by T.Goshu
Let me from outset make clear that I have tried to make my view points in this piece of writing of mine as clear and straight-forward as I could. I have tried not to beunnecessary diplomatic and not simply making politically correct statements.
I also want to make clear that I haven’t disregarded those intellectuals and those with various statuses of education who are trying their best as leaders or members of a political party /movement /civic groups, or at an individual capacity. With all the challenges they face and their own weaknesses, I have sincere respect and appreciation for doing what they can do. This said, let me proceed to the points I want to make.
1. When I do say the political endeavors, I do mean the political efforts being made by political parties and movements with a relatively genuine concerns about the political situation of the people as well as the very survival of the country. I want to make clear here that the efforts of all genuinely concerned Ethiopians (as individuals) one way or the other were and are parts and parcels of the endeavors by those opposition political parties and movements of then and now .
The political changes we desperately aspire go back to the 1960s with very limited practical efforts because of both objective and subjective circumstances of the time. It was in the 1970s that the political awakenings of the 1960s had to change into revolutionary movements. Needless to say that with all serious weaknesses and subsequently devastating consequences, the then revolutionary movements had their own significant impacts on the very course of the political history of our country.
There is no doubt that those revolutionary movements were characterized by an inspiringly active and massive participation. The very energetic and inspiring participation ofintellectuals and students who represented all sections of the society were incredibly phenomenal. And it goes without saying that all those forces of movements (with the exception of the military junta group) had enormous influence on the political awakening of the people at large.
Well, we may have and should have rational criticism about what went wrong with the process of the movements, and the serious consequences the generation had to face. It is not deniable that those active and massive movements for the establishment of democratically legitimate political system and for the betterment of socio-economic life had suffered a lot because of the serious weaknesses of one of the most important inputs. This does not, however, mean that there was lack of enthusiastic participation by well-educated citizens (intellectuals) as such. It is rather to mean that the very essence of intellectualitycould not transform itself into the wisdom of doing things the way it should have advanced the very interests of the people. Those movements or struggles had been victims of political ideology that was characterized by the up-rooting of our own well-founded values of history, culture, morality, faith and social fiber. Simply put, the directly imported socialist ideology (radical revolution and class struggle) had resulted in self -identity and self-confidence crises. As a very young student, I remember how innocent and illiterate citizens (including farmers of remote rural areas) were forced to recite revolutionary slogans of which they had no any rudimentary clues about their meanings. It was absolutely dehumanizing to make those innocent citizens just chant concepts that were absolutely foreign to them.
However, on the other hand, I strongly argue that this kind of critical review on those political struggles sounds fair and rational only in relative terms. In other words, it is only when we see things from the perspective of where we are now that our critical review makes sense. Needless to say, it is unfair, if not irrational to look at the serious mistakes we made in the past regardless of the existed internal and external circumstances. Neither it is fair to undermine those who had paid ultimate sacrifices believing that they would help the people establish a political system in which they could exercise their fundamental rights. It seems so easy to criticize and pass judgments on what terribly went wrong years ago whereas we now live in completely different times and circumstances.
With this perspective, I want to continue making my view points by posing very critical questions about the challenges we have encountered for the last two decades, and the roles played by and the progress made by our intellectuals . Here they are: Have most of theintellectuals showed significant change of attitude and way of thinking in this regard? Have they really tried to learn hard lessons and make strong and meaningful efforts to use their intellect and wisdom that could help the people shorten the untold misery they continue to suffer from? Are we fortunate enough to see a real sense of willingness and ability to learn from our terrible mistakes and move forward with significantly noticeable progress in the interaction between our intellectuals and our society? To my observation and understanding, the answers to those questions are much more negative than positive. I wish I could be deadly wrong. But that could not be the case unless we pretend to be.
From all what we have terribly experienced for the last two decades, it is not an exaggeration to argue that it is very unfortunate to witness the continuation of suffering from similar, if not the worst lack of one of the most critical resources (intellect and wisdom) for a democratic change the people desperately aspire . Needless to say, the current ruling party (TPLF/EPRDF) keeps working hard to exploit this very unfortunate situation with its policy of either punishing with its merciless stick or providing those opportunistic and nonsensically selfish intellectuals with its carrot which can fills up their bellies but kills their souls. Is this highly damaging political agenda still working? Unless we want to remain victims of denying what we do not want to face, there is no doubt it is still working. Despite all kinds of clumsy pretenses, there is no doubt that the majority of intellectuals and citizens with various statuses of education are victims of either the deadly stick or the soul killing carrot of the ruling circle. Do not get me wrong that I am calling for unnecessary confrontation with deadly political game of the ruling circle. What I am trying to argue is that the majority of intellectuals and those with certain level of education look self-disqualified as far as the very essence of education is concerned. Yes, one of the very right purposes of being educated is not only for self-help but also help the society which we belong to. And one of the most important fronts of the struggle is to create a generation that decides its destiny based on rational, independent, critical and forward-looking intellect and wisdom. Needless to say, a society which is not able to produce and nurture this critical resource remains being vulnerable to the general (political, socio-economic, identity, moral or ethical, cultural and even religious) crises. And unless we want remain with the sentiment of avoiding to hear what we do not want to hear and not accepting the misery we are living with, that is exactly the situation where we found ourselves in at this moment in time.
The question of what kind of intellect and wisdom the “multiplying” higher education institutions in our country are producing is unprecedentedly frustrating. I sometimes try to watch some university lecturers (including PhDs and Professors) as well as those well- educated citizens who represent the government of the ruling elites as panelists of ETV on certain critical national issues. It is incredibly disgraceful how they terribly struggle with themselves in order not to make the ruling party uncomfortable with their comments and views. It is not just deeply worrisome but is a terrible crisis to watch those “intellectuals” trying to take off their own intellectual personalities and play the characters of political cadres on a television screen. Sadly enough, the innocent people of Ethiopia have continued to be terrified by watching those disgracefully self- disqualified intellectuals who were expected to shape all-round personalities of their sons and daughters.
Genuinely concerned fellow men and women, unless we try to fool our consciences, what we are witnessing in the area of education is nothing, but killing a generation. Yes, a generation that is being deprived of equipping itself with knowledge, wisdom and skill cannot be in a position to protect its own interests leave alone fight for saving the society from any catastrophe and safeguarding the very survival of the country. I am well aware that some fellow Ethiopians may feel that this argument of mine sounds harshly critical. But, I strongly believe that that is the reality we have to face if we have to make a meaningfully political and socio-economic difference with a real sense of concerted effort. It goes without saying that a society that suffers from severe lack of problem-solving educational undertakings is vulnerable to a horrible vicious circle of failure. And that is what is happening in our country.
Needless to say, the very idea of problem-solving goes beyond technical and professional standards and performances. It has to be characterized by the very essence of shaping and reshaping a generation that can assert itself to be the locomotive force of creating a society of freedom, justice, a real sense of equality, human dignity and shared prosperity. This is because if being educated is considered as simply sheer technical and professional services without questioning for what purpose and why and to whom, it is doomed to fail. In other words, if the very existence and essence of intellectuality does not make a meaningful difference in the process of peoples’ struggle for the prevalence of genuine freedom; it couldn’t be better than any commodity for sale regardless of asking about the legitimacy and value of its end purpose. Sadly enough, the challenges we are facing in intellectual and other educational arena in our country is two-fold: a) in terms of quality and b) in terms of vulnerability to the very political agenda of the ruling elites who themselves have suffered and continue to suffer from deadly ignorance and beast-like arrogance. And that is why it would be senselessly wrong to deny that we are in a very deep crisis; and unless we come together and get rid of the very root-cause (the ugly political game) and establish a genuinely good governance, there couldn’t be any reason to be believe that this generation and the generations to come will maintain their very survival let alone change for the better. There is an urgent and compelling reason to give a deep and serious attention to this side of our crises.
2. How about the role of intellectuals and those with certain level of education in the diaspora? I am sorry to say but I have to say that given the freedom we relatively enjoy in the countries we live, particularly in the western hemisphere , most of us are still parts of the problem, not the solution in the real sense of the term. I do not think we need to do research to prove this deeply unfortunate situation. The very day-to-day realities of the people in every aspect of their lives for the last quarter of a century speak much more powerfully than our intellectual theorization and abstraction. We fled our country for any reason we might have and we are very good in describing and characterizing our country as a country of acute problem of brain-drain. And that is a good thing. However, the very challenging questions are: What practical, meaningful and constructive role we have registered for the last quarter of a century? How many economists, health professionals, engineers, lawyers, diplomats, agriculturalists, teachers, and even church education educators etc. have fled their countries for the last four decades? How many of us have taken our strong opposition to the deadly political agenda of the ruling circle beyond securing our request for political asylum (for those who are in this category)? How many of those who fled their country through refuge programs and other non-asylum programs (visa lottery and working and other visa programs) have dared to stand against the deadly political agenda in our country? How many of us try to keep our real sense of attachment to our country and the people who are living (if it is living at all) in an incrediblyimpoverished and dehumanized situation? How many of the intellectuals go beyond making the theorization and abstraction of political concepts whenever they get a chance to appear on various media? How many of the intellectuals have tried to discuss the necessity of creating kind of think tank of which they can produce resources that could help people’s struggle for political freedom and socio-economic justice? How many of the intellectuals talk about the tyrannical regime in our country behind public talks, but very careful (better to say stupidly careful) private talks in order not to be identified by agents and cameras of TPLF/EPRDF? I could go on and on and on with so many challenging questions that could be hard, if not impossible to challenge back.
The very problem of not making significantly meaningful progress in the area I am talking about is deeply disturbing when it comes to those intellectuals who claim themselves big players in the diaspora politics. Imagine genuinely concerned fellow Ethiopians; some of them (intellectuals) do claim themselves as active opposition politicians for more than forty years (from back home to the politics in exile). Sadly enough, the intellectuals in these political groups keep making rhetoric after rhetoric, not making practical steps that could make a difference in the process of the struggle. I am sorry to say but I have to say that they look run out of sound political ideas, strategic thinking, and the courage of engaging themselves in the ongoing struggle as reinforcing and coordinating forces. Some intellectuals of politics in the diaspora have told us that it took two years of study or research for them to form a coalition (Shengo) consisting of political and civic groups and prominent individuals. This was just about two years ago (after 18 years of the tyrannical ruling party). Well, we can say that although the move was too late, and the two- year study and preparation does not sound meaningfully convincing, it has to be acknowledged and recognized as a positive step. Once again, we are not witnessing things moving for the better. How? Let me jot down a couple of my observation as cases in point: a) they (intellectuals in the Shengo) strongly argue that members of the coalition have a real sense of cohesion as far as the most critical national issues and the fundamental common interests of the Ethiopian people are concerned.
If that is genuinely true, I would like to argue that there is no a convincing reason why at least those with much more strong cohesion of objectives, strategies, programs and course of action could not pull their political , financial , material and human resources together and make merger or unification? If we take for instance the case of the National Transitional Council, its objective and mission is not contrary to what most of the political groups of the Shengo are talking about. The transitional agenda of the Council could not take place in a vacuum. It can only take place with an active participation and a real sense of ownership of all concerned opposition political parties. To my understanding, the issues and responsibilities of dealing with a big task of political transition cannot be effective leave alone efficient if it is not done with a broad –based and a real sense of shared ownership and responsibility. b) I do argue that this kind of plat -form (individuals, political parties, advocacy groups, civil right groups, committee of boarder issues) can only work effectivelyif they are organized as a consultative body. But what we hear from the leadership of the Shengo seems a bit “amorphous” as far as the way it tries to put those issues which are strictly political and all groups and individuals who have their own specific objectives and targets together. What I am trying to say is that it makes a strong sense first to make real sense of togetherness among political parties and movements; and then create a common plat-form or consultative forum with individuals and other civic and advocacygroups. I think although there can be other reasons for not making significant progress, this kind of amorphous set up is one of the reasons for keeping the tendency of being much more rhetorical than practical.
I want to say that although it is not undeniable that intellectuals in Ethiopia are suffering from both excessively perceived and actual fear and that could somehow be understandable, the terrible failure of the intellectuals in the diaspora is difficult to comprehend. Could this deeply puzzling trend change for the better? Of course it could! But only if and only if it comes from a critical and courageous struggle within ourselves.
