THAT PERSONALITY MATTERS IN POLITICS - PART I

From Jemal Ali Jemal (JAJ)

 

(Of Relevance and On Choosing Shewakena & Tibebu)

 

Of Relevance

 

I value, in principle, the relevance of disentangling the personal from the institutional or the private from the common as much as possible. However, neither do I subscribe to nor do I identify with that certain intellectual stock, which elevates such valuation to a belief amounting to the relegation of the subjective as external element inimical to achieving objectivity in social and political analysis. In fact, I believe there is no such a thing called "puritanical methodology or input" that constitutes the objectivity of analysis as it pertains to issues of human significance. Neither is such analysis suspended and immune from the multi-faceted influence of the individual/group/social actors. Rather what constitutes objectivity at the level of political action and discourse is to be conscious of this subjectivity, to demarcate / delimit & openly acknowledge its possible point of confluences.  Logical coherence, being factually grounded, embracing the wholeness of reality or to be open and honest about ones selectivity towards facts, also provides the non-negotiable foundational seat. This, in short, is the conceptual framework underpinning the relevance of personality in impacting social processes, and equally its relevance in shaping the role/place of individuals in politics.

 

Yet such relevance translates in to a fact of an individual's political life( as a nightmare of unfulfilled ambition or as a political capital of leadership) and/or that of a community or a group only through the deeds/ behavior of that particular person, as displayed at different stages of life and as it evolves in a given historical context. What cushions the repeated failures of untiring aspirants (as seen in the lives of Yared & Fekade of KNA/AFD), or the sustained success of achieved leaders/politicians found elsewhere, is the stock they carried with themselves as well as the assets they accumulated among other members. Understanding when and why such a deposit or action of individuals takes either direction, requires looking at their reactions, stands and action at different levels & forms of social life placed within the context of each stages. It also needs to be looked at in conjunction with major variables attending the evolution as well as articulation of their personalities thereof. In this regard, family background & upbringing, relation with own family and friends, manner of reaction or handling seen under different situations or experiences etc are foundational blocks: they are also major explanatory trajectories to shed light on motif and lay bare fine strands of deeper truth naked.

 

 

On Choosing Yared' & Fekade of KNA/AFD as A Case

 

Why of all people focus on Mr. Shewakena and Mr. Yared Tibebu? Let me first, and with no malice, state that which certainly is not in my menu of reasons in choosing the two as a subject of the article. Here it is: it is not that pathologic infatuation of using both founded and fabricated materials related to both family and personal life for the sole purpose of debasing and politically black painting some one seen as having some intellectual/political stature among peers. In fact, such is what Mr. Shewakena did to Ato Mulugeta Asrate, and that is also what Mr. Tibebu did to Ato Genenew Assefa(  banking on his friendship, and forget self-respect, even with no scruple to hold himself from adding "sugary" lies). I have no need for this. For one, it is no behavior to be envious of. Not least,  because I have no cocktail of deficits needing an on and off soothing of self: whether it is a deficit derived from some sort of unfulfilled political ambition, or from a felt intellectual handicap, or from an un gratifying family life of which one feels ashamed when out of the closet. What is more, neither do I suffer from another perennial deficit pulled by the dwarfing burden of a psyche tilting to its pent-up sadism in that it feeds on relishing an evanescent satisfaction derived from such acts of debasing peers considered somehow "superior": not to mention that of itself.  

 

Now to my reasons: and here they are. One partial motive informing my focus on Yared Tibebu & Fekade Shewakena is the understanding I mentioned above as regards to the relevance of personality in politics, and how anchoring it on the specific realities of an individual's life renders more clarity. That is analysis anchored on such real lefe of individuals, carried with care, free of opportunism and free of hate lends an instructive and a dissecting lens to peel through the many "Freudian" layers masking so much of the propelling factors illustrating the persona. It, in fact, helps to delineate the foundational from the ephemeral, the real motif from the publicly professed in a realistic way. Only then does the relevance of personality in politics with all its sheds properly appreciated: and similarly that of its impact better understood.

 

There are, however, other mundane reasons too: most of which are drawn from both the life history and present indulgence of these very two people themselves. Notwithstanding their little success so far, both are known for making repeated insidious moves and political acrobatics to capture the limelight, secure attention and crave out a place in the "restaurant and cyberspace' centered politics of the Diaspora.  Besides both are apparently active "ideologues" of Kinijit North America(KNA)/Alliance for Freedom & Democracy(AFD): they operate using those two spaces plus radio broadcasts around DC, calling for a final onslaught on the Ethiopian government, irrespective of the forces to be involved and irrespective of the consequences it might entail on the survival of the nation or Ethiopians. To galvanize whatever support to achieve this goal,  they both fuel extremism, engage in bigotry & hate propaganda, and  advise the embrace of any opportunistic alliance with any group--including the terror sponsoring state of Eritrea and as of recent the Fundamentalist/ extremist UIC led by the terrorist Al-iltihad.

 

So here is my take, which could be considered as the other major reason belying the choice, of the attention the two have been asking for, what it amounts to and why they deserve it. The life of both individuals provides a good living material to illustrate and draw lesson regarding how & why ones personality, despite cosmetic makeovers and untiring attempt carried across years and across differing political lines of varying spectrum, defies and thwarts the overarching ambition of its carrier to secure a place at all and any political level--national, Diaspora, cyberspace, opposition or ruling party type etc. Rather, as our expose of the cases of Mr. Tibebu & Shewakena will show, such a personality rather midwives sustained failure hastening the passage to political oblivion.

 

Despite this, and despite a little a possible discomfort here and there, I feel certain that both would deep down cherish this very dissection itself: if any thing, each would only say unto himself "idiot" what matters still is "THE ATTENTION.....THE CONFIRMATION THAT I MATTER... and here I got it". For in the hierarchy of values found in the mental map of people, like Mr. Shewakena & Mr. Tibebu, what shall always be salvaged at any cost is ATTENTION..., RECOGNITION..., ATTENTION...., of any sort and of any make. That is it--period!!!

 

See you in my next (That Personality Matters in Politics--PART II) piece. Destination--- "Taking Stock of the Family Life, Friendship & Party life of the Shewakena & the Tibebu's in Politics"