saying that he was one of
the brightest people they ever met. They were not saying that they agreed with
him. Sometimes his behaviour irritates us all. He is both an intellectual and a
politician with good vision. Before him, Ethiopia was a country where nobody
was thinking and planning long-term. The concept of national interest was unknown
and everybody was concerned with survival. Today we can talk about something
positive, and above all, we see Ethiopians getting mobilized and energized to
work towards lifting themselves out of poverty. The secretive nature of EPRDF
makes it difficult to know what is being done to replace him. When Meles
retires, he will leave a legacy.
5.
Regret. We regret that Diaspora groups harassed and intimidated Ethiopian
government officials. The disruption caused by few people during the award to
First Lady Azeb Mesfin of the Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy of a Dream Award,
was a major embarrassment for all Ethiopians. Diaspora hooligans insult and
intimidated our compatriots who had gone to attend meetings organized for
Addisu Legesse and Ayalew Gobeze’s delegation. The Amhara region just trained
over 5000 health extension workers to be deployed in rural areas, all the
results of hard work by people like Addisu and Ayalew. How was that we let
these respected government authorities get insulted by hooligans? There were
other instances where groups disrupted meetings or ensured that nobody showed
up for meetings. I am not sure what would have been done or what should be done
in the future. One thing to consider is to persuade opposition parties to issue
communication that controls the behaviour of their supporters in the
Diaspora.
6. The pardon. We
thank our shemagele for negotiating
the release of Hailu Shawel et al.
EPRDF leaders had also heard our voices and we thank them for this. We
regret that people wrote to try to discredit the significance of both the
pardon and role of shemagles.
7. The Post-Pardon Kinijit Affair. The
reason that we tried hard and succeeded in freeing the Kinijit leaders
was that 1) we did not accept their trial by the Ethiopian government, and 2)
the democratization process was being stalled. So far we have seen nothing
concrete on the political front. The Kinijit leadership just
released from prison appears to have looked outward, to the Diaspora, instead
of reaching out to the Ethiopian people. The vocal Diaspora can give Hailu
Shawel et al nothing more than a standing ovation. The real political
issues are found at the grassroots level of Ethiopian society. The disbandment
of Knijit International Leadership (KIL) was not a good idea and it may
even result in the weakening of progressive forces within this male-dominated
and backward looking party. In my view, Temesgen Zewdie, Ayele Chamiso and
others who are outside of the so-called Kaliti leadership appear to be well
versed in the situations of Ethiopian society. Only people like them could save
Kinijit from disintegration and its eventual disappearance from the
Ethiopian political landscape.
8. To
Litedu Ayalew. We
support your approach. You are doing ok by not looking outward to the Diaspora.
You should go around the country to talk to ordinary people. Learn how to
govern as an opposition. The current ruling party in Canada started by getting
two members of parliament elected in 1980s. As the party got experience, it
also got credibility. Its members sat in various parliamentary committees and
learned about the issues. When the party won the election last year, members
who had sat in the parliamentary committees took the responsibility, as cabinet
ministers, to lead ministerial portfolios. They are governing the country
effectively because they had learned how to govern as an opposition. The
problem with developing countries is that elites come to power using popular
dissatisfaction against a ruling party without acquiring the experience of
governing. Some of those elites immediately get down to business of corruption.
I hope you appreciate my advice.
9. To Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin. Sir, your Expatriates Office appears to be
more interested in going after our money (investment) than inviting us to
participate in decision-making processes. We would like to see a comprehensive
plan on what the Diaspora people could do to help Ethiopia and how they can get
involved. We now hold a lot of investment portfolios and you better take us
seriously. We are fed up that everybody goes after our money or wants to party
with us.
10. Public security. As former UN Secretary General
Koffi Anan once said, human security is a precondition for development. It is therefore imperative that the
Ethiopian government incrementally devote more resources to strengthen the
country’s public security apparatus and be well prepared to protect national
and international interest in the Horn of Africa. There must be peace and order across the country. Our generation
recognizes the political demands of liberation fronts (equality, autonomy,
resource ownership, etc), but this does not mean that we should support armed
groups that are a threat to peace and security in the Horn. They can count on
our support if they choose to negotiate with the Ethiopian government. Violence
is not acceptable.
11. Ethiopian Airlines: the latest victim. News
reports indicated that groups or a group in Canada (composed of Ethiopian
passport holders) had attempted to prevent the Ethiopian Airline from entering
the Canadian market. We are highly offended by this. Under Jean Christien’s
leadership, Canadian government officials worked hard to put Africa on donors’
agenda. This year a Canadian senate committee recommended strengthening
commercial ties between Canada and Africa as a way of supporting sustained
economic growth. We don’t understand why any group basing itself in Canada
would attempt to work against the development of commercial relation between
Ethiopia and Canada. The Ethiopian government and Diaspora communities should
join hands to make sure that, if identified, the group(s) is held accountable.
12. EPRP prisoners. It is
time that we demand EPRDF to release EPRP prisoners captured by EPRDF forces in
Gondar in the early 1990s. What we now realize and find strange is that EPRDF
leaders, who battle former Derge cabinet ministers like Hailu Shawel during an
electoral contest, have kept EPRP members (the people who fought Derge!) in
prison. We are also trying to explain ourselves as to why we forgot about them,
one explanation being that no powerful Diaspora group has been behind their
case. We thank the Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners which
first brought this issue to our attention.
13. On the hyphenated citizenship (e.g.,
Ethiopian-American).
I still remember the exact words of the late cousin of my wife (grown up in
Addis Ababa, an Oromo by his mother and therefore well aware of ethnic
politics) when we were talking about the issues of inequality in Ethiopian
society. He said, “Getachew, the
problem in Ethiopia society is that one group is yewah (decent) and another group keltafa (greedy). So, too often the keltafas snatch anything from your hands and get away with it. The yewahs get disadvantaged. This can only
be corrected by overcoming the culture of keltafna
or by encouraging everybody to be keltafa
(to ensure equal chances)”. What am
I saying here? We are stunned by the way some of our elites and their off
springs display so much pride in their hyphenated citizenship. For them there
is nothing wrong using a system to take an advantage. In contrast, we are
self-conscious of the limits of our Western citizenship rights. Don’t
misunderstand me, we came to the West as refugees and many families had opened
themselves to us. Yet, I am certain that these families do not want us to use
the system to wage a political battle overseas. In fact, they encourage young
people to participate in fund raising for charities that support overseas
projects. My son’s school supports a project in Eritrea, so that each year he
brings chocolates to sell around the neighbourhood and raise funds. How would
young people feel when adult Ethiopians, educated by Ethiopian taxpayers, make
anti-foreign aid campaign their full time commitment?
14. HR 2003. American legislators should encourage dialogue
and understanding among the contending Ethiopian political parties, instead of
passing a legislation trying to force changes.
Ethiopia’s young democracy must be allowed to mature in its own pace. It
would be a mistake to rush things for the sake of appeasing outsiders including
the vocal Diaspora. EPRDF has also a responsibility to ensure that foreigners
do not mess around the national interest of Ethiopia.
15. On
Seeking Asylum.
Once up on a time, there were Ethiopians living in refugee camps. These people
left their country because of political repression. Humanitarian agencies
lobbied Western governments to create resettlement programs that would allow
these refugees to live and work in different Western countries. This initiative
became successful and so began the exodus of Ethiopians to the West. As part of
the screening process, Ethiopians told stories of murder, torture,
imprisonment, etc, so that Ethiopia became known as a place of misery.
Afterwards, it would be easier for anyone from Ethiopia including criminals to
pass Western immigration agencies and obtain residence status. The problem
today is that Ethiopian society has developed “an asylum culture” whereby some
people simply break public trust and decide to defect without good reason. What
they do is find ways of arriving to Europe or North America (official
government business, training, study, conference, etc); (sometimes) contact
Diaspora opposition groups; claim that they would face imprisonment, torture or
even death if they go back; get residence permit; and then prepare their CVs to
look for jobs as foreign advisors on Ethiopia or Africa. This is not a
hypothetical example. I think it is time that the Ethiopian parliament passes
legislation that holds such people accountable. If I am given a public trust
and if I do not keep that trust, I should be held accountable. If members of
the Ethiopian military defect, they are considered as deserters and could face
persecution if they are caught. Why wouldn’t the same rule apply to bureaucrats
who break public trust? Note that I am talking about people who seek asylum for
economic reasons. But, again, if I am passionate about promoting political
reform or defending human right, do I stay in Ethiopia and fight or escape to
the West and lobby politicians and the international media to condemn the
Ethiopian government? Sadly, there are millions of genuine refugees around the
world living in miserable conditions. Asylum laws were supposed to help these
people, not opportunist elites.
16.
Towards post-modernism. What is post-modernism? In my understanding (correct me if I am
wrong), an intellectual thinking before 1960s is called modernism and it was
all about the universal application of Western conception of society: one
culture, one identity, one region, one history, one language, one civilization,
one economic system, one mode of thinking/discourse, etc (you see where our
intellectuals, the “Japanizers/Ethiopianists”, come from). An intellectual thinking after the 1960s is
called post-modernism and it is all about negating everything related to
modernism: different cultures,
different identities, different languages, different histories, or generally,
diversity. The result is that today
even the USA has started to recognize Spanish and other languages. In Canada,
the law recognizes multiculturalism, so much that even cabinet appointments are
carefully weighed against ethnic and racial representation (I am not kidding!).
In Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi introduced post-modernism in the early 1990s by
saying that Axum did not mean anything to non-Tigreans, or Gondar to
non-Gondaries or Lalibela to non-Lastas. He meant exactly that there were
histories, identities, languages, traditions, etc, in Ethiopian society (of
course, he was also trying to rally ethnic groups around his idea of ethnic
federalism). Ethiopian intellectuals
took on this issue and dwelled on for years accusing Meles of denying other
ethnic groups of their history. They got tired and stop criticizing. What is
perhaps unique about Ethiopia is that we have progressive national elites and
backward looking intellectuals. You may be interested in knowing (if you don’t)
that intellectuals in African and other regions have gone far ahead with
respect to addressing diversity issues or defending the interest of vulnerable
groups in society. New generation of Ethiopian intellectuals should consider
post-modernism, as it is in conformity with the discourse of our time.
17. On Eritrea. There is speculation (according to online discussions) that Eritreans in Canada holding Ethiopian passport might have been lobbying against the Ethiopian Airlines. If this is true, it will anger many Ethiopians. But I think what worries us more is that the Ethiopian society is changing, so that the Eritrean issue no longer generates passion. Those who were young when Eritrea separated have now grown up and running public and private sector agencies and they may not necessarily see Eritrans differently from Sudanese, Kenyans and others. Historical sentiments are fast disappearing. Should peace and reconciliation be achieved, economic issues are likely to be central in re-framing Ethio-Eritrea relations. Even then, Ethiopia has already signed trade agreements with other neighbouring countries, which means that existing trade relations cannot be changed in favour of Eritrea. Eritrea will have to compete with other countries to trade with Ethiopia including the use by Ethiopians of the Red Sea ports. Eritreans should also stop trying to undermine Ethiopian national security interests. We do not live in Derge era, the time when incompetent generals, colonels and majors drank late, slept late, passed secrete information (EPLF sent spies to sleep with them) and made a mockery of Ethiopia’s proud military tradition. Today the Woyanes hold key security posts and they are certainly joined by well-disciplined Ethiopian children. To repeat, my message for Eritreans is simply: times have changed. They will be dealing with new generation of Ethiopians who care less about whether Eritrea once was part of Ethiopia or whether Eritrea should be part of Ethiopia. This means, in their part, thinking long-term and making efforts to promote historical and lineage ties to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships. Ethiopians may no longer want go to Eritreans to persuade them to get closer to or be part of Ethiopia.
18.
Advice to Ethiopian government. Any interference in Eritrea will have serious consequences.
There are serious divisions among Eritrean elites and this may mean that the
country can be thrown into political crisis, if Isayas Afewerki is removed from
power. The flood of refuges is another factor. One should not also rule out the
possibility of emergence of radical Islamic organizations with support from the
segment of the Eritrean Diaspora. In short, unless provoked or unless
considered as a last resort, the Ethiopian government should not interfere or
take military action against Eritrea.
19. The
Somalia Affair. It
is in the interest of Ethiopia that the Ethiopian government makes a long-term
commitment to achieving peace and stability in Somalia. Training security
forces is one thing. Strengthening and building governance systems is very
important. Somalia has a highly decentralized and complex polity and the
experience of the Ethiopian Somali Regional State could be utilized to devise a
decentralised, federated political system. It will be a mistake not to
challenge the so-called Federal Transitional Government of Somalia to
democratize itself and Somali society. Don’t mind international critics, they
do not deal with reality. The fact of the matter is that, in the 21st
century, Somalis deserve to live under a functioning nation state.
20. What happened to Ethiopia in the 20th
century? As a
student of international development, I have found nothing that fully explains
Ethiopia’s underdevelopment. I always consider India as an example. At
independence, 60 years ago, India was in deep political and economic crises
including the separation of Pakistan that resulted in the death of hundreds of
thousands of people. Today India is a global military and economic power. Why?
Because, Indians have worked hard. They initiated massive infrastructure
building projects (dams, roads, electricity, etc.), education, income
generation support, you name it, and more importantly, modern Indian
politicians and intellectuals recognized the country’s 800 ethnic groups and
created a political system adapted to this reality. In contrast, sixty years
ago, Ethiopia was a peaceful, stable and progressive country. At the eve of the
21st century, and in a country where Emperor Tewdros built mortar
with his own bare hands 150 years ago, things were supposed to be different
(prosperity instead of poverty). Millions of people have died of poverty and
diseases and unknown number of communities in Wello, Tigray and Easter Gondar
became instinct by chronic famine. What went wrong? In matured democracies like
America, for example, this issue would have prompted the creation of a
commission of inquiry in order to hold previous ruling elites accountable. What
is at least important for us is to document and preserve history for future
generations. Much of the Western literature we read or the films,
documentaries, etc., that we watch are based on past events, thanks to
responsible writers and intellectuals who documented them. In our case, if you
suggest a debate on the past, you are not encouraged. Many people do not want
to be identified with the past. Part of this is also that they are afraid of
reprisals. My point here is that we should open ourselves and talk about the
past freely, so that we can teach current and future generations about
Ethiopia’s 20th century history.
21. Westernization? To
continue, one explanation for the decline of Ethiopia in the 20th
century is that Westernized Ethiopian elites had misunderstood Ethiopia’s
development needs and so they failed to perform well. This does not make sense.
We have already considered India, which was ruled by the British for over 200
years. Let us consider Kenya here. When
I was in Nairobi in the early 1990s, I saw civil servants, industrial workers,
traders, people from every walk of urban Nairobi society flocking back “home”,
the countryside, during the Christmas season. They took gifts of many kinds as,
according to one motel guard, repayments to a society that had invested in
them. This is an example of a generation rooted in society. I also drove
through rural districts in West, Central and Easter part of the country where I
found well paved highways and rural feeder roads. My question then is, if
Westernization was bad, why was Kenya (a former British colony) relatively
doing well than Ethiopia? We also live
in Western societies and we appreciate their good values including hard work,
transparency, democracy, ethics, compassion, citizenship responsibility, and so
on. Ethiopia would have benefited if our elites had acquired and internalized
these values. I think Tecola Hagos has a good point: Ethiopia’s development was
deliberately sabotaged by a group of people, mahal safaris, who were more concerned with their own political and
economic survival. The poverty and underdevelopment of Ethiopia has been a
major embarrassment for Ethiopians and even Africans.
That is
all. Again, I wish everyone the best in the first year of the Ethiopian third
millennium.
Getachew
Mequanent
Ottawa,
Canada
August 2007