To be educated is to ask and question. It is to
speak for the oppressed and the weak. It is not to side with the oppressor for
momentary gain or selfish interests. Silence is deadly, like all internal
disease; it eats you slowly, eventually leading to an emotionally dreadful and
psychologically agonizing death. Silence mutes all your senses until you can no
longer even think of the intellectual slavery to which you have become a
victim. This is Ethiopia’s great plague, particularly amongst the educated and
those who live outside the country: a plague of silence.
“Evil
prevails when good men fail to act.”
— Edmund Burke
In times of great oppression, we must pick
sides; indecision will only help the oppressors while silencing the victims. Ethiopia
is not short of intellectuals, thinkers or patriots; our predicament is silence.
We have chosen not to see the atrocities being committed against the poor and
helpless of our nation by our own brothers and sisters. We have chosen not to
listen to the call of our brother and sister farmers as multinational
corporations, invited by our own government and in cooperation are evicting
them from their ancestral homes. The minority of Ethiopians in power have been
successful at destroying the sovereignty of this nation because the majority
chooses to do nothing.
– Before we shout down the treacherous dealings
of dictators …
– Prior to condemning the current regime for
total failure…
– Ahead of the inevitable revolution…
– Prior to questioning other Ethiopians’ true grit
and patriotism…
– Before going back to the over-debated history and
indictment of our ancestors for their flaws…
We must first question ourselves and ask, “What
have I done for my country lately?” The silence of those who are good and
understand freedom is what has kept us oppressed and trapped in a downward
social spiral. When a person’s birthright to be free is taken by the barrel of
a gun, it is those who understand the injustice who must stand up and be heard.
When an act of evil is done, against the will of the innocent and the sovereignty
of the nation, we must not only question those who committed the crime but also
those who did nothing and remained silent. They have chosen to put their
individual wealth and greed above the lives of millions of homeless children
and hungry majority of the nation. All this poverty exists despite the country’s
wealth, a country we all call home. So, what have you done for your country
lately?
“Do not hesitate or you will be left in between doing something,
having something and being nothing”.Ethiopian
Proverb
Our ancestors were brilliant, beyond our
imagination. They defended what was theirs not for reasons of pride, but
National identity. They understood the strength of a sovereign state and they
defended her resources. They stood and fought for the country, not for a tribe,
group or individual. Those who choose not to see the atrocities and travesties
of our nation through foreign influence. I ask you to look no farther than or
ancestors. Why didn’t they ever trust foreigners? Why is it they died defending
the nation? They not only understood patriotism but also believed they were
Ethiopia, with out sovereignty and national values a country cannot prosper or
function as a state.
In their “sayings” our ancestors left us coded
message of wisdom and understanding of life, community and Nation. Their
understanding of state and the individual was far more advanced than that of
Europeans. While Europe evolved and adapted with the time and affecting
changes, we chose to stand still. All the saying of the past on the wisdom of
silence, do not apply when silence becomes the venom to our agonizing downfall.
Silence is harmful, when those who see the injustice continue to ignore, what
they see and understand to be inhumane. More
often than not the voices of the poor and oppressed do not make it in to the
history books. History will not record your silence in history, but they will
tell of the atrocities of those currently in power, while we watched.
“When money speaks, the truth is silent.”
—Russian Proverb
Freedom is
expensive and painful. Taking into consideration the true future awaiting this
country, my brothers and sisters, the time to take action is now. We must stop
using Western models of development, as they are designed to benefit Western nations
and corporations. When it comes to the West’s efforts in helping to develop
Africa, words like “White Guilt” are used as a double
standard to distract us from the atrocities and theft that continue to take
place in Ethiopia and the continent.
The partnership of Ethiopian politicians and Western
corporations is an international crime ring. Western politicians continue to
preach, “Africa is not ready for democracy.” This quote is the mantra behind
the looting of the continent for the benefit of the West. For capitalism and consumerism
to benefit the West, they must rob the resources from the weak and innocent.
Ethiopia is at the center of a global fight between the powerful and the powerless.
We must not let this opportunity pass us by without leaving a mark on history
and changing the course of our nation.
Democracy Is Taken, Not Given!
I say, “Freedom is
taken, not given!” Change must resonate within each individual before the
community, city, and nation can ignite to form a blazing resistance, capable of
standing any opposition. Ethiopians must first be free before applying
democracy to social and political structures. Regardless of background, education, profession, occupation, or gender,
this is the time to be heard. Stand up! Be heard. Live with dignity.
“The sin by silence, when they should protest makes cowards of men.”
— Abraham Lincoln
Education is a tool
to protect the innocent from the flaws of the past and to help them create an
appropriate future. Have we become so selfish and self-indulgent
that we have forgotten the good in our hearts and are willing to sell out our own
brothers and sisters?
“Eat when the food is ready. Speak when the time is right.”
— Ethiopian Proverb
Sadly, we are heading towards the phase of
governance that every oppressive government goes through: the people’s revolt.
The sadness comes not from the act but from the innocent lives that must be
lost and the destruction the nation must incur because a few individuals choose
not to adapt and evolve with the changing world.
“Unless you call out, who will open the door?”
—
Ethiopian Proverb
What is it we are leaving for the next
generation, politically and socially? A centralized ethnic
government with undemocratically elected bureaucrats who stole elections and
traded political offices? The small minority of political and social
elitists owned the country’s economy and wealth while looting the central bank.
They saved their money overseas in the banks of the same institutions that they
begged for handouts in the name of Ethiopia. We divided the nation into tribal
states and then used ethnic tension as a tool of oppression and control. What
is the legacy of this generation?
The central government—the perfect blend of totalitarian
and socialist rule—loaned out fertile land to foreign entities, thereby loaning
a big portion of the economy. The rulers sided with multilateral corporations
for momentary gain and political protection.
A leader who was jack-of-all-trades, master of none. A man
who knighted himself a man of the people, an expert on the need of the average
person, while investing in Western organizations and selling out national
interests for political gain.
The heartbreaking truth is MOST OF US STOOD AND
WATCHED.
