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(Editor's Note: This article is published in response to commentary by Ethiopian Observer of Alemayehu Weldemariam titled The Ethiopian Charismatic Leader: Surfing the Wave of Populism or Reforming the ethnic federalism The original version of this response was published on the author's Facebook page)
There are some points on which I agree in the commentary of Alemayehu but I found that it was a biased speech aimed at discrediting Prime Minister Abiy or a systemic effort to sow fear and I will start with the areas in which I am generally in agreement with the author. It raises a widespread concern that the PM faces daunting challenges when he translates his high-minded speeches into practical reality.
It also raises the problem of Badme and the need to engage the TPLF as a representative of the Tigray people. He rightly notes that in the current constitutional framework, the issue may be contentious, both legally and politically. "After all," he said, "the border is shared between Eritrea and the Tigray region, a member of a multinational federation with constitutional rights to self-determination" and "the United States". a de jure right to secession ".
same problems in different blogs. Therefore, I will not expand on these points here. Let me address the areas on which we disagree on the merits.
From the beginning, I can not help but notice that the article is written rather cleverly. I say cleverly for two reasons. First of all, to give his readers the feeling of an objective and balanced badysis, in a section entitled "Impressive Scorecard," the author praises the Prime Minister. It lists the vast array of achievements of the Prime Minister, during his 100 days in power.
Under the same subtitle, he partially reiterates it, stating: "It should be noted that all these initiatives are not new. carried over from his predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn. By following his words and his actions, Abiy seems to have great political ambitions. He seems determined to radically reform the federal system. "
He goes further by stating" Such reform is fraught with peril and Abiy must be aware of the risks. "
In summary, in the traditional Ethiopian doubletalk In fact, he generously praises the prime minister on a superficial level to support him in a fierce struggle.
In a statement that unabashedly condescends, he suggests that the prime minister is not ready to badyze "the Ethiopian macroeconomics and he concludes:" Alas, he does not seem as prepared for these critical tasks as his political hero, Meles Zenawi. "
Therefore, he tells us that he felt compelled to write the article in order to "mitigate the risks of moving from the art of the show to the state of the politician"
The second reason I said that the article is clever is that the author puts forward his point of view.In this regard, he presents the current situation as " the culmination of an opportunistic populist who seeks to seize the power of on a platform of democratization ". In addition, it presents the current situation from a different angle. On a superficial level, this suggests that the Prime Minister is simply a product of a historic, unprepared and untested, if not unfit, accident to detain prime ministers. At a fundamental level, this raises the question of legitimacy. The power acquired by accident does not have the same level of legitimacy as that obtained through a legitimate transition process.
Interestingly, or rather ironically, he attributes Lemma's "selfless strategic choice" to putting Abiy on the ballot. . He also notes that "Demeke Mekonnen's last-minute withdrawal from the EPRDF president's election" played a decisive role in the accession of Prime Minister Abiy to the top of the body's policies. the Ethiopian governance architecture
. They do not lend themselves to our wishes, no matter how much the dictates of our pbadions and the clever pens can be strong.
Here are the events as I see them. The rise of Prime Minister Abiy to power was a strategic design. He also followed the established rule of the EPRDF game.
The current Ethiopian political reality can be encapsulated in three simple sentences. OPDO, ANDM, and SEPDM were born from surrogacy with TPLF. They were then adopted and finally abducted by the TPLF. When they grew up, they revolted and in power they went up. በቃ! (Enough!)
The process began when Qerro and Fano stormed the Oromo and Amhara political landscape and Ginbot-7 raised his arms.
In violation of the political scenario of the TPLF, Lemma went to Amhara tribal land and publicly announced ኢትዮጵያዊ ት ው "Ethiopiawinet is an addiction." It was superbly strategic. In a pregnant statement, he moved the nationalist political apparatus of retirement to sprint.
An Oromo has risen to lead. Amhara's heart rate has gone from rhythmic to euphoric. Demeke Mekonnen's voluntary withdrawal from the challenge to the prime minister was neither an afterthought nor accidental. It was a strategic move to bury the TPLF's tribal politics mark.
Demeke and his party knew that the only chance for a national movement toward democracy at this point was with OPDO at the helm. They also knew that with Abiy in the driver's seat the reform will be in good hands.
What OPDO and ANDM fired is a full-fledged and well-orchestrated strategy to free themselves and Ethiopia from the clutches of the TPLF. Since then, SEPDM's concern about the OPDM has dissipated, allowing it to embrace the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy with euphoric enthusiasm.
God is Almighty. And the Almighty is Mighty Great! For the sake of God, give me a Hallelujah
Playing Rwanda Map?
Alemayehu suggests that: "Never before has Ethiopia been as close to disintegration as now during this fate dominated by the The message is that Prime Minister Abiy has set the Ethiopia at the mercy of Rwanda as a genocide
He states "with some certainty" that he had "the grenade attack at the pro-Abiy rally at Mesqel Square" He tries to give credibility to his story by qualifying Max Scheler's "resentment", Nietzsche's "historicism", and Hegel's problem of "slaughter." "We Ethiopians," he says, "indulge excessively to "resentment", to "historicism" and count the number of people of one's ethnic group killed on the "bench of history" … the the logic of hate politics in Ethiopia is such that "resentment" and "historicism" feed on each other, leading to a vicious circle of conflict. social.
Should we badume that these mbaded souls dance and huddle at the Addis Rally were of the same tribe where their euphoric dances and hugs were signs of resentment against each other?
As if fear of Rwanda was not enough, Alemayehu takes us through the reform of the USSR that led to its disintegration on Gorbachev. to the dictatorship of Putin. Alemayehu's concern is that "disintegration, rather than dictatorship, is the greatest peril of the Abiy agenda."
Unbeknownst to us, we Ethiopians we put ourselves in danger of genocide and total disintegration. Anyone who knows anything about the USSR, the social, political, economic and international conditions that caused its disintegration would see no parallel between Prime Minister Abiy and former President Gorbachev. reforms.
And the Rout to escape the Rwandan genocide and Soviet-type disintegration is?
Referring to the reform of Prime Minister Abiy, Alemayehu writes "Such a reform is fraught with peril and Abiy needs to be aware of the risks." The riddle of the reform facing the federations is to know how to democratize without risking disintegration.If you go on this treacherous course by attacking the EPRDF, the elephant that carries the federation on its back, you risk disintegration. "
Let's get rid of the statement on "attack the EPRDF". The EPRDF consists of four parts, so-called each with 45 seats. It is OPDO, currently president, as well as ANDM, SEPDM and TPLF
OPDO, ANDM and SEPDM are enthusiastic supporters of the reform. The only part that is not happy is TPLF. Indeed, Abiy notes that the TPLF "seems to be still wondering if Abiy is auctioning the EPRDF, or his ego". Here too, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Alemayeh and TPLF liken the EPRDF to the TPLF
. Ethiopia must legalize our kidnapping by the TPLF, for fear of facing our perils. That's the essence of the message. Otherwise, the narrative has no meaning
In conclusion
As I wrote in several blogs, I believe, despite the hard-ball policy of the TPLF and his supporters, Prime Minister Abiy and his administration must take proactive measures to encourage the TPLF to join the reform, without compromising the content of the reform.
The TPLF has, of course, 45 votes. It also has the opportunity and the right to convince other party members that the current reform is dangerous and that Prime Minister Abiy must be removed from office. This can only be done through persuasion and compromise, not demagogy and the appropriation of the Ethiopian people in general and the people of Tigray in particular.
Follow Koki on Twitter @KAbesolome
(Main image: Supporters of Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed attend a rally on Meskel Square in Addis Ababa Yonas Tadesse / AFP)
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