Dawit Tamirat
In today’s civilized times, not few malicious forces who desire terror and unrest and unwelcome peace and love exists. The antic of these forces is one and one. It is to push people into civil destruction, instead of living peacefully and respectfully.
Members of the terrorist ISIS who flaunts this devilish objective are contributing to this with their acts of terrorizing the world. Their heinous acts are being condemned by the international community.
When we come to our country, we see that there are organized terror groups like Ginbot 7 and OLF, who are working to realize their objective of destabilizing the country through instigating unrest and violence within the people who are working to defeat poverty – they haven’t been successful in this though.
The people, who don’t get easily swayed with such kind of manipulative acts, have a usual characteristic of holding on to their peace as their only option after assessing things very carefully. It has been years since the Ethiopian people; who understand very well the value of peace, started to climb the stairs of development.
The fact that they are bringing themselves out of their past association with war and violence, and started to gain success in its economic development is not only attested by the country’s friends, but its enemies as well. The strength of the country, which is being administered by its federal system and constitution, is getting raised by the consent of its people. The rights and equality of nation and nationalities have been guaranteed. However, forces of malice have tried to exacerbate the unrest that was ignited and foiled in some Oromia cities and North Gondar recently.
As it’s known, grievances were heard regarding the proposed integrative Master plan that plans to integrate development Addis Ababa with surrounding Oromia cities.
While this master-plan is still in process and its study not finished, the grievance started with the propaganda of the malicious forces which claimed, “the plan is going to be implemented in secret; and surrounding Oromia cities are going to be incorporated under Addis Ababa.”
As a result to the delayance of the study/research process and implementation of the proposed plan, and due to the confusion created by the propagation of the malicious forces, the situation took the direction of unrest.
When the young people, either knowingly or unknowingly, got involved in the destruction of public property, a situation where innocent lives were lost was created.
The fact that the federal government or regional state was not able to create awareness on the situation within the community before the unrest was erupted puts them at fault.
The disappointing thing is the intensification of the antics of the malice forces, who themselves were after igniting their own violence by manipulating the state of confusion that surrounded the situation. The good thing, on the other hand, is the fact the then unrest was foiled while it’s on budding stage by the collaborative action taken by the government and people. The other collaborators of this unrest were the part of society that was enraged by the good governance problems. It is not difficult to understand that they used the occasion to vent out their frustration.
Although the methods the people used to vent out the frustration they have on good governance problems is not right, but it showed how much huge the problem is.
Despite the path taken to solve the problem by involving public dialogue is encouraging, it should be noted that this effort should not only be used to subdue frustration or unrest.
The measures that are taken against those entities that are involved in the good governance problems is encouraging; and both the federal government the regional state should give assurance to the public that these measures continues.
Those who failed politically and those who feel they won’t get the chance to get back to their country does not want peace for the country. It is not far-fetched to think that they are the source and support of acts of malice and sinister.
It is being heard that these forces; who work to bring unrest and violence here, are trying to stop the unrest from being subdued by sending money to the people who carry out their objectives here.
They have continued with their effort to instigate the youth by using social Medias such as Facebook. Disseminating bogus stories by copy-pasting photos that has got nothing to do with the situation is turning into their job. The violence-instigating TV station ESAT, which is supported by Ginbot 7 and other terror group and also by the Eritrea government, has participated in the terror propagation and worked to disturb the public through bogus stories. As seen during the recent unrest, the station has been helping create confusion by presenting bogus stories as“breaking news” in a way that is devoid of ethical and professional courtesy.
And Medrek have issued a six point statement following the unrest. It the party’s constitutional right to state its political position in relation to national happenings; but that is not to say the outlook it flaunts will be implemented by getting the acceptance and belief of the people. This is because; the party as usual gives weight to condemn and smear the ruling party rather than focusing on the main issue.
It is my belief that the party should firstly clean itself from such kind of low and degraded thinking in order to have a matured political position and seize power by getting the acceptance and vote of the public.
As Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn recently told the Parliament, the government will not be patient on anti-peace forces that try to disturb the development and peace of the people. He also stated that those who are responsible for the unrest will be put to face the law and the appropriate action will be taken on them.
The naturally caused drought that occurred in Afar and some areas is one challenging thing to the government. In order to save these people, public support that collaborates with the people is needed. In worrying times like this, showing patience against sinister forces should not be taught of.
These people who don’t care about the public have not got tired of saying ‘we will free you’ while living comfortably abroad and eating their burgers. Had they known that the public is getting tired of these lies and shenanigans, they would have probably saved themselves the effort. They would have understood when their sinister acts are foiled the popular path will be clear.
Whether they like it or not, the country has no other agenda than peace and development. What serves as encouragement to this is the economic development the country recorded within the past years.
The country; which is garnering accolades from economic experts and is mentioned as a benchmark, is committed to continue with its economic momentum. There is not a single reason why the country would not reach the level of economic development countries like China, South Korea.
Citizen that gets benefits from infrastructural and social services have increased at high rate. With regards to expanding infrastructure, satisfactory result has been gained; and the works being done with regards to making health institutions and schools accessible is also going successfully.
For this success, the fact that human and democratic rights of the people are being respected and the country is peaceful played huge role. It is because nation, nationalities and people found recognition. Their identities have been respected as a result of the rights the constitution bestowed upon the whole people.
They have been able to learn with their own language, and this in turn has enabled them to play their own role in developing the country. However, it should not be forgotten that many works still left with regards to developing the country continually.
The capital of Africa, Addis Ababa, is currently recording huge change in political, economic and social service sectors, although isolated from its surrounding areas. Currently, the train infrastructure has started to give service since its completion.
Quality asphalt infrastructures are being built, while changes are being seen in the business sector. It is believed that these changes should center Oromia special zone cities. Even those developed countries have passed through this before they reached their current level.
The fact that the maser-plan, which is prepared to develop them integratively, brings huge benefits to Oromia region and people is not up for debate. But, raising awareness on how the plan will be implemented, and what is its benefits are should be looked further into.
As a result of the recent unrest that erupted in some Oromia cities, schools and higher learning institutions, human lives has been lost. The unrest has also been a reason for material destruction.
Although the cause of the unrest is related to the “master-plan is going to be implemented”, some forces have tried to use the situation to change the direction of the agenda into the way they wanted it.
Enough discussions have not been made on the master-plan. And we cannot say that the community has had the necessary awareness on the benefits the master-plan brings. Using this opening as opportunity, it has served as reason for unrest to be erupted in various areas and higher education institutions.
The reason why the awareness creation was delayed is because the regional state planned to discuss the plan as one development part of the second Growth and Transformation Plan. Of course, the public raised a legitimate question. The public has the right to demand the reason why the plan was prepared and how it will be implemented and understand the intentions. As the development is for the sake of the people, the question is legitimate. As a result, and after hindsight, we can safely say that the question/demand raised by the people has to do with their desire to understand about the development works that will be carried out in their areas.
And by looking at the outcome of the activity, we can tell that there have been forces that wanted to use the public’s demands as good opportunities to use for their own end. This can further affirmed by looking at their past antics where they exerted same efforts at various times.
We can say many things by basing on the acts they carried out to disturb our peace and halt the internationally-admired development path we are in. And there wasn’t a thing left unplanned and undone by these forces here and abroad.
We can see that these forces have used the peaceful question raised by the people to change to the direction they want – which is to realize their own political end through unrest and violence.
Even political forces, which used not to have the desire to give Oromia people recognition as people, have been seen propagating the situation. Any part of the society understands that the only thing that will be gotten from taking the situation to unintended direction is only harm, and not benefit.
Anybody knows that there is nothing to be gained from unrest and riot. As all can understand, the consequences of unrest, riot, violence is loss of innocent lives and destruction of public properties.The Master-plan has many benefits to the Oromo people. Addis Ababa is a city that is found in Oromia. Oromia cities are found within the capital city’s surrounding. And these cities are interlinked by electric lines, asphalt road, train lines, through trade and other social and economic issues.
And these links should be administered integratively. Not only the plan hugely benefits the local people, it should also be understood that it has huge role in developing the country as a whole.
The master-plan aims at hastening the development of the country by jointly developing various areas. This kind of approach is not done in Ethiopia alone, as this is how it’s done all around the world. It should be understood that developing our urban and rural areas integratively is the way to go.
The plan doesn’t aim at taking from one and giving it to the other. It doesn’t incorporate political administration. It aims at developing cities in an integrative way. Addis Ababa is a market of every area, so integratively administrating it is necessary and important.
Up to now, there hasn’t been any work done in raising awareness in an organized way. The whole public didn’t acquire enough awareness on the subject.
Thus, it can be said that the question raised by the public is right. And if the people doesn’t believe in it or accept it, it can easily be dropped – as there is nothing more important than the people.
Anti-peace forces; which used the awareness gap on the subject as good opportunity, have been seen instigating unrest and using young people and students for their end. As its known, Oromo people in rural and urban areas are benefitting from the development that is being recorded. The Oromo people can further change themselves and their country by getting further involved in the development of the country. They should not be used as tool for anti-peace and development forces.
If the people don’t accept either in the master-plan or any other developmental undertakings after discussing them, then the projects won’t be implemented.
And the Oromia regional state will not work to implement development plan that the people are not willing to accept. This is because the regional state has understood that a development plan that doesn’t garner acceptance and belief by the people will not be successful.
As it can be recalled, Oromia national regional state has recently stated through the mass media that the master-plan will not be implemented without the people agreeing on it.
Ato Mukhta Kedir, President of the Oromo Region, recently said to the Media, “the master-plan will not move to the next chapter before national consensus, transparency and belief is reached on the issue with the people.”Thus, it is expected of the regional state to give precedence, and work to make it clear to the people on the benefits of the master-plan and how it will be implemented.
The efforts that is being made by some forces to get political gain by instigating unrest, riot and violence will not be successful. Knowing that it is unconstitutional, the public should be careful not to be used as a tool by the anti-peace forces that want to misdirect the opportunity to unintended direction. These forces should know that they won’t get any kind of political gains with this unrest.
And the characteristics of the two outlooks don’t allow them to co-exist. They hate each other so much that they want to bury each other. Close-minded hatred and inability to embrace diversity is an expression of both outlooks.
As the saying ‘then end justifies the means’ goes, leading people to destruct each other in order to clear the path and seize power is their day to day activity. If you are asking, what these two outlooks are, they are narrowism and chauvinism.
These two destructive outlooks, which are the main hurdles to our path to renaissance, are currently in a life and death struggle to halt our rapid development and force us to stay in poverty by collaborating with forces of malice.
As it’s known, forces that are showered with narrowism and chauvinism hate diversity of language, culture and identities more than anything. The chauvinist forces believe that ‘as my ethnic along with my language and culture is dominating, I am born to always rule and lead’. Side by side to this, it considers the other ethnicities and citizens as ordinary and lesser, and meant to be led; and their language and culture as low rate. It doesn’t also accept the sovereignty of people.
Therefore, there isn’t anything they won’t do to impose their own language, culture and thinking on others by stomping diversity. The force goes as far as destroying the country and people in order to make this happen.
It doesn’t accept democratic unity and nationalism, and is more concerned about territorial unity rather than the people’s unity. It longs for mountains and rivers instead of people, and is ingrained with anti-people thinking. The narrowist forces, who stand in the opposite side to the chauvinists, flaunts a backward outlook that situates everything for itself, sees everything from narrowest outlook and is bitter about accepting and tolerating diversity, which is the reality of the world today.
As this force is blinded by narrowism, it preaches for no other people outside of its own ethnicity to live in the area. Not only preaching, it relentlessly works to push members of its own ethnicity to look at others in suspicion and hatred, and if possible to attack them. It doesn’t accept equality based democratic unity. And it is an anti-democratic nationalism.
The fact these two outlooks; which are enemies of democratic nationalism and doesn’t work in countries like Ethiopia that has diversity of language, ethnicities and cultures, are challenges and hurdles that are facing our peace and development – as it has been clearly seen in recent days.
The chauvinist forces with the backing of Ginbot 7 and the narrowist force with the backing of OLF have been carrying out acts of terror and malice on Ethiopia for the past years accepting it as a mission from the terror-in-chief Shabiya, along with its support, to disintegrate Ethiopia and stop it from developing – although they have not been able to do that due to the commitment of the whole Ethiopian people and our brave men in uniform.
The self-proclaimed Ginbot 7, which is a force of terror, is an enemy of diversity that doesn’t accept the equality of language, identity and religion of nation and nationalities.
It sells itself under the name of a single ethnicity, whilst its antics are anti-every nation and nationalities. However, it plans, or more appropriately daydreams, to create terror and unrest.
It is a pathetic organization that thinks of controlling Arat Kilo palace and quenching its limitless love for power by gaining political expedience through disseminating poisonous and bogus stories. It is also an arrogant group that feels bitter when it hears Tigrai, Amhara, Somale, Oromo etc… and tries to deny this reality.
The narrowist force which is opposite in objective and outlook to this is led by OLF – a terrorist organization that has been merchandising in the name of Oromo people and has the Eritrean government as Godfather to it.
It is a collection of terrorists which believes it will create a country called Oromia by seceding the Oromo people from the rest of Ethiopian people. Presenting the misery the ruling elite caused on the people as an act of members of one ethnicity and spewing poison so that one will rise against the other and inflict destruction is their eternal vision that will not change. This is why member of this ethnicity has been preaching nonstop to expel them.
These forces with opposite outlooks are acting like two love birds after recently getting something that links them. The only thing that links these two sinister forces; whose outlook and characteristics forbids them from existing in this great nation, is diversity.
For instance, we are seeing the terrorist Ginbot 7 (the centerpiece of chauvinists) and the terrorists OLF (center of narrowism) using the proposed master-plan as a vehicle to execute their sinister objectives.
We are also seeing them working day and night through social medias thinking there is no better time and agenda to carry out terrorism at the expense of Oromo youth.
These forces of malice and terrorist organizations are working for public development infrastructures to be destroyed, for students to stop their education and serve as tool for their sinister objectives and instigate Oromo people to rise against another ethnicity.
As a consequence, it has resulted with the destruction of many public and government resources, the loss of lives and body parts of police and defense forces, and for the activities of citizens in the region to be relatively halted.
What is the most amazing and ridiculous thing is to see ESAT, which is supported by Ginbot 7 – a chauvinist organization that gets sickened with the mention of Oromia region, serving as the main protagonist and supporter of the terror campaign by presenting themselves as concerned for the Oromo people and crying crocodile tears. With respect to the objective these two sinister forces holds, it is obvious that they genuinely hate each other.
The reason for the link of these two forces has to do with one outlook. This outlook is federalism– which also is basis for democratic nationalism. By accepting the diversity of ethnicity, language, religion and culture which is the reality of our country, federalism allows nation and nationalities to administer themselves and for their identity, language and culture be respected.
In addition to this, it allows for nation and nationalities to be proud of their identities, to learn and go to court in their language, and nurture their respective cultures. As the nation, nationalities have common nation and values, the chance for them to decide on their common issues by participating equally.
The basis of the federal system is democratic nationalism; it means every nation, nationalities respects and accepts the equality rights of others, whilst being proud of their own identity, language and culture. This thinking is not only completely different to chauvinist and narrowist outlook; which are reasons for unrest and violence, but it is also a matured thinking that strengthens culture of respect and tolerance.
After this thinking was realized in our country, issues related to not accepting diversity – which has been a reason for us to live in poverty – has been solved once and for all.
With regards to the setting up federalism system and strengthening democratic nationalism, our country is able to be an island of peace and development amidst East Africa.
This has made our country, which used to be associated with drought, famine and civil war, to be taken as a benchmark of development and change.
Although our federal system and democratic nationalism has led to our current level serving as solution to our problem, this has been a bitter pill to swallow for the narrowest and chauvinist forces.
This is why, they are working to led our country into a path of unrest and destruction by confusing the people through manipulative propagation and by collaborating with their local and foreign partners.
By understanding the evil these forces bring, the matured people of our country should actively fend off these forces – the only way to protect the peace and development of our country is federalism and democratic nationalism. I say, this is the time to tell the malice force that they should not obstruct our path to development through their poisonous propagation they disseminate from America and Europe!