Dejávu – Here we go again By Andualem Tefera March 1, 2004

Dejávu – Here we go again
By Andualem Tefera
March 1, 2004

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“Obstruction in the UEDF: Is there any justification to it?
By Getachew Begashaw and Solomon Gebre Selassie
February 26, 2004

After contemplating for a long time I have decided to write my opinion of the currently hot issue in Ethiopian political ‘shikucha.’ The reason is as the last sentence of the article has it: “The challenges facing our generation are too huge to be simply left to our politicians.”

The article tells us how AEUP is by implication working with TPLF/EPRDF?Meles and how the leadership is working for self interest and how it is the bad side but UEDF is the good side. Here I will say Dejávu, here we go again.

Most of us remember how in the early 90’s CODFE was formed, how much momentum it generated, and how much so many people who kept themselves away from participating in the political struggle came back and joined forces and contributed to it. The sad part is it was wasted because of lack of cohesiveness in the formed front’s leadership which was centered on the champion and the destructor of the group.

A group of organizations come together because each has an interest in the formation. Each comes with its’ history, traditions, values, strengths and weaknesses. When one of the group members tries to dominate everybody else, there is nothing left for the others but to break away. The mere fact that a front of the existing organizations is needed to save the country and that TPLF/Meles is leading the country to chaos is by itself not enough for all opposition groups to come together. Ethiopians are not interested in replacing TPLF/Meles with another dictator. Yes Meles is taking the country to the lowest it has ever been in every angle of measurement. Yet blindly saying anyone is better than TPLF/Meles will not be enough from now on. Look who came after DERG/Mengistu?

If anyone of the present organizations says it is the best choice Ethiopians have, I will just ask a simple question; show me your history. I do not know the history of each and every organization that is in the front of the political ‘shikucha.’ I do not know what is really going on between the leaders of AEUP and the leaders of UEDP or as the source of the accusation indicates EPRP. I honestly declare that I do not know anything about AEUP, its’ leadership, its political program, its values, and its inner workings. On the other hand, the history, values, and inner workings of EPRP are known to most of us. There is a big difference between claiming to be a democratic, popular, revolutionary, and the best of all and being that. There is a big difference between writing a very appealing political program and believing in it. There is a big difference between exploiting a situation and giving a solution to a given situation. That was what happened here in Washington D.C. when CODEF was formed. Ethiopians turned out in big numbers when the question of the very existence of the country was questioned. What followed is known to all. Is it going to be Dejávu, here we go again? Why is this:

“. . . they have adamantly clung to their disruptive demands, which, no doubt, would be found by an independent body to lack merit.”

“In a reminder of an analogous dilemma, a decade or so ago, the African National Congress faced similar issues with the Zulu-based Inkatha Party. ANC suspected all along, and it was later confirmed, Inkatha was working secretly with the apartheid regime to forestall what was perceived by both to be ANC’s “rise” to power. The mystery of “the Third Force” was solved.”

“In contemporary Ethiopian politics, where business interests and political interests appear to easily intersect in some cases, one has to be weary of such logic defying moves.”

“The authors of this article do not think the AEUO is justified in repeatedly challenging UEDF and bogging it down in procedural matters and crafting of bureaucratic responses.”

Reading this, would anyone be interested to work with an organization these writers belong to – and when told that these writers are at the top of the leadership? Is this a sign of a democratic party’s handling of challenges or is this a smear tactic to make it easy to label the other side a saboteur and win sympathy? Is this the first time for EPRP? I wonder if at all this organization will ever learn. When the Ethiopian people wanted to see the opposition work together, it does not mean that one organization is the master of all others, although that seems the only understanding the writers’ organization knows. To challenge, to ask, to criticize, and to make the inner workings known to all of us is the duty of each and every individual organization in the union if each believes the union represents the alternative to TPLF. Otherwise ‘gulecha bikeyayer wott ayataftem’ and the writers know it better that me.

It is one thing to want to change the government and it is also necessary to know what will take its’ place. Unquestionably the coming together of different organizations will bring a democratic taste to the front. For this to happen there needs to be a functional democracy inside the union. I for one do not have a desire to be a stepping stone for someone to take power.