For the purpose of this article, let me start out by defining some terms. In more general terms, national consensus would mean general agreement on issues of common concern to minimize differences or sustained opposition on issues of national importance in view of meeting the needs, interests and values of a society or a nation. Consensus engulfs the views of the majority and does not in any manner mean absolute congruence of ideas or perfect unanimity.
National consensus also implies the presence of some sort of government in a state and the corresponding social structures that comprise of different social entities with different views and attitudes towards the well being of a society. Building a national consensus is a process that involves creating a common applicable stand on issues that concern the majority of peoples in a state or a corporate entity.
National consensus involves a process of constructive dialogue in an amicable way to build upon issues that relate to the vast majority of the population in a specific country. Sociologists identify a major difference between national consensus and national reconciliation. National reconciliation presupposes a state of a major conflict between the peoples of a country on major issues that involve the majority of the population.
The prevalence of a prolonged civil war in which lives and property is lost can be resolved by national reconciliation for instance in the case of the fall of the apartheid system in South Africa and the campaign of national peace reconciliation organized under the leadership of Bishop Desmond Tutu. In terms of ideology, national consensus is perceived and practiced differently in countries professing neoliberal democracy and in countries following developmental democracy.
At the start up of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler came up with a nationalist call for Gross Deutch Ober Alle (Greater Germany Over all). That was a Nazi ideology under which Hitler rallied the German people and carried out a manipulative and deceptive national consensus campaign for his Blitzkrieg war to conquer Europe and the rest of the world calling for the supremacy of the Aryan Race.
That hatred and chauvinistic ideology, among other things, resulted in genocide of 6 million Jews. That ideology called on all Germans and deflected the entire population from a rational pattern of thinking for which German philosophers have long been advocating. Building a national consensus on any issue, peace included, is gradual process. It requires setting a priority among the national interests of a country against the political interest of groups.
This is a critical issue that requires giving in self interest for the sake of over arching national interest. In countries that follow the path of developmental democratic state, for instance in countries like China and South Korea, building national consensus on issues of national importance was accomplished in a very short time and contributed for subsequent rapid and sustained economic development. National consensus in those countries developed after a series of national debates that resulted in common consensus and understanding on rapid economic development and democratic social order.
A broad based civic education program at all stages of the educational structure has helped to inculcate in-depth view on issues that are of national importance while the media in these countries conducts a wide range of consensus building programs both in electronic and print media outlets Despite proliferation of lack of good governance and development needs that were continuously been voiced by the public, nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia have more common issues that unite them and outweigh potential conflicts made over scarcity of resources.
The nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia showed their unprecedented national consensus and practical participation in funding the flagship project of Ethiopia, the GERD. Ever since the Transition Period, the peoples of Ethiopia have been actively participating on regional peace and development conferences that helped to shape the general outlook of the public on major issues of peace and development. The public has developed an irreversible national consensus on the need to fight poverty and maintenance of peace and tranquility. People in the rural areas of the country are using traditional methods of resolving public conflicts that they have practiced for ages.
At this period in time, major watershed management and environmental rehabilitation programs are being conducted by millions of citizens in rural Ethiopia. Such forums, if properly managed can boost the level of national consensus on each and every sector of socio-economic life of citizens.
The Ethiopian constitution is a major legal instrument that can be utilized for further promoting national consensus and to develop a democratic political order built to the level of the economic development of the nation. It is repeatedly stressed that Ethiopia is a “country of origins” of mankind, coffee, endemic birds and animals, teff etc. You can make a longer list. It is a country of origin of African creative arts, languages, cultures. Ethiopia can utilize these tangible and intangible resources into creating an opportunity for the promotion of a “single socioeconomic and political entity.”
The imperatives of peace and the need for forgiveness pay off both in the short and long term development of this country. However, commissioning national forgiveness and reconciliation requires a strong institutional approach and legal basis just like the establishment of the Commission for Identity and Internal Border Issues. This process also requires endurance and patience that is not in many cases an easy process. Forgiveness strongly requires phasing away from keeping grudges and counting on the benefits of national harmony and peace.
Ethiopia has rich intangible cultural resources that could be effectively used in a modern manner. Forgiveness at the national level helps to forge national unity which is based on the spirit of understanding and mutual respect. At this critical moment when some attempt to deform the reform process in the country, national level planned forgiveness and building consensus on the issues of development and peace for Ethiopia could be a time tested solution for the multiple problems and issues with which the government and the entire country is grappling. The political parties need to swiftly settle accounts among themselves and set an exemplary for promoting forgiveness and national unity.
The issue of peace and forgiveness is a matter of national survival and security of the nation. Shameful correspondences and likings in the social media and insults that are being hurdled on federal and regional leaders of this country, name calling and fabrication of false news will only promote the aims of those who are at loggerheads with the nationwide reforms in Ethiopia.
Educators, religious leaders and the entire intellectual community in the country should be able to deploy themselves to communities in which recurrent conflicts are rampant and prevent those engaged in the conflicts not to carry out the agenda of third parties that are trying to use the innocence of the public for their own egocentric interests. Prime Minister Dr. Abiy has been calling for forgiveness, love, unity and development not just for public relation purposes.
These are rather major prerequisites for socio-economic and political stability and development in the country
Herald January 3/2019
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
