Oxymorons (figures
of speech that combine contradictory terms) can sometimes provide unique insights
into the cognitive process. Consider, for instance, the phrase “honest
politician”. Is there such a thing? It sounds so comical to talk about
“efficient government”? How about an “emerging
democracy”? That’s like saying a “little bit pregnant.”
If there is such a thing as a “benevolent despot/dictator”, then
there are hyenas that do not eat carrion. How about “dictator with
conscience”?
Interviewer: In the mid-1960s something was revealed in our
country. Many people were waging struggles. You were in the struggle. In the
Oxford dictionary, for the word famine, the example given is Ethiopia. How does
that make you feel as an Ethiopian?
Zenawi: It is a mixed up situation. On the one
hand, like any citizen, I am very sad. I am ashamed. It is degrading. A society
that built the Lalibela churches some thousand years
ago is unable to cultivate the land and feed itself. A society that built the
Axum obelisks some 2-3 thousand years ago is unable to cultivate the land and
feed itself. That is very sad. It is very shameful. Of all the things, to go
out begging for one’s daily bread, to be a beggar nation is dehumanizing.
Therefore, I feel great shame. In the end though these things
are not the mistakes of a single individual. They have their own long
history, and cannot be eliminated through anger or regrets. In a similar way,
it requires a long struggle and determination and defiance of not just one but
3 or 4 generations. I understand that is what it takes. Until that is removed
and eliminated, until I finish playing my role in it, all I can do is say Amen
and accept this shame and degradation. This is the kind of feeling it creates
in me.
Questioner: In 10 or 15 years from now, is there a vision
that you see that would make you happy. Can you tell us two or three things
about that?
Zenawi: Ten years from now (laughter). Let me
start with ten years from now. One big thing I think will happen and dream
about is that all Ethiopians will get three meals a day (applause). After that
may be, if everything works out well, my hope is that Ethiopians will have two
or three changes of clothes. If everything works out, all Ethiopians will live
within two hours of a paved road. If we do this, we would have done a miracle
(laughter). If we go to twenty years, we would have clinics, schools, access to
roads of less than two hours, not just eat three times a day. We may even have
a choice of foods and selection of clothes. I hope in twenty years, we will
have good outcomes (applause).
Sixteen years
later in 2011, the Black Horseman is standing at the gate. Zenawi
stands alongside with folded arms feigning shame for the fact that Ethiopia is
perceived to be synonymous with famine. Recently, the U.N. predicted the
“worst drought in the last 60 years” for Ethiopia and neighboring
countries. UNICEF warned “millions of children and women are at risk from
death and disease unless a rapid and speedy response is put into action.”
The world
dreads to see once again the haunting skeletal figures of Ethiopian famine
victims splattered across the television screen reminiscent of the 1970s and
1980s. Blame history Zenawi bleated philosophically:
“In the end though these things are not the mistakes of a single
individual. They have their own long history….”
Shame Without Guilt
Zenawi’s
declaration of shame and regret for famine and chronic food shortages in
Ethiopia is reminiscent of those American televangelists who publicly confess
their sins when caught in a shameful scandal but take no responsibility for
their transgressions. The devil did it or made them do it. For Zenawi, the blame should be placed on history, drought,
climate change, heartless donors and divine retribution. Famine is not
something he could have anticipated or planned to prevent. Famine just happens.
No one is responsible.
Shame and
guilt are often trivialized in the modern world. After the fall of the Third
Reich, few came forward to express shame for their callous indifference to the
acts of inhumanity committed in their name, and even fewer felt or admitted
guilt for their own criminal acts. They conveniently dissociated themselves
from the inhuman acts by adopting a shockingly matter-of-fact attitude:
“It was what it was.” Nothing more. Of
course, they had their regrets. The super-state that was to
last a thousand years lasted only twelve.
During the
Truth and Reconciliation hearings in South Africa, many of the officials who
perpetrated atrocities “felt” ashamed for torturing and mistreating
black South Africans, but few openly admitted guilt and took full
responsibility for their actions. They said they were acting in the name of the
government or simply following official orders. They were not personally
responsible.
The street
criminal also feels shame for robbing or assaulting his victim, but rarely
admits legal guilt, and even more rarely moral guilt and take responsibility.
He too feels regrets, for getting caught.
It is common
for dictators to acknowledge the fact of their wrongdoing without feeling shame
or guilt. Stalin unapologetically declared, “A single death is a tragedy;
a million deaths is a statistic.” In 1959 during China’s Great
Famine Mao casually remarked in a speech: “When there is not enough to
eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that
the other half can eat their fill.” After the massacre of hundreds of
unarmed demonstrators following the 2005 elections in Ethiopia, Zenawi feigned pangs of conscience: “I regret the
deaths but these were not normal demonstrations. You don’t see hand grenades
thrown at normal demonstrations.” When his own handpicked Inquiry
Commission determined after a meticulous investigation that the demonstrators
were unarmed and carried no weapons of any kind, Zenawi
ignored the report and did nothing. Today, 237 killers still roam the streets
free.
In the final
analysis, when famine consumes hundreds of thousands of people or untold
numbers of people die for simple lack of food, it is the responsibility of the
man at the helm, the guy in the driver’s seat. But
never in Ethiopia. Emperor HaileSelassie said he did not know about the famine in 1974
until it was too late. He was not responsible. Junta leader Mengistu Hailemariam said he was not responsible for the
famine in 1984 because there was no famine. Over a million people died in that
famine. Zenawi says the famine in Ethiopia today is
not the responsibility of any one individual. No one in leadership position has
ever taken responsibility for the recurrent famines in Ethiopia.
One must have
a conscience to feel shame, admit guilt and take responsibility. To say
dictators have conscience is like saying snakes have legs. Dictators are the
quintessential narcissists who care about and love only themselves. They are
incapable of feeling shame, guilt, compassion or appreciation. Their raison d’etre (reason for existence) is the pursuit of power
at any cost to dominate and control others.
Our conscience
is that “inner voice” or “inner light” that helps us
distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, guilt from innocence, love from
hate and virtue from vice. Guilt is the flip side of shame. The bifurcation of
shame from guilt is the clearest manifestation of the lack of conscience. But
if one feels shame and admits guilt (moral or legal) for the actions (or
omissions) producing the shame, he experiences an inner transformation which
compels him to make amends. The painful feeling of dishonor, disgrace,
humiliation and self-criticism transforms the shameful act into an honorable
act or at least produces genuine atonement. Real admission of guilt is always
followed by moral self-redemption and salvation.
Eastern
philosophy teaches that “when the mind is face to face with the Truth, a
self-luminous spark of thought is revealed at the inner core of ourselves and, by analogy, all of reality.” When we
come face to face with the truth of our shameful act and our conscience is
awakened, we naturally and effortlessly make efforts to make amends.
Confession Time?
While we are
on the subject of shame, regrets, guilt and all that, I have my own confession
to make. I am ashamed Ethiopia is a country that has become the butt of famine
jokes (not just an entry in the Oxford Dictionary).
known primarily
for its poverty.
where elections
are stolen in broad daylight.
where the rule of
law and human rights are trampled every day with impunity.
where 237 security
thugs walk free after killing 193 unarmed demonstrators and wounding nearly
800.
with the worst
prison system in the world.
classified as the
world’s worst backslider on press freedom.
with lowest
internet penetration in the world after Sierra Leone.
I am ashamed
Ethiopia is classified together with the worst countries in the world on the
Corruption
Index (most corrupt countries).
Failed States
Index (most failed states).
Index of
Economic Freedom (economically most repressive countries).
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Investment Climate
Assessment (most unfriendly to business).
Ibrahim Index
of African Governance (most poorly governed African countries).
Bertelsmann Political and Economic Transformation Index (most in need of
reform).
Environmental
Performance Index (poorest environmental and public health indicators).
But I am also
proud, mighty proud. I am proud of the unity of the Ethiopian people despite
the efforts of those who toil day and night to divide them by ethnicity,
region, religion, language and whatever else. I am proud of Ethiopia’s culture
of respect, compassion and tolerance. Most of all, I am super proud of
Ethiopia’s young people. They are the only lifeline to the survival of
that nation.
I wear a badge
of shame on the left and a badge of pride on the right. But between my pride
and shame lies my overwhelming sense of gnawing guilt. It is guilt that
manifests itself in a moral quandary about what I could have done, can do now
and in the future, particularly for the young people of Ethiopia to reclaim
their destiny. The solutions to Ethiopia’s famine, poverty, disease,
illiteracy and the rest of it will not come from self-adulating, forked-tongue
dictators who cling to power like ticks on a milk cow, but from
Ethiopia’s young men and women.
Zenawi says he is
ashamed of the recurrent famine in Ethiopia and is resigned to accepting it with
an “Amen.” The crocodile also sheds tears. But a dictator
professing shame without admitting guilt is, to paraphrase Shakespeare,
“an evil soul producing holy witness, a villain with a smiling cheek, a
goodly apple rotten at the heart.”
But can you hear the silent screams of the
starving Ethiopians? Can you see their quiet riots against tyranny? If you
can’t, what a crying shame!
Previous
commentaries by the author are available at:
www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ and http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
