Beyond
Politics and Innuendo: Preserving Our Humanity and
Salvaging Ethiopia from Moral Decadence
Ghelawdewos Araia & Teodros Kiros
Viewpoint
August
6, 2012
By
the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to
you, my brothers, to agree in what you say, so
that there will be no divisions among you. Be
completely united, with only one thought and one
purpose.
I Corinthians: 1:10
The two of us have
written several books and hundreds of articles and
essays, and we have addressed important and timely
issues pertaining to contemporary Ethiopia. We
have addressed topics with themes that include
justice, ethics and morality, famine, national
reconciliation, freedom, democracy, tolerance,
ethnic politics, unity and sovereignty, and
political economy and development etc.
In this brief viewpoint,
we address the frightening scenario of the
breakdown of Ethiopian values and traditions and
the escalation of innuendo, disinformation, and
unfounded allegations that we found to be contrary
to the Ethiopian ethos and more so a betrayal of
trust of Ethiopian integrity.
The degeneration of
cultural values among Ethiopians, especially
amongst the Diaspora is alarming, to say the
least. It is alarming, because it is for the first
time that we have witnessed religious
leaders-turn-politicians use the pulpit to foment
discord among Ethiopians instead of preaching the
Gospel to reunite the already fragmented Ethiopian
communities in the Diaspora. We are astounded that
these religious leaders would not take initiative
to reconcile Ethiopians who have found their own
ethnic enclaves and churches and denominations of
the same faith. Instead of helping Ethiopians iron
out their differences, the religious leaders
promote hate politics and division among
Ethiopians.
We also say alarming
because the so-called media outlets (websites,
blogs, radios, TVs etc) post baseless, false, and
unfounded “news” with respect to the condition
of Ato Meles Zenawi. Some even said that he is
dead; others (in the Washington DC metro area)
have been celebrating the ill health of the Prime
Minister, reflected in poems, one of which reads,
“Lets dig the ground, pitch the tent, lament for
and eulogize the Man”.
What have we become as a society? Is this
really what the Ethiopian culture is all about?
The Ethiopian moral grounding and ethical values
that we grew up with instructs and reminds us that
we as humans must extend sympathy to the sick
and/or the deceased. But celebrating somebody’s
death? What have we become? Yet, other groups have
already laid out the groundwork for a transitional
government, and very much like the proverbial
‘Ethiopian hyena that grabs the horn’, they
have already made up their minds to expropriate
the property of some officials! Is this a gold
rush for power or an honest reactive politics
devoid of robust political program? Whatever the
mission of these groupings, we want to make a
passing remark by way of advice: history is
replete with revolutions, reforms, changes, and
transformations catapulted by the internal
dynamics of a given society. It is the internal
factors that ultimately determine the outcome of
any political agenda in relation to Ethiopia;
external factors can only cushion what takes place
on the ground in Ethiopia, and ultimately, whether
we like it or not, the fate of Ethiopia will be
decided by Ethiopians at home.
When we write, we write
our minds. We are neither propagandists nor
opportunists, and as a result we scribble opinions
vis-à-vis egregious mistakes and falsehoods; we
also write vis-à-vis constructive achievements
and heroic deeds. In light of this stance of ours
thus, we have criticized the Government of Meles
Zenawi when it has faltered and gone wrong in
policy matters in general and in its unwillingness
to accommodate the opposition and pave the way for
democracy in Ethiopia, but we have also
acknowledged its accomplishments. This is what
scholars should do.
We believe the current
innuendo amongst the gossip-infested Diaspora
would have not taken place had the Ethiopian
officials clearly reached out the Ethiopian
communities at home and the Diaspora and simply
announce the condition of the PM in no uncertain
terms instead of presenting themselves in vague
and mixed signals. There is nothing wrong in being
sick and even in passing away and we all know that
death is a common occurrence.
The
insanity that has enveloped the so-called Diaspora
“opposition” is unfathomable to us, but we
believe (based on some empirical studies and
plausible educated guess) hate mongering and
disinformation trigger it. However, we also
believe that there are some Diaspora group that
are well-meaning at least in their overall
thinking and the political agenda they wish to
promote, but they too are bedeviled by incessant
cleavages and schisms that, in turn, effectively
paralyzed their activities.
Therefore,
we believe that the best bet for Ethiopia, the
country of our birth that we love all, is to
foster a national reconciliation agenda that we
have addressed time and again in the past.
Well-meaning patriotic Ethiopians should come
together to salvage the Ethiopian society from
moral decadence, and in this initiative the
seating government should be involved as well. If
this happens, Ethiopians will mutually benefit,
the country will prosper, and the welfare of the
Ethiopian people will be guaranteed.
Some
disgruntled Ethiopians, responding to our earlier
writings and proposals, have stated, “No, we
will not reconcile with the government of Meles
Zenawi; we must topple it and form a new
government instead.” And we retorted by saying,
“You are entitled to your opinion but you are
wrong, because you neither have a sound political
agenda nor the support of the Ethiopian people,
and most importantly you are not united; moreover,
you cannot topple a government by remote control
from Ethiopian restaurants and/or Starbuck Coffee
corners.”
We
suggest to all Ethiopians that they should
seriously consider the agenda of salvaging
Ethiopian society from further cultural
degeneration, and in order to achieve this
important historical task, they must be able to
initiate dialogue for the sake of the Ethiopian
nation. Diaspora Ethiopians have to come to their
senses! One does not initiate dialogue with
his/her friend, but does negotiate with its real
or perceived foe, and that is the essence of
national reconciliation.
Beyond
politics and innuendo, thus, we must be able to
preserve our humanity and salvage Ethiopia from
its current predicament; we must be able to wish
well to all Ethiopians, including to Meles Zenawi,
regardless of ideology, creed, gender, religious
affiliation, and ethnic background. Above all, we
must wish well to Ethiopia, the mother of all of
us, in which our umbilical chords are buried and
to which we wish to return.
If
we are sincere in our deliberations and we truly
love the Ethiopian people, and we want to
contribute to the development of Ethiopia we must
practically engage ourselves in implementing I
Corinthians 1:10, and we use this opportunity to
challenge our religious leaders to preach the
‘call for unity’ conveyed in Corinthians.
In
one tense moment, some courageous and patriotic
Ethiopians committed altruistic ventures on the
condition that the heart felt move leads to a
disciplined struggle by the people themselves to
invite the regime to either get out of the way or
lead fundamental reforms guaranteeing the ordinary
Ethiopians the right to food, shelter, clothing
and health and to this day neither the regime in
power nor the people on the ground have acted.
We understand the reason. Our people are
tired of senseless wars, meaningless dialogues,
vacuous calls for armed struggle, and endless
ethnic dirt.
Instead
Ethiopian life has become a plaything for
oppositionists and insiders.
The Ehtiopian poors are forgotten.
Their miserable lives remain unattended.
The arrogance of the powerful, the
comfortable bureaucrats, the ethnic lords of the
Ethiopian countryside, and the resentful
self-acknowledged opposition in the Ethiopian
Diaspora tread their existential rights.
They now say no to dirty politics and yes
to dialogue, discourse and critical constituional
discussions and public assessments of failed
national policies.
The
wretched of Ethiopia demand that those of us, who
are comfortably living outside of Ethiopia
concretely and sincerely contribute to changing
the presently moribund ethnic consciousness by a
genuine Ethiopianity unmarred by Ethnic hatred,
opportunism, name calling; instead, we appeal to
the regime in power to start a reconciliation on
the behalf of the silent Ethiopian poor and
initiate intelligent discourse free of domination.
We
are ready and willing to serve as the
consciousnesses of our historic Ethiopia and save
the nation from the suicidal path on which the
nation is embarking (e.g. the recent skirmish
between Somali Ethiopians and Oromo Ethiopians in
southern Ethiopia), although we also acknowledge
some remarkable achievements made by Ethiopia
especially in infrastructure, the expansion of
higher education, and economic growth.
Reasoned
dialogue, guided by a more loadstar, and propelled
by the public reason of the Ethiopian people must
lead the way.
The precondition for our proposal, however,
is the unity of the Ethiopian people and as per
the wisdom of Corinthians and our forefathers, we
urge our fellow Ethiopians to be “completely
united with only one thought and one purpose.”
All
Rights Reserved. Copyright © IDEA, Inc. 2012. Dr.
Ghelawdewos Araia and Dr. Teodros Kiros can be
contacted for educational and constructive
feedback via webmaster@africanidea.org
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