Welcome to our ramshackle of a city, the embodiment of four wasted
decades and barely over a century old, though, as Henry Kissinger
usually likes to point out, the history of the Ethiopian state is
older than even that of China.
Be sure to enjoy authentic servings of injera and wat, slightly
different than what you would have tasted in Washington. I personally
recommend the vegetarian dishes. And while improbable, a short sojourn
in Axum and Lalibela would be a much needed respite to your busy
schedule. The massive monolithic stone carvings are unlike anything
you would find elsewhere. And for those in your entourage who favor
art, there are marvelous 16th and 17th paintings in Gonder.
The story of Hilary Rodham Clinton is stirring, to say the least. I
would be hard pressed to class it amongst conventional rags to riches
narratives. While not classically rich, your father, Hugh Rodham, was
neither a pauper in any sense of the word. I think the chronicle of
your phenomenal rise to fame and prominence rather stands for the
ideal absent in far too many countries, but not in the US: the early
recognition of merit, its cultivation, and ultimate reward.
Indeed, as is frequently intoned, only in the USA could a wife
overcome the huge shadow cast by a life-long over-achieving husband.
But even in the US only an exceptional person could have done it. I
suspect that it is this dazzling aspect of your public profile that
particularly irks your paparazzi-like critics.
Two episodes strike me as uniquely remarkable from the young-Hilary-years.
The first lies, perhaps much too predictably, in your commencement
address at Wellesley. While many savor and endlessly debate about your
rebuke of Senator Brooke, who had preceded you as a speaker, I tend to
single-mindedly cling to one line from your wonderful speech, “the
challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what
appears to be impossible, possible.”
Madam Secretary, if only you knew how much those words still resonate
with those of us who believe, hoping against hope, that it is possible
to bring democracy peacefully to an Ethiopia run harshly by despotic
EPRDF; admittedly, a valuable tactical, but by no means a strategic,
ally of the US.
The second is how you abruptly approached your future husband, the
young Bill Clinton, hand extended, and calmly introduced yourself: “If
you keep looking at me, and I am going to keep looking back, we might
as well be introduced. I am Hilary Rodham”
Woooow! That took some guts, integrity and confidence. When I first
read these words I remember thinking how this ought to be the one
person Americans should trust to take that 3 AM phone call. No wonder
your Commander-in-Chief potential was never questioned. And somewhat
coincidentally, guts, integrity and confidence are exactly the values
Ethiopians need to nurture more to realize the much longed for
peaceful transition to democracy. Democracy activists could learn much
from your example.
But your image amongst democracy activists, to some extent here in
Ethiopia but more so in the Middle East, has suffered since the
outbreak of protests against Mubarak in Egypt. The word on the street,
unfairly I believe, is that Hilary favors old, violent autocrats over
young, peaceful democrats. This would have had dire consequences for
America’s already precarious reputation if not for the personal
popularity of President Obama.
There is widespread recognition that there was rational behind your
initial cautioned response to the Egyptian protests. Reasonable people
do not expect the US to abandon allies summarily, particularly in a
region as vital and sensitive as the Middle East. Neither U.S.
interests nor world stability would be served if such was the case.
What has annoyed democracy activists is the perceived policy
transformation from that of caution to that of defender of the
status-quo. Indeed, the US was distressingly late to champion the
values of human rights and democracy forcefully. And once again, as
had happened in Iran some 30 years ago, American policy makers were
curtly upstaged by events in the streets.
This policy slip-up must be avoided in Ethiopia.
Balancing idealism and realism is easier said than done in foreign
policy. The dilemma that you face as Secretary of State is palpable.
But more often than not realism is confused for cynicism by too many
professional diplomats, many of them veterans of your State
Department. I fear this in part explains the Egyptian slip. And when
Ambassador Donald Booth, the US Ambassador to Ethiopia, told
journalists of an imagined link between per capita income and
democracy, we have had our brush with that cynicism. (For the record,
America was democratic way before becoming rich and urban.)
Take this open letter as a message from the streets of Addis Ababa, a
multi-ethnic, multi-religious city, from where the sentiment and
aspiration of the nation’s majority reverberate.
Ethiopians covet the dignity of real citizenship possible only in a
democracy. Ethiopians are adamant about voting in their first
democratically elected government. Ethiopians would finally like to be
free from the network of prosecutors, incarcerators and executioners
who have for long made life hell for them. Ethiopians demand freedom
of expression and association. Ethiopians desire an independent
judiciary; a transparent, honest electoral system; and separation of
powers between the three branches of government. Ethiopians insist on
accountability for the unbridled corruption that has undermined the
nation’s moral fabric. Ethiopians expect recovery of their stolen 8.4
billion dollars from Western banks.
Peaceful change is inevitable. It’s a question of when not if. And
whatever your underlings maybe telling you, doubt not that it will
come well before a significant rise in per capita income.
We hope to hear from you, Secretary Clinton. We hope to hear you tell
the EPRDF that it is time to change, that the status-quo is not
sustainable. But most of all, taking in to account that this short
visit is in a city that is the seat of the African Union, we hope to
hear you reaffirm President Obama’s pledge that the U.S. will not
tolerate the killing of peaceful demonstrators. Stand up for
democracy.
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Fight tyranny form your PC. Keep posting articles on your facebook pages.
