May Day! May Day! May Day! By G/Egziabher

May Day! May Day! May Day!

By G/Egziabher

March 28, 2005

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Unless we are in a state of a collective hypnosis, we couldn’t or wouldn’t be contemplating to submit ourselves to an election, which will give legitimacy to those who committed crimeS against the country. Putting things in sequence of their importance, this voting exercise should be a verdict on whether or not we want to have a country whose territorial integrity is asserted and the sovereignty of its people is respected. To advocate for free and fair election just to have few voices in the wilderness of the kangaroo parliament while the existence of the country is hanging on the balance, will only make us accomplices of the long meditated crime inflicted on the nation. We all know, neither fair nor free election nor democracy will materialize in the foreseeable future in Ethiopia. But one thing is sure to materialize, with a stroke of a pen, the country stands to lose part of its people and territory; and, that’s soon after the election.

This election could seal the fate of Ethiopia by giving mandate to the very clique who, fourteen years ago, condemned it as a hundred years old country with incongruent ethnic population, which has no right to claim the sanctity of its territorial integrity. To compete as equal with those who intentionally surrendered vital interests of the country is tantamount to accepting and legitimizing their acts of treason. They have once again managed to obfuscate our collective vision by diverting our whole attention to the secondary issues like, good governance, democracy etc. while preventing us from seeing the primary issues like, the question of the Afar people, Irob, the Plains of Badme and beyond and, the question of Ethiopia being permanently land-locked. The absence of these important subject matters in our collective mind will have a grave repercussion towards the unity of the country.

This voting must be a referendum style suffrage. Have we acquiesced the loss of the Afar region and those who are going to follow the same fate in the wake of the coming election? Opposition parties of all stripes are playing into the hands of EPRDF by gearing their efforts towards good governance verses bad governance instead of the burning and immediate issue of having a whole country with its integral parts of its people and land. We have seen it in the past how detrimental and destructive could be to neglect own people and land however small it might seem. Lest we repeat the same painful experience, we have the duty to make sure that no segment of our people and land has been forfeited for political expediency.

The aim to reduce Ethiopia to a landlocked status and consequently lose its importance has not been an accident nor was it an oversight, rather, as many scholars have repeatedly pointed it out, it emanates from concerted relentless effort of foreign powers. Such powers, found receptive elements in the forms of liberation movements inside the country and exploited it to the maximum potential and, it seems they have succeeded in creating confusion among us. The state of confusion is manifested in a lack of patriotic enthusiasm on one hand, and denial of the negative impact of being landlocked country on the other.

We are missing the central theme in opposing the ruling clique. I call it a clique, unlike some opposition parties which call it “minority rule” which means minority ethnic, which, in turn implies Tigray. Any ethnic rule, be it minor or major is not right. Two wrongs do not make right. Therefore, to call it minority rule is self-defeating characterization. It is not because the leaders are from “small Tigray” as opposed to the larger Oromo or Amhara that we abhor the regime, it is because of its anti-Ethiopianess. In the eyes of Ethiopians of good-will, any one group or movement in power or not, past and present which acts or exhibits semblance of condoning foreign incursion with the intent of undermining territorial integrity of Ethiopia is, equally anti-Ethiopia. To be or to act anti-Ethiopia is not attribute of any particular nationality, rather, it is the state of mind of individuals regardless of their ethnicity. Though plausible, one of the common denominators seems to be the above average level of education.

Those who tend to characterize the present regime as Tigrean ethnic-dictatorship, seem to have ulterior motives, given an opportune moment they could apply majority ethnic-dictatorship of their own. All the yearning for democratic governance is therefore, a façade for ethnic power, which makes equally abhorrent.

Another contribution to the farcical theater is coming from unfamiliar quarters. The omniscient, erudite, and knowledgeable Ethiopians who prefer to watch indifferently from the sideline, lately seem to take interest in assuming the less confrontational role of observer status by soliciting western governments, knowing well the irreversible destructive consequence of the election. This category gives a hoot about what Ethiopia has lost and still stands to lose by legitimizing a handful clique from the Abbysinian High Plateau. How is possible that a handful of Ethiopian PhDs could make a difference by observing an election instead of using their expertise to enhance the ability of opposition parties? It sounds fishy and smacks of opportunism. What Ethiopia needs now is not a bunch of learned Ethiopians as observers. The country needs knowledgeable patriots to lead the masses. Leaders who make themselves available at every demonstration, symposiums and conferences like the ones timely held in Washington and Chicago, putting the emphasis on the relevance of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our learned men and women should have the will to be able to transcend the realm of ethnicity, conceptualize the possibility of coexistence and respect for one another.

God bless Ethiopia!!!