Blending armed struggle with peaceful resistance

By Andualem Teferra

January 25, 2006

“Some spoke of how they were taken away in mass round-ups in Addis Ababa and how they suffered appalling beatings at the hands of the security forces. Witnesses spoke of seeing people tortured and killed at Dedesa camp in west Ethiopia, where about 50,000 people were detained.” – The Observer; Jan 2, 2006

It was with keen interest I read the article posted by Daniel Assefa. It gives me great satisfaction to admit that the article is filled with truth and excellent logic. Thus it is no surprise that I agreed to most of the points Daniel raised.

On the other hand, it is a little bit surprising Daniel has not followed the article I wrote very closely. Let me explain: I did not say all those who advocate a peaceful resistance should shut up. On the contrary, I wrote it is the combination of both that I advocate and those who say ‘only my way and the other is wrong’ should shut up. I explained in length why those who advocate armed resistance are legitimate and why I think it is a very good idea. Then I quoted at length from Dr. Daniel Zerfu’s article and said to the likes of him, do not insult those who raised arms; if you can join them wonderful; otherwise continue with what you believe. In his logic all that are not with him are wrong. To that I said shut up. I stand by that remark, and I would like to correct Daniel Assefa’s remark that stated I said:

“Andualem’s statement that suggests that if we can not take up arms to defend our loved ones the least we can do is to just ‘shut up’ and if we have any decency at all, we should take arms and fight by the side of those who are willing to fight.”

By no means will I say peaceful resistance advocates do not have courage as I made it clear that I personally advocated it. Peaceful resistance has its place and plays its part to achieve some goals and especially when the one we fight against has some moral values it can be hold against. Armed resistance also has its place and it plays its part when there is nothing left to hold the outlaw accountable and bring justice to the land.

I am going to make this article short just because at this juncture of the struggle the means of the struggle is secondary. Both peaceful and armed resistance are in the land whether one acknowledges it or not. For me the fact that members of this illegal group in power must go should be highlighted and accepted. It is very important to work hard to bring these two sectors to have common goal and find a way to make them work together.

To begin with the fact that there are examples to share where armed resistance benefited one country as measured by such and such is not an argument to have armed resistance. On the contrary not to have an example does not make it a forbidden territory either. Armed resistance comes not because your country is invaded or internally you have an oppressive government. For me the form of struggle is dictated by the objective condition the country is in. Gandhi’s India used peaceful resistance against British colonizers. It worked. It was foreign invasion. Such was not the case in Fascist Ethiopia. Georgia had opportunity to use peaceful resistance to bring down their government (No one can predict whether a democratic government will follow or not but we all wish – just wish) at the same time one can mention Cuba and Nicaragua to be successful with armed resistance although the following governments were better than the earlier but with a lot of issues. There are many places where neither worked as planned. Take Iraq. Many uprisings were done without success. Both peaceful and armed resistances were done against Sadam Hussein to no avail. All over the world there were many peaceful resistances that did not succeed and yet we still believe it is one form of struggle. Like wise many armed legitimate resistances were not successful.

When I mentioned examples I chose those that are very clear and known by all. I mentioned that TPLF did not have an Ethiopian agenda and it never at any time said it fought for Ethiopia and this in itself could make the fight against TPLF a liberation struggle but I know better not to go that route. The most I detest about the present political climate is taking TPLF as a representative of the people in Tigray and then lump them as enemies. I believe the people who live in Tigray are as much victims of TPLF as the rest of the people who live in other parts of the country. For that very reason I will not push this point. On the other hand I will take TPLF as an example in a very different way. TPLF fought Derge and no one will say overthrowing Derge was incorrect. The issue was how it governed not why it participated in overthrowing Derge. When Ethiopians said enough to Derge and fought all over the country TPLF was part of it and at the end for the reasons I will leave to historians TPLF ended up with the power. Thus the armed resistance of the people in the land overthrew a dictator out.

The case of South Africa is one you definitely have more knowledge than I. I did not misrepresent the facts in this case. If ANC did not have the armed wing how much progress it would have had is open to discussion? Would the apartheid leaders have given in as fast as they did if the armed wing of ANC was not there? Yes I did not diminish the role of the peaceful resistance and the international pressure; my point is the armed struggle played big part.
I am glad you agree there is a place for armed resistance. You want to limit it to foreign invaders. You made sure that I understand more Kenyans were killed than British soldiers. When Kenyans raised arms they did not calculate how many will be killed before the brutal invaders were kicked out. Did you consider how many people have been killed because of and during the British occupation? Did you compare the Kenya before and after as a factor in your points? Did our forefathers calculate the number that will be killed when they marched against the Italian fascists?

Ato Daniel “detests (armed resistance) because of its inability to bring about a sustainable democracy. Armed movement by its very nature breeds leaders that respect the gun rather than reason and intellect. The leaders have habits of solving disagreements by force and surrounding themselves with incompetent “yes” men around them that constantly feed their ego. The power dynamics with in the movement always stains their hand with human blood. The supreme commander in the armed struggle is usually the one that is the most uncompromising, the most ruthless and the most willing to kill. The democracy that they shamelessly flaunt within their movement is not a true democracy but a kind where the tyranny of the majority is respected “
I could not agree more.

What is the alternate? It is this dilemma we are confronting now. Do we sit down as Meles said and be his slaves, which makes it no different than living under a foreign invader or do we do anything possible to give an end to this?

I am glad Daniel wrote: “We are not going to stop …” Good we should not. I have a problem when he wrote: “So ask yourselves: could we have accomplished all this if we had resorted to armed struggle???” There are many questions to be answered here. What do you mean by we? I understand by we you mean the people as a whole. If that is the case when the people as a whole stand in unity and raise arms, believe me, it is a matter of not some success but in a very short time all will be achieved. Coming to the practical calculation though, yes armed resistance will make it possible to achieve everything, when it is led by the people or their elected representatives. Can this be done? No. There will not be election of leaders in this case. At present, given the worsening situation in Ethiopia, there is no choice that the illegal group must be removed in the shortest time possible before it inflicts more damages. Yes, a peaceful resistance must continue and in fact it will help guide the armed wing to the correct path but it is also correct to believe that Meles and his group must be kicked out with whatever is available. The faster Meles goes to his grave, the lesser the sacrifice that is being paid.