The beneficiaries of pardoning/executing these individuals
The most important of the five stated points is who we are and where we are going to as a society. When we discuss at large this issue as an Ethiopian agenda, it stops being about the government; past or present, the victims, the perpetrators, or family members of this group and that group. It is us as a society now and for the future generations to come. Forgiveness may be granted by the loved ones of the victims and pardon may be granted by the government in place, but the action whichever way it goes is of the society. What does bringing justice or pardoning these individuals say about our society to the generations to come? What is going to happen next when the current government officials are taken prisoners next, of course their fall is inevitable.
The second point is what does this mean about the justice system of the current government? Is it about justice? Does the current government have the moral high ground to effect justice? What do its history and its political philosophy tell us? What is it actually doing? Can it persecute the Derg officials? Are this government’s officers any better than the collective Derg members in terms of the crimes committed?
The other point at hand is the crimes committed by these individuals personally and or collectively. Is there any Ethiopian that is not affected one way or another by these Derg members? Are we all not victims of these individuals? Is there any individual that will ever defend the acts of these Derg personnel? Can we even describe in words what they did?
A crucial point in this discourse is who is orchestrating this pardoning process? What have we learned from similar activities in the past? Were there real shimagles in the pardoning shared in the Qaliti Prisoners of 2005? And are there real shimagles now?
Why now? Why pardoning them, while thousands of innocent Ethiopians are still languishing in jails because of who they are, Oromo, Amara, Somali, etc, or because they refused to be members and supporters of EPRDF? Who did this similar act of asking pardon and forgiveness before? Where are those that orchestrated the pardon (the so called shimagles) process now? Did they do a good job?
Finally who benefits in this process? In an authoritarian government every little thing is done by, done by the permission of, done to the benefit of, and/or done with the authoritarian’s hand in it. This gives answers to most of the questions that are raised around this issue. It is not to the benefit of victims of the act. It is not to the benefit of general public. It is not in consideration of the future generation. It starts and ends with the current authoritarian government. Hence it should not be a national issue. Prof. Tecola Hagos, although his philosophical analysis and political thinking lead him to a wrong conclusion, correctly wrote:
“If people were truly interested to bring justice to the people of Ethiopia, they ought to be concerned about the dictatorship of Meles Zenawi and his EPRDF political party that had rigged elections and have transformed the country into a one man show. The unemployment of the young and the hopeless condition of life in Ethiopia is truly a far more serious matter than the issue of pardoning a handful of convicted criminals. The leasing of millions of hectares of fertile land to foreigners while Ethiopians do not even have ownership rights on their own land, the lack of political rights, et cetera are all unconscionable situations that should be addressed right away. It is hypocrisy for anyone to spend time and effort on convicted criminals who had caused so much damage and murders rather than care about innocent Ethiopians who have been abused, tortured, imprisoned, and disfranchised by the current Government.”
I said wrong conclusion because he validates the justice process of the current government because he liked the outcome on these Derg members. Does he truly believe the conviction of these Derg individuals by the Meles Zenawi court is legitimate? By extension, is he saying the process is right and the convictions this court proclaimed on the political opposition in 2005 and thereafter, are right?
This is not a national issue and the most urgent problem we face are the political dilemma the opposition is in. Let us come together and stand by our people in their struggle against a tyrant Meles Zenawi.
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The writer can be contacted at [email protected]
