RUNNING NAKED ala NES: THE PRICE OF ORGANIC INTOLERANCE, DEBASED SCHOLARSHIP & POWERMANIA --PART I

(Message, mind-set & major Implications)

By Jemal Ali Jemal(JAJ)

 

They have been in a sort of double faced hibernation for sometime: one a politically induced type (the failure of their planned "storming of the Bastille", and the subsequent political disarray that ensued among the Diaspora opposition), and the other a mother nature induced one (the harsh winter in domicile Europe). But the recent appearance of PM Meles Zenawi on the BBC sends "our aging Ethiopian Scholars from afar", under the aegis of the "Network of Ethiopian Scholars"(NES), roaring with a "fury": a fury apparently forced to tone down by the political freeze and the subsequent preoccupations of a being to keep warm a shivering self. Though a Freudian slip by large, the following one liner from Albert Camus, included in the quote appearing at the start of the NES release, fittingly captures the whole spirit permeating the reaction in display. It is indeed a reaction sustained"... Not through virtue, but through a sort of almost organic intolerance", stripped off the presumed feeling of injustice that Camus referred to as fueling him. Organic intolerance of the NES type is rather a built-in intolerance of anything different from their "self-evident opinions/uniformity", as well as of anything that remotely appears detrimental to the insatiable thirst for power which they kept on carrying even when running to the safety of Europe.  

 

Be this as it may, still one detects the urge belying it-- the desire to extend a fast eroding life lease of a family of "aging political dinosaurs", which though dysfunctional for long has some how managed to roll, and never has come to the edge of extinction as is now.  And the means, as the NES piece under focus shows,  is to hold on to any thread of opportunity appearing to be working against the Ethiopian government, while also keeping on milking dead facts, fabricate new ones and manipulate real happenings through selective reading and deformed extrapolation. The target is the infusion of meaning, conforming to politically engineer half-baked or baseless assertions, providing a perspective informing the action of all important stakeholders-particularly the international community.

                       

Let me first point out briefly the purpose, the message, and the subtext of the NES "position paper" of August 07, 2006. The paper is presented as a response to the BBC, and at the same time is floated as a call to those determined development partners of Ethiopia among the International Community. The call carries two messages stuffed with sub-texts easy to disentangle. The first is the stoppage of development support, if some ex-party leaders presently on trial before a court of law of a sovereign country( Ethiopia) and under the protection of institutions legally assigned to carry such duties( the prosecutor, prison administration etc), are not released or conversely until they get released. Not after the process is complete and justice is said to have been served as per the constitution, but through the application of political pressures by outsiders banking on the nation's poverty or its strive to get rid of, plus the undertaking of all sorts of unlawful acts masquerading as the exercise of rights and freedoms protected under the constitution of the FDRE. The legal charge, which by way of such a move "these aging fighters of many color" slashed for revocation, is no less a simple demand of unintentional design as well (unless one, willy-nilly, assumes the existence of no rule of law worth to observe, respect and/or uphold in the land we call present Ethiopia) -- it is a criminal charge of the highest order accusing the defendants of inciting well-organized and premeditated violence/disturbances with the intent to illegally takeover the reigns of government.

 

In fact, what sustained the successful entrenchment of the rule of law and its derivative of equal justice for all as found in the many developed democracies of our present world is not the non existence of innocent people accused or charged wrongly. On the contrary from America to Britain, from Canada to Australia and to that of Sweden, many concrete cases of misdirected litigation drawn just from recent history abound. It is rather the unconditional belief in the built-in incremental and self correcting nature of a system based on the rule of law, which equally is lubricated by the majority of citizens unwavering trust in and support for the observance & respect for the law at all times, by all persons; be loved ones, be the rich or/and powerful politicians hailing from ones favorite party etc... 

 

The second message contained in the NES paper is this: there are no terrorists or terror sponsoring states in the Horn, and hence no needs to rush; even if one is found, the west is advised to fare better not allied with Ethiopia to fight them, just wait for a while. Those pointed out by Ethiopia ''as terrorists (the OLF, ONLF, KINIJIT, Al-iltihad, the AFD etc) or the ones the West believes to be so ( Al-iltihad, Al-Queda, UIC, etc) are not terrorists''; they rather "constitute the human and situational inputs to destabilize an undemocratic nation, and eventually hasten the achievement of one major goal needed to bring democracy and order in Ethiopia". And that one major goal is the "replacement of the current government and the subsequent crowning of the carriers of this historic mission, ---the Kinijit/AFD. It is a goal, which apparently has been pursued and pushed by its die-hards as an unquestionable omnipresent entitlement or prerogative of a single group-Kinijit-as represented by these very few ex-leaders.

 

Starting from its very title -- "Not at their Expense"-- and all through the paper, NES unashamedly proposes the daring exchange of, or the putting as ransom of the future and hope of a whole nation as well as its needy peoples to get the few accused ex-leaders released, even with a total disregard to the law of the land and irrespective of the negative implication it carries to a young democracy's attempt to entrench the rule of law/equality before the law. Though from the vintage of ''group political morality'', one could up to a point argue such a position as being a ''healthy'' indicator of loyalty expected of a follower, one can hardly be able to convincingly sell such an act conducted based on a rate of exchange tilting unduly to one-side as being fair and not a loss. And the reason is simple; the rate of exchange applied in the transaction does not reflect or is not commensurate with the naturally obvious high value a whole nation commands over a group of few individuals, charged of unlawful act for that matter in accordance with clearly stated laws and procedures.

 

Indeed this is one more proof of a dangerous "entitlement mentality" permeating the thinking of "our aging scholars at NES" and their likes in the Diaspora. Sustaining it seems to be, a mythical ideological undercurrent of a bygone era. It goes as follows: the Kinijit groupie is more qualified to take the helm of power, despite the means and whether illegal or presumably guilty, because it is led by these "exceptional men in command of a self-evident truth and popular mandate" to do so: not to mention their being " in possession" of a "rare political wisdom" acquired via the twin "veins" of "blue-blood" and "elite schooling" of the good old days.   

                       

 

In addition to such foundational ideas/ or mind set of important implications, the NES paper also contains other points of practical political significance: points that capture the Kinijit/AED activists in exile stripped off their nationalistic or any other camouflages and in fact politically naked.  In short, and put bluntly, in contrast with the cry-wolf we get by way of denial thereof or the claim of innocence and peaceful politicking, the NES paper we referred and other recent writings driven by similar mind-set, incontestably establishes the group's true nature and orientation. Its open embrace of violence, including the international terrorist type, and a tacit acknowledgement of declaring /endorsing war against the lawful state of Ethiopia is hard to hide. And proof, supported by statements drawn thereof, is abundant.

 

The veracity of these points would be established through concrete examples: while at the same time pointing out how these "scholars suspended both from reality-grounding and that of painful accountability" (which would only have provided a restraint to such theoretical diagnosis carried with wanton carelessness'), went reasoning about it, The claims, conclusions or positions articulated by " our aging scholars at NES, and by extension those similar others of the Kinijit/AED else where in exile" , which follow such reasoning, are also stated by way of direct citation. As will be seen, all are made based on a reasoning filled with logical fallacy, contradictory assertions, plus oversimplified arguments derived from the fudging of reality and the unwarranted extrapolation of dead facts of yester years. Where as, to achieve so, the selected facts are elevated to a status of apparent "immutability", and conversely are also reduced to fit-in a deformed reading. 

 

In my follow up piece--Running Naked ala NES Part II --I will be focusing on these. Destination point: "Fudging Facts, Logical Fallacy & Contradictory Claims". So see you there.