The tyrant defying the will of
the people - Part VI

The issue of an all-Ethiopia resistance forum

By Kahsay Berhe (bkahsay@aol.com)

September 1, 2006

Concluding Remarks

We show little respect for those who saved us from enslavement by alien forces. Let us look into the way we treat our heroes. After the Ethio-Italian war, the late Emperor killed one of the outstanding resistance organizers and leaders, Belay Zeleqe. Was this an isolated act? Not at all. In 1960, zealous revolutionary officers butchered many veterans of the resistance against Italian invasion including national figures such as Ras Abebe Aregay etc.

I am afraid that we are accustomed to seeing things as black or white only, because we hardly ever bother to see both sides of an issue and judge accordingly. So, again, in 1974, the military junta slaughtered the remaining veterans and many other prominent Ethiopians in the name of the revolution in one night. Prominent Ethiopian diplomats and several intellectuals, who had served their country with distinction, were butchered. It is a fact that many of these decorated patriots abused their state power and impoverished millions of Ethiopian peasants. Would it not have been fairer to view the contribution they made to our sovereignty, accept that as extenuating circumstances in rating the misery they caused to the people while in power? Under the Rule-of-Law, they would have of course been punished but not certainly with a death penalty.

In 1991, the new power holders dismantled the entire defense establishment of the country. Our officers who served the country were thrown into prison or disbanded with disgrace. Today, after about 15 years hundreds of members of the Ethiopian elite who worked under the former regime are still behind bars without any legal sentence. To put hundreds of members of the ousted regime in custody for 15 years without court decision is injustice and a politically motivated act of revenge reenforced by fear.

Our history is, among other things, full of internal wars and bloodshed. We need to learn our history to draw lessons from it in order for us to design a better future. When we negate or dismiss the past, we are destroying our future. Any generation has the right to organize itself and change its fate for the better. Our attempt to destroy the achievements of the past renders us incapable of seeing the present plights of the people and of working for a better future.

Political parties must be imbued with foresight and vision for the people and the state. Parties must commit themselves to recognizing the cause and the will of the people. Should the people fight for the cause of the parties or should it be the other way round? By the former genuine elections are not possible. In contrast, by the latter the parties provide alternative ideas and forces for a united people. In short, if every political party claims that its interests and the interests of the people are identical, then it has no basis to exercise tolerance with other parties.

There are several instances of the consequence of our black or white thinking. Now, some Ethiopians are accusing the Tigreans of complacence with the TPLF. Many compatriots try to equate the entire people of Tigray with a handful of murderers because these murderers and their militia happened to come from Tigray. It is to be remembered that many Tigreans have been exposing the leadership of the TPLF for the last several years. No ethnic based political organization has been more scrutinized by members of its people than the TPLF.

Moreover, we hasten to incriminate people and forces who do not directly infringe on our rights. The Boycott on TPLF businesses is a political act aimed at weakening the tyrant. Therefore, the boycott must be confined to the TPLF firms and firms belonging to the EPRDF member organizations. The boycott could be extended to other businesses as a penalty if such businesses heavily sabotaged the boycott. The interest of Ethiopian businesspersons depends on stability and progress of the country. It is against their long-term interests to identify themselves with and campaign for a clique that continues to shed the blood of innocent citizens in the streets of the capital. Anyway, it is wrong to impose economic boycott on the private business in par with TPLF businesses.

We hurry to condemn the Church because of its wrong stance regarding the massacres of the Ethiopian people. I do not support the behavior of the Church shown in recent years. Traditionally, the Church used to mediate peace between contending powers in order to safeguard the peace of the people. However, this time, the Orthodox Church is ignoring the victims of the tyrant. It does not openly mediate between the political contenders in order to guarantee peace in our country. It failed to request justice for the tens of thousands of citizens languishing in jails. Nevertheless, it is not productive to bring one of the oldest confessions in our country into the battlefield. After all, the goal of the democratic movement is not to directly bring about changes in religious institutions.

We confuse the interests of the people with the interests of the oppressive political establishment. The TPLF/EPRDF leadership constitutes the present tyranny in Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi and his henchmen in the TPLF as well as in the marionette organizations of the EPRDF stand for dictatorship under their so called revolutionary people’s democracy: They do not have any constituency. The people of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia or the people of the southern Ethiopia do not make up the constituency of the TPLF, ANDM, OPDO and SEPDO respectively. The majority of the members and supporters of these organizations cannot be the constituency of the tyrant either. Its motive force is the state itself and those who run it along with their henchmen. Such henchmen could be from anywhere in or outside Ethiopia. We are victims of our hatred with the assumption that anyone who has connection with the system, which we rightly want to remove, is an enemy who deserves to destroyed. One must distinguish between sympathizers and perperators at the service of tyranny.

The peaceful struggle of the people of Ethiopia during the last decade scored shining victories long before the May 2005 elections. Meles Zenawi became increasingly isolated domestically and diplomatically. He could not continue to suppress the people and woe the international community. He allowed the elections to take place knowing he can rig them. He might have thought that it would be better for him to let the leaders of the popular movement crystallize in order to strike at them and the people.

After more than a decade of experiment with ethnic politics, the Ethiopian people are poised to chart a national vision and program. The regime has intesified its state terrorism to curtail this development. It mobilized its police, security forces and army against the people. The state terror waged by the regime indicates the maturity of the struggle of the people. Whether the attained victories of the people against tyranny will be consolidated or suffer setbacks depends on the vision of the opposition and resolve of the people.

National vision is based on shared values and common aspirations of the people. The struggle of the people, the dedication of the intelligentsia and the potency of the political organizers will shape Ethiopian national vision and national agenda. It is time for us to say no to any power that is not based on our expressed common will. Every one of us must think that s/he is 70 million-strong. The more than 70 million souls must stand united against any power that infringes on the rights of part of us – like the massacre in Gambella, Jijiga, Jima, Awasa, Addis Ababa, Gonder and many places and the incarcerated hundreds because they stood for what they believe is right. No to politics of division. As we preserved our independence through our united struggle, we must unite to regain our internal sovereignty.

With all respect to the contribution of our intelligentsia the enlightenment of our people has still a long way to go before the intelligentsia can claim to constitute a body of national intelligentsia. We miss a body of developed national vision and ideology. There are various competing views. National views are the result of constructive and goal-oriented dialogue and struggle among the intelligentsia. National vision and ideology for the politicians usually emanate from the intelligentsia. Therefore, we expect from our scientists that they stand above party politics and ethnic divides and take the people as one organ and develop national visions for our orientation and basis for our politicians.

Our political actors have not yet been able to chart a national political form. They have made and unmade a series of alliances. However, all alliance seem to be against what the concerned groups perceive as common enemy, but not for a common national program/agenda. The problem with Ethiopian political groups is that they differ on the issues not on the answers to the issues. This makes it difficult for them to compete peacefully against each other.

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Acknowledgement and notice:

I would like to thank those of you for your kind words and encouragement through your e-mails. Those who want to acquire my book (Ethiopia: Democratization and Unity
Muenster: Verlaghaus Monsenstein & Vannerdat, 2005, pp. 331 Paperback Euro 17.50
they can put their on/line order at: E. mail bkahsay@aol.com