When Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991, the country was unprepared and the population thoroughly demoralized. It didn’t take very long for a rag-tag TPLF army to prevail and control the vast nation. Since then the country has been experiencing a long-lasting social and political crisis. This crisis is such that the very survival of the nation can no longer be taken for granted. We find ourselves in yet another struggle to climb out of poverty and oppression. In fact, our past is a tragic story of countless missed opportunities. We don’t seem to have learned from our history, however, and I am afraid we might be condemned to repeat it, as the saying goes.

Ironically, the conditions and enabling factors for a “just society” have changed dramatically and I will argue for the better. At the center of this are the empowering impact of the Internet and other social media. They are extraordinary tools, as we witnessed in the Arab Spring uprising, which allow political mobilization that transcend time and space. The other significant factor is the ever growing Diaspora community, an immense but untapped human and financial resource that can be put to use to alleviate the plight of our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia.

Despite all these instruments of change and resources at our disposal, we have yet to capitalize on them. Instead, we seem to be bogged in endless debate based on identity politics. Instead of learning from experience and working toward of common goal, we seem to engage in a variety of defence mechanisms and self deceptions involving arrogance, self-delusion and narcissistic impulse. Our problems are always somebody else’s fault. We bicker about whether we should ally with one group or another based on some perceived nationalist/separatist sentiment. In saying this, I don’t want to create an impression that nothing is being done in the struggle to bring change and remove the Meles Zenawi regime from power. I admire and I am especially indebted to those back home who fought and are still fighting against all odds the TPLF tyranny and terror. But, our effort, particularly here in the Diaspora, is so utterly inadequate considering the current situation and the potential for much more perilous outcome.

It’s clear now that Ethiopia is facing an existential challenge not only from grinding poverty but also from an ethnically-intoxicated regime that is bent on dismantling the country. Our effort should be focused and unrelenting. Our struggle should be inclusive and multidimensional. We need to strongly resist the temptation of using ethnic ideology or any form of parochial politics as a means to gain political advantage. Only a movement aimed at fighting oppression and injustice in all its forms can challenge the desperate situation and the embattled feeling that prevails in our beloved country. To be clear, the pressing need for such a movement seems to be acknowledged by most of us. But somehow, our action just doesn’t measure up.

Given the deteriorating socio-economic and political condition, the fall of TPLF is not a question of if, but when. The current wave of political transformation in the Middle East and North Africa is adding even more impetus to the inevitable changes sure to come to Ethiopia (and across Africa for that matter). The question remains, however, whether we are ready to embark on a new chapter and overcome our long and agonizing history, or if we once again are destined to repeat it.

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The writer lives in Ottawa, Canada, and can be reached at yohannesb23@gmail.com