The Proxy Game

By Gemencho

The London conference of 1991 deserves the credit for engineering the coup d’ etat of 1991 in Ethiopia, and for manufacturing a democratic cover to the anti-Ethiopian narrative. Not surprisingly, this is what frames all colonial and imperial adventures. Dismantling third world nationalism has always been the pre-occupation of colonial elites-the core element of their project.

So, side by side with the coup; the massacres at Gondar, Areka, Arbagugu, Weter, Asosa, Bedeno, etc, ; the murder of patriotic Ethiopians- professor Asrat, Gaim, Assefa Maru, Tesfaye Tadesse, Shibere, …etc.,, the selling of the land and its resources to foreign conglomerates, went along an all out assault on the nation’s history, on its values and experiences. The anti-Amhara narrative (the bread and butter of the TPLF/EPLF/OLF), was the convenient tool to be employed for this purpose.

A fake opposition was planted to make sure that national consciousness would not get an outlet. Fake Mandellas and Gandhi’s surfaced to stir public attention away from the real issue, -the issue of sovereignty, towards fake democracy and fake elections.

Twenty years after its launching, it seems evident; the colonial/racial project is preparing to go for a face lift. Facts on the ground are necessitating it. The EPLF/TPLF alliance has unraveled. The TPLF has imploded, with the Meles wing hanging to power. T he fake opposition has been exposed and rendered irrelevant. The regime’s belligerence, its brutalities its insatiable appetite for wealth and power, added to its human rights violations have reached their threshold. Most importantly, Ethiopian nationalism has remained resilient and frustrating the project. . It appears, Meles’s shelf life is about to expire. According to Mr.Herman Cohen, the chief architect of the London conference, in his recent interview with ESAT, the Meles regime is not sustainable. The valuable asset is becoming a liability.

It is said that for things to stay the same, things have to change. The colonial/racial project has to continue with or without Meles. So, the need to weave a democratic narrative, carefully crafted to portray Meles as the garden variety African dictator. Meles is accused for breaking his own rules, for hounding the fake opposition, for suppressing dissent, for imprisoning and killing his opponents, and for being outright corrupt. Conspicuously absent in these accusation, are the massacres he committed, such those in Gondar, Gambella, Arbagugu, Weter…etc, his apartheid like policies and practices on non-Eritrean, and non-Tigrean Ethiopians, which cannot be explained away as merely dictatorial. What is not mentioned is his deep rooted hatred of Ethiopia which informs the very nature of his regime. What is also not mentioned is how the entire ethnocentric cabal that came out of the London conference and now finding itself in the opposition share his hatred of Ethiopia.

The slogan is out, and it says: “forget ethnic politics, fight for democracy”. The entire ethnocentric cabal is coalescing against it. The game is reset to 1991, to be played by the proxies who are craving and competing to replace Meles.

Let Ethiopia belong to Ethiopians.

This entry was posted on 22. January 2012 at 18:25 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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