Anyone who has been closely following the country’s politics by now should know the following facts: the latest victim of the dying free press in Addis Neger, the mounting harassment against such political parties as Arena Tigrai and UDJ, and the laughable death sentences passed by a kangaroo court against the leaders and members of Ginbot 7. If we further stretch the timeline to investigate the status of the “political space”, we would sadly note the unjust jailing of thousands of political prisoners as epitomized by Judge Birtukan’s one year in jail anniversary.
The Code of Conduct, which we are told by the signatories marks a positive departure in Ethiopian politics, has to be evaluated and situated in this panorama. Our immediate past bears a striking similarity to what is taking place around the axis of the Code of Conduct. Meison (the Amharic acronym of the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement), a political party that emerged in the early 1970s, to its founders and members eternal regret, allied with the Derg during those times albeit for about 9 months. By forming an alliance with the Dergue, Meison was an unwitting partner, or at the minimum, an onlooker in the Derg’s crimes against the civilian opposition.
The Derg later turned upon Meison once it effectively eliminated the opposition led by the EPRP and others. This is a sad recent historical event most of the survivors now agree was the height of folly that led to the two leftist parties to engage in the internecine fighting.
Although the clock of history cannot be turned back for remedy, the lessons should be learned so that – as the philosopher Santayana said – those who cannot remember would be condemned to repeat it. Even if the signatories of the Code of Conduct signed the document planning to outsmart TPLF/EPRDF down the road (and such a genuine plan is conceivable), again Meison’s eventual fate is instructive. Meison too tried to outdo the Derg and take power and badly lost and paid for it. History repeatedly shows that the only guarantee to defeat dictatorship is not by allying with it either out of opportunism or perceived fear of ones rivals, or by miscalculation of outflanking it. Rather, the best anti-dote to dictatorship is to array and bring together all democratic forces into a coalition as Medrek is doing now and methodically struggling against it relying on the power of the people.
In that regard, all opposition parties – including those who signed the Code of Conduct – must come to the aid of the latest victims of the TPLF/EPRDF dictatorship. To that effect, the following slogans must be the calls of the day shared by all: call for the release of Birtukan and all political prisoners; condemn the kangaroo court’s decision of death penalty against Ginbot 7 leaders; call for the regime to stop the harassment against Arena/UDJ/Medrek; and condemn the harassment of the independent media and the brutal act of hounding them into exile. Press releases, vigils and demonstrations inside and outside the country should reflect these slogans. The motto must be the Ethiopian saying “afincha simetta ayin yaleksal”.
On the contrary, sanitizing the dictatorship by saying that the jailing and harassment of opposition party members are “sporadic acts of low-level state functionaries who have not yet gotten the memo from Meles,” as Ato Hailu tells his audience in the most recent VOA interview is conveniently neglecting history, both past and current. If the signatories of the Code of Conduct continue on their current path, it would be a matter of time before they jointly unleash their terror onto Medrek, using the powers of the Joint Council they formed under article 21 of their agreement.
The harassed parties like UDJ also do not have the luxury to fight two battles on two flanks – one against the regime’s brutality and the second against their own splinters. Inability to handle internal problems has been and continues to be the hallmark of our political parties. The splinters should have the moral duty either to form their own separate opposition party and help the camp of freedom and democracy; or else, if it has not been tried, they have to submit along with UDJ to a shimagelle‘s group jointly named whose decision would be final and binding, and whose terms of reference would be the rules and bylaws of the UDJ party.
The Ethiopian people must be able to judge the opposition political parties by their actions of coming togetherness, and call for each other’s security and well-being. As we have said before, the leaders must display qualities of humility, perseverance and militancy and cooperation across the board. Those leaders must be cross-generational as yebahri chigir that afflicts a section of our opposition party leaders is not germane to age. Also, young leaders could learn from the experience, perseverance and militancy of the older generation, while infusing the leadership with energy and new ideas.
There is no point in insisting on being stubborn – and some might call it on being stupid – in not heeding one’s constituents’ counsel, and bestowing on Meles an unearned genius label for a self-inflicted division among the opposition. Learning from our immediate political past, we must close our ranks and surge forward together for a better day for our country and people.
