Obo Arada Shawl
January 1, 2012
What is in a name?
What is Ethiopianism? Who is an Ethiopian? Should he be a native, a national or a citizen? Notice that I did not say her for Lucy is a native citizen from the Afar Land, if we believe in Evolution.
What about if one is a believer in Creation? According to Evolution Adam is an Eritrean dubbed as Innocent.
So why is the current regime of Ethiopia cry day in and day out that we Ethiopians as if the Eritreans are not Ethiopians. By many accounts, they are the true Ethiopians. They just have a land called Eritrea just like the Tigrians have their local name, Tigrai.
Last year, Elias Kifle, Editor of the Ethiopian Review, has published his knowledge about the top current Ethiopian brass of Leadership. According to him they are mostly Eritreans. By their own definition, they have colonized Ethiopia. It is an anomaly when we know that the government of EPRDF is based on ethnicity and that Eritreans do play a role in the current structure of Ethiopian polity. Shouldnt the Eritreans belong in the fatherland of Hamasien and not in the motherland of Ethiopia?
The Eathiopians (both Eritreans and Ethiopians) are in bad shape in terms of social and psychological norms. It is a result of religious affiliations and beliefs. The religions of Catholicism, Judaism, Muslim, Orthodox and Protestantism with ancient remnants in Eritrea are being transformed to the current Ethiopian Ethnic Empire (EEE).
The Menghistu regime due to its credit has carefully avoided the religious aspect of Eathiopians. He had accepted class warfare though in the end badly abused it.
The TPLF has always believed in nationalism, avoiding the existence and the concept of Nativity and Citizenship. Leaders of TPLF, contrary to the advice of EPRP top leadership, who were mostly Eathiopian citizens from Tigrai national, had instead pursued the politics of EPLF and now pursuing the ideologies of the Derg. In both instances, they followed the wrong advice or path.
In the near future, it seems that the TPLF leadership is attempting to emulate the path of EPRP leadership. The distortion of the theory of Wallelign Makonnen (WM), the burial of Debteraws DEMOCRACY and the dishonoring of Assimbas Army as non-Ethiopian have put their credibility in question. Under TPLF leadership, Eathiopia will not be stabilized despite its rhetoric. Copycat will not work. Learning from mistakes will.
Celebrating ብሔር – ብሔረሰብ – ሕዝቦች BHer, BHereseb and People is not appropriate for a country whose ancient history was based on the Axumite civilization, on the Ankoberite politics and on whose future will depend on the Zgbawians (bites) economics.
The people of Eathiopia were known as Hametic, Semitic, Cushitic, Abyssinians, Omotic, Hamasien, Srilankans, Amharas, Ethiopians, and Eritreans and so on and so forth. Now, thanks to TPLF and EPLF, they are known by their ethnicity and Zonal basis.
How low can they go? The half Ethiopian or Eritrean division is not working. It may only work when it involves race as a card as in the American case as with President B. Obama but not when it is involved with same race. The current president of Ethiopia, Melese Zenawi is not an Eritrean and the current president of Eritrea, Essayas Afeworki, is not an Ethiopian. Let us not kid ourselves. Our problem is far deeper than that. Some two thousand years ago, it is said that JC has spent three decades in retreat (asylum) in Ethiopia. Where in Ethiopia? It can only be in the present day Eritrea.
Our Eway Revolution was/is not about ID (investigate and discover) but reassert our freedom and Independence. If the leaders of TPLF and EPLF didnt know the difference between the fine lines of Liberty and Freedom, they should have consulted their own comrades and countrymen. They joined forces on the advice of GHWB (George Herbert Walker Bush) just to get rid of Menghistu and by extension to live together in peace and harmony. I dont blame President Bush to think that both leaders were real cousins. And we still believe in such rubbish reasoning. Eritrea is a Fathers Land while Ethiopia is a Mothers country. Think of Adam and Eve.
Can the two leaders give us peace and harmony? Let us see E_Z or I_M. How do they write their true names alphabetically. With GE EZ script, there is no problem but I doubt whether they sign in GEez Fidel, for in GEEZ E=E and G = government and it has ending in Z. This is what needs investigation and discovery (ID).
Leadership, Leadership and Leadership
For leadership to exist there should be followers and a space what we normally label as people and country.
Are we led by names or ideologies? What is our history? Is it common with the rest of the world or is it unique to us? Migration changes demography and demographic changes to land grab.
The Eathiopians were resistant to migration. For the most part, they were happy with their surroundings and neighborhood. If they migrated it has to do with family reunion or temporary visitation.
The major migration in the form of emigration happened during the war for liberation and revolution. And it is still continuing unabated. Why? Some say it is because of leadership, the leadership of Haile Sellasie I, Menghistu H. Mariam, Melese Zenawi and Essayas Afeworki. Others claim it is because of the foreigners, such as the British, the Arabs, the Europeans, the Western nations in particular the United States of America. How much is this true? Let us see it from a different perspective.
EPLF and TPLF leadership
VIP is an acronym for Very Important People and is frequently used by the British for their leaders. According to the American heritage it is somewhat referred to mean the American foreign policy of Value-Interest-Principle (VIP). Where do the EPLF and TPLF leaders belong? The answer should come from the readers of this article.
In my own limited research, Eathiopians have been lead mostly by value laden systems of belief as opposed to interests or principles. To illustrate my points, I would like to ask my readers to decipher the following questions.
ሐወወይ? HWWY signify?
H=Hamasien=Eritrea
W=Wollo = Aba Wollo
W = Wollega =
Y = Yirga = Badme
YA = Alem = Sidamo
Or alternatively from the outside world
H = Herbert
W = Walker
GB = George Bush
The main reason why I am raising the above acronyms is simply because there are many intellectuals who think that the Ethiopian Revolution was led from outside by either countries or agents of foreign governments. I am of the opinion that assertion is not totally true. The Ethiopian Revolution is an indigenous Revolution. As such, it will continue in the same direction and valuation.
The American Influence on Leadership
The American baby boomer generation (1946-64) has embarked on investing on infrastructure on roads, health, and agriculture. After the 1960s American Peace Corps took over to influence Eathiopians in terms of ideology but did not succeed.
In 1989, The Americans having failed in leading Eathiopians ideologically turned to the Israels for leadership advice. GHWB the father came to the conclusion that the inheritors of the Axumite Empire in the names of Melese and Essayas will do the trick to provide leadership for all Ethiopia. And so 1991-2011, i.e. Two decades have passed without peace and stability in the region. We dont know how the George Bush the son who has gone to Ethiopia to continue advice on leadership style by the end of 2011. We have to wait and see what kind of leadership to Eathiopia will evolve.
The Eathiopian Leadership
From the beginning, EPRP leadership seek to understand the difference between leadership and management. The functions of leadership and management might be the same, but they are not. The roles are different though both might be filled by the same person or different people.
Leadership is about inspiration, while management is mostly about supervision.
Myths of leadership which EPRP did not endorse are enumerated below:-
· The leader speaks and the followers listen
· The leader controls information and the followers can only guess
· The leader knows and the followers only have opinions
· The leader decides and the followers just do what theyre told
· The leader commands and the followers obey
Instead the leadership of EPRP considered the following five points
- Neighborhood monitoring
- Teaching and coaching subordinates
- Organizing subordinate activities
- Motivating others and
- Intervening actively in the groups work
Styles of EPRPs Leadership vis-à-vis EPLF and TPLF
EPRP leadership follows the style of Democratic rule of an organization.
TPLF leaders are autocratic
Organization by definition is a dichotomy, two groups, to one we assign duties, and to the other we assign privileges. Unique and powerful privileges have to be conferred upon the leaders and specify numerous duties to be obeyed by the many followers. The vast majority, i.e., the followers due consigned to an inferior status, even to be sacrificed, if needs be, in order to preserve and protect the power and privilege of those designated as leaders.
EPLF is an authoritarian leadership. They are very specific on how they lead to their expectation and what needs to be done, when to be done, and how to be done. EPLF leaders make decisions without consultations.
Conclusion
Eathiopia needs leaders who can differentiate and negotiate among alternatives of strategic planning, the concept of legacy and provocative thinking.
As far as I know Eathiopian philosophy is to differentiate between a personal name and public nomenclature. በአማርኛ አነጋገር ስም መልአክ ያወጠዋል Ethiopia!!!
ብትግርኛ ብሂል ሽም ይመርሕ ጥዋፍ የብርህ Eathiopia!!!
.HAPPY HOLIDAYS FOR ALL OF YOU.
TRUTH WILL PREVAIL