Ours Race Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

The carnage and the indiscriminant shootings of unarmed and peaceful citizens by a regime bent on intimidating a population has now become old news, not worthy of mention in civilized conversation even among Ethiopians. The nationwide crackdown against dissent and the appearance of dissent has been going on for so long, mass arrests, beatings and murders transpire unnoticed beyond the immediate circles of the victims. Like the afternoon rains of mid August, these events have become so much a part of normal life, they elicit little fanfare or special note. Any notion that the fix is just around the corner has by now dissipated. Indeed, if you browse what is left of the Ethiopian free media or read the exchanges in Ethiopian discussion groups, you are bound to notice a great deal of pessimism about a seemingly lost cause.

The internet news aggregators only post reports received from such news stalwarts as Xinhua, China Post and People's Daily Online each of whom regurgitates government propaganda originated by ENA or Walta – a favorite topic being the billions in investment dollars pouring into Oromia or Afar or Amara states every other week. Meles’ brilliant strategy for isolating Ethiopians from each other and from the rest of the world through a complete news blackout has been a rousing success. His plan to annihilate the once young but vibrant private press went without a hitch. The publishers, editors and reporters find themselves in prison, or on the run. Even the ever buoyant weblogs, including this one, have of late been unusually quite for lack of news to report and developments to analyze.

Quite understandably, the mood of Ethiopians which resembled the dawn of a bright and shinny morning immediately before and after the election, is getting increasingly gloomy. A great deal of pessimism is an air, and I can relate to it. Ten moths of waiting for a resolution, ten moths of daily crackdowns, ten long moths witnessing innocent thousands detained, ten months watching our brothers and sisters hunted down for the crime of running for office or supporting legal candidates is enough to unglue anyone’s nerves.

This is especially true for so many who had taken the EPRDF at its word. Many who had long thought of the TPLF as nothing more than an invading army had begun to grudgingly think that perhaps the EPRDF was finally going to allow a free political contest. This group which constitutes the majority among Ethiopians finds it particularly disconcerting to witness the TPLF returning to its guns. It is easy to understand how such people could find this ongoing saga tiresome. Few people like a journey which seems to have no known terminus.

Of course the depth of the disappointment is attributable to the unwarranted trust the people had placed on the EPRDF. On the matter of the election, they took it at its word. For years, the Ethiopian people had been skeptical about the regime and any of its pronouncements. The regime had ruled without consulting large swath of the population. It had consistently conducted itself and taken many actions the public viewed to be at cross purposes with the national interest. Consequently, the Ethiopian public had low expectations and little to trust in the promises of the government. Until, that is, the government announced an election open to all comers and, for the most part, conducted itself as if it meant it.

As the campaign progressed, gradually people begin to believe that perhaps there was a chance that there would be an open election and that their votes would, for once, matter. So, everyone dug in and made the push towards a successful election, with the hope that by the end of the election all of the hurdles to our emancipation will be removed. Ethiopians and the entire world now know that the EPRDF was not reformed after all. Although the people’s candidates won the race, there were no medals or flower bouquets waiting for them at the finish line. As it turned out, the electoral race was not really a competition but a show – like one of those fixed boxing bouts. The only problem is those who were supposed to lose and make the favorite look good end up winning.

Having expended much energy and emotion at the election and its immediate aftermath, many of us have been laying low trying to regain our balance and sort through what just happen. Thankfully, there are increasing signs that the period of dazed disorientation is coming to an end. Many elements of the people’s movement are beginning to find their bearings and resume the struggle. Even in these early days of the new phase of our struggle, it is already clear that this is not going to be a sprint but a marathon. Our adversary is clever and very well positioned. Thus to succeed in our drive towards the goal of a free, democratic and prosperous Ethiopia which lives in peace within secured borders, we have to have the stamina of long distance runners and the wisdom and tenacity of a colony of fire ants.

While every citizen can and must play an important role in this struggle, we cannot afford a fragmented and disorganized effort. To optimize our efforts, we need to learn to work within institutionalized frameworks. We need to be able to live and work together even when we don’t see eye to eye on everything. We should resist the temptation to view every difference of opinion among us as though it were a hill to die over and an occasion to splinter our institutions. One of the enduring lessons of the last election should be the great dividend that cooperation across party lines pays. We witnessed that together, ill financed and inexperienced political forces shook the Ethiopian landscape. That lesson should never be lost on us again. This journey is long and will have many ups and downs and many turns along the way. We should never allow such events to divide and weaken us.

Many of our compatriots paid the ultimate price. I am certain that many of the victims of the June and November massacres were not even involved in the struggle. They were bystanders who were caught in Meles’ calculated move meant to scare the population into submission. Many parents lost their children and many children lost their parents. Sad as all of this is to the individuals who lost their lives and to their families, the most grievous damage that has been visited on our collective struggle is the loss of our leaders.

Meles knows this fact quite well. He launched his treasonous act with great care and continues to stand firm on this matter because he believes that our cause will be lost without our leaders. That is one reason why we need to rally around what remains of our leadership and prove him wrong. Certainly the men and women who engineered the election victory and who had the temerity to march forward in the face of great personal danger deserve the reverence with which we hold them. Yet I refuse to believe even for a second that our land of 77 million people is endowed with only two dozen leaders. There are out there thousands of able leaders waiting to be discovered. We need to identify and encourage the leaders among us to step forward. No one is born an experienced leader. That comes with time and maturity.

Each of us needs to search our souls and listen to our hearts to define our appropriate roles in this long journey. Our aspiration is no less than the emancipation of all 77 million of us. That august aspiration requires the full engagement and the maximum effort of each one of us. I recall hearing Dr. Berhanu Nega once state that neither he nor his party were in it liberate anyone. He said CUD was just a collection of people who want to liberate themselves. I know that kind of thought and language is very untraditional, but it is quite to the point. While it is important for us to work together, each of us must join in the fight to secure our own freedom. Certainly today we are not free from fear, free from deprivation, free from anarchy, free from war or free from oppression. As they say, freedom is not free. We must go out and struggle to secure it and once in hand continue to struggle to ensure we don’t loose it.

It is not necessary or even possible for all of us to join political organizations. But it is necessary for all of us to identify at least one political organization among the opposition parties and support it financially and morally. It is not possible for all of us to be lobbyists on behalf of our cause. But it is both possible and necessary for all of us who live in the West to make material contributions to the collective effort to influence the policies of the major western powers towards Ethiopia. It may not be possible for all of us to show up at rallies, but it is necessary and possible for each of us to write letters to the editor of our hometown papers and letters to our congressional representatives.

Each of these tasks is tedious and any benefits which might accrue would not be noticeable for years. Yet these are the necessary steps we must take to get to the promised land. We are fortunate to have among our compatriots many of the greatest distance runners to live on the planet. Let us closely observe and learn from their training methods. Let us monitor and learn from their race strategies. These who frequently travel on Belai Zeleke Road in Addis have had the privilege to come across these fantastic men and women in training. They trudge up the Intoto Hills down to Sululta and back up the hills and down to Shola Gebeya and perhaps back up again. They do this day in day out, every single day. To succeed at the world stage requires tenacity; and tenacious they are. They train hard in order to prepare for easy victory.

Our preparation to assure ourselves of ultimate victory requires no less sweat or tears than the preparations of our glorious athletes. There are no quick rewards in the race we are in. Our struggle is a long trudge up a steep mountain. We need to have no less than the stamina of the marathon runner. And by God, I believe we are up to the task.