Association of Ethiopians in Europe Stop Apartheid in Ethiopia ! የዘር ፖለቲካ ለማስወገድ እንታገል
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“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Part I of III
When I see droves of Ethiopian youth protesting and joining the country’s defense forces to defend Ethiopia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and national honor, I feel encouraged that Ethiopia will survive. When I see Ethiopian girls and mothers preparing food for those who are fighting terrorists, I feel elated, emboldened, and hopeful. With the restoration of peace and stability, I might be able to witness the inevitability that Ethiopia will not only survive but thrive.
The Ethiopian people do not need foreigners to teach them who they are; and what they stand for. “ባንተባበር ሊበሉን ነበር (If we were not united, they would have broken us apart”) a protest slogan that the young generation of Ethiopians displayed represents a powerful trend in Ethiopian society. Youth across the board are determined to defend their country. They are sacrificing their lives for an honorable cause. This cause is nothing less than Ethiopia’s survival as a state.
This popular resentment against terrorists is gradually gaining traction in the international community. When united, people matter. They change the course of history. Leaders matter too.
However, I know of no perfect leader. Whatever misgivings you may have about the Prime Minister or anyone else leading Ethiopia today; I urge you to focus on the big prize: Ethiopia. In my assessment, any Ethiopian in public office who defends Ethiopia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty against the determined, treasonous, terrorist, and corrupt group, the Tigray Defense Forces and its internal and external strategic allies including the OLF/Shine is honorable. Leaders who reflect popular sentiment matter.
Deficiencies or flaws in leadership notwithstanding, Ethiopia cannot survive without a central government. Deficits in leadership and national priorities must be weighed against the formidable problems Ethiopia faces at present. The threat Ethiopia faces today is existential. If we agree on this, then we can park the institutional and structural problems for now and focus on the priceless: Ethiopia.
Long term, for Ethiopia to endure and for its 117 million people to thrive, Ethiopia’s leaders at all levels of government, opposition parties and civil society must make a bold decision and overhaul ethnic federalism. This is the source of the problem. The system and the administrative model that is based on ethnic differentiation are prone to proxy wars and to constant conflict. You build infrastructure one day and it is destroyed the next day. The root cause of this cycle of perpetual war and destruction must stop at one point. Differentiation based on ethnic identity that currently pits one ethnic group against another must cease. This is the system that Ethiopian society is dealing with at present.
Some may argue that the current system is deficient because it lacks good implementers. If the system is broken at the core, implementation is not the issue. For example, replacing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) dominated governance architecture by another similar entity will only lead to another cycle of violence and destruction. It is therefore not the answer.
A democratic federal model (replacement) that is based on the sanctity of life and the rights and responsibilities of an individual will meet at least two objectives: a) each Ethiopian citizen will enjoy personal safety and security as well as the universally accepted right to own private property wherever he or she resides; and b) social, capital mobility and market integration across regions will be enhanced. Those with rights who also own property rarely destroy what they treasure. They are vested.
The question is when is the right time to propose systemic change? You cannot solve all societal problems at once. You must prioritize and choose. For now, the single most important priority is to save Ethiopia.
I urge each one who believes in Ethiopia’s durability as a country to acknowledge the promising and powerful show of unity among Ethiopians on the ground. Most Ethiopians understand that the priority today is to save Ethiopia. At the same time, it is vital to recognize that the system of ethnic-governance and ethnic federalism have unleashed destructive ethnic-nationalist, extremist, secessionist, and jihadist forces against the Ethiopian state. The threat is posed from two forces: one within and the other without. So, it is not the TPLF/TDF alone that is a threat. It is a combination of internal and external forces. They operate in concert.
By design, the TPLF ruled Ethiopia with an iron-fist and extracted massive rent from the society for almost three decades. By design its foreign sponsors, especially Egypt encouraged the formation of separate and distinct regional states, and the evolution of Special Forces in each state.
The regional state that forged ahead as if it was a separate nation, is Tigray. The most highly endowed, trained, and with a menacing group of Special Forces that operated at par with Ethiopia’s National Defense Forces (ENDF) is the TPLF followed by the Oromo Special Forces. The least endowed is the Amhara. The formation of these Special Forces that operated outside Ethiopia’s national defense, intelligence and security infrastructure strengthened regional. ethnically configured and “independent” state formation.
Allowed by the Ethiopian Federal Government to mushroom, this formation diminished the Ethiopian national state. For all practical purposes, the power of the central Ethiopian Federal state existed in name and on paper only. This is the reason why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his spokesman Ned Price repeatedly call for the withdrawal of Amhara Special Forces from “Western Tigray,” a vast tract of land forcibly annexed and incorporated into Tigray by the TPLF. This false and dangerous assertion amounts to de facto recognition of Tigray as an independent state. You cannot dismiss the fact that they are using the ethnic-federal Constitution to side with the TPLF.
The TPLF/TDF will never change.
