AZURIT
By Hailu Yeshiwondim 
July 3, 2005 

Recent Ethiopian history is characterized by a negative political culture the impact and pervasiveness of which could seriously undermine the very existence of the nation itself. One example of such a political culture is the nihilism and act of annihilation exhibited at every juncture of regime change in the country since the overthrow of His Majesty Haile Selassie. The Amharic term azurit, used as the title of this article, denotes the cyclic feature of this vicious merry-go-round. Having completed their policy of demolishing existing institutions, civic organizations, and service providing establishments, successive Ethiopian governments had to start anew on a clean socio-economic slate. After the baby was thrown out with the bath water in this manner, the childless nation had to manage to pull itself up by its own bootstraps, thereby increasing the burden on its already traumatized citizenry. 

When the Derg and later the EPRDF took over power, their initial policy targeted the destruction of pre-existing institutions, the demolition or sometimes just renaming of major landmarks, the displacement of a large portion of the civil service, and the desiccation of the treasury. The Derg dissolved the parliament and nationalized all financial institutions. Any establishment deemed undesirable due to its association with the monarchy was either simply abolished or replaced by a new one. As in many respects, the present ruling party chose a basically similar but more subtle course. The current regime commenced the act of institution-killing by disbanding the armed forces. Those institutions and organizations that bore the mark of the Derg rule were made redundant through the process of grafting new ones, often without altering their original nomenclature. An attempt to present a detailed account of the destructive historical path the nation has been treading so far would be wasting the reader�s time on the obvious. Instead, it would suffice to make a concise tentative diagnosis of the problem. In addition, there will be an attempt to suggest a humble blueprint aimed at breaking this vicious circle or azurit.

The culture of institutional dismantling and vengeful political man-hunt has its roots in the adherence by a given opposition group to a narrow political outlook based on perceiving the affairs of the nation in terms of dichotomies. The sector that happened to fall on the side of the opposition has been considering itself as a champion of the Ethiopian people, whereas all the persons and institutions associated with the incumbent politicians have been indiscriminately condemned as enemies and objects of profound hatred and repugnance. Opposition party members of past and present have always made it their unwritten law to chastise, blame, and condemn every individual or group of private citizens that tried to make a difference from within a prevailing system. This is not meant to shield egotistic individuals who ally themselves with any government to fulfill their narcissistic mission of personal gratification and self-aggrandizement. The binary classification of the populace into patriots on the one hand and outright enemies on the other, followed by a barrage of hate-laden propaganda laid the foundation for the past destruction, and, God forbid, could also lead to a possible large scale bloodshed in the uncertain times ahead. This time around, the degree of destruction would be far greater and the situation more complex for it would be a stage where the interests of various groups of actors representing the monarchy, the Derg, the EPRDF, and their heirs would be played out and old scores mercilessly settled. I am of the opinion that political power that grows out of the barrel a gun is much less brutish than one that grows out of the gunpowder of hate. Politically motivated sectarian bigotry and hate directed at a particular section of the population could easily be a recipe for a nightmarish bloodbath whose diabolical thoroughness would remind one of the orgy of killings committed by the Jacobins and the Girondins. Contrary to what many prophets of doom predict, genocide along ethnic lines is inconceivable in Ethiopia. Repeated calls on ethnic strife have faced rejection by all nationalities for the last 14 years. Hence, my preference to draw analogy with the excesses of the French Revolution and our own Red Terror rather than that of Rwanda. Despite the above possible grave outcome and massacre, albeit, short of ethnic genocide, resulting from the politics of hate, many Ethiopians abroad take this as the legitimate form of political struggle. They seem to overlook the fact that even the Guillotine was designed with the best of intentions until feelings of vengeance and hatred took over. The problem with this kind of mindset is this: 

In the first place, this negativist approach acts as a barrier to efforts of national reconstruction that could be built upon existing structures. It also acts as a scarecrow to frighten skilled professionals away, pushing them through the already overcrowded gutter of the brain drain. By so doing, some members of the opposition relegate the complex responsibility of rebuilding a nation to handpicked political cadres, mediocre loyal civil servants and half-baked faithful professionals. 

Secondly, this behavior isolates potential supporters of the opposition, thereby prolonging the tenure of the regime they intensely abhor. Eventually such a mindset would have the boomerang effect of alienating the alienator and the opposition would be left with a stunted bunch of like-minded, unproductive, belligerent and embittered individuals �full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.� 

Thirdly, this generalized campaign of negativism hinders diaspora Ethiopians with vital skills and the wherewithal from doing their part in alleviating the suffering of the people, at least in combating the immediate social ills like, ignorance, poverty, and the chronic health pandemic ravaging the country.

Finally and most importantly, such blind exclusionary politics of hate sets the pattern and clears the path for the coming new regime to emulate its forerunner in terms of inheriting its disruptive and destructive legacy. We ought to realize that all the naming and blaming and all the negativism we unleash today would crystallize into a false ideology tomorrow and result in the release of pent up rage. The rage and the hatred would find its expression in the perpetration of vengeful acts of destruction of life and a total cessation of developmental continuity and a regression back to square one. The outcome of the policies of two recent governments bear witness to the lack of continuity and progress and the country�s vulnerability to the regular replay of the sadly dramatic spectacle of starving children dying in the arms of their mothers. 

In short, ours is an arrested development because it lacks continuity. The policy of destruction of every regime hitherto which has retarded the level of development we could have achieved, no matter how modest, is the cause of our people�s perpetual misery. The destruction has so far been the outcome of a visionless misguided negativist agitation by opposition forces both prior and after their ascendancy to power. This has to come to an end; but how?

Making a mere appeal for this culture of mutual distrust and hostility to end does not seem to yield results. As a step to rectifying the situation, a sort of cultural revolution within the camp of the present opposition is needed. The cultural revolution would involve the need on the part of the opposition parties to undergo a basic transformation based on a process of introspection and self-scrutiny. At this moment of surprising election results and euphoria, the parties may not feel the need to change their established practices due to the delusion that the votes they obtained were a testimony to the correctness of their policy and actions. In reality, the enormous voter turn-out and the unexpected results can only be explained in terms of the ripening of the objective conditions far ahead of the subjective ones. The lack of Plan B on both sides indicates that the new reality on the ground was not of their own making. Consequent events reveal that the ruling party was posed for certain victory, whereas the opposition braced itself for civil disobedience in anticipation of an unfair and undemocratic election If those in the opposition fail to recognize their victory as a windfall and as a vote of no confidence to the ruling party, then it is the latter that stands to benefit provided it is smart enough to utilize the post-election period as a time to reflect and as a time to sort out where it went wrong. In this regard, it is likely to begin to listen to the people and to partially respond to some of their demands while at the same time using coercion where necessary. As to the opposition, the victory they have attained so far can be consolidated and made irreversible only if they could compensate for the lost opportunity by striving for a mass base based on grassroots involvement in education, health care, community development, welfare and other activities that uplift the ability of the people to manage and enrich their lives. The following are the areas to be explored if a win-win situation is to occur.

Opposition political organizations ought to have a clear comprehension of the era we are in and begin to deconstruct and redefine themselves in accordance with the changing times. The main factor that calls for such a paradigm shift is the rapidly growing process of transcontinental interdependence or globalization whose accelerated growth coincided with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the current revolution in information technology. The term globalization is used in this article with all awareness of the contested nature of its meaning. However, the nuances of the globalization debate do not affect the drift of my argument. The fact is, the intensification of international interdependence and interconnectedness and the fusion of global social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental forces are beyond dispute. The main feature of this transformation is the emphasis on free market economy where human rights and the rule of law are upheld. Since the demise of Soviet social imperialism, neo-liberal ideology has been adopted by many nations worldwide. The U.S. was the driving force behind the creation of the IMF, World Bank, and the WTO's predecessor, the GATT, as way of containing the spread of Communism during the Cold War. Now, these institutions facilitate the process of economic globalization to benefit corporate capitalism and other powerful vested interests, primarily in America, the EU countries, Japan, and the Pacific Rim economies. States in the rest of the world are expected to simply comply with the policies of the global economic governance which imposes privatization and labor market deregulation, competitively lower taxation and other austerity measures, mostly at the expense of domestic agendas. 

As far as Ethiopian political parties are concerned, the process of globalization invites a departure from the inadequacies of orthodox political thinking that thrives in an atmosphere of exclusionist narrative, double standards and red herring. The globalized world definitely provides new opportunities for active peaceful participation and positive civic and political input with the least compromise in one�s own cherished principles, if any. A political organization that takes into account the globalized socio-economic world would not fail to reform itself and tune its mode of operations accordingly, if it is to succeed in achieving the tasks it sets for itself. 

Under contemporary conditions of new governance and economic relations, power and responsibility are no longer the sole monopoly of the state of a given nation. Instead, they are shared among different forces, agencies, and pressure groups at national, regional, and international level. Consider for a moment the case of the aftermath of the hecatomb of the pyrrhic victory of Badme in the Ethiopian context. In its recent decision on the verdict of the Border Commission, the government had to take the following into account: 1. Intra-state power relations and party politics internally; 2. The reaction of the Tigrai administrative authorities and the people in the vicinity, on the local level; 3. The fate of Eritrea in relation to the Eritrean opposition on the sub-regional level; 4. Ethiopia�s role as a founding member of COMESA and IGAD and as provider of an African peacekeeping force on the regional level; and 5. World opinion, donor pressure, and the threat of the economic punch by the muscular G8, on the international level. The above new reality puts national sovereignty on the line and the national state in an awkward position. To take another example, the election crisis in Ukraine became a stage where three powers were seen vying for spheres of influence. The attempt for hegemony by the US, EU, and Russia threatened to split a sovereign nation in two countries, east and west. Therefore, the Ethiopian government�s acceptance, in principle, of the Border Commission�s decision cannot be explained by the leadership�s lack of patriotism, unless politicians intend to capitalize on it to gain popular support. Nowadays, unilateral actions are probably the prerogative of a single superpower, but alas, even such a colossal power can only win the war but not win the peace. In the same way, what the current regime of Ethiopia can promise and successfully deliver to its citizens cannot be determined by the wishes of the leaders of the ruling party alone. The responsibility of delivering services and related socio-economic public goods are shared by many actors. As a result, the power and authority of the state, especially that of the developing world, Ethiopia included, has been reconfigured considerably and need to be handled accordingly.

The new reality unfolding and the vast array of institutions and civic society beyond the state�s jurisdiction offer new opportunities for members of the Ethiopian opposition and other Ethiopians to explore new options. It is in this labyrinthine setting that every Ethiopian has to find her/his own niche and share national responsibility. All need to be able to identify the role they can play outside, inside, under, and alongside a reconfigured state like ours. Our political parties do not seem to realize that they are lagging behind in the most basic form of struggle, that is to say, being involved in the daily lives of the people, contributing to their welfare, and empowering them instead of all this categorizing, dividing and labeling. Think of an extremist Palestinian political organization like Hamas. Hamas is known not only for its suicide missions but also for its active engagement in helping the people in areas that are not purely political. The movement has a range of sub-organizations that provide services in charitable welfare, education and health care. It is this aspect of Hamas that helped it gain votes. What have members of the Ethiopian opposition in and outside the country done by way of delivering public goods and services to the Ethiopian people? Nil! How many of us living in the Western hemsphere have extended a helping hand to needy Ethiopians affected by the recent drought? There is no shortage of crocodile tears in the name of Ethiopia and Ethiopiawinet. Where I come from, I shrink to watch my fellow countrymen look the other way when enthusiastic little Caucasian school children jostle in the streets in a fundraiser campaign to feed the hungry children in Ethiopia. Pretending to be concerned for the welfare of Ethiopia while turning a deaf ear to the cries of hunger of its people is the worst form of hypocrisy. Opposition parties have to be engaged in activities that improve the lives of the people way ahead of the transfer of power. The multitude of civic organizations coupled with the advance in information technology provide political organizations the opportunity to attend to the basic needs of the people and to be accepted and cherished by them. That way, even the question of not having election time equal access to state media would be irrelevant, for the people would be in a better position to know who serves them best. Other than being a preventive measure to foil the cycle of destruction mentioned above, active participation and responsibility sharing can be the best school that could equip the opposition leaders of today and the country�s leaders of tomorrow with the necessary skills to face future challenges and to tame and curb the ugly faces of unbridled capitalism and globalization. If not, hate-motivated regime change just for the sake of regime change now, or 5 years down the line would only be a futile project whose end result is likely to be a zero-sum game. 

Therefore, being open to new ideas and a readiness to change constitute a big step in the direction of breaking the evil cyclic annihilation of our nation. Traditional ways have to be discarded if any political party hopes to cope with the complex mission ahead and wishes to prove its sincerity to the people. Contemporary concrete situations demand shattering old ways, grasping a new vision, and making unfaltering commitments and daring sacrifices. The name of the new game is, new thinking, new vision and supreme sacrifices. �How long shall be the vision concerning sacrifices � Dan 8:13. 

Though the gist of this article is to remind opposition parties to reevaluate and reform themselves in line with the rapid changes, it is appropriate to reveal some of the irrational and contradictory attitudes that need to be extirpated. Political parties have to cease exploiting prevailing double standards that reinforce prejudice in the society. For instance, on the one hand, there is talk of Ethiopian unity, and on the other hand, many people perceive Tigreans, Oromos, and Eritrean less as part of the solution than that of the problem. Some claim the Red Sea as their natural boundary, but the very same people treat the Eritrean people as their enemies. For an Ethiopian pursuing politics as a career, to have Eritrean descent is an automatic liability. What a duplicity. While admitting Tigrai as the cradle of Ethiopian civilization, many distrust Tigreans and assume that they are the sole beneficiaries of the status quo. While applauding athletics heroes from the Oromo nationality, many do not seem to appreciate the contributions of the Oromo people in general. It is not enough for political parties to detach themselves from some of the double standards only as a half-hatred diplomaic posturing. The case of the dog following the tail ought to come to an end and political organizations have the obligation to take responsibility and assume their vanguard role instead of seeking cheap popularity as tails of the people. 

Some veteran opposition parties have repeatedly resisted to change their established habits and have shown over-sensitivity to criticism. Being too touchy and oblivious to refraining from collective condemnation and failing to shake off all the hostility, resentment and bitterness would only bring more disruption and more suffering to the Ethiopian people. There is an urgent need for the creation of a platform of a win-win situation where mutual understanding, tolerance, and constructive dialogue are ensured. The gravity of the trouble Ethiopia is in is so astronomical that our political parties are not blessed to toy with the idea of having the luxury of rigidly adhering to their traditional ways in the face of profound global changes taking place at a breaknecking pace. Here, the special focus on the opposition must not be construed as an act of exonerating the ruling coalition from similar misdeeds. It is the scope of the article that sets the limits. Otherwise, no political party ought to be off limits to constructive criticism. To me, mollycoddling the opposition is as equally pusillanimous as sycophantically cringing to the present rulers.

Despite the recent evil transition from the ballot box of democracy to Pandora�s Box of bloodshed, there are grounds for optimism and hope. Political parties are now beginning to take the long overdue cross- party collaborative venture. Above all, the Ethiopian people have demonstrated time and again that nothing can challenge their unity and their love for each other. The people have done the right thing during and after the election, and it remains for members of the opposition to make a genuine effort to detach themselves from a divisive sectarian policy that they purport to counter. They have to demonstrate their willingness to heed the advice embodied in the premonitory watchword, �break the cycle of hate and annihilation or be broken� � Yetilachawun azurit sebabru woim tesebaberu.

By Hailu Yeshiwondim 
July 3, 2005