The Benefits of Tolerance and A Vision of New Ethiopiawinet

By Metshet Wubneh

July 11, 2011

The fundamental rule of politics is tolerance. Without tolerance there is no politics. Politics is a special kind of friendship and friendship itself is ground on respect. Friends respect each other by listening to one another and by caring to each other. Similarly, a large number of people who wish to attain a goal seek to cultivate a kind of friendship that is suitable for political life, where total strangers come to the political arena to articulate a way of life by listening to one another and respecting each other�s views, however divergent and irreconcilable those views are.

When measured by this view of political life, we Ethiopians have a long way to go. Our political condition in the Diaspora is in crisis. We are deeply divided by ethnicity and our relationships as political beings are contaminated by hate, suspicion, and intolerance. Lest we correct ourselves quickly, we cannot attain the goal of achieving regime change.

I was compelled to make these statements because I am deeply disappointed with the recent infightings in our websites over the future of our country, the country that we so deeply love and over which we are fighting via hate, suspicion, and divisive ethnicity.

Note: For related articles to the above statement, we encourage our subscribers to read the following references:

Humanizing the Ethiopian Political Culture, www.africanidea.org/humanizing.html

Education for Tolerance: Sustainable Dialogue for Human Dignity, www.africanidea.org/tolerance.html

National Reconciliation and National Development in Ethiopia, www.africanidea.org/national_reconcillation.html