July 23, 2013
by Abebe Gellaw
It
has come to my attention that my brief Facebook comment regarding a few
controversial statements made by Jawar Mohammed has been posted on
ECADF’s website as an article.
I had no intention of writing a series piece on the issue. Quite
obviously, there is a big difference between a well-thought out lengthy
commentary and a brief message in a particular context.
My
intention was just to appeal for calm and harmony, a necessary effort
lacking in our political discourse. Often times, a message without its
context is open to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. So there
seems to be a need to clarify.
Politics, as far as I understand,
is a mechanism of managing conflict of interests. It is a means of
building consensus through dialogue and compromise. Since the early
1960s, the major political conflict in Ethiopia has been between
ethno-nationalists and nationalists. The forces on both ends of the
political spectrum have not still found a middle ground that can bring
them towards consensus and compromise.
My understanding is that
Jawar is an ethno-nationalist. As an ethno-nationalist, he says he is an
Oromo first. Unlike him, I am a nationalist. But that is not the major
problem. The problem is the way he has chosen to articulate and present
his views in question that have been widely perceived as inflammatory
and divisive.
I firmly and fervently believe that I am an
Ethiopian first. I do not wish to allow the ethnic origin of my
predecessors and parents to define me as a human being and overshadow my
Ethiopian identity.
Jawar said Ethiopian identity was imposed on
him. On the contrary, I argue that such a position is fundamentally
flawed. Nowhere in the world is anyone given choices of national
identity.
The Chinese-American writer, Eric Liu, once said: “The
next time someone uses denial of citizenship as a weapon or brandishes
the special status conferred upon him by the accident of birth, ask him
this: What have you done lately to earn it?” Our predecessors, who have
bequeathed us a country called Ethiopia with all its faults, challenges
and problems, have made huge sacrifices in blood and flesh so that we’ll
never be stateless. We should rather make sacrifices to reclaim our
country and make our citizenship more meaningful by winning our rights,
as citizens, to live in our country with full dignity, freedom and
equality. We should make Ethiopia a country where every citizen and
ethnic group is equal.
Unfortunately, our birthplaces also define
the major problems and opportunities we inherit. Ethiopia is not a
perfect nation. Far from it, it is defective and faulty as a result of
the age-old tyrannies and injustices we have been condemned to suffer
collectively.
Like any nation, it offers unique challenges as well
as opportunities. With all its problems and baggage, Ethiopia is a
nation of 80 million people. Our destiny is intertwined. We are diverse
and yet we are all Ethiopians, whether we like it or not. I believe that
rejecting Ethiopia as our country is not a solution to any of the
problems we are supposed to confront. We should rather make strenuous
efforts to reconstruct Ethiopia as a country where all of its citizens
live in freedom, harmony, justice, peace and prosperity.
In the
new Ethiopia we envision, there should be no room for inequality,
injustice and tyranny. It should never be a prison for its children,
regardless of their political, ethnic or cultural backgrounds. No ethnic
or political group should be allowed to impose hegemony at the
detriment of the majority.
The worst challenges all citizens of
Ethiopia, except the oppressors, face are political oppression, grinding
poverty, indignity, inequality, injustice and discrimination, just to
mention a few among so many. At this time and age, what has been imposed
on us is not national identity but the tyranny of the TPLF, an
extremist ethno-nationalist group whose aim was nothing more than
seceding Tigray. That is why we should continue struggling to throw off
this backbreaking tyranny from our shoulders.
As I have clearly
stated in another Facebook post, addressed to Jawar, “No nation-state
was formed through consensus and democratic deliberations. Nation-states
emerged out of conflicts, conquests, occupations and colonialism. While
almost all African states were created by the colonial powers, Ethiopia
was formed through internal processes. It was a painful process but not
even as painful as what Native Americans and Europeans, who had gone
through two devastating [world] wars.”
“We Ethiopians do not need
to be bitter about the past. We are not part of the old history. But we
certainly need to preserve our country and make it a nation for all
correcting past injustices and mistakes. We need to move forward with a
united spirit. As long as we can bring about real equality, justice,
freedom and democracy, we will be fine. That is what we should all fight
for rather than dwelling on the past [and gnaw old bones]. It is the
present and the future that really matter….”
While I called for
unity rather than condemning each other, making such inflammatory and
controversial statements that turned out to be divisive are not only
wrong but also damaging to our common cause for freedom. I said Jawar
had misspoken. The dictionary definition of misspeak is not to endorse
or approve. It means, “To speak mistakenly, inappropriately, or rashly.”
I think that should be clear enough. It was particularly wrong for
Jawar to speak in such a divisive ethno-religious tone at a time when we
desperately need to unify to overcome and overwhelm the divide-and-rule
tyranny of the TPLF. That is where he misspoke, in my humble opinion,
without completely disregarding so many positive contributions.
I
was under the impression that calling for sanity and unity at this
critical juncture in our struggle would not also be misconstrued as a
sign of weakness. I always see myself as a moderate. Compromise for the
sake of the greater good is at times a mechanism to avoid unnecessary
conflict and feelings. Even if that was my intention, I believe that we
Ethiopians should never compromise on anything that undermines our
unity, freedom, harmony and peace.
After all, our aspiration is to
rebuild a united nation that will accommodate every citizen as equal
and guarantee the freedom of every individual citizen including those
who believe that they are the byproducts of their cultural and ethnic
heritage. For that to happen, we need to preserve Ethiopia, a country
that we will all be proud of when we claim our freedom despite its
troubles and predicaments.
Anyone is not entitled to apologize on
behalf of Jawar. If any apologies are needed, no one but only Jawar is
entitled to make. As far as I am concerned, I am nobody’s apologist.
That
said, I will be disingenuous if I do not repeat my main message. Let us
move on with a united spirit and focus on our just cause for freedom,
equality and justice. That is much more important than the war of
attrition and divisiveness that is derailing our gains. Whenever we have
problems, we should first have the courage to address them in a
civilized manner. Again let us move on united as Ethiopians…
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