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The Significance and
Preeminence of Ethiopian Unity: Systems and
Institutions that Glued and Bonded Ethiopian
Communities
Ghelawdewos Araia, PhD
August 23, 2019
I
decided to write this piece for the sake of our
beloved motherland Ethiopia, at a time when it
encountered political crisis, unfathomable
internal displacements of its people,
ethnic-related skirmishes and conflicts, as well
as the astounding phenomenon of Ethiopian youth
lack of knowledge of its history and as a result
misguided by the present complicated reality on
the ground. I am mainly interested in the youth,
the future leaders of Ethiopia and I honestly want
to educate (along with other Ethiopian educators)
the young Ethiopians so that they can pull
together in a pan-Ethiopian agenda and also march
on the right track of history, but equally I am
interested (as other fellow Ethiopians do) in
raising the consciousness of the average
Ethiopian, while at the same time provoking the
elite and the intellectual of the country in a
discussion forum, and in an effort to pressurize
them so that they can shoulder their historical
responsibility to uplift Ethiopia from the abyss
and enable her regenerate its glorious past. I
don’t just appeal to the elite, the
intellectual, and the government of Ethiopia to
engage in constructive measures; I too am part of
this historic mission and am ready to shoulder the
burden and pay sacrifices to salvage our country.
The salvaging process, no doubt, is influenced and
its course determined by a collective and
gregarious action at national level; therefore, in
order to realize the goal of this mission, the
article will have two component parts: 1)
Historical background to Ethiopian unity; 2) the
present crisis and ways and means to overcome it.
A
word of caution before I delve into the main
corpus of this Article: As stated in the
introductory part above, presenting myself in the
first person and implying educating others
should not be perceived as condescending;
it is only because I am in the teaching profession
and my job is primarily to teach; additionally, I
want to shoulder responsibility for what I write;
otherwise, I too am educable and I learn everyday
from other people’s ideas and experiences,
including any input that comes from my students.
That is a badge of honor to me!!
Historical background to
Ethiopian Unity: Ethiopia is one of the oldest
countries in the world and home to ancient
civilizations including that of Da’mat or Yeha
that flourished around 800-500 BCE and, of course,
the great and mighty empire of Aksum (100 BCE to
900 CE). The real beginning of the Ethiopian
civilization, however, goes back to 1856 BCE when
Ethiopis (aka Ethiop) reigned, and after whose
name the country Ethiopia was constituted as a
nation-state of antiquity; he is in effect the
founding father of Ethiopia. Ever since Ethiopis
laid down the cornerstone of the first Ethiopian
state, the many tribes and nationalities have been
mingling and coexisting via trade, migration,
marriage, and wars for millennia. All of these
people (now 80 plus linguistic groups) within the
boundaries of the modern Ethiopian nation-state
are by definition Ethiopians. This common identity
of Ethiopians is not simply a sociological
construct; it is also an expression of the
phenotype and genotype biological traits that are
clearly observable among the majority of the
Ethiopian people, and it is not without reason
that the majority of Ethiopians look alike and
sometimes it is impossible to make distinction in
their ethnicity given the incredible similarity of
their physiognomy.
The
material cultures that were produced by the above
mentioned civilization were ultimately shared by
the various Ethiopian nationalities, and to this
day serve as reflections and testimonials of the
relatively higher levels of conceptual and
creative power of Ethiopians. For instance, the
artistic sophistication of Aksumite architecture
was carried on by Lalibela that was founded by the
Zagwe Dynasty (1137-1270). The “monkey heads”
(the top part of Aksum’s obelisks) are clearly
manifested in most of the Lalibela churches,
including St. George and St Mary; there are also
miniature Aksum’s stele on either side of the
bridge over the Yordanos River that cuts through
the town of Lalibela. Moreover, the Lalibela
rock-hewn churches are a continuation of the 120
rock-cut churches and monasteries found in Tigray,
and it was King Kaleb (first quarter of the 6th
century CE) who first commissioned the
construction of a rock-hewn church named
Meskele-Christos that is found in Seqota, northern
Wollo.
By
the same token, Gondar also emulated Aksum in
architecture and building construction. The Gondar
castles and palaces might give the impression of
uniqueness and/or idiosyncrasy, but on close
scrutiny, on the very top of the Gondarian
palaces, one could see row of pointed small
pillars, which incidentally are identical with
that of St Mary of Tsion Church in Aksum. This
similarity is not mere coincidence; in point of
fact, when King Fasiladas (1632-1667) went to
Aksum for coronation, he very much admired the
majestic obelisks and had fascination with the St.
Mary Tsion Church and he vowed that he would
replicate the style and design of Aksum upon his
return to Gondar.
Long
before the rise of Gondar, King Yekuno-Amlak
(1270-1285) claimed his descent from the so-called
Solomonic Dynasty, but more specifically he made
reference to Aksum as “his place of origin”;
the latter claim, more than the former, is
supported by historical evidence, because the
community of people (the Bete Amhara) to which
Yekuno-Amlak belongs to, including Menz, Merhabete
etc. actually came from Tigray and settled in
Northern Shewa.
Another
interesting experience to a common Ethiopian
heritage, at least in the cultural realm and
governance, is King Zara Yacob’s (1434-1468)
exposure to the documents of Ethiopian
civilization and religion written in Geez language
on Branna (traditional Ethiopian books) when he
went to Aksum for the ritual coronation and
anointment ceremony. King Zara Yacob indeed
witnessed the richness of ancient Ethiopian
political and legal systems; he was so inspired by
the documents he acquired and ultimately he read
the contents of the various documents and ordered
the publishing of a very important book entitled Kebra
Negast (Chronicle of Kings). However, Kebra
Negast was first authored by an Aksumite
scholar cleric and governor of the city of Aksum
named Nubreid Yishaq, who made an attempt to list
the genealogy of Ethiopian kings and queens.
On
top of the above commonalities that I have
discussed above, there are some tangible and
intangible heritages that are practiced to this
day among diverse Ethiopian groups. If, for
instance, we investigate Ethiopia’s material or
tangible cultures, we examine striking
similarities among the different cultural groups
in Ethiopia. The various tools and utensils that
were invented in Aksum such as cooking earthen
wares, pots, jars, sickles, hoe, earthen stove,
mills, axe, cloth-making tools, filter tools,
hand-made clay and basket plates, books (Branna),
pen & ink, musical instruments (flute,
trumpet, Masinqo or Chira Waţa [Ethiopian
violin], Kerar [Ethiopian guitar or string
instrument], Begena [Ethiopian harp], Kebero
[Ethiopian drum] are now found throughout
Ethiopia. Musical notations were first authored by
St. Yared of Askum in the 6th century
CE; with his innovation was born the Ethiopian
Zema (church hymn) and Ethiopian music that
influenced the entire music culture of Ethiopians.
St. Yared made a revolution in Ethiopian music and
his legacy have had a far reaching impact on
traditional and modern Ethiopian singers, and it
is not without reason that we have now Yared
School of Music in Addis Ababa.
On
the other hand, if we see the intangible
heritages, especially in governance and conflict
resolution mechanisms, we again witness a lot in
common among Ethiopian systems and institutions
across the board in Ethiopia. For instance, the
ancient kings of Aksum were advised and instructed
by a twelve-member council of elders;
incidentally, the sons and daughters of the kings
of Aksum could not inherit power or claim the
throne without the approval of the council of
elders. Interestingly, the same system of
governance was practiced in Kaffa; the king of
Kaffa (the Kaffiṅo
Tato) was consulted by a six-member council of
elders known as Miqricho, and similar to that of
Aksum, the king of Kaffa could not confer titles
and/or transfer power to his children without the
approval of the Miqricho.
Similarly,
if one makes a study of the Garramiro Ethiopian
people, found between the Genale and Dawa Rivers
in South-Eastern Ethiopia, s/he will learn that
they are a “confederation” of twelve tribes
deliberately structured to avoid conflicts, but
this style of governance also established a system
of administrations and elections. Pre-Aksum
northern Ethiopian communities were confederacies
akin of the Garramiro experiment. In terms of
conflict resolution, however, the dual system of
administration and problem solving of the Gurage
known as Yejoka and Qicha comes very close to that
of Garramiro and to the settled communities in
ancient Tigray; after all, the Gurage migrated
from their original home in Tigray named Gura’e
(now in Eitrea) and settled in south-central
Ethiopia..
One
fascinating system of leadership institution is
that of Afar people known as Fima, a system that
systematically avoids incompetent leaders. The
Fima criteria in selecting leaders, requires
creativity, capacity, and responsibility in
leadership qualities. One other system that
emphasizes equality among members of its community
and grassroots by its nature is the Qancha or
Akuay system (ሥርዓት ቃንጫ፣ሥርዓት ዓዃይ) found
in the Wajirat of Southern Tigray; if one travels
to the Sidama Zone of Southern Ethiopia, s/he can
witness a system of conflict resolution mechanisms
at family, sub-clan, and clan levels known as Woma,
Ga’ana, and Guro respectively. But when it comes
to overall governance and conflict resolution, the
best examples would be the Bito (“people’s
parliament”) of Tigray and the Shimagle of
Amhara; the name of Shimagle (literally
“elders”) is also interchangeably used to
depict the Bito of Tigray. These two institutions
are not simply structured to resolve conflicts
only; their main task in fact, is to deter
disputes long before they erupt, and by doing so
they actually facilitate a just system of peace
and order. One other institution that comes very
close to the Bito and Shimagle is the Q’war
institution of justice among the Anṅuak of Gambella; the Q’war
is inspired and reinforced by the Akudo spiritual
force that the Anṅuak worship. As Akudo is to Anṅuak, the All Mighty God was to
King Ezana of Aksum; in his prayer statements,
Ezana uttered: “May the Lord of Heaven made
strong my Kingdom…I will rule the people with
righteousness and justice and will not oppress
them.”
One
important lesson that we Ethiopians get from Ezana
is not only his sense of justice, but the fact
that he had a universal idea of governance and
nationhood; he saw himself not only king of Aksum
but of all peoples under his dominion,
irrespective of the languages they spoke and the
customs they followed and practiced. King Ezana
(320-360 CE) considered himself as king of Aksum,
Saba, Salhen, Himyar, Dhu-Raydan, Kassu, and Kush.
The universal attitude and ideology, as we shall
discuss in the last part of this paper, is one
important mechanism to overcome the current narrow
and enclave ethnic politics in Ethiopia.
The present Crisis and the
ways and means to overcome it:
Long
before the present complicated crisis engulfed the
larger Ethiopian society, some fourteen years ago,
or more specifically in the year 2005, in an
effort to address the ethnic differences and
divide in Ethiopian community circles, I
contributed an article in Amharic entitled ለኢትዮጵያ የሚበጅ የፖለቲካ ስትራቴጂ መቀየስ የሁላችን ታሪካዊ ኃላፊነት ነው
(It is the historical
responsibility of all of us to devise a political
strategy for the benefit of Ethiopia)1
The central thesis of this article emphasizes the
importance of overarching Ethiopian national
identity as opposed to ethnic enclave identity;
and this is what has been argued in the Article:
ለኢትዮጵያ የሚበጅ ማንኛውም የፖለቲካ ስትራቴጂ መቀየስ የሁላችን ኃላፊነት ነው። እንዲህ ያለ ግዙፍ የፖለቲካ አጀንዳ ለተወሰኑ ሰዎች (ለምሳሌ ምሁራን) ወይም ባለስልጣናት ብቻ ማሸከም አይቻልም። ስለሆነም እያንዳንዱ ኢትዮጵያዊ፣ በተለይም ንቃተ ህሊናው አንፃራዊ በሆነ መንገድ የላቀ ከሆነ ታሪካዊ ኃላፊነት መሸከም አለበት። የመጀመርያው ከፍተኛ ኃላፊነት እንግዴህ የኢትዮጵያን ሕዘብ አንድነት መጠበቅ ነው። ያለአንድነት አገርን በሚመለከት (ትምህርት᎓ ጤና᎓ ሉዓላዊነት ወዘተ) የመወያያ ነጥቦች ይዘን ብንቀርብ ትርጉም አይኖራቸውም፣ እንድያውም ከንቱ ውዳሴና ውሸት ነው የሚሆኑት። በዚሁ መሰረተ፟፟¬ዓላማ᎓ ማለትም የአንድነት አጀንዳ የምንስማማ ከሆነ (የማንስማማበት መንገድ ደግሞ አይታየኝም) በልዩነታችን ሳይሆን ባንድነታችን ነው ማተኮር ያለብን። ማንኛውም አገር ደግሞ እንደ ተቋም ቀጣይነቱ አስተማማኝ መሆን የሚችለው የሕዝቡ አንድነት ሲጠነክርና ሲፀና ብቻ ነው።
በልዩነታችን ላይ ካተኮርን ፣ ጥላቻና አንባጓሮ ካከልንበት ግን እንኳንስ ኢትዮጵያ ልታብብና ልትበለፅግ ይቅርና ህልውናውም ሳይቀር አጠያያቂ ነው የሚሆነው፣ እንደሃገር የማትቀትልበት ሁኔታም ሊፈጠር ይችላል፣ በብልሃትና በፖለቲካ ብቃት አንድነታችን ካልጠበቅን ደግሞ ፍርክስክሳችን ሊወጣ ይችላል።
ማንኛውም አገር ወዳድ ኢትዮጵያው ዘርና ጎሳ ሳያነሳና ሳይጠቅስ “ኢትዮጵያ” የሚል መፈክር ነው ማንገብ ያለበት፣ ከሁሉም የዘርና የጎሳ ጥቅምና ፖለቲካ የኢትዮጵያ አጀንዳ ነው የበላይነት መያዝ ያለበት። ዘርና ጎሳ ትምህርታዊ በሆኑ የጥናትና ምርምር መድረኮች ካልሆኑ በስተቀረ ለውይይትም ቢሆን መቅረብ የለባቸውም ብሎ ያምናል። በአንፃሩ የሕዝብ አንድነት እንዳይደፈርስ በንቃት ይታገላል፣ የሁሉም ብሔሮች እኩልነት ለማረጋገጥ ሌት ተቀን ይጥራል፣ ሁሉንም ብሔሮችና ብሔረሰቦችን ያፈቅራል᎓ ያከብራል፣በታሪክ᎓ በባህል᎓በኃይማኖት በምጣኔሃብታዊ ግንኝነቶች የተቆራኙ መሆናቸውን በጥልቅ ይገነዘባል። ከሁሉም በላይ ደግሞ አገር ወዳዱ᎓ ማንኛውም ኢትዮጵያዊ የአንድ ብሔር አባል የሆነውን እንዳጋጣሚ መሆኑን᎓ ኢትዮጵያዊነት ግን በታሪክ የተገነባ መሆኑን በቅጡ ይገነዘባል። ይህ በቀላል አማርኛ እንዲህ ማለት ነው፦ አንድ ግለሰብ ኢትዮጵያዊ የትግራይ ተወላጅ᎓ የአማራ᎓ ኦሮሞ᎓ጉራጌ᎓
ሲዳማ ወዘተ አባል ሊሆን የቻለው እንዳጋጣሚ እንጂ ሆን ብሎ በእቅድ ከዚሁ ብሔር ልፈጠር ብሎ በመምረጥ አይደለም። እንዲህ ያለ ክስተት ተሰምቶም ታይቶም አይታወቅም፣ ለወደፊትም አይኖርም።
The
idea of “one cannot choose to be born in this or
that nationality” stated in the above Amharic
text was first propagated by me in 2005; now it
has become a vogue among the Ethiopian elite; it
is a clear indication that it has percolated and
permeated into the larger Ethiopian society, which
by the way is an achievement by itself, because
Ethiopians who entertain same idea of ethnicity
would be able to transcend the narrow ethnic
ideology that has now buttressed the ethnic
enclave thinking and weakened the pan-Ethiopian
outlook.
Given
the rich history, civilization, and systems and
institutions mentioned above, there is no doubt
that Ethiopia is one of the great nations in the
world. However, Ethiopia at present is deeply
embroiled in political crisis accompanied by
economic decline manifested in instability and
diminished economic growth. On the other hand,
there is some glimpse of hope in regards to
Ethiopia’s revival and recovery as reflected in
the joint Ashenda celebration by the Amhara and
Tigray States, the two Ethiopian regional states
that were at loggerheads just few months ago; that
is a blessing and a more hopeful sign for
Ethiopia’s unity, but more efforts, dedication,
and commitment are required for the realization of
a formidable and strong Ethiopia. Incidentally, in
the Ashenda celebration in Tigray, it was not only
the group from Sekota (Amhara) and Tembien
(Tigray) that exchanged Ashenda dancing troupes;
there were also individuals who came from the
Qimant of Gondar, and the Awghi from Agaw, and
other people who came from Oromia, Wolita, Dire
Dawa, Addis Aabba and joined the festive spectacle
of Ashenda at Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray
State. This unique historical phenomenon is a
clear indication that Ethiopia has begun healing
from its wounds and is striding (sometimes
staggering) in the right direction.
Now,
the immediate task of Ethiopians should be to go
back to their roots and if possible revive the
many traditional systems and institutions,
discussed above, that glued and bonded the diverse
Ethiopians communities for thousands of years.
Moreover, Ethiopians, this time must abandon
foreign dogmatic ideology and adopt rather their
own home grown world outlook. With respect to the
latter recommendation, I like to invite readers to
once again read what I wrote in “21st Century
Ethiopian Politics Should Be Reoriented toward
National Reconciliation and a Home Grown
Ideology”:2
“…I
like to address the significance and importance of
political ideology and theoretical framework that
at present are scarce amongst the opposition
parties and the Ethiopian social milieu in
general. By ideology, I did not mean the old
ideologies of liberal and/or radical schools; I
meant rather a variety of modalities that could
serve as alternative narratives that Ethiopians
need to uphold in order to correctly analyze
emergent contours and challenges. More
specifically, I meant, Ethiopians must establish
articulated roadmaps for a guide to action
addressing outstanding issues.
Once
Ethiopians garner alternative narratives (e.g.
mixed economy of market and state-run enterprises)
they easily embrace political clarity that in turn
permits them to forge a refined policy; and once
they accomplish this level of consciousness, they
will begin to understand that “historical change
involves change in discursive formations” as
Michel Foucault aptly puts it. According to
Foucault, discursive formations are designed to
explain the nature of society and human beings. It
is also a system of knowledge to study prevailing
cultural frameworks.
Ethiopians,
therefore, must no longer be guided by the old
ideologies of the liberal and radical, which are
alien and irrelevant to the larger Ethiopian
society, and begin rather to formulate a new
theoretical framework of what I call “social
constructivist” and begin to study their history
and culture, and ultimately establish policies of
their own, independent of foreign influences. This
does not mean, of course, to reject everything
foreign; Ethiopians must indeed receive anything
foreign, including technology that benefits them;
it is only to underscore the importance of
independence that could altogether lead to
creativity and a home grown ideology. The social
constructivist theory recognizes the potential of
individuals and groups game changers in societies,
not only by receiving ideas from outside
influences but also by methodically and creatively
evolving their own distinct ideology that in turn
sustains an independent national mode of
thinking.”
On
top of the above strategies to combat Ethiopia’s
problems, I am of the opinion that the current
reform led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, should
seriously consider to preserve the federal
structure and the constitution with some
modification in the former and amendment in the
latter. After all, “The Ethiopian federal
structure is meant to redress the plight of the
oppressed and forgotten nationalities, which was
quite an achievement…Despite the current
frightening political mess, however, an important
and significant historical phenomenon took shape
in Ethiopia, which I believe is the result and
legacy of the federal system, and the majority of
the Ethiopian people and the regional states are
in favor of the now existing federal structure.
There are some nascent political groupings, mostly
from ex-Diaspora opposition movements that managed
to converge in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and are
advocating on behalf of the unitary state; and
some of these groups even endorse the idea of
going back to the old imperial provincial
governance based on geography alone and completely
abandon the cause of the nationalities and the
prize won by the regional states. They are
detached from the reality on the ground in
Ethiopia and their agenda of replacing the federal
system by a unitary state would not be acceptable
to the regional states; in a recent Mekelle
conference of the legally registered opposition
parties and the TPLF leaders, almost all of the
conferees reaffirmed that the federal system is
the only political structure that met their needs
in self-determination and in terms of honoring
their identities, flourishing their culture and
languages as well. A gentleman from the Afar
Regional State bluntly asserted in the conference
that ‘the Afar people had no national identity
before the federal structure was installed; they
were known as Afar from Tigray, Wollo, and Shewa;
now, thanks to the federal system, they have their
own regional state and one and undivided
identity.’ This statement of the Afar people is
shared by the Somali, Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz,
Oromo, Harari, Tigray, and the Southern Ethiopian
Peoples; the only exception in this general
consensus of endorsing the present federal
structure and the constitution, including the
national Ethiopian flag that represents the
regional states and nationalities, is the Amhara
State. Given this reality thus, it would be
extremely difficult to overturn the Ethiopian
federal republic and put instead a unitary state
that would not represent the Ethiopian people
interest.”3
The
many recommendations made in this essay are good
working themes for the Government of Ethiopia to
reconsider its present reform movement that is
bent with the liberal agenda of privatization and
moving away from the developmental state model, a
system that enabled Ethiopia to do well in
economic growth and the foundational economy;
there is nothing wrong with privatization but
unless it is allowed to operate in tandem with
public enterprises, it is the foreign investors
and a handful of domestic entrepreneurs that would
ultimately run and control the economy, and this
should now be allowed as a prime agenda in
Ethiopia’s economic policy. For Dr. Abiy and his
government, the best bet is to embrace a mixed
economy, and continue the systems and achievements
of the present federal structure and the
constitution.
Notes
1.
ለኢትዮጵያ የሚበጅ የፖለቲካ ስትራቴጂ መቀየስ የሁላችን ኃላፊነት ነው www.africanidea.org/doc5.pdf
2.
21st Ethiopian
Politics Should Be Reoriented toward National
Reconciliation and Home Grown Ideology, www.africanidea.org/reorient_ethiopian_politics.html
3.
The Federalist and Unitary
Systems in Comparative Perspective and in the
Ethiopian Context, www.africanidea.org/Federalist_Unitary_context_Ethiopia.html
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