Hurdles in the Transition to a Free Society

It is quite understandable for any Ethiopian to be upset and consumed with what went wrong in our country over the last 10 months. Too many of us feel cheated watching the event which was meant to usher in our emancipation from tyranny, war and poverty turned into fool’s gold. I am certain that even those among us who still have soft spots in their hearts for the murderous regime wish things in our country were somehow different. I would venture to say that even Meles, the very architect of our precipitous decent to the dark days of midnight knocks, disappearances and gulags, would not choose the course which led us to the current state of affairs if he could rewind the clock back to May 16, 2005. I continue to believe that even a man who seems to value his personal ambition over the wellbeing of his compatriots would travel a different course given a chance at a do over.

In any event, sooner or later, the citizens and the leaders of the nation have to start to think of how we are going to proceed going forward. Even while we are in the middle of our struggles over the unfinished business associated with the last election, we the people must begin to develop and discuss ideas of how we will proceed the next time around so the situation does not get out of control again. We must begin to contemplate and develop a clear consensus how we would govern ourselves whether or not Meles and his gang continue hang around the scene. After all, our cause is the eradication of all prospects of tyranny, not the removal of its current edition. In the course of one generation we squandered two separate opportunities for democratic transformation. We were so focused on the troubles at hand, we failed to prepare adequately for the fundamental task of laying the foundations required for the transformation of our system of government.

As most of you do, I often worry of what will come after Meles and what we citizens are doing to make sure that whatever replaces the EPRDF is accountable to the people of Ethiopia. It often occurs to me when I lay awake at night, when I am driving through the lonely back woods of the state I live in, or during lazy summer days as I follow behind my lawn mower letting the soft purr of the engine block out all other noise. My mind wonders solving the problems of the world. When my thoughts return to our country and our people, nearly always I come back to the same question. What guarantees do I have that the third political transition of my lifetime will be any better than the first two? What are we the people doing to make sure that when change comes, we the people rather than politicians with the escort of armed men are in the driver seat? What does it take for us to mold our country in our own image and to establish a system of government that is accountable to us? What is it that we must do to ensure that the next government understands its charge is to govern on our behalf and not a mandate to rule over us? How do we groom and develop leaders who understand that we elect them to office because we like their ideas and we will remove them from office if their deeds fail to please us?

Much needs to be done but much has already happened over the course of the last few years both to educate many of us about the requirements of participatory democracy and to highlight some of the dangers which lurk in the background. Yet many obstacles still remain which place in doubt whether the next transition will lead to the emergence of a government constituted by the people which governs Ethiopia for the benefit of all of the people of Ethiopia.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle we must overcome is what I call the curse of Ethiopiawinet. This refers to the condition that seems to prevent all of us from recognizing that the country we so desperately love is home to 77 million other citizens each of whom love her just as deeply as we do. The depth of our affection for our country is such that too many of us believe that we have the right to mold it to our personal preferences even though we must share it with 77 million of our compatriots.

As reported in another post, I have traveled more than once around the world. As I meat and learn of the history and cultures of other people, it never ceases to amaze me to learn again and again that no other people love their country quite like the way we love our Ethiopia. You see, we just don’t love our country; we guard her jealously like a man protects and guards his wife. A man cannot tolerate even the remote possibility of someone else having loving thoughts for her. I hope you can see the picture I am trying paint here. There is the love of one’s first born child, but you are glad to share your child with your wife/husband. There is the love of one’s parents whom you graciously share with your siblings. And then there is the love of one’s spouse – the one meant just for you. That is how an Ethiopian loves his country.

A love so intense that if other citizens have other ideas, we go to war with them, we call them all sorts of names and we forget that each of us has the same right to the country we must all call home. Your college roommate, your coworker, your next door neighbor and the listro working at the corner stand are all citizens of the same country with the same rights to hold and to forward their views of what Ethiopia should be. To have a different opinion is not to be treasonous. To be on the same Ethiopian team should not mean to sing from the same sheet of music. Sometimes one just feels like singing a different song and that should be ok.

Until such time that all of us learn to keep in the forefront of our collective minds that old but simple maxim uttered by our last emperor, “Hager yegara new…”, we will have a great deal of difficulty building the Ethiopia we wish to live in and I wish to leave for my kids and grand kids.

The second obstacle blocking the path to a successful transition is the tendency of so many of us to obsess over issues and incidents which transpired centuries earlier. While the problems which ravage us today and those which threaten our future scream loudly for our immediate attention, we spend much of our time either glorifying or condemning the past. We stuck in the middle of a three-decade long nightmare, crouching under the weight of repression by successive tyrannies. Yet we spend much of energy not fighting tyranny but squabbling with one another over the purported crimes of our forefathers.

Yes understanding our true and complete history is important. Yet in the scheme of things, it is not nearly as important as feeding our children, providing healthcare to our ailing parents or recreating our country so that every citizen can explore history or whatever else strikes his/her fancy unencumbered by fear of a totalitarian regime or by material deprivation. I understand that most of us would like to live and work within the cultural context we feel most comfortable in. Living in a foreign land, I know what it means to have to learn a new language and to maneuver within a new culture. But these are issues that are best addressed when we are in charge of our destiny and we have secured for ourselves the right to decide what is appropriate for us. Thus the first fight we must win is the fight to be free of tyranny. It is only as free men that we can rationally decide for ourselves whether we should have one national language and if so what that should be.

The final obstacle which we must overcome is the dearth of skilled political leaders. We need leaders who have not only the ability to convince the common man to vote for him/her but also the wisdom to inspire other head strong politicians to follow their visions for the country. We need men and women who are not only great tacticians but also great strategists. We need leaders who have the talent to analyze the many problems at hand and also have the wisdom to anticipate and plan for the problem which is destined to visit us in a decade. Most of all We need leaders who believe in the virtues of freedom and who believe that free men can move mountains. We need leaders who understand and appreciate that a truly free Ethiopia is capable of eradicating poverty and leaving in peace within its borders.

I don’t know what it takes to grow such leaders. But I am confident that we have in our midest thousands of capable leaders who can fit the mold I outlined above. There are a number of things we as citizens can do to ensure that such leaders do come to the forefront. All of us should have the temperance to accept new ideas even if they sometimes sound counter intuitive. We should recognize that a democratic solution requires flexibility and our national obsession with what Ethiopian college students call “principle” is a double edged sword which kills friends just as often as it kills enemies. Visionary leaders have to have the ability to persuade others to see the virtues of their ways. When their power of persuasion fails them, to find a common ground and to advance the greater good, visionary leaders find appropriate redress acceptable to the other side. In democratic politics, very little is non-negotiable, truly off the table a priori. The kind of leaders we need will only emerge when we recognize what their task requires and give them enough room to maneuver. When we are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to those who step forward and make themselves available for public service, when we are willing to disagree without being disagreeable, and when are no longer quick to equate a change of mind with a change in allegiance, only then will we have visionary men and women step forward and assume the positions of leadership which we so desperately need to fill.

Such are the thoughts which run through my head as I walk the lonely beaches of the Atlantic in the middle of winter or blow the Fall leaves with my power blower which loudly purrs blocking all of the ambient noise. The serenity afforded by the empty beach or by the noise cascading from the blower frees my mind to revisit events from my past, from childhood memories to yesterday’s goings at work. It is on such occasions that I free myself to daydream and to think of what is possible in my Ethiopia.