My family and I wish you and your family all the best on your thoughts, actions and changes that will bring lots of happiness. My own plan is to swear off, every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall my wishes in 2016.
Time for fundamental
change is about our way of life, our objectives and our decisions. We are
convinced that basic human needs are the same everywhere and finally we all
strive for the same thing to succeed in life.
My theory
for my commentary focus is that the political tradition among Ethiopian elites
at home and abroad abruptly blaming and shaming one another will not get us
anywhere. Our history since the 1960s shows that it is a failed and disastrous
political culture driven by elites who continue to focus on isolated and
partisan pieces rather than serving the common good. We critique the governing
party but fail to critique ourselves and one another civilly. By this I mean
embracing each of Ethiopia’s citizens, defending and advancing their rights and
their welfare. Instead of doing this, we continue to react to events rather
offer ineffectual alternatives.
Rarely, if ever do, we have self-doubt in what
we say. Egos and self-aggrandizement in the name of a cause dominate
intellectual thinking. It continues to be a culture of “my way or the highway.”
We talk about freedom, justice and democracy all the time.
Do we have a
common definition and understanding of these fundamental principles? What do
you think? I, for one, don’t think so.
In other
words, without a clear awareness and a common plan there is no forward movement
and progress. Don’t you think it’s about TIME FOR CHANGE?
The only
method to solve our problems at Home and abroad is an all-inclusive approach
which is based on the reawakening belief. For this to happen, the political
elite and the people must change their mindset and should stop venerating and lionizing
the kingdom of the past temperament to reign again.Don’t get me wrong, I loved our colourful, charismatic and engaging royalty. But that’s in the past, like everything else, all things good or bad must come to an end, that’s our history but can’t be our destiny.
We need to move forward with a renewed sense of urgency building institution of all-inclusive education system which can rationalize the minds of the people and the political elite which is suitable for creative and innovative changes to bring transparency and accountability into operational and the awareness to decimate the inkling of nepotism and subjugation.
Don’t you agree that Ethiopian society need a profound transformation from within now not five or ten years from now?
We can’t
afford to dwell on our differences. It is not sufficient when someone merely acknowledges,
regrets, or apologizes for something they have done. Change in our perception
is very essential in our society, in whatever level of services we’re dealing
with, whether sports, welfare or community organizations or day to day
interactions to be able to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of individuals,
members, volunteers, participants and most of all paying our gratitude to
members in any institutions who’ve officiated unreservedly.
To
appreciate how playing with the fire of ethnic hatred is so tense with unintended consequences, it will be good to
remember that mutual recognition is a precondition for social trust. A sense of
self-worth by any group in society is only partially internal; it also depends
on the willingness of other competing groups in society to acknowledge the
worth of the other. This is why status contests which lack good-will are
inherently negative-sum games. Where a group is discriminated informally or as
a matter of government policy, cultural self-awareness eventually gives way to
inherently exclusionary group consciousness.
If there is
one thing the majority in the diaspora and the people of Ethiopia loathe and
reject, it is political bluffing, power mongering, egos and
self-aggrandizement/self-centredness and hypocrisy. Division, narrow group
think, personality cults, arrogance, hidden agendas, naming and shaming,
character assassination of each other, one person or group trying to undermine
the other and so on will not advance the common cause and or respond to our
unity and the urgent solutions for the Ethiopian people, especially Ethiopia’s
youth.
Our future
generation is in desperate need of model leadership and guidance from the vast
societal structure inside and outside of the country. It is ordinary Ethiopians
at home who die for human, social and economic rights and freedoms. The rest of
us can at least stand on their side. For this reason, I suggest that division
must give way to cooperation, partnership and solidarity.Creating confusion and resentment between the younger Ethiopian populations causes more dilemmas than immediate solutions. Although, the Oromo story is so poignant, in fact, not just Oromos, all Ethiopians have suffered massive injustices under successive governments and the only way we can achieve freedom and lasting democracy today is when united, reconciled and all is forgiven, change our perception, not when divided by ethnic groups or not when being polarized by historical lies presented as truth to serve a very few freedom or radical movement organizations.
Let me be
clear here that I do not blame the new generation or all the courageous young
journalists and freedom movement leaders who wanted to inform the public the
truth through the glass doors they grew in. They are products of a traditional
society which is high in power distance, i.e., a culture that accepts
denigration & inequality between leaders and the led, the elite and the common, the managers
and the subordinates, the professors and the students,
favouritism over
competence and nepotism instead of merit, etc., etc.
It is now
incumbent upon us, the older generations, to appreciate more and resent less,
to encourage and support the interaction of young people and to undertake
projects and discussions of the like organized by various institutions abroad
and at Home. The least we can do is to refrain from infecting these young
people with hatred towards each other. Instead let us earnestly tell them of
the good and bad times we had in our Homeland and our determination to get
ahead on our long journey to pursuing our success up to where we are today.
“One Ethiopia for all and all
for one Ethiopia”
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