BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM:
Jan 12, 2007 — The crises confronting contemporary Ethiopian peoples actually emerge from crooked political thinking; and are of poor economic, social and humanitarian magnitudes on the surface. But deep down, they are equally of a mixture of compassion and indifference. In what follows I would like to delineate and discuss the following four contributive factors to such mixed way of thinking: (a) the nature of the crisis in Ethiopia, (b) the causes of these crises, (c) how people suffer under crisis conditions, and (d) what is to be done to revert the situation and arrive at sustainable options.
The clearest expression of man’s cruelty towards fellow humans can be noticed in the horrific acts of war ridden destruction and sunken bodies of people forced to occupy human wasteland of destitution wherever and whenever the so-called “… Peoples’ Liberation Fronts” run around and cause havoc and destruction to simply quench their aspiration for disobedience and wanton-fights. It is also manifested in the stained bodies of war casualties and in the victims of torture and prisoners of war who often add tales of unimaginable brutality in the hands of the rimmed factionalist splintering Liberation Fronts or that of some secret police of the government.
Newspapers, magazines, and television screens make such pictures available for our everyday viewing whenever wars and skirmishes flare-up in parts of the country. As these brutal scenes have become so commonplace and sensational, these days, we simply and seemingly expect and accept them with lack of concern, indifference and fatigued face instead of being shocked by them and start to avert the situation by all means.
To our dismay, certain shrewd rimmed factionalist splintering fronts do fund-raise and make use of such human misery by making political tourism in order to spread tribal-based hate mongering and to attract more money or create jobs for themselves on behalf of their claimed ethnic group. In connection to such episodes event writers and photographers become famous and win prizes. Charity that relies on human suffering as its vital resource for existence becomes a renowned business venture for such fronts. The leadership makes use of the funds for political tourism through which they manage to spread tribal politics, hate mongering and the likelihood of warlords that own territorial ownership.
At the depth of the overwhelming problems currently facing the Ethiopian people, the internal conditions remain ripe for any conflict or show the natural propensity for clashes, violence, and most potentially for volatile political climate.
Persistent actions and acts of violence and conflict conditions fabricated, brewed, and spear-headed by warring and factionalist fronts and spread from sources in Diaspora have become the precise defining elements. These dubious rimmed factionalist splintering fronts fuel more violence and conflict by trying to dissociate their respective ethnic communities from the rest of its neighbors. Actually, this mechanism has become a gold-digger-means for each of the factionalist front to make fortunes by found-raising on narrowly vested money making ventures.
Consequently, Ethiopia is endlessly embroiled in a series of crises caused by the intensification of different types of ethnic labeled violence that removes away the vitality of associating with other communities. Such isolationist actions reproduce violation of human rights, internal displacement of people, and creation of apathy towards other fellow human beings other than their own narrow groupings. It breeds destitution, despair, deadly-diseases, and inequitable distribution of resources, distress on the natural habitat, famine, widespread insecurity, illiteracy and abject poverty.
THE CRISIS PUT INTO CONTEXT:
The crisis in Ethiopia is crucially of a mix of compassion and lack of concern; this mix is again blurred by some self-indulgent political understanding and organization by each factionalist political fronts. It is common place for the respective fronts to stick their nose into politics and make this political vendetta a living means and a trade mark. Through political agitation that attempts to dissociate their claimed ethnic group from the rest of the Ethiopian society, they seem to mediate diverse economic, cultural, religious or ideological interests with intense conflict, blood feud and competition, where each attempting to over-power the other for its own advantages. The fronts utilize fund raised by their sympathizers for political tourism via which they spread and strengthen hate against other ethnic groups and tribal-bondage within their own ethnic folk. When all is said and done, and when the different fronts come on a single discussion forum, there occurs a ‘Mary-go-round’ type of dispute resulting in political vengeance that may cause havoc and further feud.
Therefore, the question here is: How can the harmful tribal politics are averted in order not to ruin the chances of future progress in Ethiopia? At one time or another, the political fronts must avert practicing, each its own type of dictatorial and exclusivist politics. The current political stand of liberation fronts is based on tribal aspiration and pure ego-trip, exaggerated-contempt, sheer-greed and self-aggrandizement. Many supporters of tribal politics are simply caught-up with sentimental affection and romantic feelings towards the front that they belong to or are in favor of. They do not look into the political issue from broader nationalist, regional and global perspectives. As a result, they remain unhappy about any positive achievements being made inside Ethiopia by the Ethiopian people.
The ensuing engagement of poor marginalized communities and national groups by these conflict hatching tribal politicians simply continues to worsen the Ethiopia’s abject poverty while at the same time heightening the competition for controlling potential resources and the political power through strategic spread of civil disobedience, violence and timely havoc – which all halt the smooth progress communities could make otherwise.
In the Ethiopian society there are substantial segments of the population that are obviously subjected to delineation, marginalization, exclusion and discrimination based on who steers the political group and to what end. Such induced discrimination leads each group of people and its idealized areas of interest to a further deterioration in terms of economic and social spheres and eventually spreads hate towards one another.
Among the so called educated, elite or enlightened Ethiopians in Diaspora, playing with problems of nations and nationalities is so populist and so critical these days simply because it give fertile ground to establish oneself as the advocate for one’s own people by way of setting in position one’s own political gear to full speed.
Indeed, this issue has paved the way for the rise of national liberation fronts including the EPLF, TPLF, OLF, ONLF, SLF, Felege Ghion, ANDEM, Silte Liberation Front etc; and the momentary multiplicity of these fronts speaks for itself that there is a serious interest by newly created ethnic political fronts to bear the trade-mark for its own ethnic group by considering sensational political factors, or by raising a grievance powerful enough to ignite the imagination of supporters both in Diaspora and inside the country. This underpinning factor becomes a sustained source of generating and regenerating money. From the outset, the factionist fronts arouse sentiments on people who ultimately offer themselves when their sentiments are touched by the declarations being waged by the respective front in their behalf. These poor people trust quick, follow suit and act accordingly to the dissocialized - factionalist -confrontationist liberation front’s agitations that addresses them to resist under its banner. On the other hand, none of the confrontationist fronts actually stand for what they promise in their blue print. In reality, they have never been and they will never be able or are capable of addressing the fundamental problems facing their particular ethnic group and the Ethiopian nation at large as they are so detached from the grass-roots at home.
The leadership of the fronts is good at making political tourism and spreading tribal hate. They manifest attitudes of both individual interests and that of hate-mongering for power seizure.
Through using funds for political tourism each front dissects and splits hairs by pinpointing a given collective cultural, linguistic, and political and economic identity and entity for its own power-use rights with emblems tagged in certain parts of the country.
The conflict usually is disguised by and cast in terms of ethnicity, culture and religion and ultimately portrayed as the struggle for autonomy and reconstruction of a new state within the Ethiopian state. Each confrontationist front’s leadership wages fragmentation as a policy and swears in the name of “its people” to offer one-self till death but in vain. While the leadership is utilizing funds for political tourism and hate-mongering in Diaspora the dying local populations inside Ethiopia are actually the peasants at home that are recruited by and standing for the rimmed factionalist splintering front’s publicly waged causes.
In the past many decades’ attempts made by rimmed factionalist splintering fronts have caused devastating socio-economic impacts on the local people concerned and on the forgone economic progress of Ethiopia. Meanwhile, the main protagonists to the conflict repeatedly failed to agree on the basic framework of solving the national crisis by peaceful means as each atomizes a given entity and looks at it from deductive, shallow and narrow tribal political perspectives. A series of meetings and negotiations under the auspices of various facilitators have failed to produce the spirit of partnership, as each rimmed factionalist front looks at the national issues from its own partisan, exclusionist stand point of view. On the surface the key points of disagreement are the separation of religion from state, the holding of referendum and the fragmentation and demarcation of areas that belong to each splinter-ethnic-group, and partisanship. The actual problems deep-down are different. They are based on each rimmed factionalist splintering front’s aspiration to solicit funds in the name of its own front, and make business out of it through creating, phobic-fear factors and insecurity. For such fronts any attempt to come to the brinks of a negotiated settlement may mean surrender to the status quo, bankruptcy and losing one’s own free stance of business venturing and using funds for political tourism.
Due to crooked thinking and crooked understanding of the national socio-economic cause and problems of development from their own tribal political stance, they give blind eye and deaf-ear to the current globalization point of view. Each exclusionist-front attempts to test the legitimacy of the Ethiopian state mainly through making coercion in a designated atomized area of a specific ethnic community. Consequently, through civil disobedience they ignite upraise of unrest which results in repression and yet cause more reactions and resistance which in turn bread more violence. With prolonged or intense lack of concern, frustration, dissatisfaction, and grievance, aggression is quite likely to occur. Violent confrontations became the dominant modes of existence of the rimmed factionalist splintering fronts claiming to struggle inside Ethiopia; and that of the sitting government claiming to over-power them under its constitutional conditions.
The expansion of conflict in Ethiopia has multifarious implications. On the one hand, intra-frontal confrontations and conflicts take place, where each front tries to legitimize its causes; and on the other, at times, conflicts occur between the government and the rimmed factionalist splintering fronts that expand to a wide spread skirmishes attracting the intervention of international agencies for what the conflicting parties regard as affecting their security.
In effect, each ethnically based front exports one’s own problems onto others creating political instability fuelling hostilities that may pre-occupy them for a while. It is evident that most fronts have visibly failed in their obligations to maintain the security of the people as the only means they know is to resort to disobedience and conflict heightening the circumstances for their legitimate presence.
The rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist fronts inside Ethiopia have earnestly failed in their social and economic obligations to be productive. Most of their leadership is made up of individuals, who resides in Diaspora and aspires to make use of the deployment of domestic ethnic resources and foreign aid through corrupt and predatory executive elites assigned everywhere for purposes remotely related to the social and economic development needs of the Ethiopian people who they claim to liberate. Out of sheer apathy, selfish-desire and power mongering, they further undermine the potential for improvement of human welfare of those Ethiopian people who they claim to be fighting for. Each front’s outlook or worldview is negatively charged as a result of which they are blind-folded not to see things in humane and objective eyes. The consequent poverty, illiteracy, famine and related disasters that occur from time to time in parts of Ethiopia are all resultant factors partly caused by such selfish rimmed factionalist splintering fronts and their leadership that give priority to their own poor tribal political mongering tactics than to the suffering of the people in whose name they swear, trade and raise funds internationally through making tribal political tourism.
In affluent societies such problems as indicated above do not distinctly occur. People steering communities instead have established mechanisms to compel the sitting government to address their felt needs and pressing problems through democratic agitation means.
In the Ethiopian case, tragically, the negligent politically rimmed factionalist splintering fronts aspire much for their own interests by forgetting to help the people they advocate for. At the same time, inefficient and predatory politics driven by these rimmed factionalist splintering fronts impose additional burdens on the rural poor who lack the reserve that carries them through natural and man-made hardships. The grass-roots are routinely forced to expose themselves to illiteracy and abject poverty due to unrest. Likewise, the urban poor are forced to face severe unemployment, poor health and misery. Eventually, vulnerability of the poor naturally results in perpetual dependence on handouts and external food aid.
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL-FRONTS:
The centralization of economic opportunity in the eyes of Ethiopian rimmed factionalist splintering political fronts – positioned either left or right – is governed by conditions of dissociation and exclusivity of other national groups contributing to the overall national economy of Ethiopia. Out of bold contempt and embroiled compassion they try to dissociate and marginalize most parts of the nation from their own single-handedly-designed political maps and political-economic agendas. The fronts’ political microscope narrowly looks at the dissected area they claim to liberate. Such cross-eyed look at politics by the rimmed factionalist splintering fronts, focused mainly on excessive centralization of economic and political activity to one’s own group while defying the inter-twined historic, cultural and economic ties they have with others within the Ethiopian nation, does result in unexpected ethnic discrimination and competition that obviously escalates into unwanted conflict and discourage the move for collective economic progress as one nation, one people under one flag and one leadership.
Out of sheer contempt the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist fronts attempt to breed civil disobedience and perverse discrimination and monopolize the local economic sectors for its own power. This in itself stifles the growth of entrepreneurship. The political functioning of the nation also fails to create alternative mechanisms to dependence on natural resources. The rimmed factionalist splintering fronts pre-occupy themselves with conflict and confrontation against the status quo and/or against each other. This being the case, it is no wonder that an estimated 6-8 million people are at risk of starvation in conflict-ridden areas inside Ethiopia where the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist fronts wage war against the government. It is also no wonder that poverty is at rise.
Given the pursuit of war and slow response to economic growth and due to unwillingness by the splintering factionalist fronts to come to the negotiation table, disaster is certain to strike Ethiopia every now and then. Rimmed factionalist splintering fighting have exacerbated food insecurity, internal and external displacement of hundreds of thousands of people who are now dependent on either food aid, handouts and cheap-labor.
Factionalist frontal friction intensifies the struggle over resources leaving Ethiopia with little hope to prosper amid civil war and instability. Productive investment is hardly possible anywhere under conflict-ridden conditions. Even when such events take place, they are in extractive activities such as mining or oil exploration whose value to the needs of the populations is of dubious value. It has been said time and again that the pursuit of war diverts vital economic resources to waste; whereas the resulting plight of people to escape war and lack of optional opportunities sap the economies of their vital energy. At the end of the day, the Ethiopian poor are already stifled by brain drain coupled with the burden of debt which forestalls the chances for economic recuperation already handicapped by mismanagement and pernicious socio-economic policies. Notwithstanding these realities either consciously or otherwise, the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist fronts intensify glaring crisis to their own vested interest.
As communities in Ethiopia cannot cope with excessive burdens, social-break down and economic polarization are bound to occur in due course of time. Tensions waged intentionally by factionalist-fronts are present in parts of Ethiopia where the sitting government, seems determined to conduct its flawed campaign under the so-called “Revolutionary Democracy” targeting the rimmed factionalist splintering-fronts to fight what it calls twisted “narrow nationalism” and “chauvinism.”
The outcome of such skirmishes is a complex curved quagmire that underlies chronic human insecurity. The question is how do we bring those rimmed factionalist splintering-fronts to justice for having caused and fueled such all-embracing crises inside Ethiopia?
The confrontationist tribal legacy (past and present) and its shady continuation bear strong effects on the Ethiopian people. The arbitrarily created jagged nominal borders by the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist-fronts have intensified the problems and at times contributed to wars ushering decades of misrule characterized by a sinister mix of political apathy towards others, emphatic-claims, nepotism and a partisan understanding of politics. The legacy of such political milieu in common manifests exclusion of other people delineated outside the arbitrary borders of a given ethnic community by means of threats which was accompanied by marginalization, oppression and discrimination of the people for whom they claim to stand for. Political crisis came as a problem because it translates into crises in other walks of life. When there is politically induced insecurity, instability, repression, obviously, peoples economic and social well being gets affected. When there is lack of freedom of association and lack of voice, there follows restrictions on economic opportunities. Misled and harmful policies carried out by factionalist-fronts’ causes diversion and waste of resources.
REDRESSING THE MINDSET:
The crystal clear redress to the above indicators of political crisis in Ethiopia lies in adopting holistic approach that starts with the overall Ethiopian national polity. Worn out strategies of ‘conflict management’ and ‘peace-building’ among intentionally bent conflict and hate-breeding factionalist fronts will remain ineffective to address the basic issues that impact on the Ethiopian polity and economy in particular and that of the region in general. As each rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist tribal front emerged as the guardian of its tribe by hate mongering against other groups outside of its own; and as it is preoccupied with resolving its own security from its seat in Diaspora, the likely redress should come from the Ethiopian people themselves who toil at home. That means political and community-led opinion leaders in the region should recognize the seriousness of the ongoing crises spread by the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist groups.
Be it the factional fronts’ leadership or the government holding the status quo, each group should re-think what was not thinkable thus far. Amicable resolution of the demands for democratization will serve the political process better. It means the people who are eventually the sources of political, social and economic power should be crystal clear in their thinking and be determined to take their rights in their hands as well as get concerned about their demands and responsibilities through partnership and empowerment. After all, it is they who bear the brunt of the political repression, the economic deprivation, and the cultural suppression; and not the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist front leadership who live luxuriously in Diaspora by trading in the former’s behalf. It is the local people’s economies that are ruined by the havoc, skirmishes, and wars and by bad governance; it is their future which is squandered by fraudulent factional and splintering politics.
The Ethiopian people need to be persistent to demand accountability from the polity and from these already known rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist fronts. Weak societies produce strong tyrannies and tyrants who trade in their names and on their behalf; but to no avail of just political platforms.
In sum since both political-economy and the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist political groupings interface with each other, a political problem that affects the Ethiopian national economy and its society should be drawn to the fore. Fundamental broad minded reform in politics is necessary to curb economic decline. Changes could be oriented toward making politics people-centered whose focus is humane and human security; rather than that of the rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist political groups’ vested political security. Concern about the people avoids the possibility of venturing into awful-policies, into war and into conflict ridden circumstances. It encourages factional-leaders to consider helping their own people. It nourishes trust; it builds bridges between the various ethnic people and the polity, between nationalities and the mother country.
However, pitiful rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist frontal leadership have become, by their persistent failure in providing basic security to the people, failed groups put forward for historical archives. The hope also remains empty in making and re-making them as they are rigidly deformed in negatively charged confrontationist and factionalist mentality that will bring the country down to fragmentation. That is where the significance of political change needs to be understood, identified and highlighted. Without reforming one’s own vision on polities, the hope of building peace and democracy at a macro level is like building a castle on a sand foundation. It simply does not hold. The political direction of rimmed factionalist splintering confrontationist fronts should be corrected in time. They should be willingness to accept and go for objective and positive thinking; to identify the problems at all levels including the village level where the ultimate brunt of structural and policy-induced problems lies and come up with a cohesive and sustaining national vision. This type of re-thinking may require a paradigm shift in our thinking from tribal politics that teaches hate-mongering towards the human condition in Ethiopia with humane-heart-mind and soul, which promise to replace the vicious cycle of despair and vice by a virtuous cycle of hope and revival. Those who are attempting to make decisions today in different pretext and at all levels (be it inside or outside Ethiopia) must be prepared to live with the consequences of their decision in the future.
THE PRICE OF FREE SPEECH:
We will not find peace in our homes, communities, or anywhere where frontal leaderships are allowed to gather and preach hate toward other tribes or other religion while protecting one’s own tribe or one’s own religion. Since the late 1960s in Ethiopia we have been reaping the benefits and paying the price for the ‘Freedom of Speech’ to our Constitution, one the most challenged and, often times, abused of our freedoms as citizens for making free speech. Those who drew up the Constitution had admirable intentions when they used the term "speech" to address an individual’s personal voice.
However, we know today that speech is more than verbal expression, but includes non-verbal, visual, and symbolic messages. Our freedom of speech right does not permit us to cause panic, it does not permit us to showcase obscenity or defamation, it does not permit us to breach peace, to incite crime, to encourage fights, or to promote rebellion. These crimes are commonplace. For any person or group to gather anywhere, in public or private, and be allowed to offend the sitting government with illegal behavior such as the aforementioned is a moral and ethical crime that must no longer be allowed.
The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship. Where does this leave us as citizens when we are plagued with obscenity, defamation, breach of peace, incitement of crime, fighting words, and sedition in our society on a daily basis? In essence, the government protects the speech of all citizens - the peacemakers and those who hate. Where do we, as a peace-seeking people draw a line? The English philosopher John Stuart Mill articulated that, "... the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others," but far too often we see persons and groups that are infused with hate preaching and teaching intolerance against other groups of people. Such behavior is taught to future generations and this leads to ongoing communal discord. The platforms of hate must retire, as they, undoubtedly, breach the highest law of Ethiopia. As citizens, we must work together to make our lives, our communities, our country, and our future inheritors greater. Love unites and hate separates; the concept is simple. We will not find peace in our homes, communities, or anywhere as persons and groups are allowed to gather and preach hate against other groups. Our freedom of speech is a right, yes, but when our expression becomes offensive and infused with intolerance and hate, society in general pays the price. It means we need to think twice before we aspire to spread hate and hate-mongering preaching in the name of one’s own tribe or religion.
DIVERSITY USED AS AN INSTRUMENT OF CONFLICT:
In the context of discussing the cultural and societal diversity of Ethiopia, I have noticed two general trends. On one hand, there are those who praise diversity, and try to put it at the core of both internal and external policy in some sort of attempt to radicalize the concept. And, on the other there are those who accept and respect diversity without exalting the particularities of this or that group.
Therefore, while we are all different as individuals, and as groups, the premise is that we do share identical interests (at the very least, security and economic prosperity) that can — or as some say — should persuade us to peacefully coexist. This assumption takes into consideration what we would only have to lose in a state of conflict, distrust and possibly, war. These trends are direct consequences of the social, economic, and political conditions of today’s society, in addition to the rise of radical nationalism, and the crisis of identity within some factional ethnic liberation groups living in Diaspora.
The real issue at stake is the need to recognize the essence of diversity’s deeper concept of liberalism, freedom, individualism, free markets, and the right to free and open debate. Beside a few standard principles, which may differ from one group to another, everything else is questionable. We have come to Albert Einstein’s ’relativist’ values because of our eagerness not only to tolerate, but also to put on a pedestal the cult of diverseness. It seems that was a mistake. When everything is relative, there is no limit, and fundamentalism moves in. Over the years, the fundamentalist fronts waging war in the name of ethnic liberation have shown interest only in the tribal politics while retaining the belief that independent thinking is heresy. Some are still deluding themselves by thinking that, instead of looking at our differences (since this seems to be the problem); we should focus on our common values. It sounds great in theory; but it is hollow in practice.
What we (I am referring to the common man in Ethiopia) and the fundamentalist fronts lack is essentially the kinship of common values. Samuel P. Huntington began his widely read and commented upon essay by stating that: “… the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural." He further wrote, "With the end of the Cold War, international politics moves out of its Western phase, and its centerpiece becomes the interaction between the West and non-Western civilizations" (The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel P. Huntington, Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993, Council on Foreign Relations). Ethiopians’ response to the arbitrary and sometimes ethnic fundamentalist-sponsored violence against Ethiopia’s costly national identity and interests has been disappointing.
Our political correctness and veneration of multiculturalism has put us in the absurd position of having to tolerate the intolerable. It is worrisome that the fundamentalists living in our midst are not willing to understand that we have run away from dictatorship and fascism, and that we are not about to welcome it under the guise of liberation front propaganda and warlords.
* The author is an Independent Consultant on: Conflict
Resolution, Good Governance, Humanitarian Aid and
Development Economics matters. He can be reached at
siamregn@yahoo.com