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| liben |
 Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:46 pm |
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Moderator
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 40
Location: University of Chicago
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Getz # 10 – And In Conclusion . . .
Donald N. Levine
November 2006. One year later. One year since the breakdown of summit talks between GOE and CUD leaders. One year since the call for another round of nonviolent protests, which triggered rounds of indiscriminate killings. One year since the Government arrested more than a hundred Ethiopian critics and charged them with crimes punishable by death in a trial marred by unfair procedures and inexcusable delays. One year since the Government called for an investigation into the killings that has resulted in defections of two high-ranking judges and a report that identifies no particular wrongdoers.
One year, in which 50% of Ethiopia's children continue to live in diagnostic levels of serious malnutrition; tens of thousands died of AIDS; more than one thousand Ethiopians perished from floods due in part to environmental degradation, floods which left another 280,000 homeless. And the misery grinds on.
It was a year in which Ethiopian Americans organized effectively to launch a controversial bill designed to promote democratization efforts, thereby provoking the Government of Ethiopia to fight back by spending a huge amount on lobbyists. What all those resources diverted to American legislative processes might have done for Ethiopian relief and, yes, Ethiopia's own democratic processes! (Indeed, what good might have been done if all Diaspora Ethiopians had also made a serious contribution to improve life at home in an area like medicine, engineering, education, IT, or water resources?)
The public processes needed for Ethiopia's democratization are what I sought to advance during the past year when I attempted, through a series of short statements posted at www.eineps.org/forum and elsewhere, to enhance communication among Ethiopians. To be sure, at times this meant I became no more than a ferinji target for both sides to vent against. Each time I credited the Government with something, certain opposition elements accused me of having been bought out by an unscrupulous regime; each time I credited the opposition with something, some Government apologists accused me of having been brainwashed by revanchist Diaspora extremists.
One critical reader in Sweden, after following my suggestion to re-read what I had written, changed his mind: " Selam lérsiwo Yihon, Professor! I have read the material you sent to me and I understand more what this is about. Your view is very balanced and may not be accepted by those who own the only 'truth'."
Some respondents who were disappointed with certain of my points encouraged this effort nonetheless, as did Marta Tesfaye:
Quote: I beg you to forgive those who have not given you the benefit of the doubt and continue to stand up for Ethiopia/ As you yourself said we have a long way to go before we start learning how to treat each other with respect even when we disagree. But try to do your best and I know I am asking for a lot, their discouragement and the misunderstanding get in the way. As you know the situation is getting worse and even more polarized and we need your help.
And once in a while, my efforts elicited comments such as this from Yohannes Abebe:
Quote: Thank you for your courageous efforts to start an honest intellectual debate about the current Ethiopian political crisis. You have no idea the level of impact you are having with my generation.
Whether or not that is so–of course I hope it is–I attempted in each Getz to present "both sides" (as though there are only two; sadly, that's how the game is being played as of now). It was an effort to let each side see that its position could be understood while at the same time inviting it to consider the perspective of the other.
Getz #1 encouraged the Government to become less repressive toward the media and encouraged journalists to develop more professionalism and integrity in their reporting. A visit to Kaliti Prison occasioned a portrayal of contrasting viewpoints in Getz #2, with a call for "room for dissent, protected by just laws and civil institutions, as well as a willingness to fight nonviolently for divergent views even when in a disadvantaged minority."
"Two Tales of One City," Getz #3, sketched seemingly incompatible narratives about Ethiopia's history that underlie surface resentments in the present. Getz #5 essayed an overview of political developments in Ethiopia since the May 2005 election, listing both achievements and mistakes made by the EPRDF regime, the opposition parties, and the EU observers.
The other Getzotch moved beyond this monopolization of public discourse by the non-stop antagonism between EPRDF and CUD advocates. "What Happened in the Past 12 Months?" simply drew attention to a number of other, neglected happenings. Getz #6, "More People More Hunger" focused on the looming catastrophe posed by Ethiopia's unchecked demographic explosion. Drawing on the pioneering work of Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam, Daniel Assefa, and Sahlu Haile, I showed that spiraling population growth figures in a vicious cycle including smaller farming plots, deforestation, soil despoliation, chronic hunger, and widespread malnutrition. In Getzotch 7, 8, and 9, which concerned Tigrayawinet, Oromo options, and Beta Israelis, respectively, I dealt with issues of ethnic separatism, arguing that although different groups may have distinct interests and agendas, the historic reality of a successfully multiethnic nation needs to be respected.
In the wake of all these purportedly even-handed interpretations, one of my readers wrote:
Quote: You have done an excellent job representing the different sides empathetically. But you have not told us what can be done to move beyond the current impasse.
Perhaps not explicitly enough. But a number of Ethiopians have done so, eloquently.
Consider Professor Alemayehu Mariam's astute analysis of the principles and dynamics of nonviolent political action.
Consider Professor Mohammed Hassan Ali’s gesture, following Oromo custom, of intervening as chair of a large public meeting where tempers began to flare, asking one of the elders present to say a blessing over the whole crowd which proceeded to calm down visibly minute by minute.
Consider Ambassador Samuel Assefa, who urges Ethiopians of all persuasions to meet together in small groups to begin to talk to one another openly, honestly, and respectfully.
Consider Ato Michael Aman Andom's remark regarding my efforts to bring such groups of Ethiopians of diverse perspectives together:
Quote: It's good to hear anytime fellow Ethiopians can gather and communicate effectively. . . . It's positive whenever we can make such progress because it's a precedent"–and his conviction, despite all, that "there are open-minded folks who are tempered with pragmatism, understand the modern economic world and how it functions, have respect for the opinions of others, are not quick to judgment, not hot-tempered, know how to lose battles and win wars, respect rule of law, and have a fundamental and profound respect for human life and empathy and desire to cure the Ethiopian people's plight.
Or listen to Dr. BT Costantinos, longtime advocate of Ethiopian Think Tanks to provide nonpartisan, professional investigations into the problems of Ethiopia's development, who commends "innovative political partnerships . . . to marshal our knowledge to play a constructive role in the renaissance of our politico-cultural make-up, values and institutions."
Listen to the appeals of Ato Abate Kassa, Dr. Berhanu Abegaz, and other signatories of the Citizens' Charter for a Democratic Ethiopia, who "call on political parties (including the TPLF/EPRDF) and civic organizations to hold back on their sectarian concerns and instead focus on a common agenda"–one that "embraces the diverse Ethiopian family and aims at expanding the political space for exercising those human, civic, and political freedoms that are enshrined in international conventions."
Consider the spirit behind the proposal of Ambassador Imru Zeleke to convene an all-inclusive Conference to which all civic organization and political parties will be invited to discuss all issues regarding Ethiopia: "our diversity is our heritage and our wealth, and the emblem of our civilization, of which we are all proud."
What impedes adherence to such evidently constructive visions?
Forty years ago, in Wax and Gold, when I hoped that modernizers might form discussion groups devoted to professional development, political democracy, and cultural inclusiveness, I identified a few factors from the traditional culture that impeded such an advance: narrow individualism, verbal sadism, chronic suspiciousness, and circumlocuitous communication (wax and gold). Without open, sincere (Latin sine cera, "without wax") communication that is essential to modernity, political discourse fills up with rumors, fears, misunderstandings, and mutual incriminations. Many Ethiopians have agreed with this diagnosis, most recently Dessalegn Shiferaw who, in a round-up of a dozen related traits such as sem matfat (character assassination), teretaray (chronic mistrust), getterenet (stubbornness and lack of compromise), meqeyem (holding grudges) and the like declared it "time to declare war on dysfunctional behaviors" <www.ethiomedia.com/carepress/dysfunctional_behaviors.html> .
At the same time I encouraged Ethiopians to respect and draw on factors from traditional culture that could energize the quest for democracy and national development. These include a time-honored passion for fairness and justice, and a deep pride in their nation and its independence that transcends narrow local interests. They also include an exceptional capacity for compassion and forgiveness, manifest in such customs as those concerning illness and death of close ones, stories like those of Mariam forgiving the cannibal of Khmer, and traditions of political forgiveness following the defeat of enemies. They include the remarkable ways in which Oromo gumi gayo assemblies are organized to promote respectful deliberation and achieve their constant goal of peace, nagaa. Indeed, all of the cultures of traditional Ethiopia have admirable mechanisms of conflict resolution. Ethiopia's positive factors include the distinctive way in which followers of different religions, despite obvious tensions, got along remarkably well together, sharing holiday celebrations, going on pilgrimages together, and intermarrying. Ethiopians' realism about the limits of human nature can serve to curb the excessive ambitions of modernization ideologies, their ability to show humor in adversity can cushion the inevitable bumps on the roads to modernity.
Indeed, all Ethiopians deep down have more that links them together than what pushes them apart. I suggested this in Greater Ethiopia in 1974; I sense it more strongly than ever now. I wish all my readers could have shared the experience of talking to the prisoners at Kaliti in the same week that I talked to those responsible for detaining them. I have never heard such similarly eloquent professions of faith in the destiny of Ethiopia and in the vision of a multiethnic country whose citizens were guided by the rule of a common set of laws. This deep commonality of sentiment should be sufficient to prod partisans to step back briefly from their emotionally-driven mindsets, even if the country were not facing troubles from unstable and hostile neighbors.
If there were one single commitment that could sweep the archaic dysfunctional habits away, it might be to enact an Ethiopian variant of the Japanese example depicted in Eiko Ikegami's book The Taming of the Samurai (1995): to effect a change in the warrior ethic, thereby uniting the courage, hardiness, and social commitments of the old-style gwebez warrior with the values of compassion and justice. The New Warrior employs the tools of nonviolence to destroy the enemy completely–by turning him into a friend. All concerned must practice ways to embody constructive disagreement. Many Ethiopians have taken steps to promote civility in public discourse and nonviolence as a way of life, including the Ethiopian Institute for Nonviolent Education and Peace Studies, research on civility such as Yodit Zenebe Mekuria's study on civic education in the Somali province, Makeda Tsegaye's studies with the University for Peace Network, the nonviolence education programs of the Awassa Youth Campus, Mercy Corps's work in conflict resolution, the UN-supported Ethiopian Peace and Development Institute, and many others.
Troubles internal and external require Ethiopia to rise to new levels of societal health, yet the political crisis of the past year grows like a cancer on the Ethiopian body politic. The crisis can be resolved even if only one of the two parties musters the courage to do the right thing.
The challenge is clear. For the Government, it means to acknowledge its Election-related mistakes: to apologize and make amends for its over-reactions that resulted in excessive killings and imprisonments, for starters; to commit itself more publicly and aggressively to actions that implement reforms of the judicial system, the press legislation, and the human rights record; and to bring the trial to a prompt conclusion. This would show the world how far they have come since harboring the hardcore revolutionary doctrines with which they took power in 1991. For the CUD leadership, it means to acknowledge the mistake they made in not taking over the task they were elected by the people to perform–to administer the capital city and to represent all their constituents in Parliament–thereby provoking protests that led to so many unnecessary deaths. This would show a willingness to acknowledge those changes and manifest a loosening of the hardened images of the other side, which undergird their antipathy to the "system." It will probably require at least as much courage to take such stands as Ethiopian warriors showed in fighting the Italian armies at Adwa and as underground arbeññotch during the talat gize.
Ferinjis have played a constructive role in Ethiopia's modernizing developments over the past century, but they have exacerbated domestic tensions as well. In any case, the issues at hand can be resolved only by Ethiopians themselves. The inner strengths and quest for national self-determination represented by the spirit of Adwa can be recovered and fortified. My counsel to Ethiopians is not to depend on ferinji governments and institutions to save the situation. To move toward a national effort to promote democratic institutions and economic development, the motto should be: Simuññ y'agare lijjotch Yihé neger ye-ityopiawiyan new!
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| Costantinos |
| Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:37 am |
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Joined: 31 Mar 2006
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Location: Addis Ababa
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Dear friends and colleagues,
Ethiopia is not at cross-roads any more. It is more complex; it is indeed at a defining moment whether to join the list of failed nations in need of an international force to monitor and keep the peace or to take its own democratic agenda fully and unfailingly. The status quo is simply too harrowing to contemplate, with a war front and jihad launched at it from more than ten nations in the region.
During this period of the post-electoral turmoil, we have been eyewitnesses to the horrific deeds unseen and unheard of in the past decade. Public transport were burnt, offices and shops looted, private vehicles were crushed, and people could not get to their work. For that majority who depended on their daily ‘djornata’ incomes, the riots amounted to a hunger sentence. In the end it was the poor and the ailing ‘middle class’ that bore the brunt of the riots. Scores of people died and many more wounded in clashes with police. Thousands have been incarcerated and, while a majority has been released, the leaders of the opposition are facing charges of attempted-treason for unconstitutional usurpation of power.
This is in stark contrast to the 1991 Transitional Charter that heralded that “the overthrow of the dictatorship… presents a historical moment, providing with the opportunity to restructure the state democratically”. Almost to the date, fifteen years later, sparked by the momentous May 2005 polls, the contestation for regime change has ushered in an unprecedented political impasse. The current axes of divergence zero on outright opposition leaders rejection of the May polls, ethnicity, violence, human security, human development, endowments, unemployment, and incarceration of stalwarts and restoration of legislative procedures.
While conflicts often serve as vital stimulus for change; they can and do cause major destabilization. Hence multidisciplinary protocols and tools are proposed to initiate a process of alternative conflict management (ACM) between parties and plaintiffs in civil society. We must all endeavor to do everything to address the political impasse the nation is facing right now. My purpose in this response is two fold.
(1) I have focused on the role of the diaspora in getting Ethiopia and Ethiopians out of penury because this is one of the few development forums that we can exchange opinions with our brethren across the Atlantic and Mediterranean. For us who live in Ethiopia it is a daily chorus to exchange views through the various medium of communications including workshops, conference and even educational seminars. Hence it should be clear that I had no intention of painting the Ethiopian diaspora as robots.
(2) I believe that the million strong Ethiopian diaspora can help build Ethiopian democratic institutions that are the requisite basis for peaceful political participation and contestation.
I do believe that the Ethiopian Diaspora cannot alienate itself form their mother land; as there is sufficient evidence that the Diaspora's involvement can have a very serious impact on our development and contribute sustainably to determine the rules of the game on how this nation is governed. Today, the majority of elected opposition politicians are in parliament exercising their prerogatives to represent the populace who have elected them. Nonetheless, the final outcomes of the political mêlée between the incumbent and the opposition leaders is a sad story that every Ethiopian at home or in the diaspora has taken to heart – indeed a regrettable outcome of a historic sea change that could have launched our nation in a different trajectory.
True, there is a certain level of naïveté that augurs on certain conceptual shortcomings in current perspectives relating to democratic reforms in Ethiopia. These can be seen as outcomes of more or less conscious attempts of politicians to quickly get their hands on 'urgent' or 'practical' matters associated with the 'democratization of politics' and the pre-emotive 'socialization' of democratic ideas and practices without worrying much about developing democratic rules and institutions. Beyond elections, democratic development depends upon the emergence of supportive set of political institutions. Institutions are recurrent and valued patterns of political behaviour that give shape and regularity to politics. They may be manifest as political rules (either legal or informal) or as political organizations (within the state or civil society). As the building blocks of democracy, certain combinations of political institutions must be extant or emergent if a democratic transition is to occur successfully. Historically, it is clear that few regimes successfully achieve a transition to full democratic rule on their first attempt. As we have seen in Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria… and in a majority of other cases, several unsuccessful attempts have been necessary before a transition was actually consolidated and sustained for the long term.
But Ethiopians have survived the brutal military dictatorships of the recent past and there is no reason that to believe that this level of resilience has lost its steam. Hence the need for us all to take a long term view of our national development --- as rising from the ashes every time we change regimes violently has indeed made us vulnerable to the whims of nature, famine and pandemics that haunt us every single day. In the end, it is the poor who pay for this. Beyond classic examples such as India, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, Ghana… their role has been amply demonstrated in Ethiopia by the Technology Park project initiated by the Ethiopian Diaspora soon to see the light of day, P2P HIV/AIDS Programs, AHEAD in Canada, ENAHPA's medical capacity building, many supporting human development focused on the individual citizen, and hundreds if not thousand that have come back home and invested successfully (such as the booming flower industry, textiles and real estate ) and meaningfully here at home, bringing many citizens in destitution out of poverty.
It was the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King that said, "let us not try to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness in history". "We must not let our creative militancy to degenerate into physical violence… we must fight physical force with soul force". Thus was how the emancipation of African Americans was achieved; only 40 years ago in the world's mightiest nation that many Ethiopian have adopted.
My submission underpinning the need to collectively stride towards the goal of creating sustainable livelihoods for our citizens who have paid in sweat and blood to send us to school and even abroad with their meagre resources; not hoping that one day we can pay them back, but now that we able to do that, I do not believe we cannot surmount any obstacle to have the courage, privilege and honor of just doing that. As Emperor Haile Sellasse articulated "throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph."
I thank Prof. Levin aka Gebre Liben Etyiopia for his love, commitment and good will to Ethiopia and Ethiopians and the tenacity he has shown to withstand the intolerance from the diaspora that has emerged as hallmark culture of Ethiopian politics in country and abroad.
Costantinos |
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Our mission is to instil a rights-based human security and entrepreneurial development... |
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| Sisay Asefa |
| Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:13 am |
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Joined: 23 Nov 2006
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Comment by Sisay Asefa: on prof. Levine’s Getz 10“….In Conclusion” piece.
Professor Levine has offered one of the most constructive views to help the necessary and inclusive dialogue to move the democratic process forward in Ethiopia. As he points out, correctly, some of his views are unpopular by extremist forces from all sides. But, if there is peace and progress is to be realized and sustained, a civilized dialogue must go on along the lines he suggests. This will take time. In the Ethiopian political discourse, what is missing is the voice of “silent majority” even among elites. This silent majority has the capacity to build democratic and stable, and peaceful Ethiopia. But, currently it is not engaged in constructive and democratic political discourse for various reasons. Ethiopia should not abdicate the responsibility of constructive and peaceful dialogue to extremists from what ever corner they come from. Ethiopia’s decline in recent history is a direct result of these forces prevailing since the early 1970s, and of course, the Country is not still out of the woods in this regard. Ethiopian elites and politicians may only ignore his views at their own peril. Ethiopia is not ready yet, friends, for a partisan and polarized of discourse of Western Liberal Democracy, before what I call “democratic institutions of governance” are built or established. Some of these institutions include the presence of a loyal opposition party to the nation and the people, the presence of a responsible ruling party of good will, a truly independent press, an independent judiciary, and term limits in key power holders constitutionally agreed upon or mandated by the majority of the people, or at least the majority of the elites, the true empowerment of the diverse peoples of Ethiopia under a framework of a united democratic state, and the empowerment of Ethiopian women, etc.. In spite of all these institutional gaps, the struggle for human development and combating famine, poverty and disease that claims millions of lives of Ethiopians must continue. In this process the Ethiopian Diaspora has a clear responsibility to engage human development and poverty alleviation as a united force, and these should not be compromised by dysfunctional politics or the practice of the politics of hate. But, to accomplish all these and face all the challenges ahead, a sustained peaceful dialogue must take place among Ethiopians in the Diaspora or in Ethiopia. |
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Sisay Asefa, Ph.D
Professor, Dept. of Economics
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
269 387 5556
E-Mail: sisay.asefa@gmail.com |
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| Dessalegn |
| Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 3:42 am |
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Joined: 04 Apr 2006
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I, too, agree with Professor Levine's Getz 10.
I also agree with Dr. Constantinos and Dr. Asefa that the diaspora has an important role to play.
The question is: How do we get it to play that role? Then I ask, what is it about the diaspora that has prevented it from doing as much as some of us think it ought to?
"...the Ethiopian Diaspora has a clear responsibility to engage human development and poverty alleviation as a united force," writes Dr. Asefa. Individually, we send money home, but where are the institutions that would make the diaspora more effective in all its ventures, from economic development to poverty alleviation to conflict resolution...?
Are dysfunctional politics and the politics of hate holding us back? Perhaps, but they're not the entire explanation, as institutions are relatively weak or absent in non-political contexts, too.
In (my) layman's terms, and I think Getz 10 supports this somewhat, Ethiopian society has a propensity for conflict and also a weak capacity for teamwork. These two characteristics are of course strongly related, but also different. Until these issues are both explicitly tackled, the diaspora will remain unable to engage constructively and efficiently in Ethiopia.
So, I think it would be a good idea to raise awareness in the diaspora not only of conflict resolution and peace issues in the context of politics, such as those exercises led by ICAR and others described by Lyons, and EINEPS of course, but also of basic norms and behaviours in Ethiopian society outside the context of politics that not only explain conflict, but also our weak capacity for teamwork.
As Dr. Constantinos implies, the nice thing about working on the diaspora is that, for various reasons, it's much easier than working in Ethiopia. But also, it helps from the point of view that the diaspora is a laboratory sample for Ethiopian society. And how lucky we are to have it. Not only can the diaspora impact Ethiopia, but what has been learnt about the diaspora can be applied in Ethiopia.
I certainly hope that there will be a steady increase in academic interest in these matters, but more importantly, a concerted effort to translate the academic knowledge into educational campaigns, workshops, seminars, etc. that can permeate all aspects of the diaspora and Ethiopian society. |
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