The imperial Ethiopian state, overtly and covertly, promoted a hierarchal political pyramid in which our Amhara race sat at the top. TPLF merely added what Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani calls “define and rule” to the old colonial statecraft of “divide and rule” and created new identities while dismantling others. It then replaced our Amhara’s race and sat at the top of the pyramid.
Our Amhara
solution to identity-based political questions is to propose the abolition of
ethnic identity, in favor of a transcendental identity called Ethiopian. This
proposal, while useful as a basis for the transformation of the Ethiopian state
from imperial into modern, does not repudiate or reverse past and present
settler colonialism in Ethiopia. On the contrary, it sustains it.
Through this
self-destruction, settler colonialism perpetuates itself by claiming that
colonial difference between “settlers” and “natives” have ended while
sustaining the ethnically demarcated political and economic inequality through
a creation of “trans ethnic” settler polity. This polity eliminates challenges
posed by the “indigenous” demand for rights through bogus autonomy and false
narratives of belongingness.
To claim that
the current Ethiopian federal state is a representative, multi-ethnic polity
and that sub-national states are autonomous “indigenous” homelands – while
actually tightly controlling both the center and the periphery – is a good
example of the resilience and dynamism of settler colonialism; its ability to
disguise itself and adaptability to changes in time and circumstances.
Our Amhara and
Oromo rival interpretations are not all unfounded, but they are invariably
selective, insular, bigoted and self-serving.
It is not simply
about identity and epistemology, but primarily about power. Large-scale
displacement of our “indigenous” Oromos by our “Amhara settlers” is also the expropriation
of their land and suppression of their religious, cultural, linguistic and
geographical fault lines so wide and deep.
When we’ve the
emergence of a new political language and imagination, classifications such as
“natives” and “settlers” should cease as political identities and must be
replaced by progressive agendas which emphasize citizenship, shared values,
democracy, individual rights and the politics of ideas.
Aside from the status quo governance of the current
regime, our Amaras must bid farewell to any nostalgic illusions of the future
Ethiopian polity ever regaining its quintessential form and appearance: The
legendary militarist, Orthodox-Christian, injera-eating, iskista-dancing,
netela-wearing, land of fascinating myths and auras is gone forever!
THE WAY FORWARD
In a nutshell,
two parallel things must happen if the political aspirations of our Oromos and
Amaras are to be reconciled and to forge a strategic and principled political
partnership, now or in the future:
1.
LOOKING FORWARD: Our Oromos must reorient their struggle toward the
creation of a just, inclusive and democratic Ethiopia where all people move
from being “subjects” to “citizens.” Historical injustices and indigenization
concerns could be addressed through the establishment of redemptive not
vindictive autonomies. These autonomies should not categorize people into
permanent, rigid and static “indigenous” and “non-indigenous” identities. They
should make provisions for dynamism and the organic and voluntary dissolution
of primordial identities in the long run.
2.
LOOKING BACKWARDS: For the future painted above to materialize, the
acrimony over the past must end first. It can only end, to quote Mamdani again,
if every community rejects the temptation to classify itself as “the victim”
and the other as the “perpetrator” of the historical violence and oppression
that took place. Instead, every community should consider themselves as
“survivors” of a violent history. This is tricky and impractical in a context
where the violence and subjugation were largely one-sided and has disproportionately
affected our larger community —in our case, the Oromos.
For the purpose
of this discussion, it is immaterial if our Amaras were wronged before the
19th century and after 1991. That is because both the destructive legacy of the
alleged 16th century Oromo expansion into Amhara territory and our Oromos role
in the misery of our Amaras after 1991 are not visible today.
As both our ethnic
groups are one of the many of Ethiopian racial groups in nature, therefore, our
Amaras must acknowledge the historical suffering of our Oromos and must be
prepared to show empathy and understanding without seeking vengeance, both
racial groups, for the ignorance of our
past. An admission of the damaging political, social, economic and
psychological impact of over a century of imperial conquest and domination of our
Oromos may provide a measure of closure for them. Without such a closure, the
creation of a truly representative and equitable Ethiopian society, in which our
Oromos feel at home, is impossible and they can’t continue torturing each other
forever. “All must be forgiven, and we should start walking together, again.”
On the other
hand, our Oromos must realize that the current generation of our Amaras and,
indeed, the one before it, has nothing to do with the crimes imperial Ethiopia
committed against them. If at all, in the last over 35 years, our Amaras were
the most victimized and dehumanized people in Ethiopia since the overthrow of
the monarch.
They endured a
fate similar to what happened to the “byvshie liudi” (the former people) in
Bolshevik Russia. The “former people” –an arbitrarily categorized group of
people including “functionaries of the Tsarist regime, the clergy and rich
people” –were persecuted and summarily excluded from the “new” Socialist order.
Our Amaras,
under TPLF reign, have been Ethiopia’s “former people”. And their new generation won’t be in any mood to
offer apologies for atrocities that they did not commit and that happened
centuries ago; when they themselves are, in fact, going through modern-day
ordeal. They have reached a tipping point; and once a tipping point is reached,
an enraged people have no time for magnanimity or vicarious guilt. That’s what
exactly happening now and Abiy is trying his best to repair wounds of the past
with all the refusal and misunderstandings of our traditionalist mentality.
PROGRESSING TOWARD THE LAST FRONTIER
PM ABIY AHMED IS A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
It is a
mentality that is willing and able to reflect on our past experiences, past
actions and their outcomes. It is only through such reflections that one learns
one’s strengths, weaknesses, the environment and conditions in which actions
were undertaken and what could have been done differently that could have resulted
in a positive outcome.
It is not enough
to admit collective failure. One needs to evaluate one’s role in the failure.
This is even more so if one is a leader under whose watch an organization,
business or administration failed. Like in our past, denying (to oneself and
others) failures, personal accountability and scapegoating or blaming on
someone will never help our progression.
People,
especially, academics, intellectuals and political aspirants with such
mentality cannot educate themselves and others from past failures and therefore
deserve no chances to continue abusing and doing the same thing over and over,
again and again. That’s why our old idealists or dreamers are reluctant to
accept new way of doing businesses that will transform for the better.
The Prime
Minister, Abiy Ahmed, since taking over from PM Hailemariam Desalegn on April
2, 2018, and embarking on taking swift political reforms, firing and
nominating capable individuals, touring the most impoverished and neglected
regions of the country and making international tours to affirm better
relations and to demand the release of Ethiopian nationals languishing in
prisons of foreign countries and receiving a Nobel prize for his efforts in his
short high-spirited leadership period.
ETHOPIA'S ETHNIC COMPOSITIONS
Once again, my
wish is to stand with the modern-day Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, and his team
of new reformers, rather than continuing to throw barrages of unwarranted
criticisms, cynicisms, envies, nepotisms, preferences and firmly and honestly
stand with him for he stands for all Ethiopians irrespective of their
religious, ethnic or racial backgrounds.
My
recommendations are in line with the erudite conclusions of John Markakis, who
outlined the two last “frontiers” that Ethiopia must cross if it is to graduate
from a multiethnic empire to a modern state: The first being “the monopoly of
power inherited from the empire builders and zealously guarded ever since by a
ruling class of Abyssinian origin”; and the second “the arid lowlands on the
margins of the state, where the process of integration has not yet reached and
where resistance to it is greatest.”
The solutions I
proposed here to surmount our Oromo and Amhara political rift are admittedly
easier said than done. It is one thing to propose theoretical or “intellectual”
solutions in an “academic politics” scenario where, as Henry Kissinger once
said, “the stakes are so low.” It is quite different to come up with actionable
political solutions in a real-world environment where the stakes are much
higher and more fatal to leave it to a few by excluding the other racial groups
who shared the plights to speak.
But the theory
precedes the praxis. So, why not use these “intellectual” solutions as a basis
to overcome the impasse? We need to change personally rather than criticize,
name and shame our new system of governance endlessly. Change takes time; we
need enlivened efforts and lasting determinations not ruminations.
It is possible
if our Oromos, Tigrayans, Amaras and all other racial background motivated
factions, politicians and scholars, rather than shouting & killing each
other, to start talking to each other so that they can make extra efforts to
understand each other’s vantage points, fears, expectations and interests.
The wellbeing of
any country –and certainly Ethiopia –depends on its multiethnic people’s
ability to confront their fissures head-on. One ethnic group can’t think of
others concerns. This also applies to the myriad of other fractures, beyond our
Amhara-Oromo political rivalry, in the country.
One Ethiopia for all, all for one Ethiopia!
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