Recently I met an Oromo intellectual who had been abroad on scholarship during the Deg era and ended up in Europe instead of going back and serving under the fascist regime. We were talking about the influence of the Abyssinian feudal political culture in present day Ethiopia and its similar and dissimilar manifestations and the means that serve it best to remain dominant as ever. He suddenly changed the topic or appeared to me to have done so and asked me emphatically why I thought I could move Oromo intellectuals to read what I write in Bariisa.com. I started answering him by saying that I actually wrote not only for intellectuals but he interrupted me to correct himself, saying he did not mean the intellectuals but the literate in general. At the same time he asked me not to misunderstand him. He said the problem has nothing to do with the substance of my articles. Listening to him for some time, only interrupting him for clarification, I think the gist of his arguments is whether out of fear or narrow private interests or lack of awareness, most Oromos hate political commitments nowadays especially if they involve risks. He said I might make myself personally unhappy wasting my energy and time in things for which no body is thankful. I heard myself then saying to him vehemently that I did not care if no one is grateful for what I am doing and that my happiness is unconditional, having nothing to do with Bariisa.Com. I simply write about what I think to be right, I said. While saying that I did not like my vehemence..I felt I was being a bit defensive.
Before we parted I asked him half jesting and half in earnest, if he, as a student of economics, could not make use of bariisa.com to advance knowledge among the Oromos on how to establish successful private business in various branches of global economy. As I said that he stopped in the middle of the road frowning, turning on me abruptly, to say that I should forget big words such as “ global “ or “ economics”. Look”, he said to me”, even a small local business organization requires mutual trust, discipline and faith in a common endeavour and in the future. We have none of these things”. My friends’ words kept ringing in my ear for some time long after he went. No doubt the centuries’ old humiliation under Abyssinian domination has succeeded in ultimately destroying basic self confidence in most of the Oromo people. But I am certain that we shall overcome this problem if we are serious.Only the problem is that, in my opinion, we seem to have lost also the capacity to be really serious. We are mostly addicted to endless trivialities. Otherwise as one falls one is bound also to rise. Right now we are not fully aware of the real situation within us and outside us. Hence our tragedy.
My mind drifted back to the original topic of the peculiarities of the Abyssinian political culture especially in the light of what is happening in Tunisia and the Sudan . I have been reading newspapers paying special attention to the leader or editorial. It helps me form and articulate my own opinions on things. Sudan and Tunisia are rightly receiving a lot of coverage, the floods taking up also considerable space. Events in Tunisia have forced some world leaders who were firm friends of the departing dictator to make statements contradicting their established positions and hailing the Tunisian people. Will such things happen in Ethiopia in the near future? The vocabulary used by most of the Abyssinian opposition groups to describe and analyse the situation is as usual one of pride, courage, patriotism and warning to the woyane and even advising it to change before it is too late. They seem to overlook that Ethiopia is not Tunisia. Whatever happens in Ethiopia in the near future will unravel most probably only within the arena of the usual power brokers. The Abyssinian political and military elites will try to keep the ball rolling only among themselves by all means.
The situation in the Sudan prompted one of the regulars of the cyberspace of the ethiomedia.com, prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam, to be nostalgic about the good old days. Protesting against the ethnic political orientation in woyane era, he quotes , in an article posted in ethiomedia , January 17,2011, Haile Selassie who made what he calls the most compelling case for African unity on the occasion of the establishment of the permanent headquarters of the organization for African unity in Addis Ababa on May 25, 1963:
“We look to the vision of an African not merely free but united. In facing this new challenge we can take comfort and encouragement from the lessons of the past. We know that there are differences among us. Africans enjoy different cultures, distinctive values, special attributes. But we also know that unity can be and has been attained among men of the most disparate origins, that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition are no insuperable obstacles to the coming together of peoples”.
This professor, who claims in the same article that he knows only one humanity and rails raving mad against tribal and ethnic politics, ends up making of a brutal Amhara autocrat an icon of virtue. The echoes of empty words in empty space! If one lives in an ivory tower one may not care about simple facts of life. Academics are often criticized for living in their ivory towers. But with most of the Abyssinian academics the problem is more deeply rooted than that. Well, we were not born yesterday. Oh dear, more homework! What a pain! The professor is worried that Ethiopia may fall apart soon like Sudan. For most Tigrayans and Amharas the Ethiopian emperors, no matter how brutal and unjust, represent patriotism, loyalty and religion. Their political elites today want to play the roles of cowboys and Indians at the same time. But this is possible only in the films from Wild West. They ignore human determination to be free from oppression.
I would like here to mention another formidable Abyssinian Professor: Tecola W. Hagos, a former TPLF man. I was referred to his website almost a year ago by an Abyssinian friend here in Aachen. I was , however , disappointed soon when I read the article in which he tried to exonerate TPLF from blame and responsibility pointing fingers at a few individuals at the top. It seemed to me he was trying to endear himself to the TPLF at grass root level for opportunistic motives while trying to extend his hands at the same time to Amhara opposition circles. Now in his article, also posted in ethiomedia.com, January 19, 2011, with the title” Forgiveness, reconciliation and Pardon: A challenge to society” he raises an extremely important issue which I cannot ignore. His article is important not only for what it says about current political situation in Ethiopia but also for what it leaves unsaid. He is more transparent and objective than most of the Amhara academics who deal in politics even though, like them he, I think, believes in the dogma of Abyssinian dominated Ethiopia..It is clear also that he is more informed. He says in his last article:
“In my opinion , the Derg is still alive, under the radar. It is a well organized and well funded subversive organization. It has the potential to overthrow Meles Zenawi and his EPRDF government. And some of its sympathizers or former officials are right at the pinnacle of power in Meles Zenawi’s government. Behind the scenes, they are also the moving forces and leaders of very many political parties and civic organizations. By freeing the convicted Derg officials, what would happen is a kind of political surgery that reattaches the severed head of the Derg Dragon to its giant dragon body that is in repose waiting to be revived. Meles is making a monumental mistake in instigating this “pardon” debacle in an attempt to draw attention away from his numerous corrupt deeds and insiders’ fighting for power. In the alternative, the whole scheme can be seen also as desperate attempt by Meles Zenawi to make sure the continuity of law and order to leave office peacefully and to allow him to live in great opulence on the fabulous wealth he looted from Ethiopians”.
In my first article in Bariisa.com, entitled “ Ethiopia at the cross roads” I tried to raise this question obliquely by pointing out how the woyane inherited the bulk of its bureaucracy from the Derg era, consisting of men and women involved in political and war crimes. I was convinced that they would try to turn the table one day with or without cooperation with the TPLF. During my work with the EPRDF I had gripping and harrowing encounters with some of them, mostly heads of departments who lived in luxury by all standards. They acted a memorable performance pretending to be victims themselves. They were not all Amharas. There were also Oromos who secretly sympathized with the OLF and knew how to tell moving stories about the Derg era. The ease with which many of them collaborated with OLF till its peaceful exit struck me deeply. Individuals who served Abyssinian supremacy for decades as willing slaves becoming suddenly champions of the Oromo cause when their interests were threatened. Some of them even asked me openly how I could be tricked into believing woyane propaganda!! I realized concretely how certain cynical aspects of Oromo nationalism can make hordes of people mad.
But does Meles aspire to leave office peacefully just to live in opulence? I doubt this very much. For Meles the love of money and power go together. The real thing is that Meles and his colleagues in the TPLF realize that without making a major concession to Amhara political circles they cannot keep Ethiopia from falling apart sooner or later. To cut a long story short, I would say most groups of the Derg era represent Amhara power. The ones that are already part of the present government can serve the Woyane as a bridge to their elements in the Diaspora. On this score I admire the openness here of Prof. Tecola Hagos and his clarity when he says the pro Derg forces are very powerful now.
The only stumbling block to this rapprochement between Tigray and Amhara political elites is their common political culture of intrigues and conspiracy that breeds mistrust and ends mostly in mindless violence till one of them gets the upper hand as we know from history, even though both adhere to the same political philosophy of the unscathed, unspotted, everlasting Ethiopia. But both sides know the proverb that says don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. Therefore each side will have many options for the time being. Many things can be either complicated or made easy by the developments in the relation with the Eritrean regime or the situation in the Sudan.. If they all overcome the mistrust they will jointly mobilize more effectively their Oromo stooges to demoralize once for all the majority of the Oromo people who keep dreaming of independence and also to neutralize the resistance in Somalia and Ogaden.The dictator in Eritrea can play crucial role here in steering the OLF in the right direction! Even though they- the Abyssinian elites and their Oromo friends- all rejoice in the dismantling of Sudan, the remote possibility that the same can happen to Ethiopia is a kick in their teeth.