Vision and the Politics of
Ethiopianity: The leadership of Abiy Ahmed.
By Teodros Kiros (Ph.D.
Introduction
I would like to begin below with what I wrote on Ethiopianity and
Independent Thinking a few years ago to frame my
present argument that Ethnic consciousness is
mediated by positive ethnicity and National
Consciousness and that the two are inextricably
intertwined. I argue further that ethnic
consciousness, anchored on positive ethnicity, is
the material infrastructure for the superstructure
of culture. By Positive Ethnicity, I understand,
“a modality in which
an individual humbly takes pride in one’s
geographical belonging and celebrates the cultural
ornaments of his/ethnic group, the language, the
dances, the music and the cuisines, as expressions
of diversity.” (Abbay Media, Zehabesha, Ethiopia
360, January 9, 2018
In these remarks,
the reader is explicitly invited to pay attention
to the nuances of culture, if by culture; one can
understand that positively seamless intermingling
of ethnic consciousness with a national
consciousness. This intermingling cannot take
place without a celebration of the ornaments of
culture: language,
dance, music, cuisines and artifacts. Moreover,
ethnic consciousness requires these ornaments in
order to provide the human person the possibility
of consciousness itself.
The ornaments of culture are embedded in
ethnic consciousness, almost naturally. These
ornaments of culture are the material fundaments
of ethnic consciousness. Note that in the above
paragraph, all our five senses are busily
involved, as when we listen to music, see the
mountains, smell the flowers, taste the cuisines
and touch beauty on the dance floors.
Ethnic consciousness is firmly anchored in
this material reality disclosed by the five
senses. At
a primordial level, Ethiopian pride is present in
the ethnic consciousness inspired by the ornaments
of culture as disclosed via the senses to the
recipients of a cultural consciousness, as when
any Ethiopian cannot help but hit the dance floor
upon hearing an ethnic tune and begin shaking the
body to a maximum joy. The
joy occurs precisely because there is an event to
be enjoyed, and there is an event to be enjoyed,
because ethnic consciousness has produced the
appropriate and stimulating media of joy in the
music, the dance, the cuisines, and beautiful
persons.
(2)
National Consciousness
National consciousness, unlike ethnic
consciousness, is a cultural construct. Whereas
ethnic consciousness is natural to the self,
national consciousness is a product of cultural
construction and is mediated by the artificial
body, called the state.
It is the state and its various
institutions which organize citizens to develop a
relationship with other ethnicities and enjoy
their diversities under conditions of peace and
prosperity. National consciousness is in fact
nothing more than a politically organized
relationship of citizens with one another as
ethnically conscious members of ethnic groups.
The task of the state is to be critically
vigilant about Negative Ethnicity, “. Negative ethnicity is the
modality by which an individual singles out
his/her belonging to an ethnic group and believes
that it is superior to all other ethnicities and
that other ethnicities are inferior and must be
treated accordingly.” (Zehabesha, Abbay Media,
Ethio 360 and Ethiomedia Forum, January 8, 2018).
(3)
Federalism as a Political Form.
The
task of a Good State is making a concerted effort
of educating citizens to protect themselves from
contamination by negative ethnicity to purify
themselves by instilling in themselves with
positive ethnicity by way of respecting the
cultural ornaments of all ethnicities.
The
greatness of a future Ethiopian state, unlike past
Ethiopian states, some of which were insensitive
if not flagrantly hostile to certain ethnicities,
will consist in respecting positive ethnicity as
it meets economic needs and extends political and
social rights to all ethnicities through
constitutional stipulations and effective public
policies. Any
future Ethiopian state should publicly articulate
and defend the rights of nationalities as
expressions of positive ethnicity and living
practices of diversity under safe and secure
conditions of freedom.
Federalism
is the political form by which positive ethnicity
is elevated into a national right as an expression
of Ethiopianity, defended by an effective
Ethiopian state.
There
cannot be a national consciousness without ethnic
consciousness, and similarly there is an ethnic
consciousness precisely because there is
superstructure in which the multiple ethnicities
can be anchored in a relationship of mutual
dependence.
In our contemporary politics, we have not rigorously
understood the role of these two types of
consciousness. We are fighting one another because
of a misunderstanding. My argument here is an
attempt to correct this misunderstanding through a
philosophical lens.
Our prime minister, himself, in his capacity as a
political educator, is a purveyor of this
misunderstanding, who unnecessarily burdened
himself with undisciplined agenda and put too much
on the grill, (Badme, Indiscriminate and
untimely,release of prisoners, Pardoning the
unpardonable, reconciling religious leaders),
none of which is being cooked well.
He is now standing out as the one, in the helm of
power, who is a symbol of misunderstanding, and
through him the misunderstanding is filtering down
to the youth, and the hostile media in the
diaspora.
I would like to offer my advice to his leadership, if
he is inclined to read serious articles by
well-known and globally respected Ethiopian
writers of the caliber of Professor Ghelawdewos
Araia and his seasoned strategies of rebuilding
EPRDF, to save Ethiopia from the crucible of hate
and narrow-mindedness.
It appears that to Abiy Ahmed, some of us are simply
not visible. He does not read our work, nor are we
contacted, because we bear ethnicities which he
shuns and openly abuses. If he is serious about
rebuilding Ethiopia, he should seek our
accomplished scholars and world class minds, or
else it is business as usual, empty words without
content and blind abstractions without eyes. Nor can there be Ethiopianity, as the Prime Minister wrongly but
tirelessly preaches, without ethnicity and
nationality. The Ethiopian citizen, like the
American citizen, is an Amhara Ethiopian, An Oromo
Ethiopian, A Tigrean Ethiopian, A Gurage
Ethiopian, A Gambellan Ethiopian, A Southern
Ethiopian and much more. These ethnicities are
merely designations but important ones.
For those Ethiopians who take pride in
these designations, what they need is recognition
and not scolding and shaming.
A
strategic and well organized state led by upright,
just, compassionate and patient leaders can
orchestrate a political environment in which
individuals feel safe and secure to exercise their
positive ethnicities.
I have developed this argument in Ethiopian
Discourse, “New Moral Economy”, (Red Sea
Press, 2005)
Ethiopians
should not be ridiculed for their
self-definitions. Self-definition is a right. The
duty of the Prime Minister is to plow a safe
ground where Ethiopians can construct values and
norms as rich sources of their Ethiopianity. It
is not his responsibility to preach to Ethiopians
what Ethipianwinet is. That connotes an absence of
vision and poor politics.
Ethiopianity
is not an abstraction. It is a lived reality
embodied in ethnic and national consciousness.
What
Ethiopia needs now is the reconstitution of EPRDF
with new blood. This new blood is not merely
youth. That biological attribute is irrelevant.
Both the old and the new could be foolish and
unqualified. The party must aim at intelligence,
moral and technical, integrity, generosity,
compassion, and last but not least, respect for
truth.
Youth
need not be the determining qualification for
rebuilding, EPRDF, unless youth is accompanied by
wisdom and moral intelligence. That would be the
ideal package. Qualifications must be based on
proven merit and a record of accomplishments
independent of age and ethnicity.
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